The moment the twins' father and mother heard the word -bear-
they jumped off the sleeping-bench and began to put on their
clothes.
They both wore fur trousers and long kamiks, with coats of fur,
so they looked almost as much alike in their clothes as the twins
did in theirs.
The mother always wore her hair in a topknot on top of her head,
tied with a leather thong. But now she wanted to make the bear
think she was a man, too, so she pulled it down and let it hang
about her face, just as her husband did.
In two minutes they were ready. Then the father reached for his
lance, the mother took her knife, and they all crawled out of the
tunnel.
The father went first, then the mother, then the three children
and the pups. At the opening of the tunnel 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.
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