But it had spent all winter in its den. When its warm paws touched the snow, the snow stuck. This snow would melt, then more would stick to the moisture, gradually freezing into little clumps of ice matted in the fur of its Bear's Paws.
Its Bear's Paws, made thin and tender from hibernation, hurt terribly when it walked on these ice clumps. The bear couldn't go far before it had to stop, lie down, and gnaw the ice off its feet. Only after gnawing the ice away could it continue on its way.
So, even though it had been nearly two days and two nights since it left its den, the bear still hadn't managed to get very far.
Just before Hua Xiao'Er came charging, it was resting, lying down under a large fallen log.
Why a fallen log?
This was a large linden tree that had been felled by someone at some unknown time. Loggers had even cut it into three sections, but for some reason, they hadn't hauled it down the mountain to the Logging Camp and had just left it here.
