horse, and then he will want a saddle. He will be passing the wall
here. He will see me sleeping with my head on my friend and then he
will attempt to steal it, but the surcingle will be buckled around my
body, and I will awake and cry blue murder. Then you and your brother
can come forward from the vacant house yonder and seize him.'
"'Where did you learn all this?' asked the Mayor. He began to suspect
that his brother was right when he said that Tip-Top was the thief.
"'My saddle told me,' Tip-Top answered.
"'Well,' said the Mayor, 'your plan is as good as any, but how will
the thief get the horse that is so well guarded?'
"'Ah!' Tip-Top exclaimed, 'if I were to tell you, we should never
catch the thief.'
"So it was all arranged. Tip-Top was to sleep on his Talking-Saddle,
near the wall and the Mayor and his brother were to watch from the
windows of the vacant house opposite.
"When night came, the watchers who had been set to guard the horse
were very anxious. They were ready to arrest any one who might chance
to enter. Whenever they heard footsteps approaching they seized their
clubs and stood on the defensive. Sometimes a passer-by would pause,
look in, and ask what the trouble was. Then the watchers would reply
that they were waiting for the great thief who was coming to steal the
fine horse. Thus the hours passed, but no thief came. Then the
watchers began to get tired.
"'We are crazy,' said one. 'How can a thief steal this horse, even if
he were to come in here? We are four to one. Two of us should sleep a
while, and thus we can take turns in watching.' This was agreed to,
and two of the guards stretched themselves on the straw and prepared
to sleep. But just then they heard some one singing far down the
street. It was a jolly song, and the sound of it came louder and
louder. As the singer was going by, the light in the stable caught his
eye, and he paused and looked in, but still kept up his singing.
"'Friends,' he said when his song was done, 'what is the trouble?'
"'We are watching a horse.'
"'Is he sick? Perhaps I can aid you. I have doctored many a horse in
my day.'
"'He is not sick,' replied the watchers. 'He is well and taking his
ease. We are watching to prevent a thief from stealing him.'
"Then they told him the threat the thief had made.
"'Come, that is too good,' cried the newcomer. 'This thief will be
worth looking at when four such stout lads as you get through with
him. When does he show himself?'
"'That is what we are to find out,' replied the watchers.
"'Very well,' the newcomer said; 'I'll stay, by your permission, and
see you double him up.'
"The watchers gave their consent gladly, for the newcomer had a lively
manner and a rattling tongue. He sang songs and told stories for an
hour or more, and then pulled a bottle from under his coat.
"'A little wine,' he said, 'will clear the fog from our throats.' He
passed the bottle around, and all drank except the guard who was
watching in the stall.
"Now the man who had come singing up the street was the thief himself,
and the guard in the stall was his companion. The wine was drugged,
and in a very few minutes three of the watchers were fast asleep. Then
the thief and his companion took the horse from the stall.
"'I shall have to remain here and pretend to be asleep,' said the
companion. 'You will find a saddle around the corner.' He then told
the thief about the man with the saddle.
"'You are a fool, my friend,' said the thief. 'It is a trick--a trap.'
"But when he had carried off the horse and hid it at the house of an
acquaintance, the thought of the man with the saddle worried him so
that he went back to satisfy himself. Tip-Top and his saddle were
there, and Tip-Top had slept so soundly that his head had rolled from
his pillow. The thief thought it would be a good stroke of business to
take the saddle along, but when he tried to lift it, Tip-Top awoke and
seized him, and cried 'Murder!' at the top of his voice.
"The Mayor and his brother rushed from their place of concealment,
and soon the thief was bound.
"'Where is the horse?' cried the Mayor.
"'What horse?' exclaimed the thief. 'Do you think I carry horses in my
pocket?'
"'What were you doing here, then?'
"'This fellow's head had slipped from its pillow, and when I tried to
put it back he seized me and yelled that I was murdering him! I saw no
horse under the saddle.'
"'Wait here a little,' said Tip-Top. 'Hold this thief till I return.'
"He went to the stable, woke the thief's accomplice, who by this time
was really asleep, and told him his companion had been captured. 'If I
can find the horse and hide it our friend will be safe, for nothing
can be proved on him.'
"The man was so frightened that he told Tip-Top where he had arranged
to meet the thief the next day. Then Tip-Top returned to the Mayor and
his brother, who still held the thief, and took them to the house
where the horse had been stabled.
"When the horse had been found and restored to its owner the Mayor
said to Tip-Top that he would not only reward him handsomely but
grant any request he might make.
"'Then, your honor,' replied Tip-Top, 'give this man his liberty.'
