Plain Bagel was not happy as he looked out of the living room windows of the house near the top of the hill. He did not know what to do with himself. All the other Bagel Boys were busy with one thing or another, so he could not play with any of them. He was afraid to roll down the hill, even for a little distance, after what had happened to Poppy-Seed Bagel. He sure did not want to meet up with any of those Herring Boys. You never know when some of them might pop up from a sewer opening in the street.

He looked up at the very top of the hill, across a street, and gazed at the trees where the big woods began. Because the trees and bushes were so close together, he could not see very far into the woods.                                                  
The Bagel Boys used to play lots of games in the big woods. They would spend many wonderful hours pretending they were soldiers, or cowboys, or explorers. Some of the great old trees had fallen on their sides and the Bagel Boys would flip up on them and roll up and down on their huge trunks.

At the very far end of the big woods was a large, old, run-down wooden house. No one lived in the house, but the Bagel Boys did not go near it, because it was so spooky. Whenever they played in the woods, they would often look in the direction of the big house to see if anything or anyone was moving around near it.

One day, while playing hide-and-seek in the woods, Onion Bagel thought he saw a very old man in a blue soldier's uniform near the house. The other Bagel Boys gathered around and peered over a fallen tree. They could all see the old man, and now the old man could see them.
He shouted at the Bagel Boys. "Stay away from here, you miserable creatures. Get out of my woods, or I will turn Fang loose on you!"

Just then, all of a sudden, Plain Bagel heard a strange, loud, growling noise. He could not see what is was, but it was coming from the direction of the old spooky house. He heard something moving in the bushes and grass and it was coming toward him fast.

Plain Bagel was scared. He bounced off the tree trunk, onto the path and rolled

as fast as he could to the edge of the woods. Now he could see his house and he quickly rolled over to it. He flipped up the steps, opened the door and rolled right through the hallway to the kitchen where he stopped to catch his breath.

That evening, when all the Bagel Boys were in the living room, Plain Bagel told the story of his escape from the creature in the woods. He said he was sure it was the awful Fang, although he did not see him; only heard it's terrible sounds behind him.

"Well, I guess that should teach us all a lesson!" exclaimed Water Bagel" "None of us goes into the big woods alone. But I think some of us had better go up to the edge of the woods soon, and see if we can see that beast. I'm afraid that one of these days he will go out of the woods and come down here."

"Oh, how horrible!" cried Egg. "We would never be able to leave the house. Between the Herring Boys, Fang and some of our nasty neighbors, we will be trapped in our own home."

It was Poppy-Seed, with a cheerful voice, who said, "We will figure it out. Someday, we will be rid of Herring Boys, Fang, and even the nasty neighbors, and then we will be able to go out and play whenever and wherever we want."

But now, night has fallen on the little house near the top of the hill, and the time has come for you and the Bagel Boys to go to sleep.