He tugs over a crate and plops him rump down, and starts!
"You see, once there was little little puppy dog. He didn't have a name of his own, but he was friendly, so they called him Buddy. He used to live in a bad place, and now he lives in a best place, but those are other stories. Right now though, he lived in a very good place. It was far into the woods, where the trees are tall and so wide you can't wrap your hands around them, but you can still hug 'em if you want, but your hands ain't gonna touch. And the only roads are the ones that the deers make, or the up-n-down ones, but those are for squirrels and weaselly folks.
One day Buddy was dancin' on down one of those deer roads, and he stepped on a stick that went CLICKER-CLACK-SNAP, and something jumped up and BIT him. It was very rude because even though Buddy was a dog, he don't ever bite anything that isn't in his bowl. It had big shiny round teeth and a jaw like SNAP, " He shows his hands out, fingers curled, and SNAPS them together in the air. "And he even tried to bite it back, but that just made his teeth hurt. And then his foot hurt and his teeth hurt and his feelings hurt worse than anything, and he cried, Oooooohwooo-wooooo-woooo, oowwww-woooo-woooo." Adding a sad hound-dog howl to the tale. "And then he tried using just two legs instead of three, but it was still stuck, only on his hand this time, and that hurt even more!"
"Well, you know you gotta be careful when you're off deep in the forest, far far in where no men go, because that's where the forest is still old and dark and deep. And sometimes you find things you don't find in the new forest. Well, this pup, he tried biting and howling, and he tried clever fingers, and nothing worked, and he knows he's just gonna be stuck there forever, when suddenly he hears... tump, tump... crackle... tump. And do you know who it was?" He pauses dramatically. "A BIG OL' BEAR!" Waiting for the Eshu to gasp appreciatively.
"And the Bear, she crunches through the bushes and says "Now why are you out howling here, and bothering everybody? The big cold is coming and I have to get fat on berries or I won't wake up in the spring." And the pup, he stops his crying and says, "Grandmother Bear, something bit my leg, and I can't get out." And you'd THINK that a bear is big and mean, right? But this bear, she came over, and she snorted, and she sniffed, and she growled at that nasty biter. And then she took off her bearskin, and used her hands - strong, STRONG hands, and made the biter let go of the puppy. And that hurt again! But then the lady-bear, she snuffle-snuffed, and sneezed, and huffed and puffed, and then he felt better again.
But she looked at the toothy-biter, and that made the bear-lady MAD. She growled and snarled and said all sorts of things that little pups or boys ain't supposed to say. And she said, "Now you run on back home, little one, and Grandmama Bear is gonna take care of this." And everyone knows that good little boys and dogs listen, but sometimes things are just SO interesting, you listen, but you maybe listen slower. So when that big ol' bear snuffled away down the path, he followed her, right as rain.
And wouldn't you know it, they found something else that shouldn'ta be there. There were MEN in the old areas, the places where no one goes. And not even proper type people who have paws sometimes or bear skins, but cold ones with hard eyes. And they had more biters on their belts, and they had whacker-sticks, and skins in their hands, and they didn't even eat the meat that they left behind. And bumbly ol Grandma Bear did something SPECIAL. She stood up, up, UP way high on her back paws, until she was 10 feet tall and her jaws were like WHOA" He holds his arms out, far apart! "And her eyes gleamed with fire, and her paws were long, long claws, and she ROARED!" He stands, demonstrating, and gives his best monstrous sound!
"And those men, they fell over and wiggled and cried like little birds what fell out of a nest. And she WAS scary, but I- I mean, the pup, he was pretty sure it was mostly a trick, so he hid and watched more. Grandmonster Bear was REAL mad, and she went RIP RIP RIP with her claws until all of their clothes was shredded, and some of their skin too. And she bapped them around a lot until their heads spun around and around, like Mackerel when she finds a mousey, until I can rescue it and let it go outside of the lodge. And then the men were quiet. So she took their biters and their snappers and their whappers and their boomsticks and their stolen skins, and left them there all banged and bunged up and nakey in the forest. So that when they woke up, they could run themselves away, and know to never come back. And they never did! Because those woods belong to Grandmother Bear, and she decides who can come and go. And that's the ones who live there, the deers on their roads and the squirrels on their highways, and the weasels that chase the squirrels. And one dog. But only if he doesn't yap too much, and stays out of the deep places. The End."