"'Why?' asked the Mayor, much astonished.
"'Because, your honor, he is my brother.'
"The thief was as much astonished as the Mayor at this turn in his
affairs, but he had no difficulty in recognizing Tip-Top as his
younger brother.
"'He certainly is a man of talent,' said the Mayor, 'and it is a pity
that he should be executed.'
"Then the thief fell on his knees and begged the Mayor to pardon him,
promising him to live and die an honest man. And he kept his promise.
He engaged in business, and, aided by Tip-Top's advice and influence,
made a large fortune."
"What became of the Talking-Saddle?" asked Buster John.
"Well," replied Mr. Thimblefinger, "Tip-Top hung the saddle in his
front porch, as you have seen farmers do. He thought a great deal of
it."
[Illustration: THE MAYOR PARDONING THE THIEF]
"I've read something about the great thief," remarked Buster John.
"But the story didn't end that way. The thief escaped every time."
"Oh, well, you know how some people are," exclaimed Mrs. Meadows.
"They want everything to happen just so; even a thief must be a big
man if he's in a story; but I don't believe anybody ever stole
anything yet without getting into trouble about it."
"Who is that crying?" Mr. Rabbit suddenly exclaimed.
"I hear no crying," said Mrs. Meadows.
"I certainly thought I heard crying," persisted Mr. Rabbit.
"It is Chickamy Crany Crow and Tickle-My-Toes singing. Listen!"
Sure enough the queer-looking boy and the queer-looking girl were
singing a song. One sang one line and the other the next line, and
this made the song somewhat comical. The words were something like
these:--
CHICKAMY CRANY CROW.
Oh sing it slow,
This song of woe,
Of the girl who went to wash her toe!
Her name was Chick--
(Oh run here quick--
The word's so thick)--
Chickamy--Chickamy Crany Crow!
Chickamy what? and Chickamy which?
She went to the well and fell in the ditch;
What o'clock, old Witch?
The clock struck one
And bowed to the sun;
But the sun was fast asleep you know;
And the moon was quick,
With her oldtime trick--
To hide from Chick--
Chickamy--Chickamy Crany Crow!
Chickamy what? and Chickamy which?
She went to the well and fell in the ditch;
What o'clock, old Witch?
Oh, sad to tell!
She went to the well--
The time was as close to eve as to dawn--
To Chickamy Chick,
So supple and slick,
The clock said "Tick!"
But when she came back her chicken was gone!
Oh, whatamy, whichamy, chickamy, oh!
Moonery, oonery, tickamy Toe!
Wellery, tellery, gittery go!
Witchery, itchery, knitchery know.
[Illustration: CHICKAMY CRANY CROW AND TICKLE-MY-TOES]
"What kinder gwines on is dat?" exclaimed Drusilla, whose mind had
never been quite easy since she walked through the dry water in the
spring without getting drowned. "We all better be makin' our way
to'rds home. Time we git dar--ef we ever is ter git dar--it'll be dark
good. Den what yo' ma gwine to say? She gwine ter talk wid de flat er
her han'--dat what she gwine ter talk wid. Come on!"
"Can't you be quiet?" cried Buster John. "It's nothing but a song."
"Oh, you kin stay, an' I'll stay wid you," said Drusilla; "but when
Mistiss git you in de wash-room, don't you come sayin' dat I wouldn't
fetch you home."
"I want to see everything," said Buster John.
"I done seed much ez I want ter see," replied Drusilla, "an' now I
want ter live ter tell it."
Before Buster John could say anything more, everything suddenly grew a
little darker, and in the middle of the sky--or what ought to have
been the sky, but which was the enlarged bottom of the spring--there
was a huge shadow. The children looked at it in silence.
VII.
THE LADDER OF LIONS.
The shadow that seemed to fall over everything caused Buster John and
Sweetest Susan and Drusilla to run to the door. It was not a very dark
shadow, but it was dark enough to attract their attention and excite
their alarm. They were not yet used to their surroundings, for,
although a great many things they saw and heard were familiar to them,
they could not forget that they had come through the water in the
spring. They could not forget that Mr. Thimblefinger was the smallest
grown person they had ever seen,--even if he were a grown person,--nor
could they forget that they had never seen a rabbit so wonderfully
large as Mr. Rabbit. Drusilla expressed the feelings of all when she
remarked that she felt "skittish." They were ready to take alarm at
anything that might happen. Therefore they ran to the door to see what
the shadow meant. Finally they looked up at the sky, or what seemed to
be the sky, and there they saw, covering a large part of it, the
vague outline of a huge jug. The shadow wobbled about and wavered, and
ripples of light and shadow played about it and ran down to the
horizon on all sides.
