Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 10, 1899.djvu/239

 Rh in his doorway as they passed, and having knowledge of their distress he accosted them kindly. "Hullo, children!" said he, "keep your spirits up, I'll help you, and hinder the old grizzly when she comes by. You run on to the river, and my brother the ferryman there will put you over the river before the grizzly can overtake you. I have sent word to him by the talking bird that you are coming, and will want to cross in a hurry." The boys thanked the old man and ran on towards the river. By this time, however, the angry grizzly was after them again, and they had not gone far beyond Ground-hog's when she arrived at his house. As she was dashing past, the little old man popped his head out of his door, which was fashioned by two large stones, after the manner of a spring trap, which he could open and shut from within, and called out to the grizzly to stop a moment. She made to rush past him; but he laughed so exasperatingly at her woeful plight, and mocked and abused her so roundly, that he at length provoked her to turn aside for the purpose of punishing him. The little man waited till she was quite close, scoffing at her the while; and when she sought to seize him he suddenly popped down his hole, pulling his door close after him with a sudden click that nearly took the old grizzly's nose off. Seeing that he was safe from her reach, she started off again after the boys, but had not gone a dozen yards when Ground-hog opened his door and popped his head out again, and jeered and taunted and mocked her worse than before. Though loth to delay, so biting and exasperating were the words he flung at her, that she half-turned to make for him once more. "Come on, come on, you old cannibal, you murderess and child-eater, come on! I'm not afraid of you, and I'll tell you what I think of you!" There was no enduring such language as this from a ground-hog; so she turned aside again and rushed at the little old fellow, who waited till she was nearly upon him, and then, with a scoffing laugh, scuttled down his hole, closing his door as before. This delay, which good-natured Ground-hog had caused the grizzly, enabled the boys to get to the river, jump into the waiting boat, and be ferried over before their enemy got to the bank. As the boys jumped out of the boat, the ferryman, who was known by the same name as his brother, told them not to trouble themselves about the grizzly any more, she would never trouble them again; that he was going to punish and make an end of her for her great wickedness. The