XV. MOOWEEN.THE BEAR. 



:^ 



^ VER since nursery times 

 ^ Bruin lias been largely 



a creature of imagina- 

 tion. He dwells there 

 a ferocious beast, 

 prowling about g 1 o o m )- 

 woods, red e3'ed and danger- 

 ous, ready to rush upon the 

 unwary traveler and cat him 

 on the spot. 



Sometimes, indeed, we 

 have seen him out of imagi- 

 nation. There he is a poor, 

 tired, clumsy creature, foot- 

 sore and dusty, with a halter 

 round his neck, and a swarthy 

 foreigner to make his life 

 miserable. At tlie word he 

 rises to his hind legs, hunches his shoulders, and lunges 

 awkwardly round in a circle, while the foreigner sings 

 Horry, /lorry, ditm-diun, and his wife passes the hat. 



1S7 



:^r-5S* ^Ji^iv^H 



