Post on 12-Jul-2018
E JOYO U S ST O RY
T O T O
LAURA E RICHARDS/74m
WITH ILL USTRATIONS B Y E. H : GARRETT.
B O ST O N
R O B E R T S B R O T H E RS.
/71 885 .
BY ROB ERTS B ROTH ERS.
J OHN W ILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE.
7 0 kfl/ (UWZDREN'
! GEM ! t“?
IS L OV I N G LY D E D I CA T ED .
221 2 p23.m
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
CHAPTER I .
OTO was a lit tle boy , and h is grandmothe r
was an old woman (I have noticed that
grandmo the rs are very ap t to be old women ! ; andthis story i s about both o f them . Now
,whether
the story be true or not you must decid e fo r your
selves ; and the ch ild who finds th i s out w i l l be
wiser than I .
Toto ’ s grandmother l ived i n a l i ttl e cottage fa r
from any town,and just by the edge of a thick
2 THE JOYOUS STORY or TOTO .
wood ; and Toto l ived w i th her, fo r his father
and mother were dead and the old woman wa s
the only rel ation he had in the world .
The cottage was painted red,wi th wh ite w in
dow-casings,and li ttl e d iamond-shaped panes o f
gl ass in the windows . Up the four wall s grew a
red rose,a yellow rose
,a woodbine
,and a clem
ati s ; and they al l met together at the top , and
fought and scratched fo r the possession of the top
of the ch imney , from which there wa s the finest
view ; so fool i sh are these vegetabl es .
In side the cottage there was a big kitchen,with
a great open fireplace,i n W hich a bright fire
was always crackl ing ; a floor scrubbed whi te and
cl ean ; a dresser w i th shin ing copper and tin
d ishes on i t ; a tabl e , a rock ing-chair fo r the
grandmother,and a stool fo r Toto . There were
two bedrooms and a storeroom,and perhaps an
othe r room ; and there was a k i tchen close t,
where the cookies l ived . So now yo u know all
about the inside o f the cottage . Outside there
was a garden behind and a bi t o f green in front,
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO. 3
and three big trees ; and that i s al l there i s to
tell .
As for Toto , he wa s a curly-haired fellow,wi th
brigh t eyes and rosy cheeks,and a mouth that
was always laughing .
H i s grandmother was the best grandmother in
the world , I have been given to understand ,though that i s saying a great deal
,to be sure .
She wa s certainly a very good,k ind old body and
she had pretty S i lver curl s and pink cheeks,as
every grandmother should have . There was only
one troubl e about her ; but that was a very serious
one,—she was bl ind .
Her bl indn ess d id n ot affect Toto much ; fo r
he had never known her when she was not bl ind,
and he supposed i t was a pec ul iari ty o f grand
mothers in general . But to the poor ' old lady
herself i t wa s a great affl iction,though She bore
i t,fo r th e most part, very cheerfully . She wa s
wonderfully clever and industrious ; and her fi n
gers seemed,i n many ways
,to see bette r than
some people ’ s eyes. She kept the cottage always
4 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
as neat as a n ew pin . She was an excell ent cook
too,and made the best gingerbread and cookies
in the world . And she kni t— oh ! how she did
knit —stock ings,mittens . and comforters ; com
fo rte rs , mittens , a nd stockings : al l fo r Toto .
Toto wore themout very fast ; but he could
not keep upw i th h is grandmother ’ s kn i tting .
Clicke ty cl ick , clicke ty clack , wen t the Shining
needles all through the long afternoons,when
Toto wa s away in the wood ; and noth ing ah
swe re d the needl es, except the tea-ke ttle , which
always d id i ts best to make things cheerful . B ut
even in her kn i tting there we re often trials fo r
the grandmother . Sometimes her bal l rol le d off
her lap and away over the floor and then the
poor old lady had a hard time o f i t groping about
in all the corne rs (there never was a ki tchen that
had so many corners as hers ! , and knocking he r
head against the tabl e and the dresse r.
The kettl e was always much troubled when
anyth ing o f th i s sort happened . He puffed
angrily, and looked at the tongs. If Ihad legs,
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO. 5
he said,
“ I would make some u s e of them, even
if they were awkward and ungainly. But when a
person i s absolutely all head and legs, i t i s easy
to understand that he should have no heart.”
The ‘ tongs never made any reply to these
remarks,but stood stiff and straight, and pre
tended not to hear .
But the grandmother had other troubles beside
d ropp ing her ball. Toto wa s a very good boy,
better,i n fact
,than most boys
,and he loved his
grandmother very much indeed ; but he was fo r
ge tful, as every child is . Sometimes he forgot
this,and sometime s that
,an d sometimes the
o ther ; for you see his heart wa s generally in th e
forest,and h is head went to look after i t ; and
that often made trouble . He alwaysmeant to ge tbefore he wen t to the ' forest everyth ing that h is
grandmother could possibly wan t while he was
away . Wood and wate r he n ever forgot, fo r he
always b rough t those in before breakfast . But
sometimes the brown potatoes s a t wai ting i n the
cellar closet,with thei r jackets all button ed up ,
6 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
wonderi ng why they were not taken out, as their
brothers had been the day before,and put in a
wonderful w icker cage , and carri ed o ff to s e e the
grea t world . And the yel low appl es blushed wi th
anger and a sense o f neglect ; while the red apples
turned yellow w i th vexation . And sometimes,
well,sometimes l/u
'
s sort of th ing would happen
one day the old lady was going to make some
gingerbread ; fo r there was not a bi t i n the house ,
and Toto could not l ive wi thout gingerbread . So
she said,
“ Toto,go to the cupboard and get me
the ginger-box and the soda,that ’s a good
boy !
Now,Toto was s tand ing in the doorway when
his grandmother spoke,and j ust at that momen t
he caught sigh t of a green l izard on a stone at a
l i ttle d istance . He wanted very much to catch
that l i zard ; but h e was an obedien t boy, and
always did what Granny asked him to do . So
he ran to the cupboard,stil l keeping one eye on
the l izard outside,se i zed a box full o f some
thing yellow and a bag full o f some th ing whi te,
THE J oYOU s STORY OF TOTO . 7
and handed themto h is grandmother . “ There,
Granny,
” he cried,
“ that ’
s ginger , and tild i’
s
soda . Now may I go There ’ s a l i za rd and
he was off l ike a flash .
Oh, oh “hat a dreadfu l face hemade 1 "
Well Granny made the gingerbread,
at tea
time in came Master Toto,quite out o f breath
having chased the l izard about twenty-five miles
(s o he said , and he ought to know ! , and hungry as
8 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
a hunter . He sa t down , and ate h is bread-and
milk first,l ike a good boy ; and then he pounced
upon the ginge rbread,and took a huge bite out
o f i t . Oh,oh ! what a dreadful face he made !
He gave a w i ld howl , and j umping up from
the table,danced upand down the room ,
c rying,
“ Oh ! what nasly stuff ! Oh , Granny, how could
you make such horrid gingerbre ad ? B r-r-rr ! oh,
dear ! I never , neve r, never tas ted a nyth ing s o
horrid .
The poor old lady was quite aghast. My dear
boy,
she said ,“ I made i t j us t a s usual . You
must be mistaken . Let me and then Size tasted
the gingerbread .
Well,she did no t get up and dance
,but she
came very near i t. “ What does th is mean ?” she
cried .
“ I made i t j ust as usual . What can i t be 9
Ah '” she added , a new though t strik ing her .
Toto,bring me the ginger and the soda ; bring
just what you brought me this afternoon . ! uick '
don ’ t stop to examine the boxes bring the same
ones ”
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO . 9
Toto,wondering , brough t the box ful l of some
th ing yel low,and the bag fullo f something white .
H is grandmothe r tasted the contents of both,
and then she leaned back i n he r chair and laughed
he art ilv.
“ My dear l i ttle boy,
” sh e said,
“ you
think I am a ve ry good cook,and I myself think
I am not a very bad one ; but I certainly cannot
make good gingerbread w i th musta rd and sal t
i n s tead of ginger and soda '
Toto thought there were some disadvantages
about be ing bl ind,afte r all ; and after that his
grandmother always tasted the ingred ien ts beforeshe began to cook .
Now,i t happened o n e day that the grandmother
was si tting in the sun before the cottage door,
knitting ; and as she knitted , from time to time
she heaved a d eep sigh . And one o f those sighs i s
the reason why th i s s tory i s wri tten ; fo r if the
grandmother had no t sigh ed , and Toto had no t
heard her,none o f the funny things that I am
going to tell you would have happened . Moral
always sigh when you want a story wri tten .
1 0 THE JOYOUS STORY o r TOTO.
Toto was j ust coming home from the wood ,
where he had been spend ing the afternoon , as
usual.As he came round the corne r o f the cot
tage he heard his grandmother sigh deeply, as ifshe we re very sad about something ; and th is
troubled Toto,fo r he was an affectionate l i ttle
boy,and loved his grandmothe r dearly .
Why,Granny ! ” he cried , running up to he r
and throwing his arms round her neck .
“ Dear
Granny,whydo you S igh so What i s the matter ?
Are you ill
The grandmother shook her head , and wiped atear from her Sightless eyes . “ No
,dear l i ttle
boy ! she said .
“No,I am not ill bu t I am very
lonely. It’
s a sol itary l ife here,though you are
too young to feel i t,Toto
,and I am very glad o f
that . B ut I do w i sh,some times
,that I had some
one to talk to,who coul d tell me what i s going on
in the world . I t is a long time since auv one has
been here . The travell ing pedler comes only once
a year,and the last time he came he had a tooth
ache,so that he could not talk . Ah
,deary me !
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO . 1 1
i t ’ s a sol i tary l ife . And the grandmother shook
her head again,and went on w i th her kni tting.
Toto had l i stened to this with h is eyes very
w id e open,and his mouth very tight shut ; and
when his grandmother had fini shed speaking,he
went and sat down on a stone at a l i ttl e distance,
and began to think very hard . H is grandmothe r
was lonely. The thought had neve r occurred to
himbefore . It had always seemed as natural fo r
her to stay at home and kni t and make cookies,
as fo r h im to go to the wood . lIe supposed all
grandmothers d id so . He wondered how i t fel t
to be lonely ; he though t i t must be very unpleasant. H e was never l onely i n the wood .
But then,
” he said to h imself,
“ I have al l my
friends i n the wood,and Granny has none . Very
l ikely if I had no friend s I should be lonely too .
I wonder what I can do about i t.
Then suddenly a brigh t id ea struck h im .
Why,
” he though t,
why should not my friends
be Granny ’ s friends too They are very amusing,
I am sure . Why should I not bring themto s e e
1 2 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
Granny,and le t them talk to her ? She could n’
t
be lonely then . I ’ l l go and s e e themth is minuteand tel l them all about i t. I ’m sure they will
come. ”
Full o f h is new idea, the boy sprang to his fee t,
and ran o ff i n the d irection of the wood . The
grandmother called to h im,
“ Toto ! Toto ! where
are you going ?” but he d id not hear her . The
good woman shook her head and wen t on wi th her
kni tting .
“ Let the de ar child amuse h imself as
much as he c an now. There ’
S l i ttle enough
amusement i n l ife .
”
But Toto was no t th inking o f his own amuse
ment th is time . He ran straight to the wood,and
en tered i t,threading hi s way quickly among the
trees. as if he knew every step o f the way, which ,
i ndeed,he did . At l ength , after going some way,
he reached an Open space,w i th trees al l round i t.
Such a pre tty place ! The ground was carpeted
w i th softest moss,in to wh ich the boy ’ s fee t sunk
s o deep that they were a lmost covered ; and al l
over the moss were sprinkled l i ttl e star-shaped pink
1 4 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
He s a t down o n a great cush ion o f moss near the
pool,and began to whistle . Presently he heard
a rustl ing in the tree-tops above h is head . He
stopped whistl ing and looked up expectantly . A
beechnut fel l pl ump on his nose,and he saw th e
sharp black eyes o f a gray squirre l peering at himthrough the leaves .
Hello,Toto ! ” said the squirre l . “ Back again
al ready ? What ’s the matte r ?”
“ Come down here,and I ’ ll tel l you
,
Toto .
The squirrel took a flying leap,and aligh ted
on Toto ’ s shoulder . At the same moment a
louder rustl ing was heard,among the bushes thi s
time , a sound o f cracking and snapping twigs, and
presently a huge black bear poked h is nose out of
the bushes , and sn iffed inqui ringly .
“ What ’s
up?”
he asked .
“ I though t you fellows had
gone home fo r the night,and I was j ust tak ing
a nap.
”
“ So we had , said Toto ; “ but I came back
because I had someth ing importan t to say . I
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO . 1 5
wan t to s e e you all on busine ss . Whe re are the
o thers ? ”
Coon wil l be here i n a minute,answe red
the bear .
“He stopped to eat the woodchuck ’ s
W el l,
sa id Toto , it ’ s aboutmygrandmother .
supper . Chucky wa s so sound asleep i t seemed
a pi ty to mi ss such an opportun i ty . The b i rd s
have al l flown away except the wood-pigeon , and
she told me She would come as soon as she had
fe d her young Ones . What ’ s your busine ss,
1 6 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
Toto ?” and Bruin sat down in a very comfortable
atti tude,and prepared to l i sten .
“Well,
” said Toto,
“ i t’
s about my grandmother .
Yo u s e e , she oh ! here ’s Coon ! I ’ l l wai t fo r
h im .
” As he spoke,a large raccoon came out
into the l i ttle dell . He wa s very handsome , w i th
a most beautiful tail,bu t he looked Sly and lazy.
He winked at Toto , by way o f greeting , and sat
down by the pool , curl ing h is tai l round hi s l egs ,
and then looking into the water to s e e if the
effect was good . At the same moment a pretty
wood-pigeon fluttered down, w i th a soft Coo
and sett led on Toto’s o ther shoulder .
Now then ! ” said the squi rrel,fl icking the
boy ’s nose with h is tail,
“ go on,and tel l us all
about i t ! ”
So Toto began again .
“ My grandmother,you
s e e : she i s bl ind ; and she’
s all alone most o f the
time when I ’mout here play ing w i th all of you,
and i t makes her lonely .
Lonely ! What ’ s that ?” asked the raccoon .
I know what i t i s ! ” said the bea r . “ It ’ s
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO . 1 7
when there are n ’ t any blueberr ie s,and you ’ve
hurt your paw s o that vou can ’ t cl imb . It’
s a
horrid feel ing . Is n ’
t that i t , Toto ?”
N-no,no t exactly
,said Toto
, fo r my grand
mother never cl imbs trees,anyhow . She has n ’ t
anybody to talk to, or l i sten to ; nobody comes to
s e e he r. and She does n ’ t know what i s going
on in the world . That ’s what she means by‘l onely .
’
“ Humph ! ” said the raccoon , waving h is tai l
thoughtfully .
“ Why don ’ t you bo th come and
l ive in the wood ? She could n ’ t be lonely here,you
know ; and i t would be very convenient fo r us all .
I know a n ice hollow tree that I could get for you
not far from here . A w i ld-cat l ives in i t now,but
if your grandmothe r does n ’ t l ike wild-cats,the
bear can easily d rive him ' away . He ’
.s a disagree
able fel l ow,and we Shal l b e glad to ge t r id o fhim
and have a pleasanter neighbor . Does— a—doesyour grandmothe r scratch
No,ce rta inly not ! ” said Toto ind ignantly .
She is the best grandmother i n the world .
2
1 8 THE JOYOUS STORY o r TOTO.
She never scratched anybody in her l ife,I am
sure f’
No offence , no oflence,said the raccoon .
My grandmother scratched , and I though t yours
migh t . Most o f themdo,i nmy experience .
Besides,
” Toto went on,
“ she would n ’
t l ike
at allto l ive in a hollow tree . She i s not used to
that way o f l iving,you s e e . Now,
Ihave a plan,
and I want you al l to help me in i t. In the
morn ing Granny is busy,s o she has not time to
be lonely . It’
s only in the afternoon,when She
s i ts stil l and knits . So I say, why Should n’
t you
al l come over to the cottage in the afternoon,and
talk to Granny instead of talking here to each
o ther ? I don ’ t mean every afternoon , of course ,
but two or th ree times a week . She would enj oy
the stories and things as much as I do ; an d She
would give you gingerbread , I’msure she woul d
and perhaps jam too,if you were very good .
”
What ’s asked the bear. “ And
what ’ s j am ? You do us e such quee r words some
t imes, Toto .
THE JOYOUS STORY o r TOTO. 1 9
“ Gingerbread ? ” said Toto . Oh,i t ’s—well
,
i t ’s—why,i t ’ s gingerbread , you know . You don ’ t
have anyth ing exactly l ik e i t,so I can ’ t exactly
tel l you . But there ’ s molasses in i t, and ginger,
and things ; it’
s good , anyhow, very good . And
jam—well,j am is swee t, someth ing l ike honey,
only b etter . You w i l l l ike i t, I know,Bruin .
“ Well,what do you al l say
? Will you come
and try i t ? ”
The bear looked at the raccoon ; the raccoon
looked at the squi rrel ; and the squ irrel l ooked at
the wood-pigeon . The pretty,gentle bird had
not spoken before ; but now ,see ing all the othe r
members of the party undecided,She answered
quie tly and softly , “ Yes,Toto ; I w i l l come , and
I am sure the others w il l,fo r they are al l good
creatures. You are a dear boy,and we shall al l
be glad to give pl easure to you or your grand ;
mothe r .
The other creature s al l n odded approval to the
wood-pigeon ’ s l i ttl e speech,and Toto gave a sigh
o f rel ief and satisfaction . That i s se ttl ed,then
,
20 THE JOYOUS STORY o r TOTO .
he said .
’ “ Thank you , dear pige on, '
and thank
you al l . Now,when w i l l you come ? To-morrow
afternoon ? The soone r the be tter,I th ink .
”
The raccoon looked cri tical ly at hi s reflection in
the water . Chucky bi tmy ear yeste rday ,” hesaid
,
“ and i t does n ’ t look very wel l fo r making
visi ts . Suppose we wai t til l i t i s h ealed over .
Nothing l ikemak ing a good impression at fi rst,
you know.
“ Nonsense,Coon ! growled the bear. “ You
are always th inking about your looks. I never
saw such a fellow . Let us go to-morrow if we
a re going .
”
Besides said Toto,laugh ing
,
“ Granny i s
bl ind,and w il l n ot know whether you have any
ears or not,Master Coon . So I shall expect you
all to-morrow . Good-by, all , and thank you very
much ” And away ran Toto,and away went al l
the rest to ge t the ir respective suppers .
22 THE JOYOUS STORY o r TOTO.
i n great trepidation at the approach o f these unex
pected visi tors.“ Oh
,said Toto,
“ they are—here is one o f
them ! ” and he ran to mee t the huge bear,who at
that momen t made his appearance,walking s lowly
and solemnly towards the cottage . He seemed i ll
at ease,and turned frequently to look back
,i n
hopes o f see ing hi s companions .
Grandmother,thi s i s my friend Bruin ! ” said
Toto,lead ing the bear up to the horrified old lady.
“ I am very fond o f Bruin , he added,
“ and I
hope yo u and he w ill be great friends , He tell s
the most dellflzlful storie s .
Poor Grannv made a tremb l ing courtesy, and
Bruin stood upon hi s hind-l egs and rocked slowlybackwards and forwards
,which was the nearest
approach he could make to a b ow. (N. B . He
l ooked so very formidabl e in th is atti tud e,that if
the old lady had seen him,she would certainly
have fainted away. But she d id not see,and
Toto was used to i t,and saw nothing out of the
W ay in i t. !
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO . 23
Your servant,ma ’am
,said the hear.
“ I hope
I s e e vou well .”
Granny courtesied again , and repl ied in a fal ter
ing voice, ! uite well thank you, Mr . Bruin . It ’s
— it’
S a fine dav,s ir.
It i s indeed ! ” said the bear wi th alacri ty.
“ It
i s a very fine day . I was j ust about to make the
same remark myself. I—don ’ t know when I
have seen a finer day . In fact,I don ’ t bel ieve
there ever wa s a finer d ay. A—yesterday wa s
— a—nola fine day . A“ Look here ! ” he added
,i n a low growl
,asid e
to Toto,
“ I can ’ t stand much more o f this . Where
i s Coon ? He knows how to talk to peopl e , and Idon ’ t. I ’m not accustomed to i t. Now,
when I
go to see my grandmothe r I take her a goodbone
,and she hits me on the head by way o f s ay
ing thank you,and that ’ s all . I have a bone
somewhere about me now,
” said poor Bruin hesi
ta t ingly, but I don ’ t suppose she eh ? ”
‘7 ’“ No,certainly not repl ied Toto promptly.
Not upon any account . And here ’
s Coon now,
24 THE JOYOUS STORY or TOTO .
and the others too,so you need n ’ t make any
more fi ne Speeches.”
Bruin,much reli eved
,sat down on h is haunches
,
and watched th e approach of hi s companions .
The raccoon advanced cau tiously,ye t w i th a
ve ry jaun ty air. The squ irrel wa s perched on his
back,and the wood-pigeon fluttered about h is head
,
in company w i th a very d istinguish ed-looking gray
parrot,with a red ta il ; while beh ind came a fa t
woodchuck, who seemed scarcely more than half
awake .
The creatures al l paid thei r respects to Toto ’s
grandmothe r, each in h is best manner ; th e rac
coon professed h imself charmed to make her ao
quain tance .
