The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-10-23
THE TRUCE OF THE BEAR.

From Literature, published by Harper & Bros.
Copyright, 1898, by Rudyard Kipling)
Yearly, with tent and rife, our careless white
men go
By the pass called Muttianee to shoot in the
vale below.
Yearly by Muttianee he follows our white men
Matun. the old blind beggar, bandaged from
brow to chin.
Eyeless, noseless and Hpless-toothless, of
broken speech,
Seeking a dole at the doorway, he mumbles
his tale to each
Over and over the story, ending as he be-
gam
make ye no truce with Adam-zad-the bear
that walks like man!
There was flint in my musket-pricked and
primed was the pan
When 1 went hunting Adam-zad-the bear
that stands like man.
looked my last on the timber, 1 looked my
last on the snow
When 1 went hunting Adam-zad fifty sum-
mers ago.
'T knew his times and seasons. as he knew
mine that fed
By night in the ripened maizefeld and robbed
my house of bread
l knew his strength and cunning as he knew
mine that crept
At dawn to the crowded goat pens and plum
dered while 1 slept.
his well digged lair
Out on the naked ridges ran Adam-zad, the
bear,
Grooming, grunting and roaring. heavy with
stolen meals,
Two long marches to northward and I was
at his heelsi
1.-TWO full marches to northward at the fall
of the second night.
came on mine enemy, Adam-zad, all weary
from his flight.
There was charge in the musket-pricked
and primed was the pan
My finger crooked on the trigger, when he
reared up like man.
Horrible hairy human, with paws like
hands in prayer,
Making his supplication, rose Adam-zad the
bear!
I looked at the swaying shoulders at the
paunch's swag and swing
And my heart was touched with pity for the
monstrous, pleading thing.
Touched with pity and wonder did not
fire then
I have looked no more on women-I have
walked no more with men.
Nearer he tottered and nearer, with paws
like hands that pray,
From brow to jaw the steel-shod paw. it
ripped my face away.
Sudden, silent and savage, soaring as flame
Faceless fell before his feet fifty summers
ago
heard him
pass to his den.
He left me blind to the darking years and
the little mercy of men.
Now We go down in the morning with guns
of the newer style,
That lead q have felD in the middle and
range q have heard a mile?
Luck to the white mans rife, that shoots
SO fast and true
But-pay, and I lift my bandage, and show
what the bear can do!'
Flesh like Stag in the furnace, knobbed and
withered and gray
Matun, the Old blind beggar. he gives good
worth for his pay.)
Rouse him at noon in the bushes, follow
and press him hard
Not for his raging and roaring finch we
from Adam-zad.
''But (pay and I put back the bandage) this
is the time to fear,
When he stands I'D like a tired man, tot
tering near and near;
When he stands up pleading, in
strous man-brute guise.
When he wells the hate and cunning Of the
little swinish eyes.
when he shows. as seeking quarter, with
paws like. hands in prayer.
That Is the time of peril-the time of the
Truce CT the Bear!'
Eyeless. noseless and lipless. asking a dole
at the door.
Matun. the old blind beggar. he tells it Ger
and DER:
Plumbing and feeling the rifles warming
his hands at the fame
Hearing our careless white men talk of the
morrow's game.
Over and over the story. ending SIS he be-
gan:
There is no truce with Adam-zad, the bear
that looks like q mani