“Ha! Ha! Ho! Ho!” laughed Gruffo this time. “That was very funny, Dido. Do it again!”
“No,” answered Dido, “I will not, if you please. I did not do it on purpose, and besides, I bumped my nose when I fell.”
“Oh, that’s too bad!” said Gruffo, for he remembered what his mother had said about looking after little Dido. “I’m sorry you hurt your nose,” went on Gruffo. “Still, if you had not tickled me you would not have fallen. Never mind, here is some soft mud you can hold on your nose, that will make it well.”
From a wet place, near a spring of water, Gruffo took up some soft mud, and put it on his little brother’s nose.
“Does that make the pain better?” asked Gruffo.
“Lots better, thank you,” answered Dido. For it is true that bears and other animals use mud as we do plaster and poultices. If ever your dog gets stung by a bee on the nose, you watch him hunt for some soft mud to put on the stinging place.
“Well, come on if we’re going swimming,” said Muffo, after a bit.
So the three bears went on through the woods on the mountain, until they came to the lake, where the water was blue and clear and cold. Without stopping to take off any clothes (for of course they did not wear any), the three bears plunged into the water and began swimming about. Bears love to play in the water, and that is why, in parks and other places where they keep tame bears, there is always a pool of water for them to splash in. And sometimes there is a wooden ball in the water for the bears to play with, too, for bears love to play.
“Watch me dive!” cried Dido, and down he went under the water. Up he came, a little later, right near Muffo, and with his paw Dido splashed some water in Muffo’s face.
“Say, you’re cutting up a lot to-day, Dido!” cried Muffo. “What makes you do so many tricks?”