er did his mother
or his sister. You see, Cuffy's face was so swollen from the bees'
stings that his face did not look like a little bear's face at all. His
nose, instead of being smooth and pointed, was one great lump. And he
hadn't a sign of an eye--just two slits.

"What's the matter with you?" Mr. Bear asked again. "Are you ill? Have
you the black measles?"

At that, Mrs. Bear rose hastily from the table and snatched Silkie up
from her high-chair and took her right out of the room. The thought of
black measles frightened Mrs. Bear. You know, they are ever so much
worse than _plain_ measles. And she was afraid Silkie would catch them.

Well, poor Cuffy felt more miserable than ever. He saw that his own
family didn't know him. And he wondered what was going to become of him.
Then, when his father told him very sternly to leave his house at once,
Cuffy began to cry.

"Oh! oh! oh!" he sobbed. "It's me--it's only me!" he cried. That very
morning, at breakfast, his father had told him to say "It is I," instead
of "It is _me_." But Cuffy forgot all about that, now.

"What! Are you my Cuffy?" his father exclaimed. For he knew Cuffy at
last. You see, the bees hadn't stung Cuffy's _voice_. And in no time at
all Cuffy was tucked into his little bed and his mother was gently
licking his poor, aching face with her tongue. Among bears that is
thought to be the very best thing to do for bee-stings.

After a while Cuffy stopped crying. And it was not long before he had
fallen asleep.

But it was two days before Cuffy Bear felt really himself again. And
then his father went off into the forest with him and Cuffy led the way
to the bee-tree; for Mr. Bear knew enough about bees so that he could
take their honey away from them without getting stung badly. He didn't
mind just a _few_ stings, you know.

Well--what do you think happened? When they came to the old tree Mr.
Bear took just one look at the nest into which Cuffy had thrust his
paw. And then he began to laugh, though he was somewhat disappointed, as
you will see.

"Those aren't bees!" he told Cuffy. "That's a hornets' nest!... We'd get
no honey there."

XIX

THE LITTLE BEAR PETER

One day late in the summer Cuffy Bear went blackberrying. And on his way
home he stopped at the deep pool where the hornets had chased him. He
stayed there for a little while to watch the speckled trout as their
bright sides flashed out of the depths of the clear water. As Cuff