After the monkey had finished his story, Papa Bear and Mamma Bear and
the little Cub Bear were talking about the animals in the circus, and
the little Cub Bear said, "I wonder where all those animals are?"
And the Circus Bear said, "Why, I think they are somewhere in the
woods."
Then the little Cub Bear said, "Maybe these animals will come to see
us. I think it would be fine if we had a nice large cave, big enough
for all the animals."
The Mamma Bear said, "I think that _would_ be nice," and the Papa Bear
said, "That would be nice," and the little Circus Bear said, "I think
that would be nice, too," and the Cub Bear said, "Maybe we can have a
bigger cave, and have all the animals come and live with us."
And just as he said it they heard a rustling sound, as though something
was coming up the path. The little Cub Bear ran to the mouth of the
cave and said:
"There is a very strange looking animal coming up the path. It is the
biggest animal I ever saw. It has a nose that reaches clear to the
ground, and it has a thumb and finger on the end of its nose, and every
once in a while it stops and picks up a piece of straw with the thumb
and finger and puts it into its great mouth. It has teeth that are so
long that they stick way out of its mouth. The teeth are as large as a
small tree, and look like great sharp horns growing out of its mouth,
and its legs are as big around as a large stump. Its ears are as large
as the mouth of this cave. It can move its nose around and scratch its
back with the thumb and finger on the end of its nose. It has no hair
at all except on the end of its tail."
Just then the animal made a tremendous noise, a sort of a blowing and
trumpeting sound.
The Circus Bear said, "I know who that is; it is Jumbo, the elephant
from our show. Ask him to come into the cave."
Jumbo came to the mouth of the cave, and the little Cub Bear said to
him very politely, "Come in, Mr. Jumbo!" But of course Jumbo could not
come into the cave; it was too small. Mr. Jumbo said:
"I would like to come into the cave and see the Circus Bear, because he
was very good to me when we were in the circus together."
So the little Cub Bear said, "Try and see if you can not make the mouth
of the cave larger."