] for he
walked the earth in divers disguises, to take his usual roundabouts,
and as he went he saw a huge bear, as the manuscript reads, "right
straight ahead of him."
Now the old Bear was very glad, to see the Raccoon, for he had made up
his mind to kill him at once if he could: firstly, to punish him for
his sins; and secondly, to eat him for breakfast. Then the Raccoon ran
into a hollow tree, the Bear following, and beginning to root it up.
Now the Coon saw that in a few minutes the tree would go and he be
gone. But he began to sing as if he did not care a bean, and said, "All
the digging and pushing this tree will never catch me. Push your way in
backwards, and then I must yield and die. But that you cannot do, since
the hole is too small for you." Then Mooin, the Bruin, hearing this,
believed it, but saw that he could easily enlarge the hole, which he
did, and so put himself in arrear; upon which the Raccoon seized him,
and held on till he was slain. [Footnote: As Reynard, the Fox, won the
victory in the famous tale versified by Goethe. Vide _Reinecke
Fuchs_.]
Then he crawled out of the tree, and, having made himself a fine pair
Of mittens out of the Bear's skin, started off again, and soon saw a
wigwam from which rose a smoke, and, walking in, he found a family of
_Begemkessisek_, or Black Cats. So, greeting them, he said,
"Young folks, comb me down and make me nice, and I will give you these
beautiful bear-skin mittens.
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