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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/24569-h.zip b/24569-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cda767d --- /dev/null +++ b/24569-h.zip diff --git a/24569-h/24569-h.htm b/24569-h/24569-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5a71cce --- /dev/null +++ b/24569-h/24569-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3924 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Treasury of Eskimo Tales, by Clara K. Bayliss. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + /*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ + + <!-- + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + p {margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + text-align: justify;} + /* Text Blocks ------------------------------------------ */ + blockquote {text-align: justify; font-size: 0.9em;} + .blockquot {margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + pre {font-size: 0.9em;} + /* Headers ---------------------------------------------- */ + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center; clear: both;} + h1 {letter-spacing: 0.1em;} + /* Horizontal Rules ------------------------------------- */ + hr {width: 65%; + margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; + margin-top: 2.0em; margin-bottom: 2.0em; + clear: both;} + hr.full {width: 100%;} + hr.short {width: 20%;} + hr.tiny {width: 10%;} + hr.tight {margin-top: 1.0em; margin-bottom: 1.0em;} + /* General Formatting ---------------------------------- */ + .sc {font-variant: small-caps;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .allsc {font-variant: small-caps; text-transform: lowercase;} + .lowercase {text-transform: lowercase;} + .spacious {letter-spacing: 0.25em;} + span.pagenum {position: absolute; + right: 1%; + color: gray; background-color: inherit; + letter-spacing:normal; + text-indent: 0em; text-align:right; + font-style: normal; + font-variant:normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-size: 8pt;} + .center {text-align: center;} + /* Footnotes -------------------------------------------- */ + .footnotes {border: none;} + .footnote .label {float:left; text-align:left; width:2em;} + .fnanchor {font-size: smaller; text-decoration: none; + font-style: normal; font-variant:normal; + font-weight: normal; vertical-align: 0.25em;} + .footnote {font-size: 0.9em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + /* Figures ----------------------------------------------- */ + .figure, .figcenter {padding: 1em; margin: 0; + text-align: center; font-size: 0.8em;} + .figure img, .figcenter img {border: none;} + .figure p, .figcenter p {margin: 0; text-indent: 1em;} + .figcenter {margin: auto; clear: both;} + /* Tables ------------------------------------------------ */ + .center table {margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; text-align: left;} + table {margin-top: 1em; /* space above the table */ + caption-side: top; /* or bottom! */ + empty-cells: show; /* usual default is hide */ + border-spacing: 0.0em 0.0em;} + td {padding-left: 0.5em; padding-right: 0.5em;} + table.toc {line-height: 1.1em; width: 80%;} + table.illust {line-height: 1.1em; width: 70%;} + /* Table of Contents ------------------------------------ */ + td.toc {text-align: right; vertical-align: top;} + td.toc2 {text-align: left; font-variant: small-caps; width: 80%;} + td.toc3 {text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;} + /* Links ------------------------------------------------ */ + a:link {color: blue; background-color: inherit; text-decoration: none} + link {color: blue; background-color: inherit; text-decoration: none} + a:visited {color: blue; background-color: inherit; text-decoration: none} + a:hover {color: red; background-color: inherit} + --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's A Treasury of Eskimo Tales, by Clara Kern Bayliss + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Treasury of Eskimo Tales + +Author: Clara Kern Bayliss + +Illustrator: George Carlson + +Release Date: February 11, 2008 [EBook #24569] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TREASURY OF ESKIMO TALES *** + + + + +Produced by Richard J. Shiffer and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h1>A TREASURY OF<br /> +ESKIMO TALES</h1> + +<br /> + +<h3>BY</h3> + + +<h2>CLARA K. BAYLISS</h2> + +<h3><i>Author of "A Treasury of Indian Tales,"<br /> +"Old Man Coyote," etc.</i></h3> + +<br /><br /> + +<h3><span class="sc">illustrated in color by</span><br /> +GEORGE CARLSON</h3> + +<br /> + +<h3>NEW YORK<br /> +THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY<br /> +PUBLISHERS</h3> + +<h4 class="sc">Copyright, 1922,<br /> +By THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY</h4> +<h4>Second Printing</h4> + +<h4>Printed in the U. S. A.</h4> + + +<hr /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 321px;"> +<a name="illo1" id="illo1"></a> +<img src="images/i002.jpg" width="321" height="500" +alt="HE SUMMONED HIS MASCOT WHICH WAS A HUGE BEAR" title="" /> +</div> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE</h2> + + +<p>The Central Eskimo live away up north in that great American +archipelago which lies between Hudson Bay, Baffin Bay, and the Arctic +Ocean; an archipelago in which the islands are so large, so numerous, +and so irregular in outline that, as one looks at a map of them, he +could fancy they were "chunks" of the continent which had been broken +to pieces by some huge iceberg that bumped into it.</p> + +<p>The land is ice-bound during so much of the year that the inhabitants +cannot depend upon getting a living by the cultivation of the soil, +and have to subsist almost entirely upon meat which they get from +reindeer, seal, bear, whale, and walrus.</p> + +<p>In summer their clothing is of sealskin and fishskin; and in winter it +is of the thicker reindeer hides. Their life is a hard one owing to +the rigorous climate, and they make it harder by their superstitions, +for diseases are supposed to be cured by charms and incantations of +the shaman or priest; and everything in the way of hunting, fishing,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span> +cooking, or of clothing themselves must be done in a prescribed way or +it is "taboo" or "hoodoo" as the negroes say. When you read "The Baby +Eskimo" you will see just a tiny bit of the hardships, but I should +not like to tell you how much more terrible a time he might have had, +if he had happened to be a girl baby.</p> + +<p>By referring to the Table of Contents you will note that the first +group of tales were told by the Central Eskimo. The second group were +derived from the Eskimo living along Bering Strait, to the west; and +it is interesting to compare many of these folk tales along similar +subjects.</p> + +<p>The writer is indebted to the Sixth Ethnological Report, issued by the +U. S. Government, for many of the legends found in the Central Eskimo +group; and to the Eighteenth Report for many of those from Bering +Strait. She wishes to express her thanks for this invaluable and +unique material.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Contents" id="Contents"></a>CONTENTS</h2> +<div class="center"> +<table class="toc" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="sc">chapter</span></td><td class="toc2"> </td><td align='right'><span class="sc">page</span></td></tr> +<tr><td class="center" colspan="3"><i>CENTRAL ESKIMO TALES</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="toc"><a href="#I"><b>I.</b></a></td> +<td class="toc2">The Baby Eskimo</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="toc"><a href="#II"><b>II.</b></a></td> +<td class="toc2">Kiviung</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#Page_3">3</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="toc"><a href="#III"><b>III.</b></a></td> +<td class="toc2">The Giant</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#Page_12">12</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="toc"><a href="#IV"><b>IV.</b></a></td> +<td class="toc2">Kalopaling</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="toc"><a href="#V"><b>V.</b></a></td> +<td class="toc2">The Woman Magician</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#Page_18">18</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="toc"><a href="#VI"><b>VI.</b></a></td> +<td class="toc2">The Bird Wife</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#Page_23">23</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="toc"><a href="#VII"><b>VII.</b></a></td> +<td class="toc2">The Spirit of the Singing House</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#Page_28">28</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="toc"><a href="#VIII"><b>VIII.</b></a></td> +<td class="toc2">The Tornit</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#Page_30">30</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="toc"><a href="#IX"><b>IX.</b></a></td> +<td class="toc2">The Flight to the Moon</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="toc"><a href="#X"><b>X.</b></a></td> +<td class="toc2">What the Man in the Moon Did</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="toc"><a href="#XI"><b>XI.</b></a></td> +<td class="toc2">The Guest</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="toc"><a href="#XII"><b>XII.</b></a></td> +<td class="toc2">The Origin of the Narwhal</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#Page_43">43</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td class="center" colspan="3"><i>BERING STRAIT TALES</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="toc"><a href="#XIII"><b>XIII.</b></a></td> +<td class="toc2">What the Eskimo Believes</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="toc"><a href="#XIV"><b>XIV.</b></a></td> +<td class="toc2">The First Man</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="toc"><a href="#XV"><b>XV.</b></a></td> +<td class="toc2">The First Woman</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="toc"><a href="#XVI"><b>XVI.</b></a></td> +<td class="toc2">Other Men</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#Page_61">61</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="toc"><a href="#XVII"><b>XVII.</b></a></td> +<td class="toc2">Man's First Grief</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="toc"><a href="#XVIII"><b>XVIII.</b></a></td> +<td class="toc2">Up to the Top of the Sky, and Down to the Bottom of the Sea</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#Page_69">69</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="toc"><a href="#XIX"><b>XIX.</b></a></td> +<td class="toc2">Taking Away the Sun</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#Page_76">76</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span></td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="toc"><a href="#XX"><b>XX.</b></a></td> +<td class="toc2">The Dwarf People</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#Page_82">82</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="toc"><a href="#XXI"><b>XXI.</b></a></td> +<td class="toc2">What Happened to the Lone Woman of St. Michael</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="toc"><a href="#XXII"><b>XXII.</b></a></td> +<td class="toc2">Why the Moon Waxes and Wanes</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="toc"><a href="#XXIII"><b>XXIII.</b></a></td> +<td class="toc2">Chunks of Daylight</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#Page_90">90</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="toc"><a href="#XXIV"><b>XXIV.</b></a></td> +<td class="toc2">The Red Bear</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#Page_95">95</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="toc"><a href="#XXV"><b>XXV.</b></a></td> +<td class="toc2">The Last of the Thunderbirds</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#Page_99">99</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="toc"><a href="#XXVI"><b>XXVI.</b></a></td> +<td class="toc2">Raven Makes an Ocean Voyage</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#Page_103">103</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="toc"><a href="#XXVII"><b>XXVII.</b></a></td> +<td class="toc2">The Red Skeleton</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="toc"><a href="#XXVIII"><b>XXVIII.</b></a></td> +<td class="toc2">The Marmot and the Raven</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#Page_111">111</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="toc"><a href="#XXIX"><b>XXIX.</b></a></td> +<td class="toc2">Origin of the Winds</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#Page_114">114</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="toc"><a href="#XXX"><b>XXX.</b></a></td> +<td class="toc2">Raven and the Geese</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#Page_120">120</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="toc"><a href="#XXXI"><b>XXXI.</b></a></td> +<td class="toc2">Even a Grass Plant Can Become Someone if it Tries</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#Page_127">127</a></td></tr> +</table> +</div> + + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="ILLUSTRATIONS" id="ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> +<div class="center"> +<table class="illust" summary="Illustrations"> +<tr> +<td>He summoned his mascot which was a huge white bear (7)</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#illo1"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td> </td> +<td class="toc3 sc">page</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>He lifted the boulder as if it had been a pebble</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#illo2">39</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>He whipped on his magic coat and became a raven</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#illo3">93</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>A gale swept in bringing reindeer, trees and bushes</td> +<td class="toc3"><a href="#illo4">117</a></td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I</h2> + +<h3>THE BABY ESKIMO</h3> + + +<p><span class="sc">The</span> little Eskimo away up in the northern part of British America has +a pretty hard time of it, as you may know when you think how cold it +is there.</p> + +<p>He is born in a snow hut, and when he is but a few hours old he is +carried on his mother's back out upon the ice, and around and around +in circles and after a while through deep snow back to the hut. If +that does not kill him, the names he gets are enough to do it; for he +is given the names of all the people who have died in the village +since the last baby was born. He sometimes has a string of names long +enough to weigh any baby down. Worse than that, if one of his +relatives dies before he is four years old, that name is added to the +rest and is the one by which he is called.</p> + +<p>Worse still, if he falls sick he is given a dog's name, so that the +goddess Sedna will look kindly upon him. Then, all his life, he must +wear a dog's harness over his inner jacket. If he should <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>die, his +mother must rush out of the house with him at once. If she does not do +so, everything in the house must be thrown away or destroyed, just as +is done when a grown person dies in a furnished house.</p> + +<p>For a whole year his mother must wear a cap if she steps outside her +door, and she must carry his boots about with her. After three days +she goes to his tomb and walks around it three times, going around to +the left, because that is the way the sun travels. While she walks, +she talks to the dead child and promises to bring him food. A year +after his death she must do this again, and she must do the same thing +whenever she happens to pass near the grave.</p> + +<p>Now we shall tell you some of the tales which the Eskimo mothers +relate to their children. The first one is about Kiviung, the Rip Van +Winkle of the Eskimos.</p> + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II</h2> + +<h3>KIVIUNG</h3> + + +<p><span class="sc">An</span> old woman lived with her grandson in a small hut. She had no +husband to take care of her and the boy, and they were very poor. The +lad's clothing was made of the skins of birds which they caught in +snares. Whenever the boy came out of the hut to play, the other boys +would call, "Here comes the bird boy! Fly away, birdie!" and the men +would laugh at him and tear his clothes.</p> + +<p>Only one man whose name was Kiv-i-ung, was kind to the boy and tried +to protect him from the others, but they would not stop. The lad often +came to his grandmother crying, and she would console him and promise +him a new garment, as soon as they could get the skins.</p> + +<p>She begged the men to stop teasing the child and tearing his clothes, +but they only laughed at her. At last she became angry and said to the +boy, "I will avenge you on your tormentors. I can do it by making use +of my power to conjure."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></p> + +<p>She poured water on the mud floor and said, "Step into this puddle, +and do not be frightened at anything that happens."</p> + +<p>He stepped into it, and immediately the earth opened and he sank out +of sight, but the next moment he rose near the beach and swam about as +a young seal with a wonderfully smooth, shining skin.</p> + +<p>Some one saw him and called out that there was a yearling seal close +to shore. The men all ran to their kayaks eager to secure the +beautiful creature. But the boy-seal swam lustily away as his +grandmother had told him to do, and the men continued to pursue him. +Whenever he rose to the surface to breathe, he took care to come up +behind the kayaks, where he would splash and dabble in order to lure +them on. As soon as he had attracted their attention and they had +turned to pursue him, he would dive and come up farther out in the +sea. The men were so interested in catching him that they did not +observe how they were being led far out into the ocean and out of +sight of the land.</p> + +<p>It was now that the grandmother put forth her powers. Suddenly a +fierce gale arose; the sea foamed and roared and the waves upset their +frail vessels and plunged them under the surface.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> When they were +drowned, the little seal changed back into a boy and walked home over +the water without wetting his feet. There was no one left now to +torment him.</p> + +<p>Kiv-i-ung, who had never abused the boy, had gone out with the rest, +but his kayak did not capsize. Bravely he strove against the wild +waves, and drifted far away from the place where the others had gone +down. There was a dense fog and he could not tell in which direction +to go.</p> + +<p>He rowed for many days not knowing whither he was going, and then one +day he spied through the mists a dark mass which he took to be land. +As he pulled toward it the sea became more and more tempestuous, and +he saw that what he had supposed to be a rocky cliff on an island was +a wild, black sea with a raging whirlpool in the midst of it.</p> + +<p>He had come so close that it was only by the utmost exertion he +escaped being drawn into the whirlpool and carried down. He put forth +all his strength and at last got away where the waves were less like +mountains. But he had to be constantly on the alert, for at one moment +his frail craft was carried high up on the crest of billows and the +next it was plunged into a deep trough of the sea.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span></p> + +<p>Again he saw a dark mass looming up, and rowed toward it hoping to +find land, but again he was deceived, for it was another whirlpool +which made the sea rise in gigantic waves. At last the wind subsided, +and the sea became less rough, though the whitecaps still frothed +around him. The fog lifted, and at a great distance he saw land, real +land this time.</p> + +<p>He went toward it, and after rowing along the coast for some distance +he spied a stone house with a light in it. You may be sure he was +delighted to come near a human habitation again. He landed and entered +the house. There was no one in it but one old woman. She received him +kindly and helped him to pull off his boots, and she hung his wet +stockings on the frame above the lamp. Then she said:</p> + +<p>"I will make a fire in the next room and cook a good supper."</p> + +<p>Kiviung thought she was a very good woman, and he was so hungry that +he could scarcely wait for the supper. It seemed to him that she was a +long time preparing it. When his stockings were dry he tried to take +them from the frame in order to put them on. But as soon as he touched +the frame it rose up out of his reach. He tried in vain several times, +and each time the frame rose <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>up. He called the woman in and asked her +to give him his stockings.</p> + +<p>"Take them yourself," she said. "There they are; there they are," and +went out again.</p> + +<p>Kiviung was surprised at the change in her manner. He tried once more +to take hold of his stockings, but with no better result. Calling the +woman in again, he explained his difficulty and said:</p> + +<p>"Please hand me my boots and stockings; they slip away from me."</p> + +<p>"Sit down where I sat when you entered my house; then you can get +them," she replied, and left the room.</p> + +<p>He tried once more, but the frame arose as before and he could not +reach it. He knew now that she was a wicked woman, and he suspected +that the big fire she had made was prepared so she could roast and eat +him.</p> + +<p>What should he do? He had seen that she could work magic. He knew that +he could not escape unless he could surpass her in her own arts. He +summoned his mascot, which was a huge white bear. At once there was a +low growl from under the house. The woman did not hear it at first, +but Kiviung kept on conjuring the spirit and it rose right up through +the floor roaring loudly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> Then the old witch rushed in trembling with +fear and gave Kiviung what he had asked for.</p> + +<p>"Here are your boots," she cried; "here are your slippers; here are +your stockings. I will help you put them on."</p> + +<p>But Kiviung would not stay any longer with the horrid creature, and +dared not wait to put on his stockings and boots. He rushed out of the +house and had barely gotten out of the door when it clapped violently +together, catching the tail of his jacket, which was torn off. Without +stopping to look behind, he ran to his kayak and paddled away.</p> + +<p>The old woman quickly recovered from her fear and came out swinging a +glittering knife which she attempted to throw at him. He was so +frightened that he nearly upset his kayak, but he steadied it and +arose to his feet, lifting his spear.</p> + +<p>"I shall kill you with my spear," he cried.</p> + +<p>At that the old woman fell down in terror and broke her knife which +she had made by magic out of a thin slab of ice.</p> + +<p>He traveled on for many days, always keeping near the shore. At last +he came to another hut, and again a lamp was burning inside. His +clothing was wet and he was hungry, so he landed and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>went into the +house. There he found something very strange: a woman living all alone +with her daughter! Yet the daughter was married and they kept the +son-in-law in the house. But he was a log of driftwood which they had +found on the beach. It had four branches like legs and arms. Every day +about the time of low water they carried it to the beach and when the +tide came in, it swam away. When night came it returned with eight +large seals, two being fastened to each bough.</p> + +<p>Thus the log provided food for its wife, her mother, and Kiviung, and +they lived in abundance. Kiviung became rested and refreshed after his +weary travels, and he enjoyed this life so well that he remained for a +long time. One day, however, after they had launched the log as they +had always done, it floated away and never came back.</p> + +<p>Then Kiviung went sealing every day for himself and the women, and he +was so successful that they wished him to remain with them always. But +he had not forgotten the home he had left long ago, and meant to +return to it. He was anxious to lay in a good stock of mittens to keep +his hands warm on the long journey, and each night he pretended to +have lost the pair he wore, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>and the women would make him another pair +from the skin of the seals he brought home. He hid them all in the +hood of his jacket.</p> + +<p>Then one day, he, too, floated off with the tide and never came back. +He rowed on for many days and nights, always following the shore. +During the terrible storm he had been out of sight of land all he ever +cared to be.</p> + +<p>At last he came again to a hut where a lamp was burning, and went to +it. But this time he thought it would be well to see who was inside +before entering. He therefore climbed up to the window and looked +through the peep-hole. On the bed sat a woman whose head and whose +hands looked like big yellow-and-black spiders. She was sewing; and +when she saw the dark shadow before the window she at first thought it +was a cloud, but when she looked up and beheld a man, she grasped a +big knife and arose, looking very angry. Kiviung waited to see no +more. He felt a sudden longing for home, and hastily went on his way.</p> + +<p>Again he traveled for days and nights. At last he came to a land which +seemed familiar, and as he went farther he recognized his own country. +He was very glad to see some boats ahead of him, and when he stood up +and waved and shouted to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>them they came to meet him. They had been on +a whaling excursion and were towing a large dead whale to their +village.</p> + +<p>In the bow of one of the boats stood a stout young man who had +harpooned the whale. He looked at Kiviung keenly and Kiviung looked at +him. Then, of a sudden, they recognized each other. It was Kiviung's +own son whom he had left a small boy, but who was now become a grown +man and a great hunter.</p> + +<p>Kiviung's wife was delighted to see him whom she had supposed dead. At +first she seemed glad and then she seemed troubled. She had taken a +new husband, but after thinking it over she returned to Kiviung, and +they were very happy.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III</h2> + +<h3>THE GIANT</h3> + + +<p><span class="sc">In</span> days of old an enormous man lived with other members of the Inuit +tribe in a village beside a large inlet. He was so tall that he could +straddle the inlet, and he used to stand that way every morning and +wait for the whales to pass beneath him. As soon as one came along he +used to scoop it up just as easily as other men scoop up a minnow. And +he ate the whole whale just as other men eat a small fish.</p> + +<p>One day all the natives manned their boats to catch a whale that was +spouting off the shore; but he sat idly by his hut. When the men had +harpooned the whale and were having a hard time to hold it and keep +their boats from capsizing, he rose and strolled down to the shore and +scooped the whale and the boats from the water and placed them on the +beach.</p> + +<p>Another time when he was tired of walking about, he lay down on a high +hill to take a nap.</p> + +<p>"You would better be careful," said the people,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> "for a couple of huge +bears have been seen near the village."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't care for them. If they come too near me, throw some +stones at me to waken me," he said with a yawn.</p> + +<p>The bears came, and the people threw the stones and grabbed their +spears. The giant sat up.</p> + +<p>"Where are they? I see no bears. Where are they?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"There! There! Don't you see them?" cried the Inuit.</p> + +<p>"What! those little things! They are not worth all this bustle. They +are nothing but small foxes." And he crushed one between his fingers, +and put the other into the eyelet of his boot to strangle it.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV</h2> + +<h3>KALOPALING</h3> + + +<p><span class="sc">Ka-lo-pa-ling</span> is a strange being who lives in the northern seas. His +body is like that of a man except that his feet are very large and +look like sealskin muffs. His clothing is made of the skins of eider +ducks and, as their bellies are white and their backs are black, his +clothes are spotted all over. He cannot speak, but cries all the time, +"Be, be! Be, be!"</p> + +<p>His jacket has an enormous hood which is an object of fear to the +Inuit, for if a kayak upsets and the boatman is drowned, Ka-lo-pa-ling +grabs him and puts him into the hood.</p> + +<p>The Inuit say that in olden times there were a great many of these +creatures, and they often sat in a row along the ice floes, like a +flock of penguins. Their numbers have become less and less, till now +there are but a few left.</p> + +<p>Anyone standing on shore may see them swimming under water very +rapidly, and occasionally they rise to the surface as if to get air. +They make a great noise by splashing with their feet <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>and arms as they +swim. In summer they like to come out and bask on the rocks, but in +winter they sit along the edge of the ice or else stay under water.</p> + +<p>They often chase the hunters, so the most courageous of the men try to +kill them whenever they can get near enough. When the Kalopaling sits +sleeping, the hunter comes up very cautiously and throws a walrus +harpoon into him. Then he shuts his eyes tight until the Kalopaling is +dead, otherwise the hunter's boat would be capsized and he be drowned. +They dare not eat the flesh of the creatures, for it is poisonous; but +the dogs eat it.</p> + +<p>One time an old woman and her grandson were living alone in a small +hut. They had no men to hunt for them and they were very poor. Once in +a while, but not often, some of the Inuit took pity on them and +brought them seal's meat, and blubber for their lamp.</p> + +<p>One day the boy was so hungry that he cried aloud. His grandmother +told him to be quiet, but he cried the harder. She became vexed with +him and cried out, "Ho, Kalopaling, come and take this fretful boy +away!"</p> + +<p>At once the door opened and Kalopaling came hobbling in on his clumsy +feet, which were made <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>for swimming and not for walking. The woman put +the boy into the large hood, in which he was completely hidden. Then +the Kalopaling disappeared as suddenly as he had come.</p> + +<p>By and by the Inuit caught more seals than usual and gave her plenty +of meat. Then she was sorry that she had given her grandson away, and +was more than ever sorry that it was to Kalopaling she had given him. +She thought how much of the time he must have to stay in the water +with that strange man-like animal. She wept about it, and begged the +Inuit to help her get him back.</p> + +<p>Some of them said they had seen the boy sitting by a crack in the ice, +playing with a whip of seaweed, but none of them knew how to get him. +Finally one of the hunters and his wife said, "We may never succeed, +but we will see what we can do."</p> + +<p>The water had frozen into thick ice, and the rise and fall of the tide +had broken long cracks not far from the shore. Every day the boy used +to rise out of the water and sit alongside the cracks, playing, and +watching the fish swim down below.</p> + +<p>Kalopaling was afraid someone might carry the boy away, so he fastened +him to a string of seaweed, the other end of which he kept in his +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>hand. The hunter and his wife watched for the boy to come out, and +when they saw him they went toward him. But the boy did not want to go +back to live with his grandmother, and as they came near he called +out:</p> + +<p>"Two men are coming; one with a double jacket, the other with a +foxskin jacket."</p> + +<p>Then Kalopaling pulled on the string and the boy disappeared into the +water.</p> + +<p>Some time after this the hunter and his wife saw the boy again. But +before they could lay hold of him the lad sang out:</p> + +<p>"Two men are coming."</p> + +<p>And again Kalopaling pulled the string and the boy slipped into the +water.</p> + +<p>However, the hunter and his wife did not give up trying. They went +near the crack and hid behind the big blocks of ice which the tide had +piled up. The next time when the boy had just come out they sprang +forward and cut the rope before he had time to give the alarm. Then +away they went with him to their hut.</p> + +<p>As the lad did not wish to return to his grandmother, he stayed with +the hunter, and as he grew to be a man he learned all that his new +father could teach him, and became the most famous hunter of the +tribe.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V</h2> + +<h3>THE WOMAN MAGICIAN</h3> + + +<p><span class="sc">Long</span> ago, in Aggo, a country where nobody lives nowadays, there were +two large houses standing far apart. In each of these houses many +families lived together. In the summer the people in the two houses +went in company to hunt deer and had a good time together. When fall +came they returned to their separate houses. The names of the houses +were Quern and Exaluq.</p> + +<p>One summer it happened that the men from Quern had killed many deer, +while those from Exaluq had caught but a few. The latter said to each +other, "They are not fair; they shoot before we have a chance;" and +they became very angry.</p> + +<p>"Let us kill them," said one.</p> + +<p>"Yes, let us kill them, but let us wait till the end of the season, +and then we can take all the game they have in their storehouse," said +the others. For the game was packed in snow and ice and was taken home +on dog sledges when the hunting was over.</p> + +<p>When it came time to go home both parties <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>agreed to go on a certain +day to the storehouses and pack up the game ready to start early in +the morning. This was the time for which the men of Exaluq had been +waiting.</p> + +<p>They started off all together with their sledges, but when they got a +long distance from the camp and very near to the storehouse, those +from Exaluq suddenly fell upon the others and slew them, for the men +from Quern had never suspected that there was any ill-feeling.</p> + +<p>Fearing that if the dogs went back to camp without their masters, the +women and children would guess what had happened, they killed the dogs +also. When they returned, they told the women that their husbands had +separated from them and had gone off over a hill, and they did not +know what had become of them.</p> + +<p>Now one of the young men had married a girl from Quern, and he went to +her house that night as usual, and she received him kindly, for she +believed what she had heard about the men of her party straying off. +She and all the other women thought the men would soon find their way +back, as they had hunted in these parts so long that they knew the +land.</p> + +<p>But in the house was the girl's little brother who had seen the +husband come in; and after <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>everybody was asleep he heard the spirits +of the murdered men calling and he recognized their voices. They told +him what had happened, and asked the boy to kill the young man in +revenge for their deaths. So he crept from under the bed and thrust a +knife into the young man's breast.</p> + +<p>Then he awakened all the women and children in the great row of huts +and told them that the spirits of the dead men had come to him and +told of their murder, and had ordered him to avenge them by killing +the young man.</p> + +<p>"Oh, what shall we do? What shall we do?" they cried. "They have +killed our men and they will kill us!" They were terribly frightened.</p> + +<p>"We must fly from here before the men from Exaluq awaken and learn +that the young man is slain in revenge," said one of the old women.</p> + +<p>"But how can we fly? Our dogs are dead, and we cannot travel fast +enough to escape."</p> + +<p>"I will attend to that," said the old woman. In her hut was a litter +of pups, and as she was a conjurer, she said to them, "Grow up at +once." She had no fairy wand to wave over them, but she waved a stick, +and after waving it once the dogs<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> were half-grown. She waved it +again, saying, "Be full-grown instantly;" and they were.</p> + +<p>They harnessed the dogs at once, and in order to deceive their enemies +they left everything in the huts and even left their lights burning, +so that when the men arose in the morning they would think that they, +too, had arisen and were dressing.</p> + +<p>When it had come full daylight next morning the men of Exaluq wondered +why the young man did not come back to them, and presently they went +to find out. They peeked into the spy-hole of the window and saw the +lamps burning, but no people inside the hut. They discovered the body +of the dead man, and then when they looked they saw the tracks of +sledges.</p> + +<p>They wondered very much how the women could have gone away on sledges, +since they had no dogs, and they feared some other people had helped +them to get off. They hastily harnessed their own dogs and started in +pursuit of the fugitives.</p> + +<p>The women whipped their dogs and journeyed rapidly, but the pursuers +had older and tougher animals and were likely to overtake them soon.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> +They became very much frightened, fearing that they would all be +killed in revenge for the death of the young man.</p> + +<p>When the sledge of the men drew near and the women and children saw +that they could not escape, the boy who had slain the man said to the +old woman:</p> + +<p>"The spirits of our murdered men are calling to us to cut the ice. +Cannot you cut it?"</p> + +<p>"I think I can," she answered, and she slowly drew her first finger +across the path of the pursuers, muttering a magic charm as she did +so.</p> + +<p>The ice gave a terrific crack, and the water came gushing through the +crevasse. They sped on, and presently she drew another line with her +finger, and another crack opened and the ice between the two cracks +broke up and the floe began to move.