The Laughing Bear, and Other Stories. Robert Bloomer Hare Bell
diseases.
The bear growled, but Chonwa begged the Stone Doctor to cure her eyes, which had been weakened from wearing the veil. Whereupon he slapped his knees and held the stone before her gaze. Suddenly the girl felt a peculiar dizziness. She felt her eyes getting larger and larger, and the Doctor kept getting bigger and bigger—and then she knew no more; she had fainted.
Mousan caught her as she fell, and the bear lifted her right paw and smote the Doctor a heavy blow. He went sprawling to the grass and his stone lodged in a nearby tree. It took some time to revive the girl.
Meanwhile, the Doctor had recovered sufficiently to sit up. He was a pitiful-looking object. His eyes were bloodshot and his hair stood up as if he had had a bad dream. "Oh, give me my stone! Oh, give me my precious stone! Oh!" moaned the doleful old quack.
Mouwou growled, showing her great white teeth and raising her terrible paw, at which he became silent.
But so angered was Mousan by the false Doctor's wicked trick, that he rushed upon him, grabbed his eyebrow whiskers, and dragged him off howling.
Scarcely had the two disappeared from view of the others, than the quack sprang like a tiger upon the young prince and bore him to the ground; then he placed his hand upon the boy's mouth to prevent him from yelling for help.
"Now!" hissed the furious Hu-Mok, who was twice as strong as any ordinary man, "I shall teach you a thing or two!" Mousan struggled to escape, but the strong one planted a heavy foot on his neck and kept it there till he was senseless. Cautiously the villain looked around lest some one should see, then dragged his victim to his den.
When the princess had revived completely, the bear persuaded her to mount her back again. Bruin at this time had not guessed that there was anything wrong with her other charge; so when the princess asked her where Mousan was, she merely replied that he had gone to punish the Doctor.
They had not gone very far when they saw a snake charming a little bird. The bird could not move from its perch, but stood screaming and flapping its wings in terror. The old bear rushed at the reptile and struck it a deadly blow. At once the grateful bird flew to its rescuers. It perched upon the shoulder of the girl and rubbed its smooth feathers against her cheek, while the snake wiggled away to die.
So this queer trio passed through the woods, the bird on Chonwa's shoulder and the girl on the bear's back. They were surprised and delighted when they came to a little thatched shanty on which was a sign with the words, "Rest for the Weary."
"Do let us rest here till Mousan catches up!" begged eager Chonwa. She dismounted, approached the house, and peered in. There she saw, to her delight, a beautiful woman lying on a couch reading.
She knocked gently and the woman came out smiling, and holding a glass of wine. Chonwa was very thirsty but when she was about to take the drink, the woman opened her mouth, and behold, a cloven tongue darted out!
Chonwa dropped the glass and fled in fear.
The woman was the serpent come to life again. The instant Chonwa saw her mistake the woman changed back into the snake and began to pursue her.
The bear was some distance away and so could not help her charge. The snake was almost upon the princess, when the little bird flew with all its strength against the open mouth of the reptile. By flapping its tiny wings in the serpent's eyes, the bird prevented it from biting. But the frail rescuer received the blow intended for Chonwa, and fell to the ground in great agony, though it was not seen by the others.
Mouwou quickly arrived at the scene of danger. Angry as fire, she smote the snake a terrible blow on the head, crushing it. Then, unable to find the gallant bird, the two went on.
Finally they came to a very pretty resting place by a brook that gurgled and sang a sweet song all day and all night. Like a good mother, the bear placed the tired girl on a patch of moss and sang her to sleep.
When Chonwa awoke she was much refreshed, and at once inquired about Mousan.
The bear, too, had been worrying about the prince. To the princess she said: "Do not be afraid—I'll go in search of him. Stay right in this spot, and do not believe everything that you hear." So saying, she lumbered out of sight.
No sooner had the bear-mother gone than the little wounded bird came crawling toward the maid. "I am dying, dear friend," it sobbed, "and I want to see you before I go. You have been so good to me!" Then the bird's voice became faint, and its eyes opened wide as in a death-stare.
"Oh! Oh!" sobbed Chonwa. "You must not die! You saved my life." But the bird was past saving, for the poison was doing its work quickly.
At that instant, a voice was heard calling sweetly: "Mushrooms! Mushrooms! Sure cure for all diseases. This way, gentle girl. I can help you. See how delicious."
Chonwa saw a strange little humpbacked man. He was scarcely three feet tall. His face looked old, but his voice was like that of a little choir-boy. In a dish he carried about a dozen mushrooms. They were hot and had been roasted in butter and salt, and they filled the air with a fragrance that made Chonwa's mouth water.
But she, remembering how the woman had fooled her, was afraid.
"Who are you?" demanded Chonwa.
"I am a great cook," said the man, bowing low. "I have cooked for your father many a time. You have tasted my dishes before. I am now cooking for the queen of the forest. See, princess, just try it on that little bird. My cooking acts like medicine."
With Chonwa's consent, he thrust a little particle down the bird's throat. The bird revived instantly and stood up and chirruped with delight.
Nevertheless, the mushrooms were poison. The hunchback was Mikado, the snake-woman's slave, and the mushrooms were the wicked woman turned into food. As poison cures poison, the poisoned mushrooms had acted as an antidote and the bird was saved. But the child not knowing the laws of chemistry, believed that the mushrooms were good food, as well as fine medicine, so she helped herself to the appetizing dainties. Soon she felt drowsy and laid herself down. The hunchback kicked his heels in the air and danced with joy. "I am saved!" he shouted. He had been promised a straight back, such as he had before he followed the evil woman, if he could succeed in destroying one life.
"Ha, ha! My back will soon be straight," he sang out. "Ha! Am I not clever? Already I feel my hump getting—!"
"Straight!" growled Mouwou, who at that moment appeared. Her tongue hung out, red with heat, and her breast was covered with flaked foam. Her eyes blazed fire and her voice sounded like the rumbling of thunder.
The cook's tune of mirth was instantly changed to wails for mercy. His hair stood on end, his jaws relaxed, and his eyes almost swelled out.
"Yes!" said the bear. "I'll straighten you, miserable cook!" She lifted her huge paw and brought it down with terrible force upon the hump.
"Ouch! Ouch!" yelled the dancer, as his hump pushed through and thrust out before him. He was hump-chested now!
"There!" said the bear. "Henceforth, you'll follow your hump. You won't have to carry it on your back any more!"
While Mouwou was dealing with the cook, the little bird was furiously picking at Chonwa's swollen neck. She picked and picked until a hole was made in the skin. Immediately a snake ran out and disappeared in the grass. Mouwou turned to the princess and began to scratch her arm. Several snakes fell out and the bear killed them. Again and again she scratched, till more than twenty snakes had come out and been killed.
The princess was soon entirely well. As it was growing dark, the mother made a cozy bed of leaves and bade her good night. With a prayer for the safety of Mousan. Chonwa fell asleep.
In the morning, just before they started on their hunt, the bird took a little flight to exercise its wings. It returned with the information that the hunchback was lying not far away in much pain. Following the bird, Chonwa and the bear found the hunchback rolling on the ground, apparently too weak to stand. He thought his head had been twisted round, because he could see his hump, a thing he never could do before! He had spent the greater part of