He advanced upon them with deep
growls and stately tread and with one blow of his monstrous paw
stretched the mocker lifeless at his feet.
The other ran away to his fellows and carried the news of the king's
strange appearance. The result was a meeting of all the polar bears
upon a broad field of ice, where they talked gravely of the
remarkable change that had come upon their monarch.
"He is, in reality, no longer a bear," said one; "nor can he justly
be called a bird. But he is half bird and half bear, and so unfitted
to remain our king."
"Then who shall take his place?" asked another.
"He who can fight the bird-bear and overcome him," answered an aged
member of the group. "Only the strongest is fit to rule our race."
There was silence for a time, but at length a great bear moved to
the front and said:
"I will fight him; I--Woof--the strongest of our race! And I will be
King of the Polar Bears."
The others nodded assent, and dispatched a messenger to the king to
say he must fight the great Woof and master him or resign his
sovereignty.
"For a bear with feathers," added the messenger, "is no bear at all,
and the king we obey must resemble the rest of us.
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