COMBAT WITH A BEAR. 7 



in the spring, he is lean and emaciated, and is not a 

 very formidable antagonist. On this account, the 

 best time for bear-hunting in Norway is in the early 

 spring, when the animal is fresh from his winter quar- 

 ters, or in the autumn, when he is about to retire, for 

 a time, from the haunts of men. During the summer 

 months, he becomes a denizen of the impenetrable 

 forests, and is seldom seen abroad. 



Many interesting stories are narrated in this 

 country concerning bears, of which the following is 

 a specimen. A bonde was one day felling trees in a 

 forest, and was accompanied by a favourite goat, the 

 pet of his children. A bear unluckily came by that 

 way, attacked and killed the goat, but took no notice 

 of the honest peasant. The latter, enraged at his loss, 

 seized his gun, which was close at hand, and wounded 

 the bear, but not in a vital part. Then there ensued a 

 combat as fierce as it was brief. The man had no time 

 to reload his gun, but drew his short knife (tolrkniv), 

 and with repeated stabs laid the bear dead at his 

 feet. 



The following " veracious history " of a bear-hunter 

 was told to the author by a Norwegian friend. When 

 Christiania was but a small city, bears were so com- 

 mon in the neighbourhood, that they were regularly 

 hunted by some of the citizens. The most noted and 

 most successful hunter was a brave little man, a tailor 

 by trade, and Ole Hansen by name. Now, it unfortu- 

 nately happened that this Nimrod of the Norwegian 

 chase was troubled with a scolding wife, who con- 

 sidered that her husband was more profitably employed 

 at his trade than in hunting bears. Ole was of a con- 

 trary opinion, and one day, when intelligence was 



