The Quaint and Curious Quest of Johnny Longfoot, The Shoe King's Son - Catherine Besterman (best summer reads of all time TXT) 📗

The bear pondered the problem. Then he said, "I'll call my brothers who live in these mountains and ask for help."

He hallooed loudly and his voice echoed in the distance.

"Now we're in a fix," muttered Uncle Lucas, who always saw the bad side of things. "Here's where a pack of bears descends on us. There's no guarantee whatever that they won't eat us up down to the last bone."

"They certainly won't eat you up," Johnny consoled him. "You are much too skinny. They like fat."

"I'm safe then," said Uncle Lucas. He heaved a sigh of relief. He did not care at all what happened to his companions.

And, in fact, a formidable-looking crowd of bears was approaching. They were led by a giant bear who walked on his hind legs.

"Who called us, and what do you want?" roared the giant.

"We want help," answered Fuzzy rather uneasily.

"Help! Why should I help you, indeed? On the contrary, I intend to kill all of you and throw you into the deepest abyss. These mountains belong to us. And no man, or dog, or cat, is supposed to come here unpunished."

"I'll have you know Johnny is a very good boy," said Fuzzy threateningly. He reared up on his hind legs. "I will defend him with all my strength. And I'm not so weak either. Let's be friends. In exchange for your help, Johnny will do you a great favor."

"What kind of favor?" asked the giant bear, somewhat more mildly.

"From what Fuzzy tells me, I understand that all bears are musical," Johnny said loudly. "So, if you want me to, I can teach you to dance. All the other bears in the world will be extremely jealous."

The big bear thought for a moment. Then he turned to his comrades who were waiting in silence.

"What do you think? As a matter of fact, I've heard of dancing bears, but I never believed there were such things. Now, shall we eat this whole party, or shall we help them in return for dancing lessons?"

He opened his jaws wide, showing his powerful white teeth.

This terrified Uncle Lucas, and although Johnny tried to stop him, he stepped forward and said, "Learn to dance! Learn to dance! It's a wonderful idea and I'd like to take lessons, too!"

The bear looked at Uncle Lucas. There he stood in his shapeless sack, his skinny legs sticking out at one end, his skinny neck at the other.

"If your leader can teach a person like you to dance, he can certainly teach clever and strong bears," the giant bear said. "It's settled. If you do a good job, Johnny, I'll do whatever you want."

He led the travelers to a large cave.

"Just see what you've done! Now I have to teach dancing not only to the bears, but to you, too, Uncle," said Johnny.

"What's wrong with that?" asked Uncle Lucas. He was completely satisfied. "You saw yourself how happy the thought of my company made the bears. I don't see any reason to turn down free lessons. If there's something free, one should always take it. Besides, remember, our lives are at stake. And most important of all, my life."

"Well, you asked for it," Johnny said. There was such a peculiar look in his eyes that Uncle Lucas became a little uneasy.

"Listen, my boy," he said, "I don't trust you very much and I don't want you to play a trick on me again."

"Uncle," said Johnny, "you are very irritating. But I really don't have time to do anything about it, since I have to teach the bears, and you, to dance."

"Start the lesson," the giant bear said menacingly.

Johnny answered calmly, "Don't forget, dear bear, it takes some skill to teach a bear to dance. First, I have to make you suitable shoes. And after that I need a lot of big flat stones and a lot of wood."

"The bears will fetch it right away," said the giant, very much interested. "You seem quite sure of yourself, so I suppose you know what you're doing."

"But I don't suppose so," muttered Uncle Lucas. "All this seems very queer to me. I'm afraid I'm going to come out on the short end again."

While the bears were bringing wood and stones Johnny quickly and skillfully made wooden clogs for all the bears. He measured their paws and made one pair for each. When this work was done, he said, "Gentlemen, here you have excellent shoes, real dancing slippers. The next thing to do is to prepare the floor."

He ordered it covered first with wood, then with stones. Then he set fire to the wood. When the stones were quite warm, Johnny said, "Now, gentlemen. Let's start. First figure: walking on the hind legs. Do all you gentlemen know how to walk on your hind legs?"

Evidently only the giant bear and two cubs knew the trick -- and Uncle Lucas, of course. Johnny ordered them all to put the clogs on their rear paws and stand on the warm stones.

"We have no band to dance to, but that doesn't matter," said Johnny. "The cats can miaow and the dogs can howl and that will make perfect music."

So the cats miaowed and the dogs howled beautifully, and the bears, whose front feet were getting too hot, rose nicely on their hind ones, properly shod in dance clogs.

The bears hummed with the music and Johnny gave directions. "Faster! Slower! One! Two! One! Two!"

The giant bear smiled and, opening his big jaws, said, "That's excellent! This boy is very smart! Now I know it."

