‘Lord! thou canst do that same!’ said John; ‘keep back from the root of the tree, then, and I will go down to talk to thee.’
And when the son of Erin’s king drew down, they came to chatting. The bear asked him if he was hungry.
‘Weel, by your leave,’ said John, ‘I am a little at this very same time.’
The bear took that wonderful watchful turn, and he catches a roebuck. ‘Now, son of Erin’s king,’ says the bear, ‘whether wouldst thou like thy share of the buck boiled or raw?’
‘The sort of meat I used to get would be kind of plotted boiled,’ says John. And thus it fell out; John got his share roasted.
‘Now,’ said the bear, ‘lie down between my paws, and thou hast no cause to fear cold or hunger till morning.’
Early in the morning the bear asked, ‘Art thou asleep, son of Erin’s king?’
‘I am not very heavily,’ said he.
‘It is time for thee to be on thy soles, then. Thy journey is long—two hundred miles. But art thou a good horseman, John?’
‘There are worse than me at times,’ said he.