And Arsan said: “Nay, she slew him not. For Grim was but a youth then,
and as ye know he was thereafter an old man dwelling among the people.
Nay, she slew him not. But the she-bear came upon him with a terrible
roaring. She was dreadful to look upon, of a vast bigness, her eyes
like hot fire and her jaws dripping foam. And Grim turned and ran for
his life; but she ran faster than he, and would surely have caught him,
but that he won to a tree, and climbed up instantly out of her reach.
“Then the she-bear climbed up into the tree after Grim. So he crept
out upon a long branch, and the bear made ready to follow him. Then
Grim fitted an arrow to his bow and took steady aim and shot, and shot
again, and wounded her in the body. But she came on, nevertheless,
growling, and mowing with her great jaws. Then Grim worked himself
along to the end of the branch and held by his hands, and swung and so
dropped to a branch below. And the she-bear turned herself about and
climbed down to that branch and came along towards him as before. And,
again, Grim drew two arrows on her and wounded her twice again, and the
blood came streaming from the wounds. Then Grim saw that he had only
three arrows left. So again he swung from the branch and dropped, and
thence to the ground; and he stood up and shot all three arrows into
the bear from beneath, with all his might and main. And she turned to
climb downwards, and ripped the tree with her great claws, and fell
to the ground; and though she was stricken to the death, she reared
herself on her hind legs and made as though to set upon him. Then,
being eager to kill, he picked up his spear and hurled it, so that it
pierced the bear’s breast, and she fell forward, tearing and biting at
the spear. Then Grim ran in upon her with his axe, and clove her skull
and made an end of her. And he cut out his arrows from her carcase and
struck off her four paws and took them; and he took the skin of the
bear-cub. And then, because it was near to nightfall, he hastened home.
“And he and some of the people came on the next day to the place, and,
lo! the wolves had devoured the carcases of the she-bear and of the
bear-cub in the night, and there remained not even the bones of them.
“And Grim made him a necklace of the claws of the she-bear that he slew
on that day; and it was ever about his neck. This have I seen. And it
was meet that he should wear her claws for bravery and strength; for he
slew her with his own hands.
“Thus was Grim great and famous among the people; and far be it from me
to name his name to his hurt. Howbeit, he was a mighty hunter!”
And the people all said: “Aye, surely that was he--he was a mighty
hunter!”
[Illustration]
_Chapter the Fourteenth_
_DICK AND HIS FRIENDS: A Talk about Stone Weapons_
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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