ii. BRUIN THE BEAR. 27 



Instead of devouring the child, Bruin took him under his 

 protection, kept him warm with the heat of his body, and 

 allowed him to return every night to his cage ; and when 

 the boy died soon after of small-pox the bear refused all 

 food, and joined his little friend in death. 



The mother is devoted to her cubs, literally, according 

 to old writers, licking them into shape. " When first 

 born," says Pliny, "they are shapeless masses of white 

 flesh, a little larger than mice, their claws alone being 

 prominent. The mother then licks them into proper 

 shape." But if she sternly licks them into shape, she 

 also fearlessly protects them from danger. Bingley quotes 

 an account of a female Polar bear who, with two large 

 cubs, was seen by the crew of an exploring frigate. When 

 they came near the vessel the sailors threw over to them 

 great lumps of the flesh of a sea-horse. These the old 

 bear fetched away singly, laid every lump before her cubs 

 as she brought it, and dividing it, gave to each a share 

 reserving but a small portion to herself. And the sailors 

 shot the cubs and wounded their dam. " It would have 

 drawn tears of pity from any but unfeeling minds to have 

 marked the affectionate concern expressed by this poor 

 beast in the last moments of her expiring young. Though 

 she was herself dreadfully wounded, she carried the lump 

 of flesh she had fetched away, as she had done others 

 before ; tore it in pieces and laid it before them ; and 

 when she saw that they refused to eat, she laid her paws 

 first upon one, and then upon the other, and endeavoured 

 to raise them up ; all this time it was pitiful to hear her 

 moan. When she found she could not stir them she went 

 off, and when she had got to some distance looked back 

 and moaned ; and that not availing her to entice them 

 away, she returned and began to lick their wounds. She 

 went off a second time as before ; and, having crawled a 



