He ran deep down into the old
tunnel and hid behind the rocks and climbed the birches, but the cubs
hunted him out, go where he would. The instant they caught him they let
him go, so that he could run away again and they should have the fun of
recapturing him.
At last the boy got so sick and tired of it all that he threw himself
down on the ground.
"Run away," growled the cubs, "or we'll eat you up!"
"You'll have to eat me then," said the boy, "for I can't run any more."
Immediately both cubs rushed over to the mother bear and complained:
"Mamma Bear, oh, Mamma Bear, he won't play any more."
"Then you must divide him evenly between you," said Mother Bear.
When the boy heard this he was so scared that he jumped up instantly and
began playing again.
As it was bedtime, Mother Bear called to the cubs that they must come
now and cuddle up to her and go to sleep. They had been having such a
good time that they wished to continue their play next day; so they took
the boy between them and laid their paws over him. They did not want him
to move without waking them. They went to sleep immediately. The boy
thought that after a while he would try to steal away. But never in all
his life had he been so tumbled and tossed and hunted and rolled! And he
was so tired out that he too fell asleep.
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