</p> + +<p>The men, dashing ahead with all speed, could scarcely stop their dog +team in time to escape falling into the open water. The floe was so +wide and so long that it was impossible for them to cross, and thus +the women and children were saved by the art of their conjurer.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> The actual statement both here and on page <a href="#Page_39" id="toc39">39</a> is that the +woman and the Man in the Moon beat the pups and the boy with sticks to +make them grow. Is not our birthday beating, "one for each year and +one to grow on" a survival of this ancient superstition?</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI</h2> + +<h3>THE BIRD WIFE</h3> + + +<p><span class="sc">Itajung</span>, one of the Inuit tribe, was vexed because a young woman would +not marry him, so he left his home and traveled far away into the land +of the birds. He came to a small lake in which many geese were +swimming. On the shore he saw a great many boots. He cautiously crept +near and stole a pair and hid them.</p> + +<p>Presently the birds came out of the water, and finding a pair of boots +gone they were alarmed, and quickly forming into two long lines with +their leader at the point where the lines met, they flew away crying, +"<i>Honk! Honk! Honk!</i>"</p> + +<p>But one of the flock remained behind crying, "I want my boots! I want +my boots!"</p> + +<p>Itajung came forth from his hiding-place and said, "I will give you +your boots if you will become my wife."</p> + +<p>"That I will not do," she replied.</p> + +<p>"Very well," he said, and turned around to go away.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I don't want to, but I will be your wife if you will bring back my +boots," she called.</p> + +<p>He came back and gave her the boots, and when she put them on she was +changed into a woman.</p> + +<p>They walked away together, and wandered down to the seaside and, as +she liked to live near the water, they settled in a large village by +the sea. Here they lived for several years and had a son. Itajung +became a highly respected man, for he was by far the best whaler in +all the Inuit tribe.</p> + +<p>One day they killed a whale and were busy cutting it up and carrying +the meat and blubber to their homes. Many of the women were helping, +but though Itajung was working very hard, his wife stood lazily +looking on.</p> + +<p>"Come and help us," he called to her.</p> + +<p>"My food is not from the sea," she replied. "My food is from the land. +I will not eat the meat of a whale; neither will I help."</p> + +<p>"You must eat it; it will fill your stomach," said he.</p> + +<p>She began to cry, and said, "I will not eat it. I will not soil my +nice white clothing."</p> + +<p>She went to the beach and searched for feathers. When she found some, +she put them between <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>her fingers and the fingers of her child. They +were both turned into geese and flew away. When the Inuit saw this +they cried, "Itajung, your wife is flying away."</p> + +<p>Itajung became very sad. He no longer cared for the meat and blubber, +nor for the whales spouting near the shore. He followed in the +direction his wife had taken, and went over all the land in search of +her.</p> + +<p>After traveling for many weary months, he came to a river where a man +with a large axe was chopping chips from a piece of wood, and as fast +as he chopped them they were turned into salmon and slipped out of the +man's hands into the river and swam down to a large lake near by. The +name of the man was Small Salmon.</p> + +<p>As Itajung looked at the man he was frightened almost to death; for +the back of the man was entirely hollow, and Itajung could see right +through him and out at the other side. He was so scared that he kept +very still and crept back and away out around him. He wanted to ask if +the man had seen his wife, for that was what he asked everyone he came +to. So he went around and came from the opposite direction, facing the +man.</p> + +<p>When Small Salmon saw him approaching he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>stopped chopping and asked, +"Which way did you approach me?"</p> + +<p>"I came from that direction," said Itajung, pointing in the way he had +last approached.</p> + +<p>"That is lucky for you, for if you had come the other way and had seen +my back, I should have killed you at once with my hatchet."</p> + +<p>"I am glad I don't have to die," said Itajung. "But haven't you seen +my wife? She left me and came this way."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I saw her. Do you see that little island in the large lake? That +is where she lives now, and she has taken another husband."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I can never reach her," said Itajung in despair. "I have no boat +and do not know how to reach the island."</p> + +<p>"I will help you," said Small Salmon kindly. "Come down to the beach +with me. Here is the backbone of a salmon. Now shut your eyes. The +backbone will turn into a kayak and carry you safely to the island. +But mind you keep your eyes shut. If you open them the kayak will +upset."</p> + +<p>"I will obey," said Itajung.</p> + +<p>He closed his eyes, the backbone became a kayak, and away he sped over +the water. He heard no splashing and was anxious to know if he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>really +was moving, so he peeped open his eyes a trifle.</p> + +<p>At once the boat began to swing violently, but he quickly shut his +eyes, and it went on steadily, and he soon landed on the island.</p> + +<p>There he saw a hut and his son playing on the beach near it. The boy +on looking up saw and recognized him, and ran to his mother, crying:</p> + +<p>"Mother, Father is here and is coming to our hut."</p> + +<p>"Go back to your play," she said; "your father is far away and cannot +find us."</p> + +<p>The lad went back, but again he ran in, saying:</p> + +<p>"Mother, Father is here and is coming to our hut."</p> + +<p>Again she sent him away; but he soon returned, saying: "Father is +right here."</p> + +<p>He had scarcely said it when Itajung opened the door. When the new +husband saw him he said to his wife, "Open that box in the corner of +the hut."</p> + +<p>She did so, and a great quantity of feathers flew out and stuck fast +to them. The hut disappeared. The woman, her new husband, and the +child were transformed into geese and flew away, leaving Itajung +standing alone.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII</h2> + +<h3>THE SPIRIT OF THE SINGING HOUSE</h3> + + +<p><span class="sc">The</span> singing house of an Eskimo village is used also for feasting and +dancing, and always has a spirit owner who is supposed to remain in it +all the time. Once a woman was curious about this spirit and wanted to +see it. For a long time she had wanted to know more about this spirit +of the singing house, but the villagers warned her that she would meet +with a terrible fate if she persisted in trying to see it.</p> + +<p>One night she could wait no longer, and went into the house when it +was quite dark so the villagers would not see her go. When she had +entered she said:</p> + +<p>"If you are in the house, come here."</p> + +<p>As she could see and hear nothing, she cried, "No spirit is here; he +will not come."</p> + +<p>"Here I am; there I am," said a hoarse whisper.</p> + +<p>"Where are your feet?" she asked, for she could not see him.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Here they are; there they are," said the voice.</p> + +<p>"Where are your shins?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Here they are; there they are," it whispered.</p> + +<p>As she could not see anything, she felt of him with her hands to make +sure he was there, and when she touched his knees she found that he +was a bandy-legged man with knees bent outward and forward. She kept +on asking, "Where are your hips? Where are your shoulders? Where is +your neck?" And each time the voice answered, "Here it is; there it +is."</p> + +<p>At last she asked, "Where is your head?"</p> + +<p>"Here it is; there it is," the spirit whispered, hoarsely.</p> + +<p>But as the woman touched the head, all of a sudden she fell dead. <i>It +had no bones and no hair.</i></p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII</h2> + +<h3>THE TORNIT</h3> + + +<p><span class="sc">In</span> olden times the Inuit were not the only tribe living in the Eskimo +country. Around Cumberland Sound there lived some very large, strong +people called the Tornit. They were on good terms with the Inuit and +shared the same hunting ground, but lived in separate villages. They +were much taller than the Inuit and had very long legs and arms, but +their eyes were not as good.</p> + +<p>They were so strong that they could lift large boulders which were far +too heavy for the Inuit, though the latter were much stronger in those +days than they now are. Some of the stones which they used to throw +are lying about the country still, and the toughest of the men now +living cannot lift them, much less swing and throw them. Some of their +stone houses also remain. They generally lived in these houses all +winter, and did not cover them with snow to make them warmer.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p> + +<p>The principal part of their winter dress was a long, wide coat of +deerskins, reaching to the knees and trimmed with leather straps. They +ate walrus, deer, and seal, and when they went sealing in the winter +they fastened the lower edge of their coat to the snow by means of +pegs. Under the coat they carried a small lamp, over which to melt +snow when they were thirsty, and over which to roast some of the seal +meat. They sat around a hole in the ice and watched for their prey, +and when a seal blew in the hole they whispered, "I shall stab it." +Sometimes in their eagerness they forgot the lamp and upset it as they +threw the harpoon, and thus got burned.</p> + +<p>Their strength was so great that they could hold a harpooned walrus as +easily as the Inuit could hold a seal. These weaker men did not like +to play ball with them, for they did not realize how rough they were +and often hurt their playfellows severely. This the playfellows tried +to take in good part, and the two lived on friendly terms except for +one thing. For some reason the Tornit did not make kayaks for +themselves, although they saw how convenient they were for hunting +when the ice broke up in the spring. Every little while they would +steal a boat from the Inuit, who did not dare fight for their +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>property because the thieves were so much stronger.</p> + +<p>This rankled in the hearts of the Inuit and they would talk among +themselves and threaten to take vengeance on the robbers. They debated +what they should do either to get rid of the Tornit or to make them +cease their depredations. This state of affairs had gone on till the +Inuit were at fever heat, when one day a young Tornit took the boat of +a young Inuit without asking, and in sealing with it, he ran it into +some blocks of floating ice which stove in the bottom. The owner +nursed his wrath until night, and then when the thief was asleep he +slipped into the tent and thrust his knife into the Tornit's neck.</p> + +<p>The Tornit tribe had been aware of the growing dislike, and when at +last one of the Inuit took revenge, they feared that others might do +the same and in similar secret fashion; so they decided to leave the +country. In order to deceive their neighbors, they cut off the tails +of their long coats and tied their hair in bunches that stuck out +behind to look like a strange people as they fled.</p> + +<p>Then they stole away, and the Inuit were so glad they were gone that +they made no effort to pursue them.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX</h2> + +<h3>THE FLIGHT TO THE MOON</h3> + + +<p><span class="sc">A powerful</span> conjurer, who had a bear for his mascot, thought he would +like to go to the Moon. He had his hands tied up and a rope fastened +around his knees and neck. Then he sat down at the rear of his hut +with his back to the lamps and had the light extinguished.</p> + +<p>He called for his mascot, and the bear at once appeared and he mounted +its back. Up it carried him, above the village, above the mountains, +up and up till they reached the Moon. To his surprise, the Moon was a +<i>house</i> which was covered with beautiful white deerskins. Now white +deer are strange and sacred and are hatched from long white eggs +buried deep in the soil. There is mystery and magic in white deer, +white buffalo, and in all albino animals. The Man in the Moon dried +these white deerskins and fastened them over his house, which, as I +said, is the Moon itself.</p> + +<p>On each side of the door to the house was the upper part of an +enormous walrus. The beasts <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>were alive, and they threatened to tear +the visitor in pieces. It was very dangerous to try to pass the fierce +animals, but the conjurer told his mascot to growl as loud as it +could, and that startled the walruses for an instant, and in that +instant the man slipped in.</p> + +<p>It must be chilly in the Moon, for the house had a passageway to keep +out the cold, just as the Eskimo houses have. In this passageway was a +red-and-white spotted dog, the only dog which the Man in the Moon +keeps. The man went on past this dog and into the inner room. There at +the left he saw a door into another building in which sat a beautiful +woman with a lamp before her. As soon as she saw the stranger she blew +on her fire and made it flash up, and she hid behind the blaze; but he +had seen enough so that he knew she was the Sun.</p> + +<p>The Man in the Moon rose from his seat on the ledge and came over to +shake hands with the visitor and welcome him. Behind the lamps there +was a great heap of venison and seal meat, but the Man in the Moon did +not offer his guest any of it, which is not the way the Eskimo and +Indians treat their guests. The Man in the Moon seemed to have a +different idea of hospitality, for he immediately said:</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p> + +<p>"My wife, Ulul, will soon be here and we will have a dance. Mind you +don't laugh, or she will slice you in two with her knife and feed you +to my ermine which is in yon little house outside."</p> + +<p>Before long a woman entered carrying an oblong chopping-bowl in which +lay her chopping-knife. She set it down and stooped forward, turning +the bowl as if it were a whirligig. Then she commenced dancing; and +when she turned her back toward the stranger he saw that she was +hollow. She had no back, backbone, or insides, but only lungs and +heart.</p> + +<p>Her husband presently joined in the dance, and their attitudes and +grimaces were so ludicrous that the stranger could scarcely keep from +laughing. He did not wish to be impolite, so he kept turning his face +aside and pretending to cough. Fortunately for him, just as he thought +he would surely explode with laughter, he recalled the warning the man +had given him and rushed out of the house. The Man guessed what was +the matter with him, and called out:</p> + +<p>"Better call your white bear mascot!"</p> + +<p>He did so, and escaped unhurt.</p> + +<p>However, he went into the house another day and succeeded in keeping +his face straight, so when their performance was ended the Man in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>the +Moon was very friendly to him and showed him all around the house and +let him look into a small building near the entrance.</p> + +<p>In this building there were large herds of deer which seemed to be +roaming over vast plains. The Man in the Moon said, "You may choose +one of these for your own," and as soon as he did so the animal fell +through a hole and alighted on the earth right by the conjurer's hut.</p> + +<p>In another building there were many seals swimming in an ocean, and he +was allowed to choose one of these, which also fell down to his hut.</p> + +<p>"Now you have seen all I can show you, and you may go home," said the +Moon Man. So the conjurer called his mascot and rode down through the +air to his hut.</p> + +<p>There his body had lain motionless while his spirit was away, but now +it revived. The cords with which his hands and knees had been bound +dropped off, though they had been tied in hard knots. The conjurer +felt quite exhausted from his trip, but when the lamps were lighted he +told his eager neighbors all that he had seen during his flight to the +Moon.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="X" id="X"></a>X</h2> + +<h3>WHAT THE MAN IN THE MOON DID</h3> + + +<p><span class="sc">Long</span> ago there was a poor little orphan boy who had no home and no one +to protect him. All the inhabitants of the village neglected and +abused him. He was not allowed to sleep in any of the huts, but one +family permitted him to lie outside in the cold passage among the dogs +who were his pillows and his quilt. They gave him no good meat, but +flung him bits of tough walrus hide such as they gave to the dogs, and +he was obliged to gnaw it as the dogs did, for he had no knife.</p> + +<p>The only one who took pity on him was a young girl, and she gave him a +small piece of iron for a knife. "You must keep it hidden, or the men +will take it from you," she said.</p> + +<p>He did not grow at all because he had so little food. He remained poor +little Quadjaq, and led a miserable life. He did not dare even to join +in the play of the boys, for they called him a "poor <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>little shriveled +bag of bones," and were always imposing upon him on account of his +weakness.</p> + +<p>When the people gathered in the singing house he used to lie in the +passage and peep over the threshold. Now and then a man would take him +by the nose and lift him into the house and make him carry out a jar +of water. It was so large and heavy that he had to take hold of it +with both hands and his teeth. Because he was so often lifted by his +nose, it grew very large, but he remained small and weak.</p> + +<p>At last the Man in the Moon, who protects all the Eskimo orphans, +noticed how the men ill-treated Quadjaq, and came down to help him. He +harnessed his dappled dog to his sledge and drove down. When he was +near the hut he stopped the dog and called, "Quadjaq, come out."</p> + +<p>The boy thought it was one of the men who wanted to plague him, and he +said, "I will not come out. Go away."</p> + +<p>"Come out, Quadjaq," said the Man from the Moon, and his voice sounded +softer than the voices of the men. But still the boy hesitated, and +said, "You will cuff me."</p> + +<p>"No, I will not hurt you. Come out," said the Moon Man.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 322px;"> +<a name="illo2" id="illo2"></a> +<img src="images/i049.jpg" width="322" height="500" +alt="HE LIFTED THE BOWLDER AS IF IT HAD BEEN A PEBBLE" title="" /> +</div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then Quadjaq came slowly out, but when he saw who it was he was even +more frightened than if it had been one of the men standing there. The +Moon Man took him to a place where there were many large boulders and +made him lie across one as if he were to be paddled. Quadjaq was +scared but he did not dare disobey.</p> + +<p>The Man from the Moon took a long, thin ray of moonlight and whipped +the boy softly with it.</p> + +<p>"Do you feel stronger?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I feel a little stronger," said the lad.</p> + +<p>"Then lift yon boulder," said the Man.</p> + +<p>But Quadjaq was not able to lift it, so he was whipped again.</p> + +<p>"Do you feel stronger now?" asked the Man.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I feel stronger," said Quadjaq.</p> + +<p>"Then lift the boulder."</p> + +<p>But again he was not able to lift the stone more than a foot from the +ground, and he had to be whipped again. After the third time he was so +strong that he lifted the boulder as if it had been a pebble.</p> + +<p>"That will do now," said the Man from the Moon. "Rays of light even +from the Moon give you strength. To-morrow morning I shall send three +bears. Then you may show what power you have."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Man then got into his sledge and went back to his place in the +Moon.</p> + +<p>Every time a moonbeam had hit Quadjaq he had felt himself growing. His +feet began first and became enormously large, and when the Man left +him, he found himself a good-sized man.</p> + +<p>In the morning he waited for the bears, and three bears did really +come, growling and looking so fierce that the men of the village ran +into their huts and shut the doors. But Quadjaq put on his boots and +ran down to the ice where the bears were. The men peering out through +the window holes said, "Can that be Quadjaq? The bears will soon eat +the foolish fellow."</p> + +<p>But he seized the first one by its hind legs and smashed its head on +an iceberg near which it was standing. The next one fared no better. +But the third one he took in his arms and carried it up to the village +and let it eat some of his persecutors.</p> + +<p>"That is for abusing me!" he cried. "That is for ill-treating me!"</p> + +<p>Those that he did not kill ran away never to return. Only a few who +had been kind to him when he was a poor skinny boy were spared. Among +them, of course, was the girl who had given him the knife, and she +became his wife.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI</h2> + +<h3>THE GUEST</h3> + + +<p><span class="sc">An</span> old hag lived in a house with her grandson. She was a very bad +woman who thought of nothing but playing mischief. She was a witch and +tried to harm everybody with witchcraft.</p> + +<p>One time a stranger came to visit some friends who lived in a house +near the old woman. The visitor was a fine hunter and went out with +his host every morning and they brought home a great deal of game. It +made the old woman envious to see her neighbor have so much to eat, +while she had little, and she determined to kill the visitor.</p> + +<p>She made a soup of wolf's and man's brains, which was the most +poisonous food she could think of. Then she sent her grandson to +invite the stranger to eat supper at her house.</p> + +<p>"Tell him that I desire to be polite to the guest of my neighbor, but +be sure you do not tell him what I have cooked."</p> + +<p>The boy went to the neighboring hut and said,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> "Stranger, my +grandmother invites you to come to her hut and have a good feast on a +supper that she has cooked. She told me not to say that it is a wolf's +and a man's brains, and I do not say it."</p> + +<p>The man thought a moment, and then replied, "Tell your grandam that I +will come."</p> + +<p>He went to the hut where the old woman pretended to be very glad to +see him. They sat down at the table and while she was placing a large +dish of soup before him, he put a bowl on the floor between his feet. +He excused himself for putting his hand before his mouth because his +front teeth were gone, and every time he poured the spoonful into the +bowl.</p> + +<p>When he had finished he said, "It is the custom in my tribe to bring +your hostess a bit of some delicious food to show that you appreciate +her hospitality. Here is a bowl of rare food which I give to you, but +it will not be good unless you eat it at once."</p> + +<p>He gave the soup to the old witch, and the moment she tasted the broth +she herself had prepared she fell down dead.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>XII</h2> + +<h3>THE ORIGIN OF THE NARWHAL</h3> + + +<p><span class="sc">A long</span>, long time ago a widow lived with her young son and daughter in +a small hut. They had a hard time to get enough to eat. But the boy +was anxious to do all he could, and while he was still quite small he +made a bow and arrows of walrus tusks which he found under the snow. +With these weapons he shot birds for their food.</p> + +<p>He had no snow goggles and one day when the sun shone bright and he +was hunting, he became utterly blind. He had a hard time finding his +way back to the hut and when he got there without any game, his mother +was so disappointed that instead of pitying him for his blindness she +became angry with him.</p> + +<p>From that time she ill-treated him, never giving him enough to eat. He +was a growing boy and needed a great deal of food, and she thought he +wanted more than his share, so she gave him less, and would not allow +her daughter to give <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>him anything. So the boy lived on, half +starving, and was very unhappy.</p> + +<p>One day a polar bear came to the hut and thrust his head right through +the window. They were all much frightened, and the mother gave the boy +his bow and arrows and told him to kill the animal.</p> + +<p>"But I cannot see the window and I shall miss the bear. Then it will +be furious and will eat us," he said.</p> + +<p>"Quick, brother! I will level the bow," said his sister.</p> + +<p>So he shot and killed the bear, and the mother and sister went out and +skinned it and buried the meat in the snow.</p> + +<p>"Don't you dare to tell your brother that he killed the bear," said +the mother. "We must make this meat last all winter."</p> + +<p>When they went back into the hut she said to her son, "You missed the +bear. He ran away as soon as he saw you take your bow and arrow. We +have been following him a long way into the woods."</p> + +<p>The sister did not dare to tell her brother. She and her mother lived +on the meat for a long time while the boy was nearly starving. But +sometimes when the mother was away, the girl gave <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>him meat, for she +loved her brother dearly and used to weep because she knew he was +hungry.</p> + +<p>One day a loon flew over the hut, and, seeing the poor blind boy at +the door, resolved to restore his eyesight. The bird perched on the +roof and kept calling, "<i>Quee moo! Quee moo!</i>" which sounded to the +lad like "Come here! Come here!"</p> + +<p>He went out and followed the bird to the water. There the loon took +the boy on its back and dived with him to the bottom. The loon is a +great diver and can stay for a long time under water, but it knew the +boy could not. So it came to the surface soon and asked, "Can you see +anything?"</p> + +<p>"No, I cannot see anything as yet," answered the boy.</p> + +<p>They dove again and remained a longer time. Again when they came up +the loon asked, "Can you see now?"</p> + +<p>"I can see a dim shimmer," replied the boy.</p> + +<p>"Take a long, long breath and hold it while we go down," said the +loon. "When you can hold it no more, let it come out very gradually. +As soon as the bubbles of air begin to rise I will know that you must +come to the surface and will bring you."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p> + +<p>The third time they remained a long while under water, and when they +rose to the surface the boy could see as well as ever. He thanked the +loon very heartily, and it said to him:</p> + +<p>"Go to your home now; but promise me never again to shoot a bird."</p> + +<p>He gladly promised, and then ran away to his hut. There he found the +skin of the bear he had shot hanging up to dry. He was so angry that +he tore it down and, entering the hut, demanded of his mother, "Where +did you get the bearskin that is hanging outside the house?"</p> + +<p>His mother perceived that he had recovered his sight and that he +suspected the truth about the bear. She was frightened at his anger +and sought to pacify him.</p> + +<p>"Come here," she said, "and I will give you the best I have. But I +have no one to support me and am very poor. Come here and eat this. It +is very good."</p> + +<p>The boy did not go near. Again he asked, "Where did you get the +bearskin that I saw hanging outside the door?"</p> + +<p>She was afraid to tell him the truth, so she said, "A boat came here +with many men in it and they gave me the skin."</p> + +<p>The boy did not believe her story. He was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>sure that it was the skin +of the bear he had shot. But he said nothing more. His mother was +anxious to make peace with him, and offered him food and clothing, +which he refused to take.</p> + +<p>He went to the other Inuit who lived in the same village and made a +spear and a harpoon of the same pattern as they used. Then he watched +them throw the harpoons, and in a short time he became an expert +hunter and could catch many white whales.</p> + +<p>But he could not forget his anger at his mother. He said to his +sister, "I will not come home while our mother lives in the house. She +abused me while I was blind and helpless, and she mistreated you for +pitying me. We will not kill her, but we will get rid of her and then +live together. Will you do what I have planned?"</p> + +<p>She agreed. Then he went to hunt white whales. As he had no kayak he +stood on shore, winding the end of the harpoon string around his body, +and taking a firm footing so he could hold the whale until it quieted +down and died. Sometimes his sister went along to help him hold the +line.</p> + +<p>One day his mother went to the beach, and he tied the string around +her body and told her to take a firm footing. She was a trifle nervous +for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>she had never done the thing before, and she said, "Harpoon a +small dolphin, else I may not be able to hold it, if it is large +enough to make a strong pull."</p> + +<p>After a short time a young animal came up to breathe, and she cried, +"Kill that one. I can hold it."</p> + +<p>"No, that one is too large," he said.</p> + +<p>Again a small dolphin came near, and the mother shouted, "Spear that." +But he said, "No, it is too large and strong."</p> + +<p>At last a huge animal arose quite near, and immediately he threw his +harpoon, taking care to wound but not to kill it, and at the same time +pushing his mother into the water.</p> + +<p>"That is because you abused me," he cried, as the white whale dragged +her into the sea.</p> + +<p>Whenever she came to the surface to breathe she cried "<i>Louk! Louk!</i>" +and gradually she became transformed into a narwhal.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a>XIII</h2> + +<h3>WHAT THE ESKIMO BELIEVES</h3> + +<h4>HOW MEN WERE CREATED</h4> + + +<p><span class="sc">The</span> first human beings who appeared on the Diomede Islands were a man +and a woman who came down from the sky. These two lived on the island +for a long time, but had no children.</p> + +<p>At last the man took some ivory from a walrus and carved out five +images from it. Then he took some wood and carved five more images, +and set all of them aside. The next morning the ten images had turned +into people. Those from the ivory dolls were men, hardy and brave; +those from the wood were women, soft and timid.</p> + +<p>From these ten people came the inhabitants of the islands.</p> + + +<h4>THE FLOOD</h4> + +<p>In the first days that people can remember there was a flood which +covered all the earth except one very high peak in the middle. The +water rose up from the sea and covered all the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>land except the top of +this mountain, and the only animals that were not drowned were a few +that went up this mountain. A few people escaped by going into their +boats and living on the fish they caught until the water subsided.</p> + +<p>After the waters lowered, these people went to live upon the +mountains, and when the land was dry they came down to the coast. The +animals also came down and eventually the earth was refilled with +animals and people.</p> + +<p>It was during the flood that the waves and currents of water cut the +land into hollows and ridges. Then the water ran back into the sea +leaving the mountains and valleys as they are today. All the Eskimo +along the northern part of North America have heard their old people +tell of the flood.</p> + +<hr class="short" /> + +<p>There are reindeer which came from the sky and which have teeth like +dogs. They were once common and anyone could see them, but now only +the priests can see them. They live on the plains, and have a large +hole through the body back of the shoulders. If the people, who can +see them, mistake them for common reindeer and shoot at them, the +arrow falls harmless, for no ordinary weapon can kill them.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Aurora Borealis is a group of boys playing football. Sometimes +they use the skull of a walrus for the ball. The swaying movement of +the lights shows that the players are struggling with each other and +tugging back and forth. If the Aurora fades away and you utter a low +whistle, the boys will come back as if answering to applause.</p> + +<p>The Milky Way is the snow that fell from the Raven's snowshoes when he +walked across the sky, during one of his journeys while he was +creating the inhabitants of earth.</p> + +<hr class="short" /> + +<p>From Puget Sound at the northern border of the United States all along +the coast to Bering Strait, both Indians and Eskimo believe that the +eagle, the raven, the goose, and perhaps any bird, can push up its +beak making it the visor of a cap and thus become a man, and that by +pulling it down he can become a bird again.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="XIV" id="XIV"></a>XIV</h2> + +<h3>THE FIRST MAN</h3> + + +<p><span class="sc">In</span> the time before there were any people on earth, a large pea-vine +was growing on the beach, and in the pod of this pea the first man lay +coiled up for four days. On the fifth day he stretched out his feet +and that bursted the pod. He fell to the ground, where he stood up, a +full-grown man.</p> + +<p>He had never seen anything that looked like him, and he did not know +what to make of himself. He looked around, and then at himself; then +he moved his arms and hands and was surprised that he could do it. He +moved his neck and his legs, and examined himself curiously.</p> + +<p>Looking back, he saw the pod from which he had fallen still hanging to +the vine, with a hole at the lower end out of which he had dropped. He +went up and looked in through the hole to see if there were any more +like him in the pod. Then he looked about him again, and saw that he +was getting farther away from the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>place where he started, and that +the ground seemed very soft and moved up and down under his feet.</p> + +<p>After a while he had an unpleasant feeling in his stomach, and stooped +down to take water in his mouth from a small pool at his feet. The +water ran down into his stomach and he felt better. When he looked up +again, he saw a big dark object coming through the air with a waving +motion. It came on until it was just in front of him when it stopped +and, standing on the ground, looked at him.</p> + +<p>This was a Raven, and as soon as it stopped it raised one of its +wings, pushed up its beak like a mask, to the top of its head, and +changed at once into a man. Before he raised his mask, the Raven had +stared at the Man and now he stared more than ever, moving about from +side to side to obtain a better view. At last he said:</p> + +<p>"What are you? Where did you come from? I have never seen anything +like you."</p> + +<p>He looked again and said, "You are so much like me in shape that you +surprise me."</p> + +<p>Presently he said, "Walk away a few steps so that I may see you more +clearly. I am astonished at you! I have never before seen anything +like you. Where did you come from?"</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I came from the pea-pod," said Man pointing to the plant from which +he came.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" exclaimed Raven, "I made that vine, but did not know that +anything like you would ever come out of it. Come with me to the high +ground over there. This ground I made later and it is still soft and +thin, but it is harder and thicker over there." They came to the +higher ground which was firm under their feet.</p> + +<p>"Have you eaten anything?" Raven asked Man.</p> + +<p>"I took some soft stuff into me at one of the pools," replied Man.</p> + +<p>"Ah! you drank water," said Raven. "Now wait for me here."</p> + +<p>He drew down the mask over his face, changing again into a bird, and +flew far up into the sky where he disappeared. Man waited where he had +been left until the fourth day, when Raven returned, bringing four +berries. Pushing up his mask, Raven became a man again and held out +two salmonberries and two heathberries.</p> + +<p>"Here is what I made for you to eat. I wish them to be plentiful over +the earth. Now eat them."</p> + +<p>Man took the berries and placed them in his mouth one after the other, +and they satisfied his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>hunger which had made him feel uncomfortable. +Raven then led Man to a small creek near by and left him till he went +to the edge of the water and molded two pieces of clay into the form +of a pair of mountain sheep. He held them in his hand till they were +dry and then called Man to show him what he had done.</p> + +<p>"Those are very pretty," said Man.</p> + +<p>"Close your eyes for a little while," said Raven.</p> + +<p>As soon as Man's eyes were closed Raven drew down his mask and waved +his wings four times over the images, when they came to life and +bounded away as full-grown mountain sheep.</p> + +<p>Raven then raised his mask and said, "Look! Look quick!" When Man saw +the sheep moving away full of life he cried out with pleasure. Seeing +how pleased he was, Raven said, "If these animals are numerous, +perhaps people will wish very much to get them."</p> + +<p>"I think they will," said Man.</p> + +<p>"Well, it will be better for them to have their home in the high +cliffs," said Raven, "and there only shall they be found, so that +everyone cannot kill them."</p> + +<p>Then Raven made two animals of clay and gave them life when they were +dry only in spots; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>and they remained brown and white, and were the +tame reindeer with mottled coats.</p> + +<p>"Those are very handsome," exclaimed Man, admiring them.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but there will not be many of these," said Raven.</p> + +<p>Then he made a pair of wild reindeer and let them get dry only on +their bellies before giving them life; and to this day the belly of +the wild reindeer is the only white part about it.