CHAPTER VSLICKO AND TUM TUM
“Mappo,” asked Slicko, as she sat under the shade of a tree, near the road, and looked across at the tents in the vacant lot, “is that what you call a circus, Mappo?”
“That is a circus, little Slicko,” answered the monkey, kindly.
Slicko saw the white tents, she heard the bands playing music, she heard men and boys calling out strange words, such as “ice cream cones!” “pink lemonade!” and “peanuts!” The last word was the only one Slicko knew, for she had heard that before.
Once a squirrel who had lived in a city park came to visit Slicko’s mamma and papa. And this city squirrel told how the children used to go to the park and feed the squirrels peanuts. So Slicko knew what peanuts were, when she heard the circus boys and men shouting about them.
“So that is a circus, is it?” asked little Slicko, as she looked at the big, white tents, all gay withcolored flags, fluttering in the wind, and heard the nice music.
“Yes,” answered Mappo, “that is a circus.”
“And you ran away from it—you ran away from a nice place like that?” asked Slicko in surprise.
“Oh, well, I got tired of being in a cage all the while,” said Mappo, the merry monkey. “I am going back again soon, I guess, as it is no fun to have to hunt for things to eat all the while. In the circus, though I did have to stay in a cage, I got all I wanted to eat without any trouble. Yes, I think I shall run back again, soon.”
“I should think, if you had run away, they would come after you, to find you,” said Slicko.
“They did come once,” spoke Mappo, with a laugh. “Once when I was in the woods, talking to Squinty, the comical pig, some circus men came after me to catch me, but I ran away. They haven’t caught me yet,” and he laughed and chattered, showing his many, white teeth.
For a little while Slicko and Mappo sat in the woods looking at the circus, and then, all of a sudden, the little girl squirrel cried out:
“Oh, Mappo! What are those funny animals, as big as houses, with two tails? What are they?”
“Ha! Ha! Ha!” laughed Mappo, the merry monkey. “Two tails! Ho! Ho!”
“Well, theydohave two tails,” said Slicko. “What are they?”
“That’s just what Squinty, the comical pig, wanted to know,” spoke Mappo. “He thought they had two tails also. Ha! Ha!”
“Well, haven’t they?” asked Slicko, frisking her big tail.
“No,” answered Mappo. “Those are elephants, and they have only one tail. The short thing is their tail, and the long thing, in front of them, hanging down, is their nose.”
“Their nose!” cried Slicko. “What a funny nose!”
“It is called a trunk,” explained Mappo. “But it is really the elephant’s nose. He breathes through it, but he can also use it like a hand. He picks up what he wants to eat in it, and it is hollow, like the hose with which they fill the circus tubs, so we animals can drink. Through his hollow trunk, the elephant sucks up water, squirting it down his throat when he is thirsty.”
“What a funny animal an elephant is!” exclaimed Slicko. “And how big! Especially that first one, with the two big, white things sticking out of his mouth. What are those?”
“Those are his teeth, or tusks,” explained Mappo. “But you need not be afraid of that big elephant.”
“Why not?” asked Slicko.
“Because he is the kindest, and most jolly elephant in the whole circus,” went on Mappo the monkey. “His name is Tum Tum, and if you were to meet him you would like him very much.”
“Did Squinty, the comical pig, meet Tum Tum?” asked Slicko.
“No, Squinty did not have a chance,” said Mappo, “but he saw him. If I can, I’ll call Tum Tum over here to see you. I’m sure you’d like him. And he’d give you a ride on his back.”
“Oh, I’d be afraid to let him!” exclaimed Slicko.
“Pooh! He wouldn’t hurt a fly!” laughed Mappo. “Lots of the children who come to the circus ride on Tum Tum’s back. He is very kind to them, and he would be kind to you. Only, if you should see him, be sure to tell him you’re not a rat or a mouse.”
“Of course I’m not a rat or a mouse,” said Slicko. “Why should I tell Tum Tum, the elephant, that I am not, when he can see for himself, if he has any eyes?”
