E Joyous Story Toto - Forgotten Books · the story be true or not you must decide fo r your ... Toto ’s grandmother ... her lap and away over the ﬂoor and then the

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,


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


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

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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


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


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


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. !


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,


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


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


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


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 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


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


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


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


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


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


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 !



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.


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


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


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 .


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


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


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


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 .

”


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 .


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


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


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 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


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 !



[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 .


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


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,


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 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


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



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.


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 ?


“ 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.


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.


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


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



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 ,


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


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 .


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


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.


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


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.”



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 .

”


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


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.


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


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.


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 .


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 ?


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 .


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 .



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.


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



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,


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



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


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



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 .


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


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



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


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



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


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


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



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 .


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 .


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



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


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



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



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.

”


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 .”



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


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


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 .



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


“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 ,


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 .



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 .


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 .



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 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


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.



“ 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 ! ”


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

,



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 .


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


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



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


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


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



“ 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


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


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 .



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 .


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 ! ”


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 !



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

,


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 ?


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



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


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


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 .

’



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 ,


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 ! ’


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



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 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 ,


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 .

’



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 .


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 .


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



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 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


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.



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


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


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.

B eautifully Illus t i at ed and B ound . P rice

An Iz ones t fr zéu z‘e froma n a dmzrmg fr zend .

D EAR MRS. D OD GE,- I have j us t fin ished you r b ook ca l l ed D ona l d and

D orothy ’ fo r t h e third or fou rth t ime . and wou l d l ike verymuch t o knowT he ther D oro thy is a re alpe rson , and if so , wha t is her name ? I amnearl yas ol d as D oro thy was a t the c l ose o f th e b ook, so amv erymuch in t erestedin her. Iwou l d a l so l ike to know how old sh e is , and where she l ives. If youwou l d b e kind enough to repl y, you wou l d grea t ly ob l ige

You r admi r ing friend,

ROB ERTS B ROTHERS , PU B LISHERS, B OSTON

[LL USTA’A TED .

Th is , the mo s t famo us o f

all the famou s books by Mi s sALCOTT

,is n ow pre s ented in

an i llus tra te d ed ition,wi th

One b and/some small quartovolume, bo und in ( lo/11 , emblema tic cover desqgn s . P rice ,

$2.50.

ROBERTS BROTHERS,

Publi c/zen , B oston.

NearlyTwo Hundred Characteristle Designs ,

d rawn and e ngraved expre s s lyfor th i s work . It is s afe tos ay tha t th e re are n o t manyh ome s wh ich have n ot be e nmad e happi e r th rough the

h e althy influenc e of thi s c e l eb ra ted book, wh ich c an nowb e had i n a fit d re s s for thec e ntre table Of the dome s ticfire s id e .

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E Joyous Story Toto - Forgotten Books · the story be true or not you must decide fo r your ... Toto ’s grandmother ... her lap and away over the ﬂoor and then the