“That must be where the most honey is. I’ll climb up and get some, and take some home to mamma and Beckie.”
Now, Neddie could climb a tree very well. All bears can, even little baby ones, for they have sharp claws for that very thing. So Neddie got ready to climb, and before doing so he sang this little song:
“Honey, honey in a tree,
Some for you and some for me.
Oh! how I do love sweet honey,
I can get this without money!”
Then Neddie began to climb. Higher and higher he went in the tree, and as he went up he could smell the sweet honey more and more, and his mouth fairly watered for it.
Neddie did not stop to think that the honey was not his. All he thought of was how good it would taste, and how much he wanted it. Nor did he stop to ask himself what that funny buzzing sound was, that seemed to come from inside the tree.
“Oh, you honey!” gaily cried Neddie, as he climbed higher.
Finally he got to the big black lump, and, surely enough, it was a pile of honeycomb, the little holes being all filled with the sweet, sticky stuff.