P. Travers - Mary Poppins in the Park

"Stop it, I tell you! Get along off!"

But the Lion only wagged its tail and, springing up on its hind legs, it clasped the blue serge jacket.

"Help! Oh, help!" the Policeman gasped.

"Coming!" croaked a hoarse voice, as the Park Keeper crawled to the edge of the Walk with an empty litter-basket over his head.

Beside him crept a small thin man with a butterfly net in his hand.

"I brought the Keeper of the Zoological Gardens!" the Park Keeper hissed at the Policeman. "Go on!" he urged the little man. "It's your property — take it away!"

The Keeper of the Zoological Gardens darted behind a fountain. He took a careful look at the Lion as it hugged the dark blue waist.

"Not one of ours!" He shook his head. "It's far too red and curly. Seems to know you! " he called to the Policeman. "What are you — a lion tamer?"

"Never saw him before in my life!" The head in the helmet turned aside.

The Lion… clasped the blue serge jacket

"Oh, wurra! wurra!" the Lion growled, in a voice that held a note of reproach.

"Will nobody send for the Prime Minister?" Miss Lark's voice shrilled from her maple bough.

"I have been sent for, my dear madam!" a voice observed from the next tree. An elderly gentleman in striped trousers was scrambling into the branches.

"Then do something!" ordered Miss Lark, in a frenzy.

"Shoo!" said the Prime Minister earnestly, waving his hat at the Lion.

But the Lion bared its teeth in a grin as it hugged the Policeman closer.

"Now, what's the trouble? Who sent for me?" cried a loud impatient voice.

The Lord Mayor hurried along the Walk with his Aldermen at his heels.

"Good gracious! What are you doing, Smith?" He stared in disgust at the Park Keeper. "Come out of that basket and stand up straight! It is there to be used for litter, Smith, and not some foolish game."

"I'm usin' it for armour, your Worship! There's a lion in the Park!"

"A lion, Smith? What nonsense you talk! The lions are in the Zoo!"

"A lion?" echoed the Aldermen. "Ha, ha! What a silly story!"

"It's true!" yelled Jane and Michael at once. "Look out! He's just behind you!"

The three portly figures turned, and their faces grew pale as marble.

The Lord Mayor waved a feeble hand at the trembling Aldermen.

"Get me water! Wine! Hot milk!" he moaned.

But for once the Aldermen disobeyed. Hot milk, indeed! they seemed to say as they dragged him to the Prime Minister's tree and pushed him into the branches.

"Police! Police!" the Lord Mayor cried, catching hold of a bough.

"I'm here, your Honour!" the Policeman panted, pushing away a tawny paw.

But the Lion took this for a mark of affection.

"Gurrrrumph!" he said in a husky voice, as he clasped the Policeman tighter.

"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" Miss Lark wailed. "Has nobody got a gun?"

"A dagger! A sword! A crowbar!" cried the voices from every tree.

The Park was ringing with shouts and screams. The Park Keeper rattled his stick on the litter-basket. "Yoo-hoo!" cried the Keeper of the Zoological Gardens to distract the Lion's attention. The Lion was growling. The Policeman was yelling. The Lord Mayor and the Aldermen were still crying "Police!"

Then suddenly a silence fell. And a neat, trim figure appeared on the path. Straight on she came, as a ship into port, with the perambulator wheeling before her and the tulip standing up stiff on her hat.

Creak went the wheels.

Tap went her shoes.

And the watching faces grew pale with horror as she tripped towards the Lion.

"Go back, Mary Poppins!" screamed Miss Lark, breaking the awful silence. "Save yourself and the little ones! There's a wild beast down on the path!"

Mary Poppins looked up at Miss Lark's face as it hung like a fruit among the leaves.

"Go back? When I've only just come out?" She smiled a superior smile.

"Away! Away!" The Prime Minister warned her. "Take care of those children, woman!"

Mary Poppins gave him a glance so icy that he felt himself freeze to the bough.

"I am taking care of these children, thank you. And as for the wild beasts—" She gave a sniff. "They seem to be all in the trees!"

"It's a lion, Mary Poppins, look!" Michael pointed a trembling finger — and she turned and beheld the two locked figures.

The Policeman now was ducking sideways to prevent the Lion licking his cheek. His helmet was off and his face was pale, but he still had a plucky look in his eye.

"I might have known it!" said Mary Poppins, as she stared at the curious pair. "Rover!" she called in exasperation. "What do you think you're doing?"

From under his lacy, flopping mane the Lion pricked up an ear.

"Rover!" she called again. "Down, I say!"

The Lion gave one look at her and dropped with a thud to the ground. Then he gave a little throaty growl and bounded away towards her.

"Oh, the Twins! He'll eat them! Help!" cried Jane.

But the Lion hardly looked at the Twins. He was fawning at Mary Poppins. He rolled his eyes and wagged his tail and arched himself against her skirt. Then away he rushed to the Policeman, seized the blue trousers between his teeth and tugged them towards the perambulator.

"Don't be so silly!" said Mary Poppins. "Do as I tell you! Let him go! You've got the wrong one."

The Lion loosed the trouser-leg and rolled his eyes in surprise.

"Do you mean," the Prime Minister called from his bough, "he's to eat another Policeman?"

Mary Poppins made no reply. Instead, she fished inside her handbag and brought out a silver whistle. Then, setting it daintily to her lips, she puffed out her cheeks and blew.

"Why— I could have blown my whistle" — the Policeman stared at the silver shape—"if only I'd thought of it."

She turned upon him a look of scorn. "The trouble with you is that you don't think. Neither do you!" she snapped at the Lion.

He hung his head between his paws and looked very hurt and foolish.

"You don't listen, either," she added severely. "In at one ear and out of the next. There was no need to make such a foolish mistake."

The Lion's tail crept between his legs.

"You're careless, thoughtless and inattentive. You ought to be thoroughly ashamed of yourself."

The Lion gave a humble snuffle as though he agreed with her.

"Who whistled?" called a voice from the Gate. "Who summoned an Officer of the Law?"

Along the Walk came another policeman, limping unevenly. His face had a melancholy look, as though he possessed a secret sorrow.

"I can't stay long whatever it is," he said, as he reached the group. "I left the lights when I heard the whistle and I must get back to them. Why, Egbert!" he said to the First Policeman, "what's the matter with you?"

"Oh, nothing to complain of, Albert! I've just been attacked by a lion!"

"Lion?" The sad face grew a shade more cheerful as the Second Policeman glanced about him. "Oh, what a beauty!" he exclaimed, limping towards the tawny shape at Mary Poppins' side.

Jane turned to whisper in Michael's ear.

"He must be the Policeman's brother — the one with the wooden foot!"

"Nice lion! Pretty lion!" said the Second Policeman softly.

And the Lion, at the sound of his voice, leapt to his feet with a roar.

"Now gently, gently! Be a good lion. He's an elegant fellow, so he is!" the Second Policeman crooned.

Then he put back the mane from the Lion's brow and met the golden eyes. A shudder of joy ran through his frame.

"Rover! My dear old friend! It's you!" He flung out his arms with a loving gesture and the Lion rushed into them.