Bunny shouted, “My fur and whiskers, what can be the matter?”

Susan said, “Bless my buttons, there is soot all over the room.”  Tippy Toes danced on this foot, and danced on that foot, and said,

     “Let me go up the chimney because,
     I think it may be Santa Claus.”

Then Bunny and Susan laughed, but soon Bunny Cotton-Tail coughed, and Susan sneezed, so Tippy Toes knew something must be done at once.  He ran outdoors and looked up at the chimney.

There was Bushy-Tail, the sly old Fox acting as a chimney-sweep.  He was sweeping the chimney with his long, beautiful tail.

[Illustration:  “He was sweeping the chimney with his long, beautiful tail”]

Tippy Toes cried, “Please come down and I will show you how to dance.”  Bushy-Tail was surprised you may be sure.  He thought it was Snubby Nose, and Snubby Nose never said, “Please.”

He jumped off the roof with a bound and howled, “Oh, ho!  So you will show me how to dance, will you?”

Then Bushy-Tail chased Tippy Toes away and away and away in the woods.

Tippy Toes said to himself,

     “I’m in a corner without a doubt,
     But if I keep cheerful I will get out.”

At that very minute they met old Grandpa Grumbles.  He said,

     “It is getting cold I’ve heard it said,
     Bushy-Tail where are your mittens, red?”

Then the most surprising thing happened!

Bushy-Tail gave a howl and ran away as fast as his legs could carry him.

“What does it all mean?” asked Tippy Toes.

Grandpa Grumbles replied, “Why, Snubby Nose, you have a poor memory if you have forgotten about the red mittens.  Don’t you remember that Santa Claus gave Bushy-Tail a pair of magic mittens?”

Tippy Toes said, politely, “Please tell me about it.”

Grandpa Grumbles said, “Bushy-Tail put on the red magic mittens and they pinched his paws.”

“Ha, ha, ha!” laughed Tippy Toes, “How long did he have to wear those mittens?” Grandpa Grumbles answered,

     “Really, now, I cannot say,
     But I guess it was a year and a day.”

Then Tippy Toes laughed so hard that he doubled right up in a little ball and rolled over and over.

“Come, come,” said Grandpa Grumbles, “You had better go back to see Bunny and Susan, they may think Bushy-Tail has eaten you up.”

So they traveled back together to see Bunny and Susan.  When they came to the house there was soot on everything.  There was soot on the carpet and furniture and pictures.  There was soot on the new lamp, and on Susan’s spectacles.

Grandpa Grumbles shouted,

     “You are careless folks, I do declare,
     To let the soot blow everywhere.”

Bunny Cotton-Tail coughed, and Susan sneezed, and Grandpa Grumbles said,