"After the 'Little-Club-Foot-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa' had had
his nose split, had lost an ear, had nearly drowned three times, and
all of the toes had been cut off of one foot, the Papa Bear thought he
had better move away to some place where there were not so many things
to hurt little bears. So he moved a long, long way to a place where
there was a great coal mine.
"There the men would go down in the ground and dig coal from away under
the ground. The coal was to be burned in stoves to keep little boys
and girls warm in the winter time, for they do not sleep all winter as
little bears do. The coal was used also to cook what the little boys
and girls and their papas and their mammas ate--bread, and meat, and
pies, and cakes, and everything nice. The coal was used to make the
railway monsters go back and forth on the tracks, hauling men, and
circus trains, and freight trains. A railway monster could not go,
'T-o-o-t, t-o-o-t!' or 'C-h-u, c-h-u, c--h--u!' move, or do anything
without coal or coal-oil.
"The 'Little-Club-Foot-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa' thought that
the coal mine was very fine. He liked to watch the men as they went
down into the ground in the cages or elevators, and to watch them come
up at night with their little coffee-pot-like lamps, hanging in the
front of their caps to show them where to go in the dark. (You see that
it was always dark way down in the mine.)
"He liked to watch the engine as it went, 'Puff, puff, puff!' but this
engine did not move back and forth, like a locomotive. It was called
a stationary engine, because it stood in one place, and how do you
suppose it moved the men? One part of the engine was called a drum,
because it was round like a drum, and on this was a great steel rope,
like a thread on a great spool. As the drum or spool turned around and
round, the rope would be wound up or unwound, and the rope went up over
a great wheel and then hung down in the hole and the cage with the men
in it was on the end of the rope, and as the rope unwound, the cage
went down into the hole in the ground, and as it wound up the cage came
up to the top of the ground. But the man had to be very careful to stop
in time, or the men and cage and all would be wound around the drum and
smashed and killed.
"Now the Papa Bear was very careful to tell the little bear never,
never to touch the engine, or anything about it; but one day the
'Little Club-Foot-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa' went into the
engine room, when every one else had gone away to dinner. The
engineer had just stepped out. It was a cold day, and the little
bear enjoyed the warm room. The machinery was all so bright, some
looked like gold, and some looked like silver, and some parts were
a beautiful bright red, and others were a pretty green. After the
'Little-Club-Foot-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa' had been there
a while, he saw a sort of handle, and before he stopped to think, he
reached up and gave it a strong pull, to see if it would move. And what
do you think happened?
"The engine went 'Puff, puff, puff!' The wheels went around and around,
and the drums commenced to wind the rope up very, very fast. My! how
frightened the little Club-Foot-Bear was. He ran away as fast as he
could run, but he was scarcely out of the door before the cage came to
the top of the ground. But there was no one to stop the engine, and
so the cage went on up to the wheel, and there was a great crash, and
down came the wheel and cage. And on and on to the great drum, and then
there was the greatest tearing, and smashing, and breaking you ever
heard--'Bang! Bang! Smash! Smash! Crack! Crack! Crash! Crash!' and then
the noise stopped, for the beautiful engine was broken all to pieces,
and the 'Little-Club-Foot-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa' ran and
ran, and he didn't go home that night, nor the next night, for he was
ashamed to meet his papa.
"And all the time he was saying, 'Oh, why didn't I mind my papa?
The beautiful engine is all smashed, and the poor little donkeys
that haul the coal cars way down in the mine will starve to death
because no one can take them anything to eat.' But finally the
'Little-Club-Foot-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa' went home. He
found his papa feeling very sad, because he thought his little cub was
killed. The papa kissed him, and gave him a great bear hug, but he felt
very sorry, and so did the little cub."
When the Papa Bear had finished telling the story to his little cub,
the little bear said very sweetly, "Good night, papa dear; I am always
going to do just what you tell me to do." And the Papa Bear said, "I
hope so, little cub."
That night the little Cub Bear got up in his sleep and ran as fast as
he could, but he soon ran against his papa, who was sleeping there in
the cave. The Papa Bear saw that he had been running in his sleep, so
he took him and put him back in his bed. He must have been dreaming.
Can you guess what he was dreaming about?
The next morning, after the animals had their breakfast, the little
Cub Bear told them that the giraffe had said that there was a fine
cave back of the one where the bears lived. So the animals all agreed
that they would do the best they could, and all work together, to see
if they could not succeed in making a hole large enough for all the
animals to get through into the next cave, for you remember that the
hole was only large enough for the long-necked giraffe to get his head
through.
They went to work to make the hole larger. The mule kicked down rocks;
the goat butted down more rocks; the monkey, the bears, the Mamma Bear,
the Papa Bear, Susie Bear, the Circus Bear, and the little Cub Bear all
carried the rocks out of the cave. The elephant helped as well as he
could with his trunk, but the mouth of the cave was so small that he
could not get in to work. They all worked until they were tired, but
they could not get through into the cave although the hole was made
much larger.
That night, before they went to sleep, the little
Cub Bear teased his papa for a story about the
"Little-Club-Foot-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa," but the Papa Bear
was so tired, that he asked if some of the animals would not be willing
to tell the little Cub Bear a story. The parrot said that she had heard
the story told by the lion about his most narrow escape, and that she
would be willing to tell the story of her most narrow escape, if little
Cub Bear would promise not to ask his papa for another story that
night. Of course, the little Cub Bear promised, and so the parrot told
the story of her most narrow escape from death.