"Very well," said the teacher. "Put away your books, pencils and papers and we will take a walk."
So, in a little while, all the animal children were following the owl teacher out into the woods, where the leaves were beginning to turn brown and yellow and crimson, all ready to fall off, so the trees could go to sleep during the long, cold winter. Johnny Bushytail felt so good that he sang this song:
"Oh, it"s fine to be in the woody woods, When you"re done with school and books.
When the brown leaves rustle overhead, And kiss the babbling brooks.
"The spicy wind blows full and free, And the nuts come rattling down On green moss, where the great trees grow, With their golden leaves and brown."
"Indeed, it is fine," said the owl teacher. "Now scatter about, and see who can find the first nuts. But don"t get lost."
Of course Billie and Johnnie Bushytail, the squirrels, at once scrambled up the trees, and, naturally, they found the first nuts, but they kindly shared them with the others. Then Sammie and Susie Littletail went off one way, and Buddy and Brighteyes Pigg in another direction, and Lulu and Alice and Jimmie Wibblewobble, the duck children, in still another.
And Peetie and Jackie Bow Wow, the puppy dogs, took a path right through the bramble bushes, looking for b.u.t.ternuts to spread on their bread, I guess.
"Come on," said Jacko to Jumpo, as the two monkey boys walked side by side, "we"ll go down by the little brook. I think there is a hickory nut tree there."
"Are you sure there are no wolves or foxes there?" asked the green monkey.
"I don"t believe there are any," said the red monkey. "We"ll get a lot of nuts and give the others some."
So away they went through the forest, sometimes hanging by their tails from the low branches, sometimes turning somersaults and sometimes swinging by their feet, for they could hold on by their toes as well as you can by your fingers.
"Oh, there"s a nut tree!" suddenly exclaimed Jacko, as they got down by the little brook.
"And see all the nuts!" cried Jumpo, for the ground was just covered with them. Then the monkey boys began filling their pockets.
They had almost as many nuts as they could carry, and they were thinking of going back to join the others, for they could hear the teacher calling to the pupils some distance off in the woods. And then, all of a sudden, Jacko looked toward a big stump, and he exclaimed in a whisper to Jumpo:
"Look at that big bear!"
"Where?" asked Jumpo, getting close to his red brother.
"There," whispered Jacko again, and he pointed toward the stump. Surely enough, there was a bear, wearing a blue cap and a pink coat. And, oh, what a big fellow he was!
"He hasn"t seen us," said Jumpo, in a low voice. "Perhaps we can get softly away before he does see us, and then we can tell the others to hurry out of the woods. Move very softly, Jacko."
"I will," whispered the red monkey, and he tried to, but all at once some hickory nuts fell out of his pocket and they made quite a noise as they hit a flat stone.
"Ha! Who"s there?" asked the bear quickly, and he looked up, straight at the two monkeys. Then they could see that he had been reading a big book. "Who"s there?" cried the bear again, in a sort of savage voice.
"If--if you please, we are here," said Jacko. There was no use in saying they weren"t there, for the bear could see them perfectly plain.
"All right; I am coming over to you," went on the s.h.a.ggy creature, closing his book.
"Oh, oh, please don"t come!" begged Jacko. "We can see you very well from here."
"Oh! If he comes, he"ll eat us, and then he"ll hear the others shouting, and he"ll go over and eat them and our teacher also," whispered Jumpo.
"Oh, if we could only send them some word to warn them to run away!"
"Why shouldn"t I come over to you?" asked the bear. "Of course, I"m coming. Watch me."
And with that he stood up on his head, and walked on his front paws and in that way he quickly came to where Jacko and Jumpo were standing.
"I never saw a bear walk that way before," said the red monkey, surprised like.
"Perhaps he is a crazy bear?" suggested Jumpo. "That kind is very savage. Oh, I know he"ll eat us. Poor teacher, too!"
By this time the bear was close to the monkeys.
"I am very pleased to see you," he said in a growlery voice, and he turned a somersault, and stood on his left hind leg. Then he took off his blue cap in his claws, made a low bow, and began to dance around Jacko and Jumpo, at the same time humming a tune.
"How"s this?" asked the bear, as he stood on the end of his stubby tail, and opened his mouth real wide. "I call that a right clever trick myself, but what do you think of it?"
"It--it is very pretty," said Jumpo. "But when--when are you going to eat us?"
"Eat you! Why, bless my huckleberry pie appet.i.te!" cried the bear kindly. "I never eat anything but popcorn b.a.l.l.s. You haven"t one about you I suppose?" and he stood on one ear and made a funny face, by twisting his tongue like a merry-go-round.
"No, we have no popcorn b.a.l.l.s," spoke Jacko. "But aren"t you a savage bear?"
"Not a bit of it!" roared the bear in a laughing voice. "I"m the jolliest trained bear you ever saw. I wouldn"t hurt even a trolley car,"
and with that he did another dance, and sang such a funny song that Jacko and Jumpo burst out laughing.
"Eat you!" cried the bear. "I never thought of such a thing. You see I work for a man who makes me do tricks all day long. So I never get any time for studying. But today I ran away and took my book with me. I"m studying up to be a cook, you see, and I want to learn how to make popcorn b.a.l.l.s, so I won"t have to buy any," and then he stood on one toenail and cracked a nut in his teeth.
Well, of course, Jacko and Jumpo were glad they weren"t going to be eaten up, and when the trained bear heard there were other pupils in the woods he went with the monkeys to where the rest of the animal children were and did for them all his tricks, and some more besides. Then the bear had to go back home, and so did the pupils and the owl teacher, and I guess you have to go to bed.
Now I"m going to tell you next about the Kinkytails playing hide and go seek--that is, if the postage stamp doesn"t stick on my spectacles so I can"t see the gold fish jumping over the snail"s back.
STORY IX
THE KINKYTAILS AT HIDE AND SEEK
It was a rainy Sat.u.r.day, and if there is anything worse than that I"d like to know it. You see you don"t have to go to school, and you have all day to play, but when it rains--why, what can you do? Just answer me that, if you please. Ha! I knew you couldn"t.
Well, that"s exactly how it was with Jacko and Jumpo Kinkytail, as they stood at the window of the little house up in the tree and looked at the rain drops splashing against the gla.s.s.
"Oh, dear!" cried Jumpo.
"Oh, dear!" groaned Jacko.
"Oh, my!" exclaimed their mamma. "What poor, miserable little monkey boys you are to be sure!"
"But there isn"t anything to do," grumbled the red monkey.
"And we can"t go out because it is raining too hard," added the green monkey.