{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_47146/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_47146","id":"gutenberg_47146","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/47146","summary":null,"tags":["Alaska Native mythology","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Indians of North America -- Alaska -- Folklore","Legends -- Alaska"],"text":"MYTHS AND LEGENDS\n             OF ALASKA\n\n\n      SELECTED AND EDITED BY\n\n      KATHARINE BERRY JUDSON\n\n  Author of \"Myths and Legends of\n    the Pacific Northwest,\" and\n  \"Montana, 'The Land of Shining\n            Mountains'\"\n\n\n            ILLUSTRATED\n\n\n          [Illustration]\n\n\n              CHICAGO\n        A. C. McCLURG & CO.\n               1911\n\n\n             Copyright\n        A. C. McCLURG & CO.\n               1911\n\n     Published September, 1911\n\n    W. F. Hall Printing Company\n              Chicago\n\n\n\n\n  [Illustration: Tlingit Indians in Dancing Costume]\n\n\n\n\n    _BY THE SAME AUTHOR_\n\n    MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST.\n      Especially of Washington and Oregon.\n      _With 50 full-page illustrations. Small 4to._\n        _$1.50 net._\n\n    MONTANA: \"The Land of Shining Mountains.\"\n      _Illustrated. Indexed. Square 8vo._\n        _75 cents net._\n\n    A. C. McCLURG & CO., Publishers\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nLong ago, even before the days of the animal people, the world was\nonly a great ocean wherein was no land nor any living thing except a\ngreat Bird. The Bird, after a long, long time, flew down to the\nsurface of the water and dipped his great black wings into the flood.\nThe earth arose out of the waters. So began the creation. While the\nland was still soft, the first man burst from the pod of the beach pea\nand looked out upon the endless plain behind him and the gray salt sea\nbefore him. He was the only man. Then Raven appeared to him and the\ncreation of other beings began. Raven made also animals for food and\nclothing. Later, because the earth plain was so bare, he planted trees\nand shrubs and grass and set the green things to growing.\n\nWith creation by a Great Spirit, there came dangers from evil spirits.\nSuch spirits carried away the sun and moon, and hung them to the\nrafters of the dome-shaped Alaskan huts. The world became cold and\ncheerless, and in the Land of Darkness white skins became blackened by\ncontact with the darkness. So it became necessary to search for the\nsun and hang it again in the dome-shaped sky above them. Darkness in\nthe Land of Long Night was the cause, through magic, of the bitter\nwinds of winter--winds which came down from the North, bringing with\nthem ice and cold and snow. This was the work of some Great Spirit\nwhich had loosened the side of the gray cloud-tent under which they\nlived, letting in the bitter winds of another world. Spirits blow the\nmists over the cold north sea so that canoes lose sight of their\nhome-land. Spirits also drive the ice floes, with their fishermen, far\nover the horizon of ocean, into the still colder North. Spirits govern\nthe run of the salmon, the catching of whales, and all the life of the\npeople of the North who wage such a terrific struggle for existence.\n\nSo there must needs be those who have power over the evil spirits,\nthose who by incantations and charms of magic, by ceremonial dancing\nin symbolic dress, can control the designs of those who work ever\nagainst these children of the North. Thus there arose the shamans with\nall their ceremonies.\n\nThe myths in this volume are authentic. The original collections were\nmade by government ethnologists, by whose permission this compilation\nis made. And no effort has been made, in the telling of them, to\nchange them from the terse directness of the natives. The language of\nall Indian tribes is very simple, and to the extent that an effort is\nmade to put myths and legends into more polished form, to that extent\nis their authenticity impaired.\n\nOnly the quaintest and purest of the myths have been selected. Many\nAlaskan myths are very long and tiresome, rambling from one subject to\nanother, besides revealing low moral conditions. These have been\nomitted, as have also those which deal with the intermarriage of men\nand birds, and men and animals. Such myths are better left among\ngovernment documents where they can be readily consulted by those\nmaking a special study of the subject. They are hardly suitable for\nany collection intended for general reading. The leading myth of the\nNorth, however, the Raven Myth, is given with a fair degree of\ncompleteness. It would not be possible, nor would it be wise, to\nattempt a compilation of all the fragments of this extensive myth.\n\nEspecial thanks are due to Dr. Franz Boas for the Tsetsaut and\nTsimshian myths, to John R. Swanton for the Tlingit myths, to Edward\nRussell Nelson for the Eskimo myths, to Ferdinand Schnitter, and to\nothers. Thanks are also due for courtesies in securing photographs to\nMr. B. B. Dobbs and particularly to Mr. Clarence L. Andrews, both of\nwhom have spent many years in Alaska.\n\n                                                    K. B. J.\n\n    _University of Washington,\n       Seattle, Washington\n           July, 1911._\n\n\n\n\nTABLE OF CONTENTS\n\n\n                                                                  PAGE\n  The Raven Myth                   _Eskimo_ (_Bering Straits_)      17\n\n  The Flood                        _Tlingit_ (_Wrangell_)           33\n\n  The Origin of the Tides          _Tsetsaut_                       37\n\n  How the Rivers were Formed       _Tlingit_ (_Wrangell_)           39\n\n  The Origin of Fire               _Tlingit_                        40\n\n  Duration of Winter               _Tlingit_ (_Wrangell_)           41\n\n  Raven's Feast                    _Tlingit_                        42\n\n  Creation of the Porcupine        _Tlingit_                        44\n\n  How Raven Taught the Chilkats    _Tlingit_ (_Wrangell_)           45\n\n  Raven's Marriage                 _Eskimo_ (_Bering Straits_)      46\n\n  Raven and the Seals              _Tsimshian_                      51\n\n  Raven and Pitch                  _Tsimshian_                      53\n\n  Raven's Dancing Blanket          _Tsimshian_                      55\n\n  Raven and the Gulls              _Tsimshian_                      56\n\n  The Land Otter                   _Tlingit_ (_Wrangell_)           57\n\n  Raven and Coot                   _Athapascan_ (_Upper Yukon_)     58\n\n  Raven and Marmot                 _Eskimo_ (_Bering Strait_)       59\n\n  The Bringing of the Light\n    by Raven                       _Eskimo_ (_Lower Yukon_)         61\n\n  Daylight on the Nass River       _Tlingit_ (_Wrangell_)           65\n\n  The Naming of the Birds          _Tlingit_ (_Wrangell_)           67\n\n  The Origin of the Winds          _Tlingit_                        70\n\n  Duration of Life                 _Tlingit_ (_Wrangell_)           71\n\n  Ghost Town                       _Tlingit_ (_Wrangell_)           72\n\n  How Raven Stole the Lake         _Haida_ (_Queen Charlotte\n                                         Islands_)                  73\n\n  The Killer Whale                 _Haida_                          75\n\n  Origin of the Chilkat Blanket    _Tsimshian_                      77\n\n  Origin of Land and People        _Eskimo_ (_Lower Yukon_)         80\n\n  Creation of the World            _Athapascan_ (_Upper Yukon_)     81\n\n  Origin of Mankind                _Eskimo_ (_Bering Straits_)      82\n\n  The First Woman                  _Eskimo_ (_Bering Straits_)      83\n\n  The First Tears                  _Eskimo_ (_Bering Straits_)      85\n\n  Origin of the Winds              _Eskimo_ (_Lower Yukon_)         87\n\n  Origin of the Wind               _Athapascan_ (_Upper Yukon_)     91\n\n  North Wind                       _Tlingit_ (_Wrangell_)           92\n\n  East Wind and North Wind         _Tlingit_                        93\n\n  Creation of the Killer Whale     _Tlingit_                        94\n\n  Future Life                      _Tlingit_ (_Wrangell_)           96\n\n  The Land of the Dead             _Eskimo_ (_Lower Yukon_)         97\n\n  The Ghost Land                   _Tlingit_                       100\n\n  The Sky Country                  _Tlingit_                       103\n\n  The Lost Light                   _Eskimo_ (_Port Clarence_)      105\n\n  The Chief in the Moon            _Eskimo_ (_Bering Straits_)     109\n\n  The Boy in the Moon              _Eskimo_ (_Lower Yukon_)        110\n\n  The Boy in the Moon              _Athapascan_ (_Upper Yukon_)    112\n\n  The Meteor(?)                    _Tsetsaut_                      113\n\n  Sleep House                      _Tlingit_                       114\n\n  Cradle Song                      _Koyukun_                       115\n\n  Proverbs                         _Tsimshian_                     118\n\n  How the Fox became Red           _Athapascan_                    119\n\n  Beaver and Porcupine             _Tsimshian_                     120\n\n  The Mark of the Marten           _Athapascan_ (_Upper Yukon_)    126\n\n  The Wolves and the Deer          _Tsimshian_                     127\n\n  The Camp Robber                  _Athapascan_ (_Upper Yukon_)    129\n\n  The Circling of Cranes           _Eskimo_ (_Bering Straits_)     131\n\n  The Last of the Thunderbirds     _Eskimo_ (_Lower Yukon_)        132\n\n  How the Kiksadi Clan Came\n    to Sitka                       _Tlingit_                       135\n\n  Origin of the Grizzly Bear\n    Crest                          _Tlingit_                       137\n\n  Origin of the Frog Crest         _Tlingit_                       138\n\n  Origin of the Beaver Crest       _Tlingit_                       139\n\n  Origin of the Killer Whale\n    Crest                          _Tlingit_                       140\n\n  The Discontented Grass Plant     _Eskimo_ (_Bering Straits_)     142\n\n  The Wind People                  _Koryak_ (_Siberia_)            147\n\n  Tricks of the Fox                _Koryak_ (_Siberia_)            148\n\n\n\n\nILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n                                                                  PAGE\n    Tlingit Indians in Dancing Costume                  _Frontispiece_\n\n    Reindeer on the Tundra                                          20\n\n    \"Raven taught them how to build houses of driftwood and\n      bushes, covered with earth\"                                   21\n\n    \"The next morning the baby was a big boy\"                       24\n\n    \"The clay became a beautiful girl\"                              25\n\n    Ivory Pipe Stems                                                28\n\n    Kayak Man Casting a Bird Spear                                  29\n\n    Eskimo Woman from Cape Prince of Wales                          34\n\n    Fur Parkas Worn by Eskimo Women                                 35\n\n    Reflection of Mountain Peaks                                    38\n\n    \"So the smoke-hole spirits held Raven until the smoke\n      blackened his white coat\"                                     39\n\n    Pine Falls, Atlin                                               42\n\n    Elk Falls                                                       43\n\n    Porcupine                                                       44\n\n    \"Raven showed the people how to make canoes out of skins\"       45\n\n    Shoup's Glacier, Valdez                                         48\n\n    Birdseye View of Valdez                                         49\n\n    Masks                                                           52\n\n    Dolls                                                           53\n\n    Eskimo Boys                                                     58\n\n    \"Marmot put out the tip of his nose\"                            59\n\n    Ice Hummocks on Bering Sea                                      62\n\n    Snow Shovel, Pick, Rake, and Maul                               63\n\n    Eskimo in Waterproof Coat Made of Walrus Intestines             66\n\n    \"Raven said to Grouse, 'You know that Sea-lion is your\n      grandchild'\"                                                  67\n\n    Figurehead on Indian Canoe                                      68\n\n    \"Raven said to Crow, 'You will make lots of noise. You\n      will be great talkers'\"                                       69\n\n    \"Raven said to North Wind, 'Your back is white.'\" (On the\n      Road to Fairbanks)                                            70\n\n    Old Russian Blockhouse, at Sitka                                71\n\n    \"Raven unrolled the lake there. There it lay\"                   74\n\n    \"The man-spirit was inside the Skana\"                           75\n\n    A Chilkat Blanket                                               78\n\n    Alaskan Baskets                                                 79\n\n    Keystone Canyon                                                 80\n\n    The \"S\" Glacier                                                 81\n\n    The Yukon, Taken at Midnight in June                            84\n\n    Islands in Sitka Sound                                          85\n\n    Tool and Trinket Boxes                                          88\n\n    Spoons and Ladles                                               89\n\n    Skagway River, from Porcupine Hill                              92\n\n    Middle Lake and Bridge on the '97 Trail                         93\n\n    Face of Davidson Glacier                                        96\n\n    \"The Land of the Dead\"--Graveyard at Rasboinsky                 97\n\n    Perry Island, Bogosloff Group, Newly Risen from the Sea        100\n\n    \"The end of the Death Trail\"                                   101\n\n    Walrus Tusks                                                   106\n\n    A Shaman                                                       107\n\n    Box Canyon, on White Pass and Yukon Route                      110\n\n    Near Valdez Narrows                                            111\n\n    Frozen Waterfall                                               114\n\n    \"The wind blows over the Yukon\"                                115\n\n    Travellers over the Chilkoot Pass (1891) after the\n      Discovery of Gold                                            118\n\n    Looking down Cut-off Canyon from below White Pass Summit       119\n\n    Dog Team with Record of 412 Miles in 72 Hours                  122\n\n    Siberian Husky                                                 123\n\n    Totem Poles                                                    126\n\n    Laplanders Milking Reindeer, near Port Clarence                127\n\n    View of Skagway                                                130\n\n    Bering Sea, near Nome                                          131\n\n    View of Eldorado                                               136\n\n    Scene on the White Pass and Yukon Route                        137\n\n    Alaska Cotton on the Tundra, near Nome                         142\n\n    A Crested Hat                                                  143\n\n\n\n\nMYTHS AND LEGENDS OF ALASKA\n\n\n\n\nTHE RAVEN MYTH\n\n_Eskimo_ (_Bering Straits_)\n\n\nIt was in the time when there were no people on the earth plain. The\nfirst man for four days lay coiled up in the pod of the beach pea. On\nthe fifth day he stretched out his feet and burst the pod. He fell to\nthe ground and when he stood up he was a full-grown man. Man looked\nall around him and then at himself. He moved his hands and arms, his\nneck and legs. When he looked back he saw, still hanging to the vine,\nthe pod of the beach pea, with a hole in the lower end out of which he\nhad dropped. When he looked about him again, he saw that he was\ngetting farther from his starting place. The ground seemed to move up\nand down under his feet, and it was very soft. After a while he had a\nstrange feeling in his stomach, so he stooped down to drink some water\nfrom a small pool at his feet. Then he felt better.\n\nWhen Man looked up again he saw coming toward him, with a fluttering\nmotion, something dark. He watched the dark thing until it stopped\njust in front of him. It was Raven.\n\nAs soon as Raven stopped, he raised one of his wings and pushed up his\nbeak, as though it were a mask, to the top of his head. Thus Raven\nchanged at once into a man. Raven stared hard at Man, moving from side\nto side to see him better.\n\nRaven said, \"What are you? Where did you come from? I have never seen\nanything like you.\"\n\nRaven still stared at Man, surprised to find this new thing so much\nlike himself. He made Man walk around a little, while he perked his\nhead from side to side to see him better. Then Raven said again, in\nastonishment, \"Where did you come from? I have never seen anything\nlike you before.