 CHAPTER XII of THE BEAR FAMILY AT HOME This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Betsy Walker, Santa Fe, New Mexico. THE BEAR FAMILY AT HOME by Curtis Wilbur. The parrot's most narrow escape. Well, said the parrot, I lived in South America where there were many beautiful trees and many strange animals and some of the largest snakes in the whole world. The very largest snake that lives there is called the boa constrictor. He is so large that he can swallow a deer whole. And of course a poor little parrot or a chicken or a rabbit would not make a meal for him. It would hardly make a dessert. One day I was seated on the end of a long limb, nearly asleep, when suddenly I looked up and saw a man pointing a gun at me and all ready to shoot me. I was so frightened that I could not move and I expected him to shoot any minute. But I thought that before I was killed I would take one last look at the blue sky that I was never to see again. And what do you think I saw? A great snake, a boa constrictor coiled around the limb above me and looking at me as though he wanted to eat me. I was more frightened than ever. It seemed that his look made me weak, sick and dizzy. Before I could move the snake darted at me like a flash, seized me and began to swallow me. In a moment I was just like poor Jonah, only I was inside a snake instead of a whale. Everything was dark and I could not think except that I knew I would die in a minute. Suddenly I heard a great bang, bang and the old snake began to squirm and twist. Then in a moment I felt something cut through the snake and I was out in the bright sunshine and the sun almost blinded my eyes. You see the man had shot the snake instead of shooting me as he had intended. He took me out and put me in a bag that he had with him. Then he sent me to the circus and I was there until the wreck of the train. There I learned to talk like the men I could say, Polly wants a cracker. Come right in ladies and gentlemen and many other things. I learned to sneeze like a man and to snore like a man and to cough and to whistle so that I could call a dog and to cluck so that I could make the horses go and I learned to ride on a dog's back without sticking my claws in so that it hurt him. But that is all my story. My, said the little cub bear, what a narrow escape. We should never lose hope. I'm glad that you escaped. After the parrot had finished the story, the little cub bear went to sleep. When he was sound asleep he suddenly began to breathe hard as though he could not get enough air and he twisted around and seemed to be smothering. Soon though he breathed a great deep breath and then he was still and quiet. I think that he must have been dreaming. Can you guess what he was dreaming about? The little cub bear slept very late next morning and when he got up all of the animals were up and were talking about the cave and wondering whether any more of the animals would come that day. While the animals were talking they heard two great noises, bang, bang! and they knew that the beaver was telling them that some animal was coming. The cub bear rushed to the mouth of the cave to see who it was and he said, I see two rats coming up the path. They are perfectly white. With the two rats is a rat that is bigger than both of them. It has beautiful fur. Just then the cub bear looked up at the owl to see why the owl did not say who, who and just as he looked he saw the old owl start from his perch with a great fluttering of wings and pounce like a flash down on the rats and he caught one of the white rats in his claws and flew back to his perch and there he began to eat this poor little white rat. But the other white rat and the musk rat came into the cave. The little cub bear said very politely, come in Mr. Rat. But the little white rat was trembling so that he couldn't say a thing and the cub bear said, I am very glad I am not a little rat to be eaten up by a wicked old owl. But the circus bear said, you know that owls eat rats and mice and little birds and things of that kind but this owl is a very good kind owl and I am surprised that he would harm one of the white rats from the circus but I guess he is very hungry because he has been sitting up there a long while with nothing to eat. Then the cub bear said, we are going to try to build a house big enough for all the animals so if they come to see us we will have a place for them to stay. We think there is a large cave, large enough for us all back of this cave but we don't know, can you help us? Then the musk rat said, I should be very glad to help you if I can because your brother was very good to me when we were in the circus and the little cub bear said, what can you do? And the musk rat said, I can climb through this round hole here and see what there is in there. So he scampered through the hole where the giraffe had looked and was gone a long, long while and they all waited and wondered why he didn't come back. Finally the musk rat did come back but he was all wet and all the animals wondered why. The little cub bear said, what did you find? The musk rat said, I found the most beautiful cave in the whole world. It has a level, smooth floor and is nice and clean and there are beautiful columns that come down from the roof to the floor of the cave just like pillars in a great palace and a way back in the back part of the cave there is a beautiful stream of clear, cold water. I had a fine swim in it. This cave is large enough for all the animals in the circus. There is one place back in the cave that is big enough for all the circus tents of the circus we used to be in and the circus bear said, my that is grand because he knew how large the tents were and the little cub bear said, my that is grand because his brother had said the same thing and he knew it must be so. Then the animals began to plan how they would get into this cave. Finally they all agreed that if they could make the opening of the den large enough for the elephant to get in and if the rhinoceros should come with his great horn and some more of the animals would come that they surely could get into this cave. So that night the elephant worked as hard as he could with his tusks and his trunk and all the bears worked carrying out rock and stones and digging out roots with their claws and the monkey scampered around and carried out small rocks and pulled out small roots and helped some but he kept pulling the elephant's tail every once in a while and it was more bother than he was help just like some boys that you know but finally they got the mouth of the den large enough so the elephant could come in. He came in and sat down and then there was hardly room enough for any other animal. The poor little cub bear and the circus bear were squeezed up tight against the wall and papa and mama bear had to get way back in the back part of the cave and the monkey had to hang to a root way up on the top of the cave but by turning around slowly the elephant found that he could use his tusks and trunk to move some of the rocks. They all worked hard until they were tired and were nearly threw into the cave and had made the room so much larger that they all had room to sit down and talk. The next morning early the little cub bear heard the bang bang of the beaver's tail and rushed to the mouth of the cave and there he saw a very large animal with two horns on the end of his nose and a funny looking skin, hard and horny. He knew at once that the animal was the rhinoceros the lion had told about the night before. The owl said whoo whoo and the animal answered with a terrible snort and roar. Then the rhinoceros came to the mouth of the cave and the cub bear said I am very glad that you came because we are trying to build a house that will be large enough to hold all of the animals that used to live in the circus and the giraffe tells us that there is a large cave back of this cave and if we can only break through we will have a house that will be big enough for us all. Then the rhinoceros said what can I do for I would like to help your brother was very good to me in the circus and I would be very glad to do anything that I can. The little cub bear said I think that with that great horn of yours you could help to tear out some of the dirt and rocks and the monkeys and the bears could then carry them out. Perhaps the elephant would be hitched to the chariot and we could carry out some of the dirt and rocks in it. The rhinoceros said that he would be very glad to do this. That night after the animals were through with their work the little cub bear who was the greatest fellow for stories that you ever saw began to tease his papa for another story about the little clubfoot bear that would not mind his papa. Finally the papa bear said that he would tell a story if the little cub bear would promise to go right to bed as soon as he was through with the story. Of course the little cub bear said that he would so papa bear told him the story of end of chapter 12 chapter 13 of the bear family at home this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Betsy Walker, Santa Fe, New Mexico the bear family at home by Curtis Wilbur the little clubfoot bear that would not mind his papa and the dynamite you know that little cub bears like to eat said the papa bear to his little cub bear but the little clubfoot bear that would not mind his papa once found a tallow candle and he ate it all up and it tasted as good to him as a stick of candy does to a little boy and so always after that he was looking for tallow candles not far from where the little bear lived there was a mine where minors were digging in the rock to see if they couldn't get out some gold and the minors had candles to use so that when they were in the mine where it was dark they could light a candle and see to work one time the little clubfoot bear found a whole box of candles and he took eight or ten candles out and carried them home and ate them and when his papa found it out he told him not to go there anymore because he might get hurt the little clubfoot bear that would not mind his papa stayed away from the mine for a long time but one day after he had eaten all the candles up he thought he would like to go back again and see if he could not find some more so he went and he found another box of candles as he thought they looked almost like the other candles but they were not so white they were yellow and covered with paper if the little clubfoot bear could have read as little boys can he would have seen these letters on the box D-Y-N-A-M-I-T-E just as he got his arms full of these candles as he thought he heard the men coming and he ran over to a tree and climbed the tree as fast as he could with his arms full of these yellow candles he got nearly to