The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1921-12-10
BURGESS BED
TIME STORIES

A MTSCHEVIOUS MERRY IITTT, n
BREEZE
What seems mere trifIe quite often
OF sreatest Importance, so keen II
in mind.
"A Merry Little Breeze.
old Mother West Wind had come
down from the Purple Hills at the
very first hint of the break of day
and had emptied her children. the
Merry Little Breezes, out of her big
nag on the Green eMadows. Most Of
tEem had remained there, but two or
thIee mad at once danced away to the
1feen Forest to see what they could
ma there. One of these had gone
straight TO the pond of Paddy the
Beaver. az
NOW, this. particular Merry Little
bFeeze was a mischevious Little
~ eeze.s Dancing across the pond the
merry Little Breeze had ruffled the
feathers of Honker the Goose out in
the middle OF the pond, and then
danced on across to the other shore
ana right away had discovered Bus
ter Bear and tickled his nose with
the scents picked up on the way.
Busters wonderful nose had care
fully tested those scents and found
none of an enemy of any kind
The Merry Little Breeze rumpIed
Busters fur and then went on. So
presently it came to a strange look
ing creature crawling very slowly
and carefully. The Merry Little
Breeze didn't know It was a hunter
with terrible gun, but IT did know
that 1t was man and remembered
that man is the one, and only one,
of whom Buster is afraid. More than
once had that Merry Little Breeze
seen Buster take to his heels at the
mere smell of Farmer Browns Boy In
the Green Forest
Out of pure mischief that Merry
Little Breeze turned and hurried
straight back to Buster Bear and
tickled his nose with the scent of
that hunter. The instant Buster
caught that dreaded man smell things
began to happen. My, my, how they
did happenl They happened SO fast
tEat the Merry Little Breeze could
hardly keep track of them.
That hunter hadn't the least idea
that Buster Bear was anywhere
about. Not a thought of Buster Bear
had entered his head. Just ahead of
him was what he took for a big
black stump, for it was not yet light
enough to see clearly. Toward this
he was crawling, planning to hide be-
hind 1t while he waited for a chance
to shoot Honker the Goose or some
of his flock. He had no thought of
anything but those Geese.
Suddenly there was a loud snort
and that black stump became alive,
very much alivel That was the in
slant after the Merry Little Breeze
had tickled Busters nose with the
scent of the hunter. The man smell
was SO strong that Buster knew a
man was behind him and very close.
He didn't know 1t was a hunter and
he didn't stop to find out. 1t was
enough for Buster to know that a
man was near. He was frightened
almost out of his wits. So with a
snort of fear he took to his heels,
crashing through the brush, humping
into trees because he was too scared
to look where he was going, and
making a great racket.
But Buster was no more scared
than was that hunter when what he
had taken for a black stump proved
to be Buster Bear. With a yell that
frightened Buster all the more, the
hunter leaped to his feet and ran In
the opposite direction, and he, too,
bumped into trees and stumbled over
logs and crashed through the brush.
And he didn't stop running until he
was out of the Green Forest
Now. all that noise frightened
Honker the Goose and his flock quite
as badly. There was a wild honking
and beating of great wings. Up rose
Honker, his flock behind him. Up. up,
up they went until they were high
in the sky. Then they headed south
on their long, dangerous journey.
And to this day they don't know how
that Merry Little Breeze and Buster
Bear saved them from the hunter
with the terrible gun.
And the funny part Is that the mis-
ehievous Merry Little Breeze and
3lstar Pear don't know 1t either.
fGc9srighs 1921, by t. w. Burgess,)