“There is where the tail is,” said the owl.  “Just wait and I’ll have it out to you in a jiffy and a half,” and bless me, if that owl didn’t go in that hole.  He stayed there some time, and Buddy could hear voices inside, talking, and land sakes, goodness me alive, and a cherry pie! out of that hole was thrust a great, big, bushy tail.  A tail, and nothing else, believe me, if you please.

“Oh, what a fine tail!” cried Buddy in delight.

“Do you think so?” asked a voice.  “Then just grab hold of it, hold tight, and it’s yours!”

Well, Buddy didn’t think there was any danger, so he grabbed hold of the tail, and held on tight, but oh, dear me! instead of pulling the tail out, he found himself being pulled in.  Yes, sir, right into that hole, and land knows what would have happened if Buddy’s sister, Brighteyes, hadn’t come along just then on her way home from her aunt’s house.  She saw right away that the bushy tail was fast to something inside the hole.

“That’s a fox’s tail!” she cried, “and he’s pulling you into his den!  Let go, quickly!  Let go, Buddy!”

So Buddy let go just in time, though the fox and the owl rushed out and tried to grab him, but they fell down, and couldn’t get up in time, and he and his sister ran home.  You see it was just a trick of that owl and fox, to get Buddy into the den, and eat him up, but they didn’t, I’m glad to say.  And after that Buddy never wanted a tail.  Now if it doesn’t rain in the dishpan and turn the umbrella inside out, I’ll tell you in the next story about Buddy walking a tight rope.

STORY X

BUDDY WALKS A TIGHT ROPE

One day after Buddy Pigg had been on a visit to Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow, the two puppy dogs, who were once in a circus, he came home all excited.  He ran out in the yard, began pawing over in the woodpile, and soon he ran into the house, where Brighteyes, his sister, was washing the potatoes for dinner.

“Do you know where there is any wire, Brighteyes?” the little boy guinea pig asked.

“Wire?  No, I haven’t seen any around the house.  What do you want of it?  Are you going to wire a tail on to yourself?” and Buddy’s sister smiled just the least bit.

“Please don’t remind me of that,” said Buddy, for he felt a little ashamed of the time he had tried to get a tail for himself and had been nearly dragged into a fox’s den, as I told you in the story before this one.  “No, Brighteyes, I’m not going to make a tail.  I am going to do a circus trick, and you can see me if you want to,” he said.

“Oh, Buddy! are you really?” she cried, and she was interested all of a sudden, you see, for she had never seen much of a circus.

“Yes, I’ll do the trick, if I can find a bit of wire,” went on Buddy.  “Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow told me how to do it; and I’m sure I can.  It’s walking a tight rope, and it’s very hard to do.”