“Wuff! Wuff! Wuff!” barked the fox. “I can see where my Christmas dinner is coming from.”
“From where?” asked Beckie, as bravely as she could, though really she was much frightened.
“From you and that bird,” answered the bad fox. “I am going to carry you both off to my den, and what a Christmas dinner I will have!”
Well, he was just going to jump and grab Beckie, when the little birdie that wasn’t cold any more, but nice and warm, thanks to Beckie’s fur—that little bird just flew right into the face of that fox, and with its sharp beak the bird picked the fox on the end of his nose as hard as anything.
“Oh, wow!” cried the fox. “I guess I have made a mistake! I don’t want a Christmas dinner off you at all.”
“I guess you don’t!” chirped the birdie, pecking him on the nose again, and the fox ran away, taking his bushy tail with him, and Beckie and the birdie were safe. Then Beckie warmed the birdie some more in her fur, and pretty soon along came Neddie with the hot milk and bread crumbs, and the birdie ate as much as it wanted.
Then Beckie and Neddie took the birdie home with them to keep it in the warm cave until summer should come again; and everybody was happy except the fox with the sore nose, and it served him right. And in the next story, if the dinner plate doesn’t get hungry and bite a piece out of the salt dish, I’ll tell you about Neddie helping Santa Claus.
STORY XXX
NEDDIE HELPS SANTA CLAUS
“Only three days more until Christmas! Aren’t you glad, Neddie?” asked Beckie Stubtail, the little girl bear, one morning as she jumped out of her bed in the clean straw of the cave-house where she lived, and ran to the door of her brother’s room. “Aren’t you just glad, Neddie?”