through the forest he seizes an animal with a leg and drags it to his
mouth, where he eats it as a spider does a fly. Not one of us is safe
while this fierce creature is alive, and we had called a meeting to
decide how to take care of ourselves when you came among us."

The Cowardly Lion thought over the situation carefully.

"Are there any other lions in this forest?" he enquired.

"No; there were some, but the Monster has eaten them all. And, besides,
they were none of them nearly so large and brave as you."

The Lion got an idea that he hoped would help him overcome his disgrace.

"If I put an end to your enemy," he began, "will you bow down to me and
obey me as King of the Forest?"

"We will do that gladly," returned the big tiger. The rest of the forest
animals voiced assent.

"Where is this great spider of yours now?" asked the Cowardly Lion
bravely.

"Yonder," said the tiger, indicating with a tawny paw, "among the oak
trees."

The Cowardly Lion overcame his fear and ignored the trepidation within
his heart. He came upon the Forest Monster shortly thereafter. Even
though it was sound asleep, it was the most ghastly sight that the
Cowardly Lion had ever laid eyes on. It was huge, black and furry. It
was filthy, too. Its putrid smell had the Lion reeling in spite of
himself. But he pressed onward. The snores of the ugly Monster revealed
its razor-sharp fangs which measured in at at least a foot long. Its
powerful legs were as muscular as those of a Hercules and were as big
around as a house and as long as the trunk of a tree. The claws on the
end of its eight enormous legs were curved and as sharp as scimitars. It
was quite the sort of thing that nightmares are made of.

But the Cowardly Lion noticed that the Forest Monster had one weakness.
He was observant enough to notice that, though the spider was so much
larger than any other spider he had ever seen, its neck was as slender
as a wasp's waist. Given this obvious oversight on the part of the
Wicked Witches who had designed him, the Forest Monster suddenly seemed
less Monstrous to the Cowardly Lion. With a leap and a single blow of
his mighty paw, he knocked the Forest Monster's head clean off! He then
watched the writhing body until its legs stopped wiggling and he knew
that it was quite dead.

[Illustration: "_With a leap and a single blow of his mighty paw, he
knocked the Forest Monster's head clean off!"_]

CHAPTER 2

ELEPHANT'S DAY