The Story of a Plush Bear | Page 8

we came from. I do not know what it is."
Ski's family had just moved to North Pole Land, and they had never heard of Santa Claus, though the other Eskimos of this country were well acquainted with Saint Nicholas. To Ski and his family the workshop of Santa Claus was just a big "igloo."
"Is not this Bear nice?" asked Ski, of his brothers and sisters.
"But he is not like the bears here," said Kiki, one of the Eskimo girls. "He is brown, like the seals. The North Bears are white."
"There was a white Bear in the big igloo, but I would rather have this one," said Ski. "I will always keep him."
During this time the Plush Bear, of course, had not dared to say a word or move by himself. He was being watched too closely. But he could hear what was said, and he wondered what was going to happen to him.
"I shall be dreadfully lonesome if I have to stay here," thought the Plush Bear. "There is not another toy in the whole place!"
There was another toy, but the Plush Bear did not know it. This toy was a rudely carved Wooden Doll, owned by Kiki. She had wrapped this Wooden Doll in a bit of sealskin and put it in her bed to keep it warm. For to Kiki the piece of wood, which looked something like a Doll, was as much alive as your Doll is to you girls.
"That is a wonderful thing, Ski," said the Eskimo boy's father. "Never have I seen such a thing in all my life!"
Ski's father leaned forward and touched the Plush Bear. And he happened to touch the very spring that set the toy animal in motion. For the Plush Bear was all wound up when Ski reached through the window and took him, and all that was needed was a touch to send him off.
Immediately the Plush Bear began to move his head from side to side, growls came out of his red mouth, and his paws waved to and fro. He behaved almost like a small, live bear.
"Wow!" cried Ski, leaping back when he saw the Plush Bear beginning to move.
"Wow!" cried Ski's father, mother and sisters and brothers, and they, too, leaped back.
"Gurr-r-r-r! Gurr-r-r-r!" growled the Plush Bear, and he moved his paws and head faster than ever. He was not doing this himself, you understand. He was not making believe come to life. He was only doing as all the other spring toys do--moving when the wheels within him moved.
"Wow!" cried Ski's father again. "This is magic! This bear is bewitched! It will bring us bad luck! It must not stay in my igloo!"
"Oh, please let me keep it!" begged Ski, as his father caught up the Plush Bear.
"No! No! It would be dangerous! It would bring us bad luck! There is a witch in that bear!" murmured Ski's mother.
"Never have I seen such a thing!" went on Ski's father in awe and wonder. "We must not keep it! If we allowed it to stay in this igloo we should freeze, I should never catch any seals, and our blubber fat would become so hard we could not eat it. I must take this magic bear that moves back to the big igloo!"
So, though Ski begged his father to be allowed to keep the toy, the Eskimo man thrust the bear under his fur coat and crawled out of the igloo into the glow of the Northern Lights.
"I must take it back to the big igloo," murmured Ski's father. "Then will the bad magic pass away."
You see he did not know, never having seen such a toy before, and never having heard of machinery--Ski's father did not know what a delightful toy the Plush Bear was. All he thought of was bad luck and magic.
Quickly Ski's father hitched his team of dogs to the long, low wooden sled.
Crack! went the long whip over their heads, but the Eskimo man did not let the lash fall on the animals.
Over the snow and ice they drew the sled, on which Ski's father sat well wrapped in fur blankets. Nearer they came to the workshop of Santa Claus--the "big igloo" as Ski had called it.
"I will leave the magic bear that moves beneath one of the windows," murmured Ski's father. "Then will the bad luck pass from us."
He guided his dog team up under the very window out of which Ski had taken the bear, for the man could see Ski's footprints in the snow.
"There! Now I am done with you!" whispered Ski's father, as he dropped the Plush Bear in the snow and turned his dog team around to go back to his igloo.
As for the Plush Bear, his head moved, he growled, and his paws waved to