The Tale of Cuffy Bear by Arthur Scott Bailey
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Arthur Scott Bailey >> The Tale of Cuffy Bear
Mr. Bear's mouth was stretched quite wide in what Silkie and Cuffy knew
to be his most agreeable smile. You and I might not have felt so
comfortable if we had looked past Mr. Bear's great white teeth into his
big red mouth. But it was different with Cuffy and Silkie. They saw at
once that their father was feeling very pleasant.
"What's that?" Silkie asked. As for Cuffy, he had not stopped to ask any
questions. He was already smelling of the small white animal his father
had, and he poked it gently with his paw. He had not forgotten about the
porcupine. But this strange animal seemed quite harmless. It was covered
with things that looked a little bit like quills, only they were ever so
much shorter and smaller. And Cuffy found that they were much softer,
too, for they did not prick him at all.
"What is it?" This time it was Cuffy who asked.
"You'll see," Mr. Bear said again.
"Is it a new kind of rabbit?" Silkie inquired.
"Huh! A rabbit!" Cuffy laughed. "Of course it isn't a rabbit," he said.
"Well--it's white, and its tail is short--" Silkie began, "and--"
"Its ears are too small," Cuffy told her, "and its tail is all curled
up."
"You'll see, children," Mr. Bear said again. "It's a surprise."
"A surprise!" Cuffy and Silkie both shouted. They thought that was the
name of the--oh! I almost told what the little animal really was.
Well! As Mr. Bear walked on toward his house, Cuffy and Silkie ran ahead
and burst in upon their mother, both of them shouting at the top of
their voices, "A surprise! A surprise! Father's bringing home a
surprise!"
"Why, Ephraim Bear!" Mrs. Bear exclaimed, as soon as she saw her
husband. "Wherever did you get that lovely little pig?"
There--now you know what it was that Mr. Bear had.
"It came from Farmer Green's, my dear," Mr. Bear said. "I remembered
that this was your birthday, and so I thought I would bring home
something 'specially nice, so that we could have a real feast."
Cuffy and Silkie had never eaten any pig before. And when there was
nothing left of the surprise except a few bones, Cuffy couldn't help
wishing that every day could be a birthday.
X
CUFFY CLIMBS BLUE MOUNTAIN
Cuffy Bear had never been very far up Blue Mountain beyond the place
where his father's house nestled among the evergreens. You know, the
summer before he had been a very small little bear indeed, and the
higher one goes up Blue Mountain the harder the climbing becomes. But
now Cuffy was growing very fast; and he was able to scramble up places
he could never have even crept a year ago. Each day now Cuffy climbed a
little nearer the top of Blue Mountain. And at last the day came when he
reached the very top. It was so high that the trees did not grow there.
He found nothing but rocks everywhere, with just a little earth to fill
the cracks.
Cuffy thought it great fun to clamber about all by himself and look down
at the hills and valleys that stretched away in all directions. Indeed,
he hated to leave that delightful spot. But he noticed that the sun was
getting low in the west and he knew that he must hurry home. So Cuffy
started down the mountainside.
He did not pick out the easiest way to go. Oh, no! He chose the very
steepest places to slide down. And as he went slipping down the steepest
cliff of all he came upon something that gave him a great surprise. For
he saw, built right in the crack of a ledge, a big bird's nest made of
sticks. It was the biggest bird's nest Cuffy had ever seen; and in it
were two great white eggs. They were the greatest white eggs Cuffy had
ever seen, too.
How lucky! At least, that was what Cuffy thought then. For he was very
fond of birds' eggs, and his climb had made him even hungrier than
usual. He stopped then and there and with one rap of the paw he broke
one of the eggs and began to eat it.
Cuffy was enjoying his lunch very much. He had almost finished the first
egg and was just about to turn to the other when he heard a deafening
scream.
Cuffy looked all around. He thought that perhaps there was a pig up
there on the mountain. But no! He couldn't see a thing. Then came that
cry again. This time it was louder. And it seemed to come from right
over Cuffy's head. He looked up then. And there was an enormous bird
dropping right down on top of him! It seemed to Cuffy that its wings
stretched as wide as the branches of the great pine tree in his
father's front-yard. He never even dreamed that there could be as big a
bird in the whole world. And during that one instant that Cuffy's little
beady bright eyes were turned upwards he saw that the great bird had a
wicked, hooked beak and claws that were as sharp as his own, and ever so
much longer.
One look was enough for Cuffy. He turned and tumbled down the steep
cliff, head over heels, with the eagle following him.