An astronomer, seeing these fantastic wobblings and waverings of light
and shadow in our firmament, would straightway send a letter or a
cable dispatch to the newspapers, declaring that an unheard-of
convulsion was shaking the depths of celestial space. And, indeed, it
was all very puzzling, even to the children, but Drusilla, who had
less imagination than any of the rest, accounted for it all by one
bold stroke of common sense.
"Shuh! 'T ain't nothin' 't all!" she exclaimed. "Dey done got froo wid
dinner at home, an' ol' Aunt 'Cindy done put de buttermilk-jug back in
de spring."
Sweetest Susan caught her breath with a gasp, and laughed
hysterically. She had been very much alarmed.
"I expect that's what it is," said Buster John, but there was some
doubt in his tone. He turned to Mr. Thimblefinger, who had followed
them. "What time is it, please?"
Mr. Thimblefinger drew his watch from his pocket with as much dignity
as he could assume, and held his head gravely on one side. "It is
now--let me see--_ahem!_--it is now precisely thirteen minutes and
eleven seconds after one o'clock."
"Is that the jug in the spring?" asked Sweetest Susan, pointing to the
huge black shadow that was now wobbling and wavering more slowly.
Mr. Thimblefinger shaded his eyes with his hand and examined the
shadow critically. "Yes, that is the jug--the light hurts my
eyes--yes, certainly, that is the jug."
Presently a volume of white vapor shot out from the shadow. It was
larger than the largest comet, and almost as brilliant.
"What is that?" asked Sweetest Susan.
Mr. Thimblefinger felt almost as thoughtful as a sure-enough man of
science.
"That," said he, "is an emanation--an exhalation, you might say--that
we frequently witness in our atmosphere."
"A which?" asked Buster John.
"Well," replied Mr. Thimblefinger, clearing his throat, "it's--er--an
emanation."
"Huh!" cried Drusilla, "'t ain't no kind er nation. It's des de milk
leakin' out'n dat jug. I done tol' Aunt 'Cindy 'bout dat leakin' jug."
Mr. Rabbit and Mrs. Meadows had come out of the house in time to hear
this, and they laughed heartily. In fact, they all laughed except Mr.
Thimblefinger and Drusilla.
"It happens every day," said Mrs. Meadows. "We never notice it. I
suppose if it happened up there where you children live, everybody
would make a great to-do? I'm glad I don't live there where there's so
much fussing and guessing going on. I know how it is. Something
happens that doesn't happen every day, and then somebody'll guess one
way and somebody another way, and the first thing you know there's a
great rumpus over nothing. I'm truly glad I came away from there in
time to get out of the worst of it. You children had better take a
notion and stay here with us."
"Oh, no," cried Sweetest Susan. "Mamma and papa would want to see us."
"That's so," said Mrs. Meadows. "Well, I just came out here to tell
you not to get too near the Green Moss Swamp beyond the hill yonder.
There's an old Spring Lizard over there that might want to shake hands
with you with his tail. Besides it's not healthy around there; it is
too damp."
"Oh, we are not going anywhere until we start home," Sweetest Susan
remarked.
"How large is the Spring Lizard?" inquired Buster John.
"He's a heap too big for you to manage," replied Mrs. Meadows. "I
don't know that he'd hurt you, but he's slept in the mud over there
until he's so fat he can't wallow scarcely. He might roll over on you
and hurt you some."
"Are there any lions over there?" inquired Sweetest Susan.
"No, honey, not a living one," said Mrs. Meadows.
By this time Mr. Rabbit had come out on the piazza, bringing his
walking-cane and his pipe. He presently seated himself on the steps,
and leaned his head comfortably against one of the posts.
"Well, well, well," he exclaimed. "It has been years and years since
I've heard the name of Brother Lion. Is he still living and doing
well?" Mr. Rabbit turned an inquiring eye on Sweetest Susan.
"She doesn't know anything about lions," said Buster John.
"Why, I do!" cried Sweetest Susan. "I saw one once in a cage."
"In a cage? Brother Lion in a cage?" Mr. Rabbit raised his hands and
rolled his eyes in astonishment. "What is the world coming to? Well,
I've said many and many a time that Brother Lion was not right up
here." Mr. Rabbit tapped his forehead significantly. "In a cage! Now,
that pesters me. Why, he used to go roaring and romping about the
country, scaring them that didn't know him mighty nigh to death. And
so Brother Lion is in a cage? But I might have known it. I wonder how
the rest of the family are getting on? Not that they are any kin to
me, for they are not. I called him Brother Lion just to be neighborly.
