. But at last
it grew so strong, that it nearly always made the children cry. And
when it had grown so strong the grown-up people began to play with it,
and they helped the old woman in this way, in making the bear grow
stronger. But after a time not even grown men dared play with it,
so great was its strength, and then they said to one another:

"Let us take it with us when we go out hunting. It may help us to
find seal."

And so one day in the dawn, they came to the old woman's window
and cried:

"Little bear, come and earn a share of our catch; come out hunting
with us, bear."

But before the bear went out, it sniffed at the old woman. And then
it went out with the men.

On the way, one of the men said:

"Little bear, you must keep down wind, for if you do not so, the game
will scent you, and take fright."

One day when they had been out hunting and were returning home,
they called in to the old woman:

"It was very nearly killed by the hunters from the northward; we
hardly managed to save it alive. Give therefore some mark by which
it may be known; a broad collar of plaited sinews about its neck."

And so the old foster-mother made a mark for it to wear; a collar of
plaited sinews, as broad as a harpoon line.

And after that it never failed to catch seal, and was stronger even
than the strongest of hunters, and never stayed at home even in
the worst of all weather. Also it was not bigger than an ordinary
bear. All the people in the other villages knew it now, and although
they sometimes came near to catching it, they would always let it go
as soon as they saw its collar.

But now the people from beyond Angmagssalik heard that there was a
bear which could not be caught, and then one of them said:

"If ever I see it, I will kill it."

But the others said:

"You must not do that; the bear's foster-mother could ill manage
without its help. If you see it, do not harm it, but leave it alone,
as soon as you see its mark."

One day when the bear came home as usual from hunting, the old
foster-mother said:

"Whenever you meet with men, treat them as if you were of one kin
with them; never seek to harm them unless they first attack."

And it heard the foster-mother's words and did as she had said.

And thus the old foster-mother kept the bear with her. In the summer
it went out hunting in the sea, and in winter on the ice, and the other
hunters now learned to know its ways, and received shares of its