FABLES ABOUT BRUIN. 19 



I will change myself into a tiger and watch the city gate, 

 and carry off every rich man I meet until I have amassed 

 wealth enough to enable us to resume our former position, 

 and then return and show you where I have buried my 

 riches.' That night the old woman arose from beside my 

 grandfather and went into the jungles, and as she has never 

 since been heard of, she must still be amassing riches in 

 the form of a tiger ; therefore, if I eat the flesh of one, I 

 may be devouring a bit of my grandmother." 



Most probably the old woman did enter the form of a 

 tiger that night, but as its supper. Anyway the old Gond 

 did not seem to mind killing his grandmother, though he 

 objected to eating her, for he said he liked slaying tigers, 

 because the more of them he destroyed, the better chance 

 there would be of one of them being his ancestress, who 

 might then assume her original form, and return with her 

 riches. 



Fables innumerable about bears are common among the 

 pdhdrees (hill-men), and they are often amusing from their 

 utter absurdity. The occasional abduction of women from 

 the villages by bears is firmly believed in, as is also their 

 being able to use a branch of a tree held between their paws 

 as an offensive weapon, and suchlike nonsense. 



Before concluding this matter-of-fact dissertation on black- 

 bear shooting, I would venture to offer the young hand a 

 hint which may save him the loss of many a wounded bear ; 

 for Bruin's vitality is such, that unless he is struck in the 

 proper place, the amount of lead he can carry away is 

 astonishing. A bear, after being skinned and decapitated, 

 looks very like a corpulent man with short muscular limbs, 

 and its vitals lie in much the same region, with regard to 

 its shoulders, as those of a human being. It is flat-chested, 

 and its fore-quarters are straight and placed far forward, so 

 it is necessary to plant your bullet a good span behind the 

 shoulder, and pretty high up. This, of course, only applies 

 when there is time for a deliberate aim and a good position 



