Bunny went upstairs and said to the Seventeen Little Bears, "You
may get up and put on your little red wrappers and sit by the fire
downstairs."

So the Seventeen Little Bears got up and put on their little red
wrappers and crept downstairs. They crept down so softly that Grandpa
Grumbles never heard a sound.

By and by when Grandpa Grumbles went back into the sitting-room there
sat the Seventeen Little Bears on their seventeen little stools by the
fire. Snubby Nose and Tippy Toes sat on the arm of Grandpa Grumbles'
chair. He was surprised you may be sure.

He began to tell his story quite as if nothing had happened. He said,
"Last Christmas I went about and picked up all the broken toys I could
find and I said I would open a Toy Shop and mend them so you could not
tell them from new toys!"

"Hear, hear!" cried the Seventeen Little Bears softly.

"Hush, hush!" said Snubby Nose and Tippy Toes, "Grandpa Grumbles is
talking."

Grandpa Grumbles went on, "On long winter evenings I sat and mended and
glued and pasted the toys and soon they looked as good as new."

"Rap-a-tap," sounded on the door, "Rap-a-tap."

Bunny took the candle and went to the door. There stood Doctor
Cotton-Tail.

He said, "Good evening, how are the Seventeen Little Bears? I heard
they fell in the water!"

The Seventeen Little Bears stuffed their little paws into their mouths
to keep from laughing, for they felt as well as ever, sitting before
the fire in their little red wrappers.

Doctor Cotton-Tail took a seat by the fire and began to warm his paws,
first one paw and then the other.

"Chilly spring weather, but most time to make garden," he said.

"Chilly weather," said Bunny Cotton-Tail.

"Chilly weather," said Susan.

_Then the most surprising thing happened_!

Grandpa Grumbles shook his green cotton umbrella and out came flower
seeds falling everywhere. The Seventeen Little Bears scrambled to pick
them up.

"Who will make your garden?" asked Doctor Cotton-Tail, looking at Bunny
and Susan.

Bunny and Susan said, "We do not know, we are too old and stiff to make
a garden."

"You will miss the turnips and cabbages," said Doctor Cotton-Tail.
Then he added,

"I came in a wagon, and as the Seventeen Little Bears are quite well,
I can take them home."

Then the Seventeen Little Bears began to weep loud and long. They wept
into their seventeen little pocket handkerchiefs.

Bunny and Susan said, "Never mind, dears, you can co