The Hollow Tree Snowed-in Book

  MR. DOG AT THE CIRCUS

  THE HOLLOW TREE PEOPLE LEARN SOMETHING VERY IMPORTANT ABOUT SHOWS

  THAT was a great Christmas in the Hollow Tree. The 'Coon and the 'Possumand the Old Black Crow had been getting ready for it for a long time,and brought in ever so many nice things to eat, which Mr. Crow hadcooked for them, for Mr. Crow is the best cook of anybody in the BigDeep Woods. Then Mr. Dog had brought a lot of good things, too, which hehad borrowed from Mr. Man's house, so they had the finest Christmasdinner that you can think of, and plenty for the next day when it wouldbe even better, because chicken and turkey and dressing and such thingsare always better the next day, and even the _third_ day, with gravy,than they are when they are first cooked.

  THE PANTRY IN THE HOLLOW TREE]

  Then, when they were all through and were standing around, smoking theirnew pipes and looking at each other's new neckties and other Christmasthings, Mr. Crow said that he and Mr. Squirrel would clear off the tableif the others would get in some wood and stir up the fire and set theroom to rights, so they could gather round and be comfortable by-and-by;and then, he said, it might snow as much as it liked as long as they hadplenty of wood and things to eat inside.

  So then they all skurried around getting on their things to go out afterwood--all except Mr. Crow and Mr. Squirrel, who set about clearing offthe table and doing up the dishes. And pretty soon Mr. Dog and Mr. 'Coonand the rest were hopping about where the snow was falling so soft andsilent among the big, leafless trees, gathering nice pieces of wood andbrushing the snow off of them and piling them into the first down-stairsof the Hollow Tree, which the 'Coon and 'Possum and Old Black Crow usefor their wood-house and general store-room. It was great fun, and theydidn't feel the least bit cold after their warm dinner and with all thatbrisk exercise.

  Mr. Robin didn't help carry the wood in. He was hardly strong enough forthat, but he hopped about and looked for good pieces, and when he foundone he would call to Mr. 'Coon or Mr. 'Possum, or maybe to one of theothers, to throw it on his shoulder and carry it in, and then he wouldtell whoever it happened to be how strong he was and how fine he lookedwith that great chunk on his shoulder, and would say that he didn'tsuppose there was another 'Coon, or 'Possum, or Turtle, or Rabbit, orDog that could begin to stand up straight under such a chunk as thatanywhere outside of a menagerie. Mr. Robin likes to say pleasant thingsto his friends, and is always popular. And each one tried to carry thebiggest load of wood to show how strong he was, and pretty soon they hadthe lower room of the Hollow Tree piled up high with the finest chunksand kindling pieces to be found anywhere. Then they all hurriedup-stairs, stamping the snow off their feet, and gathered around thenice warm fire in the big parlor which was just below the three bighollow branches where the 'Coon and 'Possum and the Old Black Crow hadtheir rooms.

  Mr. Crow and Mr. Squirrel were through with the table by this time, andall hands lit their pipes, and looked into the fire, and smoked, andrested, and thought a little before they began talking--thinking, ofcourse, of what a good time they were having, and how comfortable andnice it was to be inside and warm when such a big snow was fallingoutside.

  Mr. 'Possum was the first one to say anything. He said he had beenthinking of what Mr. Robin had said about them being outside of amenagerie, and that, come to think about it, he believed he didn't knowwhat a menagerie was, unless it was a new name for a big dinner, as thatwas the only thing he could think of now that they were outside of, andhe said if that was so, and if he could get outside of two menageries,he thought he could carry in a bigger chunk than any two chunks therewere down-stairs.

  Then all the others laughed a good deal, and Mr. 'Coon said he hadthought that perhaps a menagerie was something to wear that would makeanybody who had it on very strong, and able to stand up under a bigload, and to eat as much as Mr. 'Possum could, or even more.