“ It i s more than a year,
” he said
sinc e I had the pleasure o f meeting your aecom
plished grandson . I have esteemed i t a high priv
ilege to converse with h im ,and have enjoyed his
soci ety immensely . Now that I have the furth er
happiness o f becoming acquainted wi th his el egan t
and highly intellectual progeni tress,I feel that I
am indeed most fortunate . I
THE JOYOUS STORY or TOTO. 25
But he re Toto broke in upon the stream o f elo
quence .
“ Oh,come
,Coon ! ” he cri ed
,
“ your
pol i teness is as bad as Bruin’ s shyness . Why
can ’ t we all be jol ly , a s we usually are ? You need
not be afraid of Granny .
Come,
” he continued ,“ le t us have our story.
We can all si t down in a ci rcle, and fancy ourselves
around the pool. Whose turn i s i t to-day ? Yours,
i s n ’ t i t Cracke r ?“ No
,said the squirrel . “ It i s Coon ’ s turn .
I told my story yesterday.
“ You s e e Granny , sa id Toto,turning to his
grandmothe r , we take turns in tel l ing stories,
every afternoon . It is sue!: fun ! you ’d like to
hear a story , would n’
t you,Granny ?”
Very much indeed repl ied th e good woman .
Wil l yo u take a chai r, Mr.—Mr. Coon ?” she
asked .
“ Thank you,no
,repl ied th e raccoon gra
cio usly.
“ Mymother earth Shal l suffice me .
”
And si tting down , he curled up h is tai l i n a
very effec tive manner and looked about h im
26 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
medi ta tively,as if in search of a subjec t for his
story .
“ My natural difli dence,he said
,will render
i t a d ifficul t task,but stil l
Oh yes,we know ! ” said the squirrel . Your
natural diffidence i s a fine thing. Go ahead,old
fellow ! ”
At th is momen t Mr . Coon ’ s Sharp eyes fellupon
the poul try-yard , on the fence of which a fine
Shanghai cock was si tting. H i s face l ighted up,
as if an idea had j ust struck him . That is a very
fine rooster,madam ! ” he said , address ing the
grandmother “ a remarkablv fine bird . That
b i rd,madam
,reminds me strongly of the Golden
breasted Ko o to o .
”
“ And what is the Gold en-breasted Ko o to o
asked the grandmothe r.
The raccoon smiled,and looked slyly round
Upon his aud i tors,who had all assumed comfort
able atti tudes o f l i sten ing,sure that the story wa s
now coming.
The story o f the Golden-breasted Ko o to o,he
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO . 27
said,
“ wa s told to me several yea rs ago by a dis
t inguished fore igner , a learned and highly aecom
plished magpie, who formerly resided in thi s
v ic ini ty,but who i s now
,unhappily
,no longer i n
our midst.”
“ That ’ s a good one,that i s ! whispere d the
woodchuck to Toto . He ate that magpie abou t
a year ago sa id he loved her s o much he could n ’
t
help i t . What a fellow he is !
Hush ! ” sa id Toto . He ’
s beginning
And Mr . Coon,dropping his airs and graces ,
told h i s story in tolerably plain language , as
follows
THE GOLDEN—BREASTED KOOTOO.
ONCE upon a time and a good time i t wa s
there l ived a king. I d o not know exactly what
his name wa s , or j ust where he l ived ; bu t i t does n’
t
matte r at all h i s k ingdom was somewhere be tween
Ashantee and Holland,and hi s name sounded a
l i ttle l ike Samuel,and a l i ttle l ike D olab ella , and a
good deal l ike Chimborazo,and ye t i t was no t qui te
28 THE JOYOUS STORY o r TOTO .
any o f them . But,as I said before
,i t does n ’ t mat
te r. We will call him the King,and that w i l l be
allthat is necessary,as there i s no othe r king in
the story.
This King wa s very fond of music ; i n fact, he
was excessively fond o f i t. He kept four bands o fmusic playing al l day long. The fi rst wa s a bras s
band,the second was a string band
,the th ird was
a rubbe r band,and the fourth wa s a man who
played on the jews-harp . (Some people though t
he ought not to be called a band , but . he said he
was al l the jews-harp band there was , and that was
very true . ! The four bands played al l day long
on the four sides o f the grand courtyard , and the
king s a t on a throne in themiddle and tran sactedaffai rs o f state . And when H i s Majesty went to
bed at nigh t,the grand Chamberlain wound up a
musical-box that was i n his p i llow,and another one
in the top bureau-drawe r, and they played “ The
Dog ’ s-meat Man ” and “ Prid e o f the Pi rate ’s
Heart ” til l d ayl igh t d id appear .
One day i t occurred to the King that i t would be
30 T HE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
struck ano ther The King sang , i n
a loud,deep voice
,
The Chief Musician looked dej ected .
I fear, 0 King ,” he said
,
“ that you neve r
Take thisman and behead himsaid the King.
learn to sing.What do you mean by that ,
Chief Musician ? asked the King.
“ It i s your
busines s to teach me to sing. Do you not know
how to ~teach No man knows be tter,”repl ie d
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO. 31
the Chief Musician . But Your Majesty has
n o ear fo r music . You never can sing but one
note .
”
At these words the King grew purpl e in th e face .
He said nothing,fo r he was a man of few words ;
but he rang a large bell, and an executioner appe a red . Take this man and behead him ! said
the King.And send me the Second Music ian !
”
The Second Musician came,l ook ing very grave ,
fo r he had hea rd the shrieks o f h is unhappy supe
rior as he wa s dragged o ff to execution , and he had
no desire to share h is fate . He bowed low, and
demanded H i s Maj esty ’ s pl easure . Teach me to
sing ! said H i s Majesty. So the Second Musician
s a t down at the p iano,and tri ed several notes
,just
as the Chief Musician had done,and w i th the same
re sul t . Whatever note was struck,the King stil l
Now the Second Music ian was a quick-wi tted
fellow, and he s aw i n a moment what the trouble
had been wi th h is predecessor,and s aw
,too
,what
great peri l he was in himself. So he assumed a
32 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
look o f grave impor tance , and said solemnly,
0 King , this is a very serious matter . I cannot
conceal from you that the re are great obstacles in
th e way of your l earn ing to sing The King
looked at the bell . B UT , said the Second Musi
eian,they can be overcome The King looked
away again .
“ I beg,
” said the Second Musician,
fo r twenty-four hours’ time fo r consid eration . At
the end of that time I Shallhave dec ided upon the
best me thod o f teach ing and I am bound to say
th is to Your Maj es ty,that IF you learn to sing
WHAT said the King , l ooking at the bell
again . That W HEN you learn to sing , said the
Second Musician hastily,
zelzen you learn to
sing,your Singing will be l ike no other that has
ever been heard .
” This pl eased the King , and he
graciously accorded the d esi red d elay
Accord ingly the Second Musician took h is l eave
w i th great humil i ty,and spent al l that n igh t and
the following daypl unged in the deepest thought .
AS soon as the twen ty-four hours had elapsed he
again appeared before the King, who was awai t
0THE JOYOUS STO RY OF TOTO . 03
ing himimpatiently , si tting on the music-stool .Wel l said the King .
“! ui te well , 0 King , I
thank you,
” repl ied the Second Musician,though
somewhat fatigued bymy labors.” “ Pshaw ! ”
said the King impatien t ly .
“ Have you found a
wayo f teaching me to sing ? I have, 0 King ,
”
repl ie d the Second Musi cian solemnly ; but i t i s
not an easy way. Nevertheless i t i s the only one .”
The King assured him that money was no object,
and begged h im to unfold hi s plan .
“ In orde r to
l earn to sing,
” said the Second Music ian,you
must eat a p i e composed of all the singing-bi rds in
the world . In th is wav only can the difficul ty
o f you r having no natural ear fo r musi c be over
come . If’
a singl e b ird i s omi tted , or if you do no t
consume the whol e p ie , th e charm w il l have no
effec t . I l eave Your Maj e sty to j udge of the
d iffi cul ty o f the undertaking .
Difficul ty ? The King would not admi t tha t
there was such a word. He i nstan tly summoned
h is Chief Huntsman,and ordered him to send
other huntsmen to every country in the world , to
3
34 THE JOYOUS STORY o r TOTO.
bring back a specimen o f every kind o f singing
bi rd . Accord ingly , as there were S ix ty countries
i n the world at that time , sixty hun tsmen started
o ff immed iately , fully armed and equipped .
After they were gone , the King , who was ve ry
impatient,summoned his I’Vise Men
,and bade
themlook in al l th e books, and find out how
many k inds of s inging-birds there we re in the
world . The Wise Men al l pu t thei r spectacles
on th ei r noses , and their nose s in to the ir books,
and after studying a long time , and adding up
on their slates the number of bird s described i n
each book,they found that there we re i n all nine
thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine varieti es
o f S inging-b irds .
They made the i r report to th e King,and he
was rather troubled by i t ; for he remembered
that the Second Musician had sa id he must eat
every morsel of the pi e h imself,or the charm
would have no effect . It would be a very large
p ie,he thought, with nine thousand nine hundred
and n ine ty-nine b irds in i t. “ The only way, he
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO. 35
said to h imself, w i l l be fo r me to eat as l i ttl e a s
possible unti l the h untsmen come back ; then I
Shall be very hungry . I have neve r been very
hungry in my l ife,s o there i s no knowing how
much I could eat if I were .
”So the King ate
nothing from one week ’ s end to another,except
bread and dripping ; and by the time the hunts
men returned he wa s s o thin that i t wa s really
shock ing .
At last,afte r a long time
,th e sixty huntsmen
returned,l aden down with huge bags , the contents
o f wh ich they pi led up i n a great heap in the
middle of the courtyard . A mountain o f bi rds !
Such a thing had neve r been seen before . The
mountain wa s so high that everybody though t the
full number of bi rds must be there and the Chief
Cook began tomake his preparations , and sent toborrow the garden rolle r from John the gardener ,
as h is own was not b ig enough to rol l out such a
quanti ty of paste .
The King and the Wise Men next proceeded to
count the birds . But alas what was their sorrow
36 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
to find that the numbe r fel l Short by one ! They
counted again and again ; but i t wa s o f no use :
there were only n ine thousand n ine hund red and
n inety-eigh t b ird s in the pil e .
The next thing wa s to find ou t what b ird wa s
missing . So the Wise Men sorted al l the birds,
and compared them w i th the pictures i n the books,
and stud ied so hard that they wore out th ree pairs
of Spectacl es apiece ; and at last they d iscovered
that the missing bird wa s th e “ Golden breasted
Ko o to o” The ch ief Wise Man read al oud from
the biggest book :
“ The Golden-breasted Ko o to o,the most beau
tiful and the mostmelodious o f S inging birds,
i s found only in secluded parts o f the Vale of
Co ringo . Its pl umage i s o f a brill ian t golden
yellow,except on the back , where i t i s streaked
w i th green. Its beak i s
There ! there ! ” i n te rrupted the King impa
t ien tly;“ never m ind about i ts beak . Tell the
Lord Chamberlain to pack my best wig and a cl ean
shirt,and send them afte r me by a courier ; and ,
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
The poor Band had a hard time o f i t ; fo r he
had a very fri sky horse,and found i t extremely
d ifficul t to manage the beast w i th one hand and
hold the j ews-harp w i th the o ther ; but the King ,
wi th much ingen u i ty, fastened the head of the
horse to the tail o f h is own steady cob,thereby
enabl ing the music ian to g ive all h is atten tion to
his instrument. The mus ic was a trifle jerky at
times ; b ut what o f tha t ? It was music , and the
King wa s s atisfied .
They rod e n ight and day,and at length ar
r ived a t the Vale o f Co ringo , and took lodgings at
the p rincipal hotel . The King wa s very weary,
as he had been‘ rid ing fo r a week W i thout stop
p ing . So he went to bed at once , and slep t fo r
two whole days.
On the morning o f the th ird day he wa s roused
froma wonderful dream (i n which he was singinga duet with the Golden-breasted Koo to o
,to a
j ews-harp accompaniment ! by the sound o f music .
The King sat up in b ed , and l istened . It was a
bi rd ’ s song that he heard,and i t seemed to come
THE JOYOUS STORY o r TOTO. 39
from the vines outside h is window . But what a
song i t was ! And what a b ird i t must be that
could u tter such won
dro us sounds ! He l i st
ened,too enchanted to
move wh ile the magi
cal song swell ed louder
and clearer,
air w i th me
lody. At last
he rose,and
crep t softly
to the win
dow . There,
on a swinging vine,sa t a beautiful bi rd , all golden
Seiz ing his gun,he has tily des cended the s tairs .
yellow,with streaks of green On it s b ack. It
'
was
40 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
the Golden-breasted Ko o to o ! There could be no
doubt about i t,even if i ts marvellous song had
not announced i t as th e sweetest singer o f the
whole world . Very quietly,but trembl ing w i th
exci tement,the King put on his sl ippers and his
flowered dressing-gown , and se iz ing h is gun , he
hastily descended the stai rs.
It wa s early dawn , and nobody wa s awake in
the hotel excep t the Boots, who wa s blacking his
namesakes in the back hal l . He saw the King
come down , and thought he had come to get h is
boots ; bu t the monarch paid no attention to him ,
quie tly unbol ted the fron t door,and slipped out
into the gard en . W as he too late ? Had the
bird flown ? No the magic song stil l rose from
the vines outside h i s chamber-w indow. B ut even
now,as the King approached
,a fluttering wa s
heard,and the Golden-breasted Ko o to o
,spreading
i ts w ings, flew slowly away over the garden wall ,
and away towards the mountain which rose just
beh ind the ~ho tel. The King followed . clamber
ing painfully over the high wall , and leaving frag
.THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO. 41
ments o f his b rocade d ressing-gown on the sharp
sp ike s which garn ished i t . Once over,he made
al l speed,and found that he could well keep the
bird in sigh t,fo r i t was flying very slowly . A
provoking bird i t wa s,to be sure It would fly a
l i ttle way. and then , al ighting on a bush or hang
ing spray,would pour forth a flood o f melody , as
if i nvi ting i ts pursuer to come nearer ; but before
the unhappy King could ge t w i thin gunshot,i t
would flutter slowly Onward,keeping j ust out o f
reach,and uttering a series of mocking notes
,.
wh ich seemed to laugh at h is efforts. On and on
flew the bird,up the steepmountain ; on and on
wen t the King i n pursui t . It is al l very well to
flyupa mountain ; but to crawl and cl imb up , wi tha heavy gun in one ’ s hand
,and one ’s d ressing
gown catching on every sharp poin t o f rock , and
the tassel o f one ’ s n ightcap bobbing into one’
s
eyes,i s a ve ry different matter, I can tell you .
But the King never though t o f stopping fo r an
instan t ; no t he ! He lost fi rst one sl i ppe r, and
then the other ; the cord and tassels o f his dress
42 THE JOYOUS STORY o r TOTO .
ing-gown tripped him up,s o that he fel l and
almost broke his nose ; and finally hi s gun Sl ipped
fromhis hold and wen t crashing down ove r aprecip ice ; but stil l the King cl imbed on and on,
breathless but undaunted .
At length,at the very top o f th e mountain as
i t seemed,the b ird made a longer pause than
usual . It l ighted on a poin t o f rock,and fold ing
i ts wings,seemed really to wai t fo r the King ,
singing , meanwhile , a song o f the most invi ting
and encouraging description . Nearer and neare r
crep t the King , and s till the bi rd d id no t move.
He was w i th in arm ’ s-l ength,and was j ust stre tch
ing out h is arm to se ize the prize , when i t flu t
te red o ff the rock . Fran tic with exc itemen t, the
King made a despe rate cl utch after i t, and
PART I I.
AT eigh t o’clock the landlady knocked at the
King ’ s door . “ Hot water,Your Majesty
,
”she
said . Shall I b ring the can i n ? And the Band
desires h i s respec ts,and would vou wish himto
THE JOYOUS STORY o r TOTO. 43
play wh il e you are a -dressing,be ing as you d id n ’
t
bring a music-box w i th you
Rece iving no answer,after knocking several
times,the good woman Opened the door ve ry
cautiously,and peeped in
,ful ly expecting to s e e
the royal n ight-cap reposing calmly on the pillow.
What was her amazemen t at find ing the room
empty ; no Sign of the King wa s to be seen,
al though his pink-silk knee-breeches lay on a
chair,and h is ermine mantl e and his crown were
hanging on a peg against th e wall .
The landlady gave the alarm at once . The
King had d isappeared ! He had been robbed,
murd ered ; the assassins had chopped him up in to
l i ttl e p ieces and carried him away in a bundle
handkerchi ef ! Murder ! police ! fi re ! l
In the midst o f the wi ld confusion the voice
o f th e Boots was heard .
“ Please,
’m,I s e e
H is Maj esty go out at abou t five o’clock thi s
morn ing .
”
Again the chorus rose : he had run away ; he
had gone to surprise and slay the King o f Co ringo
44 THE JOYOUS STORY or TOTO.
whil e he was taking h is morn ing chocolate ; he
had gone to take a bath in the rive r,and was
drowned “ Murder ! pol ice
The vo ice o f the Boots was heard again . And
please,
’m,he ’s a S i ttin ’ ou t i n the courtyard now
and please,
’m,I think he ’
S crazy !
Out rushed everybody,pell-mell . in to the court
yard . There,on the ground
,sa t the King. w i th
h is tattered d ress ing-gown wrapped maj estically
about him . An ecstatic smile i ll uminated hi s face,
while h e clasped in his arms a large bird w i th
Shining plumage.“ Bless me ! ” cried th e poul try-woman . If he
has n ’ t gotmy Shanghai rooster that I could n ’ t
catch last nigh t ! ”
The King,hearing voices , looked round , and
smiled graciously on the astonished crowd .
Good people,
” he said,success has crownedmy
efforts. I have found the Golden-breasted Koo
too ! You shall al l have ten pounds apiece,i n
honor o f this joyful event,and the landlady shall
be made a baroness in her own righ t !
46 THE JOYOUS STORY o r TOTO .
will,and prepared to leave the country at once ;
but when the p ie was fin ished,and he s aw i ts huge
dimensions,he was comforted . No man
,
” he said
to himself,
can eat the whol e o f that p ie and
l ive ! ”
Alas ! he wa s right . The unhappy King fel l a
vic tim to his musical ambition before he had half
finished h is p ie,and died in a fi t. H is subj ec ts ate
the remainder o f the mighty pasty, w i th mingled
tears and smiles,as a memorial feast ; and if the
Golden-breasted Ko o to o was a Shangha 1 rooster
nobody in the kingdom was ever the wiser for i t.
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO . 47
CHAPTER III .
HE raccoon ’ s story was rece ived w i th general
approbation ; and the grandmothe r, in par
t icular,declared she had no t passed s o pleasan t an
hour fo r a very long time. The good woman was
gradually becoming accustomed to her strange
visi tors,and ventured to address them w i th a l i t
tl e more freedom , though she stil l trembled an d
cl utched her kn itting-needles tighte r when she
heard the bear’s deep tones.“ It i s really very good o f yo u all , she said ,
“ to take compassion upon my lonel iness. Before
I came to th is cottage I l ive d in a large town ,
where I had many friends , and I find the change
very great,and the l ife here very sol itary . In
deed,if i t were not fo r my dear l i ttl e Toto , I
should lead qui te th e l ife of a hermit.”
What is a hermit ?” asked the bear, who had
48 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
an inqu i ring mind,and l iked to know the meaning
o f words.
It i s a crab,said the parrot. “ I have often
seen them i n the West Indie s . They ge t in to the
shells o f othe r crabs,and d rive the owners out.
A wre tched s e t !”
Oh,dear ! c ried the grandmothe r. Tha t i s
no t at all the kind o f hermit I mean . A hermi t
in th i s country i s a man who l ives quite alone,
w i thout any companion s,i n some uninhabi ted
region,such as a wood or a lonely h il lside .
“ Is i t ? exclaimed the bear and the squi rre l
at th e same moment. “Why,then
,we know one .
Certainly,
” the Squi rrel wen t on ; “ Old Bald
head must be a hermi t,o f course. He l ives alon e ,
and in an uninhabited region ; that i s, what you
would cal l un inhabited,I suppose .
How very in teresting ! Where does he l ive ?”
asked Toto . Who is he How i s it that I have
never seen him ?
Oh,he l ives qui te at the other end o f the
wood repl ied the squi rrel some ten mile s or
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO . 49
more from here . You have neve r been s o far, my
dear boy,and Old Baldhead is n
’
t l ikely to come
in to our part o f the wood . He paid us one visi t
several yea rs ago,and that was enough fo r him
,
eh Bruin ? ”
H uinph! I th ink s o !” said Bruin
,smil ing
grimly . He seemed qui te satisfied,I thought.”
“ Tell u s about h is v isi t ! ” cried Toto eagerly .
I have never heard anything abou t h im,and I
know i t must be funny, or you would no t chuckle
s o Bruin
Well,said the bear, “ the re i s n ’t much to
tel l,but yo u shal l hear all I know. I cal l that
hermit,if that i s h is name
,a very impudent
fellow. Just fancy this,w il l you ? One evening
,
late i n the autumn,about three years ago
,I was
coming home from a long ramble,ve ry tired and
h ungry . I had left a particularly n ice comb of
honey and some othe r l i ttl e things inmy cave ,al l ready fo r suppe r
,fo r I knew when I started
that I should be late,and I was looking forward
to a very comfortabl e evening .
