Read Mary Poppins in the Park for Free Online Page A

like John and Barbara!"
    "I was triplets," the Policeman said.
    "How lovely!" cried Jane, with a sigh of envy.
    "Well, it wasn't so lovely, not to
my
mind. The opposite, I'd say. 'Egbert,' my mother was always asking, 'why don't you play with Herbert and Albert?' But it wasn't me—it was
them
that wouldn't. All they wanted was to go to the Zoo, and when they came back they'd be animals—tigers tearing about the house and letting on it was Timbuctoo or around the Gobi Desert. I never wanted to be a tiger. I liked playing bus-conductors and keeping things neat and tidy."
    "Like er!" The Park Keeper waved to a distant fountain where Mary Poppins was leaning over to admire the set of her hat.
    "Like her," agreed the Policeman, nodding. "Or," he said, grinning, "that nice Miss Ellen."
    "Ellen's not neat," protested Michael. "Her hair straggles and her feet are too big."
    "And when they grew up," demanded Jane, "what did Herbert and Albert do?" She liked to hear the end of a story.
    "Do?" said the Policeman, very surprised. "What one triplet does, the others do. They joined the police, of course!"
    "But I thought you were all so different!"
    "We were and we are!" the Policeman argued. "Seeing as how I stayed in London and they went off to distant lands. Wanted to be near the jungle, they said, and mix with giraffes and leopards. One of 'em—Herbert—he never came back. Just sent a note saying not to worry. 'I'm happy,' he said, 'and I feel at home!' And after that, never a word—not even a card at Christmas."
    "And what about Albert?" the children prompted.
    "Ah—Albert—yes! He did come back. After he met with his accident."
    "What accident?" they wanted to know. They were burning with curiosity.
    "Lorst his foot," the Policeman answered. "Wouldn't say how, or why or where. Just got himself a wooden one and never smiled again. Now he works on the traffic signals. Sits in his box and pines away. And sometimes——" The Policeman lowered his voice. "Sometimes he
forgets
the lights. Leaves them at red for a whole day till London's at a standstill!"
    Michael gave an excited skip. "He must be the one we passed this morning, in the box by the Far Gate!"
    "That's him all right!" The Policeman nodded.
    "But what is he pining for?" asked Jane. She wanted every detail.
    "For the jungle, he keeps on telling me. He says he's got a friend there!"
    "A funny place to 'ave a friend!" The Park Keeper glanced around the Park to see that all was in order.
    "T'chah!" he exclaimed disgustedly. "That's Wil-lerby up to 'is tricks again! Look at 'im sittin' up there on the wall! Come down out of that! Remember the bye-laws! No dogs allowed on the Park Wall. I shall 'ave to speak to Miss Lark," he muttered, "feedin 'im all that dainty food! 'E's twice the size he was yesterday!"
    "That's not Willoughby!" said Michael. "It's a much, much larger dog."
    "It isn't a dog at all!" cried Jane. "It's a——"
    "Lumme! You're right!" The Policeman stared. "It's not a dog—it's a lion!"
    "Oh, what shall I do?" wailed the Park Keeper. "Nothing like this ever 'appened before, not even when I was a boy!"
    "Go and get someone from the Zoo—it must have escaped from there! Here, you two——" the Policeman cried. He caught the children and swung them up to the top of a near-by fountain. "You stay there while I head him off!"
    "Observe the rules!" shrieked the Park Keeper. "No lions allowed in the Park!" He gave one look at the tawny shape and ran in the opposite direction.
    The Lion swung his head about, glancing along Cherry Tree Lane and then across the lawns. Then he leapt from the wall with a swift movement and made for the Long Walk. His curly mane blew out in the breeze like a large lacy collar.
    "Take care!" cried Jane to the Policeman, as he darted forward with arms outspread. It would be sad indeed, she felt, if that manly figure were gobbled up.
    "Gurrrr!" the Policeman shouted fiercely.
    His voice was so loud and full of warning that everyone in the