  But Mr. Robin said that it didn't mean either of those things. He saidhe didn't really know what it did mean himself, but that it must be somekind of a place that had a great many large creatures in it, for he hadheard his grandmother quite often call his grandfather the biggest gooseoutside of a menagerie, though, being very young then, Mr. Robincouldn't remember just what she had meant by it.

  Mr. Rabbit said he thought that the word "menagerie" sounded like somekind of a picnic, with swings and nice lively games, and Mr. Crow saidthat once when he was flying he passed over a place where there was abig sign that said "Menagerie" on it, and that there were some tents anda crowd of people and a great noise, but that he hadn't seen anythingthat he could carry off without being noticed, so he didn't stop.

  Mr. Squirrel thought that from what Mr. Crow said it must be a placewhere there would be a lot of fine things to see, and Mr. Turtle saidthat he was a good deal over three hundred years old and had often heardof a menagerie, but that he had never seen one. He said he had alwayssupposed that it was a nice pond of clear water, with a lot of happyturtles and fish and wild geese and duck and such things, in it, andmaybe some animals around it, all living happily together, and takencare of by Mr. Man, who brought them a great many good things to eat. Hehad always thought he would like to live in a menagerie, he said, butthat nobody had ever invited him, and he had never happened to comeacross one in his travels.

  Mr. Dog hadn't been saying anything all this time, but he knocked theashes out of his pipe now, and filled it up fresh and lit it, andcleared his throat, and began to talk. It made him smile, he said, tohear the different ways people thought of a thing they had never seen.He said that Mr. Turtle was the only one who came anywhere near to whata menagerie really was, though of course Mr. Crow _had_ seen one on theoutside. Then Mr. Dog said:

  "SLIPPED IN BEHIND HIM WHEN HE WENT INTO THE TENT"]

  "I know all about menageries, on the outside and the inside too, for Ihave been to one. I went once with Mr. Man, though I wasn't reallyinvited to go. In fact, Mr. Man invited me to stay at home, and tried toslip off from me; but I watched which way he went, and took longroundin's on him, and slipped in behind him when he went into thetent. He didn't know for a while that I was there, and I wasn't there sovery long. But it was plenty long enough--a good deal longer than I'dever stay again, unless I was tied.

  "I never saw so many wild, fierce-looking creatures in my life as therewere in that menagerie, and they were just as wild and fierce as theylooked. They had a lot of cages full of them and they had some outsideof cages, though I don't know why they should leave any of thosedangerous animals around where they could damage folks that happened tocome in reach, as I did. Those animals outside didn't look as wild andfierce as those in the cages, but they were.

  "I kept in the crowd, close behind Mr. Man at first, and nobody knew Iwas there, but by-and-by he climbed up into a seat to watch some peopleall dressed up in fancy clothes ride around a ring on horses, which Ididn't care much about, so I slipped away, and went over to where therewere some things that I wanted to take my time to and see quietly.

  "There was an animal about my size and style tied over in one corner ofthe tent, behind a rope, with a sign in front of him which said, 'TheOnly Tame Hyena in the World.' He looked smiling and good-natured, and Iwent over to ask him some questions.

  "HE LOOKED SMILING AND GOOD-NATURED, AND I WENT OVER TOASK HIM SOME QUESTIONS"]

  "But that sign wasn't true. He wasn't the least bit tame, and I'm surenow that he wasn't smiling. He grabbed me before I had a chance to say aword, and when I jerked loose, which I did right away, for I didn't wantto stir up any fuss there, I left quite a piece of my ear with the tamehyena, and tripped backward over the rope and rolled right in front of acreature called an elephant, about as big as a house and not as useful.

  "I suppose they thought _he_ was tame, too, but he must have been tamedby the same man, for he grabbed me with a kind of a tail that grew onthe end of his nose--a thing a good deal like Mr. 'Possum's tail, onlyabout a million times as big--and I could hear my ribs crack as he wavedme up and down.

