Atondido Stories
And Rabbit said to himself, "What luck I am having; there is an-
other of my customers gone." But he wondered how he was to
get rid of Bear, and he scratched his head in thought.
While Bear and Rabbit sat talking, they saw Rabbit's last cus-
tomer, the Hunter, coming along. Bear would have run away,
but it was too late. "Will the Hunter not want to kill you?" said
Rabbit, glad to think that here was the end of poor Bear. "Indeed
he will," said Bear. "Oh dear, oh dear, where shall I hide?" "Hide
under my bed in my house," said Rabbit. Poor Bear quickly
dashed into the house and crawled under Rabbit's bed with
great difficulty for he was very fat and the bed was very low and
he had to lay himself out flat on the floor, but he was comforta-
ble in the thought that he would soon escape. When Hunter ar-
rived he said, "Good day, Rabbit, I have come for my corn, for
my children need bread." "You shall have it," said Rabbit. "But
first we must have a bite to eat. I have not very much to offer
you, but I can give you in a few minutes some hot pancakes and
fresh maple syrup." The Hunter was well pleased with the
thought of such a good meal and he said he would be glad to
wait. Then Rabbit said, "Would you like some bear meat for your
children, and a good warm bear skin for your hearth?" And the
Hunter said, "Indeed I would. But in these days such luxuries
are hard to find." And Rabbit said, "Oh no, they are not; under
my bed in my house, a good fat bear is hiding. He is lying flat on
his back, and you can easily kill him." The Hunter hurried to the
house, and sure enough there he found Bear hiding under the
bed, flat upon his back. He killed him with a blow and skinned
him and cut him up into small pieces and put the meat and the
skin into a bag to take home to his children. But while he was
about it, Rabbit slipped away into the forest, saying to himself,
"Now I have got rid of all my customers and I am safe. But the
206