And the owl said, "If you want me to I can be door-keeper, and when any
one comes I can ask who he is, because, you know, I can say, 'Who-o-o?
who-o-o?'"
The little Cub Bear danced up and down, and said that would be very
fine. And he said, "I am very glad that my brother was kind to you when
you were in the circus."
So the owl went out to the mouth of the den, and there was a great big
tree, and away up near the top of the tree was a long limb sticking out
like an arm, and the owl flew up to this limb and sat there, looking
very solemn and very wise, as all owls do, blinking his great eyes. And
there he sat day and night, winking and blinking his great eyes, so
solemn and wise, keeping watch for the bears and the animals, just like
a soldier sentry standing guard at the General's tent.
Now the little Cub Bear, like all little cubs, was very fond
of stories, and was always teasing the Papa Bear to tell him
stories about little bears, and all sorts of things. The
little bear liked the stories that his papa told him about the
"Little-Cub-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa."
That night after the owl had flown up to the limb of the dead tree,
the little fellow said, "Papa, please tell me another story about the
'Little-Cub-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his papa.'"
The Papa Bear said, "Little one, you are always asking me to tell you
stories; it is hard for me to think of so many, but if you want me to
do so, I will tell you of:
THE "LITTLE-CUB-BEAR-THAT-WOULD-NOT-MIND-HIS-PAPA" AND HOW HE TOOK AN
UNEXPECTED BATH
"This 'Little-Cub-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa' was a tame little
bear that lived with his papa near a great saw-mill. You know what a
saw-mill is? It is a place where they take great pine trees that have
been chopped down and cut up into logs, and saw the logs into boards,
and shingles and lumber, to make houses for men to live in, with their
little cubs, that they call 'boys' and 'girls' and their little wee
cubs they call 'babies.' This saw-mill was on a great river, and near
the saw-mill was a place where the water fell straight down from a
place higher than this house, and of course the stream ran very swiftly
above the falls and below the falls. These falls were not so large as
the Niagara Falls, but they were so large that the water poured over
with a great roaring sound, and the water whirled about, after it
reached the bottom of the falls, and great waves dashed up against the
banks of the river.
"Above the falls, the water ran so swiftly that no one
could swim in it. The Papa Bear knew this, but the
'Little-Cub-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa' didn't know that the
water ran so swiftly. The Papa Bear had told his little son many, many
times not to go too near the river, and never to try to drink out of
the river, above the falls.
"But one day the little fellow was very, very thirsty, and he ran up to
the bank of the river, and saw the beautiful, cool water, and thought
how nice it would be to have a drink. He was so thirsty he didn't want
to go away down below the falls, where he and his papa usually took a
drink of water, so he thought he would see if he couldn't get a drink
right where he was, there above the falls. He went down to the very
edge and reached way over and began to lap up the water, and, oh! how
good it was. Just then he heard a noise, and as he looked up quickly,
his foot slipped, and into the river he went, _kersplash_!
"Now, this little bear could swim. That is one reason he wasn't afraid
to drink from the river, because he thought if he fell in, he could
swim out very easily and very quickly, so he started to swim as hard as
he could for the shore, but he soon found that the water was so swift,
that instead of getting nearer the shore, he was getting farther and
farther away all the time. And then he looked around to see where he
was going. He found that he was going nearer and nearer to the falls,
where the water went over with such a great roar, so he swam harder
and harder and harder, and faster and faster and faster, but all the
time he was going closer and closer to the terrible falls! Finally the
little bear gave up trying to swim out, and just kept his nose out
of the water, so that he could breathe, and down the stream he went
faster than you could run. Sometimes great waves would cover him up
completely, and when his nose would come up above the water, he would
blow almost like a whale, to get the water out of his nose. Almost
before you could think, that little bear came to the edge of the falls,
and over he went!
"Do you think that was the last of him? Well, if he had been a little
boy, I suppose he would have been drowned; but this little Cub Bear was
so light and so strong, that after a long, long while, he came up to
the surface of the water, right in the middle of a great whirlpool. He
went round and round and round in the water, and it seemed as though he
never would stop. But finally, he found a big log that had come over
the falls, and he got one foreleg over the log, and swam as hard as he
could toward the bank, and finally succeeded in getting ashore.
"There he lay on the grass, all wet and tired out, and all he could
think was, 'I am so glad I wasn't drowned. I will never again disobey
my papa.' And he thought this over and over in his mind. Soon the
'Little-Cub-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa' went to sleep right
where he was, for he was too tired to go home.
"After a long while, his papa began to look for him, and finally
found him lying there all wet, and sound asleep. His papa knew what
had happened, but he felt so bad he didn't waken the little bear, but
picked him up in his great arms and carried him back to the den and
laid down close beside him to keep him warm. And the little fellow
slept all that night, and all the next day, until four o'clock in the
afternoon.
"Then he wakened and put his arm around his papa and said, 'Oh, I had
the most terrible dream in the whole world. I thought I was nearly
drowned, and I was too tired to get home.'
"And the Papa Bear said, 'I guess that wasn't a dream, but I am so glad
that you are alive, that I am not going to scold you for disobeying
me.'"
When this story about the
"Little-Cub-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa" was finished, _our_
little Cub Bear, who lived away up in the cave in the mountain, said,
"I should think that every little bear ought to mind his papa and do
just as he says, else they might get drowned, you know."
Then the little bear went off to bed and to sleep.
The next morning early the little Cub Bear got up and rubbed his eyes
with his paws, instead of washing them as little boys do.
Just then he heard a noise as if some animal was coming, and he ran to
the mouth of the den and looked out, and said:
"I see the queerest looking animal coming up the path. It has long ears
and a great big mouth, and a queer looking tail, and looks something
like a horse, but still it looks different from a horse."
And just then the owl saw the animal and said, "Who-o-o? who-o-o?" and
the animal answered, "Hee-haw, hee-haw, hee-haw."
And the Circus Bear said, "I know who that is. That is a mule. Her name
is Jenny."
Just then Jenny came to the mouth of the den, and the little Cub Bear
said, very politely, "Come in, Mrs. Jenny."
And she came into the den, and the little Cub Bear said, "Mrs. Jenny,
we are going to try to build a house big enough for all the animals, so
if they come to see us we will have a place for them to stay. Can you
help us?"
Then Mrs. Jenny said, "I would be very glad to, because your brother
was very good to me when we were in the circus."