hat has frozen up as it fell, and if it were not
there you'd see a place big enough for a bear to get in. Ah! sirs! he's
there, I can assure you."

"Why, he couldn't get out of himself?"

"That is very true," replied the peasant; "he'd be safe enough there
till a good bit on in the spring. If we hadn't found him, he would have
been obliged to stay in his cave till the sun had thawed that great heap
out of his way. It often happens so with the bears in these parts,"
added the Quan, without seeming to think there was anything unusual
about the circumstance.

What the man said was literally true. The bear had gone into this cleft
or cave to take his winter nap, and during the long weeks, while he was
thus hybernating, the water, of rain and melting snow, dripping from the
top of the cliff, had formed enormous stalactites of ice, with
stalagmites as well: since it was one of the latter that had closed up
the entrance to the den, and fairly shut him up in his own house!

Not only does this curious accident often occur to Scandinavian bears,
but these animals, notwithstanding their proverbial sagacity, frequently
become their own jailers. They have a habit of collecting large
quantities of moss and grass in front of their caves, which they place
right in the aperture; and not inside as a bed to lie upon. Why they do
so is not clearly understood. The Scandinavian hunters allege that it
is for the purpose of sheltering them from the cold wind, that would
otherwise blow up into their chamber; and in the absence of any better
explanation this has been generally adopted. The heap soon gets
saturated by rain and melting snow, and congeals into a solid mass, so
hard that it requires to be cut with an axe before it can be got out of
the way; and the bear himself is totally incapable of removing it. The
consequence is that it often shuts up the entrance to his winter
chamber; and Bruin, on awakening from his sleep, finds himself caught in
a trap of his own construction. He has then no other resource but to
remain inside till the spring heats have thawed the mass, so that he can
tear it to pieces with his claws, and thus effect an exit. On such
occasions, he issues forth in a state of extreme weakness and
emaciation. Not unfrequently he is altogether unable to clear away the
obstacle, and perishes in his den.

On hearing these explanations from the Quan, who appeared to be well
acquainted with Bruin's habits, the young