Mouser Cats Story | Page 6

but I remembered those lines, and it seemed to
me they came in just right. There is a story he tells about the Elephant
and the Bee, which teaches the same kind of a lesson."

WHEN MR. ELEPHANT AND MR. BEE HAD A QUARREL.
"I certainly would like to hear it," your Aunt Amy said when Mrs.
Mouser Cat ceased speaking, as if waiting for some such permission.

"Well, in the first place you must understand that there was once an
Elephant and a Bee that were the very best of friends," Mrs. Mouser
Cat said as she curled her tail around her fore paws to prevent them
from being chilled by the draft. "One day the Elephant had walked a
long distance, and thought he would sit down to rest for a little while.
Now it seems the Bee had been flying around there, and he had got
tired too, so he laid down on the grass and went to sleep.
"Now what do you think? When Mr. Elephant sat down he happened to
hit Mr. Bee's hind foot, and then there was a time! Mr. Bee talked
disgracefully, so it is said, to Mr. Elephant, and you would have
thought they never had been friends; but Mr. Elephant didn't answer
him back, because he was a peaceable kind of an animal, and knew that
the least said is the soonest mended.
"When Mr. Bee got through scolding, they went on their journey again.
I don't know where they were traveling, but that doesn't make any
difference in the story. Off they started, and after a while it seemed as if
Mr. Bee got to feeling better, and Mr. Elephant said:
"'I'm glad to see that you've got over being cross, for it was all an
accident, my hitting your foot.'
"'Oh yes,' Mr. Bee answered, as if he intended to be friendly again.
'We'll try to forget all about it. Have you seen anything of my collars
and cuffs since we started?'
"'Why, no,' replied Mr. Elephant. 'Have you lost them?'
"'I haven't seen them since we left home, and I believe they must be in
your trunk.'
"'I think not,' Mr. Elephant said; 'but you can go in and look for them, if
you choose.'
"Now Mr. Bee hadn't got over his cross fit a little bit, and he was only
waiting for a chance to pay Mr. Elephant back. Well, he crawled into
the trunk just as far as he could get, and then he gave poor Mr. Elephant
the very hardest sting you ever dreamed about.
[Illustration: When Mr. Elephant Sneezed.]
"'Oh me, oh my!' Mr. Elephant howled. 'What a wicked little thing you
are! I'll fix you for that!' and then he hunched himself together, and
gave the biggest kind of a big sneeze. Now if you never saw anything
of the kind, you can't have an idea what a commotion it made when Mr.
Elephant did that, and, bless your heart, that was the last of Mr. Bee. I

don't know what became of him, and neither does anybody else. He
must have been dashed to pieces in the terrible wind that was raised,
and it served him good and right, too, for he deserved it just as much as
ever Mr. Bear did when he got so worn out by Mr. Man's boy Tommy."

WHEN TOMMY GOT THE BEST OF MR. BEAR.
"Is that another story?" your Aunt Amy asked, and Mrs. Mouser replied
with a laugh:
"Yes, and it is a good one, too. Last year there was an old Mr. Bear
living near this farm, who was the most quarrelsome animal you ever
saw, and besides that, he was wicked. Do you know, he made up his
mind that he would bite a big piece out of Mr. Man's boy's leg, just
because Tommy drove him away when he was stealing honey. So one
night he crept up to the well, and got into the bucket, letting himself
way down to the bottom where he could float around until Tommy
came out to get a pail of water.
"'I'll have him sure,' Mr. Bear said to himself, 'for when he pulls up the
bucket in the morning, I'll jump out and grab him, so he can't get away.'
"Well, Tommy went to the well at just about the same time as usual,
and when he started to raise the bucket with the windlass, he found it
was terribly heavy. He thought some one must have been putting rocks
in it to play a joke on him, so he kept on turning the crank around until
the bucket was nearly to the top, and then he saw what was the matter:
[Illustration: Mr. Bear Makes a Mistake.]
"'My goodness!' he cried.