SKAI AND THE DANCING BEAR 139

talk with the two voices when I am with you, so that
I may learn to be more skilful.”

Not long after this the head chief began to make
preparations for a great potlatch to which the guests
had been invited months before. When the trader
heard about it, he suggested that Skai be invited to
perform at the potlatch for the amusement of the
visitors and invited the chief to witness a private ex-
hibition in the inclosure behind the trading-post.

“That was very clever. I have never seen anything
to equal it,” the astonished chief said when the per-
formance was ended. “Never before have I seen a
dancing bear! Just like a person he dances, swaying
from side to side. Skai is very clever also, even though
he is somewhat crazy.”

“Skai is not crazy,” the trader protested. “He is a
clown. In the land where the queen lives, there are
men who act as Skai does, and they are called clowns.
They receive much money and theirs is an old and
honorable calling. A man must be very clever to be
a good clown.”

“Ts that so?” cried the puzzled chief. “We Haidas
have always thought that Skai was crazy, but perhaps
he is really clever, after all. Let him perform at the
potlatch, then, so that my visitors shall see some-
thing they have never seen before.”

“That he shall do,” said the factor, his eyes
twinkling, “and he shall be dressed as clowns dress
on the queen’s island. His face shall be like a clown’s