\"\n\nMan said, \"I came from the pea pod.\" He pointed to the plant from\nwhich he came.\n\n\"Ah, I made that vine,\" said Raven. \"But I did not know that anything\nlike you would come from it. Come with me to the high ground over\nthere; it is thicker and harder. This ground I made later and it is\nsoft and thin.\"\n\nSo Man and Raven walked to the higher ground which was firm and hard.\nRaven asked Man if he had eaten anything. Man said he had taken some\nof the soft stuff from one of the pools.\n\n\"Ah, you drank some water,\" said Raven. \"Now wait for me here.\"\n\nRaven drew down his beak, as though it were a mask, over his face. He\nat once became a bird and flew far up into the sky--far out of sight.\nMan waited until the fourth day. Then Raven returned bringing four\nberries in his claws. He pushed up his beak and so became a man again.\nThen he gave to Man two salmon berries and two heath berries, saying,\n\"Here is something I made for you to eat. I wish them to be plentiful\non the earth. Eat them.\"\n\nMan put the berries into his mouth, one after the other, and ate them.\nThen he felt better. Then Raven left Man near a small creek while he\nwent to the edge of the water. He took two pieces of clay at the\nwater's edge, and shaped them like a pair of mountain sheep. He held\nthem in his hand until they were dry, and then he called Man to come\nand see them. Man said they were pretty, so Raven told him to close\nhis eyes. Man closed his eyes tightly. Then Raven pulled down his\nbeak-mask, and waved his wings four times over the pieces of clay. At\nonce they bounded away as full-grown mountain sheep. Raven told Man to\nlook.\n\nMan was so much pleased that Raven said, \"If these animals are\nplentiful, perhaps people will try to kill them.\"\n\nMan said, \"Yes.\"\n\nThen Raven said, \"Well, it will be better for them to live among the\nsteep rocks so every one cannot kill them. There only shall they be\nfound.\"\n\nRaven took two more pieces of clay and shaped them like tame reindeer.\nHe held them in his hand until they were partly dry, then told Man to\nlook at them. Raven again drew down his beak-mask and waved his wings\nfour times over them. Thus they became alive, but as they were only\ndry in spots while Raven held them, therefore they remained brown and\nwhite, with mottled coat. Raven told Man these tame reindeer would be\nvery few in number.\n\nAgain Raven took two pieces of clay and shaped them like the caribou\nor wild reindeer. But he held them in his hands only a little while so\nthat only the bellies of the reindeer became dry and white. Then Raven\ndrew down his beak-mask, and waved his wings over them, and they\nbounded away. But because only their bellies were dry and white while\nRaven held them, therefore the wild reindeer is brown except its white\nbelly.\n\nRaven said to Man, \"These animals will be very common. People will\nkill many of them.\"\n\n  [Illustration: Reindeer on the Tundra\n    _Photograph by B. B. Dobbs_]\n\n  [Illustration: \"Raven taught them how to build houses of driftwood\n      and bushes, covered with earth\"]\n\nThus Raven began to create the animals.\n\nRaven said one day to Man, \"You are lonely by yourself. I will make\nyou a companion.\" He went to some white clay at a spot distant from\nthe clay of which he had made animals, and made of the clay a figure\nalmost like Man. Raven kept looking at Man while he shaped the figure.\nThen he took fine water grass from the creek and fastened it on the\nback of the head for hair. When the clay was shaped, Raven drew down\nhis beak-mask and waved his wings over it. The clay became a beautiful\ngirl. The girl was white and fair because Raven let the clay dry\nentirely before he waved his wings over it.\n\nRaven took the girl to Man. \"There is a companion for you,\" he said.\n\nNow in the days of the first people on the earth plain, there were no\nmountains far or near. No rain ever fell and there were no winds. The\nsun shone always very brightly.\n\nThen Raven showed the first people on the earth plain how to sleep\nwarmly in the dry moss when they were tired. Raven himself drew down\nhis beak-mask and went to sleep like a bird.\n\nWhen Raven awakened, he went back to the creek. Here he made two\nsticklebacks, two graylings, and two blackfish. When these were\nswimming about in the water, he called Man to see them. Man raised\nhis hand in surprise and the sticklebacks darted away. Raven told him\nthe graylings would be found in clear mountain streams, while the\nsticklebacks would live along the coast, and that both would be good\nfor food.\n\nRaven next made the shrewmouse. He said, \"The shrewmouse will not be\ngood for food. It will prevent the earth plain from looking bare and\ncheerless.\"\n\nIn this way Raven was busy several days, making birds and fishes and\nanimals. He showed each of them to Man and explained what they were\ngood for. Then Raven flew into the sky, far, far away, and was gone\nfour days. When he came back he brought a salmon to Man.\n\nBut Raven noticed that the ponds and lakes were silent and lonely, so\nhe made water bugs to flit upon the surface of the water. He also made\nthe beaver and the muskrat to live around the borders of the ponds.\nRaven told Man that the beavers would live along the streams and build\nstrong houses, so Man must build a strong house also. Raven said the\nbeavers would be very cunning and only good hunters could catch them.\nHe also told Man how to catch the muskrat and how to use its skin for\nclothing.\n\nRaven also made flies and mosquitoes and other insects to make the\nearth plain more cheerful. At first mosquitoes were like flies; they\ndid not bite. One day Man killed a deer. After he had cut it up and\nplaced the fat on a bush, he fell asleep. When he awoke he found the\nmosquitoes had eaten all of it. Then Man was very angry and scolded\nthe mosquitoes. He said, \"Never eat meat again. Eat men.\" Before that\nmosquitoes never bit people.\n\nWhen the first baby came on the earth plain, Raven rubbed it all over\nwith white clay. He told Man it would grow into a man like himself.\nThe next morning the baby was a big boy. He ran around pulling up\ngrass and flowers that Raven had planted. By the third day the baby\nwas a full-grown man.\n\nThen another baby was born on the earth plain. She was rubbed over\nwith the white clay. The next day the baby was a big girl, walking\naround. On the third day she was a full-grown woman.\n\nNow Raven began to be afraid that men would kill all the creatures he\nhad made. He was afraid they would kill them for food and clothing.\nTherefore Raven went to a creek nearby. He took white clay and shaped\nit like a bear. Then he waved his wings over it, and the clay became a\nbear. But Raven jumped very quickly to one side when the bear became\nalive because it looked fiercely around and growled. Then Raven showed\nthe bear to Man and told him to be careful. He said the bear was very\nfierce and would tear him to pieces if he disturbed it.\n\nThen Raven made the seals, and taught Man how to catch them. He also\ntaught Man how to make strong lines from sealskin, and snares for the\ndeer.\n\nThen Raven went away to the place of the pea vine.\n\nWhen he reached the pea vine he found three other men had just fallen\nfrom the same pod that Man had fallen from. These men were looking\nabout them in wonder. Raven led them away from the pea vine, but in a\ndifferent direction from the first man. He brought them close to the\nsea. Raven stayed with these three men a long time. He taught them how\nto take wood from the bushes and small trees he planted in hollows and\nsheltered places, and to make a fire drill, and also a bow. He made\nmany more plants and birds which like the seacoast, but he did not\nmake so many as in the land where Man lived. He taught these men how\nto make bows and arrows, spears and nets, and how to use them; and\nalso how to capture the seals, which were now plentiful in the sea.\nThen he taught them how to make kayaks, and how to build houses of\ndrift logs and of bushes, covered with earth. Then he made wives for\nthese men, and went back to Man.\n\n  [Illustration: \"The next morning the baby was a big boy\"\n    _Copyrighted by F. H. Nowell_]\n\n  [Illustration: \"The clay became a beautiful girl\"\n    _Courtesy \"Alaska-Yukon Magazine\"_]\n\nWhen Raven reached the land where Man lived, he thought the earth\nplain still looked bare. So, while the others slept, Raven planted\nbirch and spruce and cottonwood trees to grow in the low places. Then\nhe woke up the people, who were pleased with the trees.