  "Of cou
rse, as I say, I didn't want to stir up any fuss, but I couldn'tkeep still under such treatment as that, and I called right out to Mr.Man, where he sat looking at the fancy people riding, and told him thatI had had enough of the show, and if he wanted to take any of me home heought not to wait very long, but come over that way and see if hecouldn't get the tame elephant to practise that performance on the hyenaor the next dog, because I had had plenty, and was willing to go homejust as I was, all in one piece, even if not very lively.

  "Mr. Man _came_, too, and so did a lot of the others. They seemed tothink that I was more to look at than those riding people; and some ofthem laughed, though what there was happening that was funny I havenever been able to guess to this day. I kept right on telling Mr. Manwhat I wanted him to do, and mebbe I made a good deal of noise about it,for it seemed to stir up those other animals. There was a cage full oflions that started the most awful roaring you can think of, and a cageof crazy-looking things they called monkeys that screeched and howledand swung back and forth in rings and held on to the bars, and all theother things joined in, until I couldn't tell whether I was still sayinganything or not. I suppose they were all jealous of the elephant becauseof the fun he was having, and howling to be let out so they could gethold of me too.

  "Well, you never heard of such a time. It nearly broke up the show.Everybody ran over to look, and even the riding people stopped theirhorses to enjoy it, too. If it only hadn't been so dangerous andunpleasant I should have been proud of the way they came to see meperform.

  "But Mr. Man didn't seem to like it much. I heard him tell somebody, asloud as he could, that I would be killed, and that I was the best dog heever had, and that if I _was_ killed he'd sue the show.

  "That made me proud, too, but I wished he wouldn't wait to sue theshow, but would do something right away, and just then a man with afancy dress on and a stick with a sharp iron hook on it came running upand said something I didn't understand and hit the elephant with thehook end of the stick, and he gave me an extra big swing and crack andflung me half-way across the tent, where I landed on a bunch of hayright in front of a long-necked thing called a camel--another terribletame creature, I suppose--who had me about half eaten up with his oldlong under lip, before Mr. Man could get over there.

  "When Mr. Man did get hold of me, he said that I'd better take what wasleft of me home, for they were going to feed the animals pretty soon,and that I would likely get mixed up with the bill of fare.

  "After that he took me to the entrance and pushed me outside, and Iheard all those fierce creatures in the cages growl and roar louder thanever, as if they had expected to sample me and were sorry to see me go.

  "GAVE ME AN EXTRA BIG SWING AND CRACK"]

  "That's what a menagerie is--it's a place where they have all the kindsof animals and things in the world, for show, and a good many birds, andmaybe turtles, too, but they don't have any fine clear pond. They havejust a big tent, like the one Mr. Crow saw, and a lot of cages inside.They keep most of the animals in cages, and they ought to keep them allthere, and I don't think they feed them very much, nor the bestthings, or they wouldn't look so fierce and hungry.

  "They just keep them for Mr. Man and his friends to look at and talkabout, and if Mr. Turtle will take my advice he will keep out of amenagerie and live in the Wide Blue Water where he was born. I wouldn'thave gone there again unless I had been tied and dragged there, orunless they had put those tame animals into cages with the others. Nodoubt there are some very fine, strong animals in a menagerie, but theywouldn't be there if they could help it, and if anybody ever invites anyof you to join a menagerie, take my advice and don't do it."

  Then Mr. Dog knocked the ashes out of his pipe again, and all the otherDeep Woods People knocked the ashes out of _their_ pipes, too, andfilled them up fresh, and one said one thing, and one said another aboutbeing in a menagerie or out of it, and every one thought it would be aterrible thing to be shut up in a cage, except Mr. 'Possum, who said hewouldn't mind it if they would let him sleep enough and give him all hecould eat, but that a cage without those things would be a lonesomeplace.

  Then Mr. 'Coon said that a little adventure had happened to him oncewhich he had never mentioned before, because he had never known justwhat to make of it; but he knew now, he said, that he had come very neargetting into a menagerie, and he would tell them just what happened.

  The Story Teller looked down at the quiet figure in his lap. The LittleLady's head was nestled close to his shoulder, and her eyes werestraining very hard to keep open.

  "I think we will save Mr. 'Coon's story till another night," he said.