The Story Of Keesh Reading Quiz (Page 3 of 4) in pdf

"None greater," Bawn corroborated, and went on himself.

When Keesh arrived a messenger was sent to him, bidding

"Yet was the bear not inclined to fight, for he turned away and

him come to the council. But he sent reply, saying that he was

made off slowly over the ice. This we saw from the rocks of

hungry and tired; also that his igloo was large and

the shore, and the bear came toward us, and after him came

comfortable and could hold many men.

Keesh, very much unafraid. And he shouted harsh words after

And curiosity was so strong on the men that the whole

the bear, and waved his arms about, and made much noise.

council, Klosh-Kwan to the fore, rose up and went to the

Then did the bear grow angry, and rise up on his hind legs,

igloo of Keesh. He was eating, but he received them with

and growl. But Keesh walked right up to the bear."

respect and seated them according to their rank. Ikeega was

"Ay," Bim continued the story. "Right up to the bear Keesh

proud and embarrassed by turns, but Keesh was quite

walked. And the bear took after him, and Keesh ran away.

composed.

But as he ran he dropped a little round ball on the ice. And the

He waited calmly till the uproar died down.

bear stopped and smelled of it, then swallowed it up. And

Klosh-Kwan recited the information brought by Bim and

Keesh continued to run away and drop little round balls, and

Bawn, and at its close said in a stern voice: "So explanation is

the bear continued to swallow them up."

wanted, O Keesh, of thy manner of hunting. Is there

Exclamations and cries of doubt were being made, and Ugh-

witchcraft in it?"

Gluk expressed open unbelief.

Keesh looked up and smiled. "Nay, O Klosh-Kwan. It is not

"With our own eyes we saw it," Bim affirmed.

for a boy to know aught of witches, and of witches I know

And Bawn--"Ay, with our own eyes. And this continued until

nothing. I have but devised a means whereby I may kill the

the bear stood suddenly upright and cried aloud in pain, and

ice-bear with ease, that is all. It be headcraft, not witchcraft."

thrashed his fore paws madly about. And Keesh continued to

"And may any man?"

make off over the ice to a safe distance. But the bear gave him

"Any man."

no notice, being occupied with the misfortune the little round

balls had wrought within him."

There was a long silence. The men looked in one another's

faces, and Keesh went on eating.

"Ay, within him," Bim interrupted. "For he did claw at

himself, and leap about over the ice like a playful puppy, save

"And... and… and wilt thou tell us, O Keesh?" Klosh-Kwan

from the way he growled and squealed it was plain it was not

finally asked in a tremulous voice.

play but pain. Never did I see such a sight!"

"Yea, I will tell thee." Keesh finished sucking a marrow-bone

"Nay, never was such a sight seen," Bawn took up the strain.

and rose to his feet. "It is quite simple. Behold!"

"And furthermore, it was such a large bear."

He picked up a thin strip of whalebone and showed it to them.

"Witchcraft," Ugh-Gluk suggested.

The ends were sharp as needle-points. The strip he coiled

carefully, till it disappeared in his hand. Then, suddenly

"I know not," Bawn replied. "I tell only of what my eyes

releasing it, it sprang straight again. He picked up a piece of

beheld. And after a while the bear grew weak and tired, for he

blubber.

was very heavy and he had jumped about with exceeding

violence, and he went off along the shore- ice, shaking his

"So," he said, "one takes a small chunk of blubber, thus, and

head slowly from side to side and sitting down ever and again

thus makes it hollow. Then into the hollow goes the

to squeal and cry. And Keesh followed after the bear, and we

whalebone, so, tightly coiled, and another piece of blubber is

followed after Keesh, and for that day and three days more we

fitted over the whale-bone. After that it is put outside where it

followed. The bear grew weak, and never ceased crying from

freezes into a little round ball. The bear swallows the little

his pain."

round ball, the blubber melts, the whalebone with its sharp

ends stands out straight, the bear gets sick, and when the bear

"It was a charm!" Ugh-Gluk exclaimed. "Surely it was a

is very sick, why, you kill him with a spear. It is quite

charm!"

simple."

"It may well be."

And Ugh-Gluk said "Oh!" and Klosh-Kwan said "Ah!" And

And Bim relieved Bawn. "The bear wandered, now this way

each said something after his own manner, and all understood.

and now that, doubling back and forth and crossing his trail in

And this is the story of Keesh, who lived long ago on the rim

circles, so that at the end he was near where Keesh had first

of the polar sea. Because he exercised headcraft and not

come upon him. By this time he was quite sick, the bear, and

witchcraft, he rose from the meanest igloo to be head man of

could crawl no farther, so Keesh came up close and speared

his village, and through all the years that he lived, it is related,

him to death."

his tribe was prosperous, and neither widow nor weak one

"And then?" Klosh-Kwan demanded.

cried aloud in the night because there was no meat.

"Then we left Keesh skinning the bear, and came running that

Vocabulary

the news of the killing might be told."

1. industrious: hard-working and persistent

And in the afternoon of that day the women hauled in the

2. solicitude: excessive concern; uneasiness occasioned by fear of

meat of the bear while the men sat in council assembled.

3. temperance: moderation, specifically in respect to using liquors

4. acquiesce: to accept or consent by silence or by omitting to object

The Story Of Keesh Reading Quiz Page 3

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