BIG WHITE BEAR FINDS LITTLE WHITE FOX
When Omnok returned from hunting Big White Bear he sat down and began to
think. "White bears about," he thought to himself. "There must be white
foxes about too, for they always stay close to white bears. I must go
out and set some traps." And that is just what he did the very next
evening. He threw the cruel looking traps, with their ugly steel jaws,
over his shoulder and went out to look for a good place to set them. At
last he came to a place where there were many white bear tracks. "I
guess this will do," he said to himself. He took out his great knife
and cut out a cake of snow that was nearly as hard as ice. He cut this
up into four little snow boards, very square and very smooth. Then he
made a little hole in the snow and put a trap there. Next he made a thin
shingle of snow,--so thin that the least touch would break it right in
two. He put this over the trap and smoothed it over so carefully that no
one in all the world could tell there was a trap hidden there. Then he
made a little house over it with the four boards,--a very fine looking
house with a roof and three sides, and with one side left open for the
door. He put some nice pieces of meat inside of the house, so when any
little fox came to live there he wouldn't have to go away hungry.
Finally he spilled a few drops of delicious smelling seal oil around the
house and went away.
Now who should happen by that way, almost right away, but our own Little
White Fox, looking, looking everywhere for Big White Bear. Right away
the west wind blew a little whiff of the rich seal oil in front of his
nose, and almost before he knew it, Little White Fox was standing in
front of the little house that Omnok built, wondering how it came there
and how there happened to be such delicious looking meat inside of it.
He wasn't quite sure it was safe to go inside, so he just licked up all
the drops of seal oil around the outside. It was very good, but it was
only a taste, and it made him hungrier than ever.
"I just believe I am going to have that meat!" he said to himself. He
was about to put his paw on the little snow shingle that was so thin and
would break so easily, when he heard a great, gruff voice right behind
him.
"Here! What you doing there?" Little White Fox just tumbled a back
somersault away from the little house and ran as fast as ever he could,
for there, right behind him, was Big White Bear! It's one thing to be
looking for some one very much larger than yourself, but quite another
thing for that big person to be looking at you. Little White Fox didn't
take any chances. But when he was a long distance away, and Big White
Bear wasn't following him, he turned around to see what would happen to
the little house. He wished Big White Bear would go away, so he could
get all that delicious meat.
But Big White Bear did not go away. He bent his long neck and put his
great nose right up to the little house and gave a great "Woof!" The
little house was far too small for Big White Bear to enter, so he put
out one of his ponderous, powerful paws and sent the little house flying
every way. But his ponderous, powerful paw went too deep. It touched the
thin shingle, and Snap! the trap came down on Big White Bear's paw. Came
down hard too! Ow-e-e-e! How it did hurt! How Big White Bear roared! One
might have thought he was being killed! He ran limping to the ocean,
dragging the little fox trap after him. When he got there, he stuck his
paw up in the air, and moved it round and round, round and round, till
the chain on the trap went Ziz! Ziz! Ziz! just like that. All of a
sudden the trap came loose and tumbled into the sea, and I think
Steadfast Starfish's children are playing with it still.
Little White Fox ran straight home to tell his mother how he had found
Big White Bear and all the things that had happened.
"Well," said his mother, "I think Big White Bear has found you, and I am
sure it is a good thing he did!" Then she sat down and told Little White
Fox all about the dangers of nice smelling meat and the little houses
that Omnok builds.