\n\nThen Raven taught Man how to make fire with the fire drill, and to\nplace the spark of tinder in a bunch of dry grass and to wave it about\nuntil it blazed, and then to put dry wood upon it. He showed them how\nto roast fish on a stick, and how to make fish traps of splints and\nwillow bark, and how to dry salmon for winter use.\n\nWhere Man lived there was now a large village because the people did\neverything as Raven told them, and therefore all the babies grew up in\nthree days. One day Raven came back and sat down by Man by the creek\nand they talked of many things. Man asked Raven about the skyland. Man\nwanted to see the skyland which Raven had made. Therefore Raven took\nMan to the land in the sky.\n\nMan found that the skyland was a very beautiful country, and that it\nhad a much better climate than his land. But the people who lived\nthere were very small. Their heads did not reach to Man's hips. The\npeople wore fur clothing, with beautiful patterns, such as people on\nearth now wear, because Man showed his people how to make them. In the\nlakes were strange animals which would have killed Man if he had tried\nto drink of the water. In a dry lake bed, thickly covered with tall\ngrass, Man saw a wonderful animal resting upon the tips of the\ngrasses. It had a long head and six legs. It had fine, thick hair, and\non the back of the head were two thick, short horns which bent forward\nand then curved back at the tips. Raven told Man it took many people\nto kill this animal.\n\nThen they came to a round hole in the sky and around the edge of the\nhole was short grass, glowing like fire. Raven said, \"This is the star\ncalled the moon-dog.\" Some of the grass had been pulled up. Raven said\nhe had taken some to start the first fire on earth.\n\nThen Raven said to Man, \"Shut your eyes. I will take you to another\ncountry.\" Man climbed upon Raven's back and they dropped down through\nthe star hole. They floated a long, long time through the air, then\nthey floated through something else. When they stopped Raven saw he\nwas at the bottom of the sea. Man could breathe there, but it seemed\nfoggy. Raven said that was the appearance of the water. Then Raven\nsaid, \"I want to make some new animals here; but you must not walk\nabout. You lie down and if you get tired, turn over on the other\nside.\"\n\nMan went to sleep lying on one side, and slept a long while. When he\nwaked up, he wanted to turn over, but he could not. Then Man thought,\n\"I wish I could turn over,\" and at once he turned. As he turned, he\nwas surprised to see that his body was covered with long, white hairs;\nand his fingers were long claws. Then he went to sleep again. This he\ndid three times more. Then when he woke up, Raven stood by him. Raven\nsaid, \"I have changed you into a white bear. How do you like it?\" Man\ncould not make a sound until Raven waved his wings over him. Then he\nsaid he did not like it; if he was a bear he would have to live on the\nsea, while his son lived on land; so Man should feel badly. Then Raven\nstruck the white skin with his wings and it fell off. So Man became\nhimself again. But Raven took the empty bearskin, and placed one of\nhis own tail feathers inside it for a spine. Then he waved his wing\nover it, and a white bear arose. Ever since then white bears have been\nfound on the frozen sea.\n\nRaven said, \"How many times did you turn over?\"\n\nMan said, \"Four.\"\n\nRaven said, \"You slept just four years.\"\n\nThen Raven made other animals. He made the a-mi-kuk, a large, slimy\nanimal, with thick skin, and with four long, wide-spreading arms. This\nis a fierce animal and lives in the sea. It wraps its four long arms\naround a man or a kayak and drags it under the water. A man cannot\nescape it. If he climbs out of his kayak on the ice, the a-mi-kuk\nwill dart underneath and break the ice. If Man runs away on shore, the\na-mi-kuk pursues him by burrowing through the earth. No man can escape\nfrom it when once it pursues him.\n\nThen Raven showed Man the walrus, and the dog walrus, with head and\nteeth like a dog. It always swam with large herds of walrus and with a\nstroke of its tail could kill a man. He showed him whales and the\ngrampus. Raven told Man that only good hunters could kill a whale, but\nwhen one was killed an entire village could feast on it. He showed him\nalso the sea fox, which is so fierce it kills men; and the sea otter,\nwhich is like the land otter but has finer fur, tipped with white, and\nother fishes and animals as they rose to the surface of the water.\n\nThen Raven said, \"Close your eyes. Hold fast to me.\"\n\nThen Man found himself on the shore near his home. The village was\nvery large. His wife was very old and his son was an old man. The\npeople gave him place of honor in the kashim, and made him their\nheadsman. So Man taught the young men many things.\n\nNow Man wanted again to see the skyland, so Raven and Man went up\namong the dwarf people and lived there a long time. But on earth the\nvillage grew very large; the men killed many animals.\n\n  [Illustration: Ivory Pipe Stems\n    _From photograph loaned by the Smithsonian Institution_]\n\n  [Illustration: Kayak Man Casting a Bird Spear\n    _From drawing loaned by the Smithsonian Institution_]\n\nNow in those days, the sun shone always very brightly. No rain ever\nfell and no winds blew.\n\nMan and Raven were angry because the people killed many animals. They\ntook a long line and a grass basket, one night, and caught ten\nreindeer which they put into the basket. Now in those days reindeer\nhad sharp teeth, like dogs. The next night Raven took the reindeer and\nlet them down on the earth close to Man's village. Raven said, \"Break\ndown the first house you see and kill the people. Men are becoming too\nmany.\" The reindeer did as Raven commanded. They stamped on the house\nand broke it down. They ate up the people with their sharp, wolf-like\nteeth. The next night, Raven let the reindeer down; again they broke\ndown a house and ate up the people with their sharp teeth.\n\nThe village people were much frightened. The third night they covered\nthe third house with a mixture of deer fat and berries. On the third\nnight when the reindeer began to tear down the third house, their\nmouths were filled with the fat and sour berries. Then the reindeer\nran away, shaking their heads so violently that all their long, sharp\nteeth fell out. Ever since then reindeer have had small teeth and\ncannot harm people.\n\nAfter the reindeer ran away, Raven and Man returned to the skyland.\nMan said, \"If the people do not stop killing so many animals, they\nwill kill everything you have made. It would be better to take the sun\naway from them. Then it will be dark and people will die.\"\n\nRaven said, \"That is right. You stay here. I will go and take away the\nsun.\"\n\nSo Raven went away and took the sun out of the sky. He put it in a\nskin bag and carried it far away, to a distant part of the skyland.\nThen it became dark on earth.\n\nThe people on earth were frightened when the sun vanished. They\noffered Raven presents of food and furs if he would bring back the\nsun. Raven said, \"No.\" After a while Raven felt sorry for them, so he\nlet them have a little light. He held up the sun in one hand for two\ndays so people could hunt and secure food. Then he put the sun in the\nskin bag again and the earth was dark. Then, after a long time, when\nthe people made him many gifts, he would let them have a little light\nagain.\n\nNow Raven had a brother living in the village. He was sorry for the\nearth people. So Raven's brother thought a long time. Then he died.\nThe people put him in a grave box and had a burial feast. Then they\nleft the grave box. At once Raven's brother slipped out of the box\nand went away from the village. He hid his raven mask and coat in a\ntree. Soon Raven's wife came for water. When she took up a dipperful\nto drink, Raven's brother, by magic, became a small leaf. He fell into\nthe water and Raven's wife swallowed him. . . . .\n\nWhen Raven-Boy was born he grew very rapidly. He was running about\nwhen he was only a few days old. He cried for the sun which was in the\nskin bag, hanging on the rafters. Raven was fond of the boy so he let\nhim play with the sun; yet he was afraid Raven-Boy would lose the sun,\nso he watched him. When Raven-Boy began to play out of doors, he cried\nand begged for the sun. Raven said, \"No.