“Indeed, I have not. I will let you pick nothing. I will tear you to pieces!” said the Bear.
“Don’t, don’t, and I will make a bargain with you,” said the boy.
“Who should talk of bargains to me?” yelled the Bear, cracking a small pine-tree to pieces with his paws and teeth, so great was his rage.
“These things are no more yours than mine,” said the boy, “and I’ll prove it.”
“How?” asked the Bear.
“They are mine; they are not yours!” cried the boy.
“They are mine, I tell you! They are not yours!” replied the Bear.
“They are mine!” retorted the boy.
And so they might have wrangled till sunset, or torn one another into pieces, had it not been for a suggestion that the boy made.
“Look here! I’ll make a proposition to you,” said he.