hem, just as I was taught to dance--so we can make fun and jolly
times for the boys and girls. Wait, and you'll see."

And, surely enough, a little later Nero's cage was moved into the larger
tent, next to the one where the animals were kept. And then Nero's
trainer came and spoke to him.

"Well, Nero," said the man, "now we're going to see if you can do your
tricks before a whole crowd, as nicely as you did them in the barn at
Bridgeport. Don't grow excited. You know I'm a friend of yours. Now do
your best, and the boys and girls will laugh and clap their hands."

So the keeper opened the door of the lion's cage and went inside. As
soon as he did several of the boys and girls, and the big folks too,
gasped, and some said:

"Oh, isn't that terrible! I wouldn't go into the cage of a real, live
lion for anything!"

You see they didn't know Nero was quite tame, and that the jungle beast
liked the man who fed him and was kind to him.

"Now do your tricks, Nero!" said the trainer.

And Nero did. He jumped over a stick; he stood up on his hind legs and,
putting his paws on the trainer's shoulders, made believe to kiss the
man, though of course he only touched the man's cheek with his cold,
damp nose, just as, sometimes, your dog puts his nose against your cheek
to show how much he likes you; next Nero stood up on a sort of
upside-down washtub, or pedestal; and after that he jumped through a
hoop covered with paper.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen," said the trainer, speaking to the
circus crowd, "I will do the best trick of all. I will have Nero, my pet
lion, open his mouth as wide as he can, and I will put my head inside!"

And then, all of a sudden, some little boy in the crowd piped up and
cried out:

"Oh, Mister, don't do that! He might bite your head off!"

Everybody laughed at that, even Nero's trainer, who said:

"Oh, I'm not afraid. Nero is a good lion and wouldn't bite me. Come on
now, old fellow, for the last and best trick of all!" cried the man, and
he cracked his whip, though of course he did not strike Nero with it.

The circus lion knew just what to do, for he had been trained in this
trick. I didn't say anything about it before, because I was saving it as
a surprise for you.

"Open your mouth!" suddenly cried the trainer, and Nero opened his jaws
as wide as he could.

"Oh! Ah! Look!" cried the people, as they saw his big, red tongue and
the white, sharp teeth.

"Now!" cried the trainer, and