SKETCHES FROM S^ETEKSDAL. 231 



immediate district; and the hero of the adventure 

 would be excessively astonished if he noticed that any 

 one attached peculiar importance to it, and would 

 perhaps deliberate the next time, and so, in all pro- 

 bability, not succeed so easily. 



One more incident. Some little time ago a bear 

 used to prowl about a particular part. He was called 

 the " horse bear," because he had despatched so many 

 horses in his time. His fame had extended far and 

 wide, and he had often been hunted. He had had, more- 

 over, to submit to a regular " Klapjagt,"* something 

 quite uncommon in these parts, but had always con- 

 trived, though often wounded, to escape. 



In one of these encounters he got severely wounded 

 in one of the hind legs, causing the foot ever since to 

 be quite awry, so that he could easily be recognized 

 wherever he went. "Wild and savage to the extreme 

 from all the persecution to which he had had to submit, 

 he would attack people whenever he saw them, even if 

 they had not " insulted " him. Some time elapsed 

 when the slaughter of various cows, and the breaking 

 down of cowsheds, gave convincing proofs that he was 

 again in the neighbourhood, and great was the panic 

 caused by the advent of this terrible ''horse bear." 

 Therefore, one of the most renowned bear-shooters in 

 the valley, who had often had an encounter with these 



* When the whole country is called out to beat the woods. 