50 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
Well,when I came to the door o f my cave
,
what should I s e e but an old man wi th a long
gray beard,s i tting on the ground eating my
7 ,honey . Here the bear looked around w i th a
deeply inj ured air,and there wa s a general mur
mur o f sympathy .
Your course wa s obvious said the raccoon .
Why did n ’
t you eat h im ,stup id ?”
Hush ! ” whispered the wood-pigeon softly .
You must no t s ay things l ike that, Coon ! yo u
will frighten the old lady .
” And indeed,the
grandmother seemed much d iscomposed by the
raccoon ’ s suggestion .
“Would n ’ t have been pol i te ! ” repl ied Bruin .
My own house,you know
,and al l that. B e
s ide s,he added in an undertone, w i th an appre
hens ive glance at the grandmother,“ he wa s old
,
and probably very
Ahem said Toto in a warn ing voice .
Oh,certainly not ! ” said the bear hastily
not upon any accoun t . I wa s about to make the
same remark myself. A—where was I ?”
THE JOYOUS STORY
’
OF TOTO . 5 1
The old man wa s eating your honey,said the
woodchuck .
Of course ! repl i ed Bruin .
“ So,though I
would not have hurt him for tire world”
(wi th
I only s tood uponmyhind legs .
another glance towards the grandmother ! ,“ I
though t there would be no harm in frighten ing
him a l i ttl e . Accord ingly,I firstmade ' a great
noise among the bushes,snapp ing the twigs and
52 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
rustl ing the l eaves at a great rate . He stopped
eating,and looked and l istened
,l is tened and
looked ; d id n’ t seemto l ike i t much
,I thought.
Then,when he wa s pre ttv thoroughly roused , I
came slowly forward , and plan ted myself directly
in fron t of the cave .
”
Dear me ! ” cried the grandmother. “ H ow
ve ry dreadful ! poor ol d man ! ”
“Well now,ma’am ! ” said B ruin appeal ingly ,
he had no righ t to steal my honey ; now had
he ? And I d id n ’ t h urt a hai r of hi s head,he
con tinued .
“ I only stood up on my hind-l egs
and waved my fore-paws round and round l ike
a w indmill , and roared .
”
A general burst o f merrimen t greeted this s tate
ment,fromal l except the grandmothe r, who shud
dered in sympathy w i th the unfortunate hermi t .“ Well? ” asked Toto
,
“ and what d id he do
then ?”
Why,said Bruin
,
“ he crouched down in a
l i ttl e heap on the ground,and squeezed himself
against the wall o f the cave,eviden tly expecting
54 TIIE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
Have you eve r tried i t , ma’am ? si tting in a tree
,
you know“ Never ! repl ied the grandmother wi th much
d ign i ty .
“ In my youth i t wa s not the custom
fo r gentlewomen to s it in trees fo r any purpose ;and if i t had been , I trust I should have had more
respect fo r age and infirmi ty than to amusemyself in the manne r yo u suggest .
The squirrel wa s somewhat abashed at th is, and
scratched his ear to h ide his embarrassment.
The pause wh ich ensued gave the raccoon an
opportun i ty fo r which he had been wai ting. He
addressed the grandmothe r in h is most hon eyed
accen ts
Our wavs. dear madam ,he said
,are nece s
sarily very d iffe ren t from yours. There must be
much in our wood land l ife that seems rough, and
possibly even savage,to a person of
’
refinemen tand cul ture l ike yourself. While we roam abou t
in the untutored forest ” Hear ! hear ! ” in
t errupted the squirrel . Untutored forest ’ i s
good ! you remain in the elegan t atmosphere
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO . 5 5
o f your pol ished home . While we fare hardly,
snatch ing a precarious and scan ty subsistence from
roots and herb s,you
,
’
lapped in intel lec tual and
highly cul tivated l e isure, while away the hours by
manufacturing ginge rbread and— a— j am .
” The
raccoon here waved h is tail. and gave Toto a look
whose craftiness cannot be described in word s.
Toto took the hint. “ Dear me ! ” he cried .
Of course ! how stupid of me ! Grandmother,i s
there any ginge rbread in the house My friends
have n ever tasted any,and I should l ike to give
them some of yours .”
“ Certainly,my dear boy
,said the good old
lady ;“ by al l means . I have j ust made some
th is afternoon . Bring a good plateful,and bring
a pot o f raspberry jam,too . Perhaps Mr . CoOn
would l ike a l ittl e o f that.”
Mr. Coon did l ike a l i ttl e of that . In fact,Mr .
Coon would have l iked the whole pot,and would
have taken i t,too
,if i t had not been fo r Toto ,
who declared that i t must b e share and share
al ike . He gave them each a spoon,and le t them
56 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
help themselves in turn,observing the strictest
impartial i ty.
The feas t seemed to be highly enjoyed by all .
YVell,B ruin
, how do you l ike j am ?”
a sked
Toto .
Very much,very much indeed ! repl ied th e
bear . “ Someth ing l ike honey,i s n ’ t i t
,only e n
t irely d ifferent ? What k ind of creatures make i t ?
Butte rfl ies“ Lady makes i t herself
,stupid ‘3’ muttered the
woodchuck,who was ou t of temper
,having just
tried to get a Spoonful ou t of turn,and failed .
Did n ’t you hear he r say s o ? Butterfl ies never
make anything except butter .”
The l i ttle squ irre l sat n ibbl ing his gingerbread
in a state of great satisfaction .
“ Who ’s to tel l
the story next time ?” he asked presently .
“ Parrot,
” answered the raccoon,wi th hi smouth
full of jam .
“ Parrot promised ever s o long ag o
to tel l u s a story about Africa . Did n ’ t you,
Polly ?
The parrot drew herself up with an ai r of
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO. 5 7
offended dign ity.
“ The gentlemen o fmy ac
quain tance , Mr. Coon ,”
she said,
“ cal l me Miss
Mary . I am Polly ’ to a few i n timate s only .
”
Oh,i ndeed said the raccoon I beg your
pardon,Miss Mary. No offence
,I trust ? ”
Miss Mary unbent a l i ttl e,and condescended to
explain “ My real name,
”she said
,
“ i s Cham
chamchamchamkicke ryb o o ; but, not understanding the subtle ties o f our African l anguages , I do
not expec t you to pronounce that . ‘Miss Mary ’
w i l l do very wel l ; though ,”
she added,
“ I ha ve
been called Princess i n happie r days .“ When wa s that ? ” inquired Toto .
“ Tell us
about i t,Miss Mary .
“ No,no ! ” i n terrupted the bear. “ Nomore
stori es to-nigh t . “ It i s too late . We must he ge t
ting home,or the owl s wi l l be after us.”
To-morrow,then
,
” cri ed Toto .
“ Will you all
come to-morrow Then we wi l l hear the parrot’s
story.
The animal s all promised to come on the mor
row,and each in turn took leave o f the grand
TIIE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
mother,thanking he r fo r the treat they had had .
The bear, after making h is best bow,led the
towards the forest, followed by the raccoon , the
woodchuck, the squirrel , the parrot, and the wood
pigeon . And soon the whole company d isappeared
among the branches.
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
CHAPTER IV.
IWAS born
,
” said the parrot,
“ i n Africa .
It wa s a lovely afte rnoon ; and Toto’ s
fri ends were again assembled around the cottage
door . The parrot,as the story-teller o f the
’
day,
was perched in great state on the high back of an
old-fashioned easy-chair. wh ich Toto had brought
out fo r h is grandmother. The old l ady sat quietly
kni tting,w ith Bruin on one side o f he r
,and Coon
on the othe r ; wh ile Toto lay on the grass at he r
fee t,al ternately caressing the wood-p igeon and
poking the woodchuck to wake himup .
When the parro t said , “ I was born in Africa,
al l the animal s looked very w i se,bu t said noth ing ;
so she added,Of course , you al l know where
Africa i s .
Of course,said the raccoon hastily ; “ ce r
ta inly, I Should hope s o ! We know where i t i s ;
if you come to that,we know where i t is .
”
60 THE JOYOUS STORY o r TOTO.
Coon , said Toto, l aughing , what a humbug
you are ! How i s Africa bounded,old fell ow ?
Tell us,if you know so well .”
North by the Gulf States,south by Kalamazoo
,
east by Mt . E verest and west by the Strai ts o f
Frangipanni,
repl ie d the raccoon, wi thout a
momen t'
s hesi tation .
Miss Mary l ooked much d isgusted . Africa,
she said,
“ as eve ry person o f education knows
[w i th a w i thering glance a t the raccoon! , i s the
exact centre o f the universe . It is th e most beau
tiful o f al l lands — a l and o f palm-trees and
crocodiles,ivory and gold-dust, sunny fountain s
and
Oh ! ” cried Toto eagerly, excuse me fo r
i nterrup ting,Miss Mary ; but are the sands really
golden ? ‘Where Afric ’ s sunny foun tains,’
you
know,
‘rol l down the i r golden sand s,’—i s that
rea l ly true ?
Certainly,repl i ed Miss Mary .
Dear me,yes . A fountain would n
’
t be call ed
a fountain in Africa if i t had n’
t golden sands . It
62 THE JOYOUS STORY or TOTO.
All the company declared that i t was the on e
desire o f their hearts . So , clearing he r throa t,
and cocking her head on one S ide , Mi ss Mary
sangChamehamchamchamkicke ryb oo ,
Fa i re s t fowl tha t eve r greuFa ires t fowl tha t eve r glowed
,
How yo u b lighte n my abode !H ow yo u orn amen t th e v i ew ,
Chamchamchau i chamkicke ryboo
Chamchamchamchamkicke ryb oo ,
Yo u have “ i t a nd be auty, tooYou can d ance , an d yo u can Sing ;Yo u can t i e a pudd i ng-s tring.
Is th e re augh t you cannot do ,Chamchamchamcliamkicke ryb oo
That wa s he r opinion o fmy meri ts,continued
the parrot modestly . Indeed,i t wa s the general
Opinion .
“ As I was saying , I was the Princess’ s con stan t
companion . All day I fol lowed her about,si tting
on he r shoulder,or flying about her head . All
n ight I slept perched on he r nose-ring, which she
always hung upon a hook when she went to bed .
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO . 63
Ah that nose-ring ! I wish I had neve r seen
i t . It wa s the cause of al l my misfortunes,
o f
my lovely Princess’
s death and my own exile .
And yet i t wa s a lovely thing in i tself.
I observe,madam
,
” contin ued the parrot,ad
dressing the grandmother,
“ that you wear no
nose-ring. Such a pi ty ! There i s no ornament
s o becoming . In Africa i t i s a most importan t
articl e of dress,I may s ay tile most important.
Can I not persuade you to try the effec t ? ”
“ Thank you,
” repl ied the grandmother,sm il ing .
I fear I am too old,Miss Mary
,even if i t were
the custom in this coun try to wear nose-rings ,
which I bel ieve i t i s not. But how was th e Prin
ce s s’
s nose-ring the cause of your m isfortunes ?
Pray tel l us .
”
The parrot looked sadly at the grandmothe r’
s
nose,and shook her head . Such a pi ty ! ” she re
pe at e d . It would be s o becoming You would
never regret i t. However , she added,you shal l
hear the rest o f my s ad story .
The Princess’s nose-ring was,as you may infer
64 THE JOYOUS STORY o r TOTO.
fromthe fact of my being able to swing in it, ave ry large one . She wa s a connoisseur in nose
r ings,and had a large collection o f them
,o f wh ich
collec tion th is was the gem. It was o f beaten
gold,incrusted w i th precious stones. No othe r
nose in the kingdom could have sustained such
a weight ; but hers—ah , hers was a nose i n athousand .
”
“ Pardon me ! ” said the raccoon softly,do I
understand that a long nose i s conside red a beau ty
in Africa ?”
“ It is,i ndeed
,repl ie d the parrot . It i s
,
indeed . Yo u would be much admired in Africa,
Mr. Coon .
”
The raccoon looked sid ewise at h is Sharp-poin ted
nose,and stroked i t complacently.
“ Ah ! ” he
observed,
“ I agre e wi th you,Miss Mary
,as to
Africa being the cen tre o f the earth . Pray go
on .
”
I need hardly say, continued the parrot,
that the jewel led nose - ring wa s the envy o f all
the other princesses fo r miles around . Foremost
THE JOYOUS STORY o r TOTO . 6 5
among the envious ones was the Princess Panka,the
daughter o f a neighboring king. She never could
have worn the nose - ring her nose was less than
half an inchl ong,and she was altoge ther h ideous ;
but she wanted i t,and she made up her mind to
ge t i t by foul means,if fai r one s would not do
Accord ingly she bribed the Princess’ s b ogghun .
“ The Princess ’ s wizal asked the bear.
B ogghun ,
’ repeated the parro t te stily . The
Princess ’ s b ogghun Don’ t tell me you don ’ t
know what a b ogghun i s !
Well. I don’ t,
” repl ied sturdy Bruin ; an d
what ’s more,I don ’ t believe any one el se does
The parrot looked around,but as no one seemed
incl ined to give any information respectin g bog
ghun s , she continued , The b ogghun i s a kind o f
l izard,found only on the i sland o f B ogghun-Chunka .
It i s about five fe et long,of a brill iant green colo r .
It invariably holds the end of i ts tail i n i ts mouth,
and moves by roll ing,while in th is posi tion
,l ike a
ch ild ’ s hoop . In fact,i t i s used as a hoop by
African ch ild ren ; hence the term‘b ogghun .
’ I t
5
66 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
feeds on the chunka , a triangular yel low beetle
found i n the same local i ty ; hence the nameof the
i sland , B ogghun-Chunka.
The
a treacherous
an imal,as I have
found tomy cost.The on e belonging
t omymistress wa sShe cares sed the b ogghun .
it very beautiful
creature,
and much beloved by her, ye t he b e
traye d her in the basestmanner
,as you shal l hear .
The Princess Panka,find ing that th e b ogghun
was very fond o f molasses candy , bribed himby
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO. 67
the offe r o f th ree po und s o f that cond iment to d e
l ive r the Princess into her hands . The plo t wa s
arranged,and the day s e t. On that day
,as usual ,
the b ogghun rolled upto the door afte r d inner ,and the Princess
,taking me on her shoulder ,
went ou t fo r he r usual afte rnoon play. She ca
re s s ed the b ogghun , —al1 ! fai thless wretch ! how
could he bear the touch o f that gen tl e hand ?
and then struck h im l ightly w i th her si lve r hoop
stick ; he rolled swiftly away , and we followed ,
Polpe tti boundn as l igh tly as a dee r,whil e I
s a t upon her shoulder. und isturbed by the rap id
motion .
“ Away rolled the b ogghun ,away and away
over the meadows and in to th e forest away and
away bounded the Princess in pursuit . The golden
nose-ring flashed and gl ittered in the sunl igh t ;
the golden bangles on her wrists and ankl es
tinkled and rang thei r tiny bells as she wen t .
Faste r and faste r ! faster and faster ! Themonkeys
,sw inging by thei r tails from the branches ,
chattered w i th astonishment at u s ; the w il d
68 THE JOYOUS STORY o r TOTO .
screamed at us al l the b irds
and twitte red ,
‘Come come twe edle-de e-d um !See s ee twe ed le-d e-d ceH i ! h i ! kike i iki !They h ave n o w ings , and ye t th ey fly.
’
And truly we did seem to fly,s o swift was our
motion . At length I became alarmed,and begged
the Pr incess to turn back . She had never before
gone s o far i n the forest unattended , I told her ;
and there wa s no knowing what dangers migh t
l urk in i ts leafy depths. But,alas ! she wa s too
much exci ted to l isten to my remonstrances. On
and on rol led the treacherous b ogghun ,and on
and on she bounded in pursui t .
Suddenly,as we went skimming across an Open
glade,a sharp twang was heard : I saw a wh i te
flash in the a ir ; and the next momen t I wa s
hurl ed violently to the ground . Recoveringmyself in an instan t, I s aw my lovely Princess
s tre tched l ifeless on the ground,with an arrow
quivering in her heart !
70 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
[th is adjective wa s not exactly correc t, but I was
too angry to choose my words! , hump-backed
Anl-eaz‘er and w i th the l ast word
,the most
opprobrious ep ithet that can be appl ied to an
H ideous witch I excla imed .
Afri can , I gave the creature a pe ek i n the facethat sent her tumbl ing over backwards
,and flew
o ff among the tree s . A storm o f arrows followed
me,b ut I escaped unhurt
,and flying rapidly
, wa s
soon far away from the spot .
Here the parrot paused to take breath,having
become quite excited in telling her story .
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO . 71
Ahemsaid the woodchuck . May I be per
mitted to ask a question , Miss Mary ?”Certainly
,replied the parrot graciously .
What is i t,Woodchuck ?”
Did I understand,
” said the woodchuck cau
t io usly, that the b ogghun nez'er takes h is tailout
of h is mouth“ Neve r ! ” repl ied the parro t . “ Never
,upon
any occasion !
Then how,asked Chucky
,d id he eat the
molasses candy
Woodchuck,said the parrot, w i th great se
veri ty,
“ the question does cred i t n ei the r to your
head nor to your heart. I decl ine to answe r
i t !
The woodchuck looked sulky,and scratched h is
nose expressively . The raccoon,who had been
on the poin t o f asking the same question h imself,
frowned at h im,and said he was ashamed o f him .
Pray continue your story,Miss Mary said he .
I assure you we are all , w i th perhaps one exception [the woodchuck sniffed aud ib ly! , quite fain t
72 THE JOYOUS STORY o r TOTO .
w i th exc itemen t and suspense . What became of
you after the Princess ’ s death?
I remained in the fores t,
” said the parro t. I
could no t go back to the village w i thout the Pri n
cess ; the King would have put me to death if I
had made my appearance .
“ For some time I l ived alone,assoc iating as l ittle
as poss ible w i th the uneducated b i rds o f the forest.
At length,find ing my life very sol i tary
,I accepted
the cl aw and hear t o f a rich and respectable green
parro t,who offe red me a good home and the de
vo tio n o f a l ife-time . With himI passed severalquie t and happy years ; but finally we were both
surprised and captured by a band o f American
sa ilors, who had penetrat ed to this d istance in the
f orest in search o f ivory . They treated us kindly,
and carried us m iles and miles til l we came to a
river,whe re other sail ors were wai ting w i th a
boat. In this we embarked,and after rowing fo r
several days,came to the mouth o f the rive r
,near
which thei r sh ip wa s wai ting fo r them .
“ In the confusion o f board ing , my husband
THE JOYOUS STORY o r TOTO . 73
managed to make his escape . He flew back to
the shore call ing to me to fol low him ; but, alas !
I wa s too closely guarded , and I never s aw himagain . He wa s a very worthy parrot, and a k ind
husband,though sometime s greedy in the matte r
of snails .
The parrot sighed,med itated for a few moments
w i th her head on one side , o n the vi rtues of her
departed lord,and then continued
,
My l ife on board ship was a very p leasan t one .
Petted and caressed by the sailors,I soon lost my
shyness,and became once more accustomed to the
socie ty of men . I learned Engli sh quickly,and
could soon whistl e ‘Yankee Doodl e and Three
Cheers ‘fo r the Red , White , and Blue .
’ One
phrase I obj ected ve ry much to repeating,Polly
wants a cracker .’ I d isl iked crackers extremely,
and could not endure the name o f Polly ; but fo r
some time I could not get anything to eat wi thou tmaking th is stup id remark .
One day I rece ived a shock which n early
caused me to fain t. I was si t ting on the taffrail,
74 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
watch ing two o f my particular fr iends, Joe Brown
and S imeon Pl unke tt,who were spl icing ropes .
They always’
splice d be tte r, I noticed , whenmyeye was on them . They were talking about some
adven ture in the forest, and suddenly I caught
the words,
‘golden nose-ring.
’ I had been half
doz ing ; but th is roused me at once , and I began
to l isten wi th all my ears .”
How many cars has she growled the wood
chuck,in a low tone .
Twenty-five,repl ied the raccoon
,i n the same
tone .
“ They are invisibl e to idiots,which i s
pro b ablv the reason whyyou have n ever noticedthem .
H ow d id you ge t that nose-ring ? ’
asked Joe
Brown .
‘You have begun to tel l me once or
twi ce,and someth ing ha s always stopped you .
Were there many o f them lying around ? I
should n ’ t mind having thatmyself. ’Judge o f my feel ings when S imeon Plunkett
,
before replying,pul led ou t from the breast o f h is
flannel shir t a huge golden ring,se t with j ewel s,
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO. 75
the i den tical golden nose-ring which had caused
the death o fmy l ovely Princess . I shuddered,
and came very near fall ing from the taffrai l ; but
composing myself,I l istened eagerly
,and heard
S imeon tel l the other how,as he and hi s mates
were return ing to the i r boat (he had be en wi th a
second exploring party sen t out from the sh ip !they found a wel l , and stopped to fish i n i t.
To fish i n a wel l ?” i nterrupted Bruin . IVhat
did they do that fo r ?
To s e e what they could catch , repl ied th e par
rot . What do people fishfo r i n this country ?
The fi rst th ing they caugh t was the body o f
a young woman,w i th this golden ring in her nose .
He r fe e t we re up,and her head wa s down ; and al
toge ther,S imeon said
,i t wa s very eviden t that
in stooping over e i the r to drink or to admire her
beauty in the well , the we igh t o f th e ring had
overbalanced her,and caused her to fall i n .
