"Pooh!" said the Little Gray Mouse, "who is afraid of a bear? I will stay in his cave all night, and tangle his fur into little hard knots!"

And that night while the Great White Bear was hunting in the woods, the Little Gray Mouse slipped into his cave and hid himself in a corner of the rocks.

But when the Great White Bear came home he smelled the Little Gray Mouse and roared: "Some mouse is hiding in my cave! I smell a mouse!" Then the Great White Bear listened to hear what the mouse had to say, but the Little Gray Mouse was very much frightened, and was trembling all over and did not say a word.

The Great White Bear was very tired, so he thought that he would not catch the Little Gray Mouse until morning, so he crawled into his nest and went to sleep.

When the Great White Bear was sound asleep and snoring, the Little Gray Mouse came from the corner of the rocks and tangled the Great White Bear's tail fur into little hard knots.

The next morning when the Great White Bear awoke he found that the Little Gray Mouse had tangled his tail fur into little hard knots, and the Great White Bear was very angry, and said to the mouse:

"I let you sleep in my warm cave and then you tangled my tail fur into little hard knots!"

The Little Gray Mouse was so frightened that he ran out of the cave and hid in the woods.

The Great White Bear sat down and tried to untangle the little hard knots, but his tail was so short, and the place where his tail fur was tangled was so hard to reach that the Great White Bear could not untangle his tail fur, and he kept getting angrier every minute, and at last he became so furious that he rushed from his cave and began tearing the woods to pieces to find the Little Gray Mouse. But the Little Gray Mouse hid under some leaves, and the Great White Bear could not find him.

The Great White Bear saw King Robin sitting in his tree. "Tell me, King Robin, where I can find the Little Gray Mouse?"

"I do not know where the Little Gray Mouse may be!" said King Robin. "He is hiding in the woods!"

Then the Great White Bear sat down and thought, and thought, and thought, and at last he said: "I am going to find the Little Gray Mouse if I have to freeze the woods! You have always been a good friend of mine, King Robin, and I dislike to put you to any trouble, but if I were you I would take my family and go across the lakes and over the mountains and along the river to the great bay!"

King Robin thought that the Great White Bear was joking, but the Great White Bear stood in the door of his cave and blew the cold air into the woods, and soon the frost from his cold breath whitened the twigs of the trees, and turned the leaves many strange and beautiful colors.

"What a pretty woods you are making!" said King Robin to the Great White Bear, but the Great White Bear only answered:

"If I were you I would take my family and go across the lakes, and over the mountains, and along the river to the great bay!"

And the next night the Great White Bear stood in the door of his cave and blew his cold breath through the woods, and when the morning came the bare branches of the trees were singing in the wind, and the leaves were drifting in the hollows, and King Robin and his family were cold and hungry.

"If I were you, I would take my family and go across the lakes and over the mountains, and along the river to the great bay!" said the Great White Bear to King Robin.

And that night the Great White Bear stood in the door of his cave and blew his cold breath through the woods, and when the morning came the ground was white with snow, and the streams were covered with ice, and the Great White Bear saw King Robin sitting in his tree,--"If I were you, I would take my family and go across the lakes and over the mountains, and along the river to the great bay."

Then King Robin called his family together, and repeated to them what the Great White Bear had told him,--"Across the lakes and over the mountains and along the river to the great bay!" and King Robin made each one repeat it over and over again,--"Across the lakes, and over the mountains, and along the river to the great bay."

And that very day while the snow was still falling and the cold breath of the Great White Bear was blowing through the woods, King Robin led his family southward across the lakes and over the mountains, and along the river to the great bay, and they could feel the cold breath of the Great White Bear on their backs until they reached the great bay.

And the Great White Bear blew his cold breath through the woods until the forest was deep with snow, and the frosty air sparkled at night, and the frozen trees snapped with the cold. "Now I have frozen the Little Gray Mouse!" said the Great White Bear to himself, and he went back to his cave and slept until the woods were warm with the breath of the south wind, and King Robin was back in his tree.

And that is the story of the first Winter, and we should never have had another were it not for the foolish Little Gray Mouse, who was hidden all winter under the snow. For if the Little Gray Mouse would but be content to stay well hidden from the Great White Bear, then we should have no more Winter, but in the Fall the foolish Little Gray Mouse runs through the corn stubble and the Great White Bear sees him. "There goes the Little Gray Mouse who tangled my tail fur!" roars the Great White Bear, and again he blows his cold breath through the woods, and over the country, and all the cold weather we have is on account of that foolish Little Gray Mouse who tangled the tail fur of the Great White Bear!

When Robert Robin had finished speaking, Mrs. Robin said, "Now, children, you must all repeat what the Great White Bear told King Robin,--'Across the lakes and over the mountains, and along the river to the great bay.'" Then all the youngster robins repeated, "Across the lakes and over the mountains, and along the river to the great bay," and while they were talking, the cool wind began to blow from out the north, and Mrs. Robin said, "Feel how cold that wind is getting! The Great White Bear must have seen the Little Gray Mouse!"

CHAPTER IX

MISTER ROBERT ROBIN HAS A BATTLE WITH THE SPARROWS

One morning Mister Robert Robin was awake earlier than usual. The wind was blowing cold and chilly, and the stars were shining out of a cold sky. The faintest glow was to be seen in the east, but that was enough to prove to Robert Robin that morning was about to break. Yet Robert Robin did not sing his Hurry-up song.

It was so cold and chilly that he did not feel like singing, and besides, he thought to himself, "Why should I awaken the birds and squirrels on a cold morning like this? There is nothing for them to do, so I will let them sleep!"

So Robert Robin took a little nap, and when he awoke the sun was just coming up, and then Robert Robin could see the frost. The roofs of the farmer's buildings were covered with it, and so were the fence rails, and even the leaves of the big ba.s.swood were white in places.

Mister Tom Squirrel was running through the woods telling everyone that there had been a frost, and that the chestnut burrs would soon be open.

Mister Tom Squirrel was very much pleased, but Robert Robin could not help feeling sad. For he knew that Winter was coming, and that the Great White Bear was blowing his cold breath through the woods.

That very day the leaves of the big ba.s.swood turned brown, and were dead, but the leaves of the apple trees still shone with a glossy green.

The apple tree seemed to like the frost.

Robert Robin did not sing at all, he felt as if he had lost something.

In the afternoon Mrs. Robin said: "When do we go across the lakes, and over the mountains, and along the river to the great bay?"

"We might start to-day," answered Robert Robin. "Let us call the children and go at once. We should be able to get as far as Watkins Glen, or Elmira."

"Then we could sleep in the Glen!" said Mrs. Robin.

"There are too many crows in the Glen!" said Robert Robin, "but if we reached Elmira, we might stay with Cousin Phineas, who lives on the Heights!"

"Let us call the children and start right away!" said Mrs. Robin.

All the youngster robins came hurrying at the call, except little Sheldon. But little Sheldon could not be found, and though all the robins searched and called he did not answer nor come in sight.

"Where _can_ that child be?" said Mrs. Robin. "We cannot go south and leave him here all alone!"

"No!" said Robert Robin. "That would never do! The owls might get him!"

Jim Crow came flying along and asked, "What seems to be the trouble, folks?"

"We have lost little Sheldon!" said Robert Robin.

"Where did you lose him?" asked Jim Crow.

"We lost him from where he isn't!" said Robert Robin.

"You keep on looking where he isn't, and I will go and look where he is!" said Jim Crow, as he flew away.

"He may be playing with those Nuthatch boys!" said Mrs. Robin.

All the robins kept searching the woods for little Sheldon, but Mister Jim Crow flew over to Brigg's Brambles, and in a very short time he came hurrying back and called to Robert Robin:

"Little Sheldon is over in Brigg's Brambles playing I-spy with Billy Nuthatch!"