MR. 'COON TELLS HOW HE CAME NEAR BEING A PART OF A MENAGERIE, AND HOW HE
ONCE TOLD A STORY TO MR. DOG
"YOU can tell about Mr. 'Coon, now--the story you didn't tell last
night, you know," and the Little Lady wriggles herself into a
comfortable corner just below the Story Teller's smoke, and looks deep
into a great cavern of glowing embers between the big old andirons,
where, in her fancy, she can picture the Hollow Tree people and their
friends.
"Why, yes, let me see--" says the Story Teller.
"Mr. Dog had just told about being at the menagerie, you know, and Mr.
'Coon was just going to tell how he came very near getting into a
menagerie himself."
"Oh yes, of course--well, then, all the Hollow Tree people, the 'Coon
and 'Possum and the Old Black Crow, and their friends who were visiting
them--Mr. Dog and Mr. Robin and Jack Rabbit and Mr. Turtle and Mr.
Squirrel--knocked the ashes out of their pipes and filled them up
fresh--"
"No, they had just done that."
"That's so, I forgot. Well, anyway, as soon as they got to smoking and
settled back around the fire again Mr. 'Coon told them his story, and I
guess we'll call it