The Bear with the Linden Leg

Once upon a time, there lived an old man and an old woman. They planted a turnip. Then a bear started stealing their turnips. The old man went to check and saw: many turnips had been pulled and scattered around.

He returned home and told the old woman. She said to him:
— Well, who could have pulled the turnips? If it were people, they would have taken them away. It must be the bear causing trouble! Go, old man, and keep watch for the thief!

The old man took an axe and went to keep watch at night. He lay down under the fence and waited. Suddenly, the bear came and began to drag the turnips—he gathered a whole armful and started climbing over the fence.

The old man jumped up, threw the axe at him, and cut off his paw. Then he ran away and hid. The bear roared and went back into the forest on three legs. The old man took the severed paw and brought it home:
— Here, old woman, cook it.

The old woman skinned the bear's paw, set it to boil, plucked the fur from the skin, sat on the skin, and began to spin the fur. The old woman was spinning. Meanwhile, the bear made himself a linden-wood leg and went to the old man and old woman. As the bear walked, his leg creaked, and he muttered to himself:

— Squeak, squeak, squeak,
On a linden leg,
On a birch cane.
All the villages sleep,
All the hamlets sleep,
Only one woman is awake—
Sitting on my skin,
Spinning my fur,
Cooking my meat.

The old woman heard this and said:
— Go, old man, lock the door, the bear is coming...
But the bear had already entered the hallway, opening the door, muttering:

— Squeak, squeak, squeak,
On a linden leg,
On a birch cane.
All the villages sleep,
All the hamlets sleep,
Only one woman is awake—
Sitting on my skin,
Spinning my fur,
Cooking my meat.

At that moment, the old man and the old woman got scared. The old man hid under a trough on the sleeping platform, and the old woman hid on the stove, under some dark shirts. The bear climbed into the hut, started looking for the old man and the old woman, and ended up falling into the cellar.
Then the villagers gathered and killed the bear.

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The Bear with the Linden Leg

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