Read Mary Poppins in the Park for Free Online Page B

Park was startled.
    Miss Lark, who was knitting by the Lake, came hurrying to the Long Walk with her dogs in close attendance.
    "Such a commotion!" she twittered shrilly. "Whatever is the matter? Oh!" she cried, running round in a circle. "What shall I do? It's a wild beast! Send for the Prime Minister!"
    "Get up a tree!" the Policeman yelled, shaking his fist at the Lion.
    "Which tree? Oh, how undignified!"
    "That one!" screamed Michael, waving his hand.
    Gulping and panting, Miss Lark climbed up, her hair catching in every twig and her knitting wool winding around her legs.
    "Andrew and Willoughby, come up, please!" she called down, anxiously. But the dogs were not going to lose their heads. They composed themselves at the foot of the tree and waited to see what would happen.
    By this time everyone in the Park had become aware of the Lion. Terrified shouts rang through the air as people swung themselves into the branches or hid behind seats or statues.
    "Call out the Firemen!" they all cried. "Tell the Lord Mayor! Send for a rope!"
    But the Lion noticed none of them. He crossed the lawn in enormous leaps, making direct for the blue serge shape of the Officer of the Law.
    "Gurrrr, I said!" the Policeman roared, taking out his baton.
    The Lion merely tossed his head and flung himself into a crouching position. A ripple ran through all his muscles as he made ready to spring.
    "Oh, save him, somebody!" cried Jane, with an anxious glance at the manly figure.
    "Help!" screamed a voice from every tree.
    "Prime Minister!" cried Miss Lark again.
    And then the Lion sprang. He sped like an arrow through the air and landed beside the big black boots.
    "Be off, I say!" the Policeman shouted, in a last protesting cry.
    But as he spoke a strange thing happened. The Lion rolled over on his back and waved his legs in the air.
    "Just like a kitten," whispered Michael. But he held Jane's hand a little tighter.
    "Away with you!" the Policeman bellowed, waving his baton again.
    But as though the words were as sweet as music, the Lion put out a long red tongue and licked the Policeman's boots.
    "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