was all he could do to tear
himself away and run off back into the forest.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

[Illustration: Guess how old I am!]

THE PEASANT AND THE BEAR.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

Once upon a time a certain peasant lost his wife, then he lost his other
relations, and then he was left alone with no one to help him in his
home or his fields. So he went to Bruin and said: "Look here, Bruin,
let's keep house and plant our garden and sow our corn together." And
Bruin asked: "But how shall we divide it afterwards?" "How shall we
divide it?" said the peasant, "Well, you take all the tops and let me
have all the roots." "All right," answered Bruin. So they sowed some
turnips, and they grew beautifully. And Bruin worked hard, and gathered
in all the turnips, and then they began to divide them. And the peasant
said: "The tops are yours, aren't they, Bruin?" "Yes," he answered. So
the peasant cut off all the turnip tops and gave them to Bruin, and
then sat down to count the roots. And Bruin saw that the peasant had
done him down.

[Illustration]

And he got huffy, lay down in his den, and started sucking his paws.

[Illustration]

The next spring the peasant again came to see him, and said: "Look here,
Bruin, let's work together again, shall we?" And Bruin answered:
"Right-ho! only this time mind! you can have the tops, but I'm going to
have the roots!" "Very well," said the peasant. And they sowed some
wheat, and when the ears grew up and ripened, you never saw such a
sight. Then they began to divide it, and the peasant took all the tops
with the grain, and gave Bruin the straw and the roots. So he didn't get
anything that time either.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

And Bruin said to the peasant: "Well, good-bye! I'm not going to work
with you any more, you're too crafty!" And with that he went off into
the forest.

[Illustration]

THE DOG AND THE COCK

[Illustration]

One summer a certain peasant's crops failed him, and so he had no food
to give to his animals, which were a cock and a dog. And the dog said to
the cock: "Well, brother Peeter, I think we should get more to eat if
we went and lived in the forest than here at our master's, don't you?"
"That's a fact," answered the cock, "let's be off, there's no help for
it."

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

So they said good-bye to their master and mistress and went off to see
what they could find. And they