One night the animals were all seated around in the beautiful cave,
wondering why the men had not come to take them back to the circus. And
they all said that if the men came they never would go. And the lion
said that if a man came to get him, he would just hit him one terrible
blow with his paw, and if that didn't kill him, he would just take the
man's head in his mouth and bite as hard as he could, and that would be
the end of the man. And then the tiger said that he would hide in the
old dead tree where the owl sat, and when the man came, he would jump
on him, and bite him, and scratch him until there was nothing left of
him. And then the leopard said that if the man came, he would hide in
another tree farther down, and he would wait and wait, and when the
man got right under the limb, he would jump on him and bite him, and
scratch him until nothing was left of him.
Then the kangaroo spoke up and said, "If the man gets after me, I will
run as fast as I can, and if he is on horseback, and gets near to me, I
will take my little kangaroo by the tail and throw him away out in the
weeds, where they can't find him at all. And then I will go faster and
faster."
The little Cub Bear said, "Suppose he should catch you in a corner,
where you couldn't get away, what would you do?"
The kangaroo said, "I would stand on my hind legs, and I would wait
until he came right up close, and when he got close to me, I would just
strike out with my sharp three-cornered claws, and if he got too near
they would cut him just like a knife, and I guess that man would think
that he didn't want any more kangaroo."
Then the rhinoceros said that if he saw a man coming, and couldn't run
away, he would get right up close to him and stamp on him and bite him,
and that he might use that long horn on the end of his nose to toss him
up in the air.
Old Jumbo said, "I would just take that man by one leg and throw him up
in the air so high that when he came down there wouldn't be anything
left of him; and if there was anything left, I would step on him and
run my tusks into him, and I guess he wouldn't want any more elephant."
Then the beaver said he would swim under the water so that nobody could
see him, and he would get right under his house, and come up through
the little hole that was in the bottom of his house under the water,
and hide, and they wouldn't know where he was. And the badger said
he would get in a hole and hide. And all the other animals told what
terrible things they would do to this man, when he came to try to take
them back to the circus, because they all said they would rather live
out in the open air under the trees, and in the beautiful cave, than to
be taken back to the circus.
And when they had all finished, the little bear said, "Well, I am glad
I am not the man, because I wouldn't want to be killed in so many
different ways."
While they were talking, they heard a "Bang! Bang!" and the little Cub
Bear ran to the mouth of the cave; and what do you think he saw?
A three-legged bear. He called the Papa Bear, and when he came to the
mouth of the cave, he saw that the poor bear looked tired out and very
thin, but soon he saw that it was Jimmie Bear, his own son that had
been away for so long a time from home. So he called the Mamma Bear and
the Circus Bear and said:
"Come quick! Come quick! Here is little Jimmie Bear, and he is coming
back home."
The old owl said, "Who-o-o? who-o-o?" just as if he had not heard that
it was little Jimmie Bear, but no one paid the slightest attention to
the owl, they were all so glad that Jimmie Bear was home again.
As soon as he came to the mouth of the cave, the Papa Bear gave him a
great big bear hug, and the Mamma Bear gave him a great big bear hug,
and the dear little Cub Bear gave him a great big bear hug, at least as
big a hug as a little bear could give, and that was much harder than
you can hug, you know.
Of course, the Papa Bear wanted to know all about Jimmie Bear, and
Jimmie said that he would tell him how he happened to go away from home
and to be gone so long.