“ker-choo! ker-choo! ker-choo!” sneezed little beckie stubtail, the bear girl, as she sat up in her bed of straw one night. “ker-choo! a-ker-choo! boo-hoo!”
“my goodness me sakes alive and some castor oil!” cried aunt piffy, the nice old bear lady, waking up from a sound sleep in the next room. “what ever is the matter, beckie?”
“oh, dear! i don’t know!” cried beckie, as she rubbed her eyes in the dark. “but i feel so queer! my nose is all stopped up, and i can’t breathe and my throat tickles and i’m cold——”
“oh my goodness!” cried aunt piffy, jumping out of bed so quickly that she almost stepped on the pussy cat’s tail.
mrs. stubtail, the mamma bear, had also heard her little cub girl sneezing and coughing, and mamma stubtail jumped up too, and ran to beckie’s room, turning up the night light so she could see what was the matter.
160“what is it, beckie? what has happened?” asked mamma.
“oh, dear! i’m so miserable,” said poor beckie, crying.
“oh, no wonder!” remarked aunt piffy. “see, she is all uncovered, and she has taken cold. we must put her feet in hot mustard water at once, and send for dr. possum. oh, the dear child is going to be ill!”
“i hope not,” said mamma stubtail, but she was afraid just the same.
then such a time as there was with the two lady bears bustling around to look after beckie. and all through it papa stubtail never waked up, for he had worked hard that day, and was a sound sleeper. but uncle wigwag, the funny old bear gentleman, did awaken, and, putting on his dressing gown and slippers, he stuck his head in beckie’s room, and asked:
“is there anything i can do?”
“yes,” said aunt piffy. “you might heat some water. we want to give beckie a hot bath.”
“i will,” said uncle wigwag, and he didn’t try to play any tricks at all then, but heated the water at once. and uncle wigwag was very fond, too, of playing tricks and jokes, let me tell you.
161well, soon beckie was nice and warm, and she had soaked her paws in mustard water, and taken some sweet medicine. and all this while neddie her little bear brother, had not awakened from his sleep.
but mamma stubtail and aunt piffy were kept very busy until nearly morning looking after beckie. finally she did not cough or sneeze so much, and she fell asleep. everybody was glad.
“when it’s morning we’ll have dr. possum,” said mrs. stubtail, softly.
well, morning came after a while, but it always seems to come very slowly when you are awake and waiting for it, especially if some one is ill. and beckie was quite ill. she seemed to get worse all the while.
when dr. possum came, right after breakfast, he felt of beckie’s paw to tell how fast her pulse was beating. then he made her put out her tongue to see how red it was, and the animal doctor gentleman said:
“yes, beckie is a pretty sick little bear girl. but i think i can cure her. she needs some cough medicine.”
“will it be bad, bitter medicine, doctor?” asked beckie, as she sat up in bed, with a dry-leaf quilt wrapped around her.
162“well, beckie, i might as well tell you the truth, for you would find it out anyhow as soon as you tasted it,” said dr. possum. “the cough medicine is going to be very bitter and bad. i will not deceive you. but i can do one thing—i can make it a pretty color.”
“do, please, then,” begged beckie. “but why is it that you doctors can’t make medicine that is not bitter?”
“i’ll tell you why, beckie,” spoke dr. possum. “you see the bad cold or other disease gets inside you and it likes you so well it stays there, and as long as it stays you can’t get better. so we give bitter medicines—not to you, but to the bad cold that’s inside you.
“and when the cold sees that bad, bitter medicine coming down your dear little red throat, the cold says to itself:
“‘ha! hum! this is no place for me! i’d better get out!’ and out the cold goes, and then you get better. that’s what bitter medicines are for.”
“i see,” said beckie. “well, i’ll take it.”
“and you can make as many faces as you like when you swallow it,” said dr. possum with a laugh. then he mixed up some bitter cough medicine for beckie, but he colored it pink, just 163to match the shade of the little bear girl’s hair ribbon.
