Before long they were all quite good friends, and the
children began to play with their unlooked for visitor, pulling his
thick fur, or placing their feet on his back, or rolling him over and
over. Then they took a slender hazel twig, using it upon his thick
coat, and they laughed when he growled. The bear permitted them to
amuse themselves in this way, only occasionally calling out, when it
went a little too far, "Children, spare me an inch of life!"
[Illustration]
When it was night, and all were making ready to go to bed, the widow
told the bear, "You may stay here and lie by the hearth, if you like,
so that you will be sheltered from the cold and from the bad weather."
The offer was accepted, but when morning came, as the day broke in
the east, the two children let him out, and over the snow he went back
into the wood.
After this, every evening at the same time the bear came, lay by the
fire, and allowed the children to play with him; so they became quite
fond of their curious playmate, and the door was not ever bolted in
the evening until he had appeared.
When springtime came, and all around began to look green and bright,
one morning the bear said to Snow-White, "Now I must leave you, and
all the summer long I shall not be able to come back.
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