“I wish I had some of those peanuts I heard them talking about in the circus,” said Slicko in a whisper. “I know they must be good, from what that city-park squirrel said. And I wonder what pink lemonade and ice cream cones are? I don’t believe they are good to eat.”
You can see that Slicko had many things to learn—things that you know already, such as that ice cream cones are good to eat. But, if Slicko did not know that, she knew other things that you children do not know, such as where to find nuts, and how to gnaw through the shells, and get at the meat without using a nut cracker.
All of a sudden, as Slicko was running toward the spring of water to get a drink, after her dinner, she heard a crashing in the bushes.
“I wonder if that is Mappo coming back,” thought Slicko. She looked through the trees, and saw something almost as large as a house, and dark in color, pushing through the bushes.
“Why, it’s an elephant—it’s Tum Tum!” exclaimed Slicko, as she saw the big creature, with his trunk on one end, and his tail on the other, and two big, long, white teeth sticking out of his mouth. “Yes, that surely is Tum Tum!”
Slicko spoke the last words out loud.
“Ha! Who is calling to me?” asked the circus elephant in his deep, rumbling voice. “Who is calling me?”
“I spoke your name, Tum Tum,” said Slicko. “Here I am, by this old stump.”
Tum Tum, the jolly elephant, looked at the little squirrel, and then he began to shiver and shake as hard as he could. He shook so hard that he shook a lot of pine cones down off a pine tree up against which he was leaning.
“Oh my! Oh dear! This is terrible!” cried Tum Tum in his big, deep, rumbling voice. “Oh dear!”