The Wonders of the Jungle, Book One

by Sarath Kumar Ghosh

So the people remember the bear's obstinacy, and catch him in this way:

They find a large tree which has a bough fifteen or twenty feet from the ground; then they tie a pot of honey on the bough, quite two or three yards away from the fork where the bough joins the trunk. So, if a bear wants to get at the honey, he will have to climb up the trunk, and then walk along the bough to the place where the pot is tied.

But the people also take a heavy stone, tie a stout rope around it, and hang up the stone by the rope from another bough higher up. They place the stone in such a way that it swings right in front of the honey and a little above it. Then the people hide in thickets near by.

Presently a bear smells the honey from a distance, and comes to find it. On reaching the place he sees the pot of honey on the tree. As the bear is a good climber, he soon scrambles up the trunk of the tree and walks along the bough toward the honey.

But just as he is coming to it, he sees something right before his path. It is the block of stone! And he cannot get at the honey without pushing the stone aside. So, what does he do? Why, quite naturally he pushes the stone aside with his paw. But, as I have told you, the stone is hung up by a rope; and so it swings any way you may push it.

Then what happens? Why, as soon as the bear pushes the stone aside with his paw, the stone swings back and hits him on the paw. The bear gives a growl, and again pushes the stone aside, and this time harder than before.

Then what happens? The stone swings back and hits the bear harder than before! In fact, the stone will always swing back just as hard as it is pushed.

But the bear does not know that! So with another growl he pushes the stone again—and now much harder than before. Then of course the stone comes back much harder, and whacks him again.

This makes the bear really angry. He hits at the stone, and sends it flying through the air in a big curve. But when the stone has gone up and up in that curve, it begins to come down, down, the same way—and gives the bear a thumping whack on the jaw.