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Dido, the Dancing Bear: His Many Adventures

<h2>CHAPTER V DIDO CROSSES THE OCEAN</h2> Every day, and sometimes two and three times a day, Dido’s keeper would come out to him with the horn, and make the little bear dance. And sometimes Dido grew tired. Then the man would give him a sweet bun, or a lump of sugar, and Dido could rest in the shade, or take a nice bath in the tub of water. Dido was growing to like to dance, for it was something like the tricks he and his brothers used to do in the woods, though they never called it dancing. They would find a loose, dangling branch of a tree and stand up on their hind legs to knock it about with their front paws. And sometimes when the branch would sway to and fro the bear cubs would have to jump quickly about to reach it. And that, in a way, was something like dancing. So, after all, dancing is not so very hard for a bear to learn. They seem to like it, and Dido certainly liked the good things he had to eat after each lesson. So now, whenever he heard the man play a tune on the shiny brass horn, Dido would stand up and dance. [49] “I think it is time you learned other tricks,” the man said one day. “I must teach you how to climb a tree and how to stand on your head, how to turn somersaults, and how to play soldier. But you can not learn all of them at once. We will begin on climbing a tree, for that will be easy for you.” Of course the man knew Dido could climb a tree, as all bears can do that just as cats can. Their claws are sharp, though not quite as sharp as are pussies’, and they can stick in the soft bark of a tree. Dogs’ claws are not sharp, so that is why they can not climb trees. “Come, Dido, go up in the tree,” said the keeper one day, as he fastened a longer chain on the bear’s collar. “Go up in the tree,” and he led Dido to one. But Dido did not climb up. He would have done so if he had known what the man wanted, but Dido did not know just what the words meant. He saw the tree, and he knew he could climb it, as he had often done in the woods at home, but just then he did not feel like climbing a tree. Perhaps he thought his chain was too short, and he might get a pull that would make him fall. “Ah, I shall have to give you a little lesson,” said the man. “Here, boy!” he called, and a boy came with a big sweet bun, which he put on a[50] high branch of the tree, climbing up a ladder to do it. “Now, Dido, go get the bun! Go up in the tree and get the bun,” called the man. Dido could smell the bun, for he had a very sharp nose. And he wanted the bun so much, the little bear cub did, that he climbed right up the tree and got it. “Ha!” cried the man. “That’s the way to do it! I knew you could climb a tree, but you must do it when I tell you to, so as not to keep the people waiting when we begin our travels, and go all over the world. You will not find a bun up a tree every time I ask you to climb it, Dido,” said the bear’s keeper, “but I will always give you a treat when you have finished your tricks. Now come down, Dido!” But Dido sat on the limb of the tree, eating the bun. It tasted so good he did not want to come down until he had finished it. Then he felt a pull on the chain that was fast to his collar. “Come down, Dido! Come down!” called the man, and he pulled so hard on the chain that Dido nearly fell. Then the bear knew what was wanted of him, and down he climbed. But he had eaten the bun. “Now we must do it again,” the keeper said. “Boy, put another bun up in the tree for Dido.” [51] So the boy did, and Dido climbed up and got that bun. Each time the man played a tune on the shiny brass horn, and it was a different tune from the one he played for Dido to dance. And, in a little while, Dido learned to climb up the tree whenever he heard this tune, and when the man told him to go up, whether there was a bun in the tree or not. You see Dido did not have to learn how to climb a tree, for he knew that already. What he had to learn was to do it when the man wanted him to, and soon he did. Dido could now do two tricks, if you call climbing a tree a trick. Dancing, I think, might really be called a trick for a bear, though men and women, as well as boys and girls, dance and do not think it a trick at all—that is, unless they are learning some new, fancy steps. “Dido, you are a good little bear,” said the man, as the little cub came down out of the tree after having climbed up. “I wonder if you will learn to march like a soldier, and turn a somersault as easily as you learned to dance and climb a tree?” Had the man only known it, Dido did not have to be taught to turn somersaults, for the little cub had often done this in the woods. But what Dido did have to learn was to turn a somersault when the man told him to. [52] It took a little longer for Dido to learn these two new tricks—marching like a soldier, and turning head over heels. But finally he did. His keeper was good and kind, and gave him nice things to eat, and Dido did his best to please the man. At last came the day when Dido could take a stick in his paws, hold it straight up in the air, or over his shoulder, as a soldier holds his gun, and walk around while the man played a marching tune on the shiny brass horn. Then the little bear cub learned to turn somersaults, or, rather, he learned to do it whenever the man asked him to, and when the man played a certain tune on the horn. But Dido could not stand on his head. The man tried to get him to do this, but Dido’s hind legs were so heavy that whenever he stood on his head, with his front feet down on the ground, he would fall over in a heap. “I guess we won’t try that trick,” the man said. “It is too hard for you, Dido. We will make up an easier one.” Dido could now dance, turn somersaults, march like a soldier, and climb a tree or a telegraph