“oh, mamma!” cried little neddie stubtail, the bear cub, as he got ready to go to school one morning. “what is it that smells so good in your kitchen?”
“what smells so good?” spoke mrs. stubtail, the mamma bear. “well, i don’t know. maybe it’s the tea kettle boiling.”
“oh, mamma, you’re joking just as uncle wigwag often does,” said beckie, the little bear girl. “i, too, smell something good. are you making candy?”
“now, you children just run along to school and say your lessons,” said mrs. stubtail, as she looked to see if there was any stove blacking on her apron. but there was none, i’m glad to say.
“little bears should be seen and not heard,” said aunt piffy, the fat old lady bear, as she came up from down cellar, where she had been looking to see if any dust had gotten in the eyes of the potatoes.
144“oh, but we smell something good!” cried neddie. “do tell us what it is, mamma.”
then he and his sister beckie sniffed and snuffed real hard, to try and find out what it was that smelled so good. it was like molasses candy and popcorn and lollypops and ice cream cones, all rolled into one. but neddie and beckie could not tell exactly what it was.
anyhow, the school bell rang just then, and they had to run on to their lessons, so they didn’t have time to find out what it was their mamma was cooking in the kitchen that smelled so nice.
but at noontime, when they came home for dinner, they discovered the secret. neddie ate up his dessert and then he blinked both his eyes at his sister beckie. that meant, in bear language:
“come on outside. i want to talk to you.”
then beckie wiggled both her ears and this meant: “all right. i’ll be out in a minute.”
and when beckie met neddie outside the house and they were on their way to school, beckie asked:
“what is it, neddie? what smelled so good?”
“it’s honey cakes,” said he.
“honey cakes?” exclaimed beckie. “why, we don’t have them until christmas.”
145“i know,” said neddie, “but it’s almost christmas now. mamma is making a lot of honey cakes. that’s what smelled so good this morning. they’ll be done this afternoon and she’ll put them out on the back steps to cool, as she always does.”
“well, is that all?” asked beckie, anxious-like.
“no, not quite,” said neddie. “when we come home from school you and i will go softly up on the back stoop and we’ll get some of the honey cakes. they’ll be cool by then.”
“oh, but that’s not right!” cried beckie, “we can’t eat mamma’s honey cakes without asking her.”
“i didn’t say anything about eating them,” spoke neddie. “i just said we’d take a few cakes in our paws. then we’ll go to mamma and say we saw the cakes out on the back stoop, and we’ll ask her if we can eat them. mind you, we won’t take so much as a smitch of one before we ask her!
“but when she sees we have the cakes of course she’ll let us take a nibble. even aunt piffy would do that. otherwise we’d never get a honey cake until christmas. will you do it?” asked neddie.
146“oh, well; yes, i guess so,” said beckie. “but i’m afraid it isn’t exactly right.”
“oh, yes, it is,” said neddie. “now, come on to school, and when we come home this afternoon we’ll get some honey cakes.”
but i’m afraid, after all, that what neddie was going to do was not exactly right. however, let us see what happens, as the telephone girl says.
neddie and beckie went on to school, but they did not do very well in their lessons, for they were thinking so much about honey cakes. and if they had known that uncle wigwag, the old bear gentleman, who was always playing tricks, had heard them talking about what they were going to do, maybe they would not have felt so happy.
for uncle wigwag, hiding behind a stump, had heard just what neddie and beckie had planned to do to get some honey cakes. and the old joking gentleman bear said to himself:
“now, i’ll play a joke on those children. it isn’t right for them to do that, and i’ll teach them a lesson.”
so he went out on the back steps, where the pans of honey cakes were cooling. honey cakes, you know, are made from honey and sugar and other sweet things, and are very good. 147little bear children love them more than anything else.
“let me see now. what trick shall i play?” said uncle wigwag to himself. “oh, i know. i’ll put a lot of glue on the back steps, and make them all sticky like fly paper. then, when neddie and beckie come up to get the honey cakes they’ll step in the glue, and they’ll be held fast, and they’ll make such a fuss that their mamma and aunt piffy will hear them. they’ll come out, and i guess those bear cubs will never take any more honey cakes without asking.”
so uncle wigwag got a lot of sticky glue from the doll factory where they glue dolls’ wigs on, and he spread the sticky stuff all over the back steps, where, on the top rail, mrs. stubtail had set the honey cakes to cool.
oh, how delicious they smelled! uncle wigwag could not help taking one, but of course that was all right, as he paid his board to mrs. stubtail.
then uncle wigwag spread out the sticky glue, taking care not to step in it himself, and then he went and hid behind a stump to see what would happen when neddie and beckie came softly along to get the honey cakes.
but something else happened. i’ll tell you all about it if you’ll listen.
148neddie and beckie hurried out of school that afternoon. they had managed to get through their lessons, and were very anxious to eat some of the honey cakes—that is, if their mamma would let them.
“i hope they’re out on the stoop when we get there,” said beckie.
“oh, you honey cakes!” exclaimed neddie, jolly-like. “of course they’ll be there.”
and just then, as it happened, there was a bad old wolf behind the fence. and he heard what the bear cub children were saying.
“honey cakes, eh?” exclaimed the wolf. “i guess i’ll go get some for myself.”
so he ran through the woods, a shorter way than neddie and beckie went, and the old wolf got there first, just as the one did in the little red riding hood story.
“ah! ha!” exclaimed the wolf, as he smelled the honey cakes. “now for a good meal! i’m glad i heard neddie and beckie talking about this. oh, you honey cakes!”
the old wolf went softly to the stoop. he looked all around, but he saw no one. mrs. stubtail was washing the dishes and aunt piffy had gone to lie down and take a nap. mr. whitewash, the polar bear, was over visiting uncle wiggily longears, the rabbit gentleman, and 149uncle wigwag, as we know, was hiding behind the stump.
the wolf saw no one, and up the back steps he went to get the honey cakes that were set out there to cool. but something happened.
all of a sudden the wolf stepped in the glue and stuck fast. all four feet were caught in the sticky stuff and when the wolf tried to get loose he only stuck the faster.
“oh, wow!” howled the wolf. “oh, dear, i’m caught!”
uncle wigwag, hiding behind the stump, heard the noisy noise and, not yet having seen the wolf, he cried:
“ah, ha! now i have caught neddie and beckie. i guess this will be a lesson to them not to take honey cakes again!”
out rushed the old gentleman bear, and when he saw the wolf caught in the glue, instead of the little bear cub children, uncle wigwag did not know what to say, he was so surprised.
and when the wolf saw the bear gentleman he cried:
“oh, dear! don’t bite me! i’ll be good! i’ll not take any of your honey cakes!”
“you’d better not,” spoke uncle wigwag. and then the wolf was so frightened that he managed to pull his feet loose from the sticky 150glue, and away he ran without a single honey cake.
and when neddie and beckie came along later to take some cakes, intending to ask if they could eat them, they found every one so excited at the bear cave that they didn’t take any cakes at all. besides, mamma stubtail had lifted the honey cakes inside after the wolf made such a racket.
“but you were almost caught!” said uncle wigwag to neddie and beckie, as he told them what he had heard them say. then they promised never to think of such a thing again, and their mamma gave them each some nice honey cakes for supper. but the wolf had none, and it served him right.
so uncle wigwag played his trick just the same, though, on a wolf instead of the bear children. then aunt piffy scrubbed all the glue off the back steps and everybody was happy.
and in the next story, if the molasses jug doesn’t go down cellar and cry in the coal-bin so the coal is all stuck up, i’ll tell you about neddie and the kindling wood.
