"The kidneys for Koko," cried Koko's mother when she stuck in her
finger. "That will make him a great bear-hunter when he is big."
"And I will have the skin for the twins' bed," said their mother.
Kesshoo promised each one the part he asked for. An Eskimo never keeps
the game he kills for himself alone. Every one in the village has a
share.
The bear was very large. He was so large that though all the women
pulled together they could not drag the body back to the village. The
men laughed at them, but they did not help them.
So Koolee ran back for their sledge and harnesses for the dogs. Koko
and Menie helped her catch the dogs and hitch them to the sledge.
It took some time to catch them for the dogs did not want to work. They
all ran away, and Tooky, the leader of the team, pretended to be sick!
Tooky was the mother of Nip and Tup, and she was a very clever dog.
While Koolee and Koko and Menie were getting the sledge and dog-team
ready, the rest of the women set to work with their queer crooked
knives to take off the bear's skin. The moon set, and the sky was red
with the colors of the dawn before this was done.
At last the meat was cut in pieces and Kesshoo and Koko's father held
the dogs while the women heaped it on the sledge. The dogs wanted the
meat. They jumped and howled and tried to get away.
When everything was ready, Koolee cracked the whip at the dogs. Tooky
ran ahead to her place as leader, the other dogs began to pull, and the
whole procession started back to the village, leaving a great red stain
on the clean white snow where the bear had been killed.
Last of all came the twins and Koko. They had loaded the bear's skin on
Menie's sled.
"It's a woman's work to pull the meat home. We men just do the hunting
and fishing," Menie said to Koko. They had heard the men say that.
"Yes, we found the bear," Koko answered. "Monnie can pull the skin
home."
And though Monnie had found the bear just as much as they had, she
didn't say a word. She just pulled away on the sled, and they all
reached the igloo together just as the round red sun came up out of the
sea, and threw long blue shadows far across the fields of snow.