ould be killed, and that I was the best dog he
ever had, and that if I _was_ killed he'd sue the show."

[Illustration: "GAVE ME AN EXTRA SWING AND CRACK"]

"That made me proud, too, but I wished he wouldn't wait to sue the
show, but would do something right away, and just then a man with a
fancy dress on and a stick with a sharp iron hook on it came running up
and said something I didn't understand and hit the elephant with the
hook end of the stick, and he gave me an extra big swing and crack and
flung me half-way across the tent, where I landed on a bunch of hay
right in front of a long-necked thing called a camel--another terrible
tame creature, I suppose--who had me about half eaten up with his old
long 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 was
left 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 I
heard all those fierce creatures in the cages growl and roar louder than
ever, as if they had expected to sample me and were sorry to see me go.

"That's what a menagerie is--it's a place where they have all the kinds
of animals and things in the world, for show, and a good many birds, and
maybe turtles, too, but they don't have any fine clear pond. They have
just 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 all
there, and I don't think they feed them very much, nor the best
things, or they wouldn't look so fierce and hungry.

"They just keep them for Mr. Man and his friends to look at and talk
about, and if Mr. Turtle will take my advice he will keep out of a
menagerie and live in the Wide Blue Water where he was born. I wouldn't
have gone there again unless I had been tied and dragged there, or
unless they had put those tame animals into cages with the others. No
doubt there are some very fine, strong animals in a menagerie, but they
wouldn't be there if they could help it, and if anybody ever invites any
of 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 other
Deep Woods People knocked the ashes out of _their_ pipes, too, and
filled them up fresh, and one said one thing, and one said another about
being in a menagerie or out of it