Three Bears

“ Out the little old Woman jumped; and whether she broke her neck in the fall; or ran into the wood and was lost there; or found her way out of the wood, and was taken up by the constable and sent to the House of Correction for a vagrant as she was, I cannot tell. But the Three Bears never saw anything more of her. ”

“ After that the Three Bears went to walk.
"Anyway," said the Middle-sized Bear, as she tied Baby Bear's bonnet strings, "anyway, there isn't anything so good as porridge! If Goldilocks can't eat porridge, if she ever comes visiting Baby Bear, she will have to go hungry! We shall certainly never make any more pickles!"
And they never did.
26 LITTLE BEAR AND BOB WHITE'S CHILDREN One lovely spring morning Father Deer knocked at the door of the Three Bears' home in the forest. ”

“ The little black mother bear and her two cubs lived in a cozy den just below Porcupine Ridge, which happened to be far up on the side of Cushman Mountain. They were a happy little family, the three bears, and every day the two cubs grew more ball-like and lovable to their patient mother, who always managed to lead them to the very best feeding places. Through the dense, dark spruce forests, far down into the swamps below she took them, where they fed happily upon young frogs or crawfish, and the juicy sprouts of the skunk cabbages. ”

“ Three Bears, once on a time, did dwell
⁠Snug in a house together,
Which was their own, and suited well
⁠By keeping out the weather.
'Twas seated in a shady wood, ⁠In which they daily walk'd,
And afterwards, as in the mood,
⁠They smok'd and read, or talk'd.
One of them was a great huge Bear,
⁠And one of a middle size,
The other a little, small, wee Bear,
⁠Withsmall red twinkling eyes.
These Bears, each had a porridge-pot, ⁠From which they used to feed;
The great huge Bear's own porridge-pot
⁠Was very large indeed. ”

“ A large cinnamon bear had walked into one camp about ten miles distant and killed two sheep in daylight, but the grizzlies had not begun to eat mutton. In July or August there would be bears enough to keep a man busy shinning up trees. Last year, he said, there were at least forty bears on the mountain, and they visited some of the sheep camps every night. Sometimes two or three bears would raid a camp, tree the herder and kill several sheep. ”

“ And so it came about that the three moved their three bowls and their three beds to the home of Golden Hair and her grandmother, the very next day; and from all accounts they were happy ever after. At any rate the fame of Golden Hair and the three bears spread far and wide through all the countryside, so that on holidays troops of children came to play with the four jolly friends. The good natured bears were always anxious to please the children; they would get up games under the greenwood trees in the summer, and merry sports upon the icy lake or snowy hills in winter. ”

“ All summer long the old birds trained the young geese for their long journey, and then when the frost began to touch the tips of the tallest trees, down in the lowlands, and to nip the little fox grapes, the migrating instinct came to Ring Neck and his mate. Another bear came to Ring Neck; perhaps when the flocks began to move southward, the hunter would come back and once, as if to remind him, he heard the crack of the terrible rifle, off in the woods, and saw the thin trail of smoke, which he knew. ”

“ The wee Bear on a small, wee bed
⁠Did nightly close his eyes.
One morn their porridge being made ⁠And pour'd into each pot,
To taste it they were all afraid
⁠It seem'd so boiling hot.
"A burnt child dreads the fire"—A Bear
⁠Doth dread it just as much,
As these Bears proved, in taking care
⁠Their porridge not to touch,
For they most cautious had become ⁠From having once before
Their mouths severely burnt with some,
⁠Which made them dance and roar!
They, therefore, let their breakfast be
⁠Till it should cooler grow—
And meantime for a walk the three
⁠Into the wood did go. ”

“ THE BEAR, WITH HIS WIFE AND SON, TAKES A WALK.
Said she to herself, “To rob bears is no sin;
The three bears have gone out, so I think I’ll go in.”
She entered their parlor, and she saw a great bowl,
And in it a spoon like a hair-cutter’s pole.
“That porridge,” said she “may stay long enough there,
It tastes like the food of the surly old bear,”
She tried Mammy Muff’s, and she said, “Mrs. B——,
I think your taste and my taste will never agree.”
GOLDENHAIR EATS UP TINY-CUB’S PORRIDGE.
Then she tried Tiny-Cub’s bowl, and said, “This is nice ”

