kytail gave me three more, how many would I have?"
asked the teacher, and she wrote a big figure 2 on the blackboard, and
under it a big 3. "You may answer, Jumpo," she said.

Jumpo thought for a few seconds.

"Well, can't you tell?" asked the owl kindly.

"If you please," said Jumpo, after a bit, "it can't be apples that Jacko
would give you, because it's pears that Jacko has in his pocket. Three
pears--I saw Mamma give them to him for recess. I can't add pears and
apples together."

Well, the whole class laughed at that, and the teacher said:

"I was only making believe, Jumpo, just as when Uncle Wiggily Longears
pretends as he tells you a story. However, we will say two pears and
three pears, if that will suit you better. You may come to the board and
add up this sum for me."

So Jumpo went to the board, and he took the piece of blue chalk in his
left paw. And then he couldn't seem to help doing a funny trick. When
the teacher wasn't looking he reached over, and with his tail he took an
eraser and erased the numbers from another part of the board where
Jennie Chipmunk was doing a sum in arithmetic, so Jennie didn't have
any numbers to add up, and she cried out:

"Oh, dear!"

"What's the matter?" asked the teacher quickly, and then, turning
around, she saw the mischief Jumpo had done.

"You may go to your seat," she said to the green monkey, sad like, "and
you must stay in after school. Sammie Littletail, you may finish the sum
on which Jumpo started. He is too playful today."

At first Jumpo thought it was fun to have rubbed out Jennie Chipmunk's
numbers with his tail, and then he felt sorry. He was more sorry as his
brother and all the other pupils went out when school was done, and he
had to stay in the room. He could hear the boys having a ball game, and
the girls were playing tag, and Jumpo wished he hadn't been bad. But
that's the way it is sometimes in this world.

After a bit the teacher said:

"You may go now, Jumpo. Tomorrow please try a little harder to be good.
I know you can if you will."

"Yes'm," was all Jumpo said.

It was quite late when he got out, and all the boys and girls had gone
home. Jumpo thought he might as well go home, too, but as it was
getting dark he didn't go through the woods. Instead he went around by
way of Grandfather Goosey Gander's home.

Now, not far from where the old gentleman gander lived there was a bad
fox who had built himself a bungalow. And he was a ver