When Benjy went to bed that night he could not sleep. He wished he had not thrown that dog into the river. It might get him into trouble,for he knew that if Nox found the Scotch terrier he would put him under the willow tree, where the owner would be sure to find him.

So Benjy got out of bed and ran down to the river. But he saw nothing of the terrier. Perhaps Nox had not been around yet.

Then Benjy looked up into the willow tree and saw the round, yellow moon looking down at him through the branches. It looked so big and so near that Benjy thought if he were sitting on a high branch he could touch it. Then he remembered reading a fairy-tale book which said that the moon was the home of all animals that had died.

Just then a queer thing happened. The Man in the Moon looked down at Benjy and said,“This is Beastland. Won’t you come up? But perhaps you can’t climb.”

“Can’t I!” said Benjy, and in three minutes he was at the top of the tree.

“Put out your feet, and walk in,” he heard the Man in the Moon say. So Benjy stepped out, and found himself in Beastland. Truly it was a queer place.

The first animal he saw in Beastland,guarding the door, was a big dog with a crow sitting on his back. Benjy stared about him for a minute. Behind the dog and the crow he saw a field in which a cow and a horse were grazing;and flying around everywhere was a tell-tale-tit, the little bird that tells tales and carries news.We would call it tattle-tale.

As the Man in the Moon had gone away, Benjy thought he would walk around Beastland alone.Oh! it was a beautiful place! There were many more beasts than there are in a zoo, and they were all free. They did not eat each other, because a strange kind of short grass grew in Beastland that gave them all the food they wanted.

The beasts came in crowds and welcomed Benjy. The cats rubbed against his legs, the dogs wagged their tails, and one French poodle“sat up” during the whole visit, just to be polite.The pigeons rested on his shoulders, and two swallows clung to his hat. By and by a wise old elephant came and knelt before Benjy; and Benjy got on his back and rode all around, the other animals following.

Then they took him to see the lions, who were very polite to him. He also saw the beavers and prairie dogs and many other small animals.He was having a fine time with a spider, who was trying to teach him to spin a web, when suddenly the tell-tale-tit came flying around. He flew first to one animal, and then to another, and whispered who Benjy was.

At once everything was changed. The animals looked very angry. “The monster!” they cried.“How terrible! Punish him! Punish him! Let us take him to the lion.” And to the lion they took Benjy.

The lion shook his mane gently and said, “If I am to be the judge, the prisoner must have fair play.” Then the animals formed a circle, with Benjy in the center.

“What is this boy being tried for?” asked the lion.

“He beats dogs, and kills cats,” said one animal.

“Mister Rough kills the cats,” said Benjy,who was much frightened.

“Send for Mister Rough,” said the lion.

In a few minutes Mister Rough trotted into the circle and stood by Benjy’s side.

“Mister Rough,” said the lion, “the prisoner says it is you, and not he, who kills the cats.”

“Bow-wow-wow!” said the terrier, as he jumped wildly about. “Whose fault is it? Who taught me to do it? That bad boy there. Bowwow-wow!”

All the animals got more excited at this, and it took a loud roar from the lion to quiet them.Then he lashed his tail back and forth, and said,“Gentle beasts and birds, let us not treat this boy as cruelly as he has treated us. But we can no longer allow him to stay with us. Some of our dog friends say that he has tied tin kettles to their tails. Let some kettles be brought and fastened to Benjy, and let him be chased from Beastland.” sa5ihxnWwdLpr5LVrTqhXRyV+bPzcXM5dDwHZDIxqfTwpZnr4OAay4e0oeySvMKw