XI
MRS. EAGLE IS ANGRY
Yes! It was an eagle's nest that Cuffy Bear had found, And Mrs. Eagle
had caught him eating her eggs. It was no wonder that she was wild with
rage. And it was no wonder that Cuffy ran for his life.
He landed in a heap at the foot of the first cliff, jumped up like a
flash and in a twinkling he was rolling heels over head down another
cliff.
Again Cuffy fell in a heap at the bottom. Again he jumped up. And again
he started to run. But this time, alas! Mrs. Eagle seized him. She
pounced down upon his back; and she sunk her claws right into Cuffy's
neck. Then Mrs. Eagle flapped her wings as hard as she could flap them.
And Cuffy felt himself rising.
Soon the earth was far, far beneath Cuffy. And he was the most
frightened little bear you could imagine. He was afraid Mrs. Eagle would
drop him, and that he would fall down, down, down onto the rocks below.
And he was afraid that Mrs. Eagle wouldn't drop him, too. Because if she
didn't Cuffy felt only too sure that she would take him home and that
she and Mr. Eagle would eat him for their dinner.
You see, Cuffy Bear was in a sad fix. And for my part, when I first
heard of his plight I did not see how he was ever going to get out of it
alive.
Well--this was what happened. Mrs. Eagle _did_ intend to take Cuffy home
with her and serve him up for dinner that very night At first, after
she had seized Cuffy, she mounted higher and higher into the air, so
that she could at last swoop down on the top of the mountain, right
beside her nest. But Cuffy was a very fat little bear. And soon Mrs.
Eagle found that she had a heavy load. And it was only a few minutes
before she discovered that she couldn't fly up any higher with Cuffy. In
fact, she began to sink, little by little. Yes, Cuffy was so heavy that
as Mrs. Eagle grew tired his weight dragged her down toward the earth
again.
Mrs. Eagle saw what was happening. But she didn't want to let Cuffy go.
So she flew far out from the side of the mountain, hoping that she would
soon feel stronger. But all the time she kept growing weaker and weaker.
And all the time she kept falling faster and faster, until all at once
Mrs. Eagle was afraid that she would lose her balance and go tumbling
down onto the ground herself.
She was still very angry. And she hated to lose the fine dinner she had
been counting on. But she saw nothing else to do but let go of Cuffy
Bear. So she gave one last scream of rage; and the next instant Cuffy
felt himself dropping through the air like a stone.
Now, Cuffy had shut his eyes tight, just as he did when he was drifting
down the river on the cake of ice; so he did not see what was happening.
But as luck had it, when Mrs. Eagle let him go she was flying right over
the top of a big fir-tree. And as Cuffy fell, he dropped _plump!_ into
the branches, and down he went, crashing through the soft, springing
boughs.
Cuffy clutched wildly at the branches. And though he tumbled through
them one after another, at last he managed to hold tight to a big limb.
And then, after he had caught his breath again, he crept carefully down
to the ground.
He wondered where he was. The place had a strangely familiar look. It
seemed to Cuffy that he must have been there before. And then, as he
peered cautiously around, what should he see but the door of his
father's house, right in front of him! Yes! Mrs. Eagle had dropped Cuffy
right in his father's door-yard! And Cuffy wasn't even late for dinner.
As he grew older Cuffy often went to the top of Blue Mountain. But
never, so long as he lived, did he get home again so quickly.
XII
CUFFY BEAR GOES TO MARKET
"Mother! When is my birthday?" Cuffy asked, a few days after his father
had brought home the little pig.
"Why, your birthday comes on the day the wild geese begin to fly south,"
Mrs. Bear said.
"Is that soon?" Cuffy asked.
"Bless you, no! Not for months and months!" his mother said.
"And when is Silkie's?" he continued.
"The day of the first snow," she told him.
Cuffy knew that that was a long way off--not until summer had come and
gone.
"And Father's?" he inquired once more.
Mrs. Bear shook her head.
"Your father hasn't many birthdays," she said. "He was born on the day
of the great forest fire. It may be a long time before he has another
birthday. I hope so, anyhow," she added, "for a great forest fire is a
dreadful thing."
Now you see, having a birthday like that is a good deal like being born
on the twenty-ninth of February, when you have a birthday only once in
four years. Yes--it's a good deal like that, only worse. For you may
have to wait years and years before another great fire comes. You
understand, of course, that having no clocks or calendars or anything
like that, the wild animals can keep track of birthdays only by
remembering things that happen.
