"You see, I am a very small bird, and I live in a very peculiar
way. Almost all day I spend my time in the open mouth of the great
alligators as they lie on the shore of the river, basking in the sun.
You see, they keep their mouths open for me, so that I can pick up the
little flies and bugs that torment them very much. These I eat, and so
both the alligator and I are pleased. The alligator is very careful not
to hurt me, for, you see, if he should close that great mouth it would
kill me.
"Well, one day the alligator went to sleep as I was hopping about on
his great tongue, and he dreamed that he was in the water swimming
after a big fish. In his dream he thought he was near the fish and just
going to catch it, and 'Snap!' down came his great upper jaw right on
top of the poor little bird in his mouth. I expect you wonder why I was
not killed. Well, the alligator had a hole in the roof of his mouth
just large enough for me to get through, and it happened that I was
right under it, when his mouth closed, so I got out through the hole."
"How did he happen to have such a hole in his mouth? Do all alligators
have such holes in the roof of their mouths?" said the little Cub Bear.
"No," replied the bird, "but a man once tried to catch this alligator.
He took a stick that was sharp at both ends, and nearly as big around
and as long as his forearm, and when the great alligator swam after him
to catch and eat him up, the man turned around and thrust his arm with
the pointed stick into the alligator's mouth. As the alligator's jaws
came together with a snap, the stick went clear through his upper jaw,
and although the alligator got away, and got the stick out, the hole
was always there, and that hole saved my life."
"Well," said the Cub Bear, "I think I'd rather live in a safer place
than an alligator's mouth."
That night the little Cub Bear slept very soundly, and was out early
next morning, wondering whether any more animals would come. Soon he
heard a noise, as if some kind of an animal was coming up the path, but
he could not see what it was.
Suddenly he said, "I see the strangest thing; it looks like a bird's
head on a long pole. The eyes are as big as large marbles; the long
pole-like neck seems to have hair on it. The bill is much bigger than a
goose's bill."
Just then its body came into sight.
"It has a beautiful tail of black and white feathers, and small wings
with beautiful feathers. Its neck is as long as a yard stick, and its
legs are covered with great scales, and are as long as its neck."
Just then this strange bird or animal saw an ear of corn lying in the
path, and lowered its queer head to the ground, and began to swallow
it. The ear of corn was larger around than the animal's neck, but it
swallowed the ear whole without chewing it. The little Cub Bear was too
much surprised to say anything, so he watched and could see the ear of
corn going down the throat of this queer animal. The skin of the neck
stretched so that the ear of corn could go down. It started down in the
front of the neck, and then twisted around to the back of the neck and
disappeared into the top of its body.
The owl called out, "Who-o-o-o? who-o-o-o?" but this strange animal did
not reply. The little Cub Bear told the Circus Bear about the corn, and
he said:
"Oh, I know who that is; that is the ostrich."
So the little Cub Bear said to him very politely, "Come in, Mr.
Ostrich. We have a beautiful cave, and we would like to have you live
with us."
But the ostrich said that he would stay a while, but that he liked to
lie out-of-doors, and that if any one came to capture him he would hide
his head behind a bush, or in the sand, and he would be all right.
"But," said the little Cub Bear, "they could see your great body, and
so could capture you."