“He is still thinking about it,” said Uncle Wigwag. “Oh, but your nose is all swelled up like a football, Neddie.” And so it was. But in a few days it was all better.
And in the story after this, if the horse radish doesn’t run away with the spoon-holder and scare the knives and forks off the sideboard, I’ll tell you about Beckie and the grapes.
STORY IV
BECKIE AND THE GRAPES
The nose of Neddie Stubtail, the little bear boy, was so badly swelled from the bee stings, after he took some of their honey, that he could not go to school next day, nor for some days after that. I told you in the story before this how Neddie got stung.
So Neddie’s mamma let him stay home from school, but even at that he could not have much fun, for he could not go out and play, and what is the good of staying home from school if you have to remain in the house all the while?
There were two reasons for Neddie’s staying in the cave-house, on the side of the green hill, and not going out. One reason was that most of the day all his boy animal friends were at their lessons in school.
The other reason was that when Neddie did go out with them, they all looked at his stung and swollen nose in such a funny way that it made him feel queer. He did not like it.
Sammie Littletail, the rabbit boy, would ask:
“What is the matter, Neddie? Did you bite yourself, or fall downstairs?”
And Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the squirrel brothers, would say: