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Bear Family at Home

[Pg 12] <h2>THE COMING OF THE GREAT BIG ANIMAL AND HOW HE HELPED THE BEAR FAMILY</h2> After the monkey had finished his story, Papa Bear and Mamma Bear and the little Cub Bear were talking about the animals in the circus, and the little Cub Bear said, "I wonder where all those animals are?" And the Circus Bear said, "Why, I think they are somewhere in the woods." Then the little Cub Bear said, "Maybe these animals will come to see us. I think it would be fine if we had a nice large cave, big enough for all the animals." The Mamma Bear said, "I think that would be nice," and the Papa Bear said, "That would be nice," and the little Circus Bear said, "I think that would be nice, too," and the Cub Bear said, "Maybe we can have a bigger cave, and have all the animals come and live with us." And just as he said it they heard a rustling sound, as though something was coming up the path. The little Cub Bear ran to the mouth of the cave and said: "There is a very strange looking animal coming up the path. It is the biggest animal I ever saw. It[Pg 13] has a nose that reaches clear to the ground, and it has a thumb and finger on the end of its nose, and every once in a while it stops and picks up a piece of straw with the thumb and finger and puts it into its great mouth. It has teeth that are so long that they stick way out of its mouth. The teeth are as large as a small tree, and look like great sharp horns growing out of its mouth, and its legs are as big around as a large stump. Its ears are as large as the mouth of this cave. It can move its nose around and scratch its back with the thumb and finger on the end of its nose. It has no hair at all except on the end of its tail." Just then the animal made a tremendous noise, a sort of a blowing and trumpeting sound. The Circus Bear said, "I know who that is; it is Jumbo, the elephant from our show. Ask him to come into the cave." Jumbo came to the mouth of the cave, and the little Cub Bear said to him very politely, "Come in, Mr. Jumbo!" But of course Jumbo could not come into the cave; it was too small. Mr. Jumbo said: "I would like to come into the cave and see the Circus Bear, because he was very good to me when we were in the circus together." So the little Cub Bear said, "Try and see if you can not make the mouth of the cave larger." Mr. Jumbo said, "I will try." So Mr. Jumbo commenced to dig with his great[Pg 14] tusks and pull with his great trunk at the dirt and stones and the roots that were in the way, until the mouth of the cave was ever so much larger than it had been, but it was still too small for the elephant to get in; so the Circus Bear came to the mouth of the cave and told Jumbo how glad he was to see him. Mr. Jumbo took hold of the Circus Bear's foot with his trunk and shook it, just like two people shaking hands. He was so glad to see the bear that had been so good to get things for him when he was in the circus, for there he was tied to a stake by a great chain. (That is the way they keep elephants with the circus, you know.) When Mr. Jumbo found that he could not get into the cave, he said to the Circus Bear and to all of the bears, "You know that the other animals are trying to find this cave, and as soon as they find it they will want to live here, and we ought to get the cave ready for them." Then the Papa Bear said, "What do you think that we ought to do? Do you think that we could make the cave larger for all of the animals?" Mr. Jumbo said, "Well, I think the first thing we ought to do is to go down to the wreck of the train and get some of the things that we want from the wreck, before the men come back and take everything away." All of the bears, and the monkey, thought that was the best thing they could do. They went down[Pg 15] right away, and found that all of the animals had gone, but there were lots of things that they wanted to take up to the cave. Mr. Jumbo found the beautiful howdah that the circus man used to place on his back. A howdah, you know, is that big saddle they put on an elephant's back for the people to ride in. It was painted with red and yellow paint, and had beautiful red plush cushions in it. It had a top to keep the sun off of any one that was riding in the howdah, on the elephant's back. The bears said that they could put the howdah on the elephant's back, but that they could not fasten it there, for they had no hands to buckle the straps with. Then the monkey said, "I can fasten the buckles with my hands, for you know that I have fingers just like a man, and a man buckles the straps by using his fingers." The Papa Bear and the Mamma Bear, Susie Bear, the Circus Bear, and the little Cub Bear lifted as hard as they could, but of course they could not lift the heavy howdah way up on Mr. Jumbo's back, for they were not tall enough, so Mr. Jumbo said, "I will kneel down, and then you will not have to lift so far, and I can help you with my trunk." So he knelt, and the bears all lifted at once, and Mr. Jumbo helped them with his trunk, and finally they got the howdah in the right place on his back. Then the monkey buckled the straps, and everything[Pg 16] was ready to take the howdah up to the cave, where the bears live. The Papa Bear said, "Let us fill the howdah with the things we want to take up to the cave." And they commenced to hunt for the things that they wanted, and what do you think they found? A great bass drum, so big that a little bear could get into it; and they also found a smaller drum, and a fife and some big brass horns that belonged to the band. Then they found some harness that was used for the beautiful black and white horses that ran the chariot races. They put all of these things into the howdah. When the howdah was nearly full, the little Cub Bear asked his papa if he couldn't ride in the howdah. Mr. Jumbo heard the little Cub Bear ask, and he said it would be all right, because he was very strong and could carry a great deal more than they had put on his back. When the little Cub Bear climbed into the howdah, Mr. Jumbo straightened out his front legs to get up, and the little Cub Bear nearly tipped out of the rear end of the howdah; and then he straightened his hind legs and stood up, and the little Cub Bear nearly fell out again. Just as they started up the hill, the monkey said, "You need a driver;" and he grasped Mr. Jumbo's tail and climbed up the tail just as if he were going up a tree; then he scampered along Mr. Jumbo's back, clear over the top of the howdah, until he sat[Pg 