<h5 id="id01275">WHY THE BEAR IS STUMPY-TAILED</h5>
<p id="id01276">By Sir George Webbe Dasent</p>
<p id="id01277">ONE day the Bear met the Fox, who came slinking along with a string of
fish he had stolen.</p>
<p id="id01278">"Whence did you get these from?" asked the Bear.</p>
<p id="id01279">"Oh! My Lord Bruin, I've been out fishing and caught them," said the<br/>
Fox.<br/></p>
<p id="id01280">So the Bear had a mind to learn to fish too, and bade the Fox tell him
how he was to set about it.</p>
<p id="id01281">"Oh! It's an easy craft for you", answered the Fox, "and soon learned.
You've only got to go upon the ice, and cut a hole and stick your tail
down into it; and so you must go on holding it there as long as you
can. You're not to mind if your tail smarts a little; that's when the
fish bite. The longer you hold it there the more fish you'll get; and
then all at once out with it, with a cross pull sideways, and with a
strong pull too."</p>
<p id="id01282">Yes; the Bear did as the Fox had said, and held his tail a long, long
the down in the hole, till it was fast frozen in. Then he pulled it
out with a cross pull, and it snapped short off. That's why Bruin goes
about with a stumpy tail this very day.</p>
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