the top of the tree on a big limb and there he sat and waited the men came out but they went back into the mine the little clubfoot bear took a big bite but the very first chew he took he found it did not taste right at all so he spit it out and then he thought he would throw the rest down because he did not like them and wanted to get home as fast as he could he threw the whole arm full of yellow sticks right down onto a rock and when it struck the rock what do you suppose happened? BANG! a bigger noise than all the firecrackers in the world put together would make and the rocks began to fly through the air and the tree jumped right out of the ground and began to fall down, down, down the side of the mountain the bear hugged the tree as tightly as he could but it kept falling and finally it fell right into the river the little bear was terribly frightened and was nearly drowned but he scrambled out onto the tree as fast as he could and you never saw a little bear run so fast in your life he could not have run faster if all the dogs you ever saw had been running after him and when he got home to his den he ran to the very darkest part and there he covered his eyes and his ears with his paws but all the time he could hear a great ringing in his ears and the terrible bang, bang, bang that night after the little clubfoot bear finally went to sleep he suddenly made a great jump and jumped clear over his papa bear and pretty nearly out of the den after that you never could get that little clubfoot bear that would not mind his papa to eat candles after the papa bear had finished the story of the little clubfoot bear that would not mind his papa he said, little cub bear what do you think of that story? and the little club bear scratched his head and said I am glad the little bear wasn't killed and the little cub bear ran off and went to sleep during the night he dreamed and several times he gave a jump just as though he were going to jump out of the bed can you guess what he was dreaming about? the next morning the little cub bear said to his papa that he had noticed a box marked just like the box from which the little clubfoot bear that would not mind his papa had eaten the things that had looked like candles the box had been left by some miners away back in the woods and had in big letters on it the word D-Y-N-A-M-I-T-E when the papa bear heard this he began to think and to scratch his head he was thinking that if the stuff in the box had knocked the big tree down perhaps it would help them to knock the rocks down so that they could get into the beautiful cave the papa bear was wondering about it when he saw the old owl looking so Solomon wise then he said to himself I will ask the wise old owl he can't help much digging into the cave but as he is the wisest bird in the world maybe he can tell me what to do with this stuff that knocks great trees down so the papa bear said to the little Susie bear run and tell the old owl that I want to ask him a question so Susie bear ran out as fast as she could and said to the owl Papa wants you to come into the cave so that he can ask a question of you and the old owl looked wise and said who, who and Susie bear said you, you the old owl solemnly winked his great eyes and slowly flapped his great wings and flew to the cave well, well, well said the owl I am very glad to come into the cave for you know that the light hurts my eyes and I usually go out only at night what can I do for you the papa bear then told the owl what he had been thinking about the owl said very wisely I am sure that the stuff will knock down the rocks for I have seen miners use it and it makes the rocks fly so they have to run to get way off to keep from getting hurt I think if you could get some of the stuff you would find that you would soon get into the beautiful cave that we all want to see the papa bear asked the elephant if he was willing to go with the little cub bear to find the box the elephant jumbo said that he would be glad to go because the animals had all been so good to him in the circus jumbo got down on his knees and the little cub bear climbed up on his back and away they went to find the box that had in it such wonderful stuff they went a long, long way and finally the little cub bear saw the box and pointed it out to jumbo who carefully picked it up with his trunk and with his tusks just as he had the bales of hay and carried it back toward the den when they were coming back what do you suppose they saw the funniest little animal that the little cub bear had ever seen it was nearly as big as a pig but it looked like a great mouse its front legs were very short like small arms while its hind legs were very long its tail was as large around as a man's arm and then it had a pocket only the pocket was in front as the animal stood up instead of on the sides as boys pockets are and what in the world do you suppose was in this pocket another little baby animal just like the big one all you could see of the little fellow was his head peering out of the pocket as they stopped to watch the animals the little fellow hopped out of the pocket and took two little hops and then when he saw the elephant scampered back as fast as he could the elephant told the little cub bear that this animal was the greatest jumper in the whole world and while the elephant was telling this to the little cub bear the animal saw the elephant so glad to see his old friend jumbo that with two great jumps it reached jumbo and with the third jumped clear over the elephant bear and all jumbo said how do you do madam kangaroo and the little baby kangaroo and the kangaroo said very well thank you jumbo then told the kangaroo where they were going and what they were going to do madam kangaroo said it is very fortunate that you found me for when you drop a rock on the stuff to make it go off you will want someone that can jump out of the way quicker than scat and no one can jump as well or as fast as I can they hurried back to the cave and here they found all the animals waiting for them while they were away the alligator had come but he had gone down to the beavers dam to stay because he liked the water so well he had not much to play and to live in while he was in the circus the papa bear told the elephant to hurry up and put the stuff in the cave where they were trying to knock the rocks down the circus bear and the monkey rolled the box over and over to the place and then the elephant reached in with his trunk and put the box just where it should be then they found that there was no way to drop a stone on the box so that it would go off and make the rocks come down and the creature said that he would dig a hole straight up and down like a well right over the box so that they could drop a stone straight down on the box and make it go off so he scratched away just as he had scratched when he made the chimney and before you knew it the hole was dug and all was ready the kangaroo took a great stone in her for paws and stood over the hole as far away as they could for the rocks he would be sure to fly and might hurt them then he told the beaver that as soon as all were ready he must strike the water with his tail and the kangaroo would then drop the rock on the box so the little cub bear hid behind a tree and everyone got ready then there was a bang bang the kangaroo dropped the rock on the box and gave three great jumps out of the way just bang you ever heard it made more noise than all of the firecrackers you ever saw would make if they should all go off together my how the little cub bear did jump and when he looked around there was the mule Jenny kicking and kicking and kicking she had been hit by a rock it did not hurt much but of course she had to kick anyway as soon as it was safe the little cub bear that were there ran down to the cave the elephant went in and instead of his tail sticking out of the cave as it had before the stuff went off he disappeared entirely the little cub bear then ran to the cave for he thought that the elephant had fallen into a great hole he could not see the elephant at all so he called Jumbo Jumbo where are you here I am said Jumbo and his voice sounded far away for the explosion had opened the way into the great cave and the elephant was already far back in it all of the animals came running up and how glad they were to think they had such a beautiful home the floor was almost as level as the floor is in your house it was a long way up to the ceiling or roof there were great pillars coming down from the roof to the floor and everything was so clean and nice that almost any little boy or little girl would like to have lived there then there was ever so much room in the beautiful new cave there was room for the great tent that they all used to live in at the circus to be put up without touching the roof there was that little stream of water that the muskrat told them of where all could drink the animals went out to get their things and when they had them put all in the cave it was dark and time for little bears to go to sleep the little cub bear soon went to sleep and what do you think he dreamed about? I do not know perhaps it was about heaven whose streets are paved with gold and whose gates are of pearl perhaps who can tell end of chapter 13 chapter 14 of the bear family at home this is a leapbox recording all the leapbox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libravox.org recording by Katie Francesca the bear family at home by Curtis Wilbur the coming of the animal with the long nose the next morning the animals got up early and the elephant said he thought that they ought to go down where the circus train had been wrecked and see if there was anything more that they could bring up and put in the cave as they had plenty of room now but while they were talking about the way they would do the work they heard the beaver's tail go bang bang and they all looked up and what do you think they saw? the queerest kind of an animal he looked like a small bear but he had very long hair on his back and hind legs and his front legs were much shorter than his hind legs but that was not the queerest thing the little cub bear said oh see his nose it looks as if he had caught the end of his nose in a trap and had pulled and pulled until he had stretched his nose like a piece of taffy and had made it as long as my leg did you ever see such a long nose in the whole world? the elephant said that he had a very long nose but the little cub bear said that he wasn't talking about trunks that had fingers and thumbs on the end of them but that he was talking about real noses then the papa bear and mama bear said they never never in the whole world thought that any animal would have such a nose the papa bear asked the circus