17] right on top of Mr. Jumbo's head, just as the drivers do, when they drive elephants. Then the monkey asked Mr. Jumbo to hand him a stick with a sharp hook in the end of it, that the drivers used to guide the elephants with. Mr. Jumbo reached over with his long nose that had a thumb and finger on the end of it, and picked up the stick and handed it up to the monkey, for he knew the monkey was not strong enough to hurt him much. <div class="center"><ANTIMG src="images/i018.jpg" alt="Mr. Jumbo reached over and picked up the stick" /></div> Mr. Jumbo reached over and picked up the stick. The monkey said very proudly, "Get up, Mr. Jumbo," and away they went to the bears' cave. When they got there, Mr. Jumbo knelt down, and the little bear nearly tumbled out again, but he jumped out all right, and they took the howdah off Mr. Jumbo's back. The bears and monkey took everything out of the howdah and carried it into the cave. Then the animals all went back again to the place where the train was wrecked, to see if there was anything else they could get. This time they found a chariot, that had two wheels, and it was all covered with gilt and with angels made of gold, and it was very, very beautiful. Mr. Jumbo said that if the bears and the monkey could hitch him to the chariot, they could fill it with things and take them up to the den. So they looked and looked, and finally found a harness, that was used for the elephant. The monkey and the bears harnessed Mr. Jumbo to the chariot, and then they looked for things to put into the chariot. [Pg 18] The monkey found the clothes that he used to wear in the circus—a pair of red trousers, with a green coat, and a little red hat with a black feather in it, and he put them in the chariot. Mr. Jumbo found a bale of hay, but they all said that would have to wait until the next time, because there would not be room in the chariot for this bale of hay and the other things they wanted to take up. They found the little drum that the monkey used to play on in the circus, and put that in the chariot. Then they found a lot of biscuits that the dog in the circus had to eat, and they put these in the chariot, too. And soon the chariot was full. The little Cub Bear thought there was just room enough for him to ride in the chariot, and he asked Mr. Jumbo if he could ride; and as soon as Mr. Jumbo said "Yes," he climbed in on top of the things in the chariot, and they all started up to the cave. They had not gone very far before the monkey got hold of Mr. Jumbo's tail and scampered up to his place on top of Mr. Jumbo's head. They soon reached the cave, and there they unhitched Mr. Jumbo and left the chariot and all the things in it, and went back to the train wreck, because they knew that there was another chariot there even more beautiful than this one; and when they reached the wreck again, Mr. Jumbo went over to where the big bale of hay was; and how do you suppose he carried the bale of hay? [Pg 19] He knelt down, and he ran his great teeth, called tusks, under the bale of hay, then he wrapped his long nose, or trunk, as it is called, around the bale, and stood up and carried the hay over and put it in the chariot. Then he went for two more bales in the same way, and placed them in the chariot. The monkey then hitched Mr. Jumbo to the chariot, and they again started up the hill. In this way they hauled two or three loads of hay, and then they unhitched Mr. Jumbo and left the chariot up near the bears' cave. Then the bears, the monkey, and the elephant went back to the wreck, and each one carried everything he could. The bears got their arms full, and walked all the way up to the den on their hind legs. The monkey got his little arms full—of what do you suppose? Bags of roasted peanuts. The elephant carried up three great sacks filled with barley. They worked so hard that it took them nearly all day. That night as they were wondering whether any of the animals would find the cave in the dark, they suddenly heard the flapping of wings. The little Cub Bear ran at once to the mouth of the cave to see what it was. "Oh! Circus Bear," he said, "here is a great bird. He has great big eyes as large as marbles. He has the funniest pointed ears. He has a hook nose; he has great claws, and he is as big as half a dozen doves." [Pg 20] The Circus Bear said, "That is Mr. Owl. Ask him to come in." So the little Cub Bear said to the owl very politely, "Come in, Mr. Owl," and the owl came into the den. He blinked his great eyes, and looked solemn and wise, and the little Cub Bear said, "Mr. Owl, we are going to build a house, so that all the animals can come to live with us if they want to, and we want to know if you can help us to build the house." And Mr. Owl said, very solemnly, "I would be very glad to help you, because when we lived in the circus, your brother was very good to me, and I should like to do anything I can to help you." The little Cub Bear said, "What can you do?" And the owl said, "If you want me to I can be door-keeper, and when any one comes I can ask who he is, because, you know, I can say, 'Who-o-o? who-o-o?'" The little Cub Bear danced up and down, and said that would be very fine. And he said, "I am very glad that my brother was kind to you when you were in the circus." So the owl went out to the mouth of the den, and there was a great big tree, and away up near the top of the tree was a long limb sticking out like an arm, and the owl flew up to this limb and sat there, looking very solemn and very wise, as all owls do, blinking his great eyes. And there he sat day and night,[Pg 21] winking and blinking his great eyes, so solemn and wise, keeping watch for the bears and the animals, just like a soldier sentry standing guard at the General's tent. Now the little Cub Bear, like all little cubs, was very fond of stories, and was always teasing the Papa Bear to tell him stories about little bears, and all sorts of things. The little bear liked the stories that his papa told him about the "Little-Cub-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa." That night after the owl had flown up to the limb of the dead tree, the little fellow said, "Papa, please tell me another story about the 'Little-Cub-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his papa.'" The Papa Bear said, "Little one, you are always asking me to tell you stories; it is hard for me to think of so many, but if you want me to do so, I will tell you of: <hr /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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