1 86 



Charley s Wondei^ftil Jouj^neys. 



and came out from the lower hole, fol- 

 lowed by five young ones, and the story of 

 the capture was told all over again, and 

 Charley said "he didn't mind." 



Then Charley began to dance, and old 

 and young shook their sides with laughter, 

 the old ones laughed till the tears ran 

 down their cheeks, and the young ones 

 rolled over and turned somersaults and 

 cheered until they were out of breath. 



At last Charley was fairly out of breath, 

 too, and sat down on a log, and his captors 

 asked the audience for a supply of Bear's 

 grease to take home with them. 



" We are rather short of Bear's grease 

 now," said the old mam, "and don't expect 

 to have much until after harvest, but you 

 young ones can all take the pails, and go 

 raspberrying up in the clearing." 



The young ones shouted with glee, and 

 ran off and fetched the pails, and brought 

 two for their cousins, and one for Charley, 

 and every one wanted to have Charley ride 

 on his back, but Charley's captor wouldn't 

 trust him with any of them, so he jumped 

 up on his former seat and away they trotted 

 to the clearing, jingling their pails and 

 laughing and talking. 



The raspberries were very plentiful, and 

 the Bears rushed here and there wherever 

 they saw them thickest, and Charley was 

 soon left alone. He had nearly half filled 

 his pail, besides eating a great many, when 

 he heard a fearful yell, and one of the 

 Bears shouting, " Help, help, I'm caught in 

 a trap." 



" Run, run," shouted the others, and the 

 next moment they dashed off in all direc- 

 tions without thinking of Charley. 



The captured Bear was still howling, and 

 Charley went toward him to try if he could 

 help, but when he came to the top of the 

 hill, to the place where he heard the howl- 

 ing, he saw the Bear with his fore paw in a 

 big trap, rushing down toward the brook, 

 and dragging after him a big log which 

 was tied to the trap, and as Charley looked 



he saw the log jump up and knock the 

 bear over, and both together go rolling one 

 over the other down toward the brook, and 

 the Bear yelling savagely. 



" He appears to have lost his temper," 

 said Charley, "but perhaps I may as well 

 go down; he may like to have somebody to 

 talk to." 



" You've been and put your foot in it 

 now," said the Fox as Charley reached the 

 scene; "you should be more careful. It's 

 better to walk twice round a trap than 

 once into it." 



" Oh, stop your confounded moralizing," 

 said the Bear. " I wish it was your head 

 in it instead of my foot. Boo-o-o-o." 



" Of two evils I always choose the least," 

 said the Fox; "and if you won't listen to 

 good advice, you must just grin and bear 

 it, but if you'd listen to me, you'd have 

 your foot out in no time. It's very painful, 

 isn't it ?" 



"Oh, it's dreadful," said the Bear, " and 

 if you would help me get my foot out, I'd 

 be your friend for life. Come now, I know 

 you're a clever little fellow." 



" Oh, yes," said the Fox, " you're ready 

 enough to make promises, but very likely 

 if I showed you how to get your foot out, 

 you'd be ready to snap my nose off the 

 next minute." 



" Oh, no, Cousin Reynard," said the 

 bear. " I'm not that sort of fellow at all. 

 Only show me how to get my paw out and 

 I'll be eternally obliged to you." 



"Nothing more simple," said the Fox, 

 just push in your nose as far as you can, 

 then open your jaws and pry the trap 

 open, and your foot will come out quite 

 easily." 



The Bear did as he was told and drew 

 out his paw with a sigh of relief, but when 

 he tried to pull his nose out, he found he 

 was in a worse fix than ever and howled 

 and danced about with rage. 



"Oh, you wretch," said he to the Fox,, 

 " let me only once get hold of you." 