\" Then Raven-Boy cried more\nthan ever. At last Raven gave him the sun in the house. Raven-Boy\nplayed with it a long while. When no one was looking, he ran quickly\nout of the house. He ran to the tree, put on his raven mask and coat,\nand flew far away with the sun in the skin bag. When Raven-Boy was far\nup in the sky, he heard Raven call, \"Do not hide the sun. Let it out\nof the bag. Do not keep it always dark.\" Raven thought the boy had\nstolen it for himself.\n\nRaven-Boy flew to the place where the sun belonged. He tore off the\nskin covering and put the sun in its place. Then he saw a broad path\nleading far away. He followed it to the side of a hole fringed with\nshort, bright grass. He remembered that Raven had said, \"Do not keep\nit always dark,\" therefore he made the sky turn, with all the stars\nand the sun. Thus it is now sometimes dark and sometimes light.\n\nRaven-Boy picked some of the short, bright grass by the edge of the\nsky hole and stuck it into the sky. This is the morning star.\n\nRaven-Boy went down to the earth. The people were glad to see him.\nThey said, \"What has become of Man who went into the skyland with\nRaven?\" Now this was the first time that Raven-Boy had heard of Man.\nHe started to fly up into the sky, but he could get only a small\ndistance above the earth. When he found he could not get back to the\nsky, Raven-Boy wandered to the second village, where lived the men who\nhad come from the pod of the beach pea. Raven-Boy there married a wife\nand he had many children. But the children could not fly to the sky.\nThey had lost the magic power. Therefore the ravens now flutter over\nthe tundras like other birds.\n\n\n\n\nTHE FLOOD\n\n_Tlingit_ (_Wrangell_)\n\n\nLong, long ago, in the days of the animal people,\nRaven-at-the-head-of-Nass became angry. He said, \"Let rain pour down\nall over the world. Let people die of starvation.\" At once it became\nso stormy people could not get food, so they began to starve. Their\ncanoes were also broken up, their houses fell in upon them, and they\nsuffered very much. Then Nas-ca-ki-yel, Raven-at-the-head-of-Nass,\nasked for his jointed dance hat. When he put it on water began pouring\nout of the top of it. It is from Raven that the Indians obtained this\nkind of a hat.\n\nWhen the water rose to the house floor, Raven and his mother climbed\nupon the lowest retaining timber. This house we are speaking of,\nalthough it looked like a house to them, was really part of the world.\nIt had eight rows of retaining timbers.\n\nWhen Raven and his mother climbed to a higher timber, the people of\nthe world were climbing into the hills. Then Raven and his mother\nclimbed to the fourth timber; by that time the water was half-way up\nthe mountains. When the house was nearly full of water, Raven's mother\ngot into the skin of a cax. To this very day Tlingits do not eat the\ncax because it was Raven's mother. Then Raven got into the skin of a\nwhite bird with copper-colored bill. Now the cax is a diver and stayed\nupon the surface of the water. But Raven flew to the very highest\ncloud and hung there by his bill. But his tail was in the water.\n\nAfter Raven had hung in the cloud for days and days--nobody knows how\nlong--he pulled his bill out and prayed to fall on a piece of kelp. He\nthought the water had gone down. When Raven fell upon the kelp and\nflew away he found the waters just half-way down the mountains.\n\nRaven flew around until he met a shark, which had been swimming around\nwith a long stick. Raven took the stick and climbed down it as a\nladder to the bottom of the ocean. But Raven had set Eagle to watch\nthe tide.\n\nRaven wandered around the bottom of the ocean until he came to an old\nwoman. He said to her, \"How cold I am after eating those sea urchins.\"\nHe repeated this over and over again.\n\n  [Illustration: Eskimo Woman from Cape Prince of Wales\n    _Copyrighted by F. H. Nowell_]\n\n  [Illustration: Fur Parkas Worn by Eskimo Women\n    _Copyrighted by F. H. Nowell_]\n\nAt last the woman said, \"What low tide is this Raven talking\nabout?\"[1] Raven did not answer. The woman kept repeating, \"What\nlow tide are you talking about?\"\n\n    [1] In these Northern myths, questions and answers have no\n    relation to each other. Such speeches are regarded as magic\n    sayings.\n\nThen Raven became angry. He said, \"I will stick these sea urchins into\nyou if you don't keep quiet.\" At last he did so.\n\nThen the woman began singing, \"Don't, Raven! The tide will go down if\nyou don't stop.\"\n\nBut the water was receding, as Raven had told it to, in his magic\nwords. Raven asked Eagle, who was watching the tide, \"How far down is\nthe tide now?\"\n\n\"The tide is as far down as half a man.\"\n\n\"How far down is the tide?\" he asked again.\n\n\"The tide is very low,\" said Eagle.\n\nThen the old woman started her magic song again.\n\nRaven said, \"Let it get dry all around the world.\"\n\nAfter a while, Eagle said, \"The tide is very low now. You can hardly\nsee any water.\"\n\nRaven said, \"Let it get still drier.\"\n\nAt last everything was dry. This is the lowest tide there ever was.\nAll the salmon, and whales, and seals lay on the sands because the\nwater was so low. Then the people killed them for food. They had\nenough food to last them a long time.\n\nWhen the tide began to rise again, the people were frightened. They\nfeared there would be another flood, so they carried their food back a\nlong distance.\n\nAfterward Raven returned to Nass River and found that people there\nhad not changed their ways. They were dancing and feasting. They asked\nRaven to join them.\n\n\n\n\nTHE ORIGIN OF THE TIDES\n\n_Tsetsaut_\n\n\nA long time ago, a man wandered down the Nass River. Wherever he\ncamped, he made rocks of curious shapes. Now his name was Qa, the\nRaven. The Tlingit call him Yel.\n\nQa wandered all over the world. At last he travelled westward. Now at\nthat time the sea was always high.\n\nIn the middle of the world Qa discovered a rock in the sea. He built a\nhouse under the rock. Then he made a hole through it and through the\nearth and fitted a lid to it. Raven put a man in charge of the hole.\nTwice a day he opens the lid and twice each day he closes it. When the\nhole is open the water rushes down through it into the depths; then it\nis ebb tide. When he closes the lid, the water rises again; then it is\nflood tide.\n\nOnce upon a time, Tael, a Tlingit chief, while hunting sea otters was\ncarried out to Qa's rock by the tide. The current was so strong he\ncould not escape. When Tael was drawn toward the rock, he saw a few\nsmall trees growing on it. Tael threw his canoe line over one of the\ntrees. Thus he escaped being carried down by the water into the hole\nunder the rock. After some time he heard a noise. The man was putting\nthe lid on the hole. Then the water began to rise. Tael paddled\nrapidly away. He paddled away until the tide began to ebb again. Then\nhe fastened his canoe to a large stone nearby, and waited until flood\ntide came again. Thus Tael escaped.\n\n  [Illustration: Reflection of Mountain Peaks]\n\n  [Illustration: \"So the smoke-hole spirits held Raven until the smoke\n      blackened his white coat\"]\n\n\n\n\nHOW THE RIVERS WERE FORMED\n\n_Tlingit_ (_Wrangell_)\n\n\nPetrel was the first person created by Raven-at-the-head-of-Nass. He\nwas keeper of the fresh water. No one else might touch it. Now the\nspring he owned was on a rocky island called Dekino, Fort-far-out,\nwhere the well may still be seen. Raven stole a great mouthful of\nwater, but as he flew over the country drops spilled out of his beak.\nThese drops made the rivers: the Nass, Skeena, Stikine, and Chilkat.\nRaven said, \"The water that I drop down upon the earth, here and\nthere, will whirl all the time. There will be plenty of water, but it\nwill not flood the world.\"\n\nNow before this time, Raven was pure white. But when he stole the\nwater from Petrel he tried to fly out of the smoke hole. Petrel cried,\n\"Spirits of the smoke hole, hold him fast.\" So the smoke-hole spirits\nheld Raven until the smoke blackened his white coat.\n\n\n\n\nTHE ORIGIN OF FIRE\n\n_Tlingit_\n\n\nLong ago, in the days of the animal people, Raven saw a fire far out\nat sea. He tied a piece of pitch to Chicken Hawk's bill. He said, \"Go\nout to the fire, touch it with the pitchwood, and bring it back.