All this made Cuffy Bear feel very sad. He had been hoping that some
member of the family would have a birthday soon, and then perhaps his
father would bring home another little pig for another nice feast. But
now he saw that there was no chance of that happening for a long, long
time.
[Illustration: Mrs. Eagle Rose Higher and Higher]
Cuffy went out of doors then and thought and thought and thought. I'm
almost ashamed to have to say it--he was planning to go down to Farmer
Green's and get another fat, tender, little pig like the one his father
had brought home.
Now, when a very young bear starts out to steal a pig there are many
things to think of. In the first place, there was Farmer Green, and
Farmer Green's boy Johnnie, and Farmer Green's hired man. Cuffy knew
that he must be very, very careful not to meet them.
To his great relief, when he had gone down into Pleasant Valley Cuffy
saw all three ploughing in a field. They did not see him at all. And so
he felt very brave as he went on toward the farm buildings.
Farmer Green's pig-pen was in a little, low building next the cow-barn.
Cuffy had no trouble in finding it. And he walked inside quite boldly
and before you could have winked, almost, he had seized a little, white
pig in his mouth and was loping off across the barnyard.
The pig had looked very small to Cuffy when he first saw and seized it.
But now it seemed to be as many as twenty times bigger than Cuffy was
himself. That was because the pig made the most frightful noise Cuffy
had ever heard in all his life. Cuffy felt as if he had a hundred pigs
in his mouth, with their hundred snouts squealing right in his ears.
Though Farmer Green was at least a mile away, Cuffy was sure he could
hear. Indeed, Cuffy thought that all the world must hear that dreadful
racket. And he was so frightened that he let go of the little pig and
ran away towards home as fast as he could jump.
That squealing rang in his ears for a long time. And if Cuffy's father
had brought home a pig that night Cuffy couldn't have eaten a mouthful
of it. He never wanted to see or taste of a pig again. And you may be
sure he never wanted to _hear_ one, either.
XIII
HAYING-TIME
After Cuffy Bear's adventure with Mrs. Eagle he did not stray far from
home for several weeks. You can see, from that, that he had been badly
frightened. Yes--just to look at a crow flapping through the air made
Cuffy dizzy now; and nothing would have tempted him to go up the
mountain again.
But Cuffy became very tired of playing near his father's house all the
time. And at last he wandered down into the valley one day. There was
something down there that Cuffy wanted to see. You'd never guess what
it was; so I'll tell you. Cuffy Bear wanted to see a mowing-machine.
You may think that was queer. But you see, it was summer now. And
down in the valley Farmer Green was making hay as fast as ever he
could. Early and late there sounded far up the mountainside the
_click-clack-click-clack_ of Farmer Green's mowing-machine.
When he first heard it Cuffy Bear had been very much alarmed; and he had
come running into the house in a great fright. But his mother explained
what the sound was. And after that Cuffy had been very curious to see
that wonderful machine, which was pulled back and forth through the
meadows by horses, leaving behind it a broad path of grass which lay
flat on the ground.
So that was the reason why Cuffy stole away from home. He felt that he
simply _must_ see a mowing-machine. Nothing but the sight of a
mowing-machine would make him happy. He was sure of that.
Now, where Farmer Green's meadow met the forest, Cuffy paused. He hid
behind a tree and looked out over the field. The _click-clack_ sounded
quite loud now. And from the other side of the meadow Cuffy could see
two horses coming towards him. There was a man driving them. And Cuffy
thought that they must be drawing the mowing-machine. So he waited
quietly. And all the time the _click-clack-click-clack_ grew louder than
ever. And pretty soon, as he peeped slyly around the tree, Cuffy Bear
saw the mowing-machine. It came delightfully close to him, stopped,
turned about, and moved away again toward the opposite side of the
field.
Cuffy gave a great sigh of satisfaction. He had seen a mowing-machine.
He was glad that he had come down into the valley. He was not the least
bit sorry that he had disobeyed his parents and stolen away from home.
Yes, Cuffy was feeling very happy as he went prowling along the border
of the forest. He crept in and out of the bushes that fringed the
hay-field, and was having altogether a most pleasant time; until all at
once he stopped short. Cuffy's nose sniffed the air for a moment, and
the hairs on his back bristled just like those on a dog when he is
startled. Cuffy had caught a strange odor in the air.
At first he was frightened. But after he had sniffed the air a few times
he decided that whatever it was that he smelled, it had a good, pleasant
odor, and made him think of something to eat.
