Ellen's Lion by Crockett Johnson Read Free Book Online Page A

side.
    â€œGood-bye,” said Ellen, waving her handkerchief as the train started.
    The train gathered speed and headed for the tunnel. It plunged in, engine and cars and lion, and the tunnel jumped and joggled. When the last two cars reappeared from the other side the lion was not on board.
    â€œHe got off at Arabia,” said Ellen.
    The train continued around the tracks by way of Greenland and Delaware Water Gap. It passed Ellen and the station without stopping and it headed for the tunnel again.
    This time the tunnel bounced forward as the engine drove into it and the train came to a noisy stop, with its cars off the tracks.
    Ellen turned off the electric control switch and crawled around to the tunnel. She lifted it and pulled the train forward, setting the cars on the rails. She turned the tunnel upside down to examine it, pried the lion out of it, and set it over the tracks again behind the train. She put the lion back on his stomach on the last two cars and returned to the station and the control switch.
    The train started smoothly and picked up speed. A family of Eskimos in Greenland were surprised to see it go by with a lion riding on it.
    â€œWhooooo!” said the train as it approached the station and began to slow down. “Here we come from Arabia!”
    But before the train came to a stop the lion’s front paw hit the station roof. The roof fell off the station and the lion slid back on the tops of the cars and tumbled off the train.
    With a little difficulty Ellen got the station roof back in place. Then she picked up the lion.
    â€œWell, hello!” she said, shaking his front paw warmly. “How was your trip to Arabia? What is it like there?”
    The lion refused to say a word about it.

CLOSE ESCAPE
    E llen screamed into the telephone.
    â€œHelp! There’s a lion in my room!”
    â€œWhere?” said the lion.
    â€œYou!” Ellen pointed at him.
    â€œMe? But I’ve always been here,” the lion said. “Since the Christmas before last.”
    â€œYou’ve got a tail with a brush on the end of it and a mane!” Ellen let her eyes grow wide. “I just realized you’re supposed to be a real lion!”
    â€œI suppose so.” The lion sounded a bit annoyed. “What of it?”
    Ellen stared at him with a terribly frightened expression on her face.
    â€œWhat of it?” she repeated, in a trembling voice. “If you’re supposed to be a real lion you’re supposed to eat people when you’re hungry.”
    â€œYou are not in the least frightened of me, Ellen,” said the lion, losing patience. “You know very well that a stuffed lion cannot be hungry and cannot possibly eat people.”
    â€œYou’re stuffed, so you can’t be hungry.” Ellen began to laugh and laugh. “That’s a funny joke. Don’t you see?”
    The lion did not smile.
    Ellen became serious too. She looked guiltily at the telephone as she set it on top of a heap of other toys.
    â€œI don’t blame you for being angry,” she said. “I should have asked you if you ate people before I called a policeman.”
    â€œYou didn’t call on a real telephone,” said the lion.
    â€œBut I called a real policeman,” said Ellen. “He’ll be here any minute to take you away.”
    The lion said nothing. Ellen rested her chin on a fist and thought.
    â€œDon’t worry, though,” she said. “I’ll think of something.”
    â€œI am not worried,” said the lion.
    â€œWell, you ought to be,” Ellen said. “They’ll put you in the zoo, in a cage. You won’t be able to get out, or go anywhere.”
    â€œI never go anywhere anyway,” the lion said.
    Ellen looked at the window. She jumped up and opened it wide.
    â€œI know what,” she said. “I’ll tell the policeman you went away. I’ll tell him you made a big leap out of the window. And you