Edwin P. Norwood

“ Instantly the air seemed filled with flying mice. From every balcony they sprang—mayors, dragoons, band-mice, and all—leaping upon the great pendulum that swung across the width of the room. And, reaching it, up the great shaft they went—upward into the very tower of the Clock. There were those who missed when they jumped. But these picked themselves up in a twinkling, dashed back to the balconies and once more leaped for the pendulum. Now, all others gone, the singers followed their fellows until, at last, only Dan remained in the Great Room. ”

“ So Dan, accompanied by Lion, went to the gilded home of Tiger; then the three of them passed on to that occupied by Leopard—and so, on around the great circle, until every single one of the animals had been loosed from its cage. With Dan in the lead, they formed a long, winding line and then—the serpentine entirely complete—moved forward, for all the world like a troupe of children playing at lock step. ”

“ Last of all came the mayors holding tight to their hats. With such speed did all travel that the echo of “One” had hardly completed its rounds of the tower when the Great Room was empty. Yet not quite empty for, as Dan turned to follow, there came a patter of feet near his own. It was Beader who had returned to escort him back through the passage.
“Wasn’t it fun!” cried the red-coated dragoon as the two of them entered the tunnel.
“Fun!” answered Dan, “why it’s more than that—it’s a story! What a tale I shall have to tell when I get back to the menagerie tent! ”

“ Dan did still more; he stretched out quite flat and, with his chin propped in his hands, peered in among the stalks of sweet-smelling wheat. Of course there was the moon to help out but, as any one knows who has peeped into a field even on the brightest of nights, there is little save darkness in the depths underneath. So what was the visitor’s surprise to see there quite clearly whole dozens of workers as busy as bees. ”

“ Now listen to me with both your funny white ears and with all your two twinkling eyes. For this is the message from Too-Bo-Tan, to all the animals of Spangleland: Beginning on the morrow and on every day ever after, there is to come a wee little hour in the twilight when all the monkeys, and lions, and tigers, and things are to be let out of their cages, allowed to dance and to play and do as they will.”
“But, oh, Pretty Lady, that will not do at all,” burst in Diggeldy Dan. “Their cages are locked, there’s no hour to spare, and—and maybe they’d eat folks up!” ”

“ IN WHICH DAN PARTS WITH OLD FRIENDS AND PREPARES TO CLAIM A REWARD “Never, I’ll warrant you, had the greatest of woods resounded with so strange a commotion,” continued Diggeldy Dan, as he again took up the thread of his story. “Never, I’ll make bold to surmise, had so singular a carry-all with such a gayly dressed passenger boomed through the quiet of its sunset hour. For what could have proved more of a surprise to those peaceful surroundings than the approach of an elephant most as big as a house, coming onward with strides as wide as a wall, and a clown clinging fast to one foot! ”

“ For, in one breath, you find fault with the Petal Watch because it moved too swiftly last night, and in the next you complain because it travels so slowly to-day.”
“Exactly,” chimed Dan.
“Well, I never stopped to think of it in just that way,” admitted Monkey, as he scratched his head, “and, besides—”
“Besides,” broke in the keen-eared Hyena, “here comes the one for whom we’re all waiting!”
Sure enough there resounded the patter of oncoming hoofs and the next moment into the menagerie tent galloped the White-White Horse, carrying the Pretty Lady with the Blue-Blue Eyes. ”

“ IN WHICH DAN HEARS THE CLOCK STRIKE ONE Now should you ever, like Dan, some day visit the Valley of Tick Tock, and, reaching the plaza that lies in the very center of Micetown, take eleven steps to the east and then ten to the south, you would, like as not, come upon a vine-covered mound something of the width, the shape and the height of a haycock. And were you to thrust the vines to one side, you would find that they covered the face of two wooden doors, so fashioned and hinged as to part in the middle. ”

“ IN WHICH THE PRETTY LADY TELLS OF MYSTERIES AND SPANGLES “Well,” said Tiger, as he folded his paws in a most complacent manner, “I’m ready.”
“We, also,” declared Elephant, speaking for his entire family, who, having formed a line, were just at that moment swaying backward and forward quite as if they were about to glide into the graceful maze of a waltz.
“So are all of us,” commented Lion, as he surveyed the great group from his station before it. “I wonder what can be keeping the Pretty Lady?” ”

“ And, as they do, they land on the points of the moonbeams. Down they come, never minding in the least, for, if there is one thing that a dewdrop would rather be than a dewdrop, it’s a spangle. On and on they come, piling one on the other, becoming very flat, very shiny and very round, and then sliding on to the threads. So, when morning comes, I take the Spangle Bag, ‘snip’ the knots, and let the spangles tumble and tinkle into its depths. And so I always have enough to sprinkle the sunset whenever I pass.”
“Why, that must be the way the rain gets into the clouds!” cried Diggeldy Dan. ”

“ The bench was fitted with a vise with wide wooden jaws, while its face was covered with many strange tools. Just in front of the bench and half in the sunlight were two massive sawhorses that supported an oddly shaped frame. And, bending over these, a cap on his head and a carpenter’s apron tied round his waist was a shaggy coated bruin of marvelous size.
Now, of course, Little Black Bear took in the entire scene in a whole lot less time than it has taken to tell of it. Indeed, by now he had softly lifted himself to the top of a rock that he might obtain a still better view. ”

