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Nero, the Circus Lion

<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2><h3>NERO SCARES A BOY</h3> Nero, the circus lion, who was much larger now than when he had been caught in a jungle trap, was very much surprised at what Don, the runaway dog told him. At first the lion boy could hardly believe that Don was not one of the circus animals. But as the lion, looking out through the bars of his cage, saw Don running about and none of the red-coated circus men trying to catch him, he said: "Well, well! it must be true. He isn't a circus animal at all." And then to Don the lion said: "How do you happen to know Dido, the dancing bear?" "Well, that's a long story," answered Don. "You can read all about me, and how I ran away, if you want to, for it's all in a book a man wrote about me." "Thank you," returned Nero. "But I can't read, and I don't know what a book is, anyhow." "Well, I can't read, either," said Don. "But I know a book when I see one. The little boy[Pg 88] in the house where I live goes to school, and he has books. Sometimes I carry them home for him in my mouth. So I know a book when I see one. "But as long as you can't read about me I'll just tell you that in the book the man wrote about how I ran away, got locked in a freight car, how I went to a strange city and traveled about the country. It was then I met Dido, the dancing bear." "Yes, that's right," growled Dido, licking his paws, for some one had thrown him a sugared popcorn ball, and some of the sweet, sticky stuff was still on the bear's paws. Dido wanted to get all of it off. "It was then you met me, Don," went on the dancing bear. "We certainly had some fine times together!" "Indeed we did!" replied the runaway dog, though I should not call him that any more, as he had run back again, as you all know, and was now living in a nice home. "And when I was down at the butcher shop this morning and saw the circus wagons come from the railroad yard," went on Don, "I thought maybe I'd see you again, Dido. So I came here as soon as I could." "I'm glad you did," said the bear. "This lion chap is named Nero. He hasn't been out of the jungle very long." [Pg 89]"I'm glad to meet you, Nero," barked Don. "I always like circus animals." "I am glad you do," growled Nero, in his most jolly voice. "I think I shall like you, too, Don, though I don't know much about dogs. I never saw any in the jungle." And this was true, for though there are some dogs in Africa, they are mostly in cities or the towns where the native black men live. There may be some wild dogs in the jungle, but Nero never saw any, and the nearest he ever came to noticing animals like a dog were the black-backed jackals. These are animals, almost like a dog, and, in fact, are something like the Azara dogs of South America, and now Nero asked Don if he was a jackal. But the runaway dog soon told the circus lion a different story, and then they were friends. Don and Dido had a nice visit together in the circus tent before the show began. Don had simply slipped under the side of the tent to get in. If any of the circus men saw him they did not mind, for dogs often come around where circus shows are given. Perhaps they like to see the elephants and other strange animals, as much as the boys and girls do. After awhile great crowds of people began coming into the circus tent. The band played music in another tent, next door, and it was[Pg 90] there that the men and women performers would do their tricks—riding on the backs of galloping horses, leaping about on trapezes, jumping over the backs of elephants and so on. Nero paced back and forth in his cage, wondering what was going to happen, for this was his first day of real life in the circus. All the other days had been just getting ready for the summer shows. He had liked the parade through the city streets, when the elephants, horses, and camels wore such bright and gaily colored blankets. Now something else was going to happen. The animal tent, in which stood Nero's cage and that of the other jungle folk, was soon filled with boys and girls and their fathers and mothers, all of whom had come to the circus. They moved from cage to cage, stopping to toss popcorn balls to Dido, the dancing bear, and feed peanuts to Tum Tum, the jolly elephant, and to the friends of Mappo and some of the other merry monkeys. Coming to the cage of the big lion, the boys and girls would stop and look in, and perhaps some one would say: "Oh, isn't he big and fierce! I wouldn't want to go into his cage!" And perhaps some one else would answer: "Pooh! I guess he's a trained lion! Maybe[Pg 91] he does tricks! When I grow up I'm going to be a lion tamer." Of course Nero did not understand any of this talk, but he liked to look at the boys and girls, and he was not nearly as wild as he had been when he lived in the jungle. Nero was really quite tame, and he liked his trainer very much, for the man was kind to Nero. Pretty soon all the people—even the boys and girls—went out of the animal tent, leaving the animals almost alone. "Where have they gone?" asked Nero of Dido. "Oh, into the other tent, where the music is playing and where the performance is going on. You'll soon be going in there too, and so shall I." "What for?" asked Nero. "To do your tricks," answered the bear. "That is why you were taught to do them, just as I was taught to dance—so we can make fun and jolly times for the boys and girls. Wait, and you'll see." And, surely enough, a little later Nero's cage was moved into the larger tent, next to the one where the animals were kept. And then Nero's trainer came and spoke to him. "Well, Nero," said the man, "now we're going to see if you can do your tricks before a whole crowd, as