"You remember that the little bear had promised that he would not go
into the saw-mill at all; but one day the little One-Eared-Bear was
very lonesome. He wanted to go into the mill, but he remembered that
his papa had told him again, that very morning, that he must be sure
to keep away from the saw-mill. He thought a while, and then he said
to himself, 'Papa didn't tell me to keep out of the _planing-mill_. I
think that I will go in there.'
"Now the planing-mill was just as bad a place for little bears as the
saw-mill itself, and the little One-Eared-Bear knew this, but you see
he _wanted_ to go in, and so he went in any way. What do you suppose
happened to the One-Eared-Bear this time?
"He played for a while, and had a very fine time. He enjoyed it so much
that he said he would come again; he liked to see the wheels go round
and round with a whiz-z-z-z-z-z and whir-r-r-r. Just then the little
One-Eared-Bear saw a funny machine with a thing buzzing around that
looked like a roller such as a cook uses to roll out cookies with.
"The little bear said, 'I want to feel the wind that must be made by
this roller going so fast, but I'll not get close enough to touch the
thing, for I might get hurt, and I don't want to get hurt again.'
"So the little One-Eared-Bear reached out his paw very carefully,
closer and closer. Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Such howling and squealing you
never heard. What do you think had happened? The little One-Eared-Bear
had touched the sharp knives or planes that whirl round and round in
a planer. You see they go around so fast that you can not see them at
all, for they look just like a solid roller. Well, the poor little
One-Eared-Bear's foot was bleeding and looked terrible.
"The Papa Bear heard the little One-Eared-Bear's howling, and ran in to
the mill as fast as he could, and there he saw that the little one had
lost all the toes of one foot. The Papa Bear licked the little one's
foot, and did everything that he could to make his little bear feel
better, but he could not put back those poor little toes. The little
One-Eared-Bear was very, very sorry, too. Once he whimpered, and told
his papa that he was ever so sorry that he had not done as his papa had
told him to do, and said that he would never, never again do anything
that his papa told him not to do. But that didn't make his toes grow
again.
"The little One-Eared-Bear went to bed that night, but he didn't sleep
very well, because his foot hurt him so much. After a long while the
foot healed, so that the little bear could walk around, but he always
limped as long as he lived. He said that he could never again forget
to do as his papa told him to do, because every step that he took he
remembered that foot, and how he had lost all his toes by not doing
as his papa told him. After that they didn't call the little bear the
little One-Eared-Bear any more. They always called him--what do you
suppose? The Club-foot Bear."
When the little Cub Bear's papa had finished telling the story of the
little One-Eared-Bear, the little Cub Bear said, "I think that it is
best to do what papa says."
And the Papa Bear said, "That's right, dear little cub. Now run back
into the cave and go to sleep."
The little Cub Bear ran quickly to the back part of the cave, where
it was all dark, and went to bed on some roots and brush and was soon
asleep. When he was fast asleep, he talked in his sleep and said, "I
am always going to do what my papa tells me to do." And then he felt
of one of his paws and moaned, m-o-a-n-e-d, a sad little moan. Can you
guess what the little Cub Bear was dreaming about?
The next morning the beaver and the owl and the monkey were talking
together, and the beaver said:
"I am going down to live in that beautiful mud house that I made
yesterday in the lake. The house has several rooms inside, and the door
is under the water. I can swim out there, and then dive under the water
and come up inside the house. No one could find me in there. When I am
swimming around in the lake, or working on the dam, if I see any one
coming, I will jump into the water and hit the water two great slaps
with my tail."
And the monkey said, "Yes, I know how that sounds. That sounds just
like a gun."
The owl said as soon as he saw any one coming he would say, "Who-o-o?
who-o-o?"
And the monkey said that he thought he would go out every morning and
see if he couldn't find some of the animals and bring them up to the
cave, and see if they would like to live there in the cave, if it could
be made big enough for them.
So the beaver went down to the dam to work, and the monkey went out to
see if he could find any of the animals, and the old owl flew up into
the tree, and sat out on the end of a dead limb and waited.
Before very long the little Cub Bear heard, "Bang! Bang!" He knew the
beaver had seen some animal coming, and had struck the water with his
tail, so he ran to the mouth of the cave to see what it was. Soon he
heard a rustling noise and looked down the path.
"I see a large animal coming," he said. "He looks very fierce. He is as
large as a large bear, but he is yellow all over, and has long, shaggy
hair all over his head, and beautiful, large eyes, and a long tail,
with a tassel on the end of it."