\"\nChicken Hawk did so. The fire stuck to the pitchwood and he brought it\nback to Raven. Then Raven put the fire into the rock and into the red\ncedar. Then he said, \"Thus shall you get your fire--from this rock and\nfrom this red cedar.\" The tribes did as he told them.\n\n\n\n\nDURATION OF WINTER\n\n_Tlingit_ (_Wrangell_)\n\n\nOnce Raven went to Ground-hog's house for the winter. Now Ground-hogs\ngo into their holes in September. At home they live like people.\nPeople to them are animals.\n\nSo Raven spent the winter with Ground-hog and became very tired of it.\nBut he could not get out. Ground-hog enjoyed himself, but Raven acted\nlike a prisoner. Raven kept shouting, \"Winter comes on. Winter comes\non.\" Raven thought that Ground-hog had power to shorten the winter.\n\nNow at that time, Ground-hog had to stay in his hole for six months;\nat that time, Ground-hog had six toes, one for each month of winter.\nThen Raven pulled one toe off each foot, so that the winter would be\nshorter. That is why the Ground-hog now has but five toes.\n\n\n\n\nRAVEN'S FEAST\n\n_Tlingit_\n\n\nRaven's mother died, so he gave a great feast, but first he went to\nthe Ground-hog people to get food. Now the Ground-hog people know when\nslides descend from the mountains, and they know that spring is then\nnear at hand, so they throw all of their winter food out of their\nburrows. Raven wanted them to do this. He said, \"There is going to be\na world snowslide.\" Ground-hog chief answered, \"Well, nobody in this\ntown knows about it.\"\n\nIn the spring when the snowslides did come, the Ground-hogs threw out\nall their green herbs, and their roots from their burrows.\n\nTherefore Raven said to the people, \"I am going to have a feast. I am\ngoing to invite the whole world.\" Raven was going to invite every one\nbecause he had heard that the Gonaqadet had a Chilkat blanket and a\nChilkat hat and he wanted to see them.[2] First he invited the\nGonaqadet and afterward the other chiefs of all the tribes in the\nworld. At the right time they came.\n\n    [2] See myth, \"Origin of the Chilkat Blanket.\"\n\n  [Illustration: Pine Falls, Atlin]\n\n  [Illustration: Elk Falls\n    _Photograph by C. L. Andrews_]\n\nWhen the Gonaqadet came in he had on his Chilkat hat with many crowns\nand his Chilkat blanket, but he was surrounded by a fog. Inside of the\nhouse, however, the fog melted away.\n\nBecause Raven had this feast, people now have to have feasts. Because\nRaven had this burial feast, when a man is going to have a burial\nfeast he has a many-crowned hat carved on the top of the dead man's\ngrave post.\n\n\n\n\nCREATION OF THE PORCUPINE\n\n_Tlingit_\n\n\nRaven went into the woods and set out to make porcupines. For quills\nhe took pieces of yellow cedar bark. These he set all the way up and\ndown the porcupine's back so that bears would be afraid of it. That is\nwhy bears never eat porcupines. Raven said to the porcupine, \"Whenever\nany one comes near you, throw your tail about.\" That is why people are\nafraid to go near a porcupine.\n\n  [Illustration: Porcupine]\n\n  [Illustration: \"Raven showed the people how to make canoes out of\n      skins\"]\n\n\n\n\nHOW RAVEN TAUGHT THE CHILKATS\n\n_Tlingit_ (_Wrangell_)\n\n\nRaven taught the Chilkats that there were Athapascan Indians. He went\nback into their country. So the Chilkat people to this day make their\nmoney by going there. Raven also taught the Chilkats how to make\nsecret storehouses outside of their villages, and he taught them how\nto put salmon into the storehouses and keep them frozen over winter.\nThat is how the Chilkats got their name, from _toil_, \"storehouse,\"\nand _xat_, \"salmon.\"\n\nRaven also showed the Chilkats the first seeds of Indian tobacco and\ntaught them how to plant it. After the tobacco was grown, he dried it\nand pounded it up with burned clam shells. The Chilkats made a great\ndeal of money by trading tobacco with the Athapascans.\n\nAfterward Raven went beyond Copper River to Yukatat. There he showed\nthe people how to make canoes out of skins.\n\n\n\n\nRAVEN'S MARRIAGE\n\n_Eskimo_ (_Bering Straits_)\n\n\nAfter Raven had lived alone a long while, he decided to get married.\nIt was late in the fall and the birds were flying southward. So Raven\nflew away in the path of the geese and birds on their way to\nsummerland. Raven stopped directly in the path.\n\nSoon Raven saw a young goose coming near. He looked down at his feet\nand called, \"Who will marry me? I am a very nice man.\" The goose flew\non.\n\nSoon a black brant passed. Raven looked down at his feet and called,\n\"Who will marry me? I am a very nice man.\" The black brant flew on.\nRaven looked after her. He said, \"What kind of people are these? They\ndo not even stop to listen.\"\n\nA duck came near. Raven hid his face and called, \"Who will marry me? I\nam a very nice man.\" The duck looked toward him, then flew on. Raven\nsaid, \"Ah, I came very near it then. I shall succeed this time.\"\n\nSoon a whole family of white-front geese came along. There were the\nparents, four brothers, and a sister. Raven called out, \"Who wants to\nmarry me? I am a fine hunter. I am young and handsome.\" The geese\nalighted just beyond him. Raven thought, \"Now I will get a wife.\"\n\nRaven saw near him a pretty white stone with a hole in it. He picked\nit up, strung it on a long grass stem, and hung it about his neck.\nThen he pushed up his beak so that it slid to the top of his head like\na mask; so he became a dark-colored young man. Then he walked up to\nthe geese. Each of the geese pushed up its bill in the same manner;\nthey became nice looking people. Raven liked the girl; he gave her the\nstone, thus choosing her for his wife, and she hung it about her own\nneck. Then all pushed down their bills again and became birds. So they\nflew south toward the summerland.\n\nThe geese flapped their wings heavily and flew slowly. Raven, on\noutspread wing, glided on ahead. The geese looked after him, saying,\n\"How light and graceful he is!\"\n\nWhen Raven became tired he said, \"We had better stop early and look\nfor a place to sleep.\" Soon they were all asleep.\n\nThe next morning the geese were awake early. They wanted to be off.\nRaven was sound asleep. Father Goose wakened him. He said, \"We must\nmake haste. It will snow here soon. We cannot wait.\"\n\nSo the geese flapped their wings and flew slowly and heavily along.\nRaven led the others with outspread wings. He was always above or\nahead of the others. They said, \"See how light and graceful he is!\"\n\nThus they travelled until they came to the seashore. They feasted upon\nthe berries on the bushes around it. Soon they were asleep.\n\nEarly the next morning the geese made ready to go without breakfast.\nRaven was hungry but the geese would not wait. As they flapped their\nwings and started, Father Goose said, \"We will stop once on the way to\nrest; then our next flight will bring us to the other shore.\" Raven\nbegan to be afraid, but he was ashamed to say so.\n\nThe geese flapped their wings slowly and flew steadily, heavily along.\nRaven, with outspread wings, glided ahead. After a long time Raven\nbegan to fall behind. His wings ached. The geese flew steadily on.\nRaven flapped heavily along, then glided on his outstretched wings.\nBut he grew more and more tired. He fell farther and farther behind.\nAt last the geese looked back. Father Goose said, \"He must be tired. I\nthought he was light and active. We will wait.\"\n\n  [Illustration: Shoup's Glacier, Valdez]\n\n  [Illustration: Birdseye View of Valdez]\n\nThe geese settled close together in the water. Raven flew slowly\nup, gasping for breath. He sank down upon their backs. When Raven had\nhis breath again, he put his hand on his breast. He said, \"I have an\narrow here from an old war. It pains me greatly. That is why I fell\nbehind.\"\n\nAfter resting, the geese rose from the water. They flapped slowly\nalong. Raven flew with them. After a while, Raven began to fall\nbehind. He grew more and more tired. At last the geese looked back.\nFather Goose said, \"He must be tired. We will wait.\" So the geese sank\ndown together in the water, while Raven flew slowly up to them and\nsank down upon their backs.\n\nRaven said, \"I have an arrowhead which pierced my heart in an old war.\nThat is why I fell behind.\" Raven's wife put her hand on his breast.\nShe could feel it beating like a hammer; she said she could not feel\nan arrowhead.