Chapter III: Adventures of King Bear Continued

Old Squat-by-the-fire ceased her talking and, with tender care, knocked the ashes out of her pipe into the palm of her left hand. She gazed narrowly at the ashes, before blowing them into the fire.

"That was good tobacco," she said. "Every little bit of it turned into smoke. Indian tobacco was not so good; but just to think that there once was a time when people didn't have any fire, even to light their pipes and warm their bones at. That must have been much worse than not having any tobacco."

"Or to cook their dinners at," said little Flying Plover. The old woman nodded. Her bright eyes were on the fire, and she was deep in meditation. Flying Plover watched her in silence for fully two minutes. Then he said, "I think King Bear was in King Walrus's country."

"You are wrong. But it is time for you to go to bed," said Squat-by-the-fire.

"I am not sleepy. Please tell me some more about King Bear," begged the little boy.

"Well," said the old woman, "he stood on the top of the hill and growled and roared, just as loud as he could, to see if anything would hear him and come to find out his trouble. Presently a crow appeared out of the gray sky, and alighted on the snow.

"'You are making a horrible noise,' said the crow. 'What's the matter with you?'

"'I am hungry,' replied the bear. 'Who is king of this country?'

"'We have no king. This country is ruled by the people,' said the bird.

"'Oh!' remarked King Bear, and scratched his ear. He had never in all his life heard of a country without a chief or a king. 'It looks like a poor sort of place. Where are the people?'

"'Here come a few of them now,' said the crow, turning his head over his shoulder. Sure enough, there were six wolves and two black bears approaching the hill at a fast run.

"'They don't seem to be at all afraid of me,' said King Bear, gruffly. 'And yet I am big enough to kill them all with one of my paws.'

"'You are very big,' admitted the crow. 'You are the biggest bear I ever saw--and you seem to be colored wrong, too. But that is neither here nor there. We do not think much of size in this country.'

"'Oh, don't you?' snarled King Bear. 'Well, perhaps you'll change your views before very long. And what do you mean by saying I am colored wrong?'

"'Black and brown are the correct colors for bears,' said the crow. 'Dirty white looks both foolish and untidy.'

"Just then the six wolves and the two black bears reached the bottom of the hill. There they halted, and one of the wolves cried out, 'What are you doing here, big stranger?'

"'I am sitting on the top of a hill, admiring your beautiful country,' replied the white bear, in a snarly voice.

"'What do you want?' asked the wolf.

"'Something to eat,' said the white bear.

"'Where did you come from?' asked the wolf.

"'You miserable creature, I came from my own country where I am king,' roared the bear. 'And I want you to know that I did not come here to answer your questions! Bring me something to eat--a fat caribou, or a couple of seals--or I'll try my teeth on you!'

"'Your talk is as big as your body; but neither big words nor big bodies are much thought of in this country,' replied the wolf.

"King Bear was astonished at the wolf's daring in speaking to him so impudently. He had never been spoken to in that way before by any common animal or bird. Of course King Moose, his rival, had said rude things to him every year; but that was to be expected and was between kings. But it made his blood bubble in his brain to hear such words from that ordinary wolf, and to see the other common creatures, and the crow grinning at the talk. He was so angry that he almost forgot the hungry-pain in his stomach.

"'I am a great king,' he roared, and got to his feet, ready to destroy the six wolves and the two black bears with one sweep of his mighty right paw. But he did not do it! He saw something running on the snow, so fast that he could not make out what it was--and suddenly it stopped close under his great nose and he saw that it was a slim young man. He was so astonished that he squatted back on his haunches.

"'I have been listening to you,' said the young man, 'and I do not like your talk. Also, I do not like your looks. You are too big and too bold to be a safe companion for my people.'

"King Bear could do nothing but stare.

"'I am Gluskap,' continued the young man, 'and all the men and animals in this land, for seven times as far as you can see in every direction, are in my care.'

"'I never heard of you,' said the big white bear.

"The young man smiled at that. Then he pointed his finger at the stranger and gazed at him very hard with his bright eyes.

"'I feel queer. My head spins 'round and 'round,' said the bear. He began to sway from side to side. He stood on his four strong legs; but still he swayed and swayed, and his mouth hung open and he breathed very hard.

"'What--are--you--doing--to--me?' he gasped.

"'I am reducing you,' replied the young man.