</p> + +<p>"These animals will be very common and people will kill many of them," +said Raven.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="XV" id="XV"></a>XV</h2> + +<h3>THE FIRST WOMAN</h3> + + +<p>"<span class="sc">You</span> will be very lonely by yourself," said Raven to Man one day. "I +will make you a companion."</p> + +<p>He went to a spot some distance from where he had made the animals, +and, looking now and then at Man as an artist looks at his model, he +made an image very much like Man. He took from the creek some fine +water grass and fastened it on the back of the head for hair. After +the image had dried in his hands, he waved his wings over it as he had +done with all the live things, and it came to life and stood beside +Man, a beautiful young woman.</p> + +<p>"There is a companion for you!" cried Raven. "Now come with me to this +knoll over here."</p> + +<p>In those days there were no mountains far or near, and the sun never +ceased to shine brightly. No rain ever fell and no winds blew. When +they came to the knoll Raven found a patch of long, dry moss and +showed the pair how to make a bed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>in it, and they slept very warmly. +Raven drew down his mask and slept near by in the form of a bird. +Wakening before the others, Raven went to the creek and made three +pairs of fishes: sticklebacks, graylings, and blackfish. When they +were swimming about in the water, he called to Man, "Come and see what +I have made."</p> + +<p>When Man saw the sticklebacks swimming up the stream with a wriggling +motion, he was so surprised that he raised his hands suddenly and the +fish darted away.</p> + +<p>"Look at these graylings," said Raven; "they will be found in clear +mountain streams, while the sticklebacks are already on their way to +the sea. Both are good for food; so, whether you live beside the water +or in the upland, you may find plenty to eat."</p> + +<p>He looked about and thought there was nothing on the land as lively as +the fish in the water, so he made the shrew-mice, for he said, "They +will skip about and enliven the ground and prevent it from looking +dead and barren, even if they are not good for food."</p> + +<p>He kept on for several days making other animals, more fishes, and a +few ground birds, for as yet there were no trees for birds to alight +in.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> Every time he made anything he explained to Man what it was and +what it would do.</p> + +<p>After this he flew away to the sky and was gone four days, when he +returned bringing a salmon for Man and his wife. He thought that the +ponds and lakes seemed silent and lonely, so he made insects to fly +over their surfaces, and muskrats and beavers to swim about near their +borders. At that time the mosquito did not bite as it does now, and he +said to Man:</p> + +<p>"I made these flying creatures to enliven the world and make it +cheerful. The skin of this muskrat you are to use for clothing. The +beaver is very cunning and only good hunters can catch it. It will +live in the streams and build strong houses, and you must follow its +example and build a house."</p> + +<p>When a child was born, Raven and Man took it to the creek and rubbed +it with clay, and carried it back to the stopping-place on the knoll. +The next morning the child was running about pulling up grass and +other plants which Raven had caused to grow near by. On the third day +the child became a full-grown man.</p> + +<p>Raven one day went to the creek and made a bear, and gave it life; but +he jumped aside very quickly when the bear stood up and looked +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>fiercely about. He had thought there ought to be some animal of which +Man would be afraid, and now he was almost afraid of the bear himself.</p> + +<p>"You would better keep away from that animal," he said. "It is very +fierce and will tear you to pieces if you disturb it."</p> + +<p>He made various kinds of seals, and said to Man, "You are to eat these +and to take their skins for clothing. Cut some of the skins into +strips and make snares to catch deer. But you must not snare deer yet; +wait until they are more numerous."</p> + +<p>By and by another child was born, and the Man and Woman rubbed it with +clay as Raven had taught them to do, and the next day the little girl +walked about. On the third day she was a full-grown woman, for in +those days people grew up very fast, so that the earth would be +peopled.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="XVI" id="XVI"></a>XVI</h2> + +<h3>OTHER MEN</h3> + + +<p><span class="sc">Raven</span> went back to the pea-vine and there he found that three other +men had just fallen from the pod out of which the first one had +dropped. These men, like the first, were looking about in wonder not +knowing what to make of themselves and the world about them.</p> + +<p>"Come with me," said Raven; and he led them away in an opposite +direction from the one in which he had led the first Man, and brought +them to solid land close to the sea. "Stop here, and I will teach you +what to do and how to live," said he.</p> + +<p>He caused some small trees and bushes to grow on the hillside and in +the hollows, and he took a piece of wood from one of these, and a +cord, and made a bow and showed them how to shoot game for food. Then +he taught them to make a fire with a fire-drill. He made plants, and +gulls, and loons, and other birds such as fly about on the seacoast.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then he made three clay images somewhat resembling the men, and waved +his wings over them and brought them to life, and led each one of +these women to one of the men, and then led each pair to a dry bank, +and had three families started on three hilltops.</p> + +<p>"Go down to the shore," he said to the three men and the three women, +"and bring up the logs that the tide has brought in, and I will show +you how to make houses."</p> + +<p>They brought the drift logs, and he showed them how to lay them up for +walls, and how to make a roof of branches covered with earth. Seals +had now become numerous, and he taught them how to capture them, and +what use to make of their skins. He helped them to make arrows and +spears, and nets to capture deer and fish, and other implements of the +chase. He showed them how to make kayaks by stretching green hides +over a framework of ribs, and letting the hides dry.</p> + +<p>"I have not made as many birds and animals for you as I made for First +Man and his wife, but I have made you so many more plants and trees +that it isn't quite fair to him. I must go back and fix up his land a +bit," said Raven.</p> + +<p>So he went over to where First Man and his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>children were living, and +told them all he had done for the three men who had come out of the +pea-pod, and how well he had them fixed up.</p> + +<p>"I must have you live as well as they do," he said. "Your land looks +rather barren, and you have no houses."</p> + +<p>That night while the people slept he caused birch, spruce, and +cottonwood trees to spring up in the low places, and when the people +awoke in the morning they clapped their hands in delight, for the +birds were singing in the tree-tops and the green leaves with the +sunlight flickering through them made it seem like a fairy land. And +they were delighted with the shade of the trees in which they could +sit and watch the quivering lights and shadows which the fluttering of +the leaves made.</p> + +<p>Then Raven taught these people how to build houses out of the trees +and bushes, and how to make fire with a fire-drill, and to place the +spark of tinder in a bunch of dry grass and wave it about until it +blazed, and then put dry wood upon it. He showed them how to put a +stick through their fish and hold it in the fire, till it was a +thousand times more delicious than when raw. He took willow twigs and +strips of willow bark, and made traps for catching fish; and, best of +all, he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>taught them to look out for the future, by catching more +salmon than they needed, when salmon were running, and drying them for +use when they could catch none.</p> + +<p>"Now you are pretty well fixed," he said one day; "it will take you +some time to practice on all the things I have taught you; so I will +go back and see how my coast men are coming on."</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="XVII" id="XVII"></a>XVII</h2> + +<h3>MAN'S FIRST GRIEF</h3> + + +<p><span class="sc">After</span> Raven had gone, Man and his son went down to the sea to try some +of the ways they had been taught. They made rather bad work of it, but +the son caught a seal and held it. They tried to kill it with their +hands, but couldn't do it until, finally, the son struck it a hard +blow on the head with his fist. Then the father took off the skin with +his hands alone, and tore it into strips which they dried. With these +strips they set snares for reindeer.</p> + +<p>When they went to look at the snare next morning, they found the cords +bitten in two; for in those days the reindeer had sharp teeth like +dogs. They stood looking at the ruined snare for a few minutes, and +then the son said:</p> + +<p>"Let us go farther down along the deer trail and dig a pit and set our +snare just at the first edge of the pit, with a heavy stone fastened +in it. Then when the deer puts his head in the snare <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>the stone will +fall down into the pit and drag the deer's head down and hold it."</p> + +<p>Next morning when they went to the woods and down the reindeer trail +they found a deer entangled in the snare. Taking it out, they killed +and skinned it, carrying the skin home for a bed.</p> + +<p>The women cried, "Oh, let us hold some of the flesh in the fire as we +did the fish!" And of course they found it good.</p> + +<hr class="short" /> + +<p>One day Man went out alone hunting seal along the seashore. There were +many seals out of the water sunning themselves on the rocks. He crept +up to them cautiously, but just as he thought he had his hands on +them, one after another slipped into the water. Only one was left on +the rocks. Now you will not wonder at what happened, if you remember +that, although Man was full-grown, he was still quite young, for he +had become a man so suddenly. Only one seal was left on the rocks, and +Man was very hungry. He crept up to it more cautiously than before, +but it slipped through his fingers and escaped.</p> + +<p>Then Man stood up and his breast seemed full of a strange feeling, and +water began to run in drops from his eyes and down his face. He put up +his hand and caught some of the drops to look <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>at them and found that +they were really water. Then, without any wish on his part, loud cries +began to break from him, and the tears ran down his face as he went +homeward.</p> + +<p>When his son saw him coming he called to his wife and mother to see +Man coming along making such a strange noise. When he reached them +they were still more surprised to see water running down his face. +After he told them the story of his disappointment about the seals, +they were all stricken with the same ailment and began to wail with +him,—and in this way people first learned to cry.</p> + +<p>A while after this the son killed another seal and they made more +reindeer snares from its hide. When the deer caught this time was +brought home, Man told his people to take a splint bone from its +foreleg and to drill a hole in the large end of it. Into this they put +strands of sinew from the deer and sewed skins to keep their bodies +warm when winter came, for Raven had told them to do this; and the +fresh skins shaped themselves to their bodies and dried on them.</p> + +<p>Man then showed his son how to make bows and arrows and to tip the +arrows with points of horn for killing deer. With these the son shot +his first deer, which was easier than snaring them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> After he had cut +up this deer, he placed its fat upon a bush and then fell asleep. When +he awoke he was very angry to find that the mosquitoes had eaten all +of it. Until this time mosquitoes had never bitten people; but Man +scolded them for what they had done, and said: "Never eat our meat +again; eat men," and since that day mosquitoes have always bitten +people.</p> + +<p>Where First Man lived there had now grown a large village, for the +people did everything as Raven had directed, and as soon as a child +was born it was rubbed with clay and thus grew to its full stature in +three days.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="XVIII" id="XVIII"></a>XVIII</h2> + +<h3>UP TO THE TOP OF THE SKY, AND DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA</h3> + + +<p><span class="sc">One</span> day Raven came back and, sitting beside Man, talked of many things +as if they were brothers. After a little Man said, "I understand that +you have made a land in the sky."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I have a fine land there," answered Raven. "I made that land +with all its people and animals, before I made this one."</p> + +<p>"I wish you would take me to see it," said Man.</p> + +<p>"Very well, I will do so," replied Raven.</p> + +<p>They started toward the sky, where they arrived in a short time, and +Man found himself in a beautiful country with a climate much better +than that on earth; but the people who lived there were very small. +When they stood beside Man, their heads reached only to his hips. As +they walked along, Man looked about and saw many animals that were +strange to him, and noticed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>that the country was much finer than the +one he had left.</p> + +<p>The people living there wore handsome fur garments nicely made and +embroidered with ornamental patterns such as people on earth now wear. +Man got the patterns, and when he came back to earth he showed his +people how to make the handsome garments; and the patterns have been +retained ever since.</p> + +<p>After a time they came to a large house and went in. A very old man +came from the place of honor opposite the door at the head of the room +to welcome them.</p> + +<p>"This is the first man I made in the sky land," said Raven, explaining +why the man seemed so old.</p> + +<p>The old man called to his people: "We have here a guest from the lower +land, who is a friend of mine. Bring food to refresh him after his +travels."</p> + +<p>They brought boiled food of a more delicious kind than Man had ever +tasted.</p> + +<p>"That is the flesh of the spotted reindeer and the sheep that live in +these mountains," said Raven. "When you have finished your meal we +will go on to see other things that I have made. But you must not +attempt to drink from any of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>the lakes we may pass, for in them are +animals which would seize and kill anyone from the lower land."</p> + +<p>On the way they came to a dry lake bed in which tall grass was growing +very thickly, and lying on the very tips of the grass was a large +animal, yet the grass did not bend with the weight. It was a +strange-looking animal with a long head and six legs, the two hind +ones unusually large; the forelegs short; and a small pair under its +belly. The hair around the feet was very long, but all over the body +there was fine, thick hair. From the back of the head grew short, +thick horns which extended forward and curved back at the tips. The +animal had small eyes, and was of darkish color, almost black.</p> + +<p>"These animals can sink right into the ground and disappear," said +Raven. "When the people want to kill one of them, they have to put a +log under it so it cannot sink. It takes many people to kill one, for +when the animal falls on the lower log, other logs must be placed +above it and held down, while two men take large clubs and beat it +between the eyes till it is dead."</p> + +<p>Next they came to a round hole in the sky with a ring of short grass +growing around the border and glowing like fire.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p> + +<p>"This is a star called the Moon-dog," said Raven.</p> + +<p>"The tops of the grass blades have been cut away or have burned off," +said Man.</p> + +<p>"Yes, my mother took some, and I took the rest to make the first fire +down on earth," said Raven. "I have tried to make some of this same +kind of grass on earth, but it will not grow there.</p> + +<p>"Now close your eyes and get upon my wings and I will take you to +another place," said Raven.</p> + +<p>Man did as he was told, and they dropped through the flame-bordered +star hole and floated down and down for a long time. They came to +something that seemed denser than the air, and caused them to go more +slowly, until they finally stopped.</p> + +<p>"We are now standing on the bottom of the sea," said Raven. "I came +down here to make some new kinds of water animals. Looking through the +water must look like a fog to you, but you must not walk about; you +must lie down, and if you become tired you may turn over upon the +other side."</p> + +<p>Raven then left Man lying on one side, where he rested for a long +time. Finally he awoke feeling very tired, but when he tried to turn +over, he could not.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I wish I could turn over," he said to himself; and in a moment he +turned very easily.</p> + +<p>But as he did this, he was horrified to see that his body had become +covered with long, white hairs, and that his fingers had become long, +sharp claws. However, he was so drowsy that he soon fell asleep again. +After a long time he awoke and again felt tired from lying so long in +one position. He turned as before and fell asleep again for the third +time. When he awoke the fourth time Raven stood beside him.</p> + +<p>"I have changed you into a white bear," said Raven. "How do you like +it?"</p> + +<p>Man tried to answer but could not make a sound. Raven waved his magic +wing over him and then he said:</p> + +<p>"I do not wish to be a bear, for then I would have to live on the sea +while my son would live on the shore, and I would be unhappy."</p> + +<p>Raven made one stroke of his wings and the bearskin fell from Man and +lay on one side, while he sat up in his human form, thankful that he +did not have to spend the rest of his life as a polar bear.</p> + +<p>Then Raven pulled a quill from his tail and put it into the empty +bearskin for a backbone, and after he had waved his wings over it a +white <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>bear arose and walked slowly away; and ever since that time +white bears have been found on the frozen seas.</p> + +<p>"How many times did you turn over?" Raven asked.</p> + +<p>"Four times," answered Man.</p> + +<p>"That was four years. You slept there just four years," said Raven. +"Come now and I will show you some of the animals I made while you +slept.</p> + +<p>"Here is one like the shrew-mouse of the land; but this one always +lives on the ice of the sea, and whenever it sees a man it darts at +him, entering the toe of his boot and crawling all over him. If the +man keeps perfectly quiet, it will leave him unharmed. But if he is a +coward, and lifts so much as a finger to brush it away, it instantly +burrows into his flesh going directly to his heart and causing death.</p> + +<p>"Here is another, a large leather-skinned animal with four long, +wide-spreading arms. This is a fierce animal, living in the sea, which +wraps its arms around a man or a kayak and pulls them into the water. +If the man tries to escape by getting out of his kayak upon the ice +and running away, it will dart underneath and break the ice under his +feet. Or if he gets on the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>shore and runs, it burrows through the +earth as easily as it swims through the water. No one can escape if +once it pursues him."</p> + +<p>"Why did you make such an animal?" asked Man.</p> + +<p>"This is like man's own misdeeds, from which he cannot escape," +replied Raven.</p> + +<p>Raven then showed Man several other animals: one somewhat like an +alligator, another with a long scaly tail with which it could kill a +man at one stroke; some walruses, and otter, and many kinds of fish. +They finally came to a place where the shore rose before them, and the +ripples on the surface of the water could be seen.</p> + +<p>"Close your eyes and hold fast to me," said Raven.</p> + +<p>As soon as he had done this, Man found himself standing on the shore +near his home, and was very much astonished to see a large village +where he had left only a few huts. His wife had become an old woman +and his son was an old man. The people saw him and welcomed him back, +making him their Headman, and giving him the place of honor in their +gatherings. He told them all he had seen and heard since he left them, +and taught the young men many things about the sea animals.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="XIX" id="XIX"></a>XIX</h2> + +<h3>TAKING AWAY THE SUN</h3> + + +<p><span class="sc">People</span> were becoming such good hunters that they killed a great many +animals, more than Raven was willing to have killed, lest the animals +become too few for the large number of people now on earth. For this +reason, Raven took a grass basket and tied a long line to it and, +going down to earth, caught ten reindeer which he took up to the +skyland. The next night he let the reindeer down near one of the +villages and told them to run fast and break down the first house they +came to, and destroy the people in it.</p> + +<p>The reindeer did so and ate up the people with their sharp, wolf-like +teeth; then they returned to the sky. The next night they came down +again and destroyed another house and ate up the people.</p> + +<p>"What shall we do?" cried the people to one another. "They will +destroy all of us if they keep on coming."</p> + +<p>"I know what I am going to do," said the man who lived in the third +house. "They will come <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>to my house the next time, and I'm going to +cover it with deer fat and stick sour berries all over in the fat."</p> + +<p>When the reindeer came the third night, they got their teeth full of +fat and sour berries, and ran off shaking their heads so hard that +their long, sharp teeth fell out. Afterward small teeth, such as +reindeer now have, came in their places, and these animals became +harmless.</p> + +<p>But Raven had not accomplished his purpose, for only two families had +been destroyed, and there were still too many inhabitants left. He +said, "If something isn't done to stop people from killing so many +animals, they will keep on until they have killed everything I have +made. I believe I will take away the sun from them, so that they will +be in the dark and will die."</p> + +<p>He took Man up to the sky with him, so that he would be safe from the +trouble to come. Then he said, "You remain here while I go and take +away the sun."</p> + +<p>He went away and took the sun, and put it into his skin bag, and +carried it far off to a part of the skyland where his parents lived, +thus making it very dark on earth. There in his father's village he +stayed for a long time, keeping the sun carefully hidden in the bag.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p> + +<p>The people on earth were terribly distressed when it remained dark so +long. They prayed to Raven and offered him rich presents of food and +furs, but he wouldn't bring back the sun. They kept on begging him, +saying at last: "We have crept around in the darkness finding our +storehouses and getting the meat, till now it is almost gone, and we +are likely to starve. Let us have light for a little time at least, so +we may get more food."</p> + +<p>So Raven yielded a trifle and held up the sun in one hand <i>for two +days</i> while all the people went hunting; then he put it back and +darkness returned. Another long time would pass and the people would +make many offerings before he would let them have light again. This +was repeated many times.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + +<p>In this same sky village with Raven and his parents lived an older +brother of Raven who thought the punishment of men was being carried +too far. This brother felt sorry for the people on earth, but he +didn't say a word about it to anyone. He thought out a plan which he +kept to himself.</p> + +<p>After a time he pretended to die, and was put <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>away in a grave box in +the customary manner. As soon as the mourners left his grave, he arose +and went out a short distance from the village, where he hid his raven +mask and coat in a tree. Then he turned himself into a young boy and +went back to his father's house, where he skipped about in a lively +manner, and amused the parents so much that the father at last became +very fond of him.</p> + +<p>When he had gotten them in the habit of indulging him, he began to cry +for the sun as a plaything. He kept this up until the father went to +the bag and took out the sun and let him have it for a while, being +careful to see that it went back into the bag when anyone was coming, +or when the boy was going out of doors.</p> + +<p>One day the boy played with it for a time in the house, all the while +watching his chance, and when no one was looking, he ran outside, fled +to the tree where he put on his raven coat and mask and flew away with +it. When he was far up in the sky, he heard his father's voice, +sounding faint and far below, saying:</p> + +<p>"Don't hide the sun. If you will not bring it back, let it out of the +bag sometimes. Don't keep us always in the dark, if you mean to keep +the sun for yourself."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p> + +<p>The father went into the house, and the Raven boy flew on to the place +where the sun belonged, and put the bag down. It was early dawn and he +saw the Milky Way leading far onward, and followed it to a hole +surrounded by short grass which glowed with light. He plucked some of +the grass and, standing close beside the edge of the earth just before +sunrise time, he stuck it into the sky. It has stayed there ever since +as the beautiful Morning Star.</p> + +<p>Then he went back and tore off the skin covering and put the sun in +its place. Remembering that his father had called to him not to keep +it always dark, but to make it partly dark and partly light, he caused +the sky to revolve so that it moved around the earth carrying the sun +and stars with it, and making day and night.</p> + +<p>Going down to earth he came to where the first people lived, and said +to them, "Raven, my uncle, was angry because you killed more animals +than you needed, and he took away the sun; but I have put it back and +it will never be changed again."</p> + +<p>The people welcomed him warmly when they knew what he had done for +them. As he looked around upon them he recognized the Headman of the +sky-dwarfs.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Why, what are you doing down here?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I and some of my people thought we would like a change, and so we +came down to live on earth for a while," replied the dwarf.</p> + +<p>"What has become of Man?"</p> + +<p>"Who is Man? I never heard of him," said Raven boy.</p> + +<p>"He was the first person ever seen on earth. He was our Headman until +he went away with Raven," said the people.</p> + +<p>"I will go into the skyland and find him," said Raven boy. He tried to +fly, but could get up only a little way. He tried several times, +getting only a short distance above the ground. When he found that he +could not get back to the sky, he wandered off and finally came to +where there were living the children of the three men who last dropped +from the pea-vine. There he took a wife and lived for a long time +having many children, all of whom were Raven people like himself and +could fly over the earth. But they gradually lost their magical +powers, and were no longer able to turn themselves into men by pushing +up their beaks. They became just ordinary ravens like those we see now +on the tundras or marshy plains.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> This story is probably the Eskimo's explanation of the +very long nights in the far north during part of the year.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="XX" id="XX"></a>XX</h2> + +<h3>THE DWARF PEOPLE</h3> + + +<p><span class="sc">Very</span> long ago, before the white people ever went into the land of the +Eskimo, there was a large village at Pik-mik-tal-ik. One winter day +the people living there were surprised to see a small man and a small +woman with a child coming down the river on the ice. The man was so +little that he wore a coat made of a single white fox skin. The +woman's coat was made from the skins of two white hares; while two +muskrat skins clothed the child.</p> + +<p>The father and mother were about two cubits high, and the boy not over +the length of one's forearm. Though he was so small, the man was +dragging a sled much larger than those used by the villagers, and he +had on it a heavy load of various articles. He seemed surprisingly +strong, and when they came to the shore below the village, he easily +drew the sled up the steep bank, and taking it by the rear end raised +it on the sled frame, a feat which would have required the strength of +several of the villagers.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p> + +<p>The couple entered one of the houses and were made welcome. This small +family remained in the village for some time, the man taking his place +among the other men and seeming entirely at home and friendly. He was +very fond of his little son; but one day when the latter was playing +outside the house, he was bitten so badly by a savage dog that he +died. In his anger the father caught the dog up by the tail and struck +it against a post so violently that the dog fell in halves.</p> + +<p>In his great sorrow, the father made a handsome, carved grave-box for +his son and placed the child with his toys in it. Then he went into +his house and for four days he did no work and would see no one. At +the end of that time he took his sled, and with his wife returned up +the river on their old trail, while the villagers sorrowfully watched +them go, for they had come to like the pair very much.</p> + +<p>Before this time the villagers had always made the body of their sleds +from long strips of wood running lengthwise; but after they had seen +the dwarf's sled with many crosspieces, they adopted that model.</p> + +<p>Before this time, too, they had always cast their dead out on the +tundra to be devoured by the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>dogs and wild beasts; but after they had +seen the dwarf people bury their son in a grave-box with toys placed +about him, they buried their dead in that way and observed four days +of mourning as had been done by the dwarf; for they liked him and his +gentle manners.</p> + +<p>And ever since that time the hunters coming home at dusk and looking +toward the darkening tundra, sometimes see dwarf people who carry bows +and arrows, but who disappear into the ground if one tries to approach +them. They are harmless people, never attempting to do anyone an +injury. No one has ever spoken to these dwarfs since the time they +left the village; but deer hunters have often seen their tracks near +the foot of the mountains.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="XXI" id="XXI"></a>XXI</h2> + +<h3>WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LONE WOMAN OF ST. MICHAEL</h3> + + +<p><span class="sc">The</span> women south of St. Michael are poor seamstresses but fine dancers, +while those to the north are expert needlewomen but poor dancers; and +this is the way the Eskimo explain it.</p> + +<p>Very long ago there were many men living in the northland, but there +was no woman among them. Far away in the southland a single woman was +known to live. At last the shrewdest young man of the northland +started and traveled southward till he came to the woman's house, +where he stopped and became her husband.</p> + +<p>He was very proud of himself for getting ahead of the other young men +in the north. One day he sat in the house thinking of his former home, +and he said, "Ah, I have a wife, while even the son of the Headman has +none."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the Headman's son had also set out to journey toward the +south, and while the husband was talking thus to himself, the son +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>stood in the entrance to the house and heard what he said. It angered +the son to hear the husband gloating over him. He hid in the passage +and waited until the people inside were asleep, when he crept into the +house and, seizing the woman by the shoulders, began dragging her +away.</p> + +<p>Just as he reached the doorway he was overtaken by the husband who +caught the woman by her feet. The two held on like grim death and +tugged and pulled until it ended in the woman being torn in two. The +thief carried the upper half of the body away, while the husband was +left with the lower portion of his wife.</p> + +<p>Each man set to work to replace the missing parts from carved wood. +After these parts were fitted on they came to life; and thus two women +were made from the halves of one.</p> + +<p>Owing to the clumsiness of her wooden fingers, the woman of the south +was a poor needlewoman, but was a fine dancer. The woman of the north +was very expert in needlework, but her wooden legs made her a poor +dancer. Each of these women gave these traits to her daughters, so +that to the present time the same difference is noted between the +women of the north and those of the south, "thus showing that the +story is true."</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="XXII" id="XXII"></a>XXII</h2> + +<h3>WHY THE MOON WAXES AND WANES</h3> + + +<p><span class="sc">In</span> a certain village on the Yukon River there once lived four brothers +and a sister. The sister's companion was the youngest boy, of whom she +was very fond. This boy was lazy and could never be made to work. The +other brothers were great hunters and in the fall they hunted at sea, +for they lived near the shore. As soon as the Bladder feast in +December was over, they went to the mountains and hunted reindeer. The +boy never went with them, but remained at home with his sister, and +they amused each other.</p> + +<p>One time, however, she became angry at him, and that night when she +carried food to the other brothers in the kashim or assembly house +where the men slept, she gave none to the youngest brother. When she +went out of the assembly house she saw a ladder<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> leading up into the +sky, with a line hanging down by the side of it. Taking <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>hold of the +line, she ascended the ladder, going up into the sky. As she was going +up, the younger brother came out and, seeing her, at once ran back and +called to his brothers:</p> + +<p>"Our sister is climbing the sky! Our sister is climbing the sky!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, you lazy youngster, why do you tell us that? She is doing no such +thing," said they.</p> + +<p>"Come and see for yourselves! Come, quick!" he cried, very much +excited.</p> + +<p>Sure enough! Up she was going at a rapid rate.</p> + +<p>The boy caught up his sealskin breeches and, being in a hurry, thrust +one leg into them and then drew a deerskin sock on the other foot as +he ran outside. There he saw the girl far away up in the sky and began +at once to go up the ladder toward her; but she floated away, he +following in turn.</p> + +<p>The girl became the sun and the boy became the moon, and ever since +that time he pursues but never overtakes her. At night the sun sinks +in the west, and the moon is seen coming up in the east to go circling +after, but always too late. The moon, being without food, wanes slowly +away from starvation until it is quite lost to sight; then the sun +reaches out and feeds it from the dish in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>which she carried food to +the kashim. After the moon is fed and gradually brought to the full, +it is permitted to starve again, thus producing the waxing and waning +which we see every month.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Probably the Milky Way.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="XXIII" id="XXIII"></a>XXIII</h2> + +<h3>CHUNKS OF DAYLIGHT</h3> + + +<p><span class="sc">At</span> the northern part of the continent, in the land of the midnight +sun, where in the long summer days the sun at midnight is just +slipping below the northern horizon and immediately is seen coming up +again, and where in the long nights of winter there is scarcely any +daytime at all, it is not strange that the legends of the people often +treat of daylight and especially of darkness. The long nights become +oppressive, and the people have different theories as to the cause of +it, which they weave into legends such as the following.</p> + +<p>In the days when the earth was a child, there was light from the sun +and moon as there is now. Then the sun and moon were taken away and +the people were left for a long time with no light but the shining of +the stars. The shamans, or priests, made their strongest charms to no +purpose, for the darkness of night continued.</p> + +<p>In a village of the lower Yukon there lived an orphan boy who always +sat upon the bench with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>the humble people, over the entrance way of +the kashim or assembly house. The other people thought he was foolish, +and he was despised and ill-treated by everyone. After the shamans had +tried very hard to bring back the sun and moon and had failed, the boy +began to ridicule them.</p> + +<p>"What fine shamans you must be, not to be able to bring back the +light, when even I can do it," he said mockingly.</p> + +<p>At this the shamans became very angry and beat him and drove him out +of the kashim. The orphan was like any other boy until he put on a +black coat which he had, when he became a raven and remained in that +form until he removed his coat. When the shamans drove him out, he +went to the house of his aunt in the village and told her what he had +said, and how the shamans had beaten him and driven him out of the +kashim.