“neddie! neddie! where are you?” called mrs. stubtail, the mamma bear, one afternoon as she stood on the back steps, which were still colored dark from the glue that uncle wigwag had put there, the time neddie and beckie were going to take the honey cakes, as i told you in the other story. “neddie! neddie!” called the mamma bear.
there was no answer for a moment, and then tommie, the little kitten boy, came running as fast as he could run.
“what’s the matter, tommie kat?” asked mrs. stubtail. “is a bad rat chasing you?”
“oh, no, not a bad rat,” answered tommie, as he quickly hid under an old ash can. “you see we’re playing hide and seek, and neddie, he’s it. i’m hiding away from him. don’t tell where i am; will you?”
“of course not,” said mrs. stubtail, with a laugh. “so that’s why neddie didn’t answer 152me,” she went on. “he’s playing a game. very well, tommie kat, but when you get in homefree, or when neddie finds you, just tell him for me, if you please, that i want to see him.”
“i will,” promised tommie kat, and then he pulled his tail in close under the ash can so when neddie came to look for him he wouldn’t see him.
truly enough, in a short time, neddie stubtail, the little boy bear, came looking for all the animal children who were playing the game. he found jimmie wibblewobble, the boy duck, hiding under some corn meal sacks. then he saw johnnie bushytail, the squirrel, in a nut bag, and neddie saw jackie and peetie bow wow cuddled up together behind the rain water barrel.
but neddie could not find tommie kat, and finally the little boy bear had to call out:
“givie up! givie up! come on in free!”
this meant that when tommie ran out from where he was hiding neddie would not tag him, and the kitten boy would not be “it.” so out tommie came from under the ash can, and neddie said:
“oh, so that’s where you were; eh?”
“sure i was,” said tommie. “but say, neddie, your mamma wants you.”
153“really?” asked neddie.
“really, truly, and truly ruly,” laughed tommie.
just then mrs. stubtail came out and called again:
“neddie! neddie! i want you!”
“what is it, mamma?” asked neddie, politely, and wondering where he would hide when it came his turn.
“i want you to bring me in some kindling wood for the stove, so i can easily make a fire in the morning to get breakfast,” said the bear lady.
“oh, mamma, i don’t want to!” exclaimed neddie. “i want to play hide and seek some more. it’s my turn to hide, and i know a dandy place where they can’t find me. sammie littletail, the rabbit, has to be it, and he’ll never find me.”
“well, my dear little bear boy,” spoke mrs. stubtail, “i know you like to play, but you must also help me. bringing in the wood is one of your tasks. so don’t make a fuss about it.”
“all right, mamma, i won’t,” said neddie, eagerly. “only do i have to bring in the wood right away?”
“it would be better to get it in before dark,” said mrs. stubtail, “but i don’t mind if you wait a little while longer. only don’t forget it, 154and don’t be too long. it soon gets dark, you know, and you can’t see to get me nice sticks of wood. but go on and play a while longer.”
mrs. stubtail wanted to be kind to neddie, but she also wished him to feel that he had certain things to do, and must do them.
well, neddie went on playing hide and seek, and he hid in the big clothes basket that was in the yard. he pulled a clean sheet from the line over him, and really the basket looked as though it were filled with clothes from the wash.
of course when sammie littletail, the rabbit boy, who was searching for the other animals this time, passed by the basket, he only saw the sheet, and never thought that neddie was hiding under it. so sammie didn’t find neddie, though he did all the other animal boys, and such fun as neddie had when he ran in home free.
“i told you that you couldn’t find me!” he said, as he tried to stand on one ear, but he couldn’t because his ear bent double. then neddie fell down, and he knocked over peetie bow wow and peetie bumped up against jimmie wibblewobble, the duck, and for a time it looked just like an animal circus.
well, neddie stubtail was having so much fun that he forgot all about bringing in the kindling wood for his mamma. then, all of a sudden it 155got dark—so dark that the animal boys couldn’t play hide and seek any more—and neddie remembered the wood.
“oh, dear!” he exclaimed.
“what’s the matter?” asked charlie chick, who was also playing the game.
“i forgot all about the wood,” spoke neddie. “you stay and help me carry it in; won’t you? i’ll give you a honey cake, if you do, charlie.”
“well, i’d like to very much,” said charlie chick, “for i am very fond of honey cakes. but my mamma told me to come home just as soon as it got dark. i’ve got to help shell some yellow corn for breakfast. good-bye!”
then charlie chick trotted off to his chicken coop, and all the other animal boys went to their homes, though neddie asked each of them to stay and help him bring in the wood.
but none of them could, for they, too, had little things to do at home.
“oh, dear!” sighed neddie. “i’ve got to bring in the kindling wood all alone. and it’s dark! but i suppose it serves me right for letting it go so long. next time i’ll not.” and i suppose it did serve neddie right, though that did not make it any the more pleasant.
so the little bear boy went out to the woodpile. it was so dark he could hardly see, but still he 156was brave, and he made up his mind he was not going to ask uncle wigwag, or mr. whitewash, the polar bear, to help him.
“for it’s my own fault for not bringing in the wood earlier,” thought neddie.
he hurried all he could, and brought in one pawful, which he put in the wood-box behind the stove. his mamma didn’t say anything when neddie stood there in the kitchen a minute, sort of waiting-like, as though he hoped she would excuse him.
mamma stubtail really felt sorry for her little bear cub, but she knew it would be a good lesson to him. and there are more kinds of lessons in this world than you learn from your school books, you know.
so neddie went out to the woodpile again, and it was darker than ever. the little bear boy piled his paws full of the firesticks and started for the house. it was quite a distance, and before neddie got there some one stepped up behind him and grabbed him tightly.
“oh, dear!” cried the little bear boy. “who is it?”
“it is i! the skillery-scalery alligator!” was the answer, given in a shivery sort of voice. “at last i have you! i have been waiting until it was dark enough for me to carry you off without 157any one seeing me. now i’ve got you. come along!”
“no, i’m not going!” cried neddie, and he struggled to get loose. but he couldn’t, for the ’gator held him too tightly.
“oh, help! help!” cried poor neddie.
“hush! no more of that!” snarled the skillery alligator, and he held one paw over neddie’s mouth so the little bear boy couldn’t call for help.
“come along!” cried the alligator, and he started to drag neddie away.
and then the little bear cub thought of something. in his paws were a lot of sharp, jagged sticks of wood. as quickly as a flash neddie dropped all but one of these sticks of wood. this one he grasped tightly in his paws, and with that stick he gave that bad alligator such a whack on his nose that tears came into his eyes.
“oh, wow! trolley cars, and ice cream cones! what happened to me?” cried the alligator. “did it thunder and lightning?”
“no! i did it with my little stick!” cried neddie and he gave the ’gator another whack, if you will excuse my saying so. then the alligator cried “wow!” again, and more tears came into his eyes, and he could not see through so much salt water, and then neddie managed 158to wiggle loose and run into the house. and the ’gator had too much of a toothache to follow, so the little bear boy got away after all. and the skillery-scalery alligator went to the dentist’s, to have his tooth fixed.
after that, uncle wigwag helped the little bear boy bring in the rest of the wood, and never again did neddie let his work go until dark. and on the next page, if the coffee grinder doesn’t take a bite out of the gas stove and make it sing in its sleep, i’ll tell you about beckie and her cough medicine.
