Summary

The bears approach the pot that John is hiding under. The only thing to keep him calm are the words of his song. The bears start digging at the pot and sniffing. Eventually, John hears his father and his hunting party coming up the mountain towards them. This scares off the bears and John calls out, but the pot is so thick and heavy that he is barely heard.

Analysis

Even though John is in danger he falls back to the song as a tool to calm him down so he doesn’t alert the bears. The words of the song are a comfort to John and represent his mother's love. The bears can smell something different in the snow and stop. This causes John to question all his decisions made up until this point. John’s dad makes noises coming up the hill...