The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1918-01-09
The Truce of the Bear
d Rudyard KfpIlna--faes.l

| Yearly, with tent and rifle, our care
less white men go
BY the pass called Muttianee, ia
shoot in the vale below,
| Yearly by Muttianee he follows our
! white men in
Matun, the old blind beggar, band
aged from brow to chin.
Eyeless, noseless, and lipless---tooth-
less, broken of speech,
Seeking a dole at the doorway he
mumbles his tale to each;
Over and over the story, ending as
he began;
Make ye no truce with Adam zad,
the Bear that walks like a
man!
There was a flint in my musket--
pricked and pr1med was the
When I went hunting Adam-zad--
the Bear that stands like q
man.
looked my last on the timber. I
looked my last on the snow,
When 1 went hunting Adam -zad fifty
summers ago.
II knew his times and his seasons, as
he knew mine, that fed
BY night in the ripened maizefield
and robbed my house of bread;
/ knew his strength and cunning, as
he knew mine, that crept
At dawn to the crowded goat-pens
and plundered while slept.
up from his stony playground
down from his well-digged
lair
Out on the naked ridges ran Adam
FAD the Bear;
Groaning, grunting. and roaring,
heavy with stolen meals,
Two long marches to northward and
/ was at his heels!
1.-TWO full marches to northward, at
the fall of the second night,
/ came on mine enemy Adam zad all
painting from his flight.
There was q 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
Fad the Bear!
b
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
/ have looked no more on women
have walked no more with
men.
Nearer he tottered and nearer, with
paws like hands that pray
From brow to jaw that steel-shod |
paw, 1t ripped my face away.
Sudden, silent, and savage, soaring
as flame the blow
Baceless / fell before HIS feet, fifty |
summers ago.
I heard him grunt and chuclSIe-I
heard him pass to his den.
He left me blind to the darkened i
years and the little mercy of |
men.
Now We go down in the morning
with guns Of the newer style,
That load Il have felt) in the middle
and range Il have heard) a
mile?
luck to the white mans rifle, that
shoots so fast and true,
and l lift my bandage
and show what the Bear can
do!
Flesh like Stag in the furnace, knobs
bed and Withered and gray |,
Gatun, the old blind beggar, he gives
good worth for his pay.)
Rouse him at noon in the bushes,
follow and press him hard
Sot for his ragings and roaring
finch ye from Adam-zad.
But Cpay, and / put back the band
age) this is the time to fear,
When he stands up like a tired man, j
tottering near and near;
When he stands up as pleading, in
wagering, man-brute guise,
When he wells the hate and cunning
Of the little swinish eyes;
When he shows as seeking quarter,
HAT is the time OF peril-the time
Of the Truce of the Bear!"
iyeless, noseless, and lipless, asking
a dole at the door, u
Iatun, the old blind beggar, he tells
IL Ger and DER:
umbling and feeling the rifles.
warming his hands at the {
flame.
Tearing our careless white men talk |
of the morrow's game.
Ivsr and over the story, ending as he
began:--
There is no truce with Adam-zad G
the Bear that looks like a !
mani"