“ When I heard this n ews I flappe d my w ingsand crowed
,to the great astonishmen t o f the
two sailors . My enemy wa s dead , and Polpetti
76 THE JOYOUS STORY o r TOTO .
avenged . My joy wa s great, and I wanted to
thank S imeon Plunkett fo r being the beare r o f
s uch good news ; s o I perched o n hi s knee , and
sang himthe swee test song I knew, a song
whichhad often brought t ears to the eyes of my
los t husband . But he only said , Princess [they
all called me Princess , I should obse rve! , if any
othe r b ird made such a row as that, I’
d wring i ts
neck .
’ The Americans , I find,have absol utely no
ear fo r music .
“ We reached America afte r a pleasan t and
prosperous voyage .
“ After that 1 1 1 V adventures may be told in a
few words . Joe Brown presented me,as a great
treasure,to the captain ’ s w ife
,Mrs . Je remy J ibb ;
but I found her amos t un pleasan t person to l ivew i th . She kept me in a cage
,a tin cage
,—me
,
the favorite compan ion o f the Princess Royal o f
Central Africa ! She fe d me on crackers,cal led
me Polly al l the time,and treated me in a most
degrad ing manne r generally . If I had been a
canarv-bird , her manner could not have been more
78 THE JOYOUS STORY o r TOTO .
i n sufferably patron izing . Afte r enduring th i s l ife
fo r several weeks,I managed to make my escape
one day whil e Mrs . J ibb was cl ean ing my cage .Afte r a long fl igh t
,I reached th is forest
,i n whose
pl easan t re ti remen t I have remained ever since .
Here I find socie ty and sna i ls,both o f excellen t
qual i ty and , w i th these , whatmore does one requi re ? And here I hope to pass the remaind er
o f my days .”
The parro t’ s story,wi th the various pause s and
interruptions,had occup ied a good deal o f time ;
and when i t was finished the party broke up,promising to reassemble on the follow ing day.
Before they separated,Toto asked
,a s usual
,who
wa s to tel l th e next story .
Tell i t yourself, Toto , said the wood-pigeon ;
and all the rest ch imed in,
“ Yes,Toto Shal l tel l
the n ext h imself.” So i t wa s settl ed ; and they
al l shook paws,and d eparted.
THE JOYOUS STORY o r TOTO . 79
eHAPTER v.
r
I‘HE next day i t rained , s o the party o f fri ends
d id not assemble as usual . The bear stayed
in h is cave,sucking his paw, and l isten ing to the
chatter o f the squirrel , who came to spend the
day w i th him . The raccoon , after one look at
the weather, curled h imself upin his tree-houseand wen t to sleep . As fo r the woodchuck , he
neve r woke upat all , fo r nobody came to wakeh im
,and he could not do i t fo r h imself.
Poor Toto was very d isconsolate . He never
s tayed indoors fo r an ord inary rain,but this wa s a
perfect deluge ; so he stood by the w indow and
said,
“ Oh, dear ! oh , dear 1 ! oh , DEAR ! as if he
did not know how to s ay anyth ing el se .
H is good grandmother bore th is qui e tly fo r
some time ; but at length she said , Toto,do you
know what happened to the boy who said ‘Oh,
dear ! ’ too many times ?
80 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
“ No ! ” said Toto , brigh tenn upat the pros
pe ct o f a story . What d id happen to h im ? Tell
me Granny,please ! ”
Come and hold th is Skein o f yarn fo r
then,
” repl ied th e grandmother,
“ and I will tel l
you as I wind i t .
Once upon a time there wa s a boy
What wa s h is name inte rrupted Toto .
Chimborazo , ” repl ied the grandmother . “ I
should have told you h is real name in amoment,
if you had not in terrupted me , but now I shal l
cal l himCh imborazo , and that wi ll be someth ingfo r yo u to remember .
”
Toto b lushed and hung his head .
This boy,
” continued the grandmother in
variably put the wrong foot out o f bed firs t when
he got up in themorning,and consequently he
was always unhappy .
”
“ May I speak ? ” murmured Toto softly .
Yes, you may speak ,
” said the old lady .
What is i t ? ”
Please grandmother,said Toto
,
“wh ich is the
wrong foo t ?”
THE JOYOUS STORY o r TOTO. 8 1
“ Don ’ t you know which your righ t foot i s ?
asked the grandmother.
Why,yes
,o f course , repl ied Toto .
'
And do you know the d ifference be tween right
and wrong ?
Why,yes
,o f course
,said Toto .
Then,said the grandmother
,you know
which the wrong foot i s .“ As I was saying , Chimborazo was a very
unhappy boy . He pouted,and he sulked
,and
he said,
‘Oh,dear ! oh
,dear ! oh
, ! dear ! oh ,
dear ! ’ He said i t til l everybody was ti red of
hearing i t.
h is mother would s ay,
‘pl ease
don ’ t say,
“ Oh,dear ! ” any more . It i s very
annoying . Say something else .
’
Oh, dear !’ the boy would answer
,
‘I can ’ t !
I don ’ t know anyth ing else to s ay. Oh,dear ! oh
,
dear oh,D EAR
So one day his mothe r could not bear i t any
longer, and She sent for his fairy godmo ther,and
told her al l about i t.
82 THE JOYOUS STORY o r TOTO .
Humph said the fairy godmother . I wil l
s e e to i t. Send the boy to me ! ’
So Chimborazo was sen t for, and came , hang
ing his head as usual . When he saw his fairy
godmother,he said
,
‘Oh,dear ! for he was rather
afraid o f her .
Oh,dear ! ” i t i s said the godmother
sharply ; and she pu t 01 1 her spectacles and looked
at h im . Do you know what a bell-punch is
Oh,dear ! ’ said Chimborazo . No , ma
’
am , I
don ’ t !
said the godmothe r , ‘I am going to
give you one . ’
“ ‘Oh,dear ! ’ sa id Chimborazo
,
‘I don ’ t want
Probably not,’ repl ie d she
,but that does n ’
t
make much d ifference. You have i t now,i n your
j acket pocket .’
Chimborazo fel t in h i s pocke t,and took out a
queer-look ing instrument o f sh ining metal . Oh ,
dear ! ’ he said .
Oh,dear ! ” i t i s ! said the fairy godmother.
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
Now,
’
she continued ,‘l isten to me
,Chimborazo .
I am going to pu t you on an allowance o f Oh
dears . This i s a self-ac ting bel l -punch,and i t
w i l l r ing wheneve r you s ay Oh,dear ! How
many times do yo u generally say i t in the course
o f the day ? ’
Oh,dear ! ’ said Chimborazo
,
‘I don ’ t know .
Oh dear .
”
Tiny! {iny the bel l-punch rang twi ce sharply
and looking a t i t i n d i smay,he s aw two l i ttl e
round holes punched in a long sl i p o f pasteboard
wh ich was fastened to the instrument .‘Exactly ! ’ said the fairy . That is the way
i t works , and a ve ry pre tty way, too . Now,my
boy, I am going to make you a very l iberal al low
ance . You may s ay“ Oh
,dear ! ” forty-five times
a day . There ’
s l iberal i ty fo r you !
Oh,dear ! ’ cried Chimborazo
,
‘I
Tiny said the bell-punch .
You s e e !’ observed the fai ry .
‘Noth ing
could be prettie r . Yo u have now had th re e o f
th is day’s allowance . It i s still some hours before
84 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
noon,s o I advise you to be careful . If you ex
7
ce ed the al lowance Here she paused,and
glowered through her spectacles in a very dreadful
manner .“ ‘Oh
,dear " cried Chimborazo .
‘What wi l l
happen then ?’
Yo u w i l l s e e said the fai ry godmother , w i th
a nod . Sonzellzinywi ll happen , you may be very
sure o f that . Good-by. Remember,only forty
five ! ’ And away she flew out o f the window .
Oh , dear !’ cried Chimborazo
,bursting into
tears . ‘I don ’ t wan t i t ’ I won’ t have i t ! Oh,
dear ! oh , dear ! oh , dear ! oh , dea r ! oh , D EAR !
Ting ! ting ! ting-ting-ting—liny said the bel l
punch ; and now there were ten round hol es in
the s t rip o f pasteboard . Chimbora zo was now
really frightened . He was sil ent fo r some time ;
and when his mother called him to his l essons he
tried very hard not to say the dangerous words .
But the habi t was so strong that he sa id them un
consciously. By d inner-time there were twen ty
five holes in the cardboard strip by tea-time there
86 THE JOYOUS STORY or TOTO .
were forty ! Poor Chimborazo ! he was afraid to
open hi s l ips,fo r whenever he d id the words would
sl ip out i n sp i te o f him .
‘Well,Chimbo ,
’ said his father after tea,
‘I
hear you have had a vi si t from your fai ry god
mother . What d id She say to you , eh ?’
Oh,dear said Chimborazo
, she said oh,
dear ! I ’
ve said i t again“ ‘She said
,
“ Oh , dear ! I’ve said i t again !
repeated his father . What do yo u mean by
that
Oh, dear ! I d id n’
t mean that .’ cri ed Chimbo
razo hastily ; and again the inexorabl e bell rang,
and he knew that anothe r hol e was punched in
the fatal cardboard . He pressed his l ips fi rmly
toge ther,and d id not open them again except to
s ay‘Good -night
,
’ un til h e was safe in his own
room . Then he hastily drew the hated bel l-punch
from his pocke t,and counted the holes in the strip
o f cardboard there were forty-three ! Oh,
dear .” cried the boy
,forgetting h imself again
in h is alarm,
‘only two more ! Oh,dear oh ,
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO . 87
D EAR ! I ’ve done i t again ! oh ‘Ting ! T ING ! ’
went the bell-punch ; and the cardboard wa s
punched to the end .
‘Oh,dear ! ’ cried Chim
b o ra z o,now beside h imself w i th te rror . Oh
,dear !
oh,dear ! oh . dear ! oh , dear what w il l become
o f me ?’
A strange whirring noise was heard,then a loud
clang ; and the next momen t the bel l-punch , as if
i t were al ive,flew out o f h is hand
,ou t o f the
w indow ,and wa s gone !
Chimborazo stood breathless w i th terror fo r a
few minutes, momentarily expecting that the roof
would fall i n on hi s head , or the floor blow up
under h i s fee t, or some appall ing catastrophe of
some kind fol low ; but nothing followed . Every
thing wa s quiet. and there seemed to be noth
ing to do bu t go to bed ; so to bed he wen t, and
slept,only to d ream that he was shot through
the head w i th a bell-punch,and d ied saying, Oh,
dear ! ’
“ The next morning , when Ch imborazo came
downstairs , his father said ,‘My boy
,I am going
88 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
to dr ive ove r to your grandfather’ s farm this morn
ing ; would you l ike to go wi thme ?’
“A drive to the farm was one o f the greatest
pleasures Chimborazo had,s o he answered promptly
,
Oh dear
Oh,very well! ’ said hi s father
,looking much
surpri sed . You need not go,my s on
,if you do
not wan t to . I w il l take Robe rt instead .
’
Poor Chimborazo ! He had opened h is l ips to
s ay, Thank you , papa . I Should l ike to go i 'ery
much and,i nstead o f these words, out had
pe pped,i n his most doleful tone
,the now hated
Oh,dear ! ’ H e s a t amazed but was roused by
h is mother’s call ing him to breakfast .
Come , Chimbo ,’ she said . Here are sausages
and scrambled eggs ; and you are ve rv fond o f
both o f them . Which will you have
Chimborazo hastened to say,
‘Sausages , pl ease ,
mamma,
’ that i s,he hastened to try to s ay i t ;
b u t all h is mothe r heard wa s,Oh
,dear
“ H is father looked much d ispl eased . Give the
boy some bread and wate r,wife
,
’ he said sternly .
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO . 89
If he cannot answe r properly , he must be ta ught.
I have had enough of th is oh , dear business . ’
“ Poor Chimborazo ! He saw plainly enough
now what h is puni shment wa s to b e ; and the
thought of it made h im tremble . He tried to ask
for some more bread,but only brought out h is
Oh , dear .
” i n such a lamen table tone that h is
fathe r ordered himto leave the room . He wen t
out in to the garden,and there heme t John the
gardene r,carrying a baske t o f rosy apples. Oh !
how good they looked“ ‘I am bringing some of the finest apples up
to the house,l i ttl e master
,
’ said John . Will you
have on e to put i n your pocket ? ’
Oh,dear .
” wa s al l th e poor boy could say,
though he wanted an apple , oh , so much ! And
when John heard that he put the appl e back in
h is basket,mutter ing something about ungrateful
monkeys .“ Poor Chimborazo ! I will not give the whole
h istory o f that miserable day,a miserable day i t
was from beginning to end . He fared no be tter
90 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO
at d inner than at breakfast ; for at the second
Oh,dear ! ’ his father sent him up to h i s room
,
to stay there un til he knew how to take what
wa s given h im ,and be thankful fo r i t .’ He knew
well enough by this time ; but he could not tel l h i s
father s o . He wen t to h is room,and s a t look
ing out of the W indow,a h ungry and miserable
boy .
In th e afternoon h is cousin Will came uptosee h im .
‘Why,Chimbo ! ’ he cri ed .
‘Why do
you si t moping here in the house,when al l the
boys are out ? Come and play ma rbles w i th me on
th e piazza . Ned and Harry are out there wai tingfo r you . Come on ! ’
Oh,dear ! ’ said Chimborazo .
What ’
s the matte r ? ’ asked Will . Have n’
t
you any marbles ? Never mind . I ’l l give you
half o f mine , if you l ike . Come !
Oh, D EAR ! said Chimborazo .
Well,
’ said Will,
‘if that ’s all you have to s aywhen I offer yo u marbles , I
’l l keep them myself.
I suppose you expec ted me to give you all o f
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO: 91
them,d id you I never saw such a fellow and
o ff he wen t in a huff.
Well,Chimborazo
,
’ said the fai ry godmother,
wha t do yo u'think o f “ Oh , dear !
”now ? ’
Touching his l ips with her wand .
Ch imborazo looked at her beseechingly,but
said nothing.
F i nd ing that fo rtv-five times wa s not enough
fo r you yesterday,I thought I would le t you have
92 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
all you wanted to-day , you s e e,
’ said the
w ickedly .
“ The b oy still looked imploringly at her, but
d id not open his l ips .
Well,well
,
’
she said at last,touch ing his l ips
wi th her wand,
‘I th ink that is enough in the wayof punishment
,though I am sorry you broke the
bel l-punch . Good-by ! I don ’ t bel ieve wi ll
s ay Oh,dear ! anymore .
’
And he did n’
t.”
94 -THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
He wen t straigh t to the forest pool,hoping to
find some o f his companion s there . Sure enough,
there was the raccoon, s i tting by the edge of the
pool,making his to il e t, and stopping every now
and then to gaze admi ringly at h imself i n the
clear mirror .
Good-morn ing,Coon ! ” said Toto ;
“ admiring
your beau ty as usual,eh ?
Well,Toto
,
” repl ied the raccoon complacen tly,
my view of the matte r i s th is : what i s the us e
o f having beauty if you don ’ t admire i t That i s
what i t ’
s fo r,I suppose .”
I suppose s o,
” assented Toto .
And you can ’ t expect o ther peopl e to admire
yo u if you don’ t admire yourself ! added the rac
coon impress ively.
“ Remember that ! How ’ s
your grandmother ?“ She ’ s very well
,
” repl ied Toto,
“ and Sher/f
hopes to s e e you all th is afternoon . She has
made a new kind o f gingerbread and She wants
you to try i t. I have tried i t,and i t i s ve ry good
indeed.
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO . 95
Your grandmother,said the raccoon
,
“ i s i n
many respects the most del igh tful person I have
ever met. I,fo r one
,wi l l come w i th pl easure. I
can ’ t tel l about the re s t ; have n’
t seen them fo r
a day or two . Suppose we go and hunt them
up .
With all my heart ! said Toto .
They had not gone far before they met the
wood-pigeon flying along with a bunch o f berrie s
in her bill .
Where are you going,Pigeon Pre tty ?” in
qui red Toto and who is to have those nice ber
ries ? I am sure they are no t fo r yourself ; I
bel ieve you neve r get anyth ing fo r yourself, you
are so busy help ing others .”
These be rri es are fo r poor Chucky,repl ied
the wood-pigeon .
“ Ah , Coon , she added re
proachfully, how could you hurt the poor fell ows o
? He i s really i ll th is morn ing in consequence .
”
What have you been doing to Chucky , you
naughty Coon ? ” asked Toto. “ B iting his nose
ofl
96 THE JOYOUS STORY o r TOTO .
Oh,no ! said the raccoon
,l ooking ra ther
guil ty,i n Spi te o f his assurance . Dear me
,no !
I d id n ’
t b ite i t of”. Certainly not ! I—Ij ust b i t
i t a l i ttle,don ’ t you know ! i t was rain ing
,and I
had n’
t anything else to do ; and he was s o sound
asleep,i t was a great temptation . But I won ’ t d o
i t again,Pigeon Pre tty
,
” he added cheerfully,
“ I
won ’ t really . Take him the berri e s,w i th my love ,
and say I hope they W i ll d o him good ! ” and
w i th a crafty wink , Master Coon trotted on wi th
Toto,whil e Pigeon Pretty flew o ff i n the Opposite
d irection.
They soon arrived at the mouth o f the bear’ s
cave,and looking in
,s aw the worthy Bruin
quietly playing backgammon wi th h is devoted
friend Cracker The latte r was chattering as
usual . “ And so I said to h im ,
” he was saying
as Toto and Coon approached , I think i t is a
mean trick,and I ’
ll have nothing to do wi th i t.
And what is more,I ’ ll pu t a stop to i t if I can
So he said he ’
d l ike to see me do i t,and flounced
o ff in to the water.”
98 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
He wants to marry the Widow Bullfrog’
s
daugh ter,and she won ’ t have him
,because she ’s
engaged to young Mud Turtle . So now the
muskrat has contrived a plan fo r carrying her off
to-n igh t whether she w il l or no and if yo u wi l l
bel ieve i t,he came tome and asked me to help
him,—me , the head squ irrel o f the whole forest !
”
and l i ttl e Cracker whisked his tai l about fiercely,
and looked as if he could devour a whole a rmy of
muskrats .“ Don’ t frigh ten us
,Cracker ! ” said the rac
coon,w i th a look o f mock terror. “ I shall fain t
if you look so fe rocious . I shall,indeed ! Hold
me , Toto
Now,Co on
,you know I won
’ t have Cracker
teased ! ” growled the bear . He ’s a good l i ttl e
fellow,and if he wan ts to help the Widow Bull
frog'
o ut o f th i s scrape,he shall . I bel ieve sh e
i s a very respectable person . Now, I don
’t know
whether I can do anyth ing about i t myself. I ’m
rather large,you see
,and i t won
’
t do fo r me to
go paddl ing about in the pool and getting the
water allmuddy .
”
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
Certainly no t ! said th e squi rrel,you dear
old monste r . I shoul d as soon think o f asking
the mountain to come and hunt mosqui toes. But73Coon
,now
Oh,I ’m ready ! exclaimed th e raccoon .
Del ighted,I ’m sure
,to do anything I can .
What shall I do to th e muskrat ? Eat him?I suppose that would be the easies t th ing to
do,sa id the bear. What do you s ay
Cracker
He i s very hard to catch,repl ied the squirre l .
In fact, you cannot catch a muskra t unless you
put tar on his nose .
”
“ That i s true,
” said the raccoon . I had
forgotten that,and I have n
’
t any tar j ust
now Would p i tch or turpen tine do as wel l,
do you th ink ? They al l begin w i th ‘A ’
,you
know .
”
I ’m afraid no t ! ” said the squirrel. Tar
to catch a Tartar,
’ as the old saying goes ; and
the muskrat i s certainly a Tartar.”
“ Look here ! ” said Toto,
“ I think we have
1 00 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
some tar at home,in the shed . I am quite sure
there is some .
”
“ Really ?” said the squ i rrel,brighten ing up .
Good boy,Toto Tel l me where I can find i t
,
and I ’ ll go and get i t .”
No said Toto . It ’
s i n a bucke t,and yo u
could n ’
t carry i t, Cracker ! I’
11 go and fetch i t ,
whi le you and Coon are arranging your plan of
action .
So away ran Toto,and the squ irrel and the
raccoon s a t down to consul t
The fi rst th ing to do,sa id Coon
,i s to ge t
the muskrat out of h is hole . Now,my advice i s
th is : do you go to Mrs . Bullfrog , and borrow an
old overcoat of her husband ’s.”
Husband ’
s dead ,” said the bear.
That ’s no reason why h is overcoat should be
dead,stupid ! ” repl ied the raccoon .
“ It i s n’
t
l ikely that he was buried in h is overcoat,and i t
i s n ’ t l ikely that she has cut i t upfo r a ridinghabi t . Borrow th e overcoat
,
” he contin ued,turn
ing to the squirrel again,
“ and put i t on . Old
1 02 THE JOYOUS STORY or TOTO .
I wil l attend to the rest of i t,said Coon
,with
a wink. See that I have cards to the Mud Tur
tle ’s wedd ing,w i l l you ? Here comes Toto
,he
added,
w i th tar enough to catch fifty muskrats .
Off with you , Cracker, and ask the Widow Frog
fo r the overcoat .”
The squirrel disappeared among the bushes. and
at the same time Toto came running upwi th thetar-bucke t .
“Well,
” he said breathl essly,i s i t all arranged ?