bear what the animal was the circus bear said that is a bear he is called an ant bear oh said the cub bear I have two ant bears and they don't look a bit like that please don't interrupt me when I'm talking said the circus bear this is an a-n-t bear not an a-u-n-t bear he is called an ant bear because he eats ants oh I want to see him eat some of these ants that got into the honey that papa brought home the other day as soon as the ant bear came near the little cub bear ran to him and asked him to show he ate the ants the ant bear said that he would be very glad to do so because he had not had a good meal of ants for the longest while in the circus he said they fed him on meat the ant bear said that he liked the taste of ants ever so much better I would not would you well the little cub bear showed the ant bear where the ants lived in a hole in the ground then he saw why the ant bear had such strong claws for he dug into the ground very quickly then what do you suppose that ant bear did he ran the point of his long nose into the hole where the ants lived and then stuck out the longest tongue you ever saw way way down in the hole until it was covered the ant bear had stuck to it then the little cub bear saw why the ant bear had such a long nose and a long tongue that looked like a pink rope do you see why as soon as the ant bear had eaten all of the ants the little cub bear said the ants are such little things I should think you would not get enough to eat but the ant bear said down in South America where I came from the ants are larger they are as big as the big red and black ants and they live in houses that are as large as a haycock I dig into these with my strong claws and eat up bushels and bushels of ants at a time while they were talking they heard the beaver go bang bang several times and each time the solemn old owl would say who who the little cub bear counted four times and thought that there must be four animals coming and sure enough when they came to the den there were four new animals there was the raccoon with his striped tail he was always washing his face there was a great striped tiger almost as large as a lion and quite as fierce looking there was a leopard that looked something like the tiger but was not quite so large and instead of stripes he was covered with black spots then over in a corner was a little thing that looked like a soft and beautiful round ball it looked so nice that the little cub bear ran right over to play with it and before the circus bear could stop him the little cub bear had given the little ball quite a hard slap ouch ouch how the little bear did scream and cry and his poor little foot was full of stickers the circus bear scolded the cub bear didn't you know that that was a porcupine and that he was covered with quills on purpose to stick into people that touch him you ought to have known better but the little cub bear did not see how he could have known better for no one had ever told him before and he had never seen a porcupine before and it looked like a nice ball for little cub bear to play with so the little cub bear thought to himself I hope my papa will tell me about all of the things that hurt little bears so that I will not get hurt so badly again I am afraid that papa sometimes forget to tell their little cubs about the things that hurt how am I going to get these awful quills out anyway I've tried as hard as I can and I cannot get hold of the little slippery things with my clumsy claws the papa bear came and tried and he could not get the quills out then the mama bear tried and she worked ever so much longer than the papa bear but she could not get the quills out of the little cub bears foot the mama bear was very angry with the miserable little porcupine and wanted to give him a hard slap but she knew that she would get her foot full of the quills and that would be worse than ever the porcupine did not care at all he said to himself if they don't want to get hurt let them leave me alone but I do not think that was right do you of course they did not want to get hurt not long after the monkey came and said what is the matter the little cub bear then told the monkey how he had just touched that mean old porcupine and had got his foot full of quills that no one in the whole world could ever get out but the monkey said I can get them out all right for you know that I have two hands with fingers on them just like a little boy so the monkey pulled out all of the quills and after that the little cub bear could walk all right but he said to himself after this I will let other people alone until I get acquainted with them I think that is a good rule don't you that evening after dark the little cub bear heard the beaver go bang bang and he rushed to the mouth of the cave to see who was coming he saw a very strange looking animal coming up the path he said I see an animal that is about the size of a rhinoceros only he has no horns on the end of his nose and he has the biggest nose I ever saw it is not a long nose but it is a short stubby nose about the size of the seat of a chair the two big nostrils in the nose are almost as big around as a baseball I can't see why the nose is so big oh yes I can too for he has just yawned he has the longest and largest teeth of any animal in the whole world I guess they are as big around as a leg of a chair his mouth is so large that a little bear could sit inside of it his legs are almost as big around as an elephant's legs only they are very short just then the owl said who who the animal did not say a thing but he gave a great snot the circus bear said I know who that is that is Mr. Hippopotamus in the circus they called him Sam just then the hippopotamus came up to the door of the cave and the little cub bear said very politely come in Mr. Hippopotamus you see it was such a long word he could not pronounce it right so Mr. Hippopotamus came into the cave and as he did so he gave a great yawn which frightened the little cub bear so that he ran way back to the back part of the cave the hippopotamus said don't be afraid little cub bear because your brother was very good to me when we were in the circus and I wouldn't hurt you for anything so the little cub bear came back and he looked the hippopotamus over and saw that he did not have any hair on his body at all and that he was about the colour of an old slate and that he had a very fierce looking mouth after a little while the little cub bear plucked up courage and he said hippopotamus we are going to fix up the cave for all the animals and we want to know if you can help us the hippopotamus said I would be very glad to help you if I can because your brother was very good to me when we were in the circus and the little cub bear said what can you do well he said I don't know when I'm at home I live in the water sometimes I stay all day in the water with nothing but the end of my nose above the surface and then I can stay under the water a long while without coming to the surface at all the cub bear said that is just like the whale and the hippopotamus said yes just like the whale only when I come to the surface I don't make such a big round as the whale does well the little cub bear thought a long while and he couldn't think of anything the hippopotamus could do so he said to his papa papa can you tell me what the hippopotamus can do to help us in building our house and the papa bear said I don't know I think if he would go down and live in the lake above the dam that the beaver built and he could help the beaver to make the dam higher and then when the beaver went to sleep the hippopotamus could make some kind of a noise to warn us when people were coming so the hippopotamus agreed that he would do this and he went down to the lake just before he left he said I am very hungry and I would like something to eat and the little cub bear said we have plenty of meat here if you would like some meat the hippopotamus said I don't eat meat I eat grass like a horse only the grass I eat I get way down under the water the little cub bear said then you will find plenty to eat down in the lake and the hippopotamus went away to the lake where he got acquainted with the beaver and planned to live there where the animals were living in the forest End of Chapter 14 Recording by Katie Francesca Chapter 15 of the Bear Family at Home This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Katie Francesca The Bear Family at Home by Curtis Wilbur The monkey's story of his most narrow escape The next evening the cub bear and all the animals were sitting in the cave just before the little cub bear was to go to bed and the little cub bear teased his papa for a story but his papa said he was too tired to tell a story for he had hunted all day trying to find a honey tree and had not found one the little cub bear kept on teasing for a story but his papa said he was so tired he could not think of a story to tell then the monkey said I will tell you a story little cub bear if you wish me to and the cub bear said yes tell me a story of your most narrow escape from death well said the monkey I once belonged to a man who owned a drug store in a large city he had another monkey named Jim and a parrot the parrot was a large green bird and he had learned to talk like a man he could say goodbye good day, good night Polly wants a cracker and see what you did one day the parrot and I were all down in the cellar and the drug is forgot and shut the door so that we had to stay down there but we had a fine time running about and jumping over everything that came in the way we jumped up to the ceiling and jumped from one beam to another and then down to the floor I pulled Jim's tail and ran away he would run after me and pull mine and jump away quickly and once or twice the parrot got hold of us but he really hurt us with his great bill and his claws so that we kept out of his way most of the time in fact he hurt me so badly once that I pulled a couple of his tail feathers out just to show him how I felt Jim and I were scampering across the floor when we struck a great car boy a great bottle larger than a pale and knocked it over on the cement floor where it broke the stuff that was in it ran out on the floor and the parrot said see what you did see what you did this bottle had on it in big letters sulfuric acid we were sorry that we had tipped over the bottle but we didn't feel very bad Jim found that he had some of the stuff on the end of his tail and it was burning him terribly it burned so much that he tried to run away from the end of his tail but he was so careless in jumping about that he struck another big car boy sitting on the floor and he knocked that over too and spilled the stuff what was in it and the parrot said see what