Little Wideawake: A story book for little children

by Mrs. Sale Barker

“The owner of these animals used to take them about in a caravan from place to place, to exhibit them; but he was not kind to them, or did not treat them properly, for the camel, one monkey, and the parrot died; and when I made the acquaintance of Jacquot they had lately been replaced by a small leopard. So that the collection consisted then of a bear, a monkey, and a leopard, the latter being kept in a strong-wooden cage.

“Just as the man finished speaking, a monkey jumped down from a manger, and seized upon some cabbage leaves which the man, while talking to us, had given poor Jacquot. The bear, who was enjoying his little bit of greenmeat, objected to part with it; whereupon the monkey, looking like a little fiend, seized upon an old saucepan which lay near, and belaboured the poor bear cruelly upon the head and nose. Not content with this, it jumped upon the bear’s back, and bit and tore the poor creature, until the man took up a whip; at the sight of which the savage monkey quickly made off into its manger again. From that moment I hated the monkey, and loved the poor, patient, oppressed, ill-used bear.

“During the next few days I used to pay a visit to Jacquot whenever I could get my brother to take me into the stable; and on such occasions I always took him a present of fruit or cakes. More than once, also, I saw him performing in the fair, and then it always seemed to me that he looked out of the corner of his little eye as if he recognised me. There was a knowing twinkle in his eye which seemed to say,—‘We don’t appear to be friends in public, but we have our pleasant little secret interviews for all that.’ It went to my heart to see how the patient creature was knocked about and ill-treated by his cruel master, who always acted himself as showman. Poor Jacquot danced and went through his different performances hour after hour, with nothing but blows for his reward. He was the principal performer: the monkey was not very clever, and did not do much; while the only trick that the leopard had been taught was to jump through a hoop, which was thrust into his cage between the bars. When not doing this he only walked backwards and forwards in his cage, to be looked at.

“One evening I had some nice cakes, which mamma had given me from the dessert after dinner, to take to Jacquot. I looked about for my brother to go with me into the stable, but not finding him, at last, after some hesitation, I ventured to go alone. The coast was quite clear; there seemed to be nobody about. I passed by the horses and mules, and went on to the last stall, which was Jacquot’s habitation.

“He welcomed me with a friendly grunt, and while he was munching his cakes, for which he seemed very grateful, I happened to look through an open door which led into a room beyond the stable. This room was probably intended as a harness room, but I knew that in it the leopard was kept. There was his cage, too, standing on the ground, just in the place where I had seen it before; but I noticed, to my inexpressible astonishment, that the cage was empty. I did not observe, or do not remember, whether the cage door was open or the cage was broken; but the conviction on my mind at once was that the leopard had escaped.

“In a corner of the stable was a heap of clean straw, on which the keeper of the animals, Auguste,—the man who had told us the history of Jacquot—was accustomed to lie down; probably it served for his bed at night. While I was wondering what could have become of the leopard, and beginning to feel very frightened, I heard a rustling sound, and saw the handsome, wicked-looking head of the creature peep from beneath the straw; then slowly it crept out altogether, its eyes glaring at me, and showing its teeth the while. It was just going to spring when my friend Jacquot saved my life. As I stood immovable from fear, Jacquot stepped in front of me, the length of his chain just allowing it; and there he stood up, exactly as a man might have done, to defend me. He gave a tremendous growl as the leopard sprang upon him. I saw no more, but ran off as fast as I could.

“In the courtyard I met Auguste, who had heard the bear growl, and was running to see what had happened. I afterwards learnt that he had only been able to liberate poor Jacquot and secure the leopard by striking the latter on the head with an iron bar, which he kept always handy for emergencies of the kind. The creature was stunned by the blow and restored to its cage, but both animals were very much hurt in the fight.

“Then the question arose, how was Jacquot to be rewarded for having saved my life? My father said at once that he should like to buy the bear, so as to save it from further ill-treatment by its master, the monkey, or the leopard. But when we had him what were we to do with him? He could not be taken about with us like a pet dog. Then I proposed that it should be bought from its present owner, and made a present to Auguste, who, I felt sure, would always treat it kindly. This plan was carried out; and before we left Switzerland I had the satisfaction of knowing that Jacquot was earning a good living for itself, and for a kind master, by its accomplishments.