Papa No-Tail was hopping along, thinking what a fine day it was when, all of a sudden, he came to a place in the woods where there were some nice flowers.

"Ha! I will take these home to my wife," thought Mr. No-Tail, as he picked the pretty blossoms. Then he hopped on some more, and he came to a place where there were some nice round stones, as white as milk.

"Ah! I will take these home for Bully and Bawly to play marbles with,"

said the frog papa. Then he hopped on a little farther and he came to a place in the woods where was growing a nice big stick with a crooked handle.

"Ho! I will take that home to Grandpa Croaker for a cane that he can use when he gets tired of carrying the one with the pink paint on it," spoke Mr. No-Tail, and he pulled up the cane-stick, and went on with that and the flowers and the round white stones, as white as mola.s.ses-Oh, there I go again! I mean milk, of course.

Well, it was still quite early, and as he hopped along through the woods Papa No-Tail heard the school bell ring to call the boy and girl animals to their cla.s.ses.

"I hope Bully and Bawly are not late," thought their father. "When one goes to school one must be on time, and always try to have one's lessons." Still he felt pretty sure that his two little boys were on time, for they were usually very good.

On hopped Mr. No-Tail, wishing he could see the bad Pelican bird, and make him give up the wallpaper-printing ink, when all of a sudden, as quickly as you can tie your shoe lace, or your hair ribbon, Papa No-Tail heard a great crashing in the bushes, and then he heard a growling and then presto-changeo! out popped Nannie Goat, and after her came running a black, savage bear! Oh, he was a most unpleasant fellow, that bear was, with a long, red tongue, and long, sharp, white teeth, and long claws, bigger than a cat's claws, and he had s.h.a.ggy fur like an automobile coat.

"Oh! Oh! Oh! Stop! Stop! Stop! Don't catch me! Don't catch me! Don't catch me!" cried Nannie, the goat girl, running on and crashing through the bushes. But the bear never minded. On he came, right after Nannie, for he wanted to catch and eat her. You see he used to be in a cage in a big animal park, but he got loose and he was now very hungry, for no one had fed him in some time.

Well, Papa No-Tail was so surprised that, for a moment, he didn't know what to do. He just sat still under a big cabbage leaf, and looked at the bear chasing after Nannie.

"Oh, will no one save me?" cried the poor little goat girl. "Will no one save me from this savage bear?"

"No; no one will save you," answered the s.h.a.ggy creature, as he cleaned his white teeth with his red tongue for a brush. "I am going to eat you up."

"No, you are not!" cried Papa No-Tail, boldly.

"Ha! Who says I am not going to eat her?" asked the bear, surly-like.

"I do!" went on Papa No-Tail, hopping a bit nearer. "You shall never eat her as long as I am alive!"

"And who are you, if I may be so bold as to ask," went on the bear, stopping so he could laugh.

"I am the brave Mr. No-Tail, who works in the wallpaper factory, but I can't work to-day as the bad Pelican bird took the ink," replied Bully's and Bawly's papa.

"Oh, fiddlesticks!" cried the bear, real impolite-like. "Now, just for that I will eat you both!" He made a rush for Nannie, but with a scream she gave a big jump, and then something terrible happened. For she jumped right into a sand bank, which she didn't notice, and there she stuck fast by her horns, which jabbed right into the hard sand and dirt.

There she was held fast, and the bear, seeing her, called out:

"Now I can get you without any trouble. You can't get away from me, so I'll just eat this frog gentleman first."

Oh, but that bear was savage, and hungry, and several other kinds of unpleasant things. He made a big jump for the frog, but what do you think Bully's papa did? Why he took the bunch of flowers, and he tickled that bear so tickily-ickly under the chin, that the bear first sneezed, and then he laughed and as Papa No-Tail kept on tickling him, that bear just had to sit down and laugh and sneeze at the same time, and he couldn't chase even a snail.

"Now for the next act!" bravely cried Mr. No-Tail, and with that he took the stick he intended for Grandpa Croaker's cane, and put it under the bear's legs, and he twisted the stick, Papa No-Tail did, and the first thing that bear knew he had been tripped up and turned over just like a pancake, and he fell on his nose and b.u.mped it real hard.

Then, before he could get up, Papa No-Tail pelted him with the round stones as white as milk, and the bear thought it was snowing and hailing, and he was as frightened as anything, and as soon as he could get up, away he ran through the woods, crying big, salty bear tears.