\n\nSo the geese rose again from the water. They flapped slowly along. But\nRaven's wings were very tired. Before long he fell behind again. Again\nthe geese waited for him.\n\nThen the Geese Brothers began to talk among themselves. They said, \"We\ndo not believe he has an arrowhead in his heart. How could he live?\"\n\nNow this last time when they rested, they could see the far-off shore.\nFather Goose said to Raven, \"We will not wait for you again. We will\nnot rest again until we reach the shore.\"\n\nSo the geese rose from the water and flapped slowly along. Raven's\nwings seemed very heavy. The geese flew nearer and nearer the shore;\nbut Raven flew nearer and nearer the waves. As he came close to the\nwater he shrieked to his wife, \"Leave me the white stone. Throw the\nwhite stone back to me.\" It was a magic stone. Thus Raven cried. Then\nhe sank down into the water, but the geese had reached the land.\n\nRaven tried to rise from the water. His wings would not spread. Raven\ndrifted back and forth with the waves. The white caps of the surf\nburied him. Only once in a while could he get his beak above the water\nto breathe. Then a great wave cast him on the shore. Then he struggled\nup the beach. He reached some bushes where he pushed up his beak. Thus\nhe became a small, dark-colored man. Then he took off his raven coat\nand mask. He hung them on a bush to dry. Raven made a fire drill out\nof dry wood and made a fire. Thus he dried himself.\n\n\n\n\nRAVEN AND THE SEALS\n\n_Tsimshian_\n\n\nAs Raven travelled along, he came to a house where a man lived near\nthe edge of the water. Raven said to him, \"I will be your friend.\"\n\nThe man said, \"That is good.\"\n\nNow the beach in front of the house was full of seals. Raven ate them\nall during two nights. He ate all the seals in front of the house.\nThen he was hungry again.\n\nRaven killed the man. Then he used his canoe and harpoon. Raven used\nthose. He speared four seals. Then he returned to the shore. He took\nthe seals out of the canoe and began cutting wood. Then he built a\nfire and placed stones in it in order to heat them. Afterward he put\nthe seals on a pile of hot stones. He cooked the four seals and\ncovered them with skunk cabbage leaves.\n\nRaven then raised the cover and took out a seal. He ate it. Then he\nstretched out his hand and took another seal.\n\nNow there was Stump sitting nearby. Raven held the seal in his hands\nand said to the stump, \"Don't you envy me, Stump?\" Then he went into\nthe woods. At once Stump arose and sat down on the hole in which the\nseals were steaming. The seals were right under Stump. Then Raven\nreturned, carrying leaves of skunk cabbage. When he saw Stump sitting\non his seals, he cried. He was much troubled because he was hungry.\nThen he took a stick and dug the ground. He cried all the time he was\ndigging. He found a little bit of meat and ate that. But he could not\ndo anything. He cried all the time because he was so hungry.\n\n  [Illustration: Masks\n    _From drawing loaned by the Smithsonian Institution_]\n\n  [Illustration: Dolls\n    _From drawing loaned by the Smithsonian Institution_]\n\n\n\n\nRAVEN AND PITCH\n\n_Tsimshian_\n\n\nRaven went travelling through the woods until he came to the house of\nLittle Pitch. Little Pitch was rich, and invited him in. When Raven\nhad eaten enough, he slept. When he awakened, he said they would go to\ncatch halibut.\n\nLittle Pitch was willing, but said, \"It is not good for me to be out\nafter sunrise. I must return while it is still chilly. I shall have\nenough by that time.\"\n\nRaven said, \"I shall do whatever you say, Chief.\"\n\nLittle Pitch said, \"Well!\"\n\nThen they started for the fishing place. They fished all night. When\nthe sun rose Little Pitch wanted to go ashore.\n\nRaven said, \"I enjoy the fishing. Lie down in the bow of the canoe and\ncover yourself with a mat.\"\n\nLittle Pitch did so. After a while Raven called, \"Little Pitch!\"\n\nHe answered, \"Heh!\"\n\nAfter a while Raven called again, \"Little Pitch!\"\n\nHe answered again in a loud voice.\n\nAgain after some time, Raven called again, \"Little Pitch!\"\n\nThen Little Pitch's answer was very weak because the sun was getting\nwarm.\n\nNow Raven hauled up his line and paddled home. He pretended to paddle\nhard, but he only put his paddles into the water edgewise. Again he\ncalled, \"Little Pitch!\"\n\n\"Heh!\" Little Pitch replied, but his voice was very weak. The sun was\ngetting still hotter. Then Raven knew that Little Pitch was melting.\n\nBehold! Pitch came out and ran over the halibut in the boat. Therefore\nthe halibut is black on one side.\n\nThen Raven took the pitch and mended his boat with it.\n\n\n\n\nRAVEN'S DANCING BLANKET\n\n_Tsimshian_\n\n\nOne day Raven put on the shaman's blanket of his grandfather. Then he\nwent away; he strayed off. He was very poor and he tore his dancing\nblanket. Then he caught ravens. He used anything to kill the ravens.\nThen he took the skins of the ravens and tied them together. Then he\nwalked about in them, dressed very well.\n\nNow he saw a good shaman's blanket like the one he had before. He tore\nhis raven's blanket. He took the dancing blanket that hung before him.\nBehold! it was not a shaman's blanket. It was only the lichens on a\ntree. Now he saw it was only lichens. He sat down and wept. He took\nhis old raven's blanket and tied it together. Then once more he went\non, weeping with hunger.\n\n\n\n\nRAVEN AND THE GULLS\n\n_Tsimshian_\n\n\nRaven did another thing. He induced the olachen to come to Nass River.\nHe said to them, \"Go up on both sides of the river.\" They did so. Then\nRaven's canoe was quite full of fish. He had not used his rake, but\nthe whole shoal of olachen jumped into his canoe.\n\nThen he camped at Crab-apple place. He clapped on the top of the\nstone. Then very slippery became the top of that stone that the\nolachen should not be lost. He put olachen on spits to roast them.\n\nRaven called, \"Little Gull!\"\n\nThen many gulls came. They ate all the olachen of Raven. They said,\n\"_Qana, qana, qana, qana!_\" They talked much while they ate all the\nolachen of Raven.\n\nThen Raven was sad. Therefore he took the gulls and threw them into\nthe fireplace. So the tips of their wings have been black, ever since\nthat day.\n\n\n\n\nTHE LAND OTTER\n\n_Tlingit_ (_Wrangell_)\n\n\nRaven said to Land Otter, \"You will live in the water just as well as\non land.\"\n\nRaven and Land Otter were good friends, so they went halibut-fishing\ntogether. Land Otter was a good fisherman. Raven said to Land Otter,\n\"You will always have your house on a point where there are breezes\nfrom all sides. Whenever a canoe with people capsizes, you will save\nthe people and make them your friends.\" That is how the Land Otter Man\nwas created: because Raven told this to Land Otter.\n\nIf people who are taken away by Land Otters are brought back by their\nfriends, they become shamans. It was through the Land Otters that\nshamans were first known. Shamans, by means of Land Otter spirits, can\nsee each other, even though others cannot.\n\n\n\n\nRAVEN AND COOT\n\n_Athapascan_ (_Upper Yukon_)\n\n\nA long time ago, Raven wanted all the birds to look well, so he\npainted them. Raven painted Coot last. Then Coot began to paint Raven,\nwho wanted many bright colors. So Coot painted Raven with bright\ncolors with one hand, but in the other hand he hid charcoal. When\nRaven looked away, Coot quickly blackened all the bright colors with\ncharcoal. Then Raven was angry and he chased Coot. But Coot ran too\nquickly, so Raven threw white mud at him,--white mud which spattered\nover Coot. Therefore Coot had white spots on his head and back. But\nCoot flew away and left Raven all black.\n\n  [Illustration: Eskimo Boys]\n\n  [Illustration: \"Marmot put out the tip of his nose\"\n    _Photograph by C. L. Andrews_]\n\n\n\n\nRAVEN AND MARMOT\n\n_Eskimo_ (_Bering Straits_)\n\n\nOnce Raven was flying over a reef near the seashore, near seabirds\nthat were perched on the rocks. Seabirds cried to him, \"Oh, you\noffal-eater! Oh, you carrion-eater! Oh, you black one!\" Raven turned\nand flew far away crying, \"_Qaq! qaq! qaq!_\" He flew far away across\nthe great water until he came to a mountain on the other side.\n\nRaven saw just in front of him the hole of Marmot. Then Raven stood by\nthe door watching, until Marmot came home, bringing food. But Marmot\ncould not enter his hole because Raven stood in the way. Marmot asked\nRaven to stand to one side. Raven said, \"No. They called me\n'carrion-eater.' Now I will show them I am not. I will eat you.