"Oh, wait a minute," said my father, "and I'll give you just the
things you need to make your mane all tidy and beautiful. I have them
here in my pack."

"You do?" said the lion. "Well, give them to me, and perhaps I'll save
you for afternoon tea after all," and he put my father down on the
ground.

My father opened the pack and took out the comb and the brush and the
seven hair ribbons of different colors. "Look," he said, "I'll show
you what to do on your forelock, where you can watch me. First you
brush a while, and then you comb, and then you brush again until all
the twigs and snarls are gone. Then you divide it up in three and
braid it like this and tie a ribbon around the end."

As my father was doing this, the lion watched very carefully and began
to look much happier. When my father tied on the ribbon he was all
smiles. "Oh, that's wonderful, really wonderful!" said the lion. "Let
me have the comb and brush and see if I can do it." So my father gave
him the comb and brush and the lion began busily grooming his mane. As
a matter of fact, he was so busy that he didn't even know when my
father left.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

_Chapter Eight_

MY FATHER MEETS A GORILLA

My father was very hungry so he sat down under a baby banyan tree on
the side of the trail and ate four tangerines. He wanted to eat eight
or ten, but he had only thirteen left and it might be a long time
before he could get more. He packed away all the peels and was about
to get up when he heard the familiar voices of the boars.

"I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen them with my own eyes,
but wait and see for yourself. All the tigers are sitting around
chewing gum to beat the band. Old Rhinoceros is so busy brushing his
tusk that he doesn't even look around to see who's going by, and
they're all so busy they won't even talk to me!"

[Illustration]

"Horsefeathers!" said the other boar, now very close to my father.
"They'll talk to me! I'm going to get to the bottom of this if it's
the last thing I do!"

The voices passed my father and went around a curve, and he hurried on
because he knew how much more upset the boars would be when they saw
the lion's mane tied up in hair ribbons.

[Illustration]

Before long my father came to a crossroads and he stopped to read the
signs. Straight ahead an arrow pointed to the Beginning of the River;
to the left, the Ocean Rocks; and to the right, to the Dragon Ferry.