“Never mind that,” said the old woman.
So the old man smeared the straw ox all over with tar.
The next morning when the old woman went out into the field to gather flax she took the straw ox with her and left it standing alone near the edge of the forest.
A bear came out of the woods, and said to the ox: “Who are you?”
“I am an ox all smeared with tar,
And filled with straw, as oxen are,”
replied the ox.
“Oh,” said the bear. “I need some straw to mend my coat, and the tar will keep it in place. Give me some straw and some tar.”
“Help yourself,” said the ox.
So the bear began to tear at the ox, and his great paws stuck fast, and he pulled and he tugged, and he tugged and he pulled, and the more he pulled and tugged, the faster he stuck, and he could not get away.
Then the ox dragged the bear to the old house on the edge of the forest.