“ And his ears were white, too, and so was his face, except for his red, red lips and five curious spots of red—one on his chin, one on his brow, one on each cheek, and one on the tip of his long, funny nose. He wore a collar that was all ruffled and round and a baggy white suit, trimmed with great polka-dot patches, that might have been likened to very red apples, except for the fact that half of them were blue.
“Come, come! Make haste there, Dan—if, indeed, you are Diggeldy Dan,” cried the bird from its perch on the little round pole. ”

“ In those days the different animals mingled not at all, each being content to keep solely to the company of his very own kind. Now, one day, this monkey named Vargu was seated in the fork of a tree, quite lost in deep thought, when a leopard trotted by underneath. Spying the leopard—”
“Pretty Lady, Pretty Lady,” Diggeldy Dan interrupted.
“Dan!” cried Lion.
“But the Watch, the Petal Watch—it’s closing!” answered the clown in despair. ”

“ You flew all the way from Sunset House, I presume?”
“Well, I should rather say not!” answered the crow, as he flipped his cap to one side with the toes of one foot. “What would be the fun of being a messenger-bird if one had to fly all the time?”
“Yes, but how do you manage it other-wise?” questioned Rhino.
“Why, jump a cloud and ride it. That’s the way I most always do. Just let my feet hang over the end and read my book until it’s time to hop off.”
“Of what do you read?” asked Lion.
“Oh, it’s one of those strange-people books,” answered the crow. “I like to read about people. ”

“ And then, looking at me in the most pitying manner he added, ‘Why, Friend Clown, do you not suppose there are elephants who look upon the peanut as something more than a thing to be eaten? That there are those of us who study them?—for what happier hobby could a circus elephant have than that which calls for the collecting of this most excellent nut!
“‘Consider this one, for instance,’ continued Gray Ears, as he held one of the peanuts up to the light. ‘That is the true goober. See with what a delicate sweep it curves in at the waist line. ”

“ So, Lion, suppose you select the one who’s to tell us the tale.” And she clapped her hands at the thought of it.
But, alas, Lion could but gaze at his fellows and then back at the Lady in silent confusion.
“To tell the truth, Pretty Lady,” he finally replied, “none of us know any very good stories. Only last evening we tried but couldn’t think—not even of one. Of course, Dan has many wonderful tales; but then he has been out in the great, wide world.”
“Oh, dear,” broke in Kangaroo in a most wistful tone, “if we could only do things like Gray Ears and Dan!” ”

“ For I am the Fairy of the Circus—the one who watches over all the riders and all the clowns and all the people of the big and little tents—the one who knows just what each one of them does every single day. ”

“ Now at first the leopard, whose name was Soft Foot, could not believe his ears, so he kept straight on his way. But Vargu was determined. He spoke once again. And with that, the leopard stopped full in his tracks and gazed at the monkey in utter amazement.
“‘Why, What does this mean!’ he called up to the other. ‘You cannot speak to me. You are a monkey.’
“‘Ah,’ answered Vargu, ‘but I can speak to you even if I am a monkey. And, if you don’t believe it, just listen to this: Hello, Mister Leopard! Hello! Hello! ”

“ Most of the bear families are too busy vacationing and roaming about through the forest during the summer to have much use for furniture. But as autumn wanes and they begin to think of the long winter nights when they will sit at home sucking their paws and drowsing before the fire, I’ll tell you the thought of possessing a big roomy chair and a footstool is a highly pleasing one. And, though I do say it, no one makes better furniture than Shagg, the Carpenter. ”

“ And away through the half-light the three of them sped.
“A merry journey!” cried some, as they followed the departing ones on down the tent.
“Be sure to get a good story,” called others.
“I will, I will!” came the answering cry, and with a neigh from the Horse, a ringing laugh from the Lady and a last paw-wave from Little Black Bear, the three travelers passed through a rift in the wall and were swallowed by the gathering dusk.
“And now,” called out Dan, “it is high time that we, too, were fast disappearing. ”

“ Long before Vargu—”
“The Watch! The Watch! The Petal Watch!” broke in Diggeldy Dan. “A thousand pardons, Pretty Lady, but it’s almost closed!”
“So it is,” cried she, jumping to her feet. “We’ve not a moment to lose.
“Back to your places, every one of you,” she added, as she bounded to her seat on the White-White Horse, “until half after twilight to-morrow, when I’ll come to tell you the rest.” ”

“ With that he extended a paw, the two shook hands and then, at Shagg’s suggestion, they sat down at the foot of the tree that stood near the bench.
“So you are a circus bear. My, what a lot of wonderful places you must get to see. I’ve often thought it would be splendid to leave the forest and travel into the world. But then there is Mrs. Shagg. And there are the things to be built.”
“Why, I should think this would be the jolliest kind of a place,” rejoined Little Black Bear. “I can’t imagine anything quite as interesting as building things. Have you always been a carpenter?” ”

“ Needless to say, Diggeldy Dan was the clown, while Lion—wearing an old silk hat that Seal sometimes juggled in the real circus, and armed with a whip that Puma had brought from the great tent beyond—played ringmaster. ”