you did this bottle had on it in big letters nitric acid this stuff ran out all over the floor and ran into a hole in the centre of the floor that would shape something like a bowl I got some of it on my foot and it didn't feel very good so I commenced to run around too and jump up to the ceiling and I thought I would keep off the floor there we found a great big can filled with glycerine do you know what glycerine is it tastes sweet like honey I dipped my foot in the glycerine to see if it would stop the smarting and Jim put the end of his tail in it too but we were so excited that the first thing we knew we tipped over the entire can of glycerine on the floor and that went into the same hole where the other stuff was and the parrot said see what you did after we tipped over the glycerine we noticed a horrible smell so Jim and I and the parrot all went back in the corner as far away as we could get and stayed there about 2 hours but after a while Jim's tail hurt him so badly and the smell was so awful that he commenced to run around in the most reckless way he jumped all over the cellar and finally just as he was over this hole where all the stuff had been spilled he knocked down a great jug and that dropped right into the stuff and there was the most awful explosion that you can imagine the drugstore and everything in it was blown away up into the air and poor Jim flew up so high that we never saw him again the parrot was terribly frightened but when he looked up and saw Jim go up out of sight in the air he said goodbye, goodbye and then he looked over at me and saw that nearly all my hair was burned off and he looked at himself and saw that his feathers were nearly all gone he said see what you did see what you did when the monkey had finished his story the little cub bear said well what was it that made such a terrible explosion the monkey said I don't know but afterward I saw some men walking around the ruins of the drugstore and they saw a broken car boy and an empty can of glycerine and they said the stuff must have become mixed and made nitroglycerine then the little cub bear said that stuff must be a good deal like the stuff we found in the box that opened the way into the beautiful cave for us and the monkey said yes I heard one man say that nitroglycerine and dynamite were the same that dynamite was just nitroglycerine mixed with a kind of clay the next night just before bedtime little cub bear said he wanted to hear the story the little bird had promised to tell them all of the animals said they wanted to hear it too so the little bird began end of chapter 15 recording by Katie Francesca chapter 16 of the bear family at home this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Katie Francesca the bear family at home by Curtis Wilbur the story of the little bird's escape from the alligator you see I am a very small bird and I live in a very peculiar way almost all day I spend my time in the open mouth of the great alligators as they lie on the shore of the river basking in the sun you see they keep their mouths open for me so that I can pick up all the little flies and bugs that torment them so very much these I eat and so both the alligator and I are pleased the alligator is very careful not to hurt me for you see if he should close that great mouth it would kill me well one day the alligator went to sleep as I was hopping about on his great tongue and he dreamed that he was in the water swimming after a big fish in his dream he thought he was near the fish and just going to catch it and snap down came his great upper jaw right on top of the poor little bird in his mouth I expect to you wonder if he was not killed well the alligator had a hole in the roof of his mouth just large enough for me to get through and it happened that I was right under it when his mouth closed so I got out through the hole how did he happen to have such a hole in his mouth do all alligators have such holes in the roofs of their mouths said the little cub bear no but a man once tried to catch this alligator he took a stick that was sharp at both ends and nearly as big around and as long as his forearm and when the great alligator swam after him to catch and eat him up the man turned around and thrust his arm with the pointed stick into the alligator's mouth as the alligator's jaws came together with a snap the stick went clear through his upper jaw and although the alligator got away and got the stick out the hole was always there and that hole saved my life well said the cub bear I think I'd rather live in a safer place than an alligator's mouth that night the little cub bear slept very soundly and was out early next morning wondering whether any more animals would come soon he heard a noise as if some kind of an animal was coming up the path but he could not see what it was suddenly he said I see the strangest thing it looks like a bird's head on a long pole the eyes are as big as large marbles the long pole like neck seems to have hair on it the bill is much bigger than a goose's bill just then its body came into sight it has a beautiful tail of black and white feathers and small wings with beautiful feathers its neck is as long as a yard stick and its legs are covered with great scales and are as long as its neck just then this strange bird or animal saw an ear of corn lying in the path and lowered its queer head to the ground and began to swallow it the ear of corn was larger around than the animal's neck but it swallowed the ear whole without chewing it the little cub bear was too much surprised to say anything so he watched and could see the ear of corn going down the throat of this queer animal the skin of the neck stretched so that the ear of corn could go down it started down in the front of the neck and then twisted around to the back of the neck and disappeared into the top of its body the owl called out who? who? but this strange animal did not reply the little cub bear told the circus bear about the corn he said oh I know who that is that is the ostrich so the little cub bear said to him very politely come in Mr.Ostrich we have a beautiful cave and we would like to have you live with us but the ostrich said that he would stay a while but that he liked to lie out of doors and that if anyone came to capture him he would hide his head behind a bush or in the sand and he would be alright but said the little cub bear they could see your great body and so could capture you but the ostrich said never mind that's my way so the ostrich stayed many days there was not corn enough for him to eat but the bears found that he could eat apples or oranges or hay or grass in fact one day the little cub bear found the ostrich at the scene of the train wreck picking up all sorts of things to eat and strange to say eating broken window glass and pieces of iron and stone what a strange dinner that was when the little cub bear returned to the cave that night he noticed the striped tail of the raccoon and at once asked the raccoon to tell how he was caught and put into the circus so the raccoons stopped washing his face long enough to tell the true story of end of chapter 16 recording by Katie Francesca Chapter 17 of the bear family at home this is a Libra Fox recording all Libra Fox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit Librafox.org the bear family at home by Curtis Wilbur Chapter 17 How the raccoon was caught well said the raccoon I don't remember when I lived in the forest or any time before I was caught when I opened my eyes I found that I was living in a house where there were a man and woman several little girls named Ray and the only thing I know about the way I was caught is what I heard the boy say the boy said that one time he was hunting through the woods and he saw a nest way up on the top of a tree he climbed up the tree and there he found two little coons myself and my little brother we had just been born and neither of us had opened our eyes yet he carried us home to his house and we were crying for something to eat we cried and cried and cried and the little boy didn't know what to do with us or how to feed us but finally he left us with an old cat that had just had some kittens very soon we found that the old cat was willing to give us something to eat and she nursed us just as she had did her own little baby kittens the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was this dear old cat who had been a mother to me and to my little brother but we grew so fast that we were soon nearly as big as the cat I remember one time my brother ran after the old cat for his breakfast and she didn't want him to have any but he was so big and strong that he rolled over her and thought he was surely going to get his breakfast the old cat began to spit and scratch and bite at him and my brother ran away as fast as he could after that neither one of us ever got another meal from that old cat because when we came near her she would box our ears and if we tried to get anything to eat she would scratch and bite us after that we got very hungry but finally the boy bought a rubber nipple at the store and put it on an old bottle he found in the house then he filled the bottle with milk and gave it to my brother he would have laughed to see that little coon sit up just like a little boy and hold the bottle up to his mouth and suck and suck and suck until all the milk in the bottle was gone and then when the bottle was empty the boy Ray filled it again and gave it to me and I did the same thing after that two or three times every day this boy would give us a bottle of milk just as he would feed a little baby and we ate and ate and grew and grew until the first thing we knew we were full grown and almost as large as a dog one day my brother and I saw some chickens out in the backyard we never had eaten anything in our lives but milk but the first thing we knew we found ourselves running after a chicken and we caught it and killed it and ate it all up and the boy came out and found us all covered in feathers he scolded us like everything he said that that was his little pet chicken that he wanted to keep always a beautiful white bed tam and after that he put us in a cage until he got a chain and ever since that time we have either been in a cage or had a chain around us to keep us from killing chickens or doing things that people did not want us to do finally a man came along and saw us and wanted to put us in the circus and the boy sold us to the man and that is how we got acquainted with all the other animals we have been very happy and contented all our lives because man have always given us all we wanted to eat and taken good care of us and while we are glad now that we can climb trees and run around the woods still we remember