So Cuffy Bear began to nose about among the bushes. And presently he
discovered, hidden away beneath a clump of ferns, a basket of delicious
food. It was the haymakers' lunch that Cuffy had found. And he lost no
time. He began to eat as fast as he could. Yes--I am very sorry to say
that Cuffy actually _gobbled_ Farmer Green's lunch. And he was so greedy
that a strange thing happened to him.
XIV
CUFFY LIKES BAKED BEANS
Cuffy Bear found many good things in Farmer Green's lunch basket. He
bolted all the bread-and-butter, and the doughnuts; and he found the
custard pie to be about as enjoyable as any dainty he had ever tasted.
And then, with his little black face all smeared with streaks of yellow
custard, Cuffy began to poke a small iron pot which stood in one corner
of the big basket. Presently the pot tipped over, its cover fell off,
and soon Cuffy was devouring the daintiest dish of all! Baked beans! Of
course, he didn't know the name of those delicious, brown, mealy
kernels. But that made no difference at all to Cuffy. So long as he
liked what he was eating the name of it never troubled him. The only
thing that annoyed Cuffy now was that the pot was not bigger. There were
still a few beans which clung to the bottom; and try as he would, Cuffy
could not reach them, even with his tongue.
He was sitting on the ground, with the pot between his legs, and his
nose stuck into it as far as Cuffy could get it. But still he could not
reach those beans in the bottom. And pretty soon Cuffy began to lose his
temper. He stood up and gave a good, hard push against the ground. And
so he managed to squeeze his nose a little further into the bean-pot.
And now, to his huge delight, he could just reach the bottom of the pot
with his long under-lip. In a twinkling Cuffy had all the beans in his
mouth. And he would have grinned--he felt so happy--if his nose hadn't
been wedged so tightly into the pot that he couldn't even smile.
Since there were no more beans to be had out of _that_ pot, Cuffy lifted
his head. And to his great astonishment the bean-pot came right up off
the ground too, almost as if it were alive. It startled Cuffy, until he
saw that it was he who lifted the pot, on his own nose.
He seized the bean-pot and pulled. But his paws were so greasy with
butter that he couldn't get a good grip on it. The pot still stuck on
his nose as fast as ever.
Cuffy grunted. He couldn't really have said anything, with his mouth
deep in the iron pot. So he just grunted in a pouting sort of way; and
then he gave the pot a sharp rap against a rock. That hurt his nose. And
this time he growled--as well as he could. But all his grunting and
growling didn't frighten the bean-pot the slightest bit. There it
stayed, perched on his nose just as if it would never come off.
All this time the mowing-machine kept up a _click-clack-click-clack_!
And Cuffy thought that he had better get out of sight. So he plunged
into the forest and started toward home. He felt very uncomfortable, for
he began to wonder whether he would ever get rid of that troublesome
pot. What puzzled him most was this thought: How would he ever be able
to eat again, with that horrid thing over his nose? Cuffy was very fond
of riddles; but here was one that he did not like at all.
When he reached home his father and mother and Silkie all laughed so
hard at the sight of him that Cuffy began to whimper. And a big tear
rolled from each eye, ran down the bean-pot, and dropped off the bottom
of it.
And then, with just one tug Mr. Bear pulled the bean-pot off his son's
nose; and Cuffy was himself again.
He escaped a punishing, too, that time. And Mrs. Bear was very glad to
get such a nice iron pot. She had wanted one for a long time.
XV
HUNTING FOR A BEE-TREE
It was a very hot summer's day. Even up on Blue Mountain Cuffy Bear felt
the heat. And he wished that he might get rid of his thick coat. But
though Cuffy was beginning to believe himself a very wise little bear,
he could think of no way to slip off his heavy black fur. So he sat down
in the shade of a big tree, where the breeze blew upon him, and tried to
be as cool as he could.
Except when he was asleep it was not often that Cuffy was still for so
long. But now he sat motionless for some time, with his bright red
tongue hanging out of his mouth like a dog's. Yes, he was quite
still--all but his little, beady, bright eyes. _They_ kept moving about
all the time. And they saw many things, for something or other is always
happening in the forest.
Cuffy saw a gray squirrel stick its head up from the crotch of a tree
nearby and peep at him. And he watched a wary old crow as he rested high
in a tree-top and cawed a greeting to some of his friends who were
flying past on their way to Farmer Green's cornfield. And Cuffy noticed
a bee as it lighted on a wild-flower right in front of him and sucked
the sweetness out of it. But Cuffy didn't pay much attention to that.
And since he soon began to feel cooler he was just wondering what he
would do next when it occurred to him that several bees had lighted upon
the flowers near him, and that they had all flown off _in the same
direction_.
