"You remember that the little bear that had his nose split by the great
circular saw lived with a man who owned a large saw-mill. For a long
time after the little bear had his nose sawed in two, he kept away from
the mill.
"He said to himself, 'I will never go in that mill to be hurt again,
and I will mind my papa.' For his papa had told him to keep out of the
saw-mill.
"But one day the little Split-Nosed Bear was playing with a dog that
belonged to the man who owned the saw-mill. They were having a fine
time, playing bear hunt. The little Split-Nosed Bear was playing the
bear, and the little dog was playing that he was a big bloodhound dog
running after the bear. The dog was really a very small dog, white,
with brown ears, and a stub tail. You see he lived in a saw-mill, too.
The little Split-Nosed Bear would growl, g-r-o-w-l, g-r-o-w-l, and the
little dog would run away as if he was terribly frightened. Then the
dog would run after the little Split-Nosed-Bear and bark, and he could
bark very, very loud for so small a dog. Bow! wow! wow! Bow! wow! wow!
Then the little Split-Nosed-Bear would run away just as if he was
terribly frightened. Then the little Split-Nosed-Bear would hide, and
it would take the dog a long time to find him.
"They were having a splendid time jumping around and running in and
out of the dark places, when the little Split-Nosed-Bear ran into the
saw-mill, for he was playing so hard that he forgot all about the saw
and what his papa had told him. The little dog was so close to the
little Split-Nosed-Bear that the little bear ran as fast as he could,
and jumped up on to an iron platform that looked just as if it were
made on purpose for a little bear to jump up on, and there the little
Split-Nosed-Bear stood looking down at the dog and g-r-o-w-l-i-n-g,
g-r-o-w-l-i-n-g, at him. The little dog jumped up as far as he
could and bit the Split-Nosed-Bear on his heel. Then the little
Split-Nosed-Bear whirled around like a flash, and what do you suppose
happened?
"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!
"And such growling and howling and squealing you never heard. The
little dog ran away as fast as he could, for he was really frightened
this time. 'K-i-yi! K-i-yi! K-i-yi!' he howled, as he ran out of the
door.
"The Papa Bear heard the noise. He was afraid that the Split-Nosed-Bear
was really killed this time, so he ran as fast as he could to the
little bear, and--what do you suppose he saw? There was the little
Split-Nosed-Bear rolling about on the floor, and up on the iron
platform where he had been playing was a little brown bear's ear. Oh!
how sorry the Papa Bear felt to think his poor little bear had lost his
ear, just because he had forgotten to do as his papa had told him to
do. You see the little Split-Nosed-Bear had been standing on the iron
platform of a band saw. What he thought was a strap whirling around two
wheels was really a saw. When the Split-Nosed-Bear had turned around
quickly, his ear had come against the saw, and it was sawed off quicker
than you could think, with a zip-p-p and a buz-z-z.
"The Papa Bear licked the stump of the ear and said, 'I am so sorry,
dear little Split-Nosed-Bear, that you forgot and did not mind your
papa.'
"As soon as he could talk the little Split-Nosed-Bear said, 'I'll
always mind my papa after this.'
"The Papa Bear put him to bed, but his ear hurt so that
he wakened several times in the night. After the little
Split-Nosed-Bear got well they always called him the little
'One-Eared-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa.'
"This is the end of my story about the little Split-Nosed-Bear," said
the Papa Bear, as he finished. "Now, little Cub Bear, run to bed in the
back of the cave, and go to sleep as quickly as you can."
The little Cub Bear ran quickly to bed, and went to sleep in the dark
alone, for he wanted to be a brave little bear. But after he had been
sleeping a while, he talked in his sleep and said, "I am always going
to mind my papa." Then he felt of his ear and m-o-a-n-e-d. Can you
guess what the little Cub Bear was dreaming about?
The next morning the little Cub Bear wakened very early, and as soon
as he had rubbed his eyes, he wondered if any of the animals would
come that day. He listened, the Circus Bear listened, and Susie Bear
listened. Pretty soon they heard something coming up the path, and
little Cub Bear rushed to the mouth of the den to see what it was, and
he said:
"I see a very strange animal coming up the path. It has the most
beautiful fur I ever saw, ever so much finer than bear's fur, and the
animal looks something like Mr. Badger, only its fur is all one color,
and it has the funniest tail, almost as big as a shovel, flat and
broad."