"Who?" stuttered Notta, getting a good hold on Bob and making ready to run at the lion's first move.
"The Mudgers," wheezed the lion, two tears rolling down its nose. With many gulps and sighs it told them how Tazzywaller had cut it in two and imprisoned its back half in the lion enclosure.
"You mean to say that you were cut in half and still live to tell the tale?" gasped Notta in astonishment.
"I don't know what you mean by telling the tail. How can I tell the tail anything when all my connections with it are cut off? Oh, my poor tail, how it must miss me!" moaned the half lion.
"Then you only have two legs," said Bob in a relieved tone and coming out from behind Notta. The lion nodded gloomily. "If I had four, do you think I'd be standing propped up against these bushes. I'd have eaten you long ago."
"What a blessing," murmured the clown under his breath, "that it's only half a lion."
"I'd like a little sympathy," continued the lion in its mournful voice. "If the little fellow would pat me on the head I think, it would ease me a bit."
"Shall I?" asked Bob Up doubtfully.
"How do we know you won't bite him?" asked Notta cautiously.
"I haven't the courage," replied the lion dolefully. "Besides my stomach is gone and that rather takes the appetite away, you know. Oh, my poor little empty stomach, how dreadfully it must feel! Then, to bite a person I should have to work myself up into a rage, and that I cannot do without a tail to lash. And half my heart is missing so I—"