They walked away for some distance, but soon returned, for the bear was impatient to see the nest. He scrambled up the tree, intending to frighten the young birds.

"Take care," said the wolf. "The tomt.i.ts are very little, but little enemies are sometimes very troublesome."

"Who is afraid of a tomt.i.t?" said the bear, as he poked his black nose into the nest.

"Go away! go away!" screamed the poor little birds in terror.

"What do you mean by making such a noise and talking so to me?" said the bear. "I will teach you better manners."

So he put his great paw on the nest and pressed it down until the poor little birds could hardly breathe. Then he left them and went away.

The young tomt.i.ts were terribly frightened, and some of them were hurt. When the old birds came home they were very angry.

They could see the bear walking about among the trees, but they did not know how to punish him.

II.

peeped prudent followed toward flutter whether surrounded nailed escape prowling overlooked paused

Not far away there was a glen, surrounded by high rocks, where the bear used to go to sleep because it was a lonely place.

One day, as he was prowling in the woods, he saw two hunters coming with their guns. In fright, he fled to his glen, where he thought he should be safe.

The tomt.i.ts saw the bear run to the rocks and hide in terror.

"Why is the bear hiding?" said one bird to the other.

"Do you see those hunters with their guns?" said the mother tomt.i.t.

"If only they can find the bear, then our little ones will be safe.

Let us help them."

So the tomt.i.ts began to flutter around the hunters and fly a little way toward the glen and then back again. The men followed the birds to see what could be the matter.

By and by the bear saw the hunters coming, led on by his little enemies, the tomt.i.ts. He ran from one side of the glen to the other. He hid himself in a cave among the rocks. But he could not escape the hunters.

The wolf happened to be near by upon the rocks that overlooked the glen. Hearing the noise, he came and peeped over.

As soon as he saw what had happened to the bear, he thought it would be prudent for him to walk away. This he did, saying to himself as he went:--

"Well, the bear has found out that a friend is better than an enemy, whether he is great or small."

Here the farmer paused. He had ended his story.

"What did they do with the bear?" asked Rollo.

"Oh," said the farmer, "they took off his skin to make caps of, and nailed his claws up on the barn."

--JACOB ABBOTT.

THE DOG AND HIS IMAGE

snap image behold jaws piece within plainly greed s.n.a.t.c.h bottom hurrying plank

A dog, with a piece of meat in his mouth, was hurrying home to eat his supper in quiet. On his way he had to pa.s.s over a narrow plank which lay across a small stream.

As he looked down into the water he saw his own image in the smooth surface of the brook. This, he thought, was another dog with a larger piece of meat in his mouth.

He put his head down near the water. Behold, the meat, which the other dog carried, was plainly within his reach.

"Now, I shall have a fine dinner," he thought. And with a quick snap of his jaws, he tried to s.n.a.t.c.h the meat from the dog in the water.

But as he opened his mouth, his own piece of meat fell to the bottom of the brook. And thus, by greed, he lost all that he had.

BELLING THE CAT

quiet easily manner sly danger enemy coming chief

Once upon a time some mice met together to find a way to save themselves from their enemy, the cat.

"I have a plan," said a young mouse, "which will save the life of every one of us. You all know that our chief danger lies in the cat's sly and quiet manner of walking. If we could hear her coming, we could easily run away.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

"Let us hang a bell to the cat's neck, and when we hear it ring we shall all know that she is near."

"A fine plan! a fine plan!" cried all the mice. "But who will bell the cat?"

"Not I, not I," cried all the mice at once.

THE DOG IN THE MANGER

chose manger growled pair oxen feeding mouthful meal