Oh, no! He and his family are no kin to me. They are too heavy in both
head and feet for that."
Mr. Rabbit closed his eyes as if reflecting, and patted the ground
softly with his foot.
"Well, well! I remember just as well as if it were yesterday the day
I told Brother Lion that if he wasn't careful, Mr. Man would catch him
and put him in a cage for his children to look at. But he just hooted
at it--and now, sure enough, there he is! I mind the first time he
began his pursuit of Mr. Man. That was the time he got his hand caught
in the split of the log."
"I done hear my daddy tell dat tale," remarked Drusilla.
"Yes," said Mr. Rabbit, "it soon became common talk in the
neighborhood. Brother Lion had come a long way to hunt Mr. Man, and as
soon as he got his hand out of the split in the log he started to go
home again. I went part of the way with him, and then it was that I
told him he'd find himself in a cage if he wasn't careful. I made a
burdock poultice for his hand the best I could--"
"And it's mighty good for bruises, I tell you now!" exclaimed Mrs.
Meadows.
"And then Brother Lion went on home, feeling better, but still very
mad. Crippled as he was, he was a quick traveler, and it was not long
before he came to his journey's end.
[Illustration: MR. RABBIT BANDAGING BROTHER LION'S PAW]
"Well, when his mother saw him she was very sorry. But when he told
her what the matter was she was vexed. 'Aha!' said she, 'how often
have I told you about meddling with somebody else's business! How
often have I told you about sticking your nose into things that don't
concern you! I'm not sorry for you one bit, because if you had obeyed
me you wouldn't be coming home now with your hand mashed all to
flinders. But, no! daddy-like, you've got to go and get yourself into
trouble with Mr. Man, and now you see what has come of it. I'm not
feeling at all well myself, but now I've got to go to work and make a
whole parcel of poultices and tie your hand up and nurse you--and I
declare somebody ought to be nursing me this very minute.'
"That was what Brother Lion's mother said," continued Mr. Rabbit, "but
Brother Lion didn't say anything. He just lay on the sheepskin pallet
she made him and studied how he would be revenged on Mr. Man. After a
while his hand got well, but still he said very little about the
matter. The more he thought about the way he had been treated, the
madder he got. He gnashed his teeth together and waved his long tail
about until it looked like a snake. Finally he sent word to all his
kin--his uncles and his cousins--to meet him somewhere in the woods
and hold a convention to consider how they should catch the great
monster, Mr. Man, who had caused a log of wood to mash Brother Lion's
hand.
"Well, it wasn't long before the uncles and cousins began to arrive.
They came from far and near, and they seemed to be very ferocious.
They shook their manes and showed their tushes. They went off in the
woods and held their convention, and Brother Lion laid his complaint
before them. He told them what kind of treatment he had received from
Mr. Man, and asked them if they would help to get his revenge. He made
quite a speech, and when he sat down, his uncles and cousins were very
much excited. They roared and howled. They said they were ready to
tear Mr. Man limb from limb. They declared they were ready to go where
he was, and gnaw him and claw him on account of the scandalous way he
had treated their blood-kin.
"But when Brother Lion's mother heard what they proposed to do she
shut her eyes and shook her head from side to side, and told the
uncles and the cousins that they had better go back home, all of them.
She said that before they got through with Mr. Man they'd wish they
had never been born. But go they would and go they did.
"So they started out soon one morning, and traveled night and day for
nearly a week. They were getting very tired and hungry, and some of
the younger blood-cousins wanted to stop and rest, and some wanted to
turn around and go back home. But one morning while they were going
through the woods, feeling a little shaky in head and limb, they
suddenly came in sight of Mr. Man. He was cutting down trees and
splitting them into timber. He had his coat off, and seemed to be very
busy.
"But he was not so busy that he didn't hear Mr. Lion and his uncles
and blood-cousins sneaking through the woods over the dry leaves, and
he wasn't so busy that he couldn't see them moving about among the
trees. He was very much astonished. He wondered where so many of the
Lion family came from, and what they were doing there, but he didn't
stop to ask any questions. He dropped his axe and climbed a tree.
"Brother Lion and his uncles and his blood-cousins were very much
pleased when they saw Mr. Man climb the tree. 'We have him now,' said
Brother Lion, and the rest licked their jaws and smiled. Then they
gathered around the tree and sat on their haunches and watched Mr.
Man. This didn't do any good, for Mr. Man sat on a limb and swung his
legs, just as contentedly as if he was sitting in his rocking-chair at
home.
