had been up in the Old Pasture when the pail had caught over his head
just as Farmer Brown's boy had yelled at him. Then to have the handle of
the pail slip down around his neck so that he couldn't get rid of the
pail but had to take it with him as he ran, was making a bad matter
worse. Now to have all his neighbors of the Green Forest see him in such
a fix and make fun of him, was more than he could stand. He felt
humiliated. That is just another way of saying shamed. Yes, Sir, Buster
felt that he was shamed in the eyes of his neighbors, and he wanted
nothing so much as to get away by himself, where no one could see him,
and try to get rid of that dreadful pail. But Buster is so big that it
is not easy for him to find a hiding place. So, when he reached the
Green Forest, he kept right on to the deepest, darkest, most lonesome
part and crept under the thickest hemlock-tree he could find.
But it was of no use. The sharp eyes of Sammy Jay and Blacky the Crow
saw him. They actually flew into the very tree under which he was
hiding, and how they did scream! Pretty soon Ol' Mistah Buzzard came
dropping down out of the blue, blue sky and took a seat on a convenient
dead tree, where he could see all that went on. Ol' Mistah Buzzard began
to grin as soon as he saw that tin pail on Buster's neck. Then came
others,--Redtail the Hawk, Scrapper the Kingbird, Redwing the Blackbird,
Drummer the Woodpecker, Welcome Robin, Tommy Tit the Chickadee, Jenny
Wren, Redeye the Vireo, and ever so many more. They came from the Old
Orchard, the Green Meadows, and even down by the Smiling Pool, for the
voices of Sammy Jay and Blacky the Crow carried far, and at the sound of
them everybody hurried over, sure that something exciting was going on.
Presently Buster heard light footsteps, and peeping out, he saw Billy
Mink and Peter Rabbit and Jumper the Hare and Prickly Porky and Reddy
Fox and Jimmy Skunk. Even timid little Whitefoot the Wood Mouse was
where he could peer out and see without being seen. Of course, Chatterer
the Red Squirrel and Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel were there. There they
all sat in a great circle around him, each where he felt safe, but where
he could see, and every one of them laughing and making fun of Buster.
"Thief, thief, thief!" screamed Sammy until his throat was sore. The
worst of it was Buster knew that everybody knew that it was true. That
awful pail was proof of it.
"I wish I never had thought of berries," growled Buster to himself.
XXII
BUSTER BEAR HAS A FIT OF TEMPER
A temper is a bad, bad thing
When once it gets away.
There's nothing quite at all like it
To spoil a pleasant day.
Buster Bear was in a terrible temper. Yes, Sir, Buster Bear was having
the worst fit of temper ever seen in the Green Forest. And the worst
part of it all was that all his neighbors of the Green Forest and a
whole lot from the Green Meadows and the Smiling Pool were also there to
see it. It is bad enough to give way to temper when you are all alone,
and there is no one to watch you, but when you let temper get the best
of you right where others see you, oh, dear, dear, it certainly is a
sorry sight.
Now ordinarily Buster is one of the most good-natured persons in the
world. It takes a great deal to rouse his temper. He isn't one tenth so
quick tempered as Chatterer the Red Squirrel, or Sammy Jay, or Reddy
Fox. But when his temper is aroused and gets away from him, then watch
out! It seemed to Buster that he had had all that he could stand that
day and a little more. First had come the fright back there in the Old
Pasture. Then the pail had slipped down behind his ears and held fast,
so he had run all the way to the Green Forest with it hanging about his
neck. This was bad enough, for he knew just how funny he must look, and
besides, it was very uncomfortable. But to have Sammy Jay call everybody
within hearing to come and see him was more than he could stand. It
seemed to Buster as if everybody who lives in the Green Forest, on the
Green Meadows, or around the Smiling Brook, was sitting around his
hiding place, laughing and making fun of him. It was more than any
self-respecting Bear could stand.
With a roar of anger Buster Bear charged out of his hiding place. He
rushed this way and that way! He roared with all his might! He was very
terrible to see. Those who could fly, flew. Those who could climb,
climbed. And those who were swift of foot, ran. A few who could neither
fly nor climb nor run fast, hid and lay shaking and trembling for fear
that Buster would find them. In less time than it takes to tell about
it, Buster was alone. At least, he couldn't see any one.
[Illustration: Those who could fly, flew. Those who could climb,
climbed. _Page 112._]
Then he vented his temper on the tin pail. He cuffed at it and pulled at
it, all the time growling angrily. He lay down and clawed at it with his
hind feet. At last the handle broke, and he was free! He shook himself.
Then he jumped on the helpless pail. With a blow of a big paw he sent it
clattering against a tree. He tried to bite it. Then he once more fell
to knocking it this way and that way, until it was pounded flat, and no
one would ever have guessed that it had once been a pail.
Then, and not till then, did Buster recover his usual good nature.
Little by little, as he thought it all over, a look of shame crept into
his face. "I--I guess it wasn't the fault of that thing. I ought to have
known enough to keep my head out of it," he said slowly and
thoughtfully.
"You got no more than you deserve for stealing Farmer Brown's boy's
berries," said Sammy Jay, who had come back and was looking on from the
top of a tree. "You ought to know by this time that no good comes of
stealing."
Buster Bear looked up and grinned, and there was a twinkle in his eyes.
"You ought to know, Sammy Jay," said he. "I hope you'll always remember
it."
"Thief, thief, thief!" screamed Sammy, and flew away.
XXIII
FARMER BROWN'S BOY LUNCHES ON BERRIES
When things go wrong in spite of you
To smile's the best thing you can do--
To smile and say, "I'm mighty glad
They are no worse; they're not so bad!"
