Well—this was what happened. Mrs.
Eagle did intend to take Cuffy home with her
and serve him up for dinner that very night At first,
after she had seized Cuffy, she mounted higher and
higher into the air, so that she could at last swoop
down on the top of the mountain, right beside her
nest. But Cuffy was a very fat little bear.
And soon Mrs. Eagle found that she had a heavy load.
And it was only a few minutes before she discovered
that she couldn’t fly up any higher with Cuffy.
In fact, she began to sink, little by little.
Yes, Cuffy was so heavy that as Mrs. Eagle grew tired
his weight dragged her down toward the earth again.
Mrs. Eagle saw what was happening. But she didn’t
want to let Cuffy go. So she flew far out from
the side of the mountain, hoping that she would soon
feel stronger. But all the time she kept growing
weaker and weaker. And all the time she kept
falling faster and faster, until all at once Mrs.
Eagle was afraid that she would lose her balance and
go tumbling down onto the ground herself.
She was still very angry. And she hated to lose
the fine dinner she had been counting on. But
she saw nothing else to do but let go of Cuffy Bear.
So she gave one last scream of rage; and the next instant
Cuffy felt himself dropping through the air like a
stone.
Now, Cuffy had shut his eyes tight, just as he did
when he was drifting down the river on the cake of
ice; so he did not see what was happening. But
as luck had it, when Mrs. Eagle let him go she was
flying right over the top of a big fir-tree.
And as Cuffy fell, he dropped plump! into the
branches, and down he went, crashing through the soft,
springing boughs.
Cuffy clutched wildly at the branches. And though
he tumbled through them one after another, at last
he managed to hold tight to a big limb. And then,
after he had caught his breath again, he crept carefully
down to the ground.
He wondered where he was. The place had a strangely
familiar look. It seemed to Cuffy that he must
have been there before. And then, as he peered
cautiously around, what should he see but the door
of his father’s house, right in front of him!
Yes! Mrs. Eagle had dropped Cuffy right in his
father’s door-yard! And Cuffy wasn’t
even late for dinner.
As he grew older Cuffy often went to the top of Blue
Mountain. But never, so long as he lived, did
he get home again so quickly.
XII
CUFFY BEAR GOES TO MARKET
“Mother! When is my birthday?” Cuffy
asked, a few days after his father had brought home
the little pig.
“Why, your birthday comes on the day the wild
geese begin to fly south,” Mrs. Bear said.
“Is that soon?” Cuffy asked.
“Bless you, no! Not for months and months!”
his mother said.