that the man were very kind to us as the little cub bear went off to bed well I guess that is the best way to be caught before you are big enough to know anything about the woods and the mountains and the hills and the coon said that is true the next day the monkey was telling the little cub bear about the chariot races they had in the circus how the man would hitch up four beautiful snow white horses to one chariot and four cold black horses to another chariot and then race around and around the track in the circus and how everybody in the circus would be as excited as could be the little cub bear said why can't we have a race you know the four beautiful black horses are down at the foot of the mountain in a little valley and the four snow white horses are down at the foot of the mountain in another valley perhaps we can get them up here and run a race I will drive one chariot and then the monkey said you never learned how to drive horses I learned how in the circus but the little cub bear was a very brave little bear and he said he would try anyway so the next morning they went to see if they could get the horses to come up and run the chariot race jumbo saw them and asked where they were going the monkey told him and jumbo said that was fine he would be very glad to act as judge of the race and that he would go halfway down the mountain along a line and that the first one to get over the line would win the race so the monkey went down and told the black horses and the white horses what they wanted and they all agreed that it would be great fun to come up and run a race just as they used to in the circus so they all came up to the den and they were the most beautiful horses you ever saw it took the monkey a long while to hitch up the horses the bears helped him all they could all four of the white horses were hitched to one of the red and gold chariots and the four black horses were hitched to the other red and gold chariot and the monkey chose the white horses and the little bear chose the black horses the monkey got into his chariot and took the reins a little cub bear climbed into his chariot and took the reins and looked over to see how the monkey helped them and he tried to hold them up the same way then the monkey said Were we going to know how to start? So we can both start together. And the circus bear said, I will tell you what to do. We will get the beaver to slap his tail on the water. And that will be just as good as firing a pistol. When you hear the noise, you both start at the same time. So the muskrat ran down and told the beaver what to do. And little cub bear and the monkey waited, all ready to start the moment they heard the noise. Soon there was a sharp bang. And the horses all started, just as though they had been shot out of a gun. The cub bear let go the reins the first thing, and just hung on to the chariot for dear life. The monkey looked over and laughed. The black horses were getting ahead of the white ones, for they were running downhill at a terrible rate. Papa bear came out of the cave just then, and he was dreadfully frightened, because he felt that his little cub bear would surely be killed. But the horses had run so many times that they were not afraid at all. They were going like the wind. First the white horses would be a little ahead, and then the black horses would be a little ahead. The little cub bear hung on as tight as he could, and he looked straight ahead of him. Suddenly he saw a stump right in the way ahead. The horses saw it at the same time. And two of the horses went on one side of the stump and two on the other. And the chariot ran right into the stump, and swung him on top of his back. And just as he cut the monkey by the tail, the bear rolled across the line, and the other wheel rolled down the hill the other way. And two of the black horses went in one direction, and two of the black horses went in the other direction. And the bear went right up in the air. When his Papa looked to see what had happened, he saw him come down just like a rubber ball. The rubber ball rolled up, and he rolled on down the hill. And just when the monkey thought, he surely would win the race. He saw a great stone ahead of him, and two white horses went on one side of the stone and two white horses on the other. And the chariot ran, smash, right into the stone. And two white horses ran in one direction, and two white horses ran in the other direction. And one chariot wheel rode down the mountain one way, and the other chariot wheel rode down the mountain the other way. And the monkey went right up in the air, just as though he had been shot out of a gun. The elephant was standing at the line, and just as the monkey flew past him in the air, he reached out and caught hold of the monkey's tail with the thumb and finger on the end of his trunk. He saw a great stone ahead of him, and two white horses went on one side of the stone and two white horses on the other, and the chariot being rubber ball. And that was the end of the race. The elephant never could make up his mind which won the race, the monkey or the bear. Which one do you think won the race? Chapter 18 of The Bear Family at Home This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Bear Family at Home by Curtis Wilbur Chapter 18 The animals plan how they will defend themselves against the circus men. One night the animals were all seated around in the beautiful cave, wondering why the men had not come to take them back to the circus. And they all said that if the men came, they never would go. And the lion said that if a man came to get him, he would just hit him one terrible blow with his paw. And if that didn't kill him, he would just take the man's head in his mouth and bite as hard as he could. And that would be the end of the man. And then the tiger said that he would hide in the old dead tree where the owl sat. And when the man came, he would jump on him and bite him and scratch him until there was nothing left of him. And then the leopard said that if the man came, he would hide in another tree farther down. And he would wait and wait. And when the man got right under the limb, he would jump on him and bite him and scratch him until nothing was left of him. Then the kangaroo spoke up and said, if the man gets after me, I will run as fast as I can. And if he is on horseback and gets near me, I will take my little kangaroo by the tail and throw him away out in the weeds where they can't find him at all. And then I will go faster and faster. The little cup bear said, suppose he should catch you in a corner where you couldn't get away. What would you do? The kangaroo said, I would stand on my hind legs and I would wait until he came right up close. And when he got close to me, I would just strike out with my sharp three-cornered claws. And if he got too near, they would cut him just like a knife. And I guess that man would think that he didn't want any more kangaroo. Then the rhinoceros said that if he saw a man coming and couldn't run away, he would get right up close to him and stamp on him and bite him. And that he might use that long horn on the end of his nose to toss him up in the air. Old Jumbo said, I would just take that man by one leg and throw him up in the air so high that when he came down, there wouldn't be anything left of him. And if there was anything left, I would step on him and run my tusks into him and I guess he wouldn't want any more elephant. Then the beaver said he would swim under the water so that nobody could see him and he would get right under his house and come up through the little hole that was in the bottom of his house under the water and hide and they wouldn't know where he was. And the badger said he would get in a hole and hide and all the other animals told what terrible things they would do to this man when he came to try to take them back to the circus. Because they all said they would rather live out in the open air under the trees and in the beautiful cave than to be taken back to the circus and when they all had finished, the little bear said, well, I am glad I am not the man because I wouldn't want to be killed in so many different ways. While they were talking, they heard a bang, bang, and the little cub bear ran to the mouth of the cave and what do you think he saw? A three-legged bear. He called the papa bear and when he came to the mouth of the cave, he saw that the poor bear looked tired, out and very thin. But soon he saw that it was Jimmy Bear, his own son that had been away for so long a time from home. So he called the mama bear and the circus bear and said, come quick, come quick, here is little Jimmy Bear, and he is coming back home. The old owl said, whoo, whoo, just as if he had not heard that it was little Jimmy Bear, but no one paid the slightest attention to the owl. They were also glad that Jimmy Bear was home again. As soon as he came to the mouth of the cave, the papa bear gave him a great big bear hug and the mama bear gave him a great big bear hug and the dear little cub bear gave him a great big bear hug. At least as big a hug as a little bear could give. And that was much harder than you can hug, you know. Of course, the papa bear wanted to know all about Jimmy Bear and Jimmy Bear said that he would tell him how he happened to go away from home and to be gone so long. End of Chapter 18. Chapter 19 of the Bear Family at Home. This is a Looper Fox recording. All Looper Fox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit laborfox.org. The Bear Family at Home by Curtis Wilbur. Chapter 19, Jimmy Bear's Story. You remember that when I was a little bear, one day I dissipated my papa. Papa told me that he did not want me to go far away from home that day because there were some great grizzly bears coming and they might want to take a little brown bear away with them if they should happen to see him playing away from his home. I thought that I would be very careful, for I loved my papa and my mama very much. And I did not want to be taken away by a great grizzly bear, but I was interested in running around and I thought I would try to see how far I could run without getting tired. So I ran and ran, on and on, for a long time. And before I knew it, I was several miles from home and I began to grow tired. Of course, I remembered at once what my papa had told me and so started home without waiting for anything. Before I had gone very far, I looked at the ground and I saw that some very large animal had come that way. The tracks looked like great bear tracks and though I had never seen the tracks of a grizzly bear, I thought that these had been made by the great grizzly that papa had told me about. Of course I was sorry that I had been so careless and forgetful. I wanted