"Well," said the parrot, "I lived in South America, where there were
many beautiful trees and many strange animals, and some of the largest
snakes in the whole world. The very largest snake that lives there is
called the boa constrictor. He is so large that he can swallow a deer
whole, and, of course, a poor little parrot, or a chicken, or a rabbit,
would not make a meal for him. It would hardly make a dessert.
"One day I was seated on the end of a long limb, nearly asleep, when
suddenly I looked up and saw a man pointing a gun at me, and all ready
to shoot me. I was so frightened that I could not move, and I expected
him to shoot any minute, but I thought that before I was killed, I
would take one last look at the blue sky that I was never to see
again--and what do you think I saw? A great snake, a boa constrictor,
coiled around the limb above me, and looking at me as though he wanted
to eat me. I was more frightened than ever. It seemed that his look
made me weak, sick and dizzy. Before I could move, the snake darted at
me like a flash, seized me and began to swallow me. In a moment I was
just like poor Jonah, only I was inside a snake instead of a whale.
Everything was dark and I could not think, except that I knew I would
die in a minute.
"Suddenly I heard a great 'Bang! Bang!' and the old snake began to
squirm and twist. Then in a moment I felt something cut through the
snake, and I was out in the bright sunshine, and the sun almost blinded
my eyes. You see, the man had shot the snake instead of shooting me, as
he had intended. He took me out and put me in a bag that he had with
him.
"Then he sent me to the circus, and I was there until the wreck
of the train. There I learned to talk like the men. I could say,
'Polly wants a cracker,' 'Come right in, ladies and gentlemen,' and
many other things. I learned to sneeze like a man, 'Ker-chou-ou-ou,
ker-chou-ou-ou,' and to snore like a man, 'Aw-hu, aw-h--u, a--w-h--u,'
and to cough, 'H-u-h, h-u-h,' and to whistle so that I could call a
dog, '---- --------,' and to cluck so that I could make the horses go,
and I learned to ride on a dog's back without sticking my claws in so
that it hurt him. But that is all my story."
"My," said the little Cub Bear, "what a narrow escape. We should never
lose hope. I'm glad that you escaped."
After the parrot had finished the story, the little Cub Bear went to
sleep. When he was sound asleep he suddenly began to breathe hard, as
though he could not get enough air, and he twisted around and seemed
to be smothering. Soon, though, he breathed a great, deep breath, and
then he was still and quiet. I think that he must have been dreaming?
Can you guess what he was dreaming about?
The little Cub Bear slept very late next morning, and when he got
up all of the animals were up, and were talking about the cave and
wondering whether any more of the animals would come that day.
While the animals were talking they heard two great noises, "Bang!
bang!" and they knew that the beaver was telling them that some animal
was coming.
The Cub Bear rushed to the mouth of the cave to see who it was, and he
said:
"I see two rats coming up the path. They are perfectly white. With the
two rats is a rat that is bigger than both of them. It has beautiful
fur."
Just then the Cub Bear looked up at the owl, to see why the owl did not
say "Who-o-o? who-o-o-o?" and just as he looked, he saw the old owl
start from his perch, with a great fluttering of wings, and pounce like
a flash down on the rats, and he caught one of the white rats in his
claws and flew back to his perch, and there he began to eat this poor
little white rat. But the other white rat and the muskrat came into the
cave.