"King Bear did not know what that meant--and he felt so queer that he did not care. All the white world seemed to go whirling around him. At last he fell over, flat on his side. And as soon as that had happened he felt quite well again and jumped to his feet. Well, he blinked his red eyes and he glared and glared, for it looked to him as if the man, the crow, the wolves, and the black bears had all grown much larger. But that was not what had happened at all. The change was in himself and not in the others. Gluskap, with his magic, had made him smaller and smaller until he was just exactly the size of white bears now and smaller than common black bears were in those days.

"'Now that you are a small bear and not at all dangerous to the peace of this country, you may come with me and have something to eat,' said Gluskap. 'And if you behave yourself I think my people will be kind to you and let you live in this country. Come, it is dinner time.'

"He turned toward the south and walked slowly away. Then the white bear followed him, wondering to find himself so mild and obedient. The other animals followed, too, and the crow flew on ahead. One of the wolves walked beside the white bear.

"'The crow told me that this country was without a king,' said the bear. 'But that man is your king, surely!'

"'Oh, now, he is one of the gods,' said the wolf. 'He feeds us, and keeps our enemies from harming us. Is that what kings do for their people?'

"'I never heard of a king doing things like that,' replied the white bear. 'But what does he feed you with?' he asked, for again he felt the hungry-pain in his stomach--and though he was so much smaller now, the pain felt just as big as when he was his old size.

"'Just whatever you want,' said the wolf. 'His lodge is behind the next hill, so you will soon know as much about it as I know. All the men and animals and birds are there by now, I think, waiting for their food. Don't you hear them talking?' Oh, yes the white bear heard them talking. It sounded just like the running of sea waves up and back along a pebbly shore. And now the scents of that hidden multitude reached his keen nose. He smelt every kind of living creature he had ever smelled before in all his life, except fish and seals. He knew that men were there, beyond the hill, and moose, caribou, bears, wolves, foxes, otters, wild-cats, mink, porcupine, red deer, woodchucks, hares, mice, beaver, muskrats, badgers, and all kinds of birds.

"'Hah, that smells good,' he said, and sniffed very hard. 'That certainly smells like a fine dinner. I'll be puzzled to know what to eat first. A fat beaver would not be bad to start with, as there does not seem to be any kind of fresh fish.'

"'You are all wrong. You will not be allowed to eat any of those animals. They are waiting for their dinners just as hungrily as you are; and what would they think, do you suppose, if Gluskap allowed you to kill them and eat them?'

"'Then what on earth are we going to eat?' asked the white bear.

"'You'll soon find that out for yourself,' replied the wolf.

"Gluskap led the way straight up the side of the steep hill. There, on the other side, stood a great lodge of poles and bark, surrounded by several hundred men, thousands of animals, and great flocks of birds settling down and flying up and lighting again. The white bear gazed at the scene in astonishment. There stood wolves and caribou side by side, and hares and wild-cats lay together on the snow.

"'Why don't they fight?' he asked. 'Why don't the bears and wolves eat the silly little men and the fat hares and beavers?'

"'No need of it,' said the wolf. 'It is easier to eat Gluskap's food.'

"Now they halted at the edge of the crowd. They saw Gluskap walk into his great lodge. Soon he came out with a basket in one hand. He walked among the men and animals, scattering on every side something that looked like sand. The moment those little grains touched the ground, each one became a piece of food. A grain that dropped in front of a beaver became a juicy fragment of pond-lily root. The grains that fell before the caribou turned into bundles of caribou-moss. The grains that fell near the bears and wolves and men became meat and fish of many kinds. Well, it was the most wonderful thing that the white bear had ever dreamed of; and when he suddenly found a big, fresh salmon and a lump of beaver flesh under his very nose, he was too happy to do anything but eat and eat."

Old Squat-by-the-fire ceased her story-telling, leaned back against a heap of robes and blankets, and closed her eyes.

"Did Gluskap make all the food out of sand?" asked Flying Plover.

"Yes. Now you must go to bed, little son of a chief."

"Did King Bear stay with Gluskap?"

"Yes. Go to bed now, Flying Plover."

"Didn't he ever go back to his own country?"

"Perhaps he did. I don't know. Go to bed."

"What happened to old King Walrus?"

"I won't tell you to-night. Go to bed!"

"Did King Moose come home and fight him?"

"Go to bed! Go to bed! Go--to--bed!"

So, at last, while the fire still burned brightly, little Flying Plover went to bed under a soft robe of furs--and with most of his clothes on too. But his grandmother sat up for an hour or two longer, and smoked another pipeful of tobacco.