es growl and roar louder
than ever, as if they had expected to sample me and were sorry to see me
go.

"That's what a menagerie is--it's a place where they have all the kinds
of animals and things in the world, for show, and a good many birds, and
maybe turtles, too, but they don't have any fine clear pond. They have
just a big tent, like the one Mr. Crow saw, and a lot of cages inside.
They keep most of the animals in cages, and they ought to keep them all
there, and I don't think they feed them very much, nor the best things,
or they wouldn't look so fierce and hungry.

"They just keep them for Mr. Man and his friends to look at and talk
about, and if Mr. Turtle will take my advice he will keep out of a
menagerie and live in the Wide Blue Water where he was born. I wouldn't
have gone there again unless I had been dragged there by force, or
unless they had put those tame animals into cages with the others. No
doubt there are some very fine, strong animals in a menagerie, but they
wouldn't be there if they could help it, and if anybody ever invites any
of you to join a menagerie, take my advice and don't do it."

Then Mr. Dog knocked the ashes out of his pipe again, and all the other
Deep Woods People knocked the ashes out of _their_ pipes, too, and
filled them up fresh, and one said one thing, and one said another about
being in a menagerie or out of it, and every one thought it would be a
terrible thing to be shut up in a cage, except Mr. 'Possum, who said he
wouldn't mind it if they would let him sleep enough and give him all he
could eat, but that a cage without those things would be a lonesome
place.

Then Mr. 'Coon said that a little adventure had happened to him once
which he had never mentioned before, because he had never known just
what to make of it; but he knew now, he said, that he had come very near
getting into a menagerie, and he would tell them just what happened.

The Story Teller looked down at the quiet figure in his lap. The Little
Lady's head was nestled close to his shoulder, and her eyes were
straining very hard to keep open.

I think we will save Mr. 'Coon's story till another night, he said.

WHEN MR. 'COON WAS A LITTLE BOY

MR. 'COON TELLS HOW HE CAME NEAR BEING A PART OF A MENAGERIE, AND HOW HE
ONCE TOLD A STORY TO MR. DOG

"YOU can tell about Mr. 'Coon, now--the the story you didn't tell last
night, you know," and the Little Lady wriggles herself into a
comfortable corner