“there, now,” said the possum doctor gentleman. “you can make believe it’s pink candy syrup, beckie.”
“i’ll have to make believe very, very hard to do that,” said beckie, smiling the least little bit.
well, dr. possum went away, and beckie had her first dose of the bitter cough medicine. it was so bad and sour and puckery that she made a terribly funny face when she took it. it was such a funny, queer face that neddie, her brother, who was watching her take the medicine, had to laugh. and, as he was drinking a glass of water just at that minute, the water spilled all over him, of course.
“well, neddie,” said his mamma, “i guess you had better go on to school. this is no place for you.”
so neddie went to school, and beckie stayed home with her cough and the pink, bitter cough medicine. for some time she felt quite miserable, and then the medicine made her sleepy.
and aunt piffy, who was taking care of beckie, said to herself:
“well, now, as long as she’s quiet, i’ll have time to run across the street and get some sugar from mrs. wibblewobble, the duck lady. i will 164make beckie a little sugar candy to take after her medicine.”
so aunt piffy, leaving beckie asleep, stepped out of the bear cave. and, as it happened, mrs. stubtail had gone out, too. she went over to mrs. kat’s house to see about getting a thimbleful of thread to sew some shoe buttons on mr. stubtail’s coat. that left beckie sleeping all alone in the house, for neddie, her brother, had gone to school, and mr. whitewash, the polar bear, had gone out hunting after honey, and uncle wigwag, the funny bear, was over calling on grandfather goosey gander, the duck gentleman.
and a bad old lion, who used to work in a circus, came along just then. seeing the door of the bear cave open, as aunt piffy had left it when she went out, the lion said:
“ah, ha! i’m going in here! perhaps i shall find something good to eat!”
in he went, and he saw beckie asleep in her bed.
“ah, ha! a little bear girl!” growled the lion. “the very thing for me! i’ll take her away with me!”
he was lifting beckie up in his big paws, and was just walking away with her, when the little bear girl awoke. and she was so frightened 165at seeing the lion that she coughed and sneezed and choked something dreadful. oh, yes, indeed!
“a-ker-choo! ker-fooz! ach! hoch! pitzel!” sneezed beckie. “oh, dear!” she cried.
“keep quiet!” said the lion, rudely enough. “some one will hear you!”
“that’s what i want,” said beckie. “oh, please let me alone.”
“no! no!” growled the lion. then beckie coughed some more, and her throat hurt her, and she saw the bottle of pink, bitter medicine dr. possum had left on her table.
“oh, please let me take some of that pink stuff!” begged beckie of the lion.
now, the lion had some good in him, after all, and when he saw how much beckie was suffering, he handed her the bottle of cough medicine. beckie took some, and it stopped her cough at once, but she made such a funny face when she swallowed it that the lion cried:
“ha! that must be fine stuff to have you make such a funny face. i must look into this. yes, indeed!”
“would you like some of my cough medicine?” asked beckie, hoping the lion would take some. she knew what it would do to him.
“indeed, i will,” the lion said; “i’ll drink the 166whole bottle full of pink stuff, and then you’ll see what a queer face i’ll make.”
so the lion tipped up the bottle of bitter, sour, pink cough medicine and swallowed it all at once. of course it wasn’t meant to be taken that way—not even by a lion—all at once.
and such a face as the lion made! it was seven different kinds of a face at once, and then the lion howled and roared and said, “oh, dear!” for his throat seemed to be on fire.
and then, without trying to bother beckie any more, out of the window the lion jumped, to run off to find some ice water, so his throat wouldn’t burn from the cough medicine.
of course beckie’s medicine was all gone, but it did not matter, for her cold was soon better. i don’t know whether it was from the medicine she took, or whether the lion scared the cold away.
anyhow, beckie got all well, and the lion didn’t bother her again for more than a week.
and, if the bag of peanuts doesn’t step on the elephant’s toe and make him sneeze, i’ll tell you next about neddie and the tooting horn.
