And Jenny said, "I haven't worked for a long while, but I can kick like
everything."
The little Cub Bear said, "Well, here is a soft place in the rock.
Perhaps if you will kick, it will fall down and make more room."
And Jenny turned around and kicked the rock, and it fell down, and she
kicked and she kicked, and more rocks fell down; and she kicked, and
more rocks fell down; and she kept on kicking, and more rocks fell
down, and the bears picked up the rocks and carried them out, and when
she got through there was a nice large room.
And the little Cub Bear said, "We will call this Jenny's room. I am
very glad that my brother was good to Mrs. Jenny when she was in the
circus, because if he hadn't been, maybe she would have kicked me
instead of the rocks."
That day the bears worked hard all day trying to find enough to eat
for themselves and for all of the animals that were coming to see them
from the circus. The Circus Bear told them just what things the animals
liked to eat; so the Papa Bear and Susie Bear went one way and the
Mamma Bear went another. The elephant looked all over the mountain, to
see if he could find some grass to eat.
That night, when the animals came to the cave, the elephant told them
that he thought he had found a fine place for the animals that liked to
eat grass. He said there were a great many horses where he found the
grass, but that they said they were not going to come with him because
they did not want to live in a cave. They said they wanted to live out
in the open air; and that if any one came to take them back to the
circus, they would run away as fast as they could.
The bears were very tired that night, but the little
Cub Bear teased his papa for a story about the
"Little-Cub-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa." Finally the Papa Bear
said that he would tell just one story, if the Cub Bear would promise
that he would not ask for another one, and would go to bed as soon as
the story was finished. So the little Cub Bear and Susie Bear came as
close as they could to the Papa Bear, and he told this story:
HOW "LITTLE-CUB-BEAR-THAT-WOULD-NOT-MIND-HIS-PAPA" WAS NEARLY DROWNED
AMONG THE LOGS
"Just on the edge of the stream which flowed by the saw-mill where
the 'Little-Cub-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa' lived, there was
a pond of still water, and in this pond there were a great many logs
that floated down from the forest away up the river. These logs were in
this pond waiting to be sawed up into boards and timber, to be used in
building houses. Now, this was a very dangerous place for little boys,
and for little bears. The Papa Bear had told his little son never to go
out on the logs, and the little fellow had promised that he never would
go out on the logs. But, day after day, the little Cub Bear saw men
going out on the logs with long sticks that had big spikes in the end
of them, and long sticks with hooks on the end of them; and they pushed
the logs here and there, to bring them over to the saw-mill, where they
were hoisted into the mills by great chains, and then were moved over
in front of a great saw to be sawed into lumber.
"As the little Cub Bear watched these men every day he would think how
easy it was, and how nice it was to ride around on those logs, and to
step from one log to another, and how foolish his papa was to tell him
not to go down on the logs, when it was so easy.
"One day after watching the men for a long while, the little Cub Bear
thought he would go down very, very carefully and walk out on one of
the logs, and this he did. There he waited for a long while, sitting
on the log. It was great fun, and didn't hurt at all, so finally he
stepped over on to another log, and then on to another. My! how he
enjoyed it. The little bear felt sure that his papa had make a great
mistake in telling him to keep off the logs.
"Just then, as the little bear stepped from one log to another, both
logs rolled, and down he went into the water. But he didn't mind that
much because he could swim very well. The little bear swam to the
surface as quickly as he could, but instead of getting his head out of
the water, he bumped his head into the logs, for the surface of the
water was all covered with floating logs.
"Then the little bear saw why his papa had told him never to play on
the logs, because if he once fell into the river, he was very apt to
be drowned. The little Cub Bear didn't give up and drown like that. He
began to swim as hard as he could, and held his breath as long as he
could, and after he had swum just as far as he possibly could, he came
up to the surface again, and this time his nose came out between two
logs, and there was just room enough for his nose to get up out of the
water, so he had a chance to breath again. And oh, how good it seemed.
And he took such long, deep breaths, and it seemed as though he could
never get enough air. Then he thought he would see if he couldn't find
a way out, and he tried and tried, but there wasn't room between the
logs for his head to come up out of the water. He couldn't even get his
eyes above the surface of the water, and so he couldn't see where he
was. Pretty soon the logs began to move closer and closer together, and
then he knew if he stayed where he was he would surely be killed. So he
took a long breath, just as deep a breath as he could.
"Can you take a long, deep breath, little Cub Bear?" (And the little
Cub Bear said, "Yes, papa," and he took a long, deep breath to show his
papa how the little bear breathed when he just had his nose above the
water.)
"Then the little bear dropped down again under the water, and he swam
as hard and fast as he could, hoping that the next time he came up he
might possibly find another place where he could breathe. He knew that
if he did not, he surely would be drowned and would never see his papa
again.
"When the little Cub Bear came up, he found a place just big enough for
his nose, and again he took a very long breath, and waited until the
logs began to come together again, then he dropped down and swam under
the logs. And as he was swimming he could feel the logs scrape his
back, and he knew that he was still underneath the great log raft.
"Finally, just as he had to breathe anyway, whether he breathed water
and drowned, or breathed air and lived, he saw a little light place
under the water where the light shone down between the logs and he swam
to the surface, and this time his whole head came out of the water,
and he got a deep breath of fresh air, and another and another, but he
couldn't get out. He stayed there, and pretty soon he found that the
logs were moving apart just a little bit at a time, so that his head
could come up farther and farther. And finally he got his whole back
out of the water. Then the logs moved so that the little bear was able
to crawl clear out of the water; and there he lay on the logs, tired
out, and it was a long, long time before he could move or walk or do
a thing. He was terribly frightened. But after a while, he managed to
walk clear to the shore on the logs, and he was very careful not to
fall in the water again. He walked home and lay down and went to sleep.
His papa came home after a while with something to eat for supper. He
shook the little bear, but the little bear was so tired he didn't wake
up. And so his papa let him sleep all night."
When the Papa Bear had finished telling his little cub the story about
the "Little-Cub-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa," he said: "Little
Cub Bear, what do you think of this story?"
And _our_ little Cub Bear scratched his head, and thought quite a long
while, and then he said, "I think it is best to try, try again, and not
to give up too easily, or you might get drowned."
The Papa Bear said, "I think so, too, little Cub Bear. Now, run to bed
and go to sleep."
So the little bear went to bed, and went to sleep. During the night
he seemed to be dreaming. He moved his paws just as though he was
swimming, and then he snorted like a whale, and took long, deep
breaths, and then he moved his paws again, and then he breathed deep
breaths again, and finally he sighed a great sigh, and slept quietly.
The little bear was dreaming about something? Can you guess what it was?
The next morning the little Cub Bear waked up early and wondered if
any other animal would come from the circus. He rubbed his eyes and
listened.
Just then he heard a sound of small hoofs pattering along the path. The
little Cub Bear ran to the mouth of the cave and looked down to see
what it was, and he saw something white. He said:
"I see something coming up the path. It looks something like a sheep,
but has long, straight horns, and it has a beard, and long, straight
hair."