, till his mate comes home, we shall see,' said
the wolf.

"The bear and the wolf walked backward and forward some time, till his
mate came home with some food in her mouth for her children. The wolf and
the bear watched her. She went to the tree where the bird was singing, and
they together flew to a little grove just by, and went to their nest.

" 'Now,' said the bear, 'let us go and see.'

" 'No,' said the wolf, 'we must wait till the old birds have gone away
again.'

"So they noticed the place, and walked away.

"They did not stay long, for the bear was very impatient to see the nest.
They returned, and the bear scrambled up the tree, expecting to amuse
himself finely by frightening the young tomtits.

" 'Take care,' said the wolf; 'you had better be careful. The tomtits are
little; but little enemies are sometimes very troublesome.'

" 'Who is afraid of a tomtit?' said the bear.

"So saying, he poked his great black nose into the nest.

" 'Who is here?' said he; 'what are you?'

"The poor birds screamed out with terror. 'Go away! Go away!' said they.

" 'What do you mean by making such a noise,' said he, 'and talking so to
me? I will teach you better.' So he put his great paw on the nest, and
crowded it down until the poor little birds were almost stifled. Presently
he left them, and went away.

"The young tomtits were terribly frightened, and some of them were hurt.
As soon as the bear was gone, their fright gave way to anger; and, soon
after, the old birds came home, and were very indignant too. They used to
see the bear, occasionally, prowling about the woods, but did not know
what they could do to bring him to punishment.

"Now, there was a famous glen, surrounded by high rocks, where the bear
used to go and sleep, because it was a wild, solitary place. The tomtits
often saw him there. One day, the bear was prowling around, and he saw, at
a great distance, two huntsmen, with guns, coming towards the wood. He
fled to his glen in dismay, though he thought he should be safe there.

"The tomtits were flying about there, and presently they saw the huntsmen.
'Now,' said one of them to the other, 'is the time to get rid of the
tyrant; you go and see if he is in his glen, and then come back to where
you hear me singing.'

"So he flew about from tree to tree, keeping in sight of the huntsmen, and
singing all the time; while the other went and found that the bear was in
his glen, crouched down in terror