That is what Farmer Brown's boy said when he found that Buster Bear had
stolen the berries he had worked so hard to pick and then had run off
with the pail. You see, Farmer Brown's boy is learning to be something
of a philosopher, one of those people who accept bad things cheerfully
and right away see how they are better than they might have been. When
he had first heard some one in the bushes where he had hidden his pail
of berries, he had been very sure that it was one of the cows or young
cattle who live in the Old Pasture during the summer. He had been afraid
that they might stupidly kick over the pail and spill the berries, and
he had hurried to drive whoever it was away. It hadn't entered his head
that it could be anybody who would eat those berries.
When he had yelled and Buster Bear had suddenly appeared, struggling to
get off the pail which had caught over his head, Farmer Brown's boy had
been too frightened to even move. Then he had seen Buster tear away
through the brush even more frightened than he was, and right away his
courage had begun to come back.
"If he is so afraid of me, I guess I needn't be afraid of him," said
he. "I've lost my berries, but it is worth it to find out that he is
afraid of me. There are plenty more on the bushes, and all I've got to
do is to pick them. It might be worse."
He walked over to the place where the pail had been, and then he
remembered that when Buster ran away he had carried the pail with him,
hanging about his neck. He whistled. It was a comical little whistle of
chagrin as he realized that he had nothing in which to put more berries,
even if he picked them. "It's worse than I thought," cried he. "That
bear has cheated me out of that berry pie my mother promised me." Then
he began to laugh, as he thought of how funny Buster Bear had looked
with the pail about his neck, and then because, you know he is learning
to be a philosopher, he once more repeated, "It might have been worse.
Yes, indeed, it might have been worse. That bear might have tried to eat
me instead of the berries. I guess I'll go eat that lunch I left back by
the spring, and then I'll go home. I can pick berries some other day."
Chuckling happily over Buster Bear's great fright, Farmer Brown's boy
tramped back to the spring where he had left two thick sandwiches on a
flat stone when he started to save his pail of berries. "My, but those
sandwiches will taste good," thought he. "I'm glad they are big and
thick. I never was hungrier in my life. Hello!" This he exclaimed right
out loud, for he had just come in sight of the flat stone where the
sandwiches should have been, and they were not there. No, Sir, there
wasn't so much as a crumb left of those two thick sandwiches. You see,
Old Man Coyote had found them and gobbled them up while Farmer Brown's
boy was away.
But Farmer Brown's boy didn't know anything about Old Man Coyote. He
rubbed his eyes and stared everywhere, even up in the trees, as if he
thought those sandwiches might be hanging up there. They had disappeared
as completely as if they never had been, and Old Man Coyote had taken
care to leave no trace of his visit. Farmer Brown's boy gaped foolishly
this way and that way. Then, instead of growing angry, a slow smile
stole over his freckled face. "I guess some one else was hungry too," he
muttered. "Wonder who it was? Guess this Old Pasture is no place for me
to-day. I'll fill up on berries and then I'll go home."
So Farmer Brown's boy made his lunch on blueberries and then rather
sheepishly he started for home to tell of all the strange things that
had happened to him in the Old Pasture. Two or three times, as he
trudged along, he stopped to scratch his head thoughtfully. "I guess,"
said he at last, "that I'm not so smart as I thought I was, and I've got
a lot to learn yet."
This is the end of the adventures of Buster Bear in this book
because--guess why. Because Old Mr. Toad insists that I must write a
book about his adventures, and Old Mr. Toad is such a good friend of all
of us that I am going to do it.
THE END
* * * * *
THE ADVENTURES OF
BUSTER BEAR
BOOKS BY
THORNTON W. BURGESS
* * * * *
THE BEDTIME STORY-BOOKS
1. THE ADVENTURES OF REDDY FOX
2. THE ADVENTURES OF JOHNNY CHUCK
3. THE ADVENTURES OF PETER COTTONTAIL
4. THE ADVENTURES OF UNC' BILLY POSSUM
5. THE ADVENTURES OF MR. MOCKER
6. THE ADVENTURES OF JERRY MUSKRAT
7. THE ADVENTURES OF DANNY MEADOW MOUSE
8. THE ADVENTURES OF GRANDFATHER FROG
9. THE ADVENTURES OF CHATTERER, THE RED SQUIRREL
10. THE ADVENTURES OF SAMMY JAY
11. THE ADVENTURES OF BUSTER BEAR
12. THE ADVENTURES OF OLD MR. TOAD
13. THE ADVENTURES OF PRICKLY PORKY
14. THE ADVENTURES OF OLD MAN COYOTE
15. THE ADVENTURES OF PADDY THE BEAVER
16. THE ADVENTURES OF POOR MRS. QUACK
17. THE ADVENTURES OF BOBBY COON
18. THE ADVENTURES OF JIMMY SKUNK
19. THE ADVENTURES OF BOB WHITE
20. THE ADVENTURES OF OL' MISTAH BUZZARD
* * * * *
MOTHER WEST WIND SERIES
1. OLD MOTHER WEST WIND
2. MOTHER WEST WIND'S CHILDREN
3. MOTHER WEST WIND'S ANIMAL FRIENDS
4. MOTHER WEST WIND'S NEIGHBORS
5. MOTHER WEST WIND "WHY" STORIES
6. MOTHER WEST WIND "HOW" STORIES
7. MOTHER WEST WIND "WHEN" STORIES
8. MOTHER WEST WIND "WHERE" STORIES
* * * * *
GREEN MEADOW SERIES
1. HAPPY JACK
2. MRS. PETER RABBIT
3. BOWSER THE HOUND
* * * * *
THE BURGESS BIRD BOOK
FOR CHILDREN
* * * * *