Chapter 15

Bears: The Tricky Trap

Now I am going to tell you something funny about the bear. You have seen lots of wild animals in the zoo, and you may sometimes have wondered how these animals were caught. In another book I shall tell you all about the different ways of catching different kinds of wild animals; but now I shall only tell you how a wild bear is caught. Of course, there are two or three ways of catching him alive, but I shall describe to you now just one way.

You must know by this time that everybody in the world--whether man, woman, or child--has _some fault_. Some have a bad temper, others are rude, and still others are obstinate; and many, especially children, are too greedy! And so it is among animals: they all have one fault or another.

So the people who want to catch a wild animal find out first what fault that kind of animal has--whether he is greedy, or obstinate, or bad tempered. And they _catch the animal because of that very fault_!

A bear is very obstinate; in fact the bear, the pig, the donkey, and the mule are among the most obstinate of animals. So, because the bear is very obstinate, he will never give up when he meets anything that blocks his way; and if he has made up his mind to do anything, he will never give up, even if he finds he _cannot_ do it and that it is very foolish to try to do it.

So the people remember the bear's obstinacy, and catch him in this way:

They find a large tree which has a bough fifteen or twenty feet from the ground; then they tie a pot of honey on the bough, quite two or three yards away from the fork where the bough joins the trunk. So, if a bear wants to get at the honey, he will have to climb up the trunk, and then walk along the bough to the place where the pot is tied.

But the people also take a heavy stone, tie a stout rope around it, and hang up the stone by the rope from another bough higher up. They place the stone in such a way that it swings right in front of the honey and a little above it. Then the people hide in thickets near by.

Presently a bear smells the honey from a distance, and comes to find it. On reaching the place he sees the pot of honey on the tree. As the bear is a good climber, he soon scrambles up the trunk of the tree and walks along the bough toward the honey.

But just as he is coming to it, he sees something right before his path. It is the block of stone! And he cannot get at the honey without pushing the stone aside. So, what does he do? Why, quite naturally he pushes the stone aside with his paw. But, as I have told you, the stone is hung up by a rope; and so it _swings_ any way you may push it.

Then what happens? Why, as soon as the bear pushes the stone aside with his paw, the stone _swings back_ and hits him on the paw. The bear gives a growl, and again pushes the stone aside, and this time harder than before.

Then what happens? The stone swings back and hits the bear harder than before! In fact, the stone will always swing back just as hard as it is pushed.

But the bear does not know that! So with another growl he pushes the stone again--and now much harder than before. Then of course the stone comes back much harder, and whacks him again.

This makes the bear really angry. He hits at the stone, and sends it flying through the air in a big curve. But when the stone has gone up and up in that curve, it begins to come down, down, the same way--and gives the bear a thumping whack on the jaw.

Now, if the bear were not such an obstinate animal, he would go away after that third blow, and try to forget the honey. But the bear will never, never, give in! Instead, he gets quite mad with rage. He thinks some enemy is hiding behind the stone!

"Who is hitting me?" he growls. "Come out of that, and fight fair!"

With that he hits a frantic blow at the stone; for the bear is a good boxer. He sends the stone swinging through the air again, and farther than before. Again the stone swings back and gives the bear a hard whack.

In this way the fight goes on. Of course the stone cannot get hurt; so it is the bear that gets hurt, every time. And as he will never give in, he goes on fighting with the stone, and gets hurt more and more, till at last he is knocked right off the tree, and falls stunned to the ground.

Then the clever people rush in from their hiding place, throw a net over the bear, and carry him away. And that is how the zoo gets some of its bears.