Now how was Little Black Bear going to get that oil out of that "pooksack"? He thought and thought and thought. At last he remembered the sleeves which were tied up. They were tied way down at the ends, and there must be seal oil right down to the very tips. His mouth was too small to bite the "pooksack", but one of these sleeves,—that was the very thing! He would bite one of those, hard! with his sharp teeth, and the oil would come right out into his mouth!
He had to stand on his tiptoes to reach, but at last he set his teeth hard and Ah-ne-ca! How good that seal oil did taste! It went gurgle, gurgle, right down his throat so fast he could hardly get time to swallow.
But very soon he began to feel as if he had had quite enough. How was he going to stop the seal oil from coming out? Well, he couldn't do that. He would just have to open his mouth and dodge right out of the way quick. "That will be easy," he thought to himself. Anyway, he took two or three more swallows, then he opened his mouth wide, and Ah-ne-ca! before he could move one bit, that seal oil shot him right in the eyes and ears and began to run down his back so fast he couldn't even give one grunt. You should have seen that little bear! He was oil from head to foot! And as for his fine, silky, glossy, black coat, he was just sure it was ruined! He didn't stop a minute to see if Little White Bear was out of Omnok's house, but ran home as fast as ever he could.
"Why! Why!" cried his mother, as he came into the house. "Where have you been?"
Little Black Bear couldn't say a word. He just crawled over in one corner and looked down at his toes.
And was his coat really ruined? Ask puss if her coat is ruined some day when she comes in out of the rain, and see what she will say. Mother Black Bear cleaned that coat up that very night so it looked better then new, but how she did it I wouldn't pretend to say.