</p> + +<p>"Tell me where the sun and moon have gone, for I am going after them," +said he.</p> + +<p>"They are hidden somewhere, but I don't know where it is," she +replied.</p> + +<p>"I am sure you know where they are, for look what a neatly sewed coat +you wear, and you could not see to do that if you did not know where +the light is."</p> + +<p>After a great deal of persuasion the aunt said:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> "Well, if you wish to +find the light you must take your snowshoes and go far, far to the +southland, to the place you will know when you get there."</p> + +<p>The boy put on his black coat, took his snowshoes, and at once set off +for the south. For many days he traveled, while the darkness always +remained the same. When he had gone a very long way, he saw far ahead +of him a single ray of light, and that cheered and encouraged him.</p> + +<p>As he hurried on, the light showed again plainer than before and then +vanished; and kept appearing and vanishing at intervals. At last he +came to a large hill, one side of which was in a bright light while +the other was in the blackness of night. Ahead of him and close to the +hill he saw a hut with a man who was shoveling snow from the front of +it.</p> + +<p>The man was tossing the snow high in air, and each time he did this +the light was hidden, thus causing the changes from light to darkness +which the boy had noticed as he approached. Close beside the house he +saw a great blazing ball of fire—the light he had come to find.</p> + +<p>The boy stopped and began to plan how he could secure the light and +the shovel from the man. After a time he walked up to the man and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>asked, "Why are you throwing up the snow and hiding the light from +our village?"</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 326px;"> +<a name="illo3" id="illo3"></a> +<img src="images/i105.jpg" width="326" height="500" +alt="HE WHIPPED ON HIS MAGIC COAT AND BECAME A RAVEN" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>The man stopped his work, looked up and said, "I am only clearing away +the snow from my door. I am not hiding the light. But who are you, and +where do you come from?"</p> + +<p>"It is so dark at our village that I did not like to live there, so I +came here to live with you," said the boy.</p> + +<p>"What? Will you stay all the time?" asked the man in surprise.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied the boy.</p> + +<p>"That is well; come into the house with me," said the man.</p> + +<p>He dropped his shovel on the ground and, stooping down, led the way +into the underground passage to the house, letting the curtain fall in +front of the door as he passed, for he thought the boy was close +behind him.</p> + +<p>The moment the door flap fell behind the man as he entered, the boy +caught up the ball of light and put it in the turned-up flap of his +fur coat in front. Catching up the shovel in one hand, he ran away to +the north, running until his feet became tired. Then he whipped on his +magic coat and became a raven and flew as fast as his wings would +carry him. Behind he heard the frightful <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>shrieks and cries of the old +man, following fast in pursuit.</p> + +<p>When the old man found that he could not overtake the raven he cried +to him, "Never mind; you may keep the light, but give me my shovel."</p> + +<p>"No; you made our village dark and you cannot have the shovel," called +the raven, and flew faster, leaving the man far in the rear.</p> + +<p>As the raven boy traveled home, he tore out a chunk from the light +ball and threw it away, thus making a day. Then he went on for a long +way in the darkness, and threw out another piece of light, making it +day again. He continued to do this at intervals until he reached the +kashim in his own village, where he dropped the rest of the ball.</p> + +<p>Then he went into the kashim and said, "Now, you worthless shamans, +you see I have brought back the light, and hereafter it will be light +and then dark, making day and night."</p> + +<p>And the shamans could not answer.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="XXIV" id="XXIV"></a>XXIV</h2> + +<h3>THE RED BEAR</h3> + + +<p><span class="sc">On</span> the tundra south of the mouth of the Yukon River an orphan boy once +lived with his aunt. They were all alone with no house within sight; +but the boy had heard that there were people living farther up the +river. One summer day he got into his kayak and rowed up the river +hoping to find other human beings. He traveled on until he came to a +large village where he saw many people moving about. There he landed +and began calling to the people expecting to make friends with them.</p> + +<p>But instead of being friendly, they disliked all strangers and, +running down to the shore, they seized him, broke his kayak to pieces, +tore his clothing off him, and beat him badly. Then they took him up +into the village and kept him there all summer, beating and +ill-treating him very often. In the fall one of the men took pity on +him and made him a kayak, and helped him to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>escape. He went down the +river and arrived at home after a long absence.</p> + +<p>During the summer other people had built houses near the home of his +aunt and there was a small village instead of the one lone hut. He +walked among the buildings until he found his aunt's house; but when +he entered, he frightened her very much, for at first glance she +thought it was a skeleton, he had been starved and beaten so long.</p> + +<p>When his aunt recognized him and had heard his story, she said, "Oh, +you poor boy! What you must have suffered! I am full of rage at those +cruel villagers. I shall find some way to revenge your wrongs!"</p> + +<p>She sat thinking a while and then said to him, "Bring me a piece of a +small log."</p> + +<p>He brought the piece of wood and she whittled and rubbed it into the +form of an animal with long teeth and long, sharp claws, and painted +it white on the throat and red on the sides. Then they took the image +to the edge of the stream and placed it in the water.</p> + +<p>"Go now," she said to it, "and kill everyone you find in the village +where my boy was beaten."</p> + +<p>The image did not move.</p> + +<p>She took it out of the water and cried over it, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>letting her tears +fall upon it; and the warm tears brought it to life and made it feel +sorry for her and the boy. She put it back into the water.</p> + +<p>"Now, go and kill the bad people who beat my boy," she said.</p> + +<p>At this the image floated across the creek and crawled up on the other +side, where it began to grow, soon becoming a large red bear. It +turned and looked at the woman till she called out, "Go, and spare no +one."</p> + +<p>The bear went away and came to the village on the big river, the one +to which the boy had gone. There the first one he met was a man going +for water. This one was quickly torn in pieces, and one after another +of the villagers met the same fate; for the bear stayed near the +village until he had destroyed one-half of the people, and the rest +were so terrified that they began moving away.</p> + +<p>Then he swam across the Yukon and went over the tundra to the farther +side of another river, killing everyone he met. For he had become so +bloodthirsty that the least sign of life seemed to fill him with fury +until he had destroyed it.</p> + +<p>From there he turned back, and one day came to the place on the river +where he had first come <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>to life. Seeing the people on the opposite +side he became furious, tearing the ground with his claws and +growling, and starting to cross the river to get at them. When the +villagers saw this, they were much frightened, and ran about saying, +"Here is the old woman's dog! We shall all be killed!" "Tell the old +woman to stop her dog!" They had never seen a bear and they thought it +was a dog she had made.</p> + +<p>The woman went to meet the bear which did not try to hurt her, but was +passing by her to get at the other people when she caught him by the +hair on the back of his neck.</p> + +<p>"Do not hurt these people," she said; "they have been kind to me and +have given me food when I was hungry."</p> + +<p>She led the bear into her house, and still holding on to him, she +talked to him kindly.</p> + +<p>"You have done my bidding well, and I am pleased with you," she said; +"but you must not overdo it. Hereafter you must injure no one unless +he tries to hurt or injure you."</p> + +<p>When she had finished talking, she led him to the door and sent him +away over the tundra. Before she made him there had never been any of +his kind, but since then there have always been red bears.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="XXV" id="XXV"></a>XXV</h2> + +<h3>THE LAST OF THE THUNDERBIRDS</h3> + + +<p><span class="sc">In</span> ancient times a great many giant eagles or thunderbirds lived in +the mountains; but in later years they had all disappeared except one +single pair which made their home in the mountain top overlooking the +Yukon near Sabotnisky. The top of this mountain was round and the +eagles had hollowed out a great basin on the summit which they used +for a nest. Around the edge of it was a rocky rim from which they +could see far across the broad river, or could look down upon the +village at the base of the mountain on the water's edge.</p> + +<p>From their perch on this rocky wall these great birds would soar away, +looking like a cloud in the sky, to seize a reindeer from a passing +herd and bring it to their young. Or, again, they would circle out +with a noise like thunder from their shaking wings, and drop down upon +a fisherman in his kayak on the river, carrying man and boat <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>to the +top of the mountain. There the man would be eaten by the young +thunderbirds, and the kayak would lie bleaching among the bones and +other refuse scattered along the border of the nest. Every fall the +young birds would fly away to the northland, while the old ones would +remain by the mountain.</p> + +<p>After many fishermen had been carried away by the birds, there came a +time when only the most daring would venture upon the river. One +summer day a brave young hunter was starting out to look at his fish +traps and he said to his wife, "Don't go outside the house while I am +away, for fear of the birds."</p> + +<p>After he was gone she noticed that the water tub was empty, and took a +bucket to go to the river for water. As she bent over to fill the +vessel a roaring noise like thunder filled the air, and one of the +birds darted down and seized her in its talons. The villagers saw the +bird swoop down, and they wailed aloud in sorrow and terror as they +watched her being carried through the air to the mountain top.</p> + +<p>The hunter came home and the villagers gathered about with many +lamentations. "Oh, pitiful! pitiful! your pretty wife was carried away +by the thunderbirds! Too bad! Too bad! By <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>this time she is torn to +pieces and fed to the young demons!"</p> + +<p>Not one word did the husband utter. Going into his empty house he took +down his bow and his quiver of war arrows and started toward the +mountain.</p> + +<p>"Don't go! Don't go!" cried the villagers; "of what use is it? She is +dead and devoured ere this. You will only add one more to their +victims."</p> + +<p>Not a word did the hunter reply. He strode on and on and they watched +him climbing up and up the mountainside till he was lost to view. At +last he gained the rim of the nest and looked in. The old birds were +away, but the fierce young eagles greeted him with shrill cries and +fiery, flashing eyes. The hunter's heart was full of anger and he +quickly bent his bow, loosing the war arrows one after another till +the last one of the hateful birds lay dead in the nest.</p> + +<p>With heart still burning for revenge, the hunter hid himself beside a +great rock near the nest and waited for the parent birds. They came. +They saw their young lying dead and bloody in the nest, and their +cries of rage echoed from the cliffs on the farther side of the great +river. They soared up into the air looking for the one who <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>had killed +their young. Quickly they saw the brave hunter beside the great stone, +and the mother bird swooped down upon him, her wings sounding like a +gale in a spruce forest. Swiftly fitting an arrow to the string, as +the eagle came down the hunter sent it deep into her throat. With a +hoarse cry she turned and flew away over the hills far to the north.</p> + +<p>The father bird had been circling overhead and came roaring down upon +the hunter, who, at the right moment, crouched close to the ground +behind the stone, and the eagle's sharp claws struck only the hard +rock. As the bird arose, eager to swoop down again, the hunter sprang +from his shelter and drove two heavy war arrows deep under its wing. +Uttering hoarse cries of rage, and spreading his broad wings, the +thunderbird floated away like a cloud in the sky, far into the +northland, and was never seen again.</p> + +<p>Having taken blood vengeance, the hunter went down into the nest where +among ribs of old canoes and other bones he found some fragments of +his wife, which he carried to the water's edge and, building a fire, +made food offerings and libations of water such as would be pleasing +to her ghost.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="XXVI" id="XXVI"></a>XXVI</h2> + +<h3>RAVEN MAKES AN OCEAN VOYAGE</h3> + + +<p><span class="sc">One</span> day Raven was sitting on a cliff near the sea when he saw a large +whale passing close along the shore.</p> + +<p>"I have an idea!" said he. "I'm going to try something new." Then he +called out to the whale, "When you come up again, shut your eyes and +open your mouth wide, and I'll put something in it."</p> + +<p>Then he drew down his mask, put his drill for making fire under his +wing, and flew out over the water. Very soon the whale came up again +and did as he had been told. Raven, seeing the wide open mouth, flew +straight down the whale's throat. The whale closed his mouth, gave a +great gulp, and down he went to the bottom of the sea.</p> + +<p>Raven stood up, pushed up his beak, and looking about, found himself +at the entrance to a fine room, at one end of which burned a lamp. He +went in and was surprised to see a beautiful young woman sitting +there. The place was clean <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>and dry, the roof being supported by the +whale's spine, while its ribs formed the walls. The lamp was supplied +from a tube that extended along the whale's backbone, from which oil +constantly but slowly dripped into the lamp.</p> + +<p>When Raven stepped in, the woman started up in alarm and cried out, +"How came you here? You are the first man who ever came into my +house."</p> + +<p>"I came in through the whale's throat," said Raven as politely as he +knew how, for the woman was young and fair to look upon. Moreover, he +had already guessed that she was the <i>inua</i> or spirit of the whale. "I +should like to stay a while."</p> + +<p>"As you cannot get out at present, it seems that you will have to +stay. Whether you like it, or whether I like it, you appear to be my +guest, so I must prepare food for you."</p> + +<p>She brought food which she served with berries and oil. "These are +berries which I gathered last summer," she said.</p> + +<p>For four days he remained there as the guest of the whale's spirit, +and found it a very pleasant experience; but he continually wondered +what the tube was that ran along the roof of the house. Whenever the +spirit woman left the room she <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>said, "You must on no account touch +that tube," and that only served to make him the more curious.</p> + +<p>On the fifth day, when she left the room, he went to the lamp and +caught a drop of the oil which he licked up with his tongue. It tasted +so sweet that he began to catch other drops as fast as they fell. This +soon became too slow to suit him, for he was hungry, so he reached up +and tore a piece from the side of the tube and ate it. As soon as this +was done a great rush of oil poured into the room and put out the +light, while the room itself began to roll wildly about.</p> + +<p>This continued for four days, and Raven was nearly dead from +exhaustion and the bruises which he received. Then the room became +still and the whale was dead, for Raven had torn off part of one of +the heart vessels. The <i>inua</i> never came back to the room, and the +whale drifted upon the shore.</p> + +<p>Raven now found himself a prisoner and was saying to himself, "Now I +<i>am</i> in a pretty boat! I have enjoyed the trip, but how is one to get +out of a kayak like this?"</p> + +<p>Presently he said, "Hark! What is that I hear? As I live, it is +someone walking on the roof of the house!"</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p> + +<p>And he was right, for two men were walking on top of the dead whale +and calling to their village mates to come and help cut it up. Very +soon there were many people at work cutting a hole through the upper +side of the whale's body.</p> + +<p>Raven quickly pulled down his mask, becoming a bird, and crouched +close in the farthest corner. When the hole was large enough, he +watched his chance and while everybody was carrying a load of meat to +the shore, he flew out and alighted on the top of a hill close by +without being noticed.</p> + +<p>"Ah, my good fire-drill; I have forgotten it," he exclaimed, +remembering that he had left it behind.</p> + +<p>He quickly pushed up his beak and removed his raven coat, becoming a +young man again. He started along the shore toward the whale. The +people working on the dead animal saw a small, dark-colored man in a +strangely made deerskin coat coming toward them, and they looked at +him curiously.</p> + +<p>"Ho, you have found a fine, large whale," said he as he drew near. "I +will help you to cut him up."</p> + +<p>He rolled up his sleeves and set to work. Very soon a man cutting on +the inside of the whale's <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>body called out, "Ah, see what I have +found! A fire-drill inside a whale!"</p> + +<p>At once the wily Raven rolled down his sleeves and quit work, saying, +"That is a bad sign, for my daughter has told me that if a fire-drill +is found in a whale and people try to cut up that whale, many of them +will die. I shall run away before the <i>inua</i> of the whale catches me." +And away he ran.</p> + +<p>When he was gone the people looked at one another and said, "Perhaps +he is right; we'd better go too." And away they all ran, each one +trying to rub the oil from his hands as he went.</p> + +<p>From his hiding-place Raven looked on and laughed as he saw the people +running away. Then he went back for his raven coat and when he had put +it on and pulled down his beak he flew to the carcass and began to cut +it up and fly with chunks of the flesh to a cave on the shore. He did +not dare go to it as a man lest the villagers should see him and, +discovering the trick he had played them, should come back for the +meat. As he chuckled over the feast in store for him he said, "Thanks, +Ghost of the whale, both for the boat ride and for the feast."</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="XXVII" id="XXVII"></a>XXVII</h2> + +<h3>THE RED SKELETON</h3> + + +<p><span class="sc">In</span> a village on Cape Prince of Wales, very long ago, there was a poor +orphan boy who had no one to take his part and who was treated badly +by everyone, being made to run here and there at the bidding of all +the villagers.</p> + +<p>One snowy night he was told to go out of the kashim to see if the +weather was getting worse. He had no skin boots, and it was so cold +that he did not wish to go, but he was driven out. When he came back +he said, "It has stopped snowing, but it is as cold as ever."</p> + +<p>Just to plague him, the men kept sending him out every little while, +until at last he came in saying:</p> + +<p>"I saw a ball of fire like the moon coming over the hill to the +north."</p> + +<p>The men laughed at him and asked, "Why do you tell us a yarn like +that? Go out again and see if there is not a whale coming over the +hill. You are always seeing things."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p> + +<p>He went out, and came in again quickly, saying in agitation, "The red +thing has come nearer and is close to the house."</p> + +<p>The men laughed, but the boy hid himself. Almost immediately after +this the men in the kashim saw a fiery figure dancing on the gut-skin +covering over the roof hole, and an instant after a human skeleton +came crawling into the room through the passageway, creeping on its +knees and elbows.</p> + +<p>When the skeleton was in the room it made a motion toward the people +which caused them all to fall on their knees and elbows in the same +position as it had. Then, turning about, it crawled out as it had +come, followed by the people, who were forced to go with it. Outside, +the skeleton crept through the snow toward the edge of the village, +followed by all the men, and in a short time every one of them was +dead and the skeleton had vanished.</p> + +<p>Some of the villagers had been absent when the spook came, and when +they returned they found dead people lying all about on the cold +ground. Entering the kashim, they found the orphan boy, who told them +how the people had been killed.</p> + +<p>They followed the tracks of the skeleton through the snow, and were +led up the side of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>mountain till they came to an ancient grave, +where the tracks ended.</p> + +<p>It was the grave of the boy's father.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="XXVIII" id="XXVIII"></a>XXVIII</h2> + +<h3>THE MARMOT AND THE RAVEN</h3> + + +<p><span class="sc">Once</span> when a Raven was flying over some reefs near the shore of the +sea, he was seen by some Sea-birds that were perched on the rocks. +They began to revile him, calling him disagreeable names: "Oh, you +offal eater! Oh, you carrion eater! Oh, you black one!" until the +Raven turned and flew away, crying, "<i>Gnak, gnak, gnak</i>! why do they +call me such names?"</p> + +<p>He flew far away across the great water until he came to a mountain on +the other side, where he stopped. Just in front of him he saw a marmot +hole. He said to himself, "If it is a disgrace to eat dead animals I +will eat only live ones. I will become a murderer."</p> + +<p>He stood in front of the hole watching, and very soon the marmot came +home, bringing some food. Marmot said to Raven, "Please stand aside; +you are right in front of my door."</p> + +<p>"It is not my intention to stand aside," said Raven. "They called me a +carrion eater, and I will show that I am not, for I will eat you."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p> + +<p>"If you are going to eat me, you ought to be willing to do me a +favor," replied Marmot. "I have heard that you are a very fine dancer, +and I long to see you dance before I die. If you dance as beautifully +as they say, I shall be willing to die when once I have seen it. If +you will dance I will sing, and then you may eat me."</p> + +<p>This pleased Raven so much that he began to dance and Marmot pretended +to go into ecstasies about it.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Raven, Raven, Raven, how well you dance!" he sang. "Oh, Raven, +Raven, Raven, how well you dance!"</p> + +<p>By and by they stopped to rest and Marmot said, "I am very much +delighted with your dancing. Do shut your eyes and dance your best +just once more, while I sing."</p> + +<p>Raven closed his eyes and hopped clumsily about while Marmot sang, +"Oh, Raven, Raven, Raven, what a graceful dancer! Oh, Raven, Raven, +Raven, what a fool you are!" And with a quick run, Marmot darted +between Raven's legs and was safe in his hole.</p> + +<p>There he turned, putting out the tip of his nose and laughing +mockingly as he said, "<i>Chi-kik-kik, chi-kik-kik, chi-kik-kik</i>! You +are the greatest fool I ever met. What a ridiculous figure you <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>made +while dancing; I could scarcely sing for laughing. Look at me, and see +how fat I am. Don't you wish you could eat me?"</p> + +<p>And he tormented Raven till the latter flew away in a rage.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="XXIX" id="XXIX"></a>XXIX</h2> + +<h3>ORIGIN OF THE WINDS</h3> + + +<p><span class="sc">In</span> a village on the lower Yukon lived a man and his wife who had no +children. One day the woman said to her husband, "Far out on the +tundra there grows a solitary tree. Go to that and bring back a piece +of the trunk, and make a doll from it. Then it will seem that we have +a child."</p> + +<p>The man went out of the house and saw a long track of bright light +like that made by the moon shining on snow, leading off across the +tundra in the direction he had been told to take. It was the Milky +Way. Along this path he traveled far away until he saw before him a +beautiful object shining in the bright light. Going up to it, he found +it was the tree of which he came in search. The tree was small, so he +took his hunting-knife, cut off a part of the trunk, and carried the +fragment home.</p> + +<p>He sat down in the house and carved out from the wood an image of a +small boy, and his wife made two suits of clothing for it and dressed +it in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>one of them, "saving the other to put on when he had soiled the +first," she said.</p> + +<p>"Now, Father, make your little boy a set of toy dishes," she said.</p> + +<p>"I see no use in all this trouble. We will be no better off than we +were in the first place," said the man.</p> + +<p>"Why, yes, we are already better off," said the wife. "Before we had +the doll we had nothing to talk about except ourselves. Now we have +the doll to talk about and to amuse us."</p> + +<p>To please her the husband made the toy dishes, and she placed the doll +in the seat of honor on the bench opposite the door, with the dishes +full of food and water before it.</p> + +<p>When the couple had gone to bed that night the room was very dark and +they heard several low, whistling sounds.</p> + +<p>"Do you hear that? It is the doll," said the woman, shaking her +husband till he awakened.</p> + +<p>They got up at once and, making a light, saw that the Doll had eaten +the food and drunk the water, and that its eyes were moving. The woman +caught it up with delight and fondled and played with it for a long +time. When she became tired she put it back on the bench and they went +to bed again.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p> + +<p>In the morning when they got up the Doll was gone. They looked for it +all around the house, but could not find it. Then they went outside, +and there were its tracks leading away from the door. They followed +the tracks to the creek and along the bank to a place outside the +village, where they ended; for from this place the Doll had gone up +the Milky Way on the path of light upon which the man had gone to find +the tree.</p> + +<p>Doll traveled along the bright path till he came to the edge of day, +where the sky comes down to the earth and walls in the light. Close +beside him, in the east, he saw a skin cover fastened over a hole in +the sky wall. The skin was bulging inward as if some strong force on +the other side were pushing it.</p> + +<p>"It is very quiet here. I think a little wind would make it livelier," +said the Doll, drawing his knife and cutting the cover loose on one +side of the hole. At once a strong wind blew through, every now and +then bringing with it a live reindeer. Looking through the hole, Doll +saw beyond the wall another world like the earth. He drew the cover +over the hole again.</p> + +<p>"Do not blow too hard," he said to the wind. "Sometimes blow hard, +sometimes light, and sometimes do not blow at all."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 319px;"> +<a name="illo4" id="illo4"></a> +<img src="images/i131.jpg" width="319" height="500" +alt="A GALE SWEPT IN BRINGING REINDEER, TREES AND BUSHES" title="" /> +</div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then he got upon the sky wall and walked along till he came to the +southeast. Here another opening was covered like the first, and the +covering was bulging inward. When he cut this covering loose a gale +swept in bringing reindeer, trees, and bushes. He quickly covered the +hole and said to the gale, "You are too strong. Sometimes blow hard, +sometimes light, and sometimes do not blow at all. The people on earth +will want variety."</p> + +<p>Again walking along the sky wall he came to a hole in the south, and +when this covering was cut a hot wind came rushing in carrying rain +and spray from the great sea lying beyond the sky-hole on that side. +Doll closed this opening and talked to the wind as before.</p> + +<p>Then he passed on to the west where there was another hole which +admitted heavy rainstorms, with sleet and spray from the ocean. When +he had closed this and given the wind its instructions he went on to +the northwest. There, when he cut away the covering, a cold blast came +rushing in, bringing snow and ice, so that he was chilled to the bone +and half frozen, and he made haste to close the hole as he had the +others.</p> + +<p>He started to go along the sky wall to the north, but the cold became +more and more severe <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>until at last he was obliged to leave the wall +and make a circuit to the southward, going back to the north only when +he came opposite the opening. There the cold was so intense that he +waited some time before he could muster courage to cut the cover away. +When he did so, a fearful blast rushed in, carrying great masses of +snow and ice, strewing it over the entire plain of the earth. It was +so bitter that he closed the hole very quickly, and told the wind from +that direction to come only in the middle of the winter so that the +people might not be taken unawares, and might be prepared for it.</p> + +<p>From there he hastened down to warmer climes in the middle of the +earth plain, where, looking up, he saw that the sky was supported by +long, slender, arching poles, like those of a conical lodge, but made +of some beautiful material unknown to him. Journeying on, he finally +came to the village from which he started and went into his own home.</p> + +<p>Doll lived in this village for a very long time; for when the foster +parents who had made him died, he was taken by other people of the +village and so lived on for many generations, until he finally died. +Since his death parents have made dolls for their children in +imitation <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>of the Doll who first opened the wind-holes of the sky and +regulated all the six winds of earth.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="XXX" id="XXX"></a>XXX</h2> + +<h3>RAVEN AND THE GEESE</h3> + + +<p><span class="sc">For</span> a long time Raven lived alone, but finally became tired of it and +decided to take a wife. It was late in the fall and he noticed that +the birds were going south in large flocks. He flew away and stopped +directly in the path taken by geese and other wild fowl on their way +to the land of summer.</p> + +<p>As he sat there he saw a pretty young goose coming near. He hid his +face by looking at his feet, so that she would not know but that he +was a black goose, and called out, "Who wishes me for a husband? I am +a very nice person."</p> + +<p>The goose flew on without heeding him and he looked after her and +sighed. Soon after a black brant passed, and Raven cried out as +before, but the brant flew on. Again he waited and this time a duck +passed near, and when Raven cried out she turned her head a little.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I shall succeed this time," thought Raven, and his heart beat +fast with hope. But the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>duck passed on, and Raven stood waiting with +bowed head.</p> + +<p>Very soon a family of white-front geese came along, consisting of the +parents with four sons and a sister. Raven cried out, "Who wishes me +for a husband? I am a fine hunter and am young and handsome."</p> + +<p>As he finished speaking they alighted just beyond him, and he thought, +"Surely, now I shall get a wife." He looked about and found a pretty +white stone with a hole in it lying near. He picked it up and, +stringing it on a long grass stem, hung it about his neck.</p> + +<p>As soon as he had done this he pushed up his bill so that it slid to +the top of his head like a mask, and he became a dark-colored young +man. At the same time each of the geese pushed up its bill in the same +manner, and they became nice-looking people.</p> + +<p>Raven walked toward them, and was much pleased with the looks of the +girl and, going to her, gave her the stone which she hung about her +neck. By doing this she showed that she accepted him for her husband. +Then they all pulled down their bills, becoming birds again, and flew +away toward the south.</p> + +<p>The geese flapped their wings heavily and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>worked along slowly, while +Raven on his outspread wings glided along faster than his party, and +the geese gazed after him in admiration, exclaiming, "How light and +graceful he is!" and the little bride was very proud of her fine +husband.</p> + +<p>But Raven was not accustomed to the long, all-day flights of the +geese, and he became tired.</p> + +<p>"We would better stop early and look for a good place to spend the +night," he said. The others agreed to this, so they stopped and were +soon asleep.</p> + +<p>Early the next morning the geese were astir, but Raven slept so +heavily that the father goose had to shake him and say, "Wake up! Wake +up! We must make haste for it will snow here soon; we must not +linger."</p> + +<p>As soon as Raven was fully awake he pretended to be eager to get away, +and, as on the day before, he led all the others with his wide-spread +wings, and was greatly admired by the others, especially by his young +wife. He kept on, above or in front of his companions, and his bride +would often say, "See how gracefully he skims along without having to +flop heavy wings as we do," and she gave her brothers a side glance +which made them feel that she was contrasting their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>clumsiness with +his ease. After that tactless remark, the four brothers-in-law began +to feel envious of Raven.</p> + +<hr class="short" /> + +<p>They stopped one evening on the seashore, where they feasted upon the +berries which were plentiful there, and then they settled down for the +night and fell asleep. In the morning the geese were making ready to +start without waiting for breakfast, and Raven's stomach cried out for +more of the berries. But father goose said they could not wait, and he +dared not object to starting. The brothers-in-law had secretly urged +the father not to wait, for they said, "Our sister needs to have some +of the conceit about that husband of hers taken out of her; and so +does he."</p> + +<p>Raven dreaded the long flight across the sea, for he heard father +goose say, "We will make only one stop in crossing this water. There +is an island in the center of it, and there we will rest for a short +time and then go on to the farther shore."</p> + +<p>Raven was ashamed to say that he feared he could never reach that +farther shore, so he determined to keep still and risk it; and off +they all flew.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p> + +<p>The geese kept steadily on and on. After a long time Raven began to +fall behind. His wide-spread wings ached, yet the geese kept steadily +and untiringly on. His vanity was no longer gratified by admiring +remarks from his companions, for he was flapping heavily along. +Sometimes he would glide on outspread pinions for a time, hoping to +ease his tired wings, but he fell farther and farther behind.</p> + +<p>Finally the geese looked back and the brothers said, sarcastically, +"We thought he was light and active." The father goose said, "He must +be getting tired. We must not press him too hard. We will rest."</p> + +<p>The geese sank upon the water close together, and Raven came laboring +up and dropped upon their backs, gasping for breath. In a short time +he partially recovered and, putting one hand on his breast, said, "I +have an arrow-head here from an old war I was in, and it pains me +greatly; that is the reason I fell behind."</p> + +<p>He had his wife put her hand on his breast to feel the arrow-head +which he declared was working its way into his heart. She could feel +nothing but his heart beating like a trip-hammer with no sign of an +arrow-point. But she said nothing, for her brothers were whispering, +"We don't believe <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>that story about the arrow-point! How could he live +with an arrow in his heart?"</p> + +<p>They rested two or three times more, he sinking upon their backs as +before; but when they saw the far-off shore before them father goose +said, "We can wait for you no more," for they were eager to reach the +land and find food.</p> + +<p>They all arose and flew on, Raven slowly flapping along behind, for +his wings felt heavy. The geese kept steadily on toward the shore, +while he sank lower and lower, getting nearer to the dreaded water. +When the waves were almost touching him he shrieked to his wife:</p> + +<p>"Leave me the white stone; it has magical powers. Throw me the white +stone."</p> + +<p>Thus he kept crying until suddenly his wings lost their power and he +floated helplessly on the water as the geese gained the shore. He +tried to rise from the water but his wings seemed to be weighted down, +and he drifted back and forth along the beach. The waves arose and one +whitecap after another broke over him till he was soaked, and it was +only with the greatest difficulty that he could get his beak above the +surface to breathe a little between the billows.