“ Fire attracts the attention of wild animals, and often prevents them from running away from the hunter. This is especially true of deer. So Polly carried the torch, and a fatal burden it proved to be for him. After the hunters had emerged from the cave, they at once started toward the river, and upon passing a little spur of the hill they beheld at a distance of two or three hundred yards the Fire Bear, glowing like a fiery heap against the black bank of night. He was running rapidly up the stream toward Black Gully, which came down to the river’s edge between high cliffs. ”

“ The little black bears came scrambling and sliding down from Porcupine Ridge occasionally to feed upon crawfish and frogs, and to wallow in the ooze and mud of the marsh, and when the red deer were hard pressed, and the hounds were baying close behind them, they found a safe hiding-place among the densely growing balsams. Thousands of the pointed green spires of the pine arose from the swamp, for the trees which grew there never had been chopped down by lumbermen. ”

“ Young Tiny-cub’s bowl, chair, and bed were the best,—
This, big bears and baby bears freely confessed.
Mr. B——, with his wife and his son, went one day
To take a short stroll, and a visit to pay.
He left the door open, “For,” said he, “no doubt
If our friend should call in, he will find us all out.”
It was only two miles from dark Hazel-nut Wood,
In which the great house of the three Bruins stood,
[2] That there lived a young miss, daring, funny, and fair,
And from having bright curls, she was called Goldenhair. ”

“ So Hans tells them about the two big bears in the bear pit, to whom he and Gretchen threw some bits of bread and an apple; about the tall clock tower built three or four hundred years ago, where carved bears march around and strike a big gong every hour. You know that Berne is full of bears. The coat of arms of the city is a bear with a banner, and not only have live bears been maintained at public expense for many, many years, but bears of all kinds, carved in wood and stone, painted, or wrought in plaster, are seen everywhere. ”

“ When, however, in their struggles they came out on the bright, sandy shore, there was still enough of the western twilight in which to witness a good deal of terrific fighting. Bears have thick fur and tough hides, and so their battles are generally carried on until one side is shaken into exhaustion or knocked into submission. ”

“ The large bears contend with three or four dogs, and sometimes one is victorious and sometimes the other; the bears are ferocious and of great strength, and not only defend themselves with their teeth, but hug the dogs so closely with their forelegs, that, if they were not rescued by their masters, they would be suffocated. ”

“ Three months is a long time to live, after all.”
“Polly, what on earth are you talking about? Are you crazy? Tie up your horse at once,” said Balser. “If the bear gets away from us this time, we’ll never have another chance at him. Quick! Quick!”
Polly’s courage was soon restored, and the horses were quickly tied again.
Upon entering the cave a torch had been lighted, and by the light of the torch, which Polly held, the primings of the guns were examined, knives and hatchets were made ready for immediate use, and out the hunters sallied in pursuit of the Fire Bear. ”

“ If they could succeed in this, of course he would have a poor chance, as the boats would speedily surround him there. Bears know that they are not safe on islands when hunted, and so cunningly endeavour to keep from them; or, if so unfortunate as to be obliged to take refuge on one when closely pursued, they do not seem able to keep quiet and try to lie hidden and unseen, but just as soon as possible they make the attempt to reach the mainland, and there hide themselves away from their pursuers in the dense forest or underbrush. This peculiarity of the bear is well-known to the Indian hunters ”

“ Little cottontail rabbits they saw in plenty, but, as time wore on, both the appetites of Gray Coat and his mate demanded wilder fare than mere rabbits. In vain they ranged together over the deer passes; the hunters had frightened away most of the wilder game. So, in desperation, the two wolves each day began to grow bolder and bolder, and even ventured down into the valleys beneath the mountains, forgetting their fear of man; soon they commenced to raid the farmers’ sheep pens, and dragged away young calves to their retreat in the swamp. ”

