"I was never more at ease than when sleeping with the bears. They were entirely without odor, without bad breath even two hours after eating overripe carrion, and without any kind of vermin other than ticks which I removed every day anyway. Aside from a little rambunctious eagerness to play when we first went to bed, their nighttime manners were impeccable. Once they began to snore softly, they rarely moved until morning, at which time I received a regular nose nudging when it came time to crawl out for a visit to the otter coign. I cannot recall their ever having deliberately awakened me. My first waking sight of each morning was three pairs of shiny, brownish-yellow eyes staring silently and affectionately into my face. Instead of wagging a short tail as a dog would do, each bear engaged in a rapid tapping of the claws of both front feet. Rusty introduced the routine, and the other two took it up at once."
- The Bears and I, Robert Franklin Leslie
This book is wonderful.
No comments:
Post a Comment