The bear-king replied that Grasshopper might do as he pleased, but that one of his young men was at his command; so jumping nimbly on his back, Grasshopper rode home.
He assembled the people and ordered the bear's head off, to be hung outside of the village, that the bear spies, who were lurking in the neighborhood, might see it and carry the news to their chief.
The next morning, by break of day, Grasshopper had all of his young warriors under arms and ready for a fight. And none too soon, for about the middle of the afternoon the bear war-party came in sight, led on by the fat king. The bears advanced on their hind-legs, making a tremendous noise, and a very imposing display of their teeth and eyeballs.
The bear-chief himself came forward, and with a majestic wave of his right hand, said that he did not wish to shed the blood of the young warriors; but that if Grasshopper consented, they two would have a race. The winner should kill the losing chief, and all his young men should be servants to the other.
Grasshopper agreed, of course—how little Pipe-bearer, who stood by, grinned as they came to terms!—and they started to run before the whole company of warriors who stood in a circle looking on.
[Original]
At first there was a prospect that Grasshopper would be badly beaten; for although he kept crowding the great fat bear-king till the sweat trickled from his shaggy ears, he never seemed to be able to push past him. But by and by, Grasshopper, going through a number of the most extraordinary maneuvers in the world, raised about the great fat bear-king such eddies and whirlwinds of sand, and so danced about, before and after him, that the king at last got fairly bewildered, and cried out for mercy. But Grasshopper still went on and reached the goal where he only waited for the bear-king to come up to drive an arrow through him. And now in fulfilment of the agreement the bears must become servants, and Grasshopper ordered them to take the body off and prepare it for supper.
"I am hungry," he said, "and would hold a great feast to celebrate our victory."
All the bears had to help, and although bound to act becomingly according to the forfeit, they made many a wry face as they carved up the body of their late royal master. And either by accident or design they fell into many curions blunders. One sprightly young fellow of an inquisitive turn of mind was found upon the roof of the lodge, with his head half-way down the smoke-hole, with a view to learn what they were to have for dinner. Another, a middle-aged bear with very long arms, who was put in charge of the children as nurse while the mothers were outside to look after the preparations, squeezed three or four of the most promising young papooses to death; another, when he should have been waiting at the back of his master, had climbed a shady tree and was indulging in his afternoon nap. And when, at last, the dinner was ready to be served, they came tumbling in with the dishes, heels over head, one after the other, so that one-half of the feast was spread upon the ground, and the other half deposited out of doors, on the other side of the lodge.