Now the wife knew that her husband had made a good bargain with the bear, but she always found fault and grumbled about everything, so she began to scold the old man.
“You should have made a better bargain with the bear. Bears are always greedy,” she stormed. “You know that he will gobble up all the khichri, before we have had a mouthful.”
“Do you think your wife would give me some khichri, if I brought her some wood?”
When the woodman heard this he grew quite pale. “Don’t you think that we had better begin now and have a fair start before the bear comes?” he asked.
So they squatted down upon the floor mat with the big brass pot of khichri placed between and began to eat and eat as fast as they could.
“Yum-mm, Yum-mm, YUMM, this khichri is good!” mumbled the man as he crammed his mouth full. “But we must remember to leave some for the bear, wife!”
“Yes, certainly, certainly!” replied the woman, helping herself to more. “We must leave some for that poor hungry bear!”
But they went right on eating and eating until there was not a single mouthful left in the pot.