Evening star., 1942-04-04
Bedtime Story
By THORNTON W. BURGESS.


A fallen hero is some one to whom
every one has looked up as very
brave and then proves to be less
brave than he was supposed to be.
That was the way with Buster Bear.
When Little Joe Otter had told all
the little people of the Green Forest
and the Green Meadows how Farmer
Browns Boy had been afraid at the
very sight of one of Buster Bears
big footprints they had at once made
q hero of Buster, at least some of
them had. You see they thought
that If Farmer Browns Boy was
afraid of Buster, why of course, Bus
ter couldn't be afraid of Farmer
Browns Boy. And as this was the
first time, the very first time, that
they had ever known any one who
lives in the Green Forest to make
Farmer Browns Boy run away, they
looked on Buster Bear with a great
deal of respect and were very proud
of him. Some OF them took great
pains to tell him so and they were
glad that he had come to live in the
Green Forest.
But now they had seen Buster
Bear and Farmer Browns Boy meet
face to face, and while it is true
that Farmer Browns Boy had run
away as fast as ever he could, 1t was
also true that Buster Bear had done
the same thing. He had run even
faster than Farmer Browns Boy and
had hidden in the most lonely place
he could find in the very deepest
part of the Green Forest. 1t was
hard to believe, but 1t was true. And
right away everybody lost a great
deal of the respect for him which
they had felt. 1t was always that
way. They began to say unkind
things about him. They said them
among themselves, and some OF them
even said them to Buster when they
met him, or said them SO that he
would hear them.
OF course Blacky the Crow and
Sammy Jay, who, because they can
fly, have nothing to fear from Bus
ter, and who always delights In max
ing other people uncomfortable,
never let chance 60 by to tell Bus
ter and everybody else within hear
ing what they thought of him. They
delighted In flying about through
the Green Forest until they found
Buster Bear and then from the
safety Of the tree tops screaming at
him:
Buster Bear is big and strong;
~ His ,nit Teeth - are & big his claws are long;
ana hides himself the liyelons day"
A dozen times day Buster would
hear them screaming this. He would
grind his teeth and glare up at them,
but that was all he could do. He
couldn't get at them. He Just had
to stand it and do nothing. But
when impudent little Chatterer the
Red Squirrel shouted the same thing
from place just out of reach in a
big pine tree Buster could stand it
no longer. He gave a deep angry
scowl that made little shivers run
over Chatterer and then suddenly
started up that tree after Chatterer.
With a frightened little shrek Chat
terer scampered to the top of the
tree. He hadn't known that Buster
could climb. But Buster Is a splen-
did Climber, especially when the tree
Is big and stout as this one was, and
now he went up after .Chatterer,
growing angrily.
How Chatterer did wish he had
kept his tongue still! He ran to the
very top of the tree, so frightened
that his teeth chartered, and when
he looked down and saw those great
teeth coming nearer and nearer he
nearly tumbled down with terror.
The worst of it was there wasn't
another tree near enough for him to
Jump to. He was In trouble this
time, Chatterer, sure enough! And
there was no one to help him.