"Then Brother Lion and his uncles and his blood-cousins showed their
teeth and growled. But this didn't do any good. Mr. Man swung his feet
and whistled a dance-tune. Then Brother Lion and his blood-cousins
opened their mouths wide and roared as loud as they could. But this
didn't do any good. Mr. Man leaned his head against the trunk of the
tree and pretended to be nodding.
"This made Brother Lion and his blood-kin very mad. They ran around
the tree and tore the bark with their claws, and waved their tails
back and forth. But this didn't do any good. Mr. Man just sat up
there and swung his feet and laughed at them.
"Brother Lion and his blood-kin soon found that if they intended to
capture Mr. Man they'd have to do something else besides caper around
the foot of the tree. So they talked it over, and Brother Lion fixed
up a plan. He said that he would stand at the foot of the tree and
rear up against the trunk, and one of his blood-cousins could climb on
his back and rear up, and then another cousin or uncle could climb up,
and so on until there was a ladder of bloodthirsty Lions high enough
to reach Mr. Man.
"Brother Lion, mind you, was to be at the bottom of the Lion ladder,"
remarked Mr. Rabbit, with a chuckle, "and he had a very good reason
for it. He had had dealings with Mr. Man, and he wanted to keep as far
away from him as possible. But before they made the Lion ladder,
Brother Lion looked up at Mr. Man and called out:--
"'What are you doing up there?'
"'You'll find out a great deal too soon for your comfort,' replied Mr.
Man.
"Brother Lion said, 'Come down from there.'
"Mr. Man answered, 'I'll come down much sooner than you want me to.'
"Then Brother Lion, his uncles, and his blood-cousins began to build
their ladder. Brother Lion was the bottom round of this ladder, as you
may say," continued Mr. Rabbit. "He reared up and placed his hands
against the tree, and one of his uncles jumped on his shoulders, and
put his hands against the tree. Then a cousin, and then another uncle,
and so on until the ladder reached a considerable distance up the
tree. It was such a high ladder that it began to wobble, and the last
uncle had hard work to make his way to the top. He climbed up very
carefully and slowly, for he was not used to this sort of business. He
was the oldest and the fiercest of the old company, but his knees
shook under him as he climbed up and felt the ladder shaking and
wobbling.
"Mr. Man saw that by the time this big Lion got to the top of the
ladder his teeth and his claws would be too close for comfort, and so
he called out in an angry tone:--
[Illustration: THE LADDER OF LIONS]
"'Just hold on! Just stand right still! Wait! I'm not after any of you
except that fellow at the bottom there. I'm not trying to catch any
of you but him. He has bothered me before. I let him go once, but I'll
not let him get away this time. Just stand right still and hold him
there till I climb down the other side of the tree.'
"With that Mr. Man shook the limbs and leaves and dropped some pieces
of bark. This was more than Brother Lion could stand. He was so
frightened that he jumped from under the ladder, and his uncles and
his blood-cousins came tumbling to the ground, howling, growling, and
fighting.
"They were as sorry-looking a sight as ever you saw when they came to
their senses. Those that didn't have their bones broken by the fall
were torn and mangled. They had acted so foolishly that out of the
whole number, Mr. Man didn't get but three lion-skins that could be
called perfect.
"Brother Lion went home to his mother as fast as he could go and
remained quiet a long time. And now you tell me he's in a cage."
Mr. Rabbit paused and shook his head until his ears flopped.
The children seemed to enjoy the story very much; so much so, indeed,
that Mrs. Meadows wanted Mr. Rabbit to tell some of his own queer
experiences, but Mr. Rabbit laughed and said that it didn't seem
exactly right to be telling his own stories. He said if he told the
stories just as they happened, he'd have to talk about himself a good
deal, and people would think he was boastful. He declared he didn't
feel like making his young friends think he was bragging.
"Oh, we shan't mind that," said Sweetest Susan, "shall we, brother?"
"Why, of course not," replied Buster John.
"La! we all done hear folks brag, till we got hardened ter braggin'!"
exclaimed Drusilla.
So the children, aided by Mrs. Meadows, coaxed Mr. Rabbit until he
finally consented to tell some of his queer adventures.
VIII.
BROTHER TERRAPIN'S FIDDLE-STRING.
Mr. Rabbit moved his body uneasily about, and scratched his head, and
crossed and uncrossed his legs several times before he began.
"I declare it isn't right!" he exclaimed after a while. "I don't mind
telling about other folks, but when it comes to talking about myself,
it is a different thing."