up. They
place the stone in such a way that it swings right in front of the
honey and a little above it. Then the people hide in thickets near by.

Presently a bear smells the honey from a distance, and comes to find
it. On reaching the place he sees the pot of honey on the tree. As
the bear is a good climber, he soon scrambles up the trunk of the tree
and walks along the bough toward the honey.

But just as he is coming to it, he sees something right before his
path. It is the block of stone! And he cannot get at the honey without
pushing the stone aside. So, what does he do? Why, quite naturally he
pushes the stone aside with his paw. But, as I have told you, the
stone is hung up by a rope; and so it _swings_ any way you may push
it.

Then what happens? Why, as soon as the bear pushes the stone aside
with his paw, the stone _swings back_ and hits him on the paw. The
bear gives a growl, and again pushes the stone aside, and this time
harder than before.

Then what happens? The stone swings back and hits the bear harder than
before! In fact, the stone will always swing back just as hard as it
is pushed.

But the bear does not know that! So with another growl he pushes the
stone again--and now much harder than before. Then of course the stone
comes back much harder, and whacks him again.

[Illustration: A Bear Fighting a Block of Stone]

This makes the bear really angry. He hits at the stone, and sends it
flying through the air in a big curve. But when the stone has gone
up and up in that curve, it begins to come down, down, the same
way--and gives the bear a thumping whack on the jaw.

Now, if the bear were not such an obstinate animal, he would go away
after that third blow, and try to forget the honey. But the bear will
never, never, give in! Instead, he gets quite mad with rage. He thinks
some enemy is hiding behind the stone!

"Who is hitting me?" he growls. "Come out of that, and fight fair!"

With that he hits a frantic blow at the stone; for the bear is a good
boxer. He sends the stone swinging through the air again, and farther
than before. Again the stone swings back and gives the bear a hard
whack.

In this way the fight goes on. Of course the stone cannot get hurt; so
it is the bear that gets hurt, every time. And as he will never give
in, he goes on fighting with the stone, and gets hurt more and more,
till at last he is knocked right off the tree, and falls stunned to
the ground.

Then the