The Laughing Bear, and Other Stories. Robert Bloomer Hare Bell
So saying, with one wrench she turned his face around till he was really looking backward.
The man rose to his feet with great difficulty and proceeded to walk, but to his astonishment he walked backward. His feet went the usual way, but as his head was looking backward, he could not see where he was going, and he bumped into a tree. He tried to walk the way his nose pointed and he fell again and again. At last he gave it up and sat down.
He was more confused than ever to find himself buckling up in the way opposite to that to which he had been accustomed. Finally, down he went as his body would have it, and he found his nose against the tree instead of the back of his head. Sobbing loudly, he took his head in his hands and wept tears down the back of his neck.
"Oh, dear bear, cure me!" he moaned, "I am a miserable sinner and I deserve it all! But please give me a chance, and I shall do better in the future! Never again shall I associate with that snake woman! Never! I want to be good!" This was the very thing that the bear wanted, for it was very hard for her to seem so cruel to one in such pain.
The little princess, who had been crying, nodded approvingly at the bear, who immediately caught the man in her arms and righted his head to the proper place. Then she laid him on the ground and with one great whack made him a straight man again.
The wicked snake-woman had bent him in making him do her bidding. Now that he was well, he became a convert to the new life, and was added to the company of three. He volunteered to guide them to the house where the Doctor lived.
They started none too soon to look for Mousan, who at that time lay bound in a horrible den some distance off. After the quack had deposited the prince in his own cave, he went in search of his precious stone, which he quickly found. He returned in great glee to the cave. Entering, he sat on a low stool facing the boy, who was bound so that he could not move.
The Doctor then called for his pipe, and a horrid lizard crawled toward him with the pipe in its mouth. Then the man called loudly for his tobacco, and a great turtle crawled forward with it on his back.
Slowly the Doctor filled his pipe and lighted it. At the first puff his mouth was filled with dirt from the foul pipe, and he jumped in the air, yelling loudly. He landed on the turtle and slipped. In his anger, he kicked the lizard and jumped again and again upon the turtle's back, at which the turtle seized him by the leg. It was a grand mix-up for a few minutes. The prince could not help laughing, and once started he laughed till the tears rolled down his face.
Finally the Doctor freed himself from the turtle and rushed to the boy.
"You are laughing, eh!" he exclaimed, shaking his fist at Mousan. "I shall soon have you silenced!"
From his pocket he took his polished stone, which he placed in the prince's mouth. In a few minutes the boy was completely paralyzed. With eyes wide open and his hearing gone, he lay rigid all night.
At break of day the quack came to his side and said: "Young man, I have made up my mind to teach you my art—on one condition. My work on earth is to make all men as miserable as possible. When I see a man at the height of his ambition, I step in and compel him to make a fool of himself, and down and out he goes. Ha! If I cannot ruin him that way, I tell something nasty about him to some deluded soul, who spreads the news to the mob, and presto! my man is done for. Again, I like to throw a microbe into the stomach of a healthy person and watch him squirm. Come, join me and I will teach you the art of the magic stone."
Freed from the spell, at the Doctor's will, the boy sat up and stretched his arms. But he shook his head to the proposal.
"Very well, then!" said the angry quack. Then he fastened about the prince's neck a chain attached to a pole, and left the cave.
At once a great swarm of ants came running toward the boy. He fought them off till he fell exhausted to the floor, his body covered with the nipping insects. The pain of a thousand bites made him feel that his end was near, and he closed his eyes, praying for death.
The quack came again and offered him freedom, if he would become one of his followers. The prince made no reply; so his tormentor sat down to enjoy the sight of his dying victim.
Suddenly the cave was darkened. The Doctor turned and saw the bear! Staggering to his feet, he fled to an inner recess. Like a flash the bear rushed over the ants, freed the boy from his chains, carried him out, placed him upon the green grass, and began to lick his wounds.
In a few moments the prince opened his eyes, and upon the arrival of the princess and the little man, he was smiling. Water was brought from a nearby stream and Mikado washed Mousan's body and limbs.
"Mikado," said the bear, "I am going to find the quack and get his magic stone. Please look after things while I am gone. I'll cure the boy with the rascal's magic!"
In a few minutes the bear returned, holding in her paw the glistening stone. "Now," said she, "let all wish that the prince may become well again; and you, my dear Mousan, look at this stone."
They did so and Mousan recovered immediately. The poor boy could scarcely believe that he was well again and that his dear Chonwa was with him.
Then Mouwou gathered the children in her furry embrace.
"I am glad to have both of you alive with me this day, and that I can speak to you now knowing that you will understand. Obedience is the law of all creation, and he that disobeys will come to a very bad end. All the pain that you have witnessed, and some that you have endured, has come from disobedience to the law of kindness. But we shall forget the past and only think of the future. I have the Doctor's stone, and by this we shall be able to undo all the evil conjured up by that miserable fellow. The man himself I marked with a "Q," meaning quack, so that all who see him may know the truth. Come, let us be going to the great South Country."
The four picked up the trail and proceeded to the Land of Sunshine and Joy, ever obedient to the old bear.
The prince and the princess were married when they grew up, and lived very happily to ripe old age; and the rest of the story you will find written in the annals of Korea.
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