</p> + +<p>After a long time a great wave cast him upon the land, and as it +flowed back he dug his claws <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>into the sand to save himself from being +dragged back into the sea. As soon as he was able he struggled up the +beach, an unhappy looking object. The water ran in streams from his +soaked feathers and his wings dragged on the ground. He fell several +times, and at last, with wide-gaping mouth, he reached some bushes. As +soon as he could get his breath he took off his raven coat and pushed +up his beak, becoming a small, dark-colored man.</p> + +<p>"From this time on, forevermore I'm done with being a goose," he +declared.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="XXXI" id="XXXI"></a>XXXI</h2> + +<h3>EVEN A GRASS PLANT CAN BECOME SOMEONE IF IT TRIES</h3> + + +<p><span class="sc">Near</span> the mouth of the Yukon grows a tall, slender kind of grass which +the women gather and dry in the fall and use for braiding mats and +baskets and for pads in the soles of skin boots.</p> + +<p>One of these grass stalks that had been almost pulled out by the roots +when the women were gathering others, did not like the fate in store +for it.</p> + +<p>"Why should I stay on in this shape and never become anything but a +pad in the sole of a boot to be trodden on forever? It must be nicer +to be the one who treads on the pad; but since I cannot be that, I +will at least be something better than grass."</p> + +<p>Looking about, it spied a bunch of herbs growing close by, looking so +quiet and unmolested that the grass stem said, "I will be an herb; +that is a higher and safer life than this."</p> + +<p>At once it was changed into an herb like those <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>it had envied, and for +a time it remained in peace. But one day the women came back with +baskets and picks and began to dig up these herbs and eat some of the +roots, putting others into the baskets to take home. The changed plant +was left standing when the women went home toward evening, but it had +seen the fate of its companions.</p> + +<p>"This is not very safe either, for now I should be eaten. I wish I had +chosen some other form," it said.</p> + +<p>Looking down, it saw a tiny, creeping vine clinging close to the +ground. "That is the thing to be," it said. "That is so obscure and +lowly that the women will never notice it. I will be a vine like +that."</p> + +<p>Without delay it became a little squawberry vine nestling under the +dead leaves. It had not lived in peace and seclusion very long before +the women came and tore up many of the vines, stopping just before +they reached the changeling, and saying, "We will come back to-morrow +and get the rest."</p> + +<p>The one-time grass plant was filled with fear, and changed itself +quickly into a small tuber-bearing plant like some that were growing +near. Scarcely had the change been made when a small tundra mouse came +softly through the grass and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>began digging at a neighboring plant, +holding up the tuber in its paws and nibbling it, after which the +mouse crept on again.</p> + +<p>"To be safe, I must be a mouse," thought the changeling. "Animals are +a higher kind of being than plants, anyway. I will be a mouse."</p> + +<p>Instantly it became a mouse and ran off, glad of the change. Now and +then it would pause to dig up a tuber, or would sit up on its hind +feet to look around on the new scenes that came into view.</p> + +<p>"This is much more delightful than being a plant and always staying in +one place and never seeing anything of the world," it said.</p> + +<p>While traveling nimbly along in this manner, the mouse observed a +strange white animal coming through the air toward it, which kept +dropping down upon the ground, and after stopping to eat something, it +would fly on again.</p> + +<p>When it came near, the mouse saw that it was a great white owl. At the +same moment the owl saw the mouse and swooped down upon it. Darting +off, the mouse was fortunate enough to escape by running into a hole +made by one of its kind, and the owl flew off.</p> + +<p>After a while the mouse ventured to come out of its shelter, though +its heart still beat painfully <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>from its recent fright. "I will be an +owl, and in that way be safe," thought the mouse, and with the wish it +was changed into a beautiful white owl.</p> + +<p>"Oh, this is fine!" he said. "It is glorious to fly through the air, +and go up almost to the sky where I can look down on all the world. +I'm glad that I was not content to stay always down in the dirt."</p> + +<p>With slow, noiseless wing flaps the owl set off toward the north, +pausing every now and then to catch and eat a mouse. After a long +flight Sledge Island came in view and the owl thought it would go +there. When far out at sea its untried wings became so tired that only +with the greatest difficulty did it manage to reach the shore, where +it perched upon a piece of driftwood that stood up in the sand.</p> + +<p>In a short time it saw two fine-looking men pass along the shore, and +the old feeling of discontent arose again. "Those men were talking in +a better-sounding language than mine. They seemed to understand each +other, and they laughed and were having a good time. I will be a man."</p> + +<p>With a single flap of wing it stood upon the ground, where it changed +immediately into a fine young man. But, of course, the feathers were +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>gone and the Man had no clothing. Night came down upon the earth soon +after, and the Man sat down with his back against the stick of wood on +which, as an owl, he had perched, and slept till morning. He was +awakened by the sun shining in his eyes, and upon arising, felt stiff +and lame from the cold night air.</p> + +<p>He found some of the same grass which he had once been, and braided it +into a kind of mantle which kept out a little of the cold. Seeing a +reindeer grazing, he felt a sudden desire to kill it and eat its +flesh. He crept close on his hands and knees, and, springing forward, +seized it by the horns and broke its neck with a single effort.</p> + +<p>He felt all over its body and found that its skin formed a covering +through which he could not push his fingers. For a long time he tried +to think how to remove the skin, and finally noticed a stone with a +sharp edge with which he managed to cut through the hide. Then he +quickly stripped the animal with his hands, and tore out a piece of +flesh which he tried to swallow as he had swallowed mice when he was +an owl. He found that he could not do this easily, so he tore off +small bits and ground them with his teeth.</p> + +<p>He had already discovered that by striking two stones together they +grew warm and felt good to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>his cold hands. So now he struck them +together until sparks came with which he lighted some dry weeds and +brush and had a fire to cook his meat and to warm himself.</p> + +<p>The next morning he killed another reindeer and the day following two +more and wrapped himself in their skins from head to foot, with the +raw side next his own flesh, as the animals had worn them. The skins +soon dried on him and became like a part of his body.</p> + +<p>As the nights grew colder and colder, he collected a quantity of +driftwood from the shore, with which he built him a rude hut, which he +found very comfortable. Walking over the hills one day he came near to +a strange, black animal eating berries from the bushes. He crept up to +it and grasped it by its hind legs. With an angry growl it turned to +face him, showing its white teeth. He knew then that he must not let +go his hold of it, so he swung it high over his head and brought it +down on the ground with such force that the bear lay dead.</p> + +<p>In skinning the bear he saw that it contained much fat, and that he +might have a light in his house if he could find something that would +hold the grease and yet not take fire itself. Going along the beach he +found a long, flat stone with a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>hollow in one surface, and in this +the oil remained very well, and with a lighted moss wick he found it +much pleasanter to get about his house at night. The bearskin he hung +up for a curtain to his door to keep out the cold wind.</p> + +<p>In this way he lived for many days, but he was a human being now, and +needed human society. He remembered the two young men he had seen on +the beach when, as an owl, he sat on the post on the shore.</p> + +<p>"Two men passed here once, and I liked them," said he. "They may live +not far from here. I should like to see someone like myself. I will go +seek them."</p> + +<p>He went in search of people. Wandering along the coast for some +distance he came to two fine new kayaks lying at the foot of a hill, +and in the kayaks were spears, lines, floats, and other hunting +implements. After examining these curiously, he noticed a path leading +up to a hill. He followed the path and on the top of the hill he found +a house with two storehouses near it and several recently killed white +whales and many skulls around it.</p> + +<p>Wishing to see the people in the house before showing himself, he went +with noiseless steps into the entrance way and up to the door. +Cautiously <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>lifting one corner of the skin curtain that hung in the +doorway, he looked in. Opposite the doorway was a young man sitting at +work on some arrows, while a bow lay beside him. He dropped the +curtain and stood for some time in doubt as to how to proceed.</p> + +<p>"If I enter the house he may shoot me before I have time to make known +my good will," thought he. But in the end he thought, "If I enter and +say, 'I have come, brother,' he will not hurt me." So, raising the +curtain quickly, he entered.</p> + +<p>The householder at once seized the bow and drew an arrow to the head +just as the intruder said, "I have come, brother." At this the bow and +arrow were dropped and the young man cried out with delight, "Are you +my brother? Come and sit beside me."</p> + +<p>This the newcomer very gladly did, and the householder showed his +pleasure and asked, "Are you really my brother? I am very glad to see +you, brother, for I always believed I had one somewhere, though I +never could find him. Where have you lived? Have you known any +parents? How did you grow up?"</p> + +<p>"No, I have never known any parents. I never was born and never grew +up. I just found <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>myself a man standing on the seashore. There I built +me a house and made myself as comfortable as I could; but I was +lonely, so I came to find you."</p> + +<p>"I also never had any parents that I can recall. My earliest +recollection was of finding myself alone in this house, where I have +lived ever since, killing game for food. I was alone until this friend +came to stay with me. Now you, my brother, shall live here too, and we +will never be parted again."</p> + +<hr class="short" /> + +<p>And thus, by always striving to be something higher, the downtrodden +grass plant became a <span class="smcap">Man</span>.</p> + +<br /><br /> + +<p class="center">THE END</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Treasury of Eskimo Tales, by Clara Kern Bayliss + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TREASURY OF ESKIMO TALES *** + +***** This file should be named 24569-h.htm or 24569-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/5/6/24569/ + +Produced by Richard J. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Treasury of Eskimo Tales + +Author: Clara Kern Bayliss + +Illustrator: George Carlson + +Release Date: February 11, 2008 [EBook #24569] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TREASURY OF ESKIMO TALES *** + + + + +Produced by Richard J. Shiffer and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + A TREASURY OF + + ESKIMO TALES + + + BY + + + CLARA K. BAYLISS + + _Author of "A Treasury of Indian Tales," + "Old Man Coyote," etc._ + + + ILLUSTRATED IN COLOR BY + GEORGE CARLSON + + + NEW YORK + THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY + PUBLISHERS + + COPYRIGHT, 1922, + By THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY + Second Printing + + Printed in the U. S. A. + + + + +[Illustration: HE SUMMONED HIS MASCOT WHICH WAS A HUGE WHITE BEAR] + + + + +PREFACE + + +The Central Eskimo live away up north in that great American +archipelago which lies between Hudson Bay, Baffin Bay, and the Arctic +Ocean; an archipelago in which the islands are so large, so numerous, +and so irregular in outline that, as one looks at a map of them, he +could fancy they were "chunks" of the continent which had been broken +to pieces by some huge iceberg that bumped into it. + +The land is ice-bound during so much of the year that the inhabitants +cannot depend upon getting a living by the cultivation of the soil, +and have to subsist almost entirely upon meat which they get from +reindeer, seal, bear, whale, and walrus. + +In summer their clothing is of sealskin and fishskin; and in winter it +is of the thicker reindeer hides. Their life is a hard one owing to +the rigorous climate, and they make it harder by their superstitions, +for diseases are supposed to be cured by charms and incantations of +the shaman or priest; and everything in the way of hunting, fishing, +cooking, or of clothing themselves must be done in a prescribed way or +it is "taboo" or "hoodoo" as the negroes say. When you read "The Baby +Eskimo" you will see just a tiny bit of the hardships, but I should +not like to tell you how much more terrible a time he might have had, +if he had happened to be a girl baby. + +By referring to the Table of Contents you will note that the first +group of tales were told by the Central Eskimo. The second group were +derived from the Eskimo living along Bering Strait, to the west; and +it is interesting to compare many of these folk tales along similar +subjects. + +The writer is indebted to the Sixth Ethnological Report, issued by the +U. S. Government, for many of the legends found in the Central Eskimo +group; and to the Eighteenth Report for many of those from Bering +Strait. She wishes to express her thanks for this invaluable and +unique material. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + _CENTRAL ESKIMO TALES_ + + I. THE BABY ESKIMO 1 + + II. KIVIUNG 3 + + III. THE GIANT 12 + + IV. KALOPALING 14 + + V. THE WOMAN MAGICIAN 18 + + VI. THE BIRD WIFE 23 + + VII. THE SPIRIT OF THE SINGING HOUSE 28 + + VIII. THE TORNIT 30 + + IX. THE FLIGHT TO THE MOON 33 + + X. WHAT THE MAN IN THE MOON DID 37 + + XI. THE GUEST 41 + + XII. THE ORIGIN OF THE NARWHAL 43 + + + _BERING STRAIT TALES_ + + XIII. WHAT THE ESKIMO BELIEVES 49 + + XIV. THE FIRST MAN 52 + + XV. THE FIRST WOMAN 57 + + XVI. OTHER MEN 61 + + XVII. MAN'S FIRST GRIEF 65 + + XVIII. UP TO THE TOP OF THE SKY, AND DOWN + TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA 69 + + XIX. TAKING AWAY THE SUN 76 + + XX. THE DWARF PEOPLE 82 + + XXI. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LONE WOMAN + OF ST. MICHAEL 85 + + XXII. WHY THE MOON WAXES AND WANES 87 + + XXIII. CHUNKS OF DAYLIGHT 90 + + XXIV. THE RED BEAR 95 + + XXV. THE LAST OF THE THUNDERBIRDS 99 + + XXVI. RAVEN MAKES AN OCEAN VOYAGE 103 + + XXVII. THE RED SKELETON 108 + + XXVIII. THE MARMOT AND THE RAVEN 111 + + XXIX. ORIGIN OF THE WINDS 114 + + XXX. RAVEN AND THE GEESE 120 + + XXXI. EVEN A GRASS PLANT CAN BECOME + SOMEONE IF IT TRIES 127 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + He summoned his mascot which was a huge + white bear (7) _Frontispiece_ + + PAGE + + He lifted the boulder as if it had been a pebble 39 + + He whipped on his magic coat and became a raven 93 + + A gale swept in bringing reindeer, trees and bushes 117 + + + + +I + +THE BABY ESKIMO + + +The little Eskimo away up in the northern part of British America has +a pretty hard time of it, as you may know when you think how cold it +is there. + +He is born in a snow hut, and when he is but a few hours old he is +carried on his mother's back out upon the ice, and around and around +in circles and after a while through deep snow back to the hut. If +that does not kill him, the names he gets are enough to do it; for he +is given the names of all the people who have died in the village +since the last baby was born. He sometimes has a string of names long +enough to weigh any baby down. Worse than that, if one of his +relatives dies before he is four years old, that name is added to the +rest and is the one by which he is called. + +Worse still, if he falls sick he is given a dog's name, so that the +goddess Sedna will look kindly upon him. Then, all his life, he must +wear a dog's harness over his inner jacket. If he should die, his +mother must rush out of the house with him at once. If she does not do +so, everything in the house must be thrown away or destroyed, just as +is done when a grown person dies in a furnished house. + +For a whole year his mother must wear a cap if she steps outside her +door, and she must carry his boots about with her. After three days +she goes to his tomb and walks around it three times, going around to +the left, because that is the way the sun travels. While she walks, +she talks to the dead child and promises to bring him food. A year +after his death she must do this again, and she must do the same thing +whenever she happens to pass near the grave. + +Now we shall tell you some of the tales which the Eskimo mothers +relate to their children. The first one is about Kiviung, the Rip Van +Winkle of the Eskimos. + + + + +II + +KIVIUNG + + +An old woman lived with her grandson in a small hut. She had no +husband to take care of her and the boy, and they were very poor. The +lad's clothing was made of the skins of birds which they caught in +snares. Whenever the boy came out of the hut to play, the other boys +would call, "Here comes the bird boy! Fly away, birdie!" and the men +would laugh at him and tear his clothes. + +Only one man whose name was Kiv-i-ung, was kind to the boy and tried +to protect him from the others, but they would not stop. The lad often +came to his grandmother crying, and she would console him and promise +him a new garment, as soon as they could get the skins. + +She begged the men to stop teasing the child and tearing his clothes, +but they only laughed at her. At last she became angry and said to the +boy, "I will avenge you on your tormentors. I can do it by making use +of my power to conjure." + +She poured water on the mud floor and said, "Step into this puddle, +and do not be frightened at anything that happens." + +He stepped into it, and immediately the earth opened and he sank out +of sight, but the next moment he rose near the beach and swam about as +a young seal with a wonderfully smooth, shining skin. + +Some one saw him and called out that there was a yearling seal close +to shore. The men all ran to their kayaks eager to secure the +beautiful creature. But the boy-seal swam lustily away as his +grandmother had told him to do, and the men continued to pursue him. +Whenever he rose to the surface to breathe, he took care to come up +behind the kayaks, where he would splash and dabble in order to lure +them on. As soon as he had attracted their attention and they had +turned to pursue him, he would dive and come up farther out in the +sea. The men were so interested in catching him that they did not +observe how they were being led far out into the ocean and out of +sight of the land. + +It was now that the grandmother put forth her powers. Suddenly a +fierce gale arose; the sea foamed and roared and the waves upset their +frail vessels and plunged them under the surface. When they were +drowned, the little seal changed back into a boy and walked home over +the water without wetting his feet. There was no one left now to +torment him. + +Kiv-i-ung, who had never abused the boy, had gone out with the rest, +but his kayak did not capsize. Bravely he strove against the wild +waves, and drifted far away from the place where the others had gone +down. There was a dense fog and he could not tell in which direction +to go. + +He rowed for many days not knowing whither he was going, and then one +day he spied through the mists a dark mass which he took to be land. +As he pulled toward it the sea became more and more tempestuous, and +he saw that what he had supposed to be a rocky cliff on an island was +a wild, black sea with a raging whirlpool in the midst of it. + +He had come so close that it was only by the utmost exertion he +escaped being drawn into the whirlpool and carried down. He put forth +all his strength and at last got away where the waves were less like +mountains. But he had to be constantly on the alert, for at one moment +his frail craft was carried high up on the crest of billows and the +next it was plunged into a deep trough of the sea. + +Again he saw a dark mass looming up, and rowed toward it hoping to +find land, but again he was deceived, for it was another whirlpool +which made the sea rise in gigantic waves. At last the wind subsided, +and the sea became less rough, though the whitecaps still frothed +around him. The fog lifted, and at a great distance he saw land, real +land this time. + +He went toward it, and after rowing along the coast for some distance +he spied a stone house with a light in it. You may be sure he was +delighted to come near a human habitation again. He landed and entered +the house. There was no one in it but one old woman. She received him +kindly and helped him to pull off his boots, and she hung his wet +stockings on the frame above the lamp. Then she said: + +"I will make a fire in the next room and cook a good supper." + +Kiviung thought she was a very good woman, and he was so hungry that +he could scarcely wait for the supper. It seemed to him that she was a +long time preparing it. When his stockings were dry he tried to take +them from the frame in order to put them on. But as soon as he touched +the frame it rose up out of his reach. He tried in vain several times, +and each time the frame rose up. He called the woman in and asked her +to give him his stockings. + +"Take them yourself," she said. "There they are; there they are," and +went out again. + +Kiviung was surprised at the change in her manner. He tried once more +to take hold of his stockings, but with no better result. Calling the +woman in again, he explained his difficulty and said: + +"Please hand me my boots and stockings; they slip away from me." + +"Sit down where I sat when you entered my house; then you can get +them," she replied, and left the room. + +He tried once more, but the frame arose as before and he could not +reach it. He knew now that she was a wicked woman, and he suspected +that the big fire she had made was prepared so she could roast and eat +him. + +What should he do? He had seen that she could work magic. He knew that +he could not escape unless he could surpass her in her own arts. He +summoned his mascot, which was a huge white bear. At once there was a +low growl from under the house. The woman did not hear it at first, +but Kiviung kept on conjuring the spirit and it rose right up through +the floor roaring loudly. Then the old witch rushed in trembling with +fear and gave Kiviung what he had asked for. + +"Here are your boots," she cried; "here are your slippers; here are +your stockings. I will help you put them on." + +But Kiviung would not stay any longer with the horrid creature, and +dared not wait to put on his stockings and boots. He rushed out of the +house and had barely gotten out of the door when it clapped violently +together, catching the tail of his jacket, which was torn off. Without +stopping to look behind, he ran to his kayak and paddled away. + +The old woman quickly recovered from her fear and came out swinging a +glittering knife which she attempted to throw at him. He was so +frightened that he nearly upset his kayak, but he steadied it and +arose to his feet, lifting his spear. + +"I shall kill you with my spear," he cried. + +At that the old woman fell down in terror and broke her knife which +she had made by magic out of a thin slab of ice. + +He traveled on for many days, always keeping near the shore. At last +he came to another hut, and again a lamp was burning inside. His +clothing was wet and he was hungry, so he landed and went into the +house. There he found something very strange: a woman living all alone +with her daughter! Yet the daughter was married and they kept the +son-in-law in the house. But he was a log of driftwood which they had +found on the beach. It had four branches like legs and arms. Every day +about the time of low water they carried it to the beach and when the +tide came in, it swam away. When night came it returned with eight +large seals, two being fastened to each bough. + +Thus the log provided food for its wife, her mother, and Kiviung, and +they lived in abundance. Kiviung became rested and refreshed after his +weary travels, and he enjoyed this life so well that he remained for a +long time. One day, however, after they had launched the log as they +had always done, it floated away and never came back. + +Then Kiviung went sealing every day for himself and the women, and he +was so successful that they wished him to remain with them always. But +he had not forgotten the home he had left long ago, and meant to +return to it. He was anxious to lay in a good stock of mittens to keep +his hands warm on the long journey, and each night he pretended to +have lost the pair he wore, and the women would make him another pair +from the skin of the seals he brought home. He hid them all in the +hood of his jacket. + +Then one day, he, too, floated off with the tide and never came back. +He rowed on for many days and nights, always following the shore. +During the terrible storm he had been out of sight of land all he ever +cared to be. + +At last he came again to a hut where a lamp was burning, and went to +it. But this time he thought it would be well to see who was inside +before entering. He therefore climbed up to the window and looked +through the peep-hole. On the bed sat a woman whose head and whose +hands looked like big yellow-and-black spiders. She was sewing; and +when she saw the dark shadow before the window she at first thought it +was a cloud, but when she looked up and beheld a man, she grasped a +big knife and arose, looking very angry. Kiviung waited to see no +more. He felt a sudden longing for home, and hastily went on his way. + +Again he traveled for days and nights. At last he came to a land which +seemed familiar, and as he went farther he recognized his own country. +He was very glad to see some boats ahead of him, and when he stood up +and waved and shouted to them they came to meet him. They had been on +a whaling excursion and were towing a large dead whale to their +village. + +In the bow of one of the boats stood a stout young man who had +harpooned the whale. He looked at Kiviung keenly and Kiviung looked at +him. Then, of a sudden, they recognized each other. It was Kiviung's +own son whom he had left a small boy, but who was now become a grown +man and a great hunter. + +Kiviung's wife was delighted to see him whom she had supposed dead. At +first she seemed glad and then she seemed troubled. She had taken a +new husband, but after thinking it over she returned to Kiviung, and +they were very happy. + + + + +III + +THE GIANT + + +In days of old an enormous man lived with other members of the Inuit +tribe in a village beside a large inlet. He was so tall that he could +straddle the inlet, and he used to stand that way every morning and +wait for the whales to pass beneath him. As soon as one came along he +used to scoop it up just as easily as other men scoop up a minnow. And +he ate the whole whale just as other men eat a small fish. + +One day all the natives manned their boats to catch a whale that was +spouting off the shore; but he sat idly by his hut. When the men had +harpooned the whale and were having a hard time to hold it and keep +their boats from capsizing, he rose and strolled down to the shore and +scooped the whale and the boats from the water and placed them on the +beach. + +Another time when he was tired of walking about, he lay down on a high +hill to take a nap. + +"You would better be careful," said the people, "for a couple of huge +bears have been seen near the village." + +"Oh, I don't care for them. If they come too near me, throw some +stones at me to waken me," he said with a yawn. + +The bears came, and the people threw the stones and grabbed their +spears. The giant sat up. + +"Where are they? I see no bears. Where are they?" he asked. + +"There! There! Don't you see them?" cried the Inuit. + +"What! those little things! They are not worth all this bustle. They +are nothing but small foxes." And he crushed one between his fingers, +and put the other into the eyelet of his boot to strangle it. + + + + +IV + +KALOPALING + + +Ka-lo-pa-ling is a strange being who lives in the northern seas. His +body is like that of a man except that his feet are very large and +look like sealskin muffs. His clothing is made of the skins of eider +ducks and, as their bellies are white and their backs are black, his +clothes are spotted all over. He cannot speak, but cries all the time, +"Be, be! Be, be!" + +His jacket has an enormous hood which is an object of fear to the +Inuit, for if a kayak upsets and the boatman is drowned, Ka-lo-pa-ling +grabs him and puts him into the hood. + +The Inuit say that in olden times there were a great many of these +creatures, and they often sat in a row along the ice floes, like a +flock of penguins. Their numbers have become less and less, till now +there are but a few left. + +Anyone standing on shore may see them swimming under water very +rapidly, and occasionally they rise to the surface as if to get air. +They make a great noise by splashing with their feet and arms as they +swim. In summer they like to come out and bask on the rocks, but in +winter they sit along the edge of the ice or else stay under water. + +They often chase the hunters, so the most courageous of the men try to +kill them whenever they can get near enough. When the Kalopaling sits +sleeping, the hunter comes up very cautiously and throws a walrus +harpoon into him. Then he shuts his eyes tight until the Kalopaling is +dead, otherwise the hunter's boat would be capsized and he be drowned. +They dare not eat the flesh of the creatures, for it is poisonous; but +the dogs eat it. + +One time an old woman and her grandson were living alone in a small +hut. They had no men to hunt for them and they were very poor. Once in +a while, but not often, some of the Inuit took pity on them and +brought them seal's meat, and blubber for their lamp. + +One day the boy was so hungry that he cried aloud. His grandmother +told him to be quiet, but he cried the harder. She became vexed with +him and cried out, "Ho, Kalopaling, come and take this fretful boy +away!" + +At once the door opened and Kalopaling came hobbling in on his clumsy +feet, which were made for swimming and not for walking. The woman put +the boy into the large hood, in which he was completely hidden. Then +the Kalopaling disappeared as suddenly as he had come. + +By and by the Inuit caught more seals than usual and gave her plenty +of meat. Then she was sorry that she had given her grandson away, and +was more than ever sorry that it was to Kalopaling she had given him. +She thought how much of the time he must have to stay in the water +with that strange man-like animal. She wept about it, and begged the +Inuit to help her get him back. + +Some of them said they had seen the boy sitting by a crack in the ice, +playing with a whip of seaweed, but none of them knew how to get him. +Finally one of the hunters and his wife said, "We may never succeed, +but we will see what we can do." + +The water had frozen into thick ice, and the rise and fall of the tide +had broken long cracks not far from the shore. Every day the boy used +to rise out of the water and sit alongside the cracks, playing, and +watching the fish swim down below. + +Kalopaling was afraid someone might carry the boy away, so he fastened +him to a string of seaweed, the other end of which he kept in his +hand. The hunter and his wife watched for the boy to come out, and +when they saw him they went toward him. But the boy did not want to go +back to live with his grandmother, and as they came near he called +out: + +"Two men are coming; one with a double jacket, the other with a +foxskin jacket." + +Then Kalopaling pulled on the string and the boy disappeared into the +water. + +Some time after this the hunter and his wife saw the boy again. But +before they could lay hold of him the lad sang out: + +"Two men are coming." + +And again Kalopaling pulled the string and the boy slipped into the +water. + +However, the hunter and his wife did not give up trying. They went +near the crack and hid behind the big blocks of ice which the tide had +piled up. The next time when the boy had just come out they sprang +forward and cut the rope before he had time to give the alarm. Then +away they went with him to their hut. + +As the lad did not wish to return to his grandmother, he stayed with +the hunter, and as he grew to be a man he learned all that his new +father could teach him, and became the most famous hunter of the +tribe. + + + + +V + +THE WOMAN MAGICIAN + + +Long ago, in Aggo, a country where nobody lives nowadays, there were +two large houses standing far apart. In each of these houses many +families lived together. In the summer the people in the two houses +went in company to hunt deer and had a good time together. When fall +came they returned to their separate houses. The names of the houses +were Quern and Exaluq. + +One summer it happened that the men from Quern had killed many deer, +while those from Exaluq had caught but a few. The latter said to each +other, "They are not fair; they shoot before we have a chance;" and +they became very angry. + +"Let us kill them," said one. + +"Yes, let us kill them, but let us wait till the end of the season, +and then we can take all the game they have in their storehouse," said +the others. For the game was packed in snow and ice and was taken home +on dog sledges when the hunting was over. + +When it came time to go home both parties agreed to go on a certain +day to the storehouses and pack up the game ready to start early in +the morning. This was the time for which the men of Exaluq had been +waiting. + +They started off all together with their sledges, but when they got a +long distance from the camp and very near to the storehouse, those +from Exaluq suddenly fell upon the others and slew them, for the men +from Quern had never suspected that there was any ill-feeling. + +Fearing that if the dogs went back to camp without their masters, the +women and children would guess what had happened, they killed the dogs +also. When they returned, they told the women that their husbands had +separated from them and had gone off over a hill, and they did not +know what had become of them. + +Now one of the young men had married a girl from Quern, and he went to +her house that night as usual, and she received him kindly, for she +believed what she had heard about the men of her party straying off. +She and all the other women thought the men would soon find their way +back, as they had hunted in these parts so long that they knew the +land. + +But in the house was the girl's little brother who had seen the +husband come in; and after everybody was asleep he heard the spirits +of the murdered men calling and he recognized their voices. They told +him what had happened, and asked the boy to kill the young man in +revenge for their deaths. So he crept from under the bed and thrust a +knife into the young man's breast. + +Then he awakened all the women and children in the great row of huts +and told them that the spirits of the dead men had come to him and +told of their murder, and had ordered him to avenge them by killing +the young man. + +"Oh, what shall we do? What shall we do?" they cried. "They have +killed our men and they will kill us!" They were terribly frightened. + +"We must fly from here before the men from Exaluq awaken and learn +that the young man is slain in revenge," said one of the old women. + +"But how can we fly? Our dogs are dead, and we cannot travel fast +enough to escape." + +"I will attend to that," said the old woman. In her hut was a litter +of pups, and as she was a conjurer, she said to them, "Grow up at +once." She had no fairy wand to wave over them, but she waved a stick, +and after waving it once the dogs[1] were half-grown. She waved it +again, saying, "Be full-grown instantly;" and they were. + +They harnessed the dogs at once, and in order to deceive their enemies +they left everything in the huts and even left their lights burning, +so that when the men arose in the morning they would think that they, +too, had arisen and were dressing. + +When it had come full daylight next morning the men of Exaluq wondered +why the young man did not come back to them, and presently they went +to find out. They peeked into the spy-hole of the window and saw the +lamps burning, but no people inside the hut. They discovered the body +of the dead man, and then when they looked they saw the tracks of +sledges. + +They wondered very much how the women could have gone away on sledges, +since they had no dogs, and they feared some other people had helped +them to get off. They hastily harnessed their own dogs and started in +pursuit of the fugitives. + +The women whipped their dogs and journeyed rapidly, but the pursuers +had older and tougher animals and were likely to overtake them soon. +They became very much frightened, fearing that they would all be +killed in revenge for the death of the young man. + +When the sledge of the men drew near and the women and children saw +that they could not escape, the boy who had slain the man said to the +old woman: + +"The spirits of our murdered men are calling to us to cut the ice. +Cannot you cut it?" + +"I think I can," she answered, and she slowly drew her first finger +across the path of the pursuers, muttering a magic charm as she did +so. + +The ice gave a terrific crack, and the water came gushing through the +crevasse. They sped on, and presently she drew another line with her +finger, and another crack opened and the ice between the two cracks +broke up and the floe began to move. + +The men, dashing ahead with all speed, could scarcely stop their dog +team in time to escape falling into the open water. The floe was so +wide and so long that it was impossible for them to cross, and thus +the women and children were saved by the art of their conjurer. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] The actual statement both here and on page 39 is that the woman +and the Man in the Moon beat the pups and the boy with sticks to make +them grow. Is not our birthday beating, "one for each year and one to +grow on" a survival of this ancient superstition? + + + + +VI + +THE BIRD WIFE + + +Itajung, one of the Inuit tribe, was vexed because a young woman would +not marry him, so he left his home and traveled far away into the land +of the birds. He came to a small lake in which many geese were +swimming. On the shore he saw a great many boots. He cautiously crept +near and stole a pair and hid them. + +Presently the birds came out of the water, and finding a pair of boots +gone they were alarmed, and quickly forming into two long lines with +their leader at the point where the lines met, they flew away crying, +"_Honk! Honk! Honk!_" + +But one of the flock remained behind crying, "I want my boots! I want +my boots!" + +Itajung came forth from his hiding-place and said, "I will give you +your boots if you will become my wife." + +"That I will not do," she replied. + +"Very well," he said, and turned around to go away. + +"I don't want to, but I will be your wife if you will bring back my +boots," she called. + +He came back and gave her the boots, and when she put them on she was +changed into a woman. + +They walked away together, and wandered down to the seaside and, as +she liked to live near the water, they settled in a large village by +the sea. Here they lived for several years and had a son. Itajung +became a highly respected man, for he was by far the best whaler in +all the Inuit tribe. + +One day they killed a whale and were busy cutting it up and carrying +the meat and blubber to their homes. Many of the women were helping, +but though Itajung was working very hard, his wife stood lazily +looking on. + +"Come and help us," he called to her. + +"My food is not from the sea," she replied. "My food is from the land. +I will not eat the meat of a whale; neither will I help." + +"You must eat it; it will fill your stomach," said he. + +She began to cry, and said, "I will not eat it. I will not soil my +nice white clothing." + +She went to the beach and searched for feathers. When she found some, +she put them between her fingers and the fingers of her child. They +were both turned into geese and flew away. When the Inuit saw this +they cried, "Itajung, your wife is flying away." + +Itajung became very sad. He no longer cared for the meat and blubber, +nor for the whales spouting near the shore. He followed in the +direction his wife had taken, and went over all the land in search of +her. + +After traveling for many weary months, he came to a river where a man +with a large axe was chopping chips from a piece of wood, and as fast +as he chopped them they were turned into salmon and slipped out of the +man's hands into the river and swam down to a large lake near by. The +name of the man was Small Salmon. + +As Itajung looked at the man he was frightened almost to death; for +the back of the man was entirely hollow, and Itajung could see right +through him and out at the other side. He was so scared that he kept +very still and crept back and away out around him. He wanted to ask if +the man had seen his wife, for that was what he asked everyone he came +to. So he went around and came from the opposite direction, facing the +man. + +When Small Salmon saw him approaching he stopped chopping and asked, +"Which way did you approach me?" + +"I came from that direction," said Itajung, pointing in the way he had +last approached. + +"That is lucky for you, for if you had come the other way and had seen +my back, I should have killed you at once with my hatchet." + +"I am glad I don't have to die," said Itajung. "But haven't you seen +my wife? She left me and came this way." + +"Yes, I saw her. Do you see that little island in the large lake? That +is where she lives now, and she has taken another husband." + +"Oh, I can never reach her," said Itajung in despair. "I have no boat +and do not know how to reach the island." + +"I will help you," said Small Salmon kindly. "Come down to the beach +with me. Here is the backbone of a salmon. Now shut your eyes. The +backbone will turn into a kayak and carry you safely to the island. +But mind you keep your eyes shut. If you open them the kayak will +upset." + +"I will obey," said Itajung. + +He closed his eyes, the backbone became a kayak, and away he sped over +the water. He heard no splashing and was anxious to know if he really +was moving, so he peeped open his eyes a trifle. + +At once the boat began to swing violently, but he quickly shut his +eyes, and it went on steadily, and he soon landed on the island. + +There he saw a hut and his son playing on the beach near it. The boy +on looking up saw and recognized him, and ran to his mother, crying: + +"Mother, Father is here and is coming to our hut." + +"Go back to your play," she said; "your father is far away and cannot +find us." + +The lad went back, but again he ran in, saying: + +"Mother, Father is here and is coming to our hut." + +Again she sent him away; but he soon returned, saying: "Father is +right here." + +He had scarcely said it when Itajung opened the door. When the new +husband saw him he said to his wife, "Open that box in the corner of +the hut." + +She did so, and a great quantity of feathers flew out and stuck fast +to them. The hut disappeared. The woman, her new husband, and the +child were transformed into geese and flew away, leaving Itajung +standing alone. + + + + +VII + +THE SPIRIT OF THE SINGING HOUSE + + +The singing house of an Eskimo village is used also for feasting and +dancing, and always has a spirit owner who is supposed to remain in it +all the time. Once a woman was curious about this spirit and wanted to +see it. For a long time she had wanted to know more about this spirit +of the singing house, but the villagers warned her that she would meet +with a terrible fate if she persisted in trying to see it. + +One night she could wait no longer, and went into the house when it +was quite dark so the villagers would not see her go. When she had +entered she said: + +"If you are in the house, come here." + +As she could see and hear nothing, she cried, "No spirit is here; he +will not come." + +"Here I am; there I am," said a hoarse whisper. + +"Where are your feet?" she asked, for she could not see him. + +"Here they are; there they are," said the voice. + +"Where are your shins?" she asked. + +"Here they are; there they are," it whispered. + +As she could not see anything, she felt of him with her hands to make +sure he was there, and when she touched his knees she found that he +was a bandy-legged man with knees bent outward and forward. She kept +on asking, "Where are your hips? Where are your shoulders? Where is +your neck?" And each time the voice answered, "Here it is; there it +is." + +At last she asked, "Where is your head?" + +"Here it is; there it is," the spirit whispered, hoarsely. + +But as the woman touched the head, all of a sudden she fell dead. _It +had no bones and no hair._ + + + + +VIII + +THE TORNIT + + +In olden times the Inuit were not the only tribe living in the Eskimo +country. Around Cumberland Sound there lived some very large, strong +people called the Tornit. They were on good terms with the Inuit and +shared the same hunting ground, but lived in separate villages. They +were much taller than the Inuit and had very long legs and arms, but +their eyes were not as good. + +They were so strong that they could lift large boulders which were far +too heavy for the Inuit, though the latter were much stronger in those +days than they now are. Some of the stones which they used to throw +are lying about the country still, and the toughest of the men now +living cannot lift them, much less swing and throw them. Some of their +stone houses also remain. They generally lived in these houses all +winter, and did not cover them with snow to make them warmer. + +The principal part of their winter dress was a long, wide coat of +deerskins, reaching to the knees and trimmed with leather straps. They +ate walrus, deer, and seal, and when they went sealing in the winter +they fastened the lower edge of their coat to the snow by means of +pegs. Under the coat they carried a small lamp, over which to melt +snow when they were thirsty, and over which to roast some of the seal +meat. They sat around a hole in the ice and watched for their prey, +and when a seal blew in the hole they whispered, "I shall stab it." +Sometimes in their eagerness they forgot the lamp and upset it as they +threw the harpoon, and thus got burned. + +Their strength was so great that they could hold a harpooned walrus as +easily as the Inuit could hold a seal. These weaker men did not like +to play ball with them, for they did not realize how rough they were +and often hurt their playfellows severely. This the playfellows tried +to take in good part, and the two lived on friendly terms except for +one thing. For some reason the Tornit did not make kayaks for +themselves, although they saw how convenient they were for hunting +when the ice broke up in the spring. Every little while they would +steal a boat from the Inuit, who did not dare fight for their +property because the thieves were so much stronger. + +This rankled in the hearts of the Inuit and they would talk among +themselves and threaten to take vengeance on the robbers. They debated +what they should do either to get rid of the Tornit or to make them +cease their depredations. This state of affairs had gone on till the +Inuit were at fever heat, when one day a young Tornit took the boat of +a young Inuit without asking, and in sealing with it, he ran it into +some blocks of floating ice which stove in the bottom. The owner +nursed his wrath until night, and then when the thief was asleep he +slipped into the tent and thrust his knife into the Tornit's neck. + +The Tornit tribe had been aware of the growing dislike, and when at +last one of the Inuit took revenge, they feared that others might do +the same and in similar secret fashion; so they decided to leave the +country. In order to deceive their neighbors, they cut off the tails +of their long coats and tied their hair in bunches that stuck out +behind to look like a strange people as they fled. + +Then they stole away, and the Inuit were so glad they were gone that +they made no effort to pursue them. + + + + +IX + +THE FLIGHT TO THE MOON + + +A powerful conjurer, who had a bear for his mascot, thought he would +like to go to the Moon. He had his hands tied up and a rope fastened +around his knees and neck. Then he sat down at the rear of his hut +with his back to the lamps and had the light extinguished. + +He called for his mascot, and the bear at once appeared and he mounted +its back. Up it carried him, above the village, above the mountains, +up and up till they reached the Moon. To his surprise, the Moon was a +_house_ which was covered with beautiful white deerskins. Now white +deer are strange and sacred and are hatched from long white eggs +buried deep in the soil. There is mystery and magic in white deer, +white buffalo, and in all albino animals. The Man in the Moon dried +these white deerskins and fastened them over his house, which, as I +said, is the Moon itself. + +On each side of the door to the house was the upper part of an +enormous walrus. The beasts were alive, and they threatened to tear +the visitor in pieces. It was very dangerous to try to pass the fierce +animals, but the conjurer told his mascot to growl as loud as it +could, and that startled the walruses for an instant, and in that +instant the man slipped in. + +It must be chilly in the Moon, for the house had a passageway to keep +out the cold, just as the Eskimo houses have. In this passageway was a +red-and-white spotted dog, the only dog which the Man in the Moon +keeps. The man went on past this dog and into the inner room. There at +the left he saw a door into another building in which sat a beautiful +woman with a lamp before her. As soon as she saw the stranger she blew +on her fire and made it flash up, and she hid behind the blaze; but he +had seen enough so that he knew she was the Sun. + +The Man in the Moon rose from his seat on the ledge and came over to +shake hands with the visitor and welcome him. Behind the lamps there +was a great heap of venison and seal meat, but the Man in the Moon did +not offer his guest any of it, which is not the way the Eskimo and +Indians treat their guests. The Man in the Moon seemed to have a +different idea of hospitality, for he immediately said: + +"My wife, Ulul, will soon be here and we will have a dance. Mind you +don't laugh, or she will slice you in two with her knife and feed you +to my ermine which is in yon little house outside." + +Before long a woman entered carrying an oblong chopping-bowl in which +lay her chopping-knife. She set it down and stooped forward, turning +the bowl as if it were a whirligig. Then she commenced dancing; and +when she turned her back toward the stranger he saw that she was +hollow. She had no back, backbone, or insides, but only lungs and +heart. + +Her husband presently joined in the dance, and their attitudes and +grimaces were so ludicrous that the stranger could scarcely keep from +laughing. He did not wish to be impolite, so he kept turning his face +aside and pretending to cough. Fortunately for him, just as he thought +he would surely explode with laughter, he recalled the warning the man +had given him and rushed out of the house. The Man guessed what was +the matter with him, and called out: + +"Better call your white bear mascot!" + +He did so, and escaped unhurt. + +However, he went into the house another day and succeeded in keeping +his face straight, so when their performance was ended the Man in the +Moon was very friendly to him and showed him all around the house and +let him look into a small building near the entrance. + +In this building there were large herds of deer which seemed to be +roaming over vast plains. The Man in the Moon said, "You may choose +one of these for your own," and as soon as he did so the animal fell +through a hole and alighted on the earth right by the conjurer's hut. + +In another building there were many seals swimming in an ocean, and he +was allowed to choose one of these, which also fell down to his hut. + +"Now you have seen all I can show you, and you may go home," said the +Moon Man. So the conjurer called his mascot and rode down through the +air to his hut. + +There his body had lain motionless while his spirit was away, but now +it revived. The cords with which his hands and knees had been bound +dropped off, though they had been tied in hard knots. The conjurer +felt quite exhausted from his trip, but when the lamps were lighted he +told his eager neighbors all that he had seen during his flight to the +Moon. + + + + +X + +WHAT THE MAN IN THE MOON DID + + +Long ago there was a poor little orphan boy who had no home and no one +to protect him. All the inhabitants of the village neglected and +abused him. He was not allowed to sleep in any of the huts, but one +family permitted him to lie outside in the cold passage among the dogs +who were his pillows and his quilt. They gave him no good meat, but +flung him bits of tough walrus hide such as they gave to the dogs, and +he was obliged to gnaw it as the dogs did, for he had no knife. + +The only one who took pity on him was a young girl, and she gave him a +small piece of iron for a knife. "You must keep it hidden, or the men +will take it from you," she said. + +He did not grow at all because he had so little food. He remained poor +little Quadjaq, and led a miserable life. He did not dare even to join +in the play of the boys, for they called him a "poor little shriveled +bag of bones," and were always imposing upon him on account of his +weakness. + +When the people gathered in the singing house he used to lie in the +passage and peep over the threshold. Now and then a man would take him +by the nose and lift him into the house and make him carry out a jar +of water. It was so large and heavy that he had to take hold of it +with both hands and his teeth. Because he was so often lifted by his +nose, it grew very large, but he remained small and weak. + +At last the Man in the Moon, who protects all the Eskimo orphans, +noticed how the men ill-treated Quadjaq, and came down to help him. He +harnessed his dappled dog to his sledge and drove down. When he was +near the hut he stopped the dog and called, "Quadjaq, come out." + +The boy thought it was one of the men who wanted to plague him, and he +said, "I will not come out. Go away." + +"Come out, Quadjaq," said the Man from the Moon, and his voice sounded +softer than the voices of the men. But still the boy hesitated, and +said, "You will cuff me." + +"No, I will not hurt you. Come out," said the Moon Man. + +[Illustration: HE LIFTED THE BOWLDER AS IF IT HAD BEEN A PEBBLE] + +Then Quadjaq came slowly out, but when he saw who it was he was even +more frightened than if it had been one of the men standing there. The +Moon Man took him to a place where there were many large boulders and +made him lie across one as if he were to be paddled. Quadjaq was +scared but he did not dare disobey. + +The Man from the Moon took a long, thin ray of moonlight and whipped +the boy softly with it. + +"Do you feel stronger?" he asked. + +"Yes, I feel a little stronger," said the lad. + +"Then lift yon boulder," said the Man. + +But Quadjaq was not able to lift it, so he was whipped again. + +"Do you feel stronger now?" asked the Man. + +"Yes, I feel stronger," said Quadjaq. + +"Then lift the boulder." + +But again he was not able to lift the stone more than a foot from the +ground, and he had to be whipped again. After the third time he was so +strong that he lifted the boulder as if it had been a pebble. + +"That will do now," said the Man from the Moon. "Rays of light even +from the Moon give you strength. To-morrow morning I shall send three +bears. Then you may show what power you have." + +The Man then got into his sledge and went back to his place in the +Moon. + +Every time a moonbeam had hit Quadjaq he had felt himself growing. His +feet began first and became enormously large, and when the Man left +him, he found himself a good-sized man. + +In the morning he waited for the bears, and three bears did really +come, growling and looking so fierce that the men of the village ran +into their huts and shut the doors. But Quadjaq put on his boots and +ran down to the ice where the bears were. The men peering out through +the window holes said, "Can that be Quadjaq? The bears will soon eat +the foolish fellow." + +But he seized the first one by its hind legs and smashed its head on +an iceberg near which it was standing. The next one fared no better. +But the third one he took in his arms and carried it up to the village +and let it eat some of his persecutors. + +"That is for abusing me!" he cried. "That is for ill-treating me!" + +Those that he did not kill ran away never to return. Only a few who +had been kind to him when he was a poor skinny boy were spared. Among +them, of course, was the girl who had given him the knife, and she +became his wife. + + + + +XI + +THE GUEST + + +An old hag lived in a house with her grandson. She was a very bad +woman who thought of nothing but playing mischief. She was a witch and +tried to harm everybody with witchcraft. + +One time a stranger came to visit some friends who lived in a house +near the old woman. The visitor was a fine hunter and went out with +his host every morning and they brought home a great deal of game. It +made the old woman envious to see her neighbor have so much to eat, +while she had little, and she determined to kill the visitor. + +She made a soup of wolf's and man's brains, which was the most +poisonous food she could think of. Then she sent her grandson to +invite the stranger to eat supper at her house. + +"Tell him that I desire to be polite to the guest of my neighbor, but +be sure you do not tell him what I have cooked." + +The boy went to the neighboring hut and said, "Stranger, my +grandmother invites you to come to her hut and have a good feast on a +supper that she has cooked. She told me not to say that it is a wolf's +and a man's brains, and I do not say it." + +The man thought a moment, and then replied, "Tell your grandam that I +will come." + +He went to the hut where the old woman pretended to be very glad to +see him. They sat down at the table and while she was placing a large +dish of soup before him, he put a bowl on the floor between his feet. +He excused himself for putting his hand before his mouth because his +front teeth were gone, and every time he poured the spoonful into the +bowl. + +When he had finished he said, "It is the custom in my tribe to bring +your hostess a bit of some delicious food to show that you appreciate +her hospitality. Here is a bowl of rare food which I give to you, but +it will not be good unless you eat it at once." + +He gave the soup to the old witch, and the moment she tasted the broth +she herself had prepared she fell down dead. + + + + +XII + +THE ORIGIN OF THE NARWHAL + + +A long, long time ago a widow lived with her young son and daughter in +a small hut. They had a hard time to get enough to eat. But the boy +was anxious to do all he could, and while he was still quite small he +made a bow and arrows of walrus tusks which he found under the snow. +With these weapons he shot birds for their food. + +He had no snow goggles and one day when the sun shone bright and he +was hunting, he became utterly blind. He had a hard time finding his +way back to the hut and when he got there without any game, his mother +was so disappointed that instead of pitying him for his blindness she +became angry with him. + +From that time she ill-treated him, never giving him enough to eat. He +was a growing boy and needed a great deal of food, and she thought he +wanted more than his share, so she gave him less, and would not allow +her daughter to give him anything. So the boy lived on, half +starving, and was very unhappy. + +One day a polar bear came to the hut and thrust his head right through +the window. They were all much frightened, and the mother gave the boy +his bow and arrows and told him to kill the animal. + +"But I cannot see the window and I shall miss the bear. Then it will +be furious and will eat us," he said. + +"Quick, brother! I will level the bow," said his sister. + +So he shot and killed the bear, and the mother and sister went out and +skinned it and buried the meat in the snow. + +"Don't you dare to tell your brother that he killed the bear," said +the mother. "We must make this meat last all winter." + +When they went back into the hut she said to her son, "You missed the +bear. He ran away as soon as he saw you take your bow and arrow. We +have been following him a long way into the woods." + +The sister did not dare to tell her brother. She and her mother lived +on the meat for a long time while the boy was nearly starving. But +sometimes when the mother was away, the girl gave him meat, for she +loved her brother dearly and used to weep because she knew he was +hungry. + +One day a loon flew over the hut, and, seeing the poor blind boy at +the door, resolved to restore his eyesight. The bird perched on the +roof and kept calling, "_Quee moo! Quee moo!_" which sounded to the +lad like "Come here! Come here!" + +He went out and followed the bird to the water. There the loon took +the boy on its back and dived with him to the bottom. The loon is a +great diver and can stay for a long time under water, but it knew the +boy could not. So it came to the surface soon and asked, "Can you see +anything?" + +"No, I cannot see anything as yet," answered the boy. + +They dove again and remained a longer time. Again when they came up +the loon asked, "Can you see now?" + +"I can see a dim shimmer," replied the boy. + +"Take a long, long breath and hold it while we go down," said the +loon. "When you can hold it no more, let it come out very gradually. +As soon as the bubbles of air begin to rise I will know that you must +come to the surface and will bring you." + +The third time they remained a long while under water, and when they +rose to the surface the boy could see as well as ever. He thanked the +loon very heartily, and it said to him: + +"Go to your home now; but promise me never again to shoot a bird." + +He gladly promised, and then ran away to his hut. There he found the +skin of the bear he had shot hanging up to dry. He was so angry that +he tore it down and, entering the hut, demanded of his mother, "Where +did you get the bearskin that is hanging outside the house?" + +His mother perceived that he had recovered his sight and that he +suspected the truth about the bear. She was frightened at his anger +and sought to pacify him. + +"Come here," she said, "and I will give you the best I have. But I +have no one to support me and am very poor. Come here and eat this. It +is very good." + +The boy did not go near. Again he asked, "Where did you get the +bearskin that I saw hanging outside the door?" + +She was afraid to tell him the truth, so she said, "A boat came here +with many men in it and they gave me the skin." + +The boy did not believe her story. He was sure that it was the skin +of the bear he had shot. But he said nothing more. His mother was +anxious to make peace with him, and offered him food and clothing, +which he refused to take. + +He went to the other Inuit who lived in the same village and made a +spear and a harpoon of the same pattern as they used. Then he watched +them throw the harpoons, and in a short time he became an expert +hunter and could catch many white whales. + +But he could not forget his anger at his mother. He said to his +sister, "I will not come home while our mother lives in the house. She +abused me while I was blind and helpless, and she mistreated you for +pitying me. We will not kill her, but we will get rid of her and then +live together. Will you do what I have planned?" + +She agreed. Then he went to hunt white whales. As he had no kayak he +stood on shore, winding the end of the harpoon string around his body, +and taking a firm footing so he could hold the whale until it quieted +down and died. Sometimes his sister went along to help him hold the +line. + +One day his mother went to the beach, and he tied the string around +her body and told her to take a firm footing. She was a trifle nervous +for she had never done the thing before, and she said, "Harpoon a +small dolphin, else I may not be able to hold it, if it is large +enough to make a strong pull." + +After a short time a young animal came up to breathe, and she cried, +"Kill that one. I can hold it." + +"No, that one is too large," he said. + +Again a small dolphin came near, and the mother shouted, "Spear that." +But he said, "No, it is too large and strong." + +At last a huge animal arose quite near, and immediately he threw his +harpoon, taking care to wound but not to kill it, and at the same time +pushing his mother into the water. + +"That is because you abused me," he cried, as the white whale dragged +her into the sea. + +Whenever she came to the surface to breathe she cried "_Louk! Louk!_" +and gradually she became transformed into a narwhal. + + + + +XIII + +WHAT THE ESKIMO BELIEVES + +HOW MEN WERE CREATED + + +The first human beings who appeared on the Diomede Islands were a man +and a woman who came down from the sky. These two lived on the island +for a long time, but had no children. + +At last the man took some ivory from a walrus and carved out five +images from it. Then he took some wood and carved five more images, +and set all of them aside. The next morning the ten images had turned +into people. Those from the ivory dolls were men, hardy and brave; +those from the wood were women, soft and timid. + +From these ten people came the inhabitants of the islands. + + +THE FLOOD + +In the first days that people can remember there was a flood which +covered all the earth except one very high peak in the middle. The +water rose up from the sea and covered all the land except the top of +this mountain, and the only animals that were not drowned were a few +that went up this mountain. A few people escaped by going into their +boats and living on the fish they caught until the water subsided. + +After the waters lowered, these people went to live upon the +mountains, and when the land was dry they came down to the coast. The +animals also came down and eventually the earth was refilled with +animals and people. + +It was during the flood that the waves and currents of water cut the +land into hollows and ridges. Then the water ran back into the sea +leaving the mountains and valleys as they are today. All the Eskimo +along the northern part of North America have heard their old people +tell of the flood. + + * * * * * + +There are reindeer which came from the sky and which have teeth like +dogs. They were once common and anyone could see them, but now only +the priests can see them. They live on the plains, and have a large +hole through the body back of the shoulders. If the people, who can +see them, mistake them for common reindeer and shoot at them, the +arrow falls harmless, for no ordinary weapon can kill them. + +The Aurora Borealis is a group of boys playing football. Sometimes +they use the skull of a walrus for the ball. The swaying movement of +the lights shows that the players are struggling with each other and +tugging back and forth. If the Aurora fades away and you utter a low +whistle, the boys will come back as if answering to applause. + +The Milky Way is the snow that fell from the Raven's snowshoes when he +walked across the sky, during one of his journeys while he was +creating the inhabitants of earth. + + * * * * * + +From Puget Sound at the northern border of the United States all along +the coast to Bering Strait, both Indians and Eskimo believe that the +eagle, the raven, the goose, and perhaps any bird, can push up its +beak making it the visor of a cap and thus become a man, and that by +pulling it down he can become a bird again. + + + + +XIV + +THE FIRST MAN + + +In the time before there were any people on earth, a large pea-vine +was growing on the beach, and in the pod of this pea the first man lay +coiled up for four days. On the fifth day he stretched out his feet +and that bursted the pod. He fell to the ground, where he stood up, a +full-grown man. + +He had never seen anything that looked like him, and he did not know +what to make of himself. He looked around, and then at himself; then +he moved his arms and hands and was surprised that he could do it. He +moved his neck and his legs, and examined himself curiously. + +Looking back, he saw the pod from which he had fallen still hanging to +the vine, with a hole at the lower end out of which he had dropped. He +went up and looked in through the hole to see if there were any more +like him in the pod. Then he looked about him again, and saw that he +was getting farther away from the place where he started, and that +the ground seemed very soft and moved up and down under his feet. + +After a while he had an unpleasant feeling in his stomach, and stooped +down to take water in his mouth from a small pool at his feet. The +water ran down into his stomach and he felt better. When he looked up +again, he saw a big dark object coming through the air with a waving +motion. It came on until it was just in front of him when it stopped +and, standing on the ground, looked at him. + +This was a Raven, and as soon as it stopped it raised one of its +wings, pushed up its beak like a mask, to the top of its head, and +changed at once into a man. Before he raised his mask, the Raven had +stared at the Man and now he stared more than ever, moving about from +side to side to obtain a better view. At last he said: + +"What are you? Where did you come from? I have never seen anything +like you." + +He looked again and said, "You are so much like me in shape that you +surprise me." + +Presently he said, "Walk away a few steps so that I may see you more +clearly. I am astonished at you! I have never before seen anything +like you. Where did you come from?" + +"I came from the pea-pod," said Man pointing to the plant from which +he came. + +"Ah!" exclaimed Raven, "I made that vine, but did not know that +anything like you would ever come out of it. Come with me to the high +ground over there. This ground I made later and it is still soft and +thin, but it is harder and thicker over there." They came to the +higher ground which was firm under their feet. + +"Have you eaten anything?" Raven asked Man. + +"I took some soft stuff into me at one of the pools," replied Man. + +"Ah! you drank water," said Raven. "Now wait for me here." + +He drew down the mask over his face, changing again into a bird, and +flew far up into the sky where he disappeared. Man waited where he had +been left until the fourth day, when Raven returned, bringing four +berries. Pushing up his mask, Raven became a man again and held out +two salmonberries and two heathberries. + +"Here is what I made for you to eat. I wish them to be plentiful over +the earth. Now eat them." + +Man took the berries and placed them in his mouth one after the other, +and they satisfied his hunger which had made him feel uncomfortable. +Raven then led Man to a small creek near by and left him till he went +to the edge of the water and molded two pieces of clay into the form +of a pair of mountain sheep. He held them in his hand till they were +dry and then called Man to show him what he had done. + +"Those are very pretty," said Man. + +"Close your eyes for a little while," said Raven. + +As soon as Man's eyes were closed Raven drew down his mask and waved +his wings four times over the images, when they came to life and +bounded away as full-grown mountain sheep. + +Raven then raised his mask and said, "Look! Look quick!" When Man saw +the sheep moving away full of life he cried out with pleasure. Seeing +how pleased he was, Raven said, "If these animals are numerous, +perhaps people will wish very much to get them." + +"I think they will," said Man. + +"Well, it will be better for them to have their home in the high +cliffs," said Raven, "and there only shall they be found, so that +everyone cannot kill them." + +Then Raven made two animals of clay and gave them life when they were +dry only in spots; and they remained brown and white, and were the +tame reindeer with mottled coats. + +"Those are very handsome," exclaimed Man, admiring them. + +"Yes, but there will not be many of these," said Raven. + +Then he made a pair of wild reindeer and let them get dry only on +their bellies before giving them life; and to this day the belly of +the wild reindeer is the only white part about it. + +"These animals will be very common and people will kill many of them," +said Raven. + + + + +XV + +THE FIRST WOMAN + + +"You will be very lonely by yourself," said Raven to Man one day. "I +will make you a companion." + +He went to a spot some distance from where he had made the animals, +and, looking now and then at Man as an artist looks at his model, he +made an image very much like Man. He took from the creek some fine +water grass and fastened it on the back of the head for hair. After +the image had dried in his hands, he waved his wings over it as he had +done with all the live things, and it came to life and stood beside +Man, a beautiful young woman. + +"There is a companion for you!" cried Raven. "Now come with me to this +knoll over here." + +In those days there were no mountains far or near, and the sun never +ceased to shine brightly. No rain ever fell and no winds blew. When +they came to the knoll Raven found a patch of long, dry moss and +showed the pair how to make a bed in it, and they slept very warmly. +Raven drew down his mask and slept near by in the form of a bird. +Wakening before the others, Raven went to the creek and made three +pairs of fishes: sticklebacks, graylings, and blackfish. When they +were swimming about in the water, he called to Man, "Come and see what +I have made." + +When Man saw the sticklebacks swimming up the stream with a wriggling +motion, he was so surprised that he raised his hands suddenly and the +fish darted away. + +"Look at these graylings," said Raven; "they will be found in clear +mountain streams, while the sticklebacks are already on their way to +the sea. Both are good for food; so, whether you live beside the water +or in the upland, you may find plenty to eat." + +He looked about and thought there was nothing on the land as lively as +the fish in the water, so he made the shrew-mice, for he said, "They +will skip about and enliven the ground and prevent it from looking +dead and barren, even if they are not good for food." + +He kept on for several days making other animals, more fishes, and a +few ground birds, for as yet there were no trees for birds to alight +in. Every time he made anything he explained to Man what it was and +what it would do. + +After this he flew away to the sky and was gone four days, when he +returned bringing a salmon for Man and his wife. He thought that the +ponds and lakes seemed silent and lonely, so he made insects to fly +over their surfaces, and muskrats and beavers to swim about near their +borders. At that time the mosquito did not bite as it does now, and he +said to Man: + +"I made these flying creatures to enliven the world and make it +cheerful. The skin of this muskrat you are to use for clothing. The +beaver is very cunning and only good hunters can catch it. It will +live in the streams and build strong houses, and you must follow its +example and build a house." + +When a child was born, Raven and Man took it to the creek and rubbed +it with clay, and carried it back to the stopping-place on the knoll. +The next morning the child was running about pulling up grass and +other plants which Raven had caused to grow near by. On the third day +the child became a full-grown man. + +Raven one day went to the creek and made a bear, and gave it life; but +he jumped aside very quickly when the bear stood up and looked +fiercely about. He had thought there ought to be some animal of which +Man would be afraid, and now he was almost afraid of the bear himself. + +"You would better keep away from that animal," he said. "It is very +fierce and will tear you to pieces if you disturb it." + +He made various kinds of seals, and said to Man, "You are to eat these +and to take their skins for clothing. Cut some of the skins into +strips and make snares to catch deer. But you must