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Chukcha Stories
Animal Stories Of The North
Translated by Fainna Solasko
freebooksforkids.net
Illustrated by Y.Rachov
Bear And Wind
Polar Bear stood on an ice pack, looking off into the distance. He couldn't see very far, but he thought he could make out a seal. He got up on his hind paws, shielded his eyes from the sun with his front paw and peered again. Yes, it was a seal! Bear flopped down on his stomach and crawled towards a lane of open water. When he was quite close Seal noticed him and swam off. Polar Bear followed. Seal swam still farther out.
"Ah," Bear sighed, "if I had a friend we'd close in on Seal and she'd never escape."
But Polar Bear did not have a friend.
He climbed out onto the ice again and stood there wondering how he might catch another seal.
All of a sudden — what was that? Snow dust swished by Bear's muzzle. He heard a whispering and pricked up his ears. Actually, he was a bit frightened but didn't want to show it, so he rose up on his hind paws and roared, "Who's that tossing snow in my eyes?"
"It's me, Wind," a faint voice replied.
"How dare you!"
"Don't be angry. Help me."
"Hm. How?"
"Why, blow hard. That'll make me stronger."
"What'll you do for me in return?"
"Seals are dozing on an ice floe. I'll blow it towards you."
"Well, then, let's be friends!"
"Let's. There's real strength in friendship."
Polar Bear took a deep breath and blew hard. Wind stirred, grew strong, spread his wings and flew out to sea.
In no time Wind was driving an ice floe back towards Polar Bear. The floe was dotted with seals. Bear attacked the sleeping seals, polished off two and then grabbed a third, but was no longer hungry.
Indeed, Bear's eyes were bigger than his stomach. He decided to rest a while and stretched out with one paw under his head and the other over his muzzle. Soon he was sound asleep.
All day long and all through the night Wind wandered over the sea. By dawn he was completely exhausted. All of a sudden he remembered his friend Polar Bear, wafted over to where Bear lay and settled softly on the floe.
"Help me, friend," Wind whispered.
Bear stirred and rolled over, but paid no attention to Wind.
"Save me! I'm dying!" Wind whistled.
Bear opened one eye and mumbled, "What kind of a friend are you? I can't sleep when you're making so much noise."
Wind managed to spread his drooping wings and drifted off unhappily, flying so close to the waves he barely kept from drowning.
Then something startling happened. Just as dying Wind touched the water a great big whale appeared directly below and blew out a huge spurt of air. The very thing Wind needed! He grew lively again and set off in high spirits to roam the seas.
After quite a while Wind became tired again and decided to pay another visit to his friend Polar Bear. He flew back to the ice floe and found Bear still asleep, snoring so hard his bulging stomach heaved.
Wind became angry, swirled down and swept the huge ice floe towards shore. Meanwhile, a hunter was lying in wait there. He spotted Bear asleep on the floe and in no time had him securely bound.
Polar Bear roared for help, but Wind said,
"What kind of a friend are you? Friends always remember their friends, and not only when they're in trouble themselves.
Thus did the friendship between Polar Bear and Wind end.
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