when therefore the evening came, our little tailor was taken down to the bear. the bear was about to set at the little fellow at once, and give him a hearty welcome with his paws: "softly, softly," said the little tailor, "i will soon make thee quiet." then quite composedly, and as if he had not an anxiety in the world, he took some nuts out of his pocket, cracked them, and ate the kernels. when the bear saw that, he was seized with a desire to have some nuts too. the tailor felt in his pockets, and reached him a handful; they were, however, not nuts, but pebbles. the bear put them in his mouth, but could get nothing out of them, let him bite as he would. "eh!" thought he, "what a stupid blockhead i am! i cannot even crack a nut!" and then he said to the tailor, "here, crack me the nuts." "there, see what a stupid fellow thou art!" said the little tailor, "to have such a great mouth, and not be able to crack a small nut!" then he took the pebble and nimbly put a nut in his mouth in the place of it, and crack, it was in two! "i must try the thing again," said the bear; "when i watch you, i then think i ought to be able to do it too." so the tailor once more gave him a pebble, and the bear tried and tried to bite into it with all the strength of his body. but no one will imagine that he accomplished it.