“Well, you do look a little like a great rat,” said Mappo. “Not that it’s any harm, Slicko. But, you see, Tum Tum and other elephants are very much afraid of rats and mice. I don’t know why, unless they are afraid the little creatureswill run up inside their trunks and make them sneeze. But, anyhow, you’re not a rat or a mouse. And if you see Tum Tum, be sure to tell him that, the first thing.”
“I will,” promised Slicko, “but maybe I won’t see Tum Tum to speak to.”
“Oh, you might,” answered Mappo. “You can’t tell.”
Just then the merry little monkey gave a jump, and cried out:
“Ha! There come some circus men over this way. I think they are going to hunt for me again. I don’t want to be caught just yet, and be put back in my cage, so I’m going to run off and hide in the woods again. Good-bye, Slicko. I am glad I met you.”
“Good-bye, Mappo!” cried the little girl squirrel. “I am glad I met you, and I’m sorry you’re going to run away again. But I won’t tell them where you are. I guess I’ll go hide, too.”
So Mappo, the merry monkey, ran off through the woods one way, and Slicko ran the other, and they did not see each other again for some time.
I might say that I expect to tell you, in a book after this one, some of the adventures of Mappo, the merry monkey, but I have no room for him in this story.
Slicko ran on through the woods, jumpingfrom tree to tree as she had been taught. She was all alone again, and she was feeling rather lonesome without Mappo, or for some of her squirrel friends.
Slicko made her way back to the nest where her aunt had lived. She rather hoped Mrs. Whitey might be back there, waiting for her, but the nest in the tall tree was still empty. There was no sign of the nice old lady squirrel.
“Well, I guess I had better gather some nuts, and hide them away,” thought Slicko. “I may have to stay in this nest a month or more, until papa and mamma make a new home for me, and my sister and brothers.”
So Slicko scrambled down to the ground again, and began to gather nuts and acorns. These she carried up to the nest, hiding them away under the leaves. Some she put in a hollow stump, on the ground not far away from the tree where the nest was.
When Slicko had done this, she sat down on her tail, curling it up at her back like a feather, to take a rest, for she was rather tired.
“My!” she thought, as she sat there. “What a lot of things have happened to me since I had to leave my home. An owl got after me, I have seen a circus, I met a monkey and I have seen a creature, with two tails, called an elephant. At least an elephant looks as though it had twotails, no matter what Mappo says,” went on Slicko. “I wonder if I shall ever meet Tum Tum, and tell him I am not a rat or a mouse? What a funny thing it would be if I did.”
Slicko sat on the edge of the nest for some time, and then she began to feel hungry.
“I wish I had some of those peanuts I heard them talking about in the circus,” said Slicko in a whisper. “I know they must be good, from what that city-park squirrel said. And I wonder what pink lemonade and ice cream cones are? I don’t believe they are good to eat.”
You can see that Slicko had many things to learn—things that you know already, such as that ice cream cones are good to eat. But, if Slicko did not know that, she knew other things that you children do not know, such as where to find nuts, and how to gnaw through the shells, and get at the meat without using a nut cracker.
All of a sudden, as Slicko was running toward the spring of water to get a drink, after her dinner, she heard a crashing in the bushes.
“I wonder if that is Mappo coming back,” thought Slicko. She looked through the trees, and saw something almost as large as a house, and dark in color, pushing through the bushes.
“Why, it’s an elephant—it’s Tum Tum!” exclaimed Slicko, as she saw the big creature, with his trunk on one end, and his tail on the other,and two big, long, white teeth sticking out of his mouth. “Yes, that surely is Tum Tum!”
Slicko spoke the last words out loud.
“Ha! Who is calling to me?” asked the circus elephant in his deep, rumbling voice. “Who is calling me?”
“I spoke your name, Tum Tum,” said Slicko. “Here I am, by this old stump.”
Tum Tum, the jolly elephant, looked at the little squirrel, and then he began to shiver and shake as hard as he could. He shook so hard that he shook a lot of pine cones down off a pine tree up against which he was leaning.
“Oh my! Oh dear! This is terrible!” cried Tum Tum in his big, deep, rumbling voice. “Oh dear!”