who were sitting on his back.You can imagine how they shouted with glee when he began to trotgently about with them and give them a ride. Of course everybodywanted to ride. So he trotted softly over the grass first with oneload of them and then with another. When each ride was over he laydown very carefully for the children to scramble down from his backand then other ones scrambled up. The things he did that afternoonreally made me admire him. A Cozy Lion is nicer to play with thananything else in the world. He shook Ice-cream-grape-juice Melonsdown from the trees for them.
He carried on his back to a clear little running brook he knew,every one who wanted a drink. He jumped for them, he played tagwith them and when he caught them, he rolled them over and over onthe grass as if they were kittens; he showed them how his big clawswould go in and out of his velvet paws like a pussy cat's. Whatevergame they played he would always be "It," if they wanted him to.When the tiniest ones got sleepy he made grass beds under the shadeof trees and picked them up daintily by their frocks or littletrousers and carried them to their nests just as kittens or puppiesare carried by their mothers. And when the others wanted to becarried too, he carried them as well.
The children enjoyed themselves so much that they forgot aboutgoing home altogether. And as they had laughed and run about everyminute and had had _such_ fun, by the time the sun began to go downthey were all as sleepy as could be. But even then one littlefellow in a white sailor suit asked for something else. He went andstood by the Lion with one arm around his neck and the other underhis chin. "Can you roar, old Lion?" he asked him. "I am sure youcan roar."
The Lion nodded slowly three times.
"He says 'Yes--Yes,'" shouted everybody, "Oh! do roar for us asloud as ever you can. We won't be frightened the least bit."
The Lion nodded again and smiled. Then he lifted up his head andopened his mouth and roared and _roared_ and ROARED. They were notthe least bit frightened. They just shrieked and laughed and jumpedup and down and made him do it over and over again.
* * * * *
Now I will tell you what had happened in the village.
At first when the children ran away the mothers and fathers wereall at their work and did not miss them for several hours. It wasat lunch time that the grown-ups began to find out the little folkswere gone and then one mother ran out into the village street, andthen another and then another, until all the mothers were there,and all of them were talking at once and wringing their hands andcrying. They went and looked under beds, and tables and incupboards, and in back gardens and in front gardens, and theyrushed to the village pond to see if there were any little hats orbonnets floating on the top of the water. But all was quiet andserene and nothing was floating anywhere--and there was not onesign of the children.
When the fathers came the mothers all flew at them. You see itisn't any joke to lose fifty children all at once.
The fathers thought of the Lion the first thing, but the mothershad tried not to think of him because they couldn't bear it.
But at last the fathers got all the guns and all the pistols andall the iron spikes and clubs and scythes and carving knives andold swords, and they armed themselves with them and began to marchall together toward the Huge Green Hill. The mothers _would_ go tooand _they_ took scissors and big needles and long hat pins and onetook a big pepper-pot, full of red pepper, to throw into the Lion'seyes.
They had so much to do before they were ready that when theyreached the Huge Green Hill the sun was going down and what do youthink they heard?
They heard this----
"Ro-o-a-a-arh! Ro-o-a-a-rh! Ro-o-a-a-arrh!" almost as loud asthunder. And at the same time they heard the shouts and shrieks ofthe entire picnic.
But _they_ did not know that the picnic was shouting and screamingfor joy.
So they ran and ran and ran--and stumbled and scrambled and hurriedand scurried and flurried faster and faster till they had scrambledup the Huge Green Hill to where the Lion's Cave was and then theygathered behind a big clump of bushes and the fathers began to cocktheir guns and the mothers to sharpen their scissors and hat pins.
But the mother with the pepper-pot had nothing to sharpen, so shepeeped from behind the bushes, and suddenly she cried out, "Oh! Oh!Oh! Oh! Look! Look! And don't fire a single gun, on any account."
And they all struggled to the front to peep. And _this_--thanks toMe--_was what they saw_!
On the green places before the Lion's Cave on several soft heaps ofgrass, the tiniest children were sitting chuckling or sucking theirthumbs. On the grass around them a lot of others were sitting orstanding or rolling about with laughter and kicking up their heels--and right in front of the Cave there stood the Lion lookingabsolutely angelic. His tail had a beautiful blue sash on it tiedjust below the tuft in a lovely bow, he had a sash round his waist,and four children on his back. The Little Little Girl was sittingon his mane which was stuck full of flowers, and she was trying toput a wreath on the top of his head and couldn't get it straight,which made him look rather rakish. On one side of him stood thelittle boy in the sailor suit, and on the other stood a littlegirl, and each one held him by the end of a rope of pink and whitewild roses which they were going to lead him with.
The mother of the Little Little Girl could not wait one minutelonger. She ran out towards her, calling out:----
"Oh! Betsy-petsy! Oh! Betsy-petsy! Mammy's Lammy-girl!"
And then the other mothers threw away their scissors and hat pinsand ran after her in a crowd.
What that clever Lion did was to carefully lie down withoutupsetting anybody and stretch out his head on his paws as if he wasa pet poodle, and purr and purr like a velvet cat.
The picnic simply shouted with glee. It was the kind of picnicwhich is always shouting with glee.
"Oh! Mother! Mother! Father! Father!" it called out. "Look at ourLion! Look at our Lion! We found him ourselves! He's ours."
And the sailor boy shouted,
"He'll roar for me, Mother!"
And the rest cried out one after another,
"He'll sit up and beg for me!"
"He'll carry me by my trousers!"
"He can play tag!"
"He'll show you his claws go in and out!"
"Mother, ask him to take you on his back to get a drink."
"May he go home and sleep with me, Mother?"
It was like a bedlam of skylarks let loose this time, and the Lionhad to do so many tricks that only determination to show how Cozyhe was kept up his strength. He was determined to prove to theFathers and Mothers that he _was_ Cozy.
And he did it.
From that time he was the Lion of the Village. He was invitedeverywhere. There never was a party without him. Birthday parties,garden parties, tea parties, wedding parties--he went to them all.His life was one round of gaiety.
He became _most_ accomplished. He could do all the things Lions doin Hippodromes--and a great many more. The Little Little Girl gavehim a flute for a present and he learned to play on it beautifully.When he had an evening at home he used to sit at his Cave door andplay and sing. First he played and then he sang this----
My Goodness Gracious Me! This _is_ Socier-tee! My Goodness Gracious Mercy Me! This _is_ Socier-ier-tee! It _is_ Socier-tee!
He had composed it himself.
The next story I shall tell you is about my Spring Cleaning. Thatwill show you how I have to work when the winter is over and how,if it were not for Me, things would never be swept up and made tidyfor the summer. The primroses and violets would NEVER be wakened,or the Dormice called up, or anything. It IS a busy time, I cantell you.
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