not snare deer yet; +wait until they are more numerous." + +By and by another child was born, and the Man and Woman rubbed it with +clay as Raven had taught them to do, and the next day the little girl +walked about. On the third day she was a full-grown woman, for in +those days people grew up very fast, so that the earth would be +peopled. + + + + +XVI + +OTHER MEN + + +Raven went back to the pea-vine and there he found that three other +men had just fallen from the pod out of which the first one had +dropped. These men, like the first, were looking about in wonder not +knowing what to make of themselves and the world about them. + +"Come with me," said Raven; and he led them away in an opposite +direction from the one in which he had led the first Man, and brought +them to solid land close to the sea. "Stop here, and I will teach you +what to do and how to live," said he. + +He caused some small trees and bushes to grow on the hillside and in +the hollows, and he took a piece of wood from one of these, and a +cord, and made a bow and showed them how to shoot game for food. Then +he taught them to make a fire with a fire-drill. He made plants, and +gulls, and loons, and other birds such as fly about on the seacoast. + +Then he made three clay images somewhat resembling the men, and waved +his wings over them and brought them to life, and led each one of +these women to one of the men, and then led each pair to a dry bank, +and had three families started on three hilltops. + +"Go down to the shore," he said to the three men and the three women, +"and bring up the logs that the tide has brought in, and I will show +you how to make houses." + +They brought the drift logs, and he showed them how to lay them up for +walls, and how to make a roof of branches covered with earth. Seals +had now become numerous, and he taught them how to capture them, and +what use to make of their skins. He helped them to make arrows and +spears, and nets to capture deer and fish, and other implements of the +chase. He showed them how to make kayaks by stretching green hides +over a framework of ribs, and letting the hides dry. + +"I have not made as many birds and animals for you as I made for First +Man and his wife, but I have made you so many more plants and trees +that it isn't quite fair to him. I must go back and fix up his land a +bit," said Raven. + +So he went over to where First Man and his children were living, and +told them all he had done for the three men who had come out of the +pea-pod, and how well he had them fixed up. + +"I must have you live as well as they do," he said. "Your land looks +rather barren, and you have no houses." + +That night while the people slept he caused birch, spruce, and +cottonwood trees to spring up in the low places, and when the people +awoke in the morning they clapped their hands in delight, for the +birds were singing in the tree-tops and the green leaves with the +sunlight flickering through them made it seem like a fairy land. And +they were delighted with the shade of the trees in which they could +sit and watch the quivering lights and shadows which the fluttering of +the leaves made. + +Then Raven taught these people how to build houses out of the trees +and bushes, and how to make fire with a fire-drill, and to place the +spark of tinder in a bunch of dry grass and wave it about until it +blazed, and then put dry wood upon it. He showed them how to put a +stick through their fish and hold it in the fire, till it was a +thousand times more delicious than when raw. He took willow twigs and +strips of willow bark, and made traps for catching fish; and, best of +all, he taught them to look out for the future, by catching more +salmon than they needed, when salmon were running, and drying them for +use when they could catch none. + +"Now you are pretty well fixed," he said one day; "it will take you +some time to practice on all the things I have taught you; so I will +go back and see how my coast men are coming on." + + + + +XVII + +MAN'S FIRST GRIEF + + +After Raven had gone, Man and his son went down to the sea to try some +of the ways they had been taught. They made rather bad work of it, but +the son caught a seal and held it. They tried to kill it with their +hands, but couldn't do it until, finally, the son struck it a hard +blow on the head with his fist. Then the father took off the skin with +his hands alone, and tore it into strips which they dried. With these +strips they set snares for reindeer. + +When they went to look at the snare next morning, they found the cords +bitten in two; for in those days the reindeer had sharp teeth like +dogs. They stood looking at the ruined snare for a few minutes, and +then the son said: + +"Let us go farther down along the deer trail and dig a pit and set our +snare just at the first edge of the pit, with a heavy stone fastened +in it. Then when the deer puts his head in the snare the stone will +fall down into the pit and drag the deer's head down and hold it." + +Next morning when they went to the woods and down the reindeer trail +they found a deer entangled in the snare. Taking it out, they killed +and skinned it, carrying the skin home for a bed. + +The women cried, "Oh, let us hold some of the flesh in the fire as we +did the fish!" And of course they found it good. + + * * * * * + +One day Man went out alone hunting seal along the seashore. There were +many seals out of the water sunning themselves on the rocks. He crept +up to them cautiously, but just as he thought he had his hands on +them, one after another slipped into the water. Only one was left on +the rocks. Now you will not wonder at what happened, if you remember +that, although Man was full-grown, he was still quite young, for he +had become a man so suddenly. Only one seal was left on the rocks, and +Man was very hungry. He crept up to it more cautiously than before, +but it slipped through his fingers and escaped. + +Then Man stood up and his breast seemed full of a strange feeling, and +water began to run in drops from his eyes and down his face. He put up +his hand and caught some of the drops to look at them and found that +they were really water. Then, without any wish on his part, loud cries +began to break from him, and the tears ran down his face as he went +homeward. + +When his son saw him coming he called to his wife and mother to see +Man coming along making such a strange noise. When he reached them +they were still more surprised to see water running down his face. +After he told them the story of his disappointment about the seals, +they were all stricken with the same ailment and began to wail with +him,--and in this way people first learned to cry. + +A while after this the son killed another seal and they made more +reindeer snares from its hide. When the deer caught this time was +brought home, Man told his people to take a splint bone from its +foreleg and to drill a hole in the large end of it. Into this they put +strands of sinew from the deer and sewed skins to keep their bodies +warm when winter came, for Raven had told them to do this; and the +fresh skins shaped themselves to their bodies and dried on them. + +Man then showed his son how to make bows and arrows and to tip the +arrows with points of horn for killing deer. With these the son shot +his first deer, which was easier than snaring them. After he had cut +up this deer, he placed its fat upon a bush and then fell asleep. When +he awoke he was very angry to find that the mosquitoes had eaten all +of it. Until this time mosquitoes had never bitten people; but Man +scolded them for what they had done, and said: "Never eat our meat +again; eat men," and since that day mosquitoes have always bitten +people. + +Where First Man lived there had now grown a large village, for the +people did everything as Raven had directed, and as soon as a child +was born it was rubbed with clay and thus grew to its full stature in +three days. + + + + +XVIII + +UP TO THE TOP OF THE SKY, AND DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA + + +One day Raven came back and, sitting beside Man, talked of many things +as if they were brothers. After a little Man said, "I understand that +you have made a land in the sky." + +"Yes, I have a fine land there," answered Raven. "I made that land +with all its people and animals, before I made this one." + +"I wish you would take me to see it," said Man. + +"Very well, I will do so," replied Raven. + +They started toward the sky, where they arrived in a short time, and +Man found himself in a beautiful country with a climate much better +than that on earth; but the people who lived there were very small. +When they stood beside Man, their heads reached only to his hips. As +they walked along, Man looked about and saw many animals that were +strange to him, and noticed that the country was much finer than the +one he had left. + +The people living there wore handsome fur garments nicely made and +embroidered with ornamental patterns such as people on earth now wear. +Man got the patterns, and when he came back to earth he showed his +people how to make the handsome garments; and the patterns have been +retained ever since. + +After a time they came to a large house and went in. A very old man +came from the place of honor opposite the door at the head of the room +to welcome them. + +"This is the first man I made in the sky land," said Raven, explaining +why the man seemed so old. + +The old man called to his people: "We have here a guest from the lower +land, who is a friend of mine. Bring food to refresh him after his +travels." + +They brought boiled food of a more delicious kind than Man had ever +tasted. + +"That is the flesh of the spotted reindeer and the sheep that live in +these mountains," said Raven. "When you have finished your meal we +will go on to see other things that I have made. But you must not +attempt to drink from any of the lakes we may pass, for in them are +animals which would seize and kill anyone from the lower land." + +On the way they came to a dry lake bed in which tall grass was growing +very thickly, and lying on the very tips of the grass was a large +animal, yet the grass did not bend with the weight. It was a +strange-looking animal with a long head and six legs, the two hind +ones unusually large; the forelegs short; and a small pair under its +belly. The hair around the feet was very long, but all over the body +there was fine, thick hair. From the back of the head grew short, +thick horns which extended forward and curved back at the tips. The +animal had small eyes, and was of darkish color, almost black. + +"These animals can sink right into the ground and disappear," said +Raven. "When the people want to kill one of them, they have to put a +log under it so it cannot sink. It takes many people to kill one, for +when the animal falls on the lower log, other logs must be placed +above it and held down, while two men take large clubs and beat it +between the eyes till it is dead." + +Next they came to a round hole in the sky with a ring of short grass +growing around the border and glowing like fire. + +"This is a star called the Moon-dog," said Raven. + +"The tops of the grass blades have been cut away or have burned off," +said Man. + +"Yes, my mother took some, and I took the rest to make the first fire +down on earth," said Raven. "I have tried to make some of this same +kind of grass on earth, but it will not grow there. + +"Now close your eyes and get upon my wings and I will take you to +another place," said Raven. + +Man did as he was told, and they dropped through the flame-bordered +star hole and floated down and down for a long time. They came to +something that seemed denser than the air, and caused them to go more +slowly, until they finally stopped. + +"We are now standing on the bottom of the sea," said Raven. "I came +down here to make some new kinds of water animals. Looking through the +water must look like a fog to you, but you must not walk about; you +must lie down, and if you become tired you may turn over upon the +other side." + +Raven then left Man lying on one side, where he rested for a long +time. Finally he awoke feeling very tired, but when he tried to turn +over, he could not. + +"I wish I could turn over," he said to himself; and in a moment he +turned very easily. + +But as he did this, he was horrified to see that his body had become +covered with long, white hairs, and that his fingers had become long, +sharp claws. However, he was so drowsy that he soon fell asleep again. +After a long time he awoke and again felt tired from lying so long in +one position. He turned as before and fell asleep again for the third +time. When he awoke the fourth time Raven stood beside him. + +"I have changed you into a white bear," said Raven. "How do you like +it?" + +Man tried to answer but could not make a sound. Raven waved his magic +wing over him and then he said: + +"I do not wish to be a bear, for then I would have to live on the sea +while my son would live on the shore, and I would be unhappy." + +Raven made one stroke of his wings and the bearskin fell from Man and +lay on one side, while he sat up in his human form, thankful that he +did not have to spend the rest of his life as a polar bear. + +Then Raven pulled a quill from his tail and put it into the empty +bearskin for a backbone, and after he had waved his wings over it a +white bear arose and walked slowly away; and ever since that time +white bears have been found on the frozen seas. + +"How many times did you turn over?" Raven asked. + +"Four times," answered Man. + +"That was four years. You slept there just four years," said Raven. +"Come now and I will show you some of the animals I made while you +slept. + +"Here is one like the shrew-mouse of the land; but this one always +lives on the ice of the sea, and whenever it sees a man it darts at +him, entering the toe of his boot and crawling all over him. If the +man keeps perfectly quiet, it will leave him unharmed. But if he is a +coward, and lifts so much as a finger to brush it away, it instantly +burrows into his flesh going directly to his heart and causing death. + +"Here is another, a large leather-skinned animal with four long, +wide-spreading arms. This is a fierce animal, living in the sea, which +wraps its arms around a man or a kayak and pulls them into the water. +If the man tries to escape by getting out of his kayak upon the ice +and running away, it will dart underneath and break the ice under his +feet. Or if he gets on the shore and runs, it burrows through the +earth as easily as it swims through the water. No one can escape if +once it pursues him." + +"Why did you make such an animal?" asked Man. + +"This is like man's own misdeeds, from which he cannot escape," +replied Raven. + +Raven then showed Man several other animals: one somewhat like an +alligator, another with a long scaly tail with which it could kill a +man at one stroke; some walruses, and otter, and many kinds of fish. +They finally came to a place where the shore rose before them, and the +ripples on the surface of the water could be seen. + +"Close your eyes and hold fast to me," said Raven. + +As soon as he had done this, Man found himself standing on the shore +near his home, and was very much astonished to see a large village +where he had left only a few huts. His wife had become an old woman +and his son was an old man. The people saw him and welcomed him back, +making him their Headman, and giving him the place of honor in their +gatherings. He told them all he had seen and heard since he left them, +and taught the young men many things about the sea animals. + + + + +XIX + +TAKING AWAY THE SUN + + +People were becoming such good hunters that they killed a great many +animals, more than Raven was willing to have killed, lest the animals +become too few for the large number of people now on earth. For this +reason, Raven took a grass basket and tied a long line to it and, +going down to earth, caught ten reindeer which he took up to the +skyland. The next night he let the reindeer down near one of the +villages and told them to run fast and break down the first house they +came to, and destroy the people in it. + +The reindeer did so and ate up the people with their sharp, wolf-like +teeth; then they returned to the sky. The next night they came down +again and destroyed another house and ate up the people. + +"What shall we do?" cried the people to one another. "They will +destroy all of us if they keep on coming." + +"I know what I am going to do," said the man who lived in the third +house. "They will come to my house the next time, and I'm going to +cover it with deer fat and stick sour berries all over in the fat." + +When the reindeer came the third night, they got their teeth full of +fat and sour berries, and ran off shaking their heads so hard that +their long, sharp teeth fell out. Afterward small teeth, such as +reindeer now have, came in their places, and these animals became +harmless. + +But Raven had not accomplished his purpose, for only two families had +been destroyed, and there were still too many inhabitants left. He +said, "If something isn't done to stop people from killing so many +animals, they will keep on until they have killed everything I have +made. I believe I will take away the sun from them, so that they will +be in the dark and will die." + +He took Man up to the sky with him, so that he would be safe from the +trouble to come. Then he said, "You remain here while I go and take +away the sun." + +He went away and took the sun, and put it into his skin bag, and +carried it far off to a part of the skyland where his parents lived, +thus making it very dark on earth. There in his father's village he +stayed for a long time, keeping the sun carefully hidden in the bag. + +The people on earth were terribly distressed when it remained dark so +long. They prayed to Raven and offered him rich presents of food and +furs, but he wouldn't bring back the sun. They kept on begging him, +saying at last: "We have crept around in the darkness finding our +storehouses and getting the meat, till now it is almost gone, and we +are likely to starve. Let us have light for a little time at least, so +we may get more food." + +So Raven yielded a trifle and held up the sun in one hand _for two +days_ while all the people went hunting; then he put it back and +darkness returned. Another long time would pass and the people would +make many offerings before he would let them have light again. This +was repeated many times.[2] + +In this same sky village with Raven and his parents lived an older +brother of Raven who thought the punishment of men was being carried +too far. This brother felt sorry for the people on earth, but he +didn't say a word about it to anyone. He thought out a plan which he +kept to himself. + +After a time he pretended to die, and was put away in a grave box in +the customary manner. As soon as the mourners left his grave, he arose +and went out a short distance from the village, where he hid his raven +mask and coat in a tree. Then he turned himself into a young boy and +went back to his father's house, where he skipped about in a lively +manner, and amused the parents so much that the father at last became +very fond of him. + +When he had gotten them in the habit of indulging him, he began to cry +for the sun as a plaything. He kept this up until the father went to +the bag and took out the sun and let him have it for a while, being +careful to see that it went back into the bag when anyone was coming, +or when the boy was going out of doors. + +One day the boy played with it for a time in the house, all the while +watching his chance, and when no one was looking, he ran outside, fled +to the tree where he put on his raven coat and mask and flew away with +it. When he was far up in the sky, he heard his father's voice, +sounding faint and far below, saying: + +"Don't hide the sun. If you will not bring it back, let it out of the +bag sometimes. Don't keep us always in the dark, if you mean to keep +the sun for yourself." + +The father went into the house, and the Raven boy flew on to the place +where the sun belonged, and put the bag down. It was early dawn and he +saw the Milky Way leading far onward, and followed it to a hole +surrounded by short grass which glowed with light. He plucked some of +the grass and, standing close beside the edge of the earth just before +sunrise time, he stuck it into the sky. It has stayed there ever since +as the beautiful Morning Star. + +Then he went back and tore off the skin covering and put the sun in +its place. Remembering that his father had called to him not to keep +it always dark, but to make it partly dark and partly light, he caused +the sky to revolve so that it moved around the earth carrying the sun +and stars with it, and making day and night. + +Going down to earth he came to where the first people lived, and said +to them, "Raven, my uncle, was angry because you killed more animals +than you needed, and he took away the sun; but I have put it back and +it will never be changed again." + +The people welcomed him warmly when they knew what he had done for +them. As he looked around upon them he recognized the Headman of the +sky-dwarfs. + +"Why, what are you doing down here?" he asked. + +"I and some of my people thought we would like a change, and so we +came down to live on earth for a while," replied the dwarf. + +"What has become of Man?" + +"Who is Man? I never heard of him," said Raven boy. + +"He was the first person ever seen on earth. He was our Headman until +he went away with Raven," said the people. + +"I will go into the skyland and find him," said Raven boy. He tried to +fly, but could get up only a little way. He tried several times, +getting only a short distance above the ground. When he found that he +could not get back to the sky, he wandered off and finally came to +where there were living the children of the three men who last dropped +from the pea-vine. There he took a wife and lived for a long time +having many children, all of whom were Raven people like himself and +could fly over the earth. But they gradually lost their magical +powers, and were no longer able to turn themselves into men by pushing +up their beaks. They became just ordinary ravens like those we see now +on the tundras or marshy plains. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[2] This story is probably the Eskimo's explanation of the very long +nights in the far north during part of the year. + + + + +XX + +THE DWARF PEOPLE + + +Very long ago, before the white people ever went into the land of the +Eskimo, there was a large village at Pik-mik-tal-ik. One winter day +the people living there were surprised to see a small man and a small +woman with a child coming down the river on the ice. The man was so +little that he wore a coat made of a single white fox skin. The +woman's coat was made from the skins of two white hares; while two +muskrat skins clothed the child. + +The father and mother were about two cubits high, and the boy not over +the length of one's forearm. Though he was so small, the man was +dragging a sled much larger than those used by the villagers, and he +had on it a heavy load of various articles. He seemed surprisingly +strong, and when they came to the shore below the village, he easily +drew the sled up the steep bank, and taking it by the rear end raised +it on the sled frame, a feat which would have required the strength of +several of the villagers. + +The couple entered one of the houses and were made welcome. This small +family remained in the village for some time, the man taking his place +among the other men and seeming entirely at home and friendly. He was +very fond of his little son; but one day when the latter was playing +outside the house, he was bitten so badly by a savage dog that he +died. In his anger the father caught the dog up by the tail and struck +it against a post so violently that the dog fell in halves. + +In his great sorrow, the father made a handsome, carved grave-box for +his son and placed the child with his toys in it. Then he went into +his house and for four days he did no work and would see no one. At +the end of that time he took his sled, and with his wife returned up +the river on their old trail, while the villagers sorrowfully watched +them go, for they had come to like the pair very much. + +Before this time the villagers had always made the body of their sleds +from long strips of wood running lengthwise; but after they had seen +the dwarf's sled with many crosspieces, they adopted that model. + +Before this time, too, they had always cast their dead out on the +tundra to be devoured by the dogs and wild beasts; but after they had +seen the dwarf people bury their son in a grave-box with toys placed +about him, they buried their dead in that way and observed four days +of mourning as had been done by the dwarf; for they liked him and his +gentle manners. + +And ever since that time the hunters coming home at dusk and looking +toward the darkening tundra, sometimes see dwarf people who carry bows +and arrows, but who disappear into the ground if one tries to approach +them. They are harmless people, never attempting to do anyone an +injury. No one has ever spoken to these dwarfs since the time they +left the village; but deer hunters have often seen their tracks near +the foot of the mountains. + + + + +XXI + +WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LONE WOMAN OF ST. MICHAEL + + +The women south of St. Michael are poor seamstresses but fine dancers, +while those to the north are expert needlewomen but poor dancers; and +this is the way the Eskimo explain it. + +Very long ago there were many men living in the northland, but there +was no woman among them. Far away in the southland a single woman was +known to live. At last the shrewdest young man of the northland +started and traveled southward till he came to the woman's house, +where he stopped and became her husband. + +He was very proud of himself for getting ahead of the other young men +in the north. One day he sat in the house thinking of his former home, +and he said, "Ah, I have a wife, while even the son of the Headman has +none." + +Meanwhile, the Headman's son had also set out to journey toward the +south, and while the husband was talking thus to himself, the son +stood in the entrance to the house and heard what he said. It angered +the son to hear the husband gloating over him. He hid in the passage +and waited until the people inside were asleep, when he crept into the +house and, seizing the woman by the shoulders, began dragging her +away. + +Just as he reached the doorway he was overtaken by the husband who +caught the woman by her feet. The two held on like grim death and +tugged and pulled until it ended in the woman being torn in two. The +thief carried the upper half of the body away, while the husband was +left with the lower portion of his wife. + +Each man set to work to replace the missing parts from carved wood. +After these parts were fitted on they came to life; and thus two women +were made from the halves of one. + +Owing to the clumsiness of her wooden fingers, the woman of the south +was a poor needlewoman, but was a fine dancer. The woman of the north +was very expert in needlework, but her wooden legs made her a poor +dancer. Each of these women gave these traits to her daughters, so +that to the present time the same difference is noted between the +women of the north and those of the south, "thus showing that the +story is true." + + + + +XXII + +WHY THE MOON WAXES AND WANES + + +In a certain village on the Yukon River there once lived four brothers +and a sister. The sister's companion was the youngest boy, of whom she +was very fond. This boy was lazy and could never be made to work. The +other brothers were great hunters and in the fall they hunted at sea, +for they lived near the shore. As soon as the Bladder feast in +December was over, they went to the mountains and hunted reindeer. The +boy never went with them, but remained at home with his sister, and +they amused each other. + +One time, however, she became angry at him, and that night when she +carried food to the other brothers in the kashim or assembly house +where the men slept, she gave none to the youngest brother. When she +went out of the assembly house she saw a ladder[3] leading up into the +sky, with a line hanging down by the side of it. Taking hold of the +line, she ascended the ladder, going up into the sky. As she was going +up, the younger brother came out and, seeing her, at once ran back and +called to his brothers: + +"Our sister is climbing the sky! Our sister is climbing the sky!" + +"Oh, you lazy youngster, why do you tell us that? She is doing no such +thing," said they. + +"Come and see for yourselves! Come, quick!" he cried, very much +excited. + +Sure enough! Up she was going at a rapid rate. + +The boy caught up his sealskin breeches and, being in a hurry, thrust +one leg into them and then drew a deerskin sock on the other foot as +he ran outside. There he saw the girl far away up in the sky and began +at once to go up the ladder toward her; but she floated away, he +following in turn. + +The girl became the sun and the boy became the moon, and ever since +that time he pursues but never overtakes her. At night the sun sinks +in the west, and the moon is seen coming up in the east to go circling +after, but always too late. The moon, being without food, wanes slowly +away from starvation until it is quite lost to sight; then the sun +reaches out and feeds it from the dish in which she carried food to +the kashim. After the moon is fed and gradually brought to the full, +it is permitted to starve again, thus producing the waxing and waning +which we see every month. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[3] Probably the Milky Way. + + + + +XXIII + +CHUNKS OF DAYLIGHT + + +At the northern part of the continent, in the land of the midnight +sun, where in the long summer days the sun at midnight is just +slipping below the northern horizon and immediately is seen coming up +again, and where in the long nights of winter there is scarcely any +daytime at all, it is not strange that the legends of the people often +treat of daylight and especially of darkness. The long nights become +oppressive, and the people have different theories as to the cause of +it, which they weave into legends such as the following. + +In the days when the earth was a child, there was light from the sun +and moon as there is now. Then the sun and moon were taken away and +the people were left for a long time with no light but the shining of +the stars. The shamans, or priests, made their strongest charms to no +purpose, for the darkness of night continued. + +In a village of the lower Yukon there lived an orphan boy who always +sat upon the bench with the humble people, over the entrance way of +the kashim or assembly house. The other people thought he was foolish, +and he was despised and ill-treated by everyone. After the shamans had +tried very hard to bring back the sun and moon and had failed, the boy +began to ridicule them. + +"What fine shamans you must be, not to be able to bring back the +light, when even I can do it," he said mockingly. + +At this the shamans became very angry and beat him and drove him out +of the kashim. The orphan was like any other boy until he put on a +black coat which he had, when he became a raven and remained in that +form until he removed his coat. When the shamans drove him out, he +went to the house of his aunt in the village and told her what he had +said, and how the shamans had beaten him and driven him out of the +kashim. + +"Tell me where the sun and moon have gone, for I am going after them," +said he. + +"They are hidden somewhere, but I don't know where it is," she +replied. + +"I am sure you know where they are, for look what a neatly sewed coat +you wear, and you could not see to do that if you did not know where +the light is." + +After a great deal of persuasion the aunt said: "Well, if you wish to +find the light you must take your snowshoes and go far, far to the +southland, to the place you will know when you get there." + +The boy put on his black coat, took his snowshoes, and at once set off +for the south. For many days he traveled, while the darkness always +remained the same. When he had gone a very long way, he saw far ahead +of him a single ray of light, and that cheered and encouraged him. + +As he hurried on, the light showed again plainer than before and then +vanished; and kept appearing and vanishing at intervals. At last he +came to a large hill, one side of which was in a bright light while +the other was in the blackness of night. Ahead of him and close to the +hill he saw a hut with a man who was shoveling snow from the front of +it. + +The man was tossing the snow high in air, and each time he did this +the light was hidden, thus causing the changes from light to darkness +which the boy had noticed as he approached. Close beside the house he +saw a great blazing ball of fire--the light he had come to find. + +The boy stopped and began to plan how he could secure the light and +the shovel from the man. After a time he walked up to the man and +asked, "Why are you throwing up the snow and hiding the light from +our village?" + +[Illustration: HE WHIPPED ON HIS MAGIC COAT AND BECAME A RAVEN] + +The man stopped his work, looked up and said, "I am only clearing away +the snow from my door. I am not hiding the light. But who are you, and +where do you come from?" + +"It is so dark at our village that I did not like to live there, so I +came here to live with you," said the boy. + +"What? Will you stay all the time?" asked the man in surprise. + +"Yes," replied the boy. + +"That is well; come into the house with me," said the man. + +He dropped his shovel on the ground and, stooping down, led the way +into the underground passage to the house, letting the curtain fall in +front of the door as he passed, for he thought the boy was close +behind him. + +The moment the door flap fell behind the man as he entered, the boy +caught up the ball of light and put it in the turned-up flap of his +fur coat in front. Catching up the shovel in one hand, he ran away to +the north, running until his feet became tired. Then he whipped on his +magic coat and became a raven and flew as fast as his wings would +carry him. Behind he heard the frightful shrieks and cries of the old +man, following fast in pursuit. + +When the old man found that he could not overtake the raven he cried +to him, "Never mind; you may keep the light, but give me my shovel." + +"No; you made our village dark and you cannot have the shovel," called +the raven, and flew faster, leaving the man far in the rear. + +As the raven boy traveled home, he tore out a chunk from the light +ball and threw it away, thus making a day. Then he went on for a long +way in the darkness, and threw out another piece of light, making it +day again. He continued to do this at intervals until he reached the +kashim in his own village, where he dropped the rest of the ball. + +Then he went into the kashim and said, "Now, you worthless shamans, +you see I have brought back the light, and hereafter it will be light +and then dark, making day and night." + +And the shamans could not answer. + + + + +XXIV + +THE RED BEAR + + +On the tundra south of the mouth of the Yukon River an orphan boy once +lived with his aunt. They were all alone with no house within sight; +but the boy had heard that there were people living farther up the +river. One summer day he got into his kayak and rowed up the river +hoping to find other human beings. He traveled on until he came to a +large village where he saw many people moving about. There he landed +and began calling to the people expecting to make friends with them. + +But instead of being friendly, they disliked all strangers and, +running down to the shore, they seized him, broke his kayak to pieces, +tore his clothing off him, and beat him badly. Then they took him up +into the village and kept him there all summer, beating and +ill-treating him very often. In the fall one of the men took pity on +him and made him a kayak, and helped him to escape. He went down the +river and arrived at home after a long absence. + +During the summer other people had built houses near the home of his +aunt and there was a small village instead of the one lone hut. He +walked among the buildings until he found his aunt's house; but when +he entered, he frightened her very much, for at first glance she +thought it was a skeleton, he had been starved and beaten so long. + +When his aunt recognized him and had heard his story, she said, "Oh, +you poor boy! What you must have suffered! I am full of rage at those +cruel villagers. I shall find some way to revenge your wrongs!" + +She sat thinking a while and then said to him, "Bring me a piece of a +small log." + +He brought the piece of wood and she whittled and rubbed it into the +form of an animal with long teeth and long, sharp claws, and painted +it white on the throat and red on the sides. Then they took the image +to the edge of the stream and placed it in the water. + +"Go now," she said to it, "and kill everyone you find in the village +where my boy was beaten." + +The image did not move. + +She took it out of the water and cried over it, letting her tears +fall upon it; and the warm tears brought it to life and made it feel +sorry for her and the boy. She put it back into the water. + +"Now, go and kill the bad people who beat my boy," she said. + +At this the image floated across the creek and crawled up on the other +side, where it began to grow, soon becoming a large red bear. It +turned and looked at the woman till she called out, "Go, and spare no +one." + +The bear went away and came to the village on the big river, the one +to which the boy had gone. There the first one he met was a man going +for water. This one was quickly torn in pieces, and one after another +of the villagers met the same fate; for the bear stayed near the +village until he had destroyed one-half of the people, and the rest +were so terrified that they began moving away. + +Then he swam across the Yukon and went over the tundra to the farther +side of another river, killing everyone he met. For he had become so +bloodthirsty that the least sign of life seemed to fill him with fury +until he had destroyed it. + +From there he turned back, and one day came to the place on the river +where he had first come to life. Seeing the people on the opposite +side he became furious, tearing the ground with his claws and +growling, and starting to cross the river to get at them. When the +villagers saw this, they were much frightened, and ran about saying, +"Here is the old woman's