pole. Only there were no telegraph poles in the mountains, though soon Dido was to see some. [53] Four tricks are quite a number for a little bear cub to do, I think, even though some of them were easy. “We must now begin to think of traveling,” said the man one day. “Yes, Dido, we will soon start on our travel around the world, over to a new country called the United States of America. That is a new country for me, and it will be a new one for you. The people over there have lots of money, and they will give me pennies when you do your tricks. With the pennies I can buy things to eat for me and for you. Yes, soon we shall sail over the ocean in a big ship and go to America.” Of course Dido did not know what all this talk meant, but he saw his master smiling, and the man seemed happy, so Dido was glad, for the keeper was kind to him. A few days after this Dido’s keeper gave him a nice dinner of bread, fish and sweet buns. Dido saw that the man had a big bundle strapped over his back, while on one shoulder was the shiny tooting horn. In one hand the man had a long stick, with which Dido marched when he did his shoulder trick. “Come, Dido!” called the man, “we are now going to start on our travels. We will march through my country until we come to the ocean,[54] and there we will take a ship. And on the way you shall do your tricks, and the people will give us money so we can buy things to eat.” So Dido and his master started down the mountain. At first the bear cub, who had grown much larger, felt sad at going away from the woods where he had always lived. He could look back and see them and he knew the blue lake was there, and perhaps his brothers and father and mother were swimming in it. “Oh, I wonder if I will ever see them again?” thought Dido. He never did, but then Dido had so many adventures, and saw so many new and strange sights, that he soon forgot all about his bear-folks. That’s the way it is with wild animals, you know. And I must tell you that Dido’s father and mother, and his brothers Gruffo and Muffo, tried very hard to find him. They went looking for him that same day Dido went off to search for the honey-tree. But all Mr. Bear could find was the place where the trap had been set, with the honey in it. “I guess poor Dido is gone,” said Mr. Bear to his wife. “Oh dear!” cried Dido’s mother. “Do you think a man will eat him?” “Let us hope not,” said Mr. Bear. “Dido was caught in a trap. Well, I told him to be[55] careful of them, but he did not mind. It is too late now. Perhaps he is happier where he is.” And Dido was quite happy. His father and mother, soon after that, had to find another den to live in, because the animal trappers began searching through the mountains for wild creatures, and in a little while Dido was forgotten by his folks, who had troubles of their own to keep away from the hunters. Down the mountain went Dido and his keeper. Soon they came to a little town, or village. Dido did not know what it was, but he saw many houses, which were larger than the den he had lived in among the rocks, and he saw many men, like his kind keeper, and women and boys and girls. When Dido’s keeper led him through the village streets the boys and girls crowded about to see the bear. “Now, Dido,” said the man, “you shall dance for them.” Then the man played a tooting tune on his horn and Dido danced as he had been taught to do. Around and around he went, first lifting up one foot, then the other, the horn playing all the while. “Good, Dido! Good!” said the man. The children clapped their hands and[56] laughed, and the older folks tossed money into the hat of the keeper as he passed it around. “Now march like a soldier!” said the man, and Dido did. Then the bear climbed a tree, and turned a somersault, and the children laughed louder than before, and clapped their hands harder. “What a funny dancing bear!” cried a little girl. “I wish we had him for a pet,” said a little boy. “Ah, ha! I cannot give away my dancing bear,” said the man. “He and I are going to a far country.” For many days Dido traveled with the man, walking from town to town, sometimes to big cities. At night the man would take a blanket from the bundle on his back, roll himself up in it and go to sleep under a haystack or a bush. He would tie Dido to a tree, and the bear would go to sleep, too. Only Dido did not have to wrap himself up in a blanket, as he had a big, thick warm overcoat of fur. This was in the summer time, when it was not too cold for the man to sleep out of doors. With the money which the people tossed into the hat after they had watched the dancing bear, the man would buy things to eat for himself and[57] for Dido. And thus they traveled on and on until finally they came to the seashore. “Now we will take a ship and go across the ocean,” said the man. Dido did not know what the ocean was, but he saw a lot of water, much more than was in the blue mountain lake. But it was not the same kind. For, when Dido lapped up some with his red tongue, the water was salty. “Wuff! I do not like that water!” said Dido to himself. Dido’s master led him through a long shed and up on the ship. Of course Dido did not know what a ship was, but soon he found himself in a little room with his keeper and he knew it was all right. So Dido went to sleep. When he awakened he felt himself swaying up and down as he had often swayed when in the top of a tree. “This is queer,” thought Dido. “I am not in a tree, but I am going up and down. What makes it?” It was a ship, you see, tossing on the ocean waves. In about a week Dido and his master had crossed the ocean and were in America. The ship reached the big city of New York, and Dido was ready for many new adventures. <hr class="chap" /> [58] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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