Must Have Title/Author

I am desperately seeking a children's book from around the 1950s+(?).
The book was hardcover and featured a lion. He was extremely mean and
very proud, until one day there's a fire in the forest and his mane is
burned off. That of course changes his character. I believe a
crocodile cries and the tears restore his mane. In fact his mane now
won't stop growing. The last page of the book shows how his mane has
overtaken the whole forest, i.e.Birds are nesting on it, etc.
Any info concerning this book would be greatly appreciated,
TTTTTHHHHAAAANNNNXXX!

"Rana" <dotl99.DeleteThis@cs.com> wrote in message
news:151b3b40.0401130824.68cfb0e1@posting.google.com...
 > I am desperately seeking a children's book from around the 1950s+(?).
 > The book was hardcover and featured a lion. He was extremely mean and
 > very proud, until one day there's a fire in the forest and his mane is
 > burned off. That of course changes his character. I believe a
 > crocodile cries and the tears restore his mane. In fact his mane now
 > won't stop growing. The last page of the book shows how his mane has
 > overtaken the whole forest, i.e.Birds are nesting on it, etc.
 > Any info concerning this book would be greatly appreciated,
 > TTTTTHHHHAAAANNNNXXX!

This is "Hubert's Hair Raising Adventure" by Bill Peet,
first published in 1959 and readily available online.

<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://nancykeane.com/booktalks/peet_hubert" target="_blank">http://nancykeane.com/booktalks/peet_hubert</a>'s.htm

Bill Peet
HUBERT'S HAIR RAISING ADVENTURE
One day I was walking along the Zamboozi Creek when I
saw Hubert the Lion with his back end sticking out of a tree!
I love playing hide and go seek, so I decided I would play
with Hubert. You can imagine my surprise when I stuck
my head in the tree to find that Hubert was perfectly bald!
He finally told me that, while he was sharpening his claws
on a rock, a spark flew up and burned off his mane.
Once I flew off and told everyone Hubert's problem we
decided we needed to help him. We had all different kinds
of ideas, but I think it was Elephant that remembered that
crocodile tears can grow back hair. The problem was
that Crocodile was really crafty and creepy. None of us
wanted to go, but Elephant was very brave and went alone.
Crocodile was not about to give up his tears, but when
he heard what had happened to Lion he laughed so hard,
he cried. Elephant gathered up the tears and was on
his way. No one knew what to expect as Elephant
applied those tears to Lion's head. We all fell asleep,
but when we woke up we were all tangled in Lion's new mane.

Kris<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->