-fuzzy--they wouldn't set him free;
And ev'rybody thought that he was gentle as could be--
Fizzy-fezzy-fuzzy--Ba-by Ti-ger!

"Oh!
They patted him upon his head and shook him by the paw--
Fizzy-fezzy-fuzzy--he had a bone to gnaw;
But soon he grew the biggest Tiger that you ever saw--
Fizzy-fezzy-fuzzy--what a Ti-ger!

"Oh!
One day they came to pet the brute and he began to fight--
Fizzy-fezzy-fuzzy--how he did scratch and bite!
He broke the cage and in a rage he darted out of sight--
Fizzy-fezzy-fuzzy was a Ti-ger!"

"And is there a moral to the song?" asked Queen Cor, when King
Rinkitink had finished his song with great spirit.

[Illustration]

"If there is," replied Rinkitink, "it is a warning not to fool with
tigers."

The little Prince could not help smiling at this shrewd answer, but
Queen Cor frowned and gave the King a sharp look.

"Oh," said she; "I think I know the difference between a tiger and a
lapdog. But I'll bear the warning in mind, just the same."

For, after all her success in capturing them, she was a little afraid of
these people who had once displayed such extraordinary powers.

[Illustration]

Zella Goes to Coregos

[Illustration]

CHAPTER 11

The forest in which Nikobob lived with his wife and daughter stood
between the mountains and the City of Regos, and a well-beaten path
wound among the trees, leading from the city to the mines. This path was
used by the King's messengers, and captured prisoners were also sent by
this way from Regos to work in the underground caverns.

Nikobob had built his cabin more than a mile away from this path, that
he might not be molested by the wild and lawless soldiers of King Gos,
but the family of the charcoal-burner was surrounded by many creatures
scarcely less dangerous to encounter, and often in the night they could
hear savage animals growling and prowling about the cabin. Because
Nikobob minded his own business and never hunted the wild creatures to
injure them, the beasts had come to regard him as one of the natural
dwellers in the forest and did not molest him or his family. Still,
Zella and her mother seldom wandered far from home, except on such
errands as carrying honey to Coregos, and at these times Nikobob
cautioned them to be very careful.

So when Zella set out on her journey to Queen Cor, with the two pails of
honey in her hands, she was undertaking a dangerous adventu