All at once Cuffy forgot how hot and uncomfortable he had been; for now
he was wondering if those bees weren't all of them flying home to make
honey out of the sweet juices they had drawn from the flowers. And if
they were--and if he could only follow them--then he would find the tree
where they lived and he could have all the honey he wanted to eat.
So Cuffy followed on a little way in the direction in which the bees had
disappeared. And then he sat down again and waited and watched very
carefully.
For a long time nothing happened. And Cuffy was just about to give up
his plan when a bee came buzzing past him and lighted on a mulberry
blossom right above his head. And when the bee flew away, Cuffy followed
him until he lost sight of him. And then Cuffy sat down once more. Again
he waited and watched. And again, just as he was getting discouraged,
another bee flew past him and Cuffy jumped up and followed _him_ just
as fast as he could.
[Illustration: The Bees Were Right There Waiting for Cuffy]
Cuffy Bear must have spent as much as two hours doing that same thing
over and over again. But he didn't mind that. In fact, it didn't seem
long to him, at all, because he kept thinking of _honey_ all the time,
and it made a sort of _game_ of what he was doing. If he won the game,
you know, it meant that he was going to have something very nice for a
prize.
And sure enough, finally one of the bees Cuffy was following lighted on
an old tree, and Cuffy saw him crawl into a hole in a queer nest which
hung from a limb, and vanish. And as Cuffy stood there, looking up at
the nest, he saw as many as seven bees come out of that hole and fly
away.
Then Cuffy smiled all over his face, he felt so happy. At last he had
found a bee-tree. There was no doubt about it. The time he had always
wished for had come. He was going to have all the honey he could eat.
XVI
THE BEES STING CUFFY
As Cuffy Bear stood there on his hind legs looking up at the nest in the
old tree he saw so many bees come out and fly away that he thought that
there could not be any bees left at home--at least, not more than a
half-dozen. And Cuffy didn't believe that six bees would trouble him.
There was one good thing in having a coat like his, he told himself:
even if it was warm in summer, it was so thick that he didn't see how a
bee could sting him through it.
And with that, Cuffy started to climb the old tree. It took him no time
at all to hitch himself up the trunk. He shinned up just as any little
boy would climb a tree. And in less time than it takes to tell it, Cuffy
had reached the limb from which the nest hung, and he had stuck his paw
right through the side of it.
You remember that something is always happening in the forest?
Well--something happened now. Suddenly a terrible roar came from inside
the nest. It was a queer, far-off sort of sound, and it made Cuffy think
of the noise Swift River made, where it tumbled over the falls. But
Cuffy knew that there could be no water-fall inside the nest. He
wondered if there was some strange animal in there.... And he drew back
his paw very quickly. And then there came pouring out of the nest a
perfect cloud of bees, every one of them buzzing as loud as ever he
could.
Cuffy was startled at the sight. And he was more startled when they
flew right into his face and lighted on his nose and began to sting.
Cuffy roared with the pain. Yes--he gave such a great roar that he
couldn't hear the bees at all. But the bees didn't seem to mind that.
_They_ weren't afraid. They just kept on stinging. And they went for
Cuffy's eyes, too. And some of them even crawled down his ears. _That_
was the worst of all.
Just for a few moments Cuffy slapped at the bees. And he tried to brush
them off his face. But as fast as he swept them away from one spot they
settled on another. And Cuffy felt exactly as if somebody was sticking
him with pins and needles. He forgot all about taking any of the honey
to eat. He only wanted to get away from those bees. So he began to slide
down the tree.
But Cuffy soon saw that the bees intended to go right along with him.
They seemed to have no idea at all of staying at home, and as he
scrambled down the tree Cuffy thought very quickly. He hadn't put a paw
on the ground before he knew what he was going to do. Cuffy Bear ran
straight for the brook that goes tumbling down Blue Mountain to meet
Swift River.
XVII
CUFFY BEAR GOES SWIMMING
As Cuffy Bear tore through the forest, with the bees clustering all
about his head, he thought he never would reach the brook. He was going
straight for the deep pool, which he had often visited in order to watch
the speckled trout darting about in the clear water.
Now and then Cuffy paused in his mad rush, to bury his face in the thick
blanket of dead leaves that covered the ground. But just as soon as he
raised his head the bees would settle on his face again. And Cuffy would
rush off once more as fast as he could go.
At last he came to the brook. And he leaped right off the big boulder
that hung high over the pool and landed _ker-splash!_ right in the
middle of it. How the water did fly in all directions! And Cuffy went
right down out of sight.