LITTLE BLACK BEAR'S DISCOVERY
What was Little Black Bear doing all the time Little White Bear was down
in Omnok's house, and what about Omnok's "pooksack"? Well, Little Black
Bear looked down into Omnok's house and wished his little playmate would
hurry out, so they could discover some more things. But when he had
waited what seemed a long, long time, he went on a little exploring trip
all by himself. And he discovered something right away. It had four legs
like Tdariuk, the reindeer. But it was ever so much larger than
Tdariuk, and its legs were straighter. Little Black Bear wasn't long in
finding out that this was not really any one at all, but just a rack
Omnok had made on which to keep his meat. And there was meat up there!
Oh! strips and strips of it! But it was all high out of reach. Little
Black Bear sniffed and sniffed, and My! It did smell good! But even when
he stood on his tiptoes he couldn't reach the least little mouthful.
There _was_ one thing closer to the ground. And such a strange thing as
it was! It looked like a coat that had belonged to one of Little Brown
Seal's cousins, but he couldn't be in the coat right then, for the
collar was tied up tight as could be, and so were the sleeves.
"If there was any one in that coat, he would smother right away," said
Little Black Bear, scratching his head. "But there is something in it!
See how its sides bulge out! I'll just give it a good poke and see what
happens."
Now that strange thing was just hung up by one string, and it swung
about very easily. When Little Black Bear gave it a great poke, it went
up in the air quickly! It came down quickly too, and it hit Little Black
Bear square on his nose. He spun about and tumbled down in the snow, and
at first he had a notion to be angry.
When the thing had stopped swinging, he stood on his tiptoes and smelled
of it. "E-ee-ee! How good it smells," he cried. "I just believe that is
Omnok's 'pooksack' of seal oil which mother has been talking about!"
Little Black Bear's mouth began to water and water, for his mother had
told him there was nothing half so good in the world as fine, rich seal
oil.
Now how was Little Black Bear going to get that oil out of that
"pooksack"? He thought and thought and thought. At last he remembered
the sleeves which were tied up. They were tied way down at the ends, and
there must be seal oil right down to the very tips. His mouth was too
small to bite the "pooksack", but one of these sleeves,--that was the
very thing! He would bite one of those, hard! with his sharp teeth, and
the oil would come right out into his mouth!
He had to stand on his tiptoes to reach, but at last he set his teeth
hard and _Ah-ne-ca!_ How good that seal oil did taste! It went gurgle,
gurgle, right down his throat so fast he could hardly get time to
swallow.
But very soon he began to feel as if he had had quite enough. How was he
going to stop the seal oil from coming out? Well, he couldn't do that.
He would just have to open his mouth and dodge right out of the way
quick. "That will be easy," he thought to himself. Anyway, he took two
or three more swallows, then he opened his mouth wide, and _Ah-ne-ca!_
before he could move one bit, that seal oil shot him right in the eyes
and ears and began to run down his back so fast he couldn't even give
one grunt. You should have seen that little bear! He was oil from head
to foot! And as for his fine, silky, glossy, black coat, he was just
sure it was ruined! He didn't stop a minute to see if Little White Bear
was out of Omnok's house, but ran home as fast as ever he could.
"Why! Why!" cried his mother, as he came into the house. "Where have you
been?"
Little Black Bear couldn't say a word. He just crawled over in one
corner and looked down at his toes.
And was his coat really ruined? Ask puss if her coat is ruined some day
when she comes in out of the rain, and see what she will say. Mother
Black Bear cleaned that coat up that very night so it looked better then
new, but how she did it I wouldn't pretend to say.