dog! We shall all be killed!" "Tell the old +woman to stop her dog!" They had never seen a bear and they thought it +was a dog she had made. + +The woman went to meet the bear which did not try to hurt her, but was +passing by her to get at the other people when she caught him by the +hair on the back of his neck. + +"Do not hurt these people," she said; "they have been kind to me and +have given me food when I was hungry." + +She led the bear into her house, and still holding on to him, she +talked to him kindly. + +"You have done my bidding well, and I am pleased with you," she said; +"but you must not overdo it. Hereafter you must injure no one unless +he tries to hurt or injure you." + +When she had finished talking, she led him to the door and sent him +away over the tundra. Before she made him there had never been any of +his kind, but since then there have always been red bears. + + + + +XXV + +THE LAST OF THE THUNDERBIRDS + + +In ancient times a great many giant eagles or thunderbirds lived in +the mountains; but in later years they had all disappeared except one +single pair which made their home in the mountain top overlooking the +Yukon near Sabotnisky. The top of this mountain was round and the +eagles had hollowed out a great basin on the summit which they used +for a nest. Around the edge of it was a rocky rim from which they +could see far across the broad river, or could look down upon the +village at the base of the mountain on the water's edge. + +From their perch on this rocky wall these great birds would soar away, +looking like a cloud in the sky, to seize a reindeer from a passing +herd and bring it to their young. Or, again, they would circle out +with a noise like thunder from their shaking wings, and drop down upon +a fisherman in his kayak on the river, carrying man and boat to the +top of the mountain. There the man would be eaten by the young +thunderbirds, and the kayak would lie bleaching among the bones and +other refuse scattered along the border of the nest. Every fall the +young birds would fly away to the northland, while the old ones would +remain by the mountain. + +After many fishermen had been carried away by the birds, there came a +time when only the most daring would venture upon the river. One +summer day a brave young hunter was starting out to look at his fish +traps and he said to his wife, "Don't go outside the house while I am +away, for fear of the birds." + +After he was gone she noticed that the water tub was empty, and took a +bucket to go to the river for water. As she bent over to fill the +vessel a roaring noise like thunder filled the air, and one of the +birds darted down and seized her in its talons. The villagers saw the +bird swoop down, and they wailed aloud in sorrow and terror as they +watched her being carried through the air to the mountain top. + +The hunter came home and the villagers gathered about with many +lamentations. "Oh, pitiful! pitiful! your pretty wife was carried away +by the thunderbirds! Too bad! Too bad! By this time she is torn to +pieces and fed to the young demons!" + +Not one word did the husband utter. Going into his empty house he took +down his bow and his quiver of war arrows and started toward the +mountain. + +"Don't go! Don't go!" cried the villagers; "of what use is it? She is +dead and devoured ere this. You will only add one more to their +victims." + +Not a word did the hunter reply. He strode on and on and they watched +him climbing up and up the mountainside till he was lost to view. At +last he gained the rim of the nest and looked in. The old birds were +away, but the fierce young eagles greeted him with shrill cries and +fiery, flashing eyes. The hunter's heart was full of anger and he +quickly bent his bow, loosing the war arrows one after another till +the last one of the hateful birds lay dead in the nest. + +With heart still burning for revenge, the hunter hid himself beside a +great rock near the nest and waited for the parent birds. They came. +They saw their young lying dead and bloody in the nest, and their +cries of rage echoed from the cliffs on the farther side of the great +river. They soared up into the air looking for the one who had killed +their young. Quickly they saw the brave hunter beside the great stone, +and the mother bird swooped down upon him, her wings sounding like a +gale in a spruce forest. Swiftly fitting an arrow to the string, as +the eagle came down the hunter sent it deep into her throat. With a +hoarse cry she turned and flew away over the hills far to the north. + +The father bird had been circling overhead and came roaring down upon +the hunter, who, at the right moment, crouched close to the ground +behind the stone, and the eagle's sharp claws struck only the hard +rock. As the bird arose, eager to swoop down again, the hunter sprang +from his shelter and drove two heavy war arrows deep under its wing. +Uttering hoarse cries of rage, and spreading his broad wings, the +thunderbird floated away like a cloud in the sky, far into the +northland, and was never seen again. + +Having taken blood vengeance, the hunter went down into the nest where +among ribs of old canoes and other bones he found some fragments of +his wife, which he carried to the water's edge and, building a fire, +made food offerings and libations of water such as would be pleasing +to her ghost. + + + + +XXVI + +RAVEN MAKES AN OCEAN VOYAGE + + +One day Raven was sitting on a cliff near the sea when he saw a large +whale passing close along the shore. + +"I have an idea!" said he. "I'm going to try something new." Then he +called out to the whale, "When you come up again, shut your eyes and +open your mouth wide, and I'll put something in it." + +Then he drew down his mask, put his drill for making fire under his +wing, and flew out over the water. Very soon the whale came up again +and did as he had been told. Raven, seeing the wide open mouth, flew +straight down the whale's throat. The whale closed his mouth, gave a +great gulp, and down he went to the bottom of the sea. + +Raven stood up, pushed up his beak, and looking about, found himself +at the entrance to a fine room, at one end of which burned a lamp. He +went in and was surprised to see a beautiful young woman sitting +there. The place was clean and dry, the roof being supported by the +whale's spine, while its ribs formed the walls. The lamp was supplied +from a tube that extended along the whale's backbone, from which oil +constantly but slowly dripped into the lamp. + +When Raven stepped in, the woman started up in alarm and cried out, +"How came you here? You are the first man who ever came into my +house." + +"I came in through the whale's throat," said Raven as politely as he +knew how, for the woman was young and fair to look upon. Moreover, he +had already guessed that she was the _inua_ or spirit of the whale. "I +should like to stay a while." + +"As you cannot get out at present, it seems that you will have to +stay. Whether you like it, or whether I like it, you appear to be my +guest, so I must prepare food for you." + +She brought food which she served with berries and oil. "These are +berries which I gathered last summer," she said. + +For four days he remained there as the guest of the whale's spirit, +and found it a very pleasant experience; but he continually wondered +what the tube was that ran along the roof of the house. Whenever the +spirit woman left the room she said, "You must on no account touch +that tube," and that only served to make him the more curious. + +On the fifth day, when she left the room, he went to the lamp and +caught a drop of the oil which he licked up with his tongue. It tasted +so sweet that he began to catch other drops as fast as they fell. This +soon became too slow to suit him, for he was hungry, so he reached up +and tore a piece from the side of the tube and ate it. As soon as this +was done a great rush of oil poured into the room and put out the +light, while the room itself began to roll wildly about. + +This continued for four days, and Raven was nearly dead from +exhaustion and the bruises which he received. Then the room became +still and the whale was dead, for Raven had torn off part of one of +the heart vessels. The _inua_ never came back to the room, and the +whale drifted upon the shore. + +Raven now found himself a prisoner and was saying to himself, "Now I +_am_ in a pretty boat! I have enjoyed the trip, but how is one to get +out of a kayak like this?" + +Presently he said, "Hark! What is that I hear? As I live, it is +someone walking on the roof of the house!" + +And he was right, for two men were walking on top of the dead whale +and calling to their village mates to come and help cut it up. Very +soon there were many people at work cutting a hole through the upper +side of the whale's body. + +Raven quickly pulled down his mask, becoming a bird, and crouched +close in the farthest corner. When the hole was large enough, he +watched his chance and while everybody was carrying a load of meat to +the shore, he flew out and alighted on the top of a hill close by +without being noticed. + +"Ah, my good fire-drill; I have forgotten it," he exclaimed, +remembering that he had left it behind. + +He quickly pushed up his beak and removed his raven coat, becoming a +young man again. He started along the shore toward the whale. The +people working on the dead animal saw a small, dark-colored man in a +strangely made deerskin coat coming toward them, and they looked at +him curiously. + +"Ho, you have found a fine, large whale," said he as he drew near. "I +will help you to cut him up." + +He rolled up his sleeves and set to work. Very soon a man cutting on +the inside of the whale's body called out, "Ah, see what I have +found! A fire-drill inside a whale!" + +At once the wily Raven rolled down his sleeves and quit work, saying, +"That is a bad sign, for my daughter has told me that if a fire-drill +is found in a whale and people try to cut up that whale, many of them +will die. I shall run away before the _inua_ of the whale catches me." +And away he ran. + +When he was gone the people looked at one another and said, "Perhaps +he is right; we'd better go too." And away they all ran, each one +trying to rub the oil from his hands as he went. + +From his hiding-place Raven looked on and laughed as he saw the people +running away. Then he went back for his raven coat and when he had put +it on and pulled down his beak he flew to the carcass and began to cut +it up and fly with chunks of the flesh to a cave on the shore. He did +not dare go to it as a man lest the villagers should see him and, +discovering the trick he had played them, should come back for the +meat. As he chuckled over the feast in store for him he said, "Thanks, +Ghost of the whale, both for the boat ride and for the feast." + + + + +XXVII + +THE RED SKELETON + + +In a village on Cape Prince of Wales, very long ago, there was a poor +orphan boy who had no one to take his part and who was treated badly +by everyone, being made to run here and there at the bidding of all +the villagers. + +One snowy night he was told to go out of the kashim to see if the +weather was getting worse. He had no skin boots, and it was so cold +that he did not wish to go, but he was driven out. When he came back +he said, "It has stopped snowing, but it is as cold as ever." + +Just to plague him, the men kept sending him out every little while, +until at last he came in saying: + +"I saw a ball of fire like the moon coming over the hill to the +north." + +The men laughed at him and asked, "Why do you tell us a yarn like +that? Go out again and see if there is not a whale coming over the +hill. You are always seeing things." + +He went out, and came in again quickly, saying in agitation, "The red +thing has come nearer and is close to the house." + +The men laughed, but the boy hid himself. Almost immediately after +this the men in the kashim saw a fiery figure dancing on the gut-skin +covering over the roof hole, and an instant after a human skeleton +came crawling into the room through the passageway, creeping on its +knees and elbows. + +When the skeleton was in the room it made a motion toward the people +which caused them all to fall on their knees and elbows in the same +position as it had. Then, turning about, it crawled out as it had +come, followed by the people, who were forced to go with it. Outside, +the skeleton crept through the snow toward the edge of the village, +followed by all the men, and in a short time every one of them was +dead and the skeleton had vanished. + +Some of the villagers had been absent when the spook came, and when +they returned they found dead people lying all about on the cold +ground. Entering the kashim, they found the orphan boy, who told them +how the people had been killed. + +They followed the tracks of the skeleton through the snow, and were +led up the side of the mountain till they came to an ancient grave, +where the tracks ended. + +It was the grave of the boy's father. + + + + +XXVIII + +THE MARMOT AND THE RAVEN + + +Once when a Raven was flying over some reefs near the shore of the +sea, he was seen by some Sea-birds that were perched on the rocks. +They began to revile him, calling him disagreeable names: "Oh, you +offal eater! Oh, you carrion eater! Oh, you black one!" until the +Raven turned and flew away, crying, "_Gnak, gnak, gnak_! why do they +call me such names?" + +He flew far away across the great water until he came to a mountain on +the other side, where he stopped. Just in front of him he saw a marmot +hole. He said to himself, "If it is a disgrace to eat dead animals I +will eat only live ones. I will become a murderer." + +He stood in front of the hole watching, and very soon the marmot came +home, bringing some food. Marmot said to Raven, "Please stand aside; +you are right in front of my door." + +"It is not my intention to stand aside," said Raven. "They called me a +carrion eater, and I will show that I am not, for I will eat you." + +"If you are going to eat me, you ought to be willing to do me a +favor," replied Marmot. "I have heard that you are a very fine dancer, +and I long to see you dance before I die. If you dance as beautifully +as they say, I shall be willing to die when once I have seen it. If +you will dance I will sing, and then you may eat me." + +This pleased Raven so much that he began to dance and Marmot pretended +to go into ecstasies about it. + +"Oh, Raven, Raven, Raven, how well you dance!" he sang. "Oh, Raven, +Raven, Raven, how well you dance!" + +By and by they stopped to rest and Marmot said, "I am very much +delighted with your dancing. Do shut your eyes and dance your best +just once more, while I sing." + +Raven closed his eyes and hopped clumsily about while Marmot sang, +"Oh, Raven, Raven, Raven, what a graceful dancer! Oh, Raven, Raven, +Raven, what a fool you are!" And with a quick run, Marmot darted +between Raven's legs and was safe in his hole. + +There he turned, putting out the tip of his nose and laughing +mockingly as he said, "_Chi-kik-kik, chi-kik-kik, chi-kik-kik_! You +are the greatest fool I ever met. What a ridiculous figure you made +while dancing; I could scarcely sing for laughing. Look at me, and see +how fat I am. Don't you wish you could eat me?" + +And he tormented Raven till the latter flew away in a rage. + + + + +XXIX + +ORIGIN OF THE WINDS + + +In a village on the lower Yukon lived a man and his wife who had no +children. One day the woman said to her husband, "Far out on the +tundra there grows a solitary tree. Go to that and bring back a piece +of the trunk, and make a doll from it. Then it will seem that we have +a child." + +The man went out of the house and saw a long track of bright light +like that made by the moon shining on snow, leading off across the +tundra in the direction he had been told to take. It was the Milky +Way. Along this path he traveled far away until he saw before him a +beautiful object shining in the bright light. Going up to it, he found +it was the tree of which he came in search. The tree was small, so he +took his hunting-knife, cut off a part of the trunk, and carried the +fragment home. + +He sat down in the house and carved out from the wood an image of a +small boy, and his wife made two suits of clothing for it and dressed +it in one of them, "saving the other to put on when he had soiled the +first," she said. + +"Now, Father, make your little boy a set of toy dishes," she said. + +"I see no use in all this trouble. We will be no better off than we +were in the first place," said the man. + +"Why, yes, we are already better off," said the wife. "Before we had +the doll we had nothing to talk about except ourselves. Now we have +the doll to talk about and to amuse us." + +To please her the husband made the toy dishes, and she placed the doll +in the seat of honor on the bench opposite the door, with the dishes +full of food and water before it. + +When the couple had gone to bed that night the room was very dark and +they heard several low, whistling sounds. + +"Do you hear that? It is the doll," said the woman, shaking her +husband till he awakened. + +They got up at once and, making a light, saw that the Doll had eaten +the food and drunk the water, and that its eyes were moving. The woman +caught it up with delight and fondled and played with it for a long +time. When she became tired she put it back on the bench and they went +to bed again. + +In the morning when they got up the Doll was gone. They looked for it +all around the house, but could not find it. Then they went outside, +and there were its tracks leading away from the door. They followed +the tracks to the creek and along the bank to a place outside the +village, where they ended; for from this place the Doll had gone up +the Milky Way on the path of light upon which the man had gone to find +the tree. + +Doll traveled along the bright path till he came to the edge of day, +where the sky comes down to the earth and walls in the light. Close +beside him, in the east, he saw a skin cover fastened over a hole in +the sky wall. The skin was bulging inward as if some strong force on +the other side were pushing it. + +"It is very quiet here. I think a little wind would make it livelier," +said the Doll, drawing his knife and cutting the cover loose on one +side of the hole. At once a strong wind blew through, every now and +then bringing with it a live reindeer. Looking through the hole, Doll +saw beyond the wall another world like the earth. He drew the cover +over the hole again. + +"Do not blow too hard," he said to the wind. "Sometimes blow hard, +sometimes light, and sometimes do not blow at all." + +[Illustration: A GALE SWEPT IN BRINGING REINDEER, TREES AND BUSHES] + +Then he got upon the sky wall and walked along till he came to the +southeast. Here another opening was covered like the first, and the +covering was bulging inward. When he cut this covering loose a gale +swept in bringing reindeer, trees, and bushes. He quickly covered the +hole and said to the gale, "You are too strong. Sometimes blow hard, +sometimes light, and sometimes do not blow at all. The people on earth +will want variety." + +Again walking along the sky wall he came to a hole in the south, and +when this covering was cut a hot wind came rushing in carrying rain +and spray from the great sea lying beyond the sky-hole on that side. +Doll closed this opening and talked to the wind as before. + +Then he passed on to the west where there was another hole which +admitted heavy rainstorms, with sleet and spray from the ocean. When +he had closed this and given the wind its instructions he went on to +the northwest. There, when he cut away the covering, a cold blast came +rushing in, bringing snow and ice, so that he was chilled to the bone +and half frozen, and he made haste to close the hole as he had the +others. + +He started to go along the sky wall to the north, but the cold became +more and more severe until at last he was obliged to leave the wall +and make a circuit to the southward, going back to the north only when +he came opposite the opening. There the cold was so intense that he +waited some time before he could muster courage to cut the cover away. +When he did so, a fearful blast rushed in, carrying great masses of +snow and ice, strewing it over the entire plain of the earth. It was +so bitter that he closed the hole very quickly, and told the wind from +that direction to come only in the middle of the winter so that the +people might not be taken unawares, and might be prepared for it. + +From there he hastened down to warmer climes in the middle of the +earth plain, where, looking up, he saw that the sky was supported by +long, slender, arching poles, like those of a conical lodge, but made +of some beautiful material unknown to him. Journeying on, he finally +came to the village from which he started and went into his own home. + +Doll lived in this village for a very long time; for when the foster +parents who had made him died, he was taken by other people of the +village and so lived on for many generations, until he finally died. +Since his death parents have made dolls for their children in +imitation of the Doll who first opened the wind-holes of the sky and +regulated all the six winds of earth. + + + + +XXX + +RAVEN AND THE GEESE + + +For a long time Raven lived alone, but finally became tired of it and +decided to take a wife. It was late in the fall and he noticed that +the birds were going south in large flocks. He flew away and stopped +directly in the path taken by geese and other wild fowl on their way +to the land of summer. + +As he sat there he saw a pretty young goose coming near. He hid his +face by looking at his feet, so that she would not know but that he +was a black goose, and called out, "Who wishes me for a husband? I am +a very nice person." + +The goose flew on without heeding him and he looked after her and +sighed. Soon after a black brant passed, and Raven cried out as +before, but the brant flew on. Again he waited and this time a duck +passed near, and when Raven cried out she turned her head a little. + +"Oh, I shall succeed this time," thought Raven, and his heart beat +fast with hope. But the duck passed on, and Raven stood waiting with +bowed head. + +Very soon a family of white-front geese came along, consisting of the +parents with four sons and a sister. Raven cried out, "Who wishes me +for a husband? I am a fine hunter and am young and handsome." + +As he finished speaking they alighted just beyond him, and he thought, +"Surely, now I shall get a wife." He looked about and found a pretty +white stone with a hole in it lying near. He picked it up and, +stringing it on a long grass stem, hung it about his neck. + +As soon as he had done this he pushed up his bill so that it slid to +the top of his head like a mask, and he became a dark-colored young +man. At the same time each of the geese pushed up its bill in the same +manner, and they became nice-looking people. + +Raven walked toward them, and was much pleased with the looks of the +girl and, going to her, gave her the stone which she hung about her +neck. By doing this she showed that she accepted him for her husband. +Then they all pulled down their bills, becoming birds again, and flew +away toward the south. + +The geese flapped their wings heavily and worked along slowly, while +Raven on his outspread wings glided along faster than his party, and +the geese gazed after him in admiration, exclaiming, "How light and +graceful he is!" and the little bride was very proud of her fine +husband. + +But Raven was not accustomed to the long, all-day flights of the +geese, and he became tired. + +"We would better stop early and look for a good place to spend the +night," he said. The others agreed to this, so they stopped and were +soon asleep. + +Early the next morning the geese were astir, but Raven slept so +heavily that the father goose had to shake him and say, "Wake up! Wake +up! We must make haste for it will snow here soon; we must not +linger." + +As soon as Raven was fully awake he pretended to be eager to get away, +and, as on the day before, he led all the others with his wide-spread +wings, and was greatly admired by the others, especially by his young +wife. He kept on, above or in front of his companions, and his bride +would often say, "See how gracefully he skims along without having to +flop heavy wings as we do," and she gave her brothers a side glance +which made them feel that she was contrasting their clumsiness with +his ease. After that tactless remark, the four brothers-in-law began +to feel envious of Raven. + + * * * * * + +They stopped one evening on the seashore, where they feasted upon the +berries which were plentiful there, and then they settled down for the +night and fell asleep. In the morning the geese were making ready to +start without waiting for breakfast, and Raven's stomach cried out for +more of the berries. But father goose said they could not wait, and he +dared not object to starting. The brothers-in-law had secretly urged +the father not to wait, for they said, "Our sister needs to have some +of the conceit about that husband of hers taken out of her; and so +does he." + +Raven dreaded the long flight across the sea, for he heard father +goose say, "We will make only one stop in crossing this water. There +is an island in the center of it, and there we will rest for a short +time and then go on to the farther shore." + +Raven was ashamed to say that he feared he could never reach that +farther shore, so he determined to keep still and risk it; and off +they all flew. + +The geese kept steadily on and on. After a long time Raven began to +fall behind. His wide-spread wings ached, yet the geese kept steadily +and untiringly on. His vanity was no longer gratified by admiring +remarks from his companions, for he was flapping heavily along. +Sometimes he would glide on outspread pinions for a time, hoping to +ease his tired wings, but he fell farther and farther behind. + +Finally the geese looked back and the brothers said, sarcastically, +"We thought he was light and active." The father goose said, "He must +be getting tired. We must not press him too hard. We will rest." + +The geese sank upon the water close together, and Raven came laboring +up and dropped upon their backs, gasping for breath. In a short time +he partially recovered and, putting one hand on his breast, said, "I +have an arrow-head here from an old war I was in, and it pains me +greatly; that is the reason I fell behind." + +He had his wife put her hand on his breast to feel the arrow-head +which he declared was working its way into his heart. She could feel +nothing but his heart beating like a trip-hammer with no sign of an +arrow-point. But she said nothing, for her brothers were whispering, +"We don't believe that story about the arrow-point! How could he live +with an arrow in his heart?" + +They rested two or three times more, he sinking upon their backs as +before; but when they saw the far-off shore before them father goose +said, "We can wait for you no more," for they were eager to reach the +land and find food. + +They all arose and flew on, Raven slowly flapping along behind, for +his wings felt heavy. The geese kept steadily on toward the shore, +while he sank lower and lower, getting nearer to the dreaded water. +When the waves were almost touching him he shrieked to his wife: + +"Leave me the white stone; it has magical powers. Throw me the white +stone." + +Thus he kept crying until suddenly his wings lost their power and he +floated helplessly on the water as the geese gained the shore. He +tried to rise from the water but his wings seemed to be weighted down, +and he drifted back and forth along the beach. The waves arose and one +whitecap after another broke over him till he was soaked, and it was +only with the greatest difficulty that he could get his beak above the +surface to breathe a little between the billows. + +After a long time a great wave cast him upon the land, and as it +flowed back he dug his claws into the sand to save himself from being +dragged back into the sea. As soon as he was able he struggled up the +beach, an unhappy looking object. The water ran in streams from his +soaked feathers and his wings dragged on the ground. He fell several +times, and at last, with wide-gaping mouth, he reached some bushes. As +soon as he could get his breath he took off his raven coat and pushed +up his beak, becoming a small, dark-colored man. + +"From this time on, forevermore I'm done with being a goose," he +declared. + + + + +XXXI + +EVEN A GRASS PLANT CAN BECOME SOMEONE IF IT TRIES + + +Near the mouth of the Yukon grows a tall, slender kind of grass which +the women gather and dry in the fall and use for braiding mats and +baskets and for pads in the soles of skin boots. + +One of these grass stalks that had been almost pulled out by the roots +when the women were gathering others, did not like the fate in store +for it. + +"Why should I stay on in this shape and never become anything but a +pad in the sole of a boot to be trodden on forever? It must be nicer +to be the one who treads on the pad; but since I cannot be that, I +will at least be something better than grass." + +Looking about, it spied a bunch of herbs growing close by, looking so +quiet and unmolested that the grass stem said, "I will be an herb; +that is a higher and safer life than this." + +At once it was changed into an herb like those it had envied, and for +a time it remained in peace. But one day the women came back with +baskets and picks and began to dig up these herbs and eat some of the +roots, putting others into the baskets to take home. The changed plant +was left standing when the women went home toward evening, but it had +seen the fate of its companions. + +"This is not very safe either, for now I should be eaten. I wish I had +chosen some other form," it said. + +Looking down, it saw a tiny, creeping vine clinging close to the +ground. "That is the thing to be," it said. "That is so obscure and +lowly that the women will never notice it. I will be a vine like +that." + +Without delay it became a little squawberry vine nestling under the +dead leaves. It had not lived in peace and seclusion very long before +the women came and tore up many of the vines, stopping just before +they reached the changeling, and saying, "We will come back to-morrow +and get the rest." + +The one-time grass plant was filled with fear, and changed itself +quickly into a small tuber-bearing plant like some that were growing +near. Scarcely had the change been made when a small tundra mouse came +softly through the grass and began digging at a neighboring plant, +holding up the tuber in its paws and nibbling it, after which the +mouse crept on again. + +"To be safe, I must be a mouse," thought the changeling. "Animals are +a higher kind of being than plants, anyway. I will be a mouse." + +Instantly it became a mouse and ran off, glad of the change. Now and +then it would pause to dig up a tuber, or would sit up on its hind +feet to look around on the new scenes that came into view. + +"This is much more delightful than being a plant and always staying in +one place and never seeing anything of the world," it said. + +While traveling nimbly along in this manner, the mouse observed a +strange white animal coming through the air toward it, which kept +dropping down upon the ground, and after stopping to eat something, it +would fly on again. + +When it came near, the mouse saw that it was a great white owl. At the +same moment the owl saw the mouse and swooped down upon it. Darting +off, the mouse was fortunate enough to escape by running into a hole +made by one of its kind, and the owl flew off. + +After a while the mouse ventured to come out of its shelter, though +its heart still beat painfully from its recent fright. "I will be an +owl, and in that way be safe," thought the mouse, and with the wish it +was changed into a beautiful white owl. + +"Oh, this is fine!" he said. "It is glorious to fly through the air, +and go up almost to the sky where I can look down on all the world. +I'm glad that I was not content to stay always down in the dirt." + +With slow, noiseless wing flaps the owl set off toward the north, +pausing every now and then to catch and eat a mouse. After a long +flight Sledge Island came in view and the owl thought it would go +there. When far out at sea its untried wings became so tired that only +with the greatest difficulty did it manage to reach the shore, where +it perched upon a piece of driftwood that stood up in the sand. + +In a short time it saw two fine-looking men pass along the shore, and +the old feeling of discontent arose again. "Those men were talking in +a better-sounding language than mine. They seemed to understand each +other, and they laughed and were having a good time. I will be a man." + +With a single flap of wing it stood upon the ground, where it changed +immediately into a fine young man. But, of course, the feathers were +gone and the Man had no clothing. Night came down upon the earth soon +after, and the Man sat down with his back against the stick of wood on +which, as an owl, he had perched, and slept till morning. He was +awakened by the sun shining in his eyes, and upon arising, felt stiff +and lame from the cold night air. + +He found some of the same grass which he had once been, and braided it +into a kind of mantle which kept out a little of the cold. Seeing a +reindeer grazing, he felt a sudden desire to kill it and eat its +flesh. He crept close on his hands and knees, and, springing forward, +seized it by the horns and broke its neck with a single effort. + +He felt all over its body and found that its skin formed a covering +through which he could not push his fingers. For a long time he tried +to think how to remove the skin, and finally noticed a stone with a +sharp edge with which he managed to cut through the hide. Then he +quickly stripped the animal with his hands, and tore out a piece of +flesh which he tried to swallow as he had swallowed mice when he was +an owl. He found that he could not do this easily, so he tore off +small bits and ground them with his teeth. + +He had already discovered that by striking two stones together they +grew warm and felt good to his cold hands. So now he struck them +together until sparks came with which he lighted some dry weeds and +brush and had a fire to cook his meat and to warm himself. + +The next morning he killed another reindeer and the day following two +more and wrapped himself in their skins from head to foot, with the +raw side next his own flesh, as the animals had worn them. The skins +soon dried on him and became like a part of his body. + +As the nights grew colder and colder, he collected a quantity of +driftwood from the shore, with which he built him a rude hut, which he +found very comfortable. Walking over the hills one day he came near to +a strange, black animal eating berries from the bushes. He crept up to +it and grasped it by its hind legs. With an angry growl it turned to +face him, showing its white teeth. He knew then that he must not let +go his hold of it, so he swung it high over his head and brought it +down on the ground with such force that the bear lay dead. + +In skinning the bear he saw that it contained much fat, and that he +might have a light in his house if he could find something that would +hold the grease and yet not take fire itself. Going along the beach he +found a long, flat stone with a hollow in one surface, and in this +the oil remained very well, and with a lighted moss wick he found it +much pleasanter to get about his house at night. The bearskin he hung +up for a curtain to his door to keep out the cold wind. + +In this way he lived for many days, but he was a human being now, and +needed human society. He remembered the two young men he had seen on +the beach when, as an owl, he sat on the post on the shore. + +"Two men passed here once, and I liked them," said he. "They may live +not far from here. I should like to see someone like myself. I will go +seek them." + +He went in search of people. Wandering along the coast for some +distance he came to two fine new kayaks lying at the foot of a hill, +and in the kayaks were spears, lines, floats, and other hunting +implements. After examining these curiously, he noticed a path leading +up to a hill. He followed the path and on the top of the hill he found +a house with two storehouses near it and several recently killed white +whales and many skulls around it. + +Wishing to see the people in the house before showing himself, he went +with noiseless steps into the entrance way and up to the door. +Cautiously lifting one corner of the skin curtain that hung in the +doorway, he looked in. Opposite the doorway was a young man sitting at +work on some arrows, while a bow lay beside him. He dropped the +curtain and stood for some time in doubt as to how to proceed. + +"If I enter the house he may shoot me before I have time to make known +my good will," thought he. But in the end he thought, "If I enter and +say, 'I have come, brother,' he will not hurt me." So, raising the +curtain quickly, he entered. + +The householder at once seized the bow and drew an arrow to the head +just as the intruder said, "I have come, brother." At this the bow and +arrow were dropped and the young man cried out with delight, "Are you +my brother? Come and sit beside me." + +This the newcomer very gladly did, and the householder showed his +pleasure and asked, "Are you really my brother? I am very glad to see +you, brother, for I always believed I had one somewhere, though I +never could find him. Where have you lived? Have you known any +parents? How did you grow up?" + +"No, I have never known any parents. I never was born and never grew +up. I just found myself a man standing on the seashore. There I built +me a house and made myself as comfortable as I could; but I was +lonely, so I came to find you." + +"I also never had any parents that I can recall. My earliest +recollection was of finding myself alone in this house, where I have +lived ever since, killing game for food. I was alone until this friend +came to stay with me. Now you, my brother, shall live here too, and we +will never be parted again." + + * * * * * + +And thus, by always striving to be something higher, the downtrodden +grass plant became a MAN. + + +THE END + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Treasury of Eskimo Tales, by Clara Kern Bayliss + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TREASURY OF ESKIMO TALES *** + +***** This file should be named 24569.txt or 24569.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/5/6/24569/ + +Produced by Richard J. 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