nicely as you did them in the barn at Bridgeport. Don't grow excited. You know[Pg 92] I'm a friend of yours. Now do your best, and the boys and girls will laugh and clap their hands." So the keeper opened the door of the lion's cage and went inside. As soon as he did several of the boys and girls, and the big folks too, gasped, and some said: "Oh, isn't that terrible! I wouldn't go into the cage of a real, live lion for anything!" You see they didn't know Nero was quite tame, and that the jungle beast liked the man who fed him and was kind to him. "Now do your tricks, Nero!" said the trainer. And Nero did. He jumped over a stick; he stood up on his hind legs and, putting his paws on the trainer's shoulders, made believe to kiss the man, though of course he only touched the man's cheek with his cold, damp nose, just as, sometimes, your dog puts his nose against your cheek to show how much he likes you; next Nero stood up on a sort of upside-down washtub, or pedestal; and after that he jumped through a hoop covered with paper. "And now, ladies and gentlemen," said the trainer, speaking to the circus crowd, "I will do the best trick of all. I will have Nero, my pet lion, open his mouth as wide as he can, and I will put my head inside!" [Pg 93]And then, all of a sudden, some little boy in the crowd piped up and cried out: "Oh, Mister, don't do that! He might bite your head off!" Everybody laughed at that, even Nero's trainer, who said: "Oh, I'm not afraid. Nero is a good lion and wouldn't bite me. Come on now, old fellow, for the last and best trick of all!" cried the man, and he cracked his whip, though of course he did not strike Nero with it. The circus lion knew just what to do, for he had been trained in this trick. I didn't say anything about it before, because I was saving it as a surprise for you. "Open your mouth!" suddenly cried the trainer, and Nero opened his jaws as wide as he could. "Oh! Ah! Look!" cried the people, as they saw his big, red tongue and the white, sharp teeth. "Now!" cried the trainer, and into the lion's mouth he popped his head. Everybody in the big circus tent was quiet for a moment, and then all the crowd cried out, and clapped their hands and stamped their shoes on the wooden steps beneath their feet. "There, you see how tame my lion is!" cried[Pg 94] the man, as he pulled his head from Nero's mouth, and bowed to the people, who were still clapping and whistling. "You are a good lion!" said the trainer to Nero in a low voice. "Now you shall have a nice piece of meat, a sweet bone to gnaw, and a good drink of water. You did your first tricks very well indeed." Nero did not quite know what it was all about, but he felt that he had done well. It did not hurt him to open his mouth and let the man put in his head, but it tickled the lion's tongue a little, so that Nero wanted to sneeze. And that wouldn't have been a good thing for the trainer. However Nero didn't do it. "What makes the people make so much noise?" asked Nero of Dido, the dancing bear, who came into the larger tent just then. "Oh, that's because they liked your tricks," was the answer. "They always clap and stamp their feet when anything pleases them. They do that when I dance on the platform on Tum Tum's back." And, surely enough, the circus crowds did. They liked the tricks of Dido, the dancing bear, as much as they had those of Nero. After a while Nero's cage was wheeled back into the tent where the wagons of the other animals were kept, and Nero was given some[Pg 95]thing good to eat, and fresh water to drink. Then he felt happy and fell asleep. So Nero began his circus life, and he kept it up all that summer. He traveled about from place to place, and soon became used to doing his tricks, having the man put his head into his mouth and seeing the crowds show their surprise. One day, when the show was being given in a large city, there was a big crowd in the animal tent. Near Nero's cage were some boys, and I am sorry to say they were not all kind boys, though perhaps they didn't know any better. One of the boys had a rotten apple in his hand and he said to another lad: "I'm going to give this rotten apple to one of the elephants and see what a funny face he makes when he chews it!" "That'll be lots of fun," said the second boy. I don't, myself, call that fun. It isn't fair to fool animals when you know so much more than they do. However we'll see what happened. Nero saw the boys standing near his cage, and he heard them talking, though he did not, of course, know what they were saying. But he could smell the rotten apple. Often, in the jungle, he had smelled bad fruit, and he knew that the monkeys would not eat it. [Pg 96]"If bad fruit isn't good for monkeys it isn't good for elephants," thought Nero, as he saw the boy hold out the rotten apple toward Tum Tum, the jolly elephant. Tum Tum reached out his trunk to take what he thought was something good, but Nero roared, in animal language, of course: "Don't take that apple, Tum Tum! It's bad!" And then Nero sprang against the bars of his cage, and, reaching out a paw, with its long, sharp claws, made a grab for the boy's arm as he held out the rotten apple. "Look out! The lion's going to bite you!" cried a man to the boy, and the boy was so frightened that he gave a howl and dropped the rotten apple and ran through the crowd, knocking to the right and left every one in his way. Nero roared again and dashed against the bars of his cage, and while women and children screamed and men shouted, Nero's keeper and some of the other animal men ran up to see what the matter was. There was great excitement in the circus tent. Contents <hr /> [Pg 97] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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