Page:Tales of the Punjab.pdf/60

 3B TALES OF THE PUNJAB

‘Do you think your wife would give me some too, if I brought her a bundle of wood?’ he asked anxiously.

‘Perhaps; if it was a very big load.’ answered the woodman craftily.

‘\Vould—would four hundredwcight be enough?’ asked the bear.

‘ I'm afraid not,’ returned the woodman, shaking his head; ‘you see Mic/1r! is an expensive dish to make,—there is rice in it, and plenty of butter, and pulse, and ’

‘ Would—would eight hundredweight do?‘

‘Say half a ton, and it’s a bargainl’ quoth the woodman.

‘ Half a ton is a large quantity I ’ sighed the bear.

‘There is saﬁ'ron in the Hair/1143 remarked the woodman casually.

The bear licked his lips, and his little eyes twinkled with greed and delight.

‘Well, it’s a bargain! Go home sharp and tell your wife to keep the Hut/tr! hot; I’ll be with you in a trice.’

Away went the woodman in great glee to tell his wife how the bear had agreed to bring half a ton of wood in return for a share of the Mir/mi.

Now the wife could not help allowing that her husband had made a good bargain, but being by nature a grumbler. she was determined not to be pleased, so she began to scold the old man for not having settled exactly the share the bear was to have ; ‘ For,‘ said she, 'he will gobble up the potful before we have ﬁnished our ﬁrst helping.’

On this the woodman became quite pale. ‘ln