“Ah, ha! A little bear girl!” growled the lion. “The very thing for me! I’ll take her away with me!”
He was lifting Beckie up in his big paws, and was just walking away with her, when the little bear girl awoke. And she was so frightened at seeing the lion that she coughed and sneezed and choked something dreadful. Oh, yes, indeed!
“A-ker-choo! Ker-fooz! Ach! Hoch! Pitzel!” sneezed Beckie. “Oh, dear!” she cried.
“Keep quiet!” said the lion, rudely enough. “Some one will hear you!”
“That’s what I want,” said Beckie. “Oh, please let me alone.”
“No! No!” growled the lion. Then Beckie coughed some more, and her throat hurt her, and she saw the bottle of pink, bitter medicine Dr. Possum had left on her table.
“Oh, please let me take some of that pink stuff!” begged Beckie of the lion.
Now, the lion had some good in him, after all, and when he saw how much Beckie was suffering, he handed her the bottle of cough medicine. Beckie took some, and it stopped her cough at once, but she made such a funny face when she swallowed it that the lion cried:
“Ha! That must be fine stuff to have you make such a funny face. I must look into this. Yes, indeed!”
“Would you like some of my cough medicine?” asked Beckie, hoping the lion would take some. She knew what it would do to him.