And in the next story, if the molasses jug doesn’t go down cellar and cry in the coal-bin so the coal is all stuck up, I’ll tell you about Neddie and the kindling wood.
STORY XIX
NEDDIE AND THE KINDLING WOOD
“Neddie! Neddie! Where are you?” called Mrs. Stubtail, the mamma bear, one afternoon as she stood on the back steps, which were still colored dark from the glue that Uncle Wigwag had put there, the time Neddie and Beckie were going to take the honey cakes, as I told you in the other story. “Neddie! Neddie!” called the mamma bear.
There was no answer for a moment, and then Tommie, the little kitten boy, came running as fast as he could run.
“What’s the matter, Tommie Kat?” asked Mrs. Stubtail. “Is a bad rat chasing you?”
“Oh, no, not a bad rat,” answered Tommie, as he quickly hid under an old ash can. “You see we’re playing hide and seek, and Neddie, he’s it. I’m hiding away from him. Don’t tell where I am; will you?”
“Of course not,” said Mrs. Stubtail, with a laugh. “So that’s why Neddie didn’t answer me,” she went on. “He’s playing a game. Very well, Tommie Kat, but when you get in homefree, or when Neddie finds you, just tell him for me, if you please, that I want to see him.”
“I will,” promised Tommie Kat, and then he pulled his tail in close under the ash can so when Neddie came to look for him he wouldn’t see him.
Truly enough, in a short time, Neddie Stubtail, the little boy bear, came looking for all the animal children who were playing the game. He found Jimmie Wibblewobble, the boy duck, hiding under some corn meal sacks. Then he saw Johnnie Bushytail, the squirrel, in a nut bag, and Neddie saw Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow cuddled up together behind the rain water barrel.
But Neddie could not find Tommie Kat, and finally the little boy bear had to call out: