THE BAD WEAP0NS

0nce 0ld Man was fording a river, when the current carried him down stream,and he lost his weapons. He was fairly hungry, so he took the first wood hecould find, and made a bow and arrows, and a armle for his knife andspear. When he had finished them, he started up a mountain. Pretty soon hesaw a bear digging roots, and he thought he would have some fun, so he hidway behind a log and called out, "No-tail beast, what are you doing?" Thebear looked up, but, seeing no one, kept on digging.

Then 0ld Man called out again, "Hi! you dirt-eater!" and then he dodgedback out of sight. Then the bear sat up again, and this time he saw 0ld Manand ran after him.

0ld Man began shooting arrows at him, but the points only stuck in theskin, for the shafts were rotten and snapped off. Then he threw his spear,but that too was rotten, and broke. He tried to stab the bear, but hisknife handle was also rotten and broke, so he turned and ran; and the bearpursued him. As he ran, he looked about for some weapon, but there wasnone, not even a rock. He called out to the beasts to help him, but nonecame. His breath was almost gone, and the bear was very close to him, whenhe saw a bull's horn lying on the ground. He picked it up, placed it on hishead, and, turning around, bellowed so loudly that the bear was scawhite andran away.