Snubby Nose and Tippy Toes - Laura Rountree Smith
The man's pen was a lovely thing to play with, but Whiskers had a nicer
plaything himself. He began to go round and round after his own tail.
Round and round he went, until he upset the ink. Then he was so scared
that he ran and hid.
The man only laughed, and said he would draw funny little figures where
the blots of ink were.
He called Whiskers back and went on with his story. He was just
wondering how he would draw the seats inside the circus tent, when
Whiskers put his paw down on the wet page, and the man said:
"Why, Whiskers, you certainly are an artist."
Then he began to wonder how he could show what a big space the elephant
covered when he walked, and just then the cat walked over the paper, to
show him!
The man was so pleased then, that he laid down his pen and gave
Whiskers a big hug.
"Pooh!" said Whiskers, "that was nothing. I could write a better story
than you can, any day!"
You see, Whiskers was not a polite cat.
"Did Whiskers write the story?" asked Bunny.
Susan winked at Bunny and said:
"Old Grizzly, that is the best story of all, and I believe you made it
up yourself!"
Then old Grizzly blushed under the fur on his cheeks, and Bunny ran and
got a big bouquet and stuck it in his paw!
Old Grizzly went home feeling very happy indeed.
CHAPTER IV
The next evening Susan begged old Grizzly to tell her another story
about Whiskers. Grizzly said he knew one, but he kept it in the back of
his head and he could not find it. So he told them the story of Carlo,
instead.
Carlo was a fine dog. He had but one fault. He liked to suck eggs.
Day after day the cook went out into the hen-house to get eggs, and day
after day there were no eggs to be found.
At first she thought it must be a rat that stole her eggs, and she set
a trap. A clever old rat came and ate the cheese, but he never got
caught.
One day the cook saw Carlo sucking an egg. Whisk! she was after him
with a broom, and gave him a sound beating! But this did not cure Carlo
of his bad habit. He went into the hen-house and stole eggs whenever he
pleased.
The cook said she was not going to allow this, so one day she called
the dog to her in a most friendly way, and held out half an egg in her
hand.
Carlo thought that the cook had made up her mind to let him eat all the
eggs he wanted, so he took the egg in his mouth, and swallowed it
quickly.
Then he began to behave very strangely. He yelped with pain, and ran
out into the yard and rolled over and over in the snow.
"Good! Now you will steal no more eggs," said the cook.
What do you suppose was the matter with Carlo? The egg the cook had
given him was full of red pepper, and his mouth burned as though on
fire. There is no telling what the poor dog would have done if a little
girl had not come along just then.
The little girl had found out what the cook had done. She crept out of
the house and said:
"Poor Carlo, poor doggie, come to me!" and then she took snow and
washed out Carlo's mouth and patted him on the head until he felt all
right again.
Carlo never forgot the little girl's kindness, and he never stole eggs
any more.
Just as old Grizzly stopped speaking, "Tap, tap," was heard on the
window. They looked up and saw Bushy Tail outside.
"Let him in. I'll see that he does no harm," said old Grizzly. They
opened-the door, and Bushy Tail jumped in.
Now, Bushy Tail would not have come if he had not had something to say,
for he felt a little ashamed about the pies.
What do you suppose Bushy Tail had come to say? He had heard of a big
gold mine in the West, and he wanted Grizzly Bear and the Cotton-Tail
family to go west with him to buy the gold mine.
Old Grizzly was delighted with the idea, but Bunny and Susan said they
would rather stay at home. As they were talking, "Tap, tap," was heard
on the window again, and there stood Bunny Boy. He had come home from
his travels!
Bunny Boy's head was tied up and he looked as though he had had a hard
time. Susan asked if he would like to go west and look for gold, but
Bunny Boy only shook his head.