by Daniel Defoe
not usually attempt them, unless they first attack him;on the contrary, if you meet him in the woods, if you don't meddle withhim, he won't meddle with you; yet then you must take care to be verycivil to him, and give him the road; for he is a very nice gentleman, hewon't go a step out of the way for a prince; nay, if you are reallyafraid, your best way is to look another way, and keep going on; forsometimes, if you stop, and stand still, and look steadfastly at him, hetakes it for an affront; and if you throw or toss any thing at him, andit hits him, though it were but a bit of stick as big as your finger, hetakes it for an affront, and sets all other business aside to pursue hisrevenge; for he will have satisfaction in point of honour, and this ishis first quality; the next is, that if he be once affronted, he willnever leave you, night or day, till he has his revenge, but follow at agood round rate till he overtakes you.
My man Friday had delivered our guide, and when we came up to him, hewas helping him off from his horse; for the man was both hurt andfrighted, and indeed the last more than the first; when, on a sudden, weespied the bear come out of the wood, and a very monstrous one it was,the biggest by far that ever I saw: we were all a little surprised whenwe saw him; but when Friday saw him, it was easy to see joy and couragein the fellow's countenance: "O! O! O!" says Friday, three times,pointing to him, "O master! you give me te leave, me shakee te hand withhim, me makee you good laugh."
I was surprised to see the fellow so pleased: "You fool you," said I,"he will eat you up."--"Eatee me up! eatee me up!" says Friday, twiceover again; "me eatee him up; me make you good laugh; you all stay here,me shew you good laugh." So down he sits and gets his boots off in amoment, and put on a pair of pumps, (as we call the flat shoes theywear) and which he had in his pocket, and gives my other servant hishorse, and with his gun away he flew, swift like the wind.
The bear was walking softly on, and offered to meddle with nobody, tillFriday coming pretty near, calls to him, as if the bear could understandhim: "Hark ye, hark ye," says Friday, "me speakee wit you," We followedat a distance; for now being come down to the Gascoigne side of themountains, we were entered a vast great forest, where the country wasplain, and pretty open, though many trees in it scattered hereand there.
Friday, who had, as we say, the heels of the bear, came up with himquickly, and takes up a great stone, and throws at him, and hit him juston the head; but did him no more harm than if he had thrown it against awall; but it answered Friday's end; for the rogue was so void of fear,that he did it purely to make the bear follow him, and shew us somelaugh, as he called it.
As soon as the bear felt the stone, and saw him, he turns about, andcomes after him, taking devilish long strides, and strolling along at astrange rate, so as he would put a horse to a middling gallop. Away runsFriday, and takes his course, as if he ran towards us for help; so weall resolved to fire at once upon the bear, and deliver my man; though Iwas angry at him heartily for bringing the bear back upon us, when hewas going about his own business another way; and especially I was angrythat he had turned the bear upon us, and then run away; and I calledout, "You dog," said I, "is this your making us laugh? Come away, andtake your horse, that we may shoot the creature." He hears me, and criesout, "No shoot, no shoot, stand still, you get much laugh;" and as thenimble creature ran two feet for the beast's one, he turned on a sudden,on one side of us, and seeing a great oak tree, fit for his purpose, hebeckoned us to follow, and doubling his pace, he gets nimbly up thetree, laying his gun down upon the ground, at about five or six yardsfrom the bottom of the tree.
The bear soon came to the tree, and we followed at a distance. The firstthing he did, he stopped at the gun, smelt to it, but let it lie, and uphe scrambles into the tree, climbing like a cat, though so monstrousheavy. I was amazed at the folly, as I thought it, of my man, and couldnot for my life see any thing to laugh at yet, till seeing the bear getup the tree, we all rode nearer to him.
