“You have some cherry juice on your white breast!” said Mrs. King Robin.
“I will wash it off!” said King Robin.
So King Robin plunged into Lake Win-a-ke-tea-cup and washed his white breast, but the stain would not come off, and each day the tiny tips of the soft white feathers of King Robin’s breast became a darker red until at last as King Robin sat in the top of his tall tree and sang his evening song, his breast was the color of the red sunset, and each morning as he sang his morning song, the red sunrise was no redder than King Robin’s breast. And King Robin grew very proud of his red breast which was stained by the dyes of the glowing sky.
Near the foot of King Robin’s tree a Little Gray Mouse had his nest, and as the weather was neither too warm nor too cold, the Little Gray Mouse often sat outside his door and visited with King Robin.
One day they were talking about the Great White Bear. The Great White Bear lived in a cave. The cave was very large, and in one corner of it the Great White Bear had his nest. The Little Gray Mouse said to King Robin: “I am not afraid of the Great White Bear. Are you?”
And King Robin answered, “Yes, I am very much afraid of the Great White Bear.”
“I dare go into his cave, and tangle his fur!” said the Little Gray Mouse.
“I would not do that, if I were you!” said King Robin. “If the Great White Bear grew angry, he might do something terrible to you!”
“Pooh!” said the Little Gray Mouse, “who is afraid of a bear? I will stay in his cave all night, and tangle his fur into little hard knots!”
And that night while the Great White Bear was hunting in the woods, the Little Gray Mouse slipped into his cave and hid himself in a corner of the rocks.