"It will be your turn soon," said Johnny. "Yours, and the two cubs', and Uncle Lucas'."

Realizing what was in store for him, Uncle Lucas pulled out some of his remaining hairs in despair and shouted, "No, I object! I protest! Help! Murder! Police! My nephew wants to burn me!"

But suddenly he felt the weight of a bear's heavy paw on his shoulder and a grim voice said in his ear, "Silence! No shouting here! Dance!"

A moment later, Uncle Lucas was standing on the hot floor.

"I warned you that these dancing lessons wouldn't be any fun for you," said Johnny. "But you didn't believe me." He called out, "Gentlemen! Second figure! Jog! Raise your right knee, then your left. Quickly! Up and down, standing in the same place!"

Uncle Lucas was the first to follow the command because he was barefoot and his feet were getting hot. But the bears soon followed suit because even the clogs became uncomfortable and it was hard to keep still. Soon, to the rhythm of cats' and dogs' music, the whole company was dancing.

Then the giant bear said approvingly, "You are very clever, my boy, as you have taught us to dance. From today on we will call ourselves the Dancing Mountain Bears. I will make you an honorary bear, which is one of the greatest honors imaginable. This will entitle you to any help you need from us at any time."

"Then help us, please, to get through these mountains and reach the shore of the foamy sea," begged Johnny. He explained about the coral island.

The bear thought awhile, then shook his head and said, "That will be a long and difficult journey. Especially now. Because this is the season of big sea storms. You will have to build a very strong ship that can weather the gales. As for crossing the mountains, that's simple enough. We'll carry you on our backs."

So the journey over the mountains started again, with each bear carrying a traveler on his back.

Johnny was having a wonderful time. It was fun to climb higher and higher, just sitting comfortably on a woolly, soft back. He marveled at the tremendous mountains, the snow fields shining in the sun and the silvery streams rushing down the mountainsides.

The cats and the kindly dogs were happy too, as well as Fuzzy, who was proud that he could dance, and that thanks to him everyone was having such a comfortable journey.

Only Uncle Lucas was gloomy and very angry. It is Johnny's fault, he thought to himself, that

I've been so terribly humiliated. Not only was I made uncomfortable, but I had to dance like a clown, accompanied by cat-and-dog music. I! The respected citizen, Lucas Longfoot. There's plenty that Johnny's going to have to pay for! Just thinking of it all may give me a nervous breakdown. Here's the list: He breathed my air; he stepped on my ground; he took my dogs and my bear; his friends, the cats, damaged my skin; I lost my grain; and on top of it all, he made a fool of me. That's awful.

And he started to cry from grief and sorrow. But at the same time he cautiously pulled out some of the bear's hair and put it in his sack. It might be useful someday, he thought. Perhaps for a pillow or a brush. Or I might sell it. I don't know yet. But I always hoard what I can.

"One hour more," said the giant bear after a while. "One more hour and we'll reach the seashore. But that's where our hard work begins."

Johnny nodded. He, too, was worried about how they would reach the coral island through the stormy seas.

Far away, at the foot of the mountains, the sea stretched out as far as they could see. High, green, foam-covered waves were breaking at the shore. Countless sea gulls soared above.

"Here we are," said the giant bear, puffing heavily. They stopped on a high heather-covered hill. "Let's rest here."

The bear lay down on his back and licked his tired paws. "Johnny," he explained, "you need an extremely strong ship. My bears can uproot you some trees from the near-by forests. They can also help you to build your ship. But we need sails, nails, tools. We could buy all these from the fishermen. But we need money."

There was no money, of course, and Johnny was worried. After all, he was only a little boy in a long coat and a big hat.

"If you'll let me and two other bears leave for two days," said Fuzzy, who had been listening, "I'll get everything you need to build a ship. In the meanwhile, not to be losing time, you could be getting the wood in shape."

"That will be fine," Johnny answered happily. "You can start as soon as you want. You are a fine and good comrade. While you are gone we will cut the wood and learn to swim, which is of the utmost importance for sailors."

"I am too old to learn new things. I won't," said Uncle Lucas. "And I still remember my first dancing lesson."

"Then what will you be doing, dear Uncle?" asked Johnny kindly.

"I'll count my losses," Uncle Lucas answered angrily. And he started writing numbers on the sand.

"You might leave some space for unforeseen losses," said Fuzzy mysteriously as he left.

"What does he mean by that?" asked Uncle Lucas in new alarm.

But Fuzzy was already far away.

THE WAVES, seeing Johnny and his party, got wilder and wilder. Evidently they wanted to start their war against the brave boy right away. But, eyeing his enemies, he called out to the waves: "Be patient, please, O mighty waves! I have to prepare myself for the