"Oh, I'm so glad you drove that bear away! You are very brave, Mr.

No-Tail," said Nannie Goat. "But how am I to get loose in time to get to school without being late?" For she was still fast by her horns in the sand bank.

"Never fear, leave it to me," said Papa No-Tail. So Nannie never feared, and Papa No-Tail tried to pull her horns out of the sand bank, but he couldn't, because the ground was too hard. So what did he do but go to the pond, and get some water in his hat, and he threw the water on the sand, and made it soft, like mud pies, and then Nannie could pull out her own horns.

After thanking Mr. No-Tail she ran on to school, and got there just as the last bell rang, and wasn't late. And the teacher and all the pupils were very much surprised when Nannie told them what had happened. Bully and Bawly were afraid the bear might come back and hurt their papa, but nothing like that happened I'm glad to say.

Now in case the tea kettle doesn't sing a funny song and waken the white rabbit with the pink eyes that's in a cage out in our yard, I'll tell you to-morrow night about Mamma No-Tail and Nellie Chip-Chip.

STORY XXIII

MRS. N

Nellie Chip-Chip, the little sparrow girl, flew along over the trees after school was out, with a box of chocolate under her wing. And under her other wing was a purse, with some money in it that rattled like sleigh bells.

"What are you going to do with that chocolate?" asked Bully No-Tail, the frog boy, as he and his brother, who were hopping to a ball game, happened to see Nellie.

"Oh, I guess she's going to eat it," said Bawly. "If you want us to help you, we will, won't we, Bully?" he added.

"Sure," said Bully, hungry like.

"Oh, indeed, that's very kind of you boys," replied Nellie, politely, "but you see I'm not eating this chocolate. I am selling it for our school. We want to get some nice pictures to put in the rooms, and so I'm trying to help get the money to buy them by selling cakes of chocolate."

"Ha! That's a good idea," said Bully. "Say, Nellie, if you go to our house maybe our mamma will buy some chocolate."

"I'll fly right over there," declared the little sparrow girl, "for I want very much to sell my chocolate, and, so far, very few persons have bought any of me."

"I guess our mamma will," said Bawly, and, then when Nellie had flown on with her chocolate, Bawly winked both his eyes and spoke thusly: "Say, Bully, if mamma buys the chocolate from Nellie I guess she'll give us some."

"I hope so," replied his brother, and then they went on to the ball game and had a good time. Well, as I was telling you, Nellie flew over to Mrs. No-Tail's house, and knocked at the door with her little bill.

"Don't you want to buy some chocolate so I can make money to get pictures for our school?" the sparrow girl politely asked.

"Indeed I do," replied Mrs. No-Tail. "I just need some chocolate for a cake I'm baking. And if you would like to come in, and help me make the cake, and put the chocolate on, I'll give you some, and you can take a piece home to d.i.c.kie."

"Indeed, I'll be very glad to help," said Nellie, so she went in the house, and Mrs. No-Tail paid her for some of the chocolate, and then Nellie took off her hat, and put on an ap.r.o.n, and she helped make the cake.

Oh, it was a most delicious one! with about forty-'leven layers, and chocolate between each one, and then on top! Oh, it just makes me hungry even to typewrite about it! Why the chocolate on top of that cake was as thick as a board, and then on top of the chocolate was sprinkled cocoanut until you would have thought there had been a snow storm! Talk about a delicious cake! Oh, dear me! Well, I just don't dare write any more about it, for it makes me so impatient.

"Now," said Mrs. No-Tail, after the baking was over, "we'll just set the cake on the table by the open window to cool, Nellie, and we'll wash up the dishes."

So they were working away, talking of different things, and Nellie was a great help to Mrs. No-Tail. Every once in a while, however, Nellie would look over to the cake, because it was so nice she just couldn't keep her eyes away from it. She was just wishing it was time for her to have some to take home, but it wasn't, quite yet.

Well, all of a sudden, when Nellie looked over for about the twenty-two-thirteenth time, she saw that all the chocolate was gone from the top of the cake. All the chocolate and the cocoanut was missing.

"Oh! Oh!" cried the little sparrow girl.

"What's the matter?" asked Mrs. No-Tail quickly.

"Look!" exclaimed Nellie, pointing to the cake.