“No, Dido is a good bear. He will not bite,” the keeper answered. “He can do many tricks.”
Dido felt proud and happy when he heard this, for he was now able to understand much that his master said. And Dido was really growing to be a big bear. He was not a little bear cub any longer, but quite fat. For he had good things to eat, and he did not have to travel over the mountain to get them.
“Please make your bear do some tricks,” said a man to the keeper, whose name, I have forgotten to tell you, was George. “Make the bear do some funny tricks.”
“Will you give me pennies if I do?” George asked. “I need the pennies to buy things for Dido and me to eat.”
“Go ahead and have the bear do tricks, and we’ll give you pennies,” another man said with a smile.
So George, the dancing bear’s trainer, led Dido back of the railroad station, where there was a nice, shady, grassy spot. Dido looked all around and he saw that they were indeed in the country. There were only a few houses here and there, and afar off he could see woods and mountains, almost like those in his own land. Dido sniffed the air. It was pure and sweet, much nicer than the air in New York, or in any city, Dido thought.
“I am going to like it in the country, I’m sure,” said the bear to himself. “But I wish my adventures would begin so they could be put in a book. I wonder who will do it?”
Of course Dido had had some adventures, though perhaps he did not know it, and he was going to have more, and I have put them in this book, though I don’t believe Dido knows me. I have often seen him, however, and fed him buns.
“Come now, Dido, get ready to do some tricks!” called George. “You are going to dance for the people. Dance nice now!”