The Bear

Once there lived an old man and an old woman. They had no children. The old woman said to the old man: “Old man, go and fetch some firewood.”

Once there lived an old man and an old woman. They had no children.

The old woman said to the old man:

“Old man, go and fetch some firewood.”

The old man went to fetch firewood. A bear met him on the way and said:

“Old man, let's wrestle.”

The old man chopped off the bear's paw with his axe, took it home and gave it to the old woman:

“Cook the bear's paw, old woman.”

The old woman took it at once, stripped off the skin, sat on it and began plucking out the fur. She put the paw in the stove to cook.

The bear roared and roared. Then he had an idea and made himself a paw of linden wood. He went to the old man's house on his wooden leg, singing:

Creak, leg, Creak, linden leg! The water is asleep, The earth is asleep, They sleep in the villages, They sleep in the hamlets; Only one woman does not sleep, She sits upon my skin, She spins my fur, She cooks my flesh, She dries my skin.

The old man and the old woman were frightened. The old man hid beneath a trough on the sleeping platform, and the old woman hid on top of the stove under some black shirts.

The bear came into the hut. The old man groaned with fear beneath the trough, and the old woman coughed. The bear found them both and ate them.