12 For, running in the barn-yard, He did not calculate What consequences would befall, And hit the swinging gate. 13 It quickly swung together, Down dropped the iron latch O, Barney Gray! to think that you The runaway should catch! 14 The Children danced with pleasure, The Groom roared with delight, The Others smiled their broadest smiles Or laughed with all their might. 15 But Barney, naughty Barney, Had mischief in him still For when the laughing Coachman tried To lead him up the hill 16 His donkeyship determined That he would yet have fun So braced himself and stood stock still As if he weighed a ton! 17 But mighty was the Coachman And pulled with such a will That Barney soon was being dragged Full roughly up the hill. 18 "Well, well!" at last thought Barney "The Coachman is so strong I might as well be good just now," And so he walked along. 19 And when he reached the stable And stood within the stall, You'd scarce believe so meek a beast Could run away, at all! 20 Now all the meditations Of this same Barney Gray Are only of some future chance When he may run away. THE THREE BEARS[M] Once upon a time there were three bears who lived in a castle in a great wood. One of them was a great big bear, and one was a middling bear, and one was a little bear. And in the same wood there was a fox who lived all alone; his name was Scrapefoot. Scrapefoot was very much afraid of the bears, but for all that he wanted very much to know all about them. And one day as he went through the wood he found himself near the Bears' Castle, and he wondered whether he could get into the castle. He looked all about him everywhere, and he could not see any one. So he came up very quietly, till at last he came up to the door of the castle, and he tried whether he could open it. Yes! the door was not locked, and he opened it just a little way, and put his nose in and looked, and he could not see any one. So then he opened it a little way farther, and put one paw in, and then another paw, and another and another, and then he was all in the Bears' Castle. He found he was in a great hall with three chairs in it--one big, one middling, and one little chair; and he thought he would like to sit down and rest and look about him; so he sat down on the big chair. But he found it so hard and uncomfortable that it made his bones ache, and he jumped down at once and got into the middling chair, and he turned round and round in it, but he couldn't make himself comfortable. So then he went to the little chair and sat down in it, and it was so soft and warm and comfortable that Scrapefoot was quite happy; but all at once it broke to pieces under him and he couldn't put it together again! So he got up and began to look about him again, and on one table he saw three saucers, of which one was very big,