The Eskimo Twins | Page 7

the father stopped, and looked all
around to see if the bear were near.
The dogs in the village knew by this time that some strange animal was
about, and the moment Kesshoo came out into the moonlight and
started for the Big Rock, all the dogs ran, too, howling like a pack of
wolves.
Kesshoo shouted back to his wife, "There really is a bear! I see him by
the Big Rock; call the others."
So she sent Monnie into the igloo of the Angakok, and Menie and
Koko into the next huts. She herself screamed, "A bear! A bear!" into
the tunnel of Koko's hut.
The people in the houses had heard the dogs bark and were already
awake. Soon they came pouring out of their tunnels armed with knives
and lances. The women had all let down their hair, just as the twins'
mother did. Each one carried her knife.
They all ran toward the Big Rock, too. Far ahead they could see the
bear, and the dogs bounding along, and Kesshoo running with his lance
in his hand.
Then they saw the dogs spring upon the bear. The bear stood up on his
hind legs and tried to catch the dogs and crush them in his arms. But
the dogs were too nimble. The bear could not catch them.
When Kesshoo came near, the bear gave a great roar, and started for
him. The brave Kesshoo stood still with his lance in his hand, until the
bear got quite near. Then he ran at the bear and plunged the lance into
his side. The lance pierced the bear's heart. He groaned, fell to the

ground, rolled over, and was still.
Then how everybody ran! Koko's mother had her baby in her hood,
where Eskimo mothers always carry their babies. She could not run so
fast as the others. The Angakok was fat, so he could not keep up, but he
waddled along as fast as he could.
"Hurry, hurry," he called to his wives. "Bespeak one of his hind legs for
me."
Menie and Monnie and Koko had such short legs they could not go
very fast either, so they ran along with the Angakok, and Koko's
mother, and Nip and Tup.
When they reached the bear they found all the other people crowded
around it. Each one stuck his fingers in the bear's blood and then
sucked his fingers. This was because they wanted all bears to know
how they longed to kill them. As each one tasted the blood he called
out the part of the bear he would like to have.
The wives of the Angakok cried, "Give a hind leg to the Angakok."
"The kidneys for Koko," cried Koko's mother when she stuck in her
finger. "That will make him a great bear-hunter when he is big."
"And I will have the skin for the twins' bed," said their mother.
Kesshoo promised each one the part he asked for. An Eskimo never
keeps the game he kills for himself alone. Every one in the village has a
share.
The bear was very large. He was so large that though all the women
pulled together they could not drag the body back to the village. The
men laughed at them, but they did not help them.
So Koolee ran back for their sledge and harnesses for the dogs. Koko
and Menie helped her catch the dogs and hitch them to the sledge.
It took some time to catch them for the dogs did not want to work.

They all ran away, and Tooky, the leader of the team, pretended to be
sick! Tooky was the mother of Nip and Tup, and she was a very clever
dog. While Koolee and Koko and Menie were getting the sledge and
dog-team ready, the rest of the women set to work with their queer
crooked knives to take off the bear's skin. The moon set, and the sky
was red with the colors of the dawn before this was done.
At last the meat was cut in pieces and Kesshoo and Koko's father held
the dogs while the women heaped it on the sledge. The dogs wanted the
meat. They jumped and howled and tried to get away.
When everything was ready, Koolee cracked the whip at the dogs.
Tooky ran ahead to her place as leader, the other dogs began to pull,
and the whole procession started back to the village, leaving a great red
stain on the clean white snow where the bear had been killed.
Last of all came the twins and Koko. They had loaded the bear's skin
on Menie's sled.
"It's a woman's work to pull the meat home. We men just do the
hunting and fishing," Menie said to Koko. They had