When we came to the tree, there was Friday got out to the small of alarge limb of the tree, and the bear got about half way to him. As soonas the bear got out to that part where the limb of the tree was weaker,"Ha," says he to us, "now you see me teachee the bear dance;" so hefalls a-jumping, and shaking the bough, at which the bear began tototter, but stood still, and began to look behind him, to see how heshould get back; then indeed we did laugh heartily. But Friday had notdone with him by a great deal: when he sees him stand still, he callsout to him again, as if he had supposed the bear could speak English,"What, you come no farther? Pray you come farther." So he left jumpingand shaking the bough; and the bear, just as if he understood what hesaid, did come a little farther; then he fell a-jumping again, and thebear stopped again.
We thought now was a good time to knock him on the head, and called toFriday to stand still, and we would shoot the bear; but he cried outearnestly, "O pray! O pray! no shoot, me shoot by and then;" he wouldhave said by and by. However, to shorten the story, Friday danced somuch, and the bear stood so ticklish, that we had laughing enoughindeed, but still could not imagine what the fellow would do; for firstwe thought he depended upon shaking the bear off; and we found the bearwas too cunning for that too; for he would not get out far enough to bethrown down, but clings fast with his great broad claws and feet, sothat we could not imagine what would be the end of it, and where thejest would be at last.
But Friday put us out of doubt quickly; for seeing the bear cling fastto the bough, and that he would not be persuaded to come any farther;"Well, well," said Friday, "you no come farther, me go, me go; you nocome to me, me come to you;" and upon this he goes out to the smallestend of the bough, where it would bend with his weight, and gently letshimself down by it, sliding down the bough, till he came near enough tojump down on his feet; and away he ran to his gun, takes it up, andstands still.
"Well," said I to him, "Friday, what will you do now? Why don't youshoot him?"--"No shoot," says Friday, "no yet; me shoot now me no kill;me stay, give you one more laugh;" and indeed so he did, as you will seepresently; for when the bear saw his enemy gone, he comes back from thebough where he stood, but did it mighty leisurely, looking behind himevery step, and coming backward till he got into the body of the tree;then with the same hinder end foremost, he came down the tree; graspingit with his claws, and moving one foot at a time, very leisurely. Atthis juncture, and just before he could set his hind feet upon theground, Friday stepped close to him, clapped the muzzle of his pieceinto his ear, and shot him as dead as a stone.
Then the rogue turned about to see if we did not laugh; and when he sawwe were pleased by our looks, he falls a-laughing himself very loud; "Sowe kill bear in my country," says Friday. "So you kill them?" said I;"why, you have no guns."--"No," says he, "no guns, but shoot great muchlong arrow."
This was, indeed, a good diversion to us; but we were still in a wildplace, and our guide very much hurt, and what to do we hardly knew: thehowling of wolves ran much in my head; and indeed except the noise Ionce heard on the shore of Africa, of which I have said somethingalready, I never heard any thing that filled me with so much horror.
These things, and the approach of night, called us off, or else, asFriday would have had us, we should certainly have taken the skin ofthis monstrous creature off, which was worth saving; but we had threeleagues to go, and our guide hastened us; so we left him, and wentforward on our journey.
The ground was still covered with snow, though not so deep and dangerousas on the mountains; and the ravenous creatures, as we heard afterwards,were come down into the forest and plain country, pressed by hunger, toseek for food, and had done a great deal of mischief in the villages,where they surprised the country-people, killed a great many of theirsheep and horses, and some people too.
We had one dangerous place to pass, of which our guide told us, if therewere any more wolves in the country, we should find them there; and thiswas a small plain, surrounded with woods on every side, and a longnarrow defile or lane, which we were to pass to get through the wood,and then we should come to the village where we
were to lodge.
It was within half an hour of sunset when we entered the first wood; anda little after sunset, when we came into the plain. We met with nothingin the first wood, except that in a little plain within the wood, whichwas not above two furlongs over, we saw five great wolves cross theroad, full speed one after another, as if they had been in chase of someprey, and had it in view: they took no notice of us, and were gone andout of sight in a few moments.
Upon this our guide, who, by the way, was a wretched faint-heartedfellow, bade us keep in a ready posture; for he believed there were morewolves a-coming.
We kept our arms ready, and our eyes about us; but we saw no more wolvestill we came through that wood, which was near half a