And the eldest sister asked him: "Did they make you welcome, Bruin, and give you nice things to eat?" "They didn't give me anything to eat," he answered, "but their welcome was loud enough." [Illustration] [Illustration] [Illustration] The next day the eldest sister said: "Bruin, take my daddy some more pies to eat!" And she tied up her other sister in the sack, and the bear put it on his back and carried it off into the village. And as he went through the forest he kept saying to himself: "Suppose I sit down on a stump, and suppose I just eat one little pie!" And the second daughter said to him from out of the sack: "Don't sit down on a stump, don't! Don't eat a pie, don't!" And the bear thought: "There now, fancy that! I've come a long way, and yet she can still hear me, and tells me not to eat a pie!" And so he reached the old man's courtyard, and when the dogs went for him that time, they all but worried him to death! So he flung down the sack and ran off home. And the eldest sister asked him: "Did they welcome you warmly, Bruin, and give you plenty to eat?" "It was _such_ a warm welcome, and they gave me so much to eat, that I shan't forget it in a hurry!" he answered. [Illustration] [Illustration] [Illustration] And the next day the eldest girl said: "I'll bake some more pies, and you take them to my daddy for him to eat." And so she herself sat down in the sack, and the bear carried her off. And as he carried her along he kept saying to himself: "Oh, I _should_ so like to sit down on a stump, and I _should_ so like to eat one little pie!" And the eldest daughter said to him from out of the sack: "Don't sit down on a stump, don't! Don't eat a pie, don't!" And the bear thought: "There now, fancy that! Look at the long way I've come, and yet she can still see and hear me!" And so he brought the sack to the old man, and then the dogs came upon him and all but tore him in bits. And he ran off into the forest without as much as looking round, and the old man began once more to live with his three little daughters. [Illustration] [Illustration: I don't like what is nice, but what I like _is_ nice!] THE STRAW OX. [Illustration] [Illustration] [Illustration]