to get home without seeing the great grizzly and just as quickly as I could. I went another way, but before I had gone far, I heard a sound that made my heart go pit to pat, pit to pat, for it sounded like a great grizzly bear. And before I could think what to do, the grizzly had caught me and told me that he was going to take me along, long way into the woods. I asked him to let me go back to the cave to say goodbye to papa and mama, but the grizzly bear said that he had not time to let me go and besides that, if both the papa bear and the mama bear should try to keep me, he might have trouble in getting me, even if he were bigger than both of the bears put together. So he took me into the far away land that I'm going to tell you about. It is a beautiful land and there are the most beautiful trees there and many, many caves where bears could live. I learned to love the land very much and when I grew up, I married the most beautiful brown bear in the whole world and we have four of the dearest cubs that you ever saw, but I always wanted to see papa bear and mama bear and little cub bear and Johnny bear. So I have come back and it is a dreadful journey across the desert. There is no water to drink and nothing to eat and as you see, I nearly died. The animals all wanted to go and see the beautiful land that the three-legged Jimmy bear told them of but they were afraid to go for fear that they might die of thirst. While they were wondering how they would cross the desert, they suddenly heard a loud bang, bang and the little cub bear ran to the mouth of the cave. He said, I see some very strange animals. They have the funniest necks, almost as long as the giraffes but curved instead of straight and their heads are very different from the giraffe. The animals have long hair on their necks and on their backs, they have two hills, small ones of course, and they walk very quietly. You can scarcely hear the animals when they place their feet on the ground. Just then the old owl said, but the animals did not answer. The circus bear said that he knew what the animals were. They were camels. How many of them are there? Asked the circus bear and the little cub bear began to count. One, two, three, four and so on until he had counted 12 camels. When the camels came to the cave, the circus bear told the little cub bear to tell them to come in. The camels came in but they said they were not in the habit of living in caves. They lived on the desert. How can you live on the desert when there is no water to drink and nothing to eat there? Asked the little cub bear. The oldest of the camels replied that the camel was a very strange and peculiar animal and they were made so that they could live on the desert where there was nothing to drink and nothing to eat. Of course, the little cub bear wanted to know how it was possible for an animal to live without anything to eat and with nothing to drink. But the camel told him that they had a place to carry water and a place to carry food. He had 10 stomachs for water and four stomachs for food. The little cub bear thought a while and then said that it seemed to him that if the camels could live so long on the desert, it would be easy for them to get to that new place where the Jimmy bear lived. The old camel said that it would be very easy and that the camels would take not only themselves but that they could carry some of the other animals for they were used to carrying big loads. That was why the men wanted them. They used the camels instead of the freight trains. So it was agreed that the little cub bear and some of the other animals should ride on the camels' backs and that they would take turns riding. They would start at once as soon as the camels had a good chance to take a big drink of water and fill all four of their stomachs with food. But the camels said, you must be sure that you do not stick your sharp claws into our backs. The bears all agreed with the animals that they would be very careful and not dig their claws into the camels. So they soon started. All of the animals ate and drank all that they could hold. The little bear cub was to ride all of the time for he was so small and so weak. The three-legged bear, too, was to have a ride most of the way for he was very tired and had come so long a journey with only three legs. The lion said that he thought he could walk most of the way. He was used to the desert. And the camel said he was very glad that the lion was going to walk. For his claws were very sharp and he was afraid that the lion might forget and stick his sharp claws into his back. Well, you would have laughed to see the little cub bear try to get on the camel. The sly old camel knew that the little cub bear could not climb up, but the little fellow was in such a hurry to start that the camel let him try to get on the best way he could. Finally, the little fellow said, "'Dear old camel, please tell me how to get on your back.' Then the camel said, "'Why didn't you ask me before? "'There is only one way "'that you can get on the back of a camel. "'I will kneel down and show you. "'But as soon as the camel knelt down, "'the little bear saw at once "'that he could get on his back. "'And he scrambled up and said, "'Get up, get up, Mr. Camel.' The camel got up, but it was a very funny way that he did it. When the camel straightened out his hind legs, the little cub bear nearly fell off. Then the camel gave his hind legs another hump to get them real straight. And what do you suppose happened to the cub bear? He fell off and got a great bump on the ground, but it did not hurt him very much and the camel tried it again. This time the little cub bear managed to stick on. The tiger, the kangaroo, the two rats, the ant bear and the leopard all got on the camels. The hippopotamus tried to get on a camel, but it looked so odd that all of the animals laughed and told him that he would have to walk anyway. Because he was too big to ride on the back of a camel, the hippopotamus said that he thought he would stay in the lake the beaver had made, that he would not go far from water, for he liked to live in the water all of the time. The beaver said that he was going to stay too and that if any of the men came, the hippopotamus could hide under the water and he could go into his little house and stay there out of sight until the man had gone away. So they had to leave the beaver and the hippopotamus behind, but they all said that some time they would come again to see the hippopotamus and the beaver, the badger, the giraffe, and all of the other animals started on their long journey to that land where the wife and the little cubs of Jimmy Bear lived. That night they were all very tired and they had to lie down to sleep without anything to eat or any water to drink, all except the little cub bear who had some berries in a pail that he had carried on the camel's back. Little cub bear wanted them all, but he thought, for Papa has walked all day and has had nothing to eat or to drink and the way was very hard. The little cub bear was very hungry and very thirsty, hungrier and thirstier than you have ever been, but he said very sweetly and very politely, Papa, you may have some of my berries, but the Papa bear said that he would not take any of them. Then the little cub bear offered some of the berries to the mama bear, but she would not take any of the berries. He offered some to the circus bear and the circus bear would not take any. Then he offered some to Jimmy Bear and Jimmy Bear took just one. Then the little cub bear offered some to all of the animals, but no one would take any except the baby kangaroo. I rather think that the baby kangaroo would have taken all of them, but his mama would let him have only three. So the little cub bear had all the rest of the berries and they tasted ever so much better than they would have tasted if he had not been willing to share them with the other animals. Don't you think they did? The next morning the animals started and traveled all day. That night, just as it was getting dark, they came to the edge of the terrible desert and they saw a little stream of water and plenty of things to eat and there they stayed that night. In the morning they started again and soon came to the most beautiful trees and grass and flowers that they had ever seen and Jimmy Bear pointed up to a cave on the mountain side where his wife and little bears were and right there were three of the cutest little bears that you ever saw playing in the sun. What a noise they made when they saw their papa and all of the other animals. The mama bear ran to the mouth of the cave and how happy she was to see Jimmy. The animals were all as happy as could be in the beautiful forest. And what do you think the little bears of Jimmy Bear called the little cub bear? They called him Uncle Cub. That night the cub bear teased the circus bear to tell him stories. I want you to tell me a story about the time you took a ride in a great boat and the circus bear said, I will tell you a story about the time we crossed the great ocean and went over to another land. End of chapter 19. Chapter 20 of the Bear Family at Home. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Bear Family at Home by Curtis Wilbur. Chapter 20, How the Circus Crossed the Ocean. You may not believe it, little cub bear, because there is so much land, so many trees and rocks, and so little water where we are. But three fourths of the whole world is covered with water. And I am going to tell you about the time that I crossed the ocean. The circus was in a great city. The man said it was New York. And one day, without our knowing anything about it, they rolled the big wagons down on the wharf where there was a great ship lying. This ship was as large as a dozen houses all put together, as large as the circus tents all put together, but a different shape, of course. And then we saw that all the men that belonged to the circus were on board the ship. They began to wheel the wagons on board and took the animals out one at a time and put them in great cages on board the ship. When it came time to put Jumbo on the ship, he didn't want to go. And how do you suppose they got him on board? They put great straps under him. And then they lowered a great rope from one of the masts and fastened it into the strap. And they started the engine going. And the first thing Jumbo knew, he was hanging in the air like a little toy elephant. And he waved his trunk around wildly and kicked his legs, but it didn't do him a bit of good. And then they hoisted him way up in the air as high as a house. And then they swung him right over and lowered him clear through two or three decks, way down to the bottom of the ship. And there they found a place for him. Then they brought back the straps and put them around the hippopotamus. And they lifted him away up in the air and swung him over and lowered him way down into the bottom of the ship. And then they raised the camel and the rhinoceros in the same way. But the lions, they brought aboard cages and all. After all the animals were on board and all the people belonging to the circus were on board, we heard a great gong ring. And then the big engines began to turn and the ship began to move. The engine didn't go choo-choo like a locomotive. And there was no sound except throb, throb, throb, throb, which kept up until we were clear across the ocean all day and all night. And the great ship quivered as the engine throbbed. But this wasn't the worst of it. We hadn't gone very far until everything began to move. The cages went up and down and up and down and up and down until I got dizzy and all the other animals seemed to be dizzy. Then I felt so dreadfully, dreadfully sick that I didn't want to move or say anything to anybody or look at anybody or think of anything. Once I opened one eye and looked out and I saw that the men were lying around just in the same way that the animals were. And they looked awfully white and sick and they didn't say anything to anybody and they didn't want anything to eat and we didn't want anything to eat. And I spent all my time wishing that the old boat would stop rocking and pitching and turning and twisting all the time and the old ship would go down, down, down and just as soon as we would get used to it's going down, down, down, it would turn and go up, up, up and just as soon as we got used to it's going up, up, up it would turn and go down, down, down again and when the ship started up my stomach wanted to stay down and when the ship would start down it seemed as though my stomach wanted to stay up and so I got terribly sore on the inside and all the other animals seemed to be terribly sore. I hugged myself as hard as I could to keep from coming to pieces and I saw all of the other bears hugging themselves. All the animals were lying down looking sleepy. Everybody seemed to be sleepy except some of the men who were dressed in blue. They ran about and whistled and sang and blew tobacco smoke in our faces and this made us feel terribly sick but they seemed to be having a splendid time. After a while I learned that these were the sailors and that they didn't mind the ship going up and down and up and down all the time. After a while we all got so that we didn't mind it much and then we began to eat. It seemed as though we never would get enough. We ate and ate and ate. We ate more than enough to make up for all the time when we didn't eat anything and some people who look so pale and so sick and so weak seemed to eat and eat and eat and some of them got so fat before we got to the other side of the water that you would hardly have known them. One day the ship pitched and tossed and rolled worse than it ever had and for some reason the engine stopped. I heard a man say that something was broken and as soon as the engine stopped it just seemed as though that old ship would go to pieces. She rose higher and went lower and one time there was a great splash and the biggest lot of water you ever saw came right down where the animals were. The hippopotamus thought it was fine until he tasted the water and then he made up the most awful face you ever saw. And you can imagine what kind of a face it was for he is homely enough anyway. His nose is bigger than his face and his mouth is right on the end of his nose. I asked him what the trouble was and he said it wasn't the kind of water he liked. It tasted of salt and was bitter. It made him feel as though he never wanted to eat anything again as long as he lived. I noticed though that the seal and the walrus seemed to enjoy it ever so much. I asked them why and they said that this was the kind of water they liked. That was the kind of water they had always lived in, salt water. It seemed a long time but after a while the engine started up again. Then the ship was more quiet but it kept going up and down and up and down until we got clear across the water and then we noticed that the deck we were on became as quiet and steady as a floor. I heard one of the sailor men say that we were coming into a harbor and sure enough we soon stopped and the men began to take the animals out again. They hung the elephant on the end of a long rope with straps around him just as they had before and the camel and the hippopotamus and the rhinoceros and they took us all out and put us on a train. Everything looked so green and nice. How glad we were to be on shore but we couldn't understand anything the men said because they all talked a different language. It sounded like jabber, jabber, jabber, mum, mum, mum. I asked the lion who had been in the circus longest what it meant. He said we were in a new country where everybody talked a different language and that there were lots of other countries where they talked other languages. We stayed in this new country a long while but finally came back and that is the end of my story. The little cup bear said I would like to see the ocean but I don't think I would ride on a ship if it makes me feel so terribly bad inside. And the circus bear said you would soon forget all about that and just remember the beautiful things there are to see. I am glad I went across. Then the little cup bear went to bed and went to sleep and that night he dreamed so hard that what do you think happened to him? He rolled clear out of bed and fell into a stream in the cave, kerplash. The papa bear asked him what the trouble was and he said he dreamed that he was on board ship and was nearly drowned. Some dreams you see come true. When morning came, the papa bear called the little cup bear to him and said, now my little cup, it is time for you to go out alone to see if you cannot find something to eat for yourself. I think if you go and search carefully, you will be able to find some strawberries and if you cannot find strawberries, you may be able to find some blackberries. Don't try to eat any of the gooseberries that you will see because the wild gooseberries you will find are all covered with stickers and they will stick in your tongue. If you find a tree filled with honey, come back and tell papa bear because I think you had better not try yet to get the honey out of the tree for the bees might sting you. And if you find any bumble bees, be sure to let them alone for they have holes in the ground where they make their honey and they have very long stingers and they would sting you very hard. So you better come home at once and tell papa, but if you find the berries, you can eat all you want and if you find a big patch of berries, you better come home and tell mama bear and then we will all go and get all the berries we want to eat. End of chapter 20. Chapter 21 of the Bear Family at Home. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org recording by Elizabeth Holland, The Bear Family at Home by Curtis Wilbur. Chapter 21, Out All Alone. So the little cub bear started out for the very first time in his life all alone and he did enjoy everything so much. He finally found a patch of berries and there he ate all he wanted and then he went over behind a log and lay down and went to sleep. When he awoke, it was nearly dark and he knew that he must hurry home. He started, but had only gone a few steps when a little animal scampered across the path and ran up a tree. The cub bear thought he would like to see this animal and so he climbed up the tree after it and there he found a strange looking animal. It had a tail something like a rat but it was a great deal bigger than a rat and bigger than a cat. It had long, soft fur but as soon as the little cub bear touched it it rolled itself into a ball and fell to the ground. Cub bear clambered down the tree as fast as he could and there at the foot of the tree he found this strange animal all rolled up like a ball. The cub bear smelled of it and rolled it over very carefully and looked it all over but it seemed to be dead and he felt so sorry to think that this little animal was dead and when he went home the first thing he told his papa was, Papa bear, I saw the strangest little animal today and I am very sorry that I killed it. Then he told the papa bear how the little animal scampered up the tree and how it rolled up into a furry ball and how it dropped from the tree and seemed to be dead. The papa bear said, my dear little cub bear the animal was not dead at all. That was just his way of fooling you and making you think that he was dead so that you would not bother him anymore. The animal was an opossum. That is the way they always do when they are frightened or when they think someone is going to take them and hurt them. Then the little cub bear told his papa what a fine time he had had and how he had found the berries and had eaten all he could and that he was nearly ready to go to sleep. Next morning, bright and early the papa bear called the little cub bear again for he wanted to teach him that he must work for himself and find his own living and he said, little cub bear do you want to go again into the woods today and see if you can find some more berries? And the little cub bear said, yes papa I want to go because I want to learn to work for myself and take care of myself. So the papa bear again told him to be very careful and if he saw any men or any large animals he was to come home as quickly as possible. The little cub bear said that he would do this and then he started out joyously in the early morning light while dew was on the ground to see if he could not find another berry patch and sure enough before he had gone very far he found a patch full of beautiful blackberries. He ate all he could of these but he got scratched many times on his nose and on his paws. It did not hurt him any on his paws because they were thick but on the end of his nose where the skin was very thin sometimes the little cub bear was so badly scratched that he felt like crying but he was a brave little fellow and did not cry and thought that as soon as he had enough to eat he would go back and tell the papa and mama bear where they could find all they wanted to eat. Pretty soon he left the berry patch thinking he would go home a new way and so he started and very soon came to a beautiful lake larger than the lake that the beaver had made near the den where they used to live. It was so wide at some places that he could hardly see across the lake it was one of the most beautiful lakes in the world and the most beautiful lake that this little cub bear had ever seen. The little cub bear sat down near a log to look at this lake for it