Inman on the battlefield has a series of dreams in which he is a bear. In the last, he is slain by hunters and pelted out. Thereafter, he identifies with the species and gives up eating their meat as he has since childhood. As he reaches the edges of Cold Mountain and anticipates freedom from fear and hatred there, Inman faces off with a mother bear protecting her cub. He asks her to understand he wants only to get out of their way, but she follows her instincts and makes a false charge to frighten him. She miscalculates the space available before a precipice and plunges to her death. Inman has no choice but to kill the defenseless cub, the third doomed baby he has encountered, and cannot let its meat go to waste. Eating.....
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