Oh ! I ran al l the way, and I am s o ti red ! ” and
he dropped down on a mossy seat, and fanned
himself with hi s cap .
Bruin b rought a pi ece o f honeycomb to refresh
h im,and Coon tol d h im the pre posed plan , which
del igh ted the boy greatly.
“ And I am to do the whistl ing he ex
claimed . I must practi se a bi t,fo r I have no t
done any frog-whistl ing fo r some time .
”And
with that he began to whistle in such a wonder
fully frog-l ike way, that Bruin almost thought he
must have swallowed a frog.
THE JOYOUS STORY o r TOTO . 1 03
How do you do that , Toto ? he asked . I
w ish I could learn . You j ust purse your mouth up
s o,eh? Ugh wah wo onk ! And the bear gave
a serie s of most surprising grunts and growl s, ac
companied w i th such singular grimaces that both
Toto and the raccoon rol led over on the ground in
convulsions o f laughte r .“ My dear B ruin
,cried Toto
,as soon as he
could regain a l i ttle composure,I don ’ t th ink
ha ! ha ! ha —Ireal ly do nol think you w i ll eve r
be mi stak en fo r a frog.
Ho ! ho ho cried the raccoon . bursting into
another fi t o f l augh ter as he looked towards the
mouth o f the cave . Look at Cracke r. Oh,my
eye ! will you look at Cracker ? Oh,dear me ! I
shal l certainly d ie if I laugh any more . Ho ! ho
Bruin and Toto turned,and s aw the squ irrel
hobbling in,dressed in a green frog-skin and look
ing well,d id you eve r s e e a squirre l in a frog
skin ? No ? Then yo u never saw the funniest
th ing in the world .
Poor Cracker, however, seemed to s e e no fun i n
1 04 THE JOYOUS STORY o r TOTO.
i t at al l . “ It ’ s al l very wel l for you fellows to
laugh,
” he said rueful ly .
“ I wonde r how yo u
would l ike to be pinched up in an abominable , i l l
fit t ing thing l ike th is ? Ugh ! I would n’
t be a
frog fo r all th e beechnuts in the world . Come
on ! he added sharply . Let us ge t the matter
over,and have done w i th i t. I can’ t stand th i s
long .
”
Accord ingly the three started off,l eaving Bruin
shaking h is head and chuckl ing at the mouth o f
the cave .
Arrived at th e pool,they stationed themselves
as had been previously arranged : the squirrel on
a large stone at the very edge o f the pool,w i th
the tar-bucke t beside h im the raccoon crouch ing
among the tal l reeds on one Side of the stone,
whil e Toto lay closely hidden on the other, behind
a cl ump o f tal l ferns .
When al l wa s ready , Toto began to wh istle .
At first he wh istled very softly,but gradually the
notes swelled,growing cl earer and shriller
,til l
they seemed to fill the air.
1 06 THE JOYOUS STORY or TOTO.
tomed grace and agil i ty , in to the arms o f your
fai thful , your adoring muskrat ! Come
You must come a l i ttle nearer,”wh ispered
the squirrel coyly.
“ I wan t to be sure that i t i s
reallyyou ; such a sudden step, you know ! Please
put your whol e head out,my love
,that I may be
gnile sure of vou
The eager muskrat th rust his head out of
the water ; and plump ! the squ irrel d ropped the
tar on the end o f h is nose .
The muskrat gave a w i ld shr iek,and plunging
h is nose among the rushes on the bank,tried to rub
off the tar . But,alas ! the tar stuck to the rushes
and h is nose stuck to the tar,and there he was
At that instant the raccoon leaped from his
h id ing-place .
Toto,still concealed behind the clump of ferns
heard the noise o f a violen t struggl e ; then came
several short squeaks ; then a crunching noise and
then silence. Coming out from his h id ing-place,
he saw the raccoon si tting quie tly on a stone,l ick
ing his chops,and smooth ing his ruffled fur.
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO. 1 07
He smiled sweetly at Toto,and said
,
“ It’
s
al l right,my boy ! vo u wh istl ed beautifully ;
could n ’ t have done i t b e tte r myself ! ” (N . B .
Coon ’s wh istl ing powers were nearly equal to
those o f the bear.!
But where i s the muskrat ? ” asked Toto,b e
wilde red . What have you done w i th h im ?”
“ Eaten h im,my dear ! repl ied Coon , benignly .
It i s always the best plan in any case o f th is sort ;
saves trouble,you s e e
,and prevents any further
i nquiry in the matter ; bes ide s , I wa s always
t aught in my youth never to waste anything.
The flavor wa s no t all I could have w ished ,” he
added , and the re was more or less str inginess ;
but what will no t one do in the cause of friend
ship ! Don ’ t mention it,Cracker
,my boy ! I
am sure you would have done a s much for me .
And now l e t us help you off w i th the overcoat o f
the late lamented Bullfrog ; for to speak i n perfect
frankness , Cracke r, i t i s not what one would call
becoming to your styl e of beauty .
1 08 THE JOYOUS STORY or TOTO .
CHAPTER VII .
N accoun t of the woodchuck ’ s i llness and at
the special reque st o f Pigeon Pre tty,the
story-tell ing wa s postponed fo r a day or two .
Very soon,howeve r
,Chucky recovered s uffi
c ien tly to r ide as far as the cottage on Bruin’s
back : and on a fine afternoon the friends were
all once more assembled,and wai ting for Toto ’ s
story .
“ I don ’t know any long stori es , said Toto
at least no t well enough to tel l them ; s o
I w ill tel l two short ones instead . Wil l tha t
do“ Just as wel l , said the raccoon .
“ F ive min
u tes fo r refreshments between the two , did you
say? My view preci sely .
”
Toto smiled,and began the story of
1 1 0 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
But one day i t happened that the cook could
not find anything the old man'
s dinner. She
looked h igh,and she looked
low, but n othing could She
find ; so she was very un
happy ; fo r she knew her
master would be misera
The oldman thought it was ra in ing .
bl e if he had no
d inner . She s a t
d ow n b y t h e
wel l and wept
b i tte rly ; and her
te ars fel l i nto the
well so fast that
the l i ttle old man
though t i t was
rain ing,and put
up a red cotton
umbrella,wh ich
he borrowed fo r
the occasion . You may wonder where he bor
rowed i t ; but I cannot te ll you , because I do not
know.
THE JOYOUS STORY or TOTO . 1 1 1
Now,at that moment a travelle r happened to
pass by,and when he s aw the cook si tting by the
wel l and weeping , he stopped , and asked her what
was the matter . So the cook told h im that she
was weep ing because she could no t find anything
to cook fo r her master ’ s d inner.
And who i s your master asked the travelle r.
He i s a l i ttl e old man,repl i ed the cook
and he l ives down in thi s well .”
Why does he l ive there ? ” inqui red the travelle r .
I do not know,
” answered the cook ; I never
asked him .
”
He must be a singular pe rson,said the trav
el l er. I should l ike to s e e him . What does he
look like ? ”
But thi s the cook could not tel l h im ; fo r she
had never seen the l i ttl e old man , having come to
work fo r h im after he had gone down to l ive in
the well .“ Does he l ike to rece ive v i si tors ? asked the
travelle r.“ Don
’
t know , said the cook . He has neve r
had any to receive since I have been here .
”
1 1 2 THE JOYOUS STORY or TOTO .
Humph said the other . I th ink I wi l l go
down and pay my respects to h im . Will you le t
me down in the bucke t ?”
“ But suppose he should mistake you fo r his
d inn e r,and eat yo u up the cook suggested .
Pooh ! he repl ied . No fear of that ; I can
take care o f myself. And as fo r h is dinner,
” he
added,ge t himsome radishes . There are plen ty
about here . I had nothing bu t rad ishe s fo r my
d inne r,and very good they were
,though rath er
b i ting . Le t down the bucke t,pl ease ! I am all
righ t.”
What are radishes the cook called after himas he wen t down .
Long re d things,stupid ! wi th green l eaves to
them ! ” he shouted ; an d then , i n a moment, he
found h imself at the bottomof the well .
The l i ttl e oldman was del ighted to s e e him ,and
told himthat he had l ived down there forty years,
and had never had a visi tor before in all that time .
Why do you l ive down here ? ” inquired the
travel le r .
1 1 4 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
l ong green coat,she said to herself
,
“ Th is must
b e a rad ish ! How l ucky I am and sei zing th e
poor l i ttl e old man,she pe pped him into the
kettle wi thout more ado . Then she le t the bucke t
T is an il l wind that blows nobody any good
down fo r the traveller,cal l ing to h im to make
haste,as she wanted to send down her master
’
s
d inner.
Up came the travell er,and looking around ,
asked where her master was .
THE JOYOUS STORY o r TOTO . 1 1 5
Where should he be , said the cook , “ but at
the bottomof the wel l,where yo u l eft h im ?
What do you mean ? exclaimed the traveller.
He has j ust come up i n the bucke t !
cried the cook .
“ Oh ! O-O-O-H
was that my master ? Why, I thought he was
a rad ish,and I have boiled himfo r his own
d inner ! ”
“ I hope he w i ll have a good appeti te ! said
th e traveller .
The cook wa s a good woman , and he r grief was
so exce ssive that she fel l in to the kettl e and was
b ofled too .
Then the travel ler,who had formerly been an
ogre by profession,said
,
’
T i s an ill wind that
blows nobody anv good ! My dinner was very
insufficient ; and he ate both the l i ttl e oldmanand the cook
,and proceeded on hi s journey wi th
a cheerful h eart.
The traveller was a sensible man . sa id Bruin .
Did you make up that s tory,Toto ?
1 1 6 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
Yes,repl ied Toto .
“ I made i t upthe otherday
,one of those rainy days . I found a forked
radish i n the bunch we had fo r tea,and i t had a
kind o f nose,and looked j ust l ike a funny l it tle
red man . So I though t that if there wa s a radish
that looked l ike a man,the re might be a man that
looked l ike a radish,you s e e . And now
“ Ahem ! ” said the raccoon softly .
“ D id you
say five minutes fo r refreshments. Toto , or d id I
m isunderstand you ?” and he w inked at the com
pany in a very expressive manner .
Toto ran to ge t the gingerbread and fo r some
time sounds of crunching and n ibbl ing were the
only ones that were heard,except the constant
cl ick,cl ick
,o f the grandmother’ s needles .
Bruin sa t fo r some time watching i n silence the
endl ess crossing and re -crossing of the sh in ing bits
o f steel . Presen tly he sa id in a timid growl,
“ Excuse me,ma ’am ; do you make the ginger
bread w ith those things ?“With what th ings
,Mr. B ruin ?” asked the
grandmother .
1 1 8 THE JOYOUS STORY o r TOTO .
were we not promised two stories to-day ? Tell
us the o ther one now,dear boy
,for the shadows
are beginning to lengthen .
“ I made th is story myself,too
,said To to
,
“ and i t i s called
THE AMB ITIOUS ROCKING—HORSE.
THEREwas once a rocking-horse , but he d id not
wan t to be a rocking-horse . He wanted to be a
trotte r. So he wen t to a jockey
What ’s a j ockey inquired the bear.
A man who drives fast and tells l i e s.
He wen t to a j ockey and asked him if he would
l ike to buy a trotter .
Where is your trotte r asked the jockey .
Me ’
s h im , said the rocking-horse . That was
al l the grammar he knew .
Oh ! said the j ockey.
“ You are the tro tte r,
Yes , said the rocking-horse . What will you
give me fo r myself ?”
“ A bushel of shavings , said the jockey .
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO . 1 1 9
The rocking-horse thought that was b ette r than
nothing. so he sold h imself. Then the jockey
took him to anothe r j ockey who was b l ind,and
told him (the bl ind j ockey ! that this was the Sky
born'
Snorter of th e Sarsapari l las,and that he
Me’
Shim, ’ sa id themeking-ho rs e.
could trot two miles in a minute . So the bl ind
j ockey bought h im,and paid ten thousand dol lars
fo r him .
There was a race the next day,and the bl ind
jockey took the Sky-born Snorter to the race
course , and started h im w i th the other horses .
1 20 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
The other horses trotted away round the course
but the Sky-born Snorter stayed j ust where he
was,and rocked ; and when the other horses came
round the turn , there he was wai ting fo r them at
the j udge ’s stand . So he won the race ; and the
j udge gave the prize,which was a white buffalo,
to the bl ind jockey .
The jockey put the Sky-born Snorte r in the
stable,and then went to ge t h i s white b uflalo ;
and whi le he wa s gone , the othe r j ockeys came
into the stabl e to See the new horse .
“ Why,he
’
s a rock ing-horse ! ” said one of
them .
“ Hush ! ” said the Sky-born Snorter . “ Yes, I
am a rocking-horse,but don ’ t tel l my master. H e
does n ’
t know i t, and he paid ten thousand dollars
fo r me .
Whom did he pay i t to asked the j ockeys .
To the other j ockey,who bought me from
myself,” repl ied the Snorter .
Oh ! and what d id he give fo r you ?
A bushel of shavings, said the Snorter .
1 22 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
burned ! It is qui te d readful . I think I must
t ell the next story mysel f, and I shall be sure to
tel l one that ends cheerfully .
Yes,yes ! ” cried all the others . “ Pigeon
Pre tty shal l be the next story-tel ler !
And now,continued the pigeon
,my Chucky
must go home to h i s supper,for he is not wel l ye t
,
by any means,and must be very careful o f h im
self. Climb upon Bruin’s back
,Chucky dear !
s o,that i s righ t . Good-night
,Toto . Good-n ight,
dear madam. Now home again, all ! ” and flying
round and round the bear ’ s head,Pigeon Pretty
led the way towards the forest.
THE JOYOUS STORY o r TOTO . 1 23
CHAPTER VIII.
S thi s one o f your own storie s that you are
go ing to tel l u s,Pigeon Pre tty ?” inqui red
the squirrel , when they were next assembled
a round the cottage door .“ No , replied the wood-pigeon .
“ This i s a
story I heard a short time ago . I was flying
home,afte r paying a visi t to some cousins of mine
who l ive in a village some mile s away. As I
passed by a pretty wh ite cottage,someth ing l ike
thi s,I noti ced that there were crumb s scattered
on one o f the w indow-sill s . Here l ives somebody
who i s fond o f bi rds ! ’ said I to myself,and as I
was rather hungry , I stopped to pick up some of
the crumbs . The w indow was open,and looking
in,I s aw a pre tty and neat ly furn ished room .
Near the w indow was a bed,i n which lay a boy o f
about Toto ’s age . He was evidently ill,fo r he
1 24 THE JOYOUS STORY or TOTO.
had a bandage tied round his head,and he looked
pal e and th in . Besid e the bed sat a l i ttle girl,
apparently a year or two older ; a sweet, pretty
girl,as one would wish to se e . She wa s reading
aloud to her brother (I suppose he was her
brother ! from a la rge red book . Nei ther of the
ch ild ren noticed me,so I sat on the w indow-sil l
fo r some time,and heard the whol e o f th i s story
,
which you shall now hear in your turn . I t i s
called
THE STORY OF THE TAIL OF THE BARON ’
S
WAR—HORSE.
MANY years ago th ere l ived a Baron , famous
in peace and war, but chieflv in the latte r . War
wa s h i s great del ight,fighting his natural occupa
tion and he was never s o much in his el ement as
when leading h is val ian t troops to battle,mounted
on his nobl e i ron-gray charger . Ah what a
charger that was ! stately and s trong,swift and
sure,fie ry and bold
,ye t ready to obey his mas ter’ s
l ightest touch or softest word ; briefly , a horse in
1 26 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
and one which often sen t the bold Baron rejo i cing
on his way, w i th a tende r smile on h is otherwise
slightly ferocious coun tenance .
I t chanced one day that a grea t tournament
was abou t to take place in the n e ighborhood . All
the knights in th e country round,and many bold
champions from a greate r distance,we re to show
thei r prowess in r id ing at th e ring,and in friendly
combat with each othe r. Among the gallan t
knigh ts,who s o ready for the tournament as our
bold B aron ? H e fairly pranced fo r the fray ; for
there had been no war fo r two months,and he was
very weary of the long peaceful days . He had
been practi s ing for a week past, rid ing at any
number of rings o f d ifferent size s, and til ting w i th
h i s squi re,whomhe had run through th e body
several time s,thereby seriously impairing tha t
worthy’s digestive powers.
And now the eventful morning was come .
The vassal s were assembled in the courtyard of
the castl e,a goodly array
,to see the ir maste r
depart in pomp and pride .
THE JOYOUS STORY or TOTO . 1 27
Gray B e rold was brought round to the door.
magnificently caparisoned . his bridle and hous
ings gl itte ring w i th precious stones . The gallan t
steed pawed the ground,and tossed hi s head
proudly,as impatient o f delay as h is master.
From a balcony above leaned the lovely Ermen
garde,her golden tresses c rowned w i th a n igh tcap
o f rare and curious d esign ; fo r the Baron was
making an early start,and hi s fai r lady had no t
yet completed her toile t.
Amid the vocife rous cheers o f his vassals . the
Baron d escended the steps,armed cap-a-pie, h is
good sword by his s ide , and hi s mace , battl e-axe
cutlass,and sh ill alah d isplayed abou t his stately
person in a very imposing manner. He could
scarcely walk , i t i s true , s o many and so weighty
were his accoutremen ts ; but then , as he himselfaptly observed , he d id not want to walk .
He go t into the saddle wi th some difficul ty,
owing to the tendency o f his battl e-axe to ge t
between hi s l egs ; but once there , the warrior w as
at home . An attendan t handed him hi s lance,
1 28 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
wi th i ts gl i ttering pennon . Gray B e rold pranced
and curve tted,making nothing of the enormous
we igh t on his back the Lady Ermengarde waved
her broidered kerchief ; and , w i th a parting glance
at h is lovely bride , the Baron rod e slowly out o f
the courtyard .
But,alas ! he wa s not destined to rid e far.
Alas fo r the proud Baron Alas and alack fo r the
gallan t steed
He had scarcely ridden a hundred paces when
he heard a fearful growl beh ind h im,which caused
him to turn quickly in h is saddle . What was his
horror to s e e a huge bear spring out o f the woods
and come rush ing towards him !
For onemomen t the Baron wa s paralyzed ; thenext, he wheeled h is horse round , and couching
his lance,prepared to mee t his savage assailant .
But Gray B e rold had not bargained for th is .
Many a fair figh t had he seen in battl e-field and in
tourney ; many a time he had faced danger asboldly as his rider
,and had borne the brunt of
many a fierce attack . But those figh ts were
130 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
w i th a squeal o f mingled terror and ange r,wheeled
ShOI‘t‘
round . The bear made a spring,and
caught the charger by the tail . The te rrified
an imal bounded forward the Baron made a down
ward stroke w i th his battle-axe that would have
felled an ox,and Maste r Bruin (no offence to
you,my dea r fellow ! i t ’s the name of all your
family,you know! rol led ove r and ove r in the
dust .
But alas ! and alas ! li e lool: llze la ilwil/i lzimThat
noble tail,the pride of the stable-yard
,the glory
o f the grooms,lay in the road
,a gl ittering mass
o f silver ; and i t wa s a tailless steed that 1 1 0W
gal loped frantically back into th e castl e-court,
from which only a few shortmi nutes ago he hads o proudly emerged .
The Baron wa s mad with fury . Pi ty fo r his
gallant horse,rage andmortifica tion at the rid icu
lous pl igh t he wa s in,anxie ty l est he should be
late fo r the tournamen t,all combined to make
himfo r a time beside h imself : he rushed upanddown the courtyard
,whirl ing his battle-axe round
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO . 131
his head,an d uttering the most fearful impreca
tions . F inally,however, yield ing to the tears and
entreati es o f hi s retainers,he calmed hi s noble
fren zy,and s e t himself to think what wa s be st
to be done . Give up the tournamen t ? Perish
the though t ! R ide another horse than B e rold ?
Never while he l ives ! R id e him tailless and
unadorned ? Shades o f my a ncestors forbid !
thus cried the Baron at every new sugge stion
of h is sympathizing reta i ners .
At last th e head groomhad an idea .
“ Let us
fasten on anothe r tail,
” he said an ’ t please your
worship !
Ha ! cried th e Baron star ting at the no tion .
T is well ! Ho ! there,Hodge
,Barnaby
,Perkin !
Cut me the tail s from the three cart-horses, and
ti e them toge ther. And be quick about i t,ye
knaves ! ”
The three grooms flew to execute the i r master’ s
mandate,and re turned in a few minutes , bearing
a magnificen t tail,whose varied hues of black ,
sorrel , and white , showed -it to be the spoil o f
132 THE JOYOUS STORY OF ToTo .
Dobbin,Smiler
,and Bumps
,the three stout Flem
ish cart-horses .
By my hal idome,a motley tail exclaimed
the Baron “ But i t boots not,s o i t be a tail !
Fas ten i t on w i th al l speed,for time presses !
ha ! what is th is ! ”
Well might the Baron start,and exclaim .
The moment the three grooms touched the
flanks of Gray B erold , before they had time to
l ay hands on the stump o f his tail,they found
themselves flying through the air,and tumbl ing
in a very uncomfortable sort of way against the
wall of the courtyard . Marry,that wa s a brave
ki ck ! and when he had given i t, the charger
looked round after the unhappy grooms, and
tossed his stately head,and snorted , eviden tly
meaning to s ay,“ D on
’
t you want to try i t
again ?”
But the grooms did not want to try i t again .