made him very happy and contended to see such a beautiful sight. While he was waiting he saw in the air a very large bird larger than a hawk and larger than an eagle. This bird seemed to be flying about over the water and around and around and the little cub bear wondered what this bird was trying to do. The most peculiar thing he noticed about the bird was that he had such a long bill. The bill was over a foot long much larger than the bill of the ostrich and larger than the bill of a goose or any bird that the little cub bear had ever seen. All of a sudden this peculiar bird turned a sort of somersault and fell head downward into the water. While falling the bird's wings were outstretched and when it struck the water there was a great splash and the bird disappeared but soon reappeared floating on the surface and shaking his head in a most peculiar way. The little cub bear wondered and wondered what the bird was doing. He waited until this strange bird began flying again and then he noticed that there were a number of other birds which looked just like this one and that they were flying about and every once in a while one of these birds would turn a sort of a somersault and fall with outstretched wings into the water with a great splash and then come up and always bob his head in just that peculiar way as though he were nodding at someone. The little cub bear thought that when he got home he would tell the papa bear about it and try to find out what kind of bird it was. So he hurried and got home just as the sun set and when his papa asked him how he got along that day he told him about the blackberry patch and said that he hoped they would all go the next day and get something to eat for there were plenty of berries for all the bears and for any of the other animals who wanted to eat the berries. The lion and the tiger both said that they did not care for berries and the hippopotamus too said that he did not want any berries. The rhinoceros did not care for berries but all the birds and the monkey thought it would be fine to go and get some of the berries the next day. Then the little cub bear said, oh papa I almost forgot. I want to tell you about the strange bird that I saw today at a big lake in the mountains. It was bigger than a hawk or an eagle. The bird had a long bill encircled around and around and then turned a somersault and fell with outstretched wings or splash into the water and then the bird came up and shook his head as though he were nodding to a friend. The papa bear said, why I know what that was, that was a pelican and if you had been nearer to him you would have seen a strange bag under his bill. The little cub bear said, well what was he nodding his head about when he came up out of the water? And the papa bear said, you see the pelican dived into the water to get a fish which he saw when he was flying about above the water and he dove down into the water so straight that he caught the little fish in his bill and put it in the pouch under the bill before the little fish could get away. And then when he came to the surface he was nodding his head so he could throw his bill up into the air and try to get the fish down his throat. Then the papa bear said that one time he saw a pelican swallow the head of a fish that he had found on the beach at the seashore and this head was larger than two baseballs and when the pelican got the head halfway down his throat it stuck there. And the poor pelican was in great distress for he could not get the fish's head up or down. The papa bear said he did not know what happened to the pelican for at that time two men came up and the papa bear had to leave as fast as he could but he thought perhaps these men might have helped the pelican to get the fish's head in his throat either up or down. The little cub bear said I think it was very foolish of the pelican to try to swallow something so big without knowing whether he could get it down or not. The papa bear said you see we never can tell what we can do until we try and that is a good way to learn if we are careful enough about our trying. Again the next morning the papa bear called the little cub bear very early and told him that he would like to have him go out again that day and that if he would be very careful he could go farther than he had ever gone before. So this time the little cub bear went a long, long way and came to a place he had never been before either with his papa or without him and there was a great oak tree and he saw high up in this tree little squirrels running about on the limbs of the trees with their bushy tails over their backs and the little cub bear after he had found something to eat came back and watched the squirrels and he saw that they were gathering nuts and carrying them in their little paws into holes in the top of the tree. He noticed too that sometimes these little squirrels would sit on the end of the limb just as the coon did and take in their little four paws a nut and bite through the shell of the nut very quickly and get out the meat and eat it. He thought this was very, very nice but he wondered why they did not eat all the nuts and why they took some of them in the hole of the tree. So that night when he returned home he talked to his papa about the little squirrels he had seen that day with their beautiful bushy tails curling up over their backs and their bright little eyes and their sharp little teeth and soft fur. Then he said, Papa, why did the little squirrels take some of the nuts into the hole in the tree? Papa Bear told him that it was because they were saving the nuts for the winter when the snow was on the ground and there were no nuts to be had and that the little squirrel spent all the winter time inside the tree where it was warm and cozy and that whenever they were hungry they had this store of nuts to eat and that the little squirrel seemed to know whether it was going to be a long, hard winter or whether the winter was going to be mild and that they knew just how many nuts to put away for the winter whether it was short or long. When it was night time the little cub bear cuddled up in a ball and said, Papa, I want you to tell me a story before I go to sleep about the inside of a nice warm tree where the squirrels live and so the Papa Bear told this story. End of Chapter 21 Chapter 22 of the Bear Family at Home This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Elizabeth Holland The Bear Family at Home by Curtis Wilbur Chapter 22 The Papa Bear's Lullaby Once there was a big black Papa Bear and he had a little black cub bear. They lived in the woods a long way from anyone. The Mama Bear had gone to the Bear Heaven and so they lived alone. One night as it was getting very, very cold the Papa Bear went a long, long way to find something to eat for the little bear and he walked and walked until he was very tired but he could not find anything to eat for the snow had come and covered the ground and all the berries were gone. The Papa Bear grew more and more tired. He was so tired that as he walked his eyes would close and he could not keep them open and his head would nod so sleepily but he kept on hoping that he would soon find something to eat for his little cub bear. So he walked and he walked. His eyes closed. He was so sleepy, sleepy, sleepy. Soon he started home and walked and walked and walked until he met the little cub bear who would come out to meet him and he said, Dear little cub bear, I am so sleepy that I cannot keep my eyes open at all. And the little cub bear said, I am so sleepy that I cannot keep my eyes open at all. Then the Papa Bear said, I am going to find you a nice place to sleep. So they walked and walked and got sleepier and sleepier until they came to a great hollow tree way up at the top of the tree was a hole large enough for the little cub bear to get in. The Papa Bear told the little cub to climb up the tree and go in the hole and see if there was a good place in the tree to sleep. The little cub did as his Papa told him to. He climbed up and up until he came to the hole in the top of the tree. And then he looked into the hole to see if there was a good place in the tree for him to climb down on the inside. The little cub bear turned around and backed into the hole and soon the Papa Bear could see nothing of the little cub bear for he was inside the tree. But he could hear him scratch as he slid down on the inside of the tree. The Papa Bear listened as he stood outside of the tree on the ground. And he could hear the little cub's claws scratch scratch scratch and he listened again. And he could hear the little cub bear's claws scratch scratch scratch and he listened again but he couldn't hear anything. And he listened and he couldn't hear anything. And he wondered and wondered where the little cub was. So he listened again. This time he heard a faint sound just inside the tree and he knew that the little cub bear was clear down inside the tree at the bottom. The Papa Bear said go to sleep, dear little cub. The little cub lay down in the bottom of the hollow tree and curled up into a little ball and closed his eyes. It was a nice warm soft sleepy place. And the Papa on the outside heard the little bear lie down and so he listened and listened. And soon he heard the softest little snore just the softest snore. And then the Papa Bear went a little farther and found another hollow tree and he climbed up and up until he came to a big hole in the top of the big tree and he backed into the hole and scratched his way down and down inside the hollow tree until he came to the bottom. And then he rolled himself up into a big black ball so snug and warm and went to sleep. He snored so quietly and the little cub bear and the Papa Bear slept all winter long in the cozy warm hollow trees. But once in a while the Papa Bear would climb up and up out of the tree and go over to the little cub's tree and listen. And he would hear the faintest little snore so gentle. And then the Papa Bear would say dear little cub I love you and pat the tree. Then he would go back to his own hollow tree. Up and up he would climb outside and down and down inside until he came to the nice warm place where his bed was. There he would curl up into a ball and shut his eyes and go to sleep and snore and snore and snore all night and all day. And all night and all day the whole winter long. And the little cub was asleep before the story was ended for you see the story has no end. Afterward many wonderful stories were told in the cave of Jimmy Bear and many wonderful things happened to the animals there. But I think that we must say goodbye now to the dear little cub and to all of the animals. The End End of Chapter Twenty-Two End of the Bear Family at Home by Curtis Wilbur