So he eagerly
cried, "Ha! did you make the Gull white?"
"Indeed I did," replied Lox. "And this is what I get for it."
"Could you, my dear friend,--could you make _me_ white?"
Then Lox saw his way, and replied that he could indeed, but that it
would be a long and agonizing process; Mooin might die of it. To be
sure the Gull stood it, but could a Bear?
Now the Bear, who had a frame as hard as a rock, felt sure that he
could endure anything that a gull could, especially to become a white
bear. So, with much ceremony, the Great Enchanter went to work. He
built a strong wigwam, three feet high, of stones, and having put the
Bear into it he cast in red-hot stones, and poured water on them
through a small hole in the roof. Erelong the Bear was in a terrible
steam.
"Ah, Doctor Lox," he cried, "this is awfully hot! I fear I am dying!"
"Courage," said Lox; "this is nothing. The Gull had it twice as hot."
"Can't stand it any more, doctor. _O-o-o-oh_!"
Doctor Lox threw in more hot stones and poured more water on them. The
Bear yelled.
"Let me out! _O-o-h_! let me out! _O-o-o-oh_!"
So he came bursting through the door. The doctor examined him
critically.
Now there is on an old bear a small white or light spot on his upper
breast, which he cannot see. [Footnote: This is very white on the
Japanese bears.] And Doctor Lox, looking at this, said,--
"What a pity! You came out just as you were beginning to turn white.
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