Around and around on the platform up on the back of Tum Tum, the jolly elephant, rode Dido and his master. Dido did such a funny dance that he made the children laugh.
“You are a very good bear,” said his master, patting him and giving him two buns, one extra.
Dido did many other tricks in the circus as it went from place to place. But now the weather was getting cooler.
“We shall soon go to our Winter quarters,” said Tum Tum. “And then for some time we will stay in the same place, night after night.”
“Oh, I don’t mind traveling,” spoke Dido. “I rather like it.”
One day, as Dido was asleep in his cage after having done his tricks, he heard a noise near the edge of the tent. It was a mewing, crying sort of noise, and, the first thing Dido knew, something small and black scrambled into his cage and hid down among the straw.
“Hello there!” called Dido, in animal language. “Who are you?”
“Oh, I’m Blackie,” was the answer. “Please don’t drive me out.”
“Of course I won’t drive you out,” said Dido kindly. “But who are you, and why is your name Blackie?”
“I am a cat, and I am called Blackie because I am black,” was the answer, and then a cat stuck her head out from under the straw in Dido’s cage, where he always went to rest after having done his tricks.