254 THE BLACK BEAR.

form of a little boy, went to the earth and
was adopted by a woman who had a little
boy of her own.

This family went away in the autumn to
hunt, and during the winter the woman’s
son died, The parents were much dis-
tressed and decided to return to the village
and bury the body there. So they made
preparation to return, and as they traveled
along they would each evening erect poles
upon which the body was placed, to pre-
vent the wild beasts from devouring it.
When the dead boy was thus hanging upon
the poles, the adopted child, the Bear
Spirit, or Sun child, would play about the
camp and amuse himself, and finally told
his adopted father he pitied him and his
mother for their sorrow.

The adopted son said he could bring his
dead brother to life, whereupon the parents
expressed great surprise and desired to
know how that could be accomplished.

The adopted boy then had the party has.
ten to the village, when he said: “Get the