On the one side were the servants of the chief , and on the other the servants of the chief 's sister , who was sorry for the two youths , and begged that their lives might be spared . The chief answered that he would not kill them , but only cast a spell over them , by which their heads and bodies should remain as they were , but their arms and legs should change into those of a bear , so that they would go on all fours for the rest of their lives . And , stooping over a spring of water , he dipped a handful of moss in it and rubbed it over the arms and legs of the boys . In an instant the transformation took place , and two creatures , neither beast nor human stood before the chief . Now the bear chief of course knew that the boys ' father would seek for his sons when they did not return home , so he sent another of his servants to the hiding-place at the fork of the trail to see what would happen . He had not waited long , when the father came in sight , stooping as he went to look for his sons ' tracks in the snow . When he saw the marks of snow-shoes along the path on the right he was filled with joy , not knowing that the servant had made some fresh tracks on purpose to mislead him ; and he hastened forward so fast that he fell headlong into a pit , where the bear was sitting . Before he could pick himself up the bear had quietly broken his neck , and , hiding the body under the snow , sat down to see if anyone else would pass that way . Meanwhile the mother at home was wondering what had become of her two sons , and as the hours went on , and their father never returned , she made up her mind to go and look for him . The youngest boy begged her to let him undertake the search , but she would not hear of it , and told him he must stay at home and take care of his sister . So , slipping on her snow-shoes , she started on her way . As no fresh snow had fallen , the trail was quite easy to find , and she walked straight on , till it led her up to the pit where the bear was waiting for her . He grasped her as she fell and broke her neck , after which he laid her in the snow beside her husband , and went back to tell the bear chief . Hour after hour dragged heavily by in the forest hut , and at last the brother and sister felt quite sure that in some way or other all the rest of the family had perished . Day after day the boy climbed to the top of a tall tree near the house , and sat there till he was almost frozen , looking on all sides through the forest openings , hoping that he might see someone coming along . Very soon all the food in the house was eaten , and he knew he would have to go out and hunt for more . Besides , he wished to seek for his parents . The little girl did not like being left alone in the hut , and cried bitterly ; but her brother told her that there was no use sitting down quietly to starve , and that whether he found any game or not he would certainly be back before the following night . Then he cut himself some arrows , each from a different tree , and winged with the feathers of four different birds . He then made himself a bow , very light and strong , and got down his snow-shoes .
All this took some time , and he could not start that XXXXX , but early next morning he called his little dog Redmouth , whom he kept in a box , and set out .
arrows day hiding-place hour hours house left right snow snow-shoes