O thou precious little divinity, we worship thee;
pray hear our prayer. We have nourished thee and brought thee up
with a deal of pains and trouble, all because we love thee so. Now,
as thou hast grown big, we are about to send thee to thy father and
mother. When thou comest to them please speak well of us, and tell
them how kind we have been; please come to us again and we will
sacrifice thee." Having been secured with ropes, the bear is then
let out of the cage and assailed with a shower of blunt arrows in
order to arouse it to fury. When it has spent itself in vain
struggles, it is tied up to a stake, gagged and strangled, its neck
being placed between two poles, which are then violently compressed,
all the people eagerly helping to squeeze the animal to death. An
arrow is also discharged into the beast's heart by a good marksman,
but so as not to shed blood, for they think that it would be very
unlucky if any of the blood were to drip on the ground. However, the
men sometimes drink the warm blood of the bear "that the courage and
other virtues it possesses may pass into them"; and sometimes they
besmear themselves and their clothes with the blood in order to
ensure success in hunting.
Pages:
1396
1397
1398
1399
1400
1401
1402
1403
1404
1405
1406
1407
1408
1409
1410
1411
1412
1413
1414
1415
1416
1417
1418
1419
1420