JANE AND THE BEARS
Jane loved to read, and above all, to read fairy tales. She had a great number of books, of every kind, but the one she liked best was "The Three Bears." Her copy of the book had very large, bright pictures of Silverlocks, the Bears and the little house. The story was printed in nice, big, plain letters, so that Jane had no trouble in reading it to herself when Mamma was too busy to read it for her. Jane lived on the outskirts of a wood, and it was her great pleasure to go into it a little way, and sit down at the foot of an oak-tree, read about the Bears, and fancy they were alive, and talking to her.
One day she had been dreaming thus for a long time, when suddenly she felt that the Bears were real, and that by going into the woods a long way, she could find them just as Silverlocks had found them. So she shut up the book, tucked it under her arm, and ran down a little narrow path just ahead of her. After she had been running quite a while, she became very much out of breath, for Jane was a fat little girl, so she stopped and looked about her. It seemed rather dark, the trees grew so thickly and she felt a little bit frightened, but one look at the beloved book, still tucked firmly under her arm, spurred her to venture further before giving up hope altogether. But the further she went, the darker it grew, and Jane suddenly realized that it must be getting night, and then,—she tried to go home, and couldn't find the way. Finally after trying for some time, she sat down by a big tree, and burst into tears.
While she was crying very bitterly, she thought she heard a noise, a sort of scrunchy sound, like a heaving body walking. She put out her hand and felt something furry. She gave a scream and started to run away, when a big voice, quite kind, but oh, so big and gruff, said:
"Little girl, why do you cry?"
Jane answered very timidly, "I cry because I am lost."
"Lost," echoed the big voice, "where were you going"?
"To find the Three bears," sobbed Jane, "and I can't find them."
"The Three Bears," roared the voice, "why, I am Mr. Bear, what do you want with us?"
Jane came quite close to him, and peered at him through the darkness. Mr. Bear, sure enough, big, hairy, and brown, just like the pictures! Jane quite forgot her manners in the excitement of the minute, and clasping her two little, fat hands together, cried,
"Oh, are you truly real bears?"
"Real bears?" roared Mr. Bear, in a voice of thunder, "of course we're real bears. What an insulting question! I ought to punish you well for that. Real bears, indeed!" and he roared louder than ever.
Poor Jane was frightened to death. She sat down on the ground, and screamed, "Oh, Mr. Bear, I'm so sorry. I will be good, oh, I will be good. Please don't eat me up!"
"JANE AND BABY BEAR PLAYED GAMES"
Mr. Bear grew more gentle when he saw how penitent she was, and told her if she would climb on his back, he would take her to Mrs. Bear and the Baby Bear who were waiting for him. Jane was a little doubtful about accepting the invitation, he was such a large bear, and she was such a little girl, a nice, fat morsel, too,—she had been told so before by her Papa,—still the temptation was very great, so she climbed on his broad back, settled herself comfortably, and off they started.
They journeyed quite a long way, and finally it became lighter, and the trees grew further apart, until they came to a clearing, and there, right in the very middle, stood the little house, with its three doors, its three windows, its three chimneys, so like the pictures in her book, that Jane almost fell off the bear's back, when she saw it. They stopped in front of one of the doors, and out ran the Baby Bear. When he saw Jane sitting on his father's back, he gave a funny little squeal, and hurried into the house, calling,
"Oh, Mamma, Mamma, put away my chair, and my blue bowl, here's another horrid little girl, come with Pa, and I'm sure she will break them again. She's much bigger than the other one."
Mamma Bear went to the door. She looked just like the pictures too, and had a bonnet with strings tied under her chin.
"Mercy me, Pa," she said, "who have you brought now?"
"It's a little girl," said Mr. Bear, "I found her in the woods, hunting for our house. She's a silly child,"—this very severely—"she believed that we were not real".
Mamma Bear gave a violent roar of rage, and said: "Of course we are real," in her middle-sized voice, which was not so squeaky as the Baby Bear's voice, and not so gruff as Papa Bear's. Jane hastened to apologize again, and begged to be allowed to see the inside of the house, and as Mamma Bear was very good-natured, she took her in.
Jane saw the big chair, that was so hard, the middle-sized chair, that was so soft, and the little chair, that Silverlocks had broken, and it was all mended with string. She wanted to sit in it but the Baby Bear made such a fuss, she gave up the attempt. They showed her the great, big bowl full of very peppery soup, the middle-sized bowl full of very salty soup, and the Baby Bear's bowl, which was mended with glue. He let Jane taste a little of his soup, just a very little, because he was afraid she would take it all, and he would have none.
Then they invited her upstairs, and showed her all the beds, and these she was allowed to try. She had a great deal of trouble getting up on Mr. Bear's bed, it was so high, and when she did succeed she was glad to get down again, for it was just as hard now as when Silverlocks had found it. The middle-sized bed she passed by almost without looking at it, she was so anxious to get to Baby Bears bed, and see where Silverlocks had gone to sleep on that eventful day.
Then they showed the window through which Silverlocks had jumped out, and the Baby Bear hopefully suggested that Jane could do the same, if she liked! When they went downstairs again, Mamma Bear gave Jane some nice little cakes she had baked.
Jane thought she ought to go home, but didn't know how to go. Mr. Bear said he couldn't possibly take her, it was much too far. Mamma said she couldn't possibly take her, because she was much too fat, and Baby Bear said she couldn't possibly stay where she was because he couldn't think of letting her sleep in his bed. So it seemed for a little while as though Jane would never get home. Suddenly Mamma Bear had an idea.
"Why don't you call in Red Riding-Hood's wolf? He goes by every day, and perhaps he will know how she can get out of the forest."
So they all went in front of the house, and waited. Jane and the Baby Bear played games, only the Baby Bear could climb trees, and Jane couldn't, so in hide-and-go-seek he was able to get away quite easily.
Pretty soon they heard a galloping sound, and up came a big, gray wolf. Papa Bear explained to him what they wanted. The wolf was delighted, but said he had to go first to the Grandmother's cottage, because Red Riding-hood was there, and he had a message to give from her mother, but if Jane didn't mind going too, why, it would be all right. You can easily imagine Jane was most willing, so they put her on the wolf's back, after the Baby Bear had hugged her "good-bye".
The wolf went much faster than the Bear, and Jane had great difficulty in staying on his back, but she managed not to fall off, and soon they arrived at the Grandmother's cottage, and found the grandmother and Red Riding-hood positively sitting down to supper. They invited Jane to have a little of the delicious cream cheese, and fresh cake which she was very glad to do. While she was eating she confided to the Grandmother her troubles about getting home, and Grandmother said if Jane would take off her clothes, and get right into bed she would be home in a jiffy. As Jane was rather tired, she didn't mind doing this at all. She shut her eyes, just as Grandma told her to, and while she lay there, she could still hear them talking, and she heard them say:
"Jane, Jane, Jane," and it sounded very familiar, too, it sounded like Nurse. Why! it couldn't be Nurse! How could she have come there? Then Jane thought she would have to open her eyes, and so she did,—and there she was sitting at the bottom of the tree, with her book in her lap, and it was Nurse's voice she heard, and it meant "supper."