“Then Brother Lion and his uncles and his blood-cousins showed their teeth and growled. But this didn’t do any good. Mr. Man swung his feet and whistled a dance-tune. Then Brother Lion and his blood-cousins opened their mouths wide and roared as loud as they could. But this didn’t do any good. Mr. Man leaned his head against the trunk of the tree and pretended to be nodding.
“This made Brother Lion and his blood-kin very mad. They ran around the tree and tore the bark with their claws, and waved their tails back and forth. But this didn’t do any good. Mr. Man just sat up there and swung his feet and laughed at them.
“Brother Lion and his blood-kin soon found that if they intended to capture Mr. Man they’d have to do something else besides caper around the foot of the tree. So they talked it over, and Brother Lion fixed up a plan. He said that he would stand at the foot of the tree and rear up against the trunk, and one of his blood-cousins could climb on his back and rear up, and then another cousin or uncle could climb up, and so on until there was a ladder of bloodthirsty Lions high enough to reach Mr. Man.
“Brother Lion, mind you, was to be at the bottom of the Lion ladder,” remarked Mr. Rabbit, with a chuckle, “and he had a very good reason for it. He had had dealings with Mr. Man, and he wanted to keep as far away from him as possible. But before they made the Lion ladder, Brother Lion looked up at Mr. Man and called out:—
“‘What are you doing up there?’
“‘You’ll find out a great deal too soon for your comfort,’ replied Mr. Man.
“Brother Lion said, ‘Come down from there.’
“Mr. Man answered, ‘I’ll come down much sooner than you want me to.’
“Then Brother Lion, his uncles, and his blood-cousins began to build their ladder. Brother Lion was the bottom round of this ladder, as you may say,” continued Mr. Rabbit. “He reared up and placed his hands against the tree, and one of his uncles jumped on his shoulders, and put his hands against the tree. Then a cousin, and then another uncle, and so on until the ladder reached a considerable distance up the tree. It was such a high ladder that it began to wobble, and the last uncle had hard work to make his way to the top. He climbed up very carefully and slowly, for he was not used to this sort of business. He was the oldest and the fiercest of the old company, but his knees shook under him as he climbed up and felt the ladder shaking and wobbling.
“Mr. Man saw that by the time this big Lion got to the top of the ladder his teeth and his claws would be too close for comfort, and so he called out in an angry tone:—