They picked themselves up,and rubbed their
poor shins and the i r poor heads,and proceeded
to hobble Off on their poor fee t as fast as they
134 THE JOYOUS STORY o r TOTO .
and looked as if he had swal lowed the meat-chop
per and the gridiron and the blunde rbuss,all at
onemouthful .Hodge
,Barnaby
,and Perkin were in a bad way,
assuredly . On the one hand was the charger,
snorting defiance,and with h is hee ls al l ready fo r
the next kick , Should they presume to touch him ;
on the othe r was the furious Baron,also snorting
,
and w i th h is battle-axe all ready fo r the next
whack,should they presume not to touch him .
Here were two sharp horns to a dilemma !
Cautiously the poor knaves crep t up once
more behind Gray B erold .
“ Vaul t thou upon
his back,Pe rkin ! ” whispered Barnaby .
“ Per
chance from there Whizz ' whack ! thud !
This time B e rold d id not wai t fo r them to touch
him : th e sound o f their voices was enough ; there
they all l ay again in a heap against the wall ,
moaning sore and cursing the day they were
born .
But now the Baron ’s humor changed .
“ B e
sh rew me ! ” he cried .
’T is a gallant steed .
THE JOYOUS STORY o r TOTO . 135
He w il l not brook at such a moment, the touch
o f hirel ing hands . ’
T is wel l ! give nee the tail
my maste rs ! and ye Shal l s e e .
Alas ! they d id s e e ; they s aw the i r Baron roll
ing over and ove r on the ground . They s aw
the ir Baron rol l ; they heard the ir Baron rave ;
they turned and fled fo r their l ives.
At th is moment the portal swung open,and
the Lady Ermengarde appeared . She had seen
all from an upper w indow,and she now hastened
to raise her fallen lord,who sat spl uttering and
cursing on the ground,unable to rise
,ow ing to
the weight o f his armor . “ Oh ! blame no t the
steed ! ” cried th e lovely lady.
“ Chide no t the
gal lan t beast,good my lord ! ’
t was no t the touch,
’
t was the ia il,he could not brook . Tie the rus
ti c ta i l o f a plebeian car t horse on Gray B e rold ?
Oh ! fie,my lord ! i tmay not be . I w il l provide
a tai l fo r your charger !“ You ! exclaimed the Baron . What mean
you,lady ? ”
The Lady E rmengarde repl ied by drawing from
136 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
the embroidered pouch which h ung from her j ew
clled girdle a pa i r o f shears. Snip ! snap ! sn ip !
snap ! an d before her astonished lord could in te r
fe re,the golden tresses
,the p ride o f the whol e
coun try-side,were severed from her head . Deftly
she tied the sh in ing curl s together ; l ightly she
stepped to where Gray B erold stood . She stroked
h is noble head ; she spoke to h im ; she showed h im
the tresses,and told h im what she had done .
Then w i th her own hands she tied them on to
the stump o f his tai l w i th her embroidered girdle ;
and Gray B e rold moved not fore-l eg nor h ind,but
stood l ike a steed of gran i te till i t wa s done .
The re tainers were dissolved in tears ; the Baron
sobbed aloud as he cl imbed,with the assistance o f
seven hostle rs,in to the saddle ; but the heroi c
lady smi led,and bade them be of good cheer.
She could get a black wig , she said ; and she
had always though t she should look be tte r as a
brunette.
And to make a long story short. said the wood
p igeon, she did get a black wig , and l ooked l ike
138 THE JOYOUS STORY o r TOTO.
CHAPTER I! .
H ! what a d elightfulstory , Pigeon Pre tty !
cried Toto . Did you hear any more l ike
i t ? I w i sh I had that red book ! Did the boy
look as n ice as h is si ster ? What wa s h is name ?“ H is name
,said the pigeon
,
“ wa s J im,I
think . And he did not —no,Toto
,he certainly
d id noi look as n ice as h is siste r . In fact,al
th ough I pitied himbecause he wa s ill,I thought
he looked l ike a disagreeable sort o f boy .
”
Red hair ? i n te rposed the squirrel,l ook ing
at the raccoon .
Freckled face ?” asked the raccoon , looking at
the squi rrel .
Why,yes said the pigeon , i n surprise . He
li ad red hai r and a freckled face but how should
you two know anyth ing about him
The squ irrel and the raccoon nodded at each
o ther .
THE JOYOUS STORY or TOTO . 139
Same boy,I Should s ay said Cracker .
Same boy , I should say ! ” answered Coon .
YVha t i s i t ? asked Toto , curious as usual .
Tell us about i t,one o f you ! It i s early ye t
,
and we have plenty o f time .
Well,I w i l l tel l you ,
” said the squ irrel . “ I
meant to keep i t and tel l i t next time , fo r I can
not make ups tories as e as ilv as some o f yo u, and
this i s some thing that really happened ; but I
m ight j ust as wel l tel l it now, espec ially as Pigeon
Pre tty has told yo u about the boy .
“ You need not be a t al l sorry fo r that boy ,
he contin ued . He is a bad boy,and he deserve s
allhe got,and more too .
Dear,dear said the grandmother . I am
sorry to hear that. What d id he do,Mr. Cracker ?
He tried to rob my Uncle Munkle o f his w in
te r store ! ” repl ied the squirrel . “ And he got
the worst o f i t,that ’ s all.
”
“ Who is your Uncle Munkle ? asked Toto .
I don ’ t know him,do I ? ”
No,
” sa id Cracker. He l ives qui te at the
1 40 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
other end of the wood,where people sometimes
go fo r fagots and nuts and such things. Nobody
ever comes near our end o f the wood,because
they are afra id of Bruin .
“ My uncle i s a Munk , he con tinued , “ and a
most excel lent pers on .
”
“ A monk ?” in terrup ted the grandmother i n
amazement .
Ye s,a Chipmunk ! ” said the squi rrel . “ It ’s
the same thing,I bel ieve
,only we Spell i t w i th a
a . Third cousin to a monkey,you know.
”
Toto and his grandmother both looked qui te b e
wi ldered at th is ; but the raccoon smiled sweetly,
and said,
Go on,Cracker
,my boy ! never try to explain
th ings too fully ; it’
s apt to be a l i ttle tedious,
and i t i s always better to leave some thing to the
imagination .
”
“ I amgoing on,said Cracker. “ As I said
before,people sometimes go in to that part o f the
wood ; there are one or two hives not far fromi t n
1 42 THE JOYOUS STORY or TOTO .
Coon wen t w i th us fo r my uncl e always gives us
a feast afte r the nuts are in,and Coon always
goes wherever there i s anyth ing to
What ? said the raccoon , looking up sharply.
Whereve r there i s anything to be done ! ” said
the squi rrel hasti ly.
The second dav,as we were all hard at work
sh ell ing the beechnuts,I heard a noi se among the
bushes,a crackl ing noise that d id no t sound l ike
any animal I knew . I looked,and saw two eyes
peering out from the leave s o f a young beech
tree That i s a boy,
’ said I to myself,
‘and he
means mischief ! ’ So I skipped off w i thout s ay
ing anyth ing to the others, and crept softly round
behind the bushes,making no more noise than an
eel in the mud . There I found , not one boy , b u t
two,crouching among the bushes
,and watching
the n ut-shell ing . They we re whispering to each
other ; and I crept n eare r and neare r til l I could
hear al l the v said .
When shal l we come ?’ said one .
To-nigh t,
’ said the other,who had red hair
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO . 1 43
and a freckled face ,‘when the moon i s up, and
the l i ttl e beggars are al l a sl eep . Then we can
easily knock them on the head,and get the nu ts
w i thou t be ing b i tten . They bite l ike w ild-cats
when they are roused . these l i ttle fellows .’
All right ! ’ said the other,whose face I could
not s e e . I ’l l bring a bag and be here at eigh t
o ’clock .
’
Willyou ? ’ though t I,and I crep t away again
,
having heard al l I wanted to know . I wen t back
to the others,and pre sently a snapping and crack
l ing told me that the boys were gone . Then I
wen t to Uncl e Munkl e and told h im what I had
heard . He wa s very angry. and whisked his ta il
about til l he nearly whisked i t o ff. Cal l your
large friend,
’ he said and we willhold a council .’
So I waked Coon
Waked Coon exclaimed the woodchuck
slyly.
“ What ! do you mean to say he was no t
working twice as hard as any o f the others“ I had been
,my good fellow ! ” said the rac
coon loftily .
“ I had been ; and exhausted wi th
1 44 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
my l abors I was snatch ing a moment’s hard
earned repose . Go on,Cracker .
Well,con tinued the squi rrel
, we held a
council,and se ttled everything beautifully . Uncl e
Munkle,who has ve ry particularly sharp teeth ,
wa s to get into the nu t-close t and wai t there . The
rest o f us were to be ready toge ther on the near
est branch,and Coon was to h id e h imself some
where close by . No one was to move until Uncl e
Munkle gave the signal,and then well , you
shall hear how i t happened . We all wen t on w i th
our work un til sunse t. Then we had supper, and
a game o f scamper,and then we began to prepare
fo r business . We sharpened our claws on the bark
of the tree s til l they were as sharp as as“ Razors
,
” suggested Toto .
Don ’ t know what that means said th e
squirrel .
As sharp as Coon ’ s nose , then ; that wil l do .
We fi lled ou r cheek-pouches wi th three-cor
ne re d pebbles and nut-shel l s . Then,when the
moon rose , and all the forest was quie t, we
1 46 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
Munkle meant by saying,I may no t g ive the s ig
nalmyself , b ut you wi ll hear i t al l the same .
’
Instantly we sprang at the boy , ten strong ,
healthy squirrels,tee th and claws and all . I
don ’ t th ink he enj oyed himself very much for the
next few minutes . He yelled all the time,and
at last he lost h is hold 01 1 the tree,and fell heavily
to the ground . Also,Coon had been bi ting his
l egs a l i ttl e . But when he fell,Coon started after
the other boy , who wa s dancing abou t th e foot o f
th e tree in a frenzy o f terror and amazement .
When he s aw Coon coming,he started on a run
b ut Coon jumped 01 1 h is back and got h im by the
ear,and then rode him round and round the for
est ti l l h e howl ed as loud as the o the r one had .
”
A very pl easan t rid e I had,too
,said the rac
coon placidly . My young friend wa s excitable ,
very exci table,but tha t onlymade i t th e more
l ively . Yes . I don’ t know when I have enjoyed
anyth ingmore .
But what became o f the first boy after he
fel l ? ” asked Toto eagerly .
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO . 1 47
Well,my dear
,he lay still
,said the squ irrel .
He lay sti ll . He had broken his l eg , s o i t was
really the only thing fo r him to do . And when
Coon came back fromrid ing the other boy he
His father took himaway in a wheelb ari ow.
j umped backwards and forwards over h im till hi s
father came and took him away in a Whe elbarrow.
Every time Coon jumped,he grinned at the boy ;
and every time he grinned,the boy screamed so
one i nferred that h e did no t l ike i t,you know .
1 48 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
Al toge the r,said the l i ttle squirrel
,in
sion , “ i t wa s a great success ; a great s
really,worthy of our end of the wood
sue/z a feast as Uncle Munkle gave us t
afte r
1 50 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
in spiration,
Pigeon Pretty , he ask ed, what
kind Of a bear was that in your story ? ”
Really,Bruin
,I do not know
,
” repl ied th e
wood-pigeon .
“ It said a bear.’ that was all .“ Yo u s e e
,con tinued B ruin
,
“ there are so
many k inds Of bears,— black , brown , cinnamon
grizzly,polar
,—really
,there i s no end to them .
I thought,however , that thi s might poss ibly have
been the Lost Prince o f the Pol es .”
Here Bruin paused a moment and looked abou t.“ The Lost Prince Of the Poles ! ” ‘exclaimed
Toto . What a fine name fo r a story ! Tel l us
now,Bruin tel l u s al l about h im .
”
“ Listen,then
,
” sa id the bear,and you shall
hear about
THE LOST PRINCE OF THE POLES.
THE polar bears. as you probably know,are a
large and powe rful nation . They are gove rned
by a king,who i s called the Solar-Polari ty Of the
Hypopepperco rn s .
“ OH 1 cried To to . What does that mean ‘3
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO. 1 5 1
Nobody,knows what i t mean s . That i s the
great charm Of the ti tle . Gives i t majesty,you
understand . The present Solar-Polari ty i s , I am
told,quite worthy o f h is ti tle
,fo r he i s very
majestic,and kn ows absol utely noth ing. He S i ts
on the top o f the North Pole , and d irects the
movemen ts Of the icebergs .
At the time o f which I am going to tell vou
wh ich was s o l ong ago as to be no particul ar time
at all , the Solar-Polari ty had an only s o n,—a most
promising young bear,the hei r to the kingdom .
He wa s brought up w i th the grea test care possibl e,
and when he had arrived at a sui table age,hi s
father begged h im to choose a mate among the
youngest and fairest o f the she-bears, or, as they
are more elegantly te rmed,b eare s s e s . To the
amazement Of the Solar-Polari ty,th e Prince flatly
refused .
“ I wil l no t marry one o f these cold,white
creatures ! ” he said ;“ I am tired o f wh ite . I
want to marry one o f those th ings ;” and he
pointed to the north where the Northern Lights
1 52 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
were shooting upi n long streamers o f crimson
and green and purple .
One Of those things ! ” cried his father . My
dear s on,are you mad ? Those are Rory-Bories ;
they are not the sort Of th ing one can marry. It’s
i t ’
s r idiculous to think of such a thing .
”
“ Well,
” sai d the Prince,
“ then I w i l l marry
the creature that i s most l ike them . There must
be some creature that has those pre tty colors . I
wi ll go and a sk the Principal Whale .
SO he wen t and asked the Principal Whale if
he knew any creature that was colored l ike th e
Rory-Bories.
Frankly,said the whale
,I do not . Doubt
less there are such,but I have never happened to
mee t any o f them . I will tel l you what I wi l l do ,
however,
” he s aid , s ee ing the Prince’s look Of d is
appointment . I am j ust starting on a voyage to
the Southern seas ; and if you l ike I willtake you
with me,and you can look about yo u and decide
fo r yourself.
The young bear was del ighted with this prop
1 54 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
tie th ree knots i n them . As soon as th is was
accompl ished,the Prince declared that he wa s
ready to start .“ SO am I , said the Principal Whal e . And
tak ing the Prince o f th e Poles on his ‘back,he
sailed away fo r the Southern seas .
They went on and on fo r several days w i thout
any adventures ; til l one day the young bear
saw a huge j elly-fish floating toward s them .
See he cried,the re is a lovely c reature , as
brigh t and beautiful as the Rory-Bories. Surely
this i s the creature fo r me to marry ! ”
“ I don ’ t think yo u would l ike to marry that ,
said the whal e .
“ That i s a jel ly-fish. But we
w il l go and speak to i t,and you can judge fo r
yourself.” SO the whal e swam upto the j el lyfi sh who looked at them
,but said no thing.
My dear,” said the Prince
,
“ you are very
beautiful .”
Yah ! said the j elly-fish(who wa s i n real i ty
extremely ignorant,and had never gone to danc
ing-school ! , that’
s more than I can sayfor you
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO . 1 5 5
I am sorry to hear you s ay that, said th e
Prince,mildly .
Wil l yo u marry me, and be Princess Of the
Pol es ‘Z
Marry your grandmother ! repl ied the jel ly
fish in a very rude manne r ; and Off i t flounced
under the water .
The young bear l ooked sadly after i t . It was
very pre tty , he said ;“ why d id i t wan t me to
marry my grandmothe r ‘7
“ It d id n’
t,” repl ied the whale . “ That was
only i ts way Of speaking . An unmannerly minx !
Don ’ t th ink any more about i t,
” and they con
t inue d thei r voyage .
A couple of days after th i s they met the sword
fi sh and his daughter.
These are some friends Of mine,said the
Principal Whale .
“ We will s e e if they can aid
us i n our search .
The swordfish greeted them kindly,and invi ted
them to come down and make him a visi t.“ Thank you
,
” said the whal e .
“ We have
1 5 6 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
not time to stop now. We are i n search of a
creature as brigh t i n color as the Rory-Bories .
My young fri end here,the Prince of the Poles
,is
anxious to marry such a creature,if he can only
find her.
But the swordfish shook hi s h ead,and said he
could not th ink Of any one who would answer the
description .
“Iwillmarry you if yo u w i sh,said the sword
fish’
s daughter, who was much struck by the appearance Of the young bear. “ I am conside red
very agreeab l e,and I th ink I could make you
happy .
”
But you are not b right, cried th e poor
Prince in d istress . You are even black , saving
your presence . I don ’ t wish to hurt your feel ings,
but really you are not at all th e sort o f creature
I was looking for ; though I have no doubt,” he
added,that you are extremely agreeabl e .
Yo u might play I wa s a Rory-Bory beh ind a
cloud on a dark night,
” suggested the swordfish’
s
daughte r
1 5 8 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
he cried,these are Rory-Bories
,real l ive Rory
Bories ! See how they Shoot up,l ike long stream
ers ! See how they glow and shine ! One still
remains on the Shore,the loveliest o f all . She is
my bride ! She is the Princess o f the Poles !
Swimclose to the shore,good Whale
The whale swam up to the shore,the wate r
be ing fortunately deep enough to allowhim to do
s o,and the bear addressed the sol itary flamingo
,
which stil l stood Upon the beach , watching them
w i th great curiosi ty . Thi s wa s,i n fact, the Prin
cess Of the Flamingoes ; and bes ides being ra ther
curious by nature,she thought i t would be b e
neath her dign ity to fly away j us t because s ome
strange creature s we re approaching . SO she s tood
still in an atti tude of royal ease .
Lovely creature said the Pri nce, tel l me ,
Oh, tel l me , are you really and truly a Rory
Bory ? I am sure you must be , from your bri l
l ian t and exquisi te beauty.
”
Not qui te,
” an swered the flamingo .
“ Not
quite the same th ing, though very nearly . I am a
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO. 1 5 9
flamingo,and the Rory-B o rv i s a flaming go ;
pronounced d ifferently, yo u perce ive . That i s
the principal d ifference between the two famil ies
though there are some othe r minor variations
which may be caused by the cl imate . What is
your pleasure w i thme,and what might you hap
pe n to be‘7 ”
My plea sure i s to marry you exclaimed the
young bear rap turously.
“ I am a whi te bear,
and am cal l ed the Prince Of the Poles. Aftermyfather ’ s death I shal l become Solar-Polari ty o f
the Hypopepperco rn s . Will you be my bride ,
and reign with me as queen ? You shal l s it upon
the North Pole,and direct th e movements o f the
icebergs .
The flamingo closed one eye,and d rew upone
leg in an attitude Of graceful and maidenly coyness.“ Your manne rs and bearing in terest me much ,
”
She sa id after a pause ;“ and I Should be glad
to do as you suggest,but I fear i t i s impossibl e .
We are not allowed to marry any one w i thmorethan two l egs ; and you, I perceive , have four.
”
1 60 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
The poor Prince wa s qui te staggered by th is
remark,fo r he wa s proud o f his legs , whi ch ,
though short,were finely formed . He was sil ent
in d ismay . But now the Principal IVhale in ter
posed .
“ Would it not be possibl e to make an
exception i n this ca s e ? ” he asked . My young
friend has come a very long way i n search o f you,
and has qu ite se t his heart on this marriage.
Alas ! ” said the flamingo,
“ I fear not. It
i s the fi rst law i n the k ingdom,and I dare not
break i t .”
What shall I do . then ? ” cried the Prince in
despair . “ If I canno t have you,I wil l go back
and marry the swo rdfish’
s daughte r,and you
would b e sorry to have me do that if vou knew
how ugly She was .
“ In d ifficul t cases,said the flamingo , we
always consul t the hippOpo tamo us e . I should
advise you to do the same .
”
The hippopo tamo us e ‘? exclaimed the Prince .
Where i s he to be found Tellme,that I may
fly to h im at once .”
1 62 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
N-no repl i ed the young bear . “Yo u may be
good b ut I don ’ t th ink you are pre tty . I want,
”
he continued . to marry the Flamingo Princess .
I am the Prince Of the Poles son Of the Solar
Polari ty Of the Hypopeppe rco rns . Yo u may have
heard of my fathe r .“ Oh ! ah ! yes ! said the hippOpo tamous e .
“ I ’ve heard o f him. Wel l,why don’
t you marry
her ?”
Because I have four legs,an swered the Prince
sadly ; and i t i s against the law fo r a flamingo to
marry any one w i th more than two .
”
True . I had forgotten that,
” said the h ippo
po tamo us e .
“ Can yo u suggest any way out Of the diffi
cul ty ?” inqui red the Prince .
Without making any reply,the hippopo tamo us e
plunged into medi tation and the cheese at the
same momen t,and n ibbled and med itated in
sil ence fo r several hours ; while the unhappy
Prince stood fi rst on on e leg,and then On the
other,endeavoring in vain to conceal h is impa
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO . 1 63
t ie nce . F inally,when he wa s qui te exhausted
with wai ting , the hippopo tamo us e took h is headout of the cheese .
“ My young friend,he said
,
“ I s e e b ut one
way out Of the d ifficul ty,and that i s fo r you to
Myyoung friend, he sa id , I s ee but one way.
walk about on two Of your legs un til they are
worn out . Then,you perce ive
,you w il l h ave
,
unle ss my calculations have misled me , exactly
two left,—the proper n umber to enable you
l egally to marry the Fl amingo Princess . You
may find thi s fatiguing,
” he continued,se e ing th e
Prince ’s look Of d ismay ;“ but really I can see
1 64 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
nothing el se fo r you to do ; and when you reflect
that everyth ing is more or l e ss fatigu ing,and that
I have worn out five comple te se ts Of teeth on th is
very cheese,you may become reconcil ed to your
lot . Good-by. I w ish you well . And w i thou t
more ado,he plunged into the cheese oncemore .
The unhappy Prince uttered one w ild howl
and turning away,fled into the savage wild s o f
the Pongolian forest.
Here Bru in paused,shook his head
,and sighed
deeply .
“ Oh ! go on,Bruin
,cried Toto eagerly . How
can you stop there ? GO on immediately,and tell
us the res t !
Alas ! there i s l i ttle more to tel l fo r from that
moment the Prince Of the Poles ha s never been
seen or heard Of.
The Flamingo Princess waited long and aux
io usly fo r h is re turn ; but he n ever came . I b e
l i eve she finally married an Ostrich,who led her a
terrible l ife .
1 66 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
CHAPTER ! I.
ONE afternoon (i t wa s not a Story afternoon
,
fo r the grandmo ther wa s very busy,dyeing
some Of her homespun yarn ! Toto wen t Off to theforest early
,in tending to have a game o f scamper
w i th Coon and Cracke r . As he sauntered along
w i th h is hands in hi s pockets,he me t the wood
chuck . Master Chucky looked very spruce and
neat, and wa s tro tting along w i th an air Of great
self-satisfac tion .
Hallo ! you Chucky,exclaimed Toto
,where
are you going ?
The woodchuck stopped,and glanced around
w i th h is sharp l i ttle eyes. Is any one w i th you ,
Toto he asked,
Coon,or Cracker
,or any o f
those fel lows
NO,answe red Toto in some surprise. I wa s
j ust going to find them . DO yo u want them
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO. 1 67
“NO,indeed exclaimed the woodchuck .
“You
s e e,and he lowered h is vo ice confidentially
,
“ I
am going to a rinktum,and I don ’ t wan t those
fellows to know about i t.”
“ What i s a rinktum?” asked Toto.
“ And
why don’ t you wan t them to know about i t ?
“ Why,a rinktumi s a rabbi t ’ s b all
,Of course .
What el se should i t be answered Chucky . The
rabbits have invi ted me but at the last one Coon
ate upall the supper, and bi t the rabbi ts if theytried to ge t any ; s o they de te rmined not to in
vite h im again,and asked me not to s ay anything
about i t .”
“ Oh,Chucky
,exclaimed Toto
,
“ I wish you
would take me ! I have never b e en to a rabbi t’ s
ball , and I should like to go so much ! and I
w ould n ’
t eat anything at al l ! he added,seeing
that the woodchuck looked doubtful .
Chucky brightened upat th e last remark , andsa id Well
,afte r all
,I don ’ t s e e why I should n
’
t
take vou . They are always glad to s e e people , if
they w il l only behave themselves . SO come along ,
1 68 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
Toto ; and the fa t l i ttle creature hurried along,
w i th Toto following him .
You may have some d ifficulty,he said as they
wen t along,
“ i n getting in to the ball-room,but I
think you w i ll be able to squeeze through . I t i s
i n the Big Burrow,which i s certainly large enough
fo r any reasonable creature . Here we are n ow at
the mouth Of the b urrow .
”
They were crossing a rough,uneven meadow ,
w i th trees and shrub s th ickly scatte red over i t ;
and the woodchuck stopped at a large j un iper
bush,i n front Of which sa t a black rabbi t .
“ How do yo u do , Woodchuck ?” i nquired the
rabb i t. “ And who i s th i s wi th you ?”
This i s a a— a boy,i n fact
,
” said the wood
chuck in some embarrassment . “ He i s a grea t
friend o f mine , and has never seen a rinktumi n h i sl ife
,s o I ven tured to bring h im . He he won ’ t
eat anything ! he added in a whisper .The rabb it bowed to To to b v way o f reply, and
pulling aside th e branches of the j unipe r-bush,disclosed a large hol e in the ground .
1 70 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
wall s and roof o f the cave,and were shining
w i th all the ir might . The effect wa s truly love
ly, and Toto could not help w i sh ing that his
grandmother ’ s cottage were l igh ted in the same
way. The floor was crowded w i th rabbi ts Of
every si ze and color,and they were all dancing .
Black rabbi ts,b rown rabb its
,white rabbits
,big
and l i ttle rabbi ts,racing round and round
,jump
ing upand down, Shaking thei r ears, and w iggl ingthei r nos es . Oh
,what a good time they were
having
Would you l ike to dance asked a very large
whi te rabb i t, who seemed to be the master Of
ceremonies,looking up at Toto .
“ Thank you,said Toto.
“ I do not know the
step,and I should only make confusion among
the dancers,I fear .
“ Oh,you will have n o d ifficulty in l earn ing
the step,said the white rabb i t. “ Nothing could
be easi er : first you jump up , then wriggle your
h ind-l egs in the ai r,then turn round th ree times
,
rub your nose wi th your right fore-paw,j ump
pTHE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO . 1 41
again , rub your nose your left h ind-paw,
turn round“ But I have objected Toto
meekly .
W ou ld you l ike to dance
Dear,dear ! ” said the master o f ceremoni es .
That does seem to be a d ifficul ty , does n’ t i t ?
What a pi ty ! Have n ’
t you ever had any
more ?
NO,
” said Toto . We are not made that way,
you s e e . But don ’ t mind me,
” he added,seeing
that the hospitable rabb i t seemed really d i s tressed .
1 72 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
I only came to look on, and I am enj oyingmyself ve ry much indeed , I assure you .
”
Pretty sight,i s n ’ t i t, Toto ?
” said the wood
chuck,bustl ing up, while the master Of ce remo
n ies went Off to attend to hi s duties . “ See that
young whi te rabb i t w i th the black nose and tai l ?
She i s the bel le Of the evening,I Should say.
Lovely creature ! I have j ust danced twice w i th
he r .
What is that brown rabbi t doing ?” exclaimed
Toto . He has been stand ing on his head before
her,and now he is lying on his back and kickn
his fee t in the ai r. I th ink he i s in a fi t.”
“ NO,no
,said the woodchuck .
“ Oh no . He i s
merely expressing his devo t ion to her,that i s all .
He has been in love w i th her fo r a long time,
he added,but I don ’ t think i t w il l ever come to
anything . He has no whiskers to speak o f,and
he comes from a very inferior sort o f burrow.
She ought not to dance w i th h im at all,i n point
o f fact,but she i s so amiable ! ”
I t i s a p i ty they have no music,said Toto .
1 74 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
Toto followed,with a comical glance at the
woodchuck,to remind h im that he had not for
gotten h is promise .The supper was served in supe rb style
,worthy
o f “ tile rinktumof the season .
” There wa s cab
bage-soup and broccol i broth . There were tur
n ip s and carro ts, cel ery and bee ts and on ions, i n
profusion ; and in the cen tre Of the roomrose alofty mountain o f crisp green le ttuce . Ah ! that
was a supper to do a rabb i t’s heart good
Toto,mindful Of his promise
,showed great
self-denial w i th regard to the raw vege tables,and
even remained firm against the a ttrac tions o f the
cabbage-soup .
The wh i te rabb i t was quite melancholy over h is
guest’s persisten t refusal to eat Of h is good cheer.
But perhaps,
” he said,
“ creatures o f your race
never eat. I s e e that your nose does not wig
gle when you Speak,SO perhaps you cannot
eat eh ?”
Oh,yes
,said Toto in an Off-hand way.
“ Ye s
we can ; and some times we do . I have eaten in
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO . 1 75
the course Of my life , and I may do i t again , but
no t to-nigh t .”
At this moment the guests al l came pouring
into the suppe r-room ; and Toto began to th ink
that i t would be w ise fo r him to sl ip away quie tly,
as i t must be near h is own supper-time,and his
grandmothe r would be wondering where he was .
SO he took a fri endly leave o f the master Of cere
monies,and nodding to the woodchuck
,he left
the supper-room,made his way th rough the ball
room,and dropping once more on his hands and
knees,proceeded to wriggle h is way as best he
might through the underground passage .
A very grimy and dusty boy he wa s when he
came out again from beh ind the j uniper—bush .
He shook himself as wel l as he could,laughed a
l i ttl e over the recol lection Of the unsuccessful rab
b i t suitor kicking hi s heel s i n th e ai r to express
his devotion,and started on his way home .
He had Spent a much longer time than he had
meant to at the rinktum,and i t was growi ng qui te
dark . He hurried along,fo r his way lay through
1 76 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
a part of the wood where he did not l ike to go
after dark . The owl s l ived the re , and Toto d id
not l ike the owl s,because none o f his fri ends
l iked them . They were surly, growly, ill-tempered
b i rd s,and were apt to make themselves very
disagreeabl e if one met them after dark . Indeed,
i t wa s said that Mrs . Growl er, the Old grand
mother OwlOf the family,had once eaten several
Of Cracker ’s broth ers and Si s ters . The squirre l
d id not l ike to talk about i t,but Toto knew that
he hated the owl s bi tte rly.
I hope I Shall not meet any of them,said the
boy to h imself as he entered the wood .
“ I am
not afraid Of them,o f course
,— i t would be absurd
fo r a boy to be afraid Of an owl,—but I don ’ t l ike
them .
”
The thought had scarcely crossed h is mind,
when he heard a sound Of flapping w ings ; and a
moment after a huge whi te owlflew down d i rectly
in front o f him,and spreading its broad pin ions
,
completely barred hi s passage .
Who ? ” said the owl.
1 78 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
“ To to,said the boy shortly .
“ Let me pass,
pl ease . I ’m in a hurry .
Yo u’
re late said the owlseverely.
I know i t,
” repl ied Toto. “ That ’ s why I
asked you to le tme pass. I don ’ t wan t to talk t o
you,Mrs. Growler, and I don
’ t suppose you want
to talk to me .
”
“Whit ! ” cried Mrs. Growl er (for i t was no
o ther than that redoubtabl e female ! . Don ’ t give
me any Of your impudence , S ir ! What do you
mean by coming in to our wood afte r dark , andthen insul ting me ? Here, Hoots ! Flappy ! Hor
ncr ! Come here , all of you ! He re ’ s thi s imp
Of a boy who ’
s always making mischief here w i th
that thieving raccoon . Let us give hima lesson ,and teach him to stay where he belongs
,and no t
come Spying and prying into our wood ! ”
Immed iately a rushing sound was heard fromal l s ides . and half-a-dozen owl s came hooting and
screaming around our hero .
Toto held hi s ground manful ly, though he saw
that the Odd s were greatly against him . One owl
pTHE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO . 1 49
was all very wel l ; but seven or eigh t owls , all
armed with powerful beaks and claws,and all
angry,were quite anothe r matte r , especially as
th e darkness,which exactly sui ted them
,made i t
d ifficul t fo r him to tell in which d i rection he
should beat h is retreat,supposing he were able
to beat i t at al l .
He s e t his back against a tree,and faced the
hooting,flapping crowd , whose great round eyes
glared fiercely at him .
“ I ’ve neve r done any harm to any Of you ,
he said boldly. I ’
ve never th rown stones at you,
and I ’ve never taken more than one egg at a
time from your nests . You have always hated me,
Mother Growle r,because I am a friend of Coon ;
and you ’re afraid of Coon , you know yo u are .
Come,le t me go home quie tly
,and I ’ l l promise
not to come into your part Of the wood again .
I ’msure,there ’
s no inducement fo r coming,
he added in a lowe r tone. “ It ’s the scraggiest
part Of the whole forest, only fi t fo r owls to l ive
i n ! ”
1 80 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
HOO ! hOO cried Mother Growl e r in a rage .“ I ’m afra id Of Coon, am I ? A nasty
,thieving
creature,with an amount Of tai l that i s simply di s
gusting ! And our wood is scraggy,i s it ? HOO
Give i t to h im , ch ildren !”
Peck him cried all the owls in chorus“ scratch him! tear h im ! hustl e him! ” and
, w i th
w ings and cl aws sp read,they came flying at Toto .
Toto put one armbefore his face , and preparedto defend himself aswellas he could wi th the othe r .
H i s blood wa s up, and he had no though t Of
trying to escape . If he could only get Mother
Growle r by the head now, and wring her neck
But blows were fall ing l ike hail on his own head
now,sharp blows from horny beaks and crooked
talons. They were tearing hi s jacke t Off. He
was dazed,almost stunned , by the beating of the
huge wings in h is face . Decidedly,our Toto i s in
a bad way .
Suddenly a loud crackl ing no i se was heard
among the bushes. It came nearer i t grew louder.
Toto l i stened,with his heart in h is mouth . Surely
,
1 82 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
boy,and flew fo r thei r l ives. As for Mo th er
Growl e r“ I did s ay, remarked Bruin , taking some feath
e rs out o f hi s mouth,that I neve r would eat
another owl unless i t wa s plucked . Feathers are
certainly a most inferior articl e o f food ; but in a
case Of th is kind i t i s really the only th ing to do .
As Coon says,i t settles the matte r
,and there i s no
further trouble about i t . And now,continued
the good bear,
“ how i s my dear boy ? Why,
Toto ! look up,boy. They are all gone
,and
you are cock Of the whole wood . Come , my
Toto ! I ’ l l eat them all,if they have hurt the
boy ! ” he added in an undertone .
B ut Totomade no reply. He had , i n poin t of
fact, fain ted fromexhaustion and excitement .Bruin sniffed at h im
, and poked h im from head
to foot ; then , finding that no bones were broken ,
he l ifted the boy gently by the waistband o f his
breeches,and shambled Off i n the d irection Of the
cottage .
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO . 1 83
CHAPTER ! II.
HE grandmother al l th is time was wondering
very much where her Toto was . “ What
can have become o f the boy ? ” she said to her
self fo r the twen ti e th t ime . He i s always pnuc
tual at supper-time ; and now i t i s more than an
hour past . It must be quite dark,too
,i n the
wood . Where can he be And She wen t to th e
door and l istened,as she had been l isten ing ever
sinc e Six O’clock . Toto ! ” she said aloud . TO
to,do you hear me ?” B ut no sound came in
reply,save the d istan t hoot o f an owl and reluc
tan tly th e good woman closed the door aga in , and
went back to her kn itting . She fel t very anxious,
very much troubled ; but what could she do ?
Bl ind and alone,she was quite helple ss. Suppose
the boy should have wandered Off in to some dis
tan t part o f the forest,and lost h is way? Sup
1 84 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
pose he should have encountered some fierce w ild
beast,unl ike the friendly creatures w i th whom he
played every day ? Suppose But here the
curren t o f her anxious thoughts was in terrup ted
by a sound ; a curious sound , a soft {laud again st
the doo r,followed by a scratching noise, and a
sound of heavy breath ing .
The poor grandmother turned cold w i th fear ;
She d id not dare to move fo r some minutes ; but
th e thud was repeated severa l times,as if some
body were try ing to knock . She tottered toward s
the door , and said in a tremulous voice , Who i s
there ? ”
Only B ruin,ma’am wa s the reply, in ameek
growl .
Oh , how rel ieved the grandmother was ! With
hands that sti l l trembled she unfastened the door .
Oh,Mr . Bruin ! ” she c ried .
“ Dear Mr . Bruin
I amso glad yo u have come ! Can you tel l me
anything about Toto ? He has not come home ,
and I am very anx ious indeed . I fear he may9,haveme t some wild creature , and
1 86 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
Certainly,certainly
,said the bear hastily.
Very natural , I’msure don ’ t men tion i t
,I beg
Of you . As fo r a l ittle blo od, yo u know,
he added
apologe ti cally , that could n ’
t be helped, yo u s e e .
I d id n ’t come up quite soon enough ; but we know
the blood is there , afte r all ; and a l i ttl e Of i t outsid e
i nstead Of inside , why, what d ifferen ce does i t
make ? He has plen ty left,you know.
HBruin, Bruin cri ed a faint voice,do stop
You w il l frighten her to d eath w i th your ex
planations. Here I am,Granny dear , safe and
sound,barring a few scratche s .
” And Toto,who
had been gradually recovering h is senses during
the l ast few minutes, rai sed himself from the door
s te p On wh ich the bear had laid him ,and flung his
arms round his grandmother’s neck .
The poor Old woman gave a cry Of joy,and then
burs t into tears, be ing quite overcome by the sud
den change from grief and anxie ty to securi ty and
del ight.
At the sigh t of her tears, the worthy B ruin
u ttered a remorseful growl , and boxed his own
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO. 1 87
ears several times very severely, assuring himself
that he was quite the most stup id beast that
ever l ived,and that he was alwaysmaking a
mess o f i t. “ I d id n’
t mean to fri gh ten you,
ma ’am,
” he said,I d id n
’
t i ndeed ; but I am such
a stupid And now , he added , I thmk I mustbe going . Good-night
,ma
’
am .
”
“What ! cri ed Toto,turning from his grand
mother,and throwing h is arms i n turn round the
bear’s huge shaggy neck . Going , before we
have thanked you ? Go ing Off wi thout a word .
after saving my l ife ? Oh, you unnatural Old
Bruin ! you shall not s ti r ! DO you know,G ranny,
that he has saved my life from th e owls , and that
if i t had not been fo r himyou would have no Totoat all , b ut only a hundred l i ttl e b its Ofhim? ” Andhe told the whole story in glowing words
, whi le
Bruin hung h is head and shuffled from one foot to
another, much abashed at hearing hi s own prai ses .
And when the grandmother had heard al l abouti t, what did she do ? Why
,she too put her arms
round the huge shaggy neck ; and if eve r a bear
1 88 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
came near being hugged to death,i t was that
bear .
And now,said the grandmother
, when she
had recovered her composure,and had thanked
and blessed Bruin til l he d id not know whether h e
had one head or seven,
“ i t i s very late,and I am
sure yo u must be tired . Whywil l you not stay
and Spend the night wi th us ? There i s a beauti
ful fi re in the ki tchen , and a nice soft rug in front
o f i t , on which you could sl eep very comfortably.
DO s tay
The bear rubbed hi s nose and looked helplessly
at Toto .
“ I don ’ t think he began .
Of course he will stay,said Toto decidedly .
There i s n’
t any ‘th inking ’
about i t . He w il l
stay . Walk in,Old fellow
,and s it down in front
o f the fi re,and Granny will give us both some
supper. Oh ! my Granny dear, if you lmew howhungry I am
It would have been a pleasan t sigh t,had the re
been any one there to enjoy i t,to s e e the trio
gathered around the bright wood-fire an hour
1 90 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
“ It took h im,said Bruin .
“ He was taken
when he was a l ittl e fellow, only a few months
Theman taught himto bea t the drum.
Old . The man who caugh t h im made a pe t Of him
at fi rst ; taught himto dance and shake paws,and beat the d rum . He wa s a drummer i n the
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO. 1 91
army,— the man
,I mean . He wa s very kind
,
and my cousin grew extremely fond o f h im .
”
What wa s your cousin’s name asked Toto.
They called h im ‘Grimshaw ; said Bruin .
H is master ’s name was Shaw,and he wa s grim
,
you know,when he did n ’ t l ike people
,and s o
they called h im ‘Grimshaw.
’ He mostly did 71’
l
l ike people,added the bear refle c t ively.
“ He
certainly d id n ’t l ike the Showman .
”
Then Shaw was not the Showman said Toto.
Oh,dear . no ! ” said Bruin .
“ A war broke
out,and Shaw’s regimen t was ordered Off
,and he
could n’
t take Grimshaw wi th h im . He was ve ry
big then,and the other soldiers d id n’
t l ike h im .
He had a way of going into the d ifferen t tents
and tak ing anything he happened to f ancy fo r
suppe r ; and if any one said anything to h im, he
boxed that one’s ears . They always tumbled down
when he boxed the ir ears,and th ey made a great
fuss about i t,and s o finally h is maste r was obl iged
to sel l h im to the showman . Ills name wa s Jinks.
He taught my cousin several new tricks, and
1 92 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
took h im al l over the coun try,exhib i ting him in
the different towns and vi l lages . You see,
” said
Bruin apologetically,
“ he —I mean Grimshaw
d id n ’ t know any better. He was s o young
when he was taken that he d id n ’ t remembe r
much about his family,and d id n
’
t know what an
und ignifie d sor t o f thing i t wa s to be going about
i n that way. One day,however
,Jinks undertook
to make him wal tz wi th a p iece Of meat on his
nose,w i thou t attempting to eat i t. Grimshaw
would not do that , because he d id n’
t think i t wa s
reasonable ; and I don ’ t th ink i t was . SO then
J inks attempted to bea t him , and Grimshaw boxed
his ears . and he tumbled down and did n ’
t get up
again . Grimshaw wai te d a few minutes, and find
ing that he did not seem incl ined to move he ran
away and took to the woods .”
But why d id not the showman get up ?”in
qui red the grandmother innocently .
“ I think i t h ighly probable that he was dead,
madam,
” repl ied Bruin . B ut I cannot s ay posi
t ively, as I was not there .
1 94 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
tured to return , they found the two gravelv danc
ing a hornpipe,w i th great mutual satisfaction .
”
Oh ! how del ightful ! exclaimed Toto . And
did they stay together after that ?"
They found the two dancing a hornpipe.
NO,that was impossibl e , repl ied the bear .
But they spent a couple of days together, and
parted wi th the u tmost good-will .
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO . 1 95
After roaming about fo r some time longer,mycousin met some other bears
,who invi ted h im to
j oin them . To the i r great amazement,one Of
them turned out to be Grimshaw ’ s elder bro ther ;
he recogn ized Grimshaw by one o f his ears,out of
which he had himself bitten a pi ece i n their in
fancy . Thi s was a very j oyful meeting, and l ed
to the restoration of Grimshaw to his paren ts,who
were sti ll al ive . He spent the remainder o f hi s
l ife in peace and happiness ; and that is all there is
to tel l abou t him .
“ And now,
” continued Bruin,you ought to
have been asleep long ago,Toto , and I have been
keeping you awake wi thmy l ong story . Off w i th
you,now ! And good-night to you too , dear
madam . I w il l l i e h ere i n front Of the fi re ; and
if any creature , human or otherwise , comes to
d isturb the house during the n ight, I will attend
to that creature ! ”
1 96 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
CHAPTER ! III.
THE grandmo ther though t, the next morning
that she had not passed such a pleasant
evening,or such a comfortabl e and restful night
,
for a long time . Dear me she said,after Bruin
had departed,with many thanks and at leas t ten
profound bows dear me what a difference i t
makes,having a bear in the house ! one feels so
secure ; and one does not th ink Of waking uptol isten
,every time a branch snaps ou tside
,or a
door creaks in the house . I wonder But the
grandmother did not tel l Toto what she wondered .
The next fine afternoon,the animal s all came to
the cottage in good season , for they were to have
a story from the i r kind hostess herself thi s time
and i t was to be about a giant .
And if you will bel ieve i t,” said the raccoon ,
our poor Chucky here does no t—ha ! ha !
1 98 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
deeply inlove wi th her that i t was quite impo ss ible for himto get o ut again ; so he informed her
Of the fact,and begged her to marry him.
Come and sh are my m ammo th lo t,And Sh ine i n my gigan tic co t !
That was what he said , or words to that effect .“ But the Lady Moon repl ied
,Dear Crump
,I
would gladly do as you suggest,but the thing i s
not possible . I have no body,but only a head ;
and I could not think Of going in to church to
be marri ed wi thout any body,to s ay no thing Of
l egs and fee t .’
Is that your only Objection ?’ asked Gian t
C rump .
The only one,upon my lunar honor ! ’ repl ied
the Lady Moon .
Then I th ink I can manage i t,
’ said the giant.
Accordingly h e went and gathered together all
the si lver there wa s i n the world at that time,and
out Of i t he made a beautiful si lver body, w i th
arms and legs all complete . And when i t wa s
fin ished he made a silver dress,and silve r sl ippers
,
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO . 1 99
and a silve r moonshade . and dressed the body up
in the most fashionable and de lightful manne r.
Then,when all was ready , he called to the Lady
Moon , and told her that her body was ready , and
that She had only to come down and pu t it on .
“ ‘But I canno t come down,
’ said the Lady
Moon Nothing would induce me to come down
wi thout a body . You must bring i t up here .
’
“ NOW that wa s no t an easy th ing to do ; fo r
though Crump was very b ig , he was not nearly
big enough . What are fourteen miles, compared
W i th two hundred and forty thousand Howeve r,
he was a very persevering gian t,and had no idea
Of giving up ; and he was very cl ever too . SO he
s a t down on the ground and reflected fo r the
space Of seven years, and at the end of that time
a thought struck h im .
He rose at once,and went to work and made a
pair of stil ts,high enough to reach to the moon .
That was qui te a piece of work,as you may
imagine ; but when they were finished,a new
d ifficul ty arose : how wa s he to ge t up on them ?
200 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
This requ ired more reflec ti on,and Crump sat and
thought about i t fo r s ix weeks more . Then
another thought struck him,which was really an
extremely clever one . He made a long ladder,
as long as the stil ts. He s e t th is up against one
of the stilts,and cl imbed Upand put one foot on
i t ; and then he se t the ladder against the other
stil t, and cl imbed up and put the other foot on
that ; th i s wa s very d ifficul t, but i t was also very
cleve r. I forgot to s ay that he took the silver
body upwith h im . Then he called ou t to the
Lady Moon,Here I am
,dear Lady Moon
,and
here is your si lver body . Stop now,stop your
roll ing,and le t me fasten i t on fo r you
,and then
come down and be my beautiful silver b rid e .
’
And he held up the silver body,which shone and
sparkled i n the most enchanting manner .“ But the Lady Moon repl ied
,
‘Stop roll ing,
i ndeed ! that i s quite out o f the question,I assure
you . I have never done such a th ing,and I am
not going to begin atmy time Of l ife . NO,no
,
Gian t Crump if you want me , you must catch
202 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
me and she went roll ing on in the most heart
l ess and unfeel ing way .
There wa s noth ing for the poor giant to do but
follow so,tuck ing the silve r body under h is arm
,
he s e t Off on his tall s til ts, and walked afte r the
Lady Moon . Round and round the world went
She,and round and round went the giant after
her ; and as I have never heard Of his catch ing
upwi th her, he is very l ikely walk ing round andround sti ll.”
Is that all ?” inquired the insatiable To to.
What a very short story,Granny ! ”
It i s ra the r short,said the grandmothe r ;
but I don’ t s ee how i t could be made any longer .
I w il l,however, if you wish , tel l you another
short story,and that wil l be equal to one long
one . Listen,therefore and you shall hear the
story o f Hokey Pokey .
So they l istened,and heard i t.
Hokey Pokey was the youngest Of a large
family of ch ildren . H i s elder brothers, as they
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO . 203
grew up,al l became either butchers or bakers
or makers Of candlesticks, fo r such was the cus
tom Of the family. But Hokey Pokey would be
none of these th ings ; SO when he was grown to
be a tall youth h e went to his father and said,
Give me my fortune .’
Will yo u be a bu tche r ?’ asked his father .
NO,
’ said Hokey Pokey.
Will you be a baker ?’
NO , again .
’
Will you make candlesticks ?’
Nor that e i ther .
’
Then,
’ said h is father,
‘thi s i s the only for
tune I can give you ;’
and w i th that—he took up
hi s cudgel and gave the youth a stout beating.
NOW you cannot complain that I gave you noth
ing ,’ said he .
That i s true,
’ said Hokey Pokey . But give
me also the wooden mall e t which l ies on the Shelf,
and I wil l make my way through the world .
’
H is fathe r gave him the mallet,glad to be
s o easily rid Of him,and Hokey Pokey wen t out
204 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
in to the world to seek his fortune . He walked
all day,and at nigh tfall he came to a smal l v il
lage . Feel ing hungry,he wen t into a bake r’s
shop , i ntend ing to buy a loaf Of bread fo r h is
supper. There was a great noise and confusion
i n the back part Of the shOp; and on going tos e e what was the matter
,he found the baker on
his knees beside a large box or chest,which he
was trying wi th might and main to keep shut .
But there was something inside the box which
was trying j ust as hard to get out,and i t screamed
and kicked,and pushed the lid upas Often as the
bake r Shut'
it’
down .
What have you there in the box ?’ asked
Hokey Pokey .
“ ‘I have my wife,
’ repl i ed the baker. ‘She
i s SO frightfully ill-tempered that when ever I am
go ing to bake bread I am obl iged to shut her upi n this box
,lest she push me into the oven and
bake me with the bread,as she has Often threat
ened to do. But to-day she has broken the lock of
the box,and I know no t how to keep her down .
’
206 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
morning he gave him for a present the finest loaf
of bread in h is shOp, which was shaped l ike a largeround bal l ; and Hokey Pokey
,after knocking
once more on the l id Of the box,continued his
trave ls .
He had no t gone far before he came to another
v i llage,and wish ing to inquire his way he entered
the firs t shOphe came to, which proved to be thatOf a confectioner. The shop was ful l of the most
beautiful sweetmeats imaginable, and everyth ing
was bright and gay ; but the confectione r himself
sa t upon a bench,weep ing b i tterly .
What ails you , fri end asked Hokey-Pokey
and why do you weep,when you are surrounded
by the most del ightful things in th e world‘Alas ! ’ repl ied the confectioner. That i s j ust
the cause ofmy trouble . The sweetmeats that I
make are SO good that their fame has spread farand wid e
,and the Rat King
,hearing Of them
,has
taken up his abode in my cellar . Every n igh t he
comes upand eats all the sweetmeats I have madethe day before . There i s no comfort in my l ife ,
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO . 207
and I am thinking Of becoming a rope-maker and
hangingmyself with the fi rst rope I makeWhy don ’ t you s e t a trap fo r h im asked
Hokey Pokey .
I have s e t fifty-nin e traps,
’ repl ied the con
fe ct ione r ‘but he is SO strong that he breaks
themall .Poison h im
,
’ suggested Hokey Pokey .
He d isl ikes poison,
’ said the con fectioner,
and w il l no t take i t in any form .
’
In that case,
’ said Hokey Pokey,l eave him
to me . GO away,and hide yourself for a few
minutes,and all will be well .’
The confectioner retired beh ind a large screen,
having fi rst showed Hokey Pokey the hole Of the
Rat King,which was ce rtainly a very large one .
Hokey Pokey sa t down by the hol e , with his mal
le t in his hand,and said in a squeaking voice ,
RatlyK ing ! Kingly Rat !He re you r m a te comes pi t-a-pa t.Come and s e e ; the way is fre e ;He ar my s ign al on e ! two ! thre e ! ’
208 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
And he scratched three times on the floor. Almostimmed iately the head Of a rat popped up through
the hol e. He was a huge rat , qui te as large as a
ea t ; but hi s si ze was no help to h im,fo r as soo n
The confectioner thanked himwarmly.as he appeared , Hokey Pokey deal t him such a
blow with h is malle t that he fel l down dead w i th
out even a squeak . Then Hokey Pokey cal l ed
the confectioner, who came out from beh ind the
21 0 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
we are running up and down to express ou r emo
tion and sympathy,and that i s someth ing.
’
Show me the china-shop,
’ said Hokey Pokey .
So the man showed h im the china-shOp; andthere
,sure enough
,was a furious bull
,making
most te rrible havoc . He was dancing upanddown on a Dresden d inner s e t , and butting a t the
Chinese mandarins,and switch ing down finge r
bowl s and teapots w i th his tail,bellowing mean
while in the most outrageous manner. The floor
was covered wi th b roken crockery,and the whole
scene was melancholy to behold .
“ Now when Hokey Pokey saw th is, he said
to the owner of the china-shop, who wa s tearing
his hair i n a frenzy of despair,‘Stop tearing
your hai r,which i s indeed a sen seless occupation ,
and I will manage thi s matter fo r you . Bring
me a red cotton umbrel la, and all w i l l ye t be
well .’
SO the china-shOpman b rought him a red cotton umbrel la
,and Hokey Pokey began to Open
and shu t i t v iolently in fron t Of the door . W hen
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO . 21 1
the bul l saw that, he stopped dancing on the Dres
den d inner se t and came charging o ut o f the shOp,straigh t towards the red umbrella . When he
’
came near enough,Hokey Pokey dropped the
umbrella,and raising his woodenmalle t h i t the
bul l such a blow on the muzzl e that h e fel l down
dead,and never bellowed again .
The people all flung up the i r hats and cheered,
and ran up and down al l the more,to express the ir
gratification . As fo r the ch ina-shop man,he threw
his arms round Hokey Pokey’s neck, call e d h im
h is cheri shed preserve r,and bade him choose any
th ing that was left in his shOpin paymen t fo r hisserv ices.
‘Can you ma tch these asked Hokey Pokey,
hold ing upthe loaf Of b read and the bal l o f swee tmeats .
That can I,
’ said the shop-man ; and he
brough t out a huge ball Of sol id ivory,i nla id with
gold and si lver,and truly lovely to behold . It
was very heavy, be ing twice as large as the ball
of sweetmeats but Hokey Pokey took i t, and ,
21 2 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
after thanking o
the shop-man and receiving his
thanks in return,he proce eded on his way.
“ After walking fo r seve ral days, he came to a
fai r,l arge castl e
,i n front o f which s at a man on
horseback . When theman s aw Hokey Pokey,
he called out ,
Who are you , and what do you bring to the
migh ty D ragon,lord of th is castle ?’
Hokey Pokey is my name,
’ repl ied the youth,
and strange th ings do I bring. But what does
the mighty Dragon want, for example ?’
“ ‘H e wants some thing new t o eat,’ said the
man on horseb a ck.
‘He has eaten Of everything
that i s known in the world,and p ines fo r some.
th ing new . He who brings him a new dish , never
before tasted by him,Shall have a thousand
c rowns and a new jacket ; b ut he who fa i ls , after
thre e trials,shallhave h is jacket taken away from
him,and his head cut off besides .’
‘I bring strange food ,’ said Hokey Pokey.
Let me pass in,that I may serve the mighty
Dragon .
’
21 4 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
j acket to one side of h is thron e , and the man
tO-take-away-the-old-jacket and the executione r
to the other,la id down h is knife and fork and
opened his mouth . Hokey Pokey stepped l ightly
forward, and dropped the round loaf down the
great red thre a t . The Dragon shut h is jaw s to
ge ther with a snap,and swallowed the le af i n two
gulps .
That is good,
’ he sai d ; but i t i s not new. I
have eaten much bread,though never before in a
round loaf. Have you anything more ? Or Shal l
the man take away your jacke t ?“ ‘I have this , an i t please you ,
’ sa id Hokey
Pokey ; and he dropped the bal l of swee tmeats
into the Dragon ’ s mouth .
“When the D ragon tasted this,he rolled h is
eyes round an d round,and was speechle ss with
del igh t fo r some time . At length he said , ‘Worthy
youth,th is i s very good i t i s extremely good i t
i s better than anything I eve r tasted . Neverthe
less,i t i s not new ; fo r I have tasted the same
kind Of thing b efore , only not nearly so good .
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO . 21 5
And now, unless you are posi tively sure that you
have something new fo r your third trial,you really
migh t as well take OE your j acke t ; and the ex
e cutioner shall take Off you r head at the same
People, he sa id, I amHokey Pokey.
time , as i t i s ge tting rather late . Executioner,do
your
Craving your pardon,most mighty Dragon ,
’
Said Hokey Pokey,
‘I will first make my third
trial ;’ and with that he d ropped the ivory bal l
i n to the Dragon ’ s mouth .
21 6 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
Gug-wugg-gllll-grrr !’ said the Dragon, for
the ball had stuck fas t, be ing too big fo r h im to
swallow .
Then Hokev Pokey lifted h is malle t and struck
one tremendous blow upon the ball,d riving i t
far down the throat Of themonste r and kill inghimmost fatally dead . He roll ed Off the throne
l ike a scaly log , and his crown fell o ff and rolled
to Hokey Pokey’ s fee t. The youth p icked i t up
and put i t on his own head,and then call ed the
people about h im and addressed them .
People,
’ he said,
‘I amHokey Pokey,and
I have come from a far land to rul e over you .
Your Dragon have I slain,and now I amyour
king ; and if you wil l always do exactly what I
tel l you to do,you w i l l have no further trouble .
’
“ SO the peopl e threw up the i r caps and cried ,‘Long l ive Hokey Pokey ! ’ and they always
d id exactly as he told them , and had no furthe r
trouble .
And Hokey Pokey sen t for his three brothers
and made themChief Butcher, Chief Baker, and
21 8 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
CHAPTER ! IV .
A HA ! sai d the raccoon,yawning and
stre tching h imself. Ya—a-lzoo Hm-aye aow ! Oh, dear me what a pi ty
What,fo r instance, i s the matte r ? demanded
the squirrel,dropping a hickory-nut down on the
raccoon ’ s nose .
“ I knew a raccoon once who
yawned till his head broke in two,and the top
rolled Off.”
“ Hm said the raccoon .
“ Not much le s s if
i t was l ike some people ’ s heads .
I was sighing,he continued
,
“ you very stu
pid Cracker ! to think that summer is gone , and
that winte r will be here before we can say Beech
nuts . ’
Ah ! said the squ irrel , looking grave . That,
indeed TO be sure ye s .
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO. 21 9
The leaves are fal l ing fast,contin ued the
raccoon medi tatively ;“ the bird s are all gone
,
excep t Pigeon Pre tty and Miss Mary,and they are
going in a day or two . Very se en ,my Cracke r
,
we shall have to roll ourselves upand go to Sl eepfo r the win ter. NO more gingerbread and j am
,my
boy . NO more pleasant afternoons at the co t
tage no more stories . Nothing but a hollow tree
and four month s’ sl eep . Ah,dear me and Coon
sighed again,and Shook his head despondingly .
By the way,
” said Cracker,
“ Toto tell s me
that he and his people don ’ t sleep in wi n ter any
more than in summer . ! ueer, i s n’ t i t ? I sup
pose it has some th ing to do with the ir having only
two l egs .”
Something to do with thei r having two head s !
growled the raccoon .
“ They don’
t Sleep w i th
the ir l egs,do they, stup id ?
”
“ They certainly don ’ t sle ep without them !”
said the squirrel rather Sharply.
“ Look here ! ” repli ed the raccoon , ri s ing and
baking himself, should you l ike ‘ me to bite
220 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
about two in che s Off your tail ? I t won ’ t take me
a minu te,and I would just as l ief do i t as not .”
Afia irs were becoming rather serious, when
suddenly the wood-pigeon appe ared,and flut
t ered down w i th a gentl e “ COO !” between the
two friends,who certainly s eemed anyth ing but
friendly.
“ What are you two quarrel l ing about ?” she
asked. How extremely silly you both are ! But
now make friends , and put on yo ur very best
manners,fo r we are go ing to have a visi tor here
in a few minutes . I am go ing to cal l Chucky
and Miss Mary,and do you make eve rything
tidy about the pool before she comes .” And Off
flew Pigeon Pre tty in a great hu rry“ She ?
” said Cracke r inqui r ingly,look ing at
COOH.
She said she repl ied Coon,bestirring him
self, and picking upthe dead branches that hadfallen on the smooth green moss-carpet.
“ Perhaps i t i s that aunt o f Chucky ’s who has
been making h im a visi t,
” suggested the squirrel.
222 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO .
worthy Bruin,he fairly beamed with pleasure
,and
even went s o far as to execute a sort of saraband,
which,if the grandmother could have seen i t
,
would certainly have alarmed her a good deal .
My dear friends,
” said the Old lady,i t g ives
me great pleasure to be here,I assure you . Toto
has fo r some time had his heart qui te s e t on my
see ing you once though,alas ! my s eeing i s only
[tearing—in your own pleasant home , before you
separate fo r th e w in te r. SO,thanks to our kind
friend,Mr. Bruin , I amactually here . H ow warm
and soft the ai r i s ! ” She con tinued .
“ What a
del ightful cush ion you have found fo r me ! and
i s that a brook , that is tinkl ing SO pleasantly ?”
“ That i s th e spring,Granny ! ” said Toto ea
gerly.
“ I t bubble s up, as clear as crystal , out Ofa hole in the rock , and then i t falls ove r into the
pool . And the pool i s round,as round a s a cup
and there are ferns and purple flags growing all
around i t,and the trees are al l reflected in i t, you
know ; and th ere are turtle s in i t, and there used
to be a muskrat, only Coon ate h im , and—and
THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO . 223
Oh! i t ’s s o jol ly and here Toto paused,fai rly
out Of breath .
Indeed,i t was very lovely by the pool
,in the
soft glow of th e Indian summer day. The spring
murmured and tinkled and sang to them ; the
trees d ropped yellow l eaves on them,l ike fairy
gold ; and then the sun laughed , and sent down
fl ights Of his golden arrows, to Show themwhat avery poor thing earthly gold wa s , afte r al l . SO
they all sa t and talked around th e pool,Of the
s ummer that was past and the w in ter that was
coming. Then the grandmother made a l ittl e
Speech which she had been th inking over fo r some
time . It was a very short speech but i t was very
much to the poin t.“ Dear fri ends, she said
,
“ you are al l s ad at
the prospect Of the long winte r ; but I have a
plan which will make the win ter a joyous season,
instead of a melancholy one. I have plenty of
room in my cottage , warmth , and food , and every
th ing comfortable ; and I wan t you all to come
and sp end th e win te r with To to and me . There
224 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO.
i s a large wood-pi le where you can climb or si t
when you are tired Of the house . You shall sleep
when you please, and wake when you pl ease ;and we w i l l be a happy and united family. Come
,
my friends,what do you say?
”
Then the grandmothermade a l ittle speech.What did they say? Indeed
,they did not
know what to say. There was silence around the
pOOl for a few minutes. Then the bear looked at
the raccoon,the raccoon looked at the squi rrel ,
and the squ i rrel looked at the wood-p igeon ; and
226 THE JOYOUS STORY OF TOTO;
and Cracker and Chucky,and Pigeon P i
Miss Mary,— and there they al l l ived
happy ; and if you e ver lead half such
l ife as they did,you may consider
extremely fortunate .
THE END .
Mes s rs . Roberls B ro t/zers’
P a d/{ca t ions
MRS. DODGE’S POPULAR BOOK.
A PORTRAIT OF D OROT HY AT SI! TEEN.
DONALD AND DOROTHY.
B Y MARY MAPES DODGE.
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An Iz ones t fr zéu z‘e froma n a dmzrmg fr zend .
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ROB ERTS B ROTHERS , PU B LISHERS, B OSTON
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,is n ow pre s ented in
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