That made Barty laugh.
"You may if you like," he said, "but I did not know animals wanted to pat people."
"They don't," said the little lion, making a merry little skip. "I just said that for fun." And then Barty and he laughed like anything.
They were intimate friends from that minute, and the Good Wolf, who had to go to speak to some one on business, left them together. Then, I can tell you, fun began. The little lion brought another little lion to Barty, and then he brought two fat little
roly-poly bears who were twin brothers; and then he brought a tiny elephant, and a baby hippopotamus, and three beautiful kitten leopards, and the most lovely little snow-white horse with a long mane and a tail almost sweeping the ground.
Barty could scarcely believe his eyes. When the little elephant tossed up his trunk and trumpeted for him he almost shouted.
"It seems as if you couldn't be real," he said.