“ Thus the Indians thought, for they have queer ideas about bears. Because of the handlike appearance of the paws of the bear they say there is a good deal of the human in them. So they talk about them as holding councils and taking advice one from another. And when they attack them, especially the Indians of these great Algonquin tribes, they always address them as Mr Bear, and apologise to them for being under the necessity of killing them.
Thus these Indians at this camp fire were simply disgusted with Sam for running away from that black bear. ”

“ To stalk them so quietly as to be able to get within range and shoot the bears might terrify the children, or they might be wounded by the bullets. There was much talking and many suggestions. A remark from Mustagan gave Mrs Ross a hint, and so a woman’s quick intuition solved the perplexing question.
Mustagan had said that, as he carefully examined the tracks, he found where the children had evidently filled their birch dishes with berries and fed them to the little bears, whose many tracks had shown that, like young dogs, they had gambolled and played around them. ”

“ Bear never would be caught, and he knew when food grew scarce in winter time his turkeys and young lambs would no longer be safe from Mrs. Bear. So finally he thought out a new plan. And that very night when Mrs. Bear and the two cubs halted at the spring on their way down from the Ridge, to munch jack-in-the-pulpit sprouts, Mrs. Bear paused and stuck her black snout inquisitively inside the farmer’s den, and what do you suppose met her astonished eyes? Right over back of the moss tussock which concealed the trap, instead of the dead woodchuck was a great, brown hunk of hard maple sugar. Mrs. ”

“ Black bears are quite numerous in this part of the country. They are very fond of fishing, and so it was proposed to try and get a shot at one or two, as the Indians well knew their favourite resorts. Indeed, the Indian tradition of why the bear has such a short tail is the result of his preference for fish diet. They say that originally the bear had a beautiful tail, so long that with it he could easily whisk the flies off his ears. One winter a greedy bear, not content to stay in his den and sleep as bears ought to do, wandered out on a great frozen lake. ”

“ Alec’s bullet had done its work, and the bear was stone dead. The Indians found, when cutting up the body, that the ball had gone completely through him. The wonder was that the great brute had been able to move at all after being so struck. The bears have an immense amount of vitality, as hunters who shoot them often find out to their own cost. So here was the first bear killed; Alec was the hero of the hour. While modestly he received the congratulations, he naturally felt very proud over the accuracy of the shot that had brought down a great black bear. ”

“ Our hunters had travelled perhaps three or four miles into the forest when they started a deer, in pursuit of which the dogs bounded off with their peculiar bark, and soon deer and dogs were lost to sight. Balser and his father listened carefully for the voices of the dogs, for should the deer turn at bay, the dogs, instead of the quick bark, to which they gave voice in the chase, would utter a long-drawn-out note—half howl, half yelp. ”

“ Many a time when swift danger came upon them from above, and a cruel hawk swooped low after one of the chicks, then Father Partridge would raise his ruff fiercely and rushing forth, his barred wings and tail flaunted high, he would drum so loudly in the very face of the hawk that it would change its course and decide that it really did not care for a young partridge that day. ”

“ The news of Balser’s adventure soon spread among the neighbours and he became quite a hero; for the bear he had killed was one of the largest that had ever been seen in that neighbourhood, and, besides the gallons of rich bear oil it yielded, there were three or four hundred pounds of bear meat; and no other food is more strengthening for winter diet. ”

“ A bear is quick to notice whether his presence causes alarm or not. A bold front will generally cause him to retreat, while on the other hand, if he sees any signs of cowardice, or thinks he can terrify his enemies and cause them to fly from him, he is not slow in being the aggressor and making the attempt.
Mrs Ross, well knowing some of the characteristics of bears and their habits, was not to be taken off her guard, and so she was resolved to be prepared for every emergency. Her first precaution was to take out one of the guns and load it well with ball. ”