\"\n\nMarmot said, \"All right; but I have heard that you are a very fine\ndancer. Now, if you will dance, I will sing. Then you can eat me, but\nlet me see you dance before you eat me.\"\n\nRaven agreed to dance. Then Marmot sang,\n\n    \"Oh, Raven, Raven, Raven, how well you dance!\n    Oh, Raven, Raven, Raven, how well you dance!\"\n\nRaven danced. Then they stopped to rest.\n\nMarmot said, \"I like your dancing. Now I will sing again, so shut your\neyes and dance your best.\"\n\nSo Raven shut his eyes and danced clumsily around. Marmot sang,\n\n    \"Oh, Raven, Raven, Raven, what a graceful dancer!\n    Oh, Raven, Raven, Raven, what a fool you are!\"\n\nBecause Marmot, with a quick run, had darted between Raven's legs and\nwas safe in his hole.\n\nWhen Marmot was safe in his hole, he put out the tip of his nose and\nmocked Raven. He said, \"_Chi-kik-kik, chi-kik-kik, chi-kik-kik!_ You\nare the greatest fool I ever saw. What a comical figure you cut when\ndancing! I could hardly keep from laughing. Just look at me--see how\nfat I am. Don't you wish you could eat me?\"\n\nRaven, in a rage, flew far away.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BRINGING OF THE LIGHT BY RAVEN\n\n_Eskimo_ (_Lower Yukon_)\n\n\nIn the first days, the sun and moon were in the sky. Then the sun and\nmoon were taken away and people had only the light of the stars. Even\nthe magic of the shamans failed to bring back the light.\n\nNow there was an orphan boy in the village who sat with the humble\npeople over the entrance way of the kashim. He was despised by every\none. When the magic of the shamans failed to bring back the sun and\nmoon into the sky the boy mocked them. He said, \"What fine shamans you\nmust be. You cannot bring back the light, but I can.\" Then the shamans\nwere angry and beat that boy and drove him out of the kashim. Now this\nboy was like any other boy until he put on a raven coat he had. Then\nhe became Raven.\n\nNow the boy went to his aunt's house. He told her the shamans had\nfailed to bring back the light, and they had beaten him when he mocked\nthem. The boy said, \"Where are the sun and moon?\"\n\nThe aunt said, \"I do not know.\"\n\nThe boy said, \"I am sure you know. Look what a finely sewed coat you\nwear. You could not sew it that way if you did not know where the\nlight is.\"\n\nThus they argued.\n\nThen the aunt said, \"If you wish to find the light, go far to the\nsouth. Go on snowshoes. You will know the place when you get there.\"\n\nThe boy put on his snowshoes and set off toward the south. Many days\nhe travelled and the darkness was always the same. When he had gone a\nvery long way he saw far in front of him a ray of light. Then the boy\nhurried on. As he went farther the light showed again, plainer than\nbefore. Then it vanished for a time. Thus it kept appearing and\nvanishing.\n\nAt last the boy came to a large hill. One side was brightly lighted;\nthe other side was black as night. Close to the hill was a hut. A man\nwas shovelling snow from in front of it. The man tossed the snow high\nin the air; then the light could not be seen until the snow fell. Then\nthe man tossed the snow again. So the light kept appearing and\ndisappearing. Close to the house was a large ball of fire.\n\nThe boy stopped and began to plan how to steal the ball of light.\n\nThen the boy walked up to the man. He said, \"Why do you throw up the\nsnow? It hides the light from our village.\"\n\n  [Illustration: Ice Hummocks on Bering Sea\n    _Photograph by B. B. Dobbs_]\n\n  [Illustration: Snow Shovel, Pick, Rake, and Maul\n    _From photograph loaned by the Smithsonian Institution_]\n\nThe man said, \"I am not hiding the light. I am cleaning away the\nsnow. Who are you? Where did you come from?\"\n\nThe boy said, \"It is so dark at our village I do not want to stay\nthere. I came here to live with you.\"\n\n\"All the time?\" asked the man.\n\n\"Yes,\" said the boy.\n\nThe man said, \"All right. Come into the house with me.\" Then he\ndropped his shovel on the ground. He stooped down to lead the way\nthrough the underground passage into the house. He let the curtain\nfall in front of the door as he passed, because he thought the boy was\nclose beside him.\n\nThen the boy caught up the ball of light. He put it in the turned-up\nflap of his fur coat. Then he picked up the shovel and ran away toward\nthe north. He ran until his feet were tired. Then he put on his raven\ncoat and flew away. He flew rapidly to the north. Raven could hear the\nman shriek behind him. The man was pursuing him. But Raven flew\nfaster. Then the man cried, \"Keep the light; but give me my shovel.\"\n\nRaven said, \"No, you cannot have your shovel. You made our village\ndark.\" So Raven flew faster.\n\nNow as Raven flew, he broke off a little piece of the light. This made\nday. Then he went on a long time in darkness, until he broke off\nanother piece of light. Thus it was day again. So as Raven flew to\nthe village he broke off the pieces of light. When Raven reached the\nkashim of his own village he threw away the last piece. He went into\nthe kashim and said to the shamans, \"I have brought back the light. It\nwill be light and then dark, so as to make day and night.\"\n\nAfter this Raven went out upon the ice because his home was on the\nseacoast. Then a great wind arose, and the ice drifted with him across\nthe sea to the land on the other side.\n\nThus Raven brought back the light. It is night and day, as he said it\nwould be. But sometimes the nights are very long because Raven\ntravelled a long way without throwing away a piece of the light.\n\n\n\n\nDAYLIGHT ON THE NASS RIVER\n\n_Tlingit_ (_Wrangell_)\n\n\nWhen Raven had grown quite large he walked down the bank of the Nass\nRiver one day, until he heard the noise people were making in the\ndarkness as they fished for olachen. Now all the people in the world\nlived at one place on the Nass River. They had heard that\nRaven-at-the-head-of-Nass had something called \"daylight.\" They were\nafraid of it and talked about it a great deal.\n\nRaven shouted to the fishermen, \"Why do you make so much noise? If you\nmake so much noise I will bring the daylight here.\"\n\nEight canoe-loads of people were fishing there. They said, \"You are\nnot Nas-ca-ki-yel. You are not Raven-at-the-head-of-Nass. How can you\nhave the daylight?\" They kept on making much noise.\n\nThen Raven opened the box and daylight shot over the world like\nlightning. They made still more noise. So Raven opened the box wide\nand there was daylight everywhere.\n\nThen the people were frightened. Some ran into the woods and some\njumped into the water. Those that had clothes of fur seal skins jumped\ninto the water; they became seals. Those which had clothing of bear\nskins, marten skins, and wolf skins, ran into the woods and turned\ninto grizzly bears, martens, and wolves.\n\n  [Illustration: Eskimo in Waterproof Coat made of Walrus Intestines\n    _Copyrighted by F. H. Nowell_]\n\n  [Illustration: \"Raven said to Grouse, 'You know that Sea-lion is\n      your grandchild'\"]\n\n\n\n\nTHE NAMING OF THE BIRDS\n\n_Tlingit_ (_Wrangell_)\n\n\nNow Raven went around among the birds, teaching them. He said to\nGrouse, \"You are to live in a place where it is wintry. You will\nalways live in a place high up so you will have plenty of breezes.\"\nThen Raven gave Grouse four white pebbles. He said, \"You will never\nstarve so long as you have these four pebbles.\"\n\nRaven also said to Grouse, \"You know that Sea-lion is your grandchild.\nYou must get four more pebbles and give them to him.\" That is why the\nsea-lion has four large pebbles. It throws these at hunters. If one\nstrikes a person, it kills him. From this story it is known that\nGrouse and Sea-lion understand each other.\n\nRaven said to Ptarmigan, \"You will be the maker of snowshoes. You will\nknow how to travel in snow.\" It was from these birds that the\nAthapascans learned how to make snowshoes, and how to put the lacings\non.\n\nRaven came next to Wild Canary, that lives all the year around in the\nTlingit country. He said, \"You will be head among the very small\nbirds. You are not to live on the same food as human beings. Keep away\nfrom them.\"\n\nThen Raven said to Robin, \"You will make people happy by your whistle.\nYou will be a good whistler.\"\n\nThen Raven said to Kun, the Flicker, \"You will be chief among the\nbirds of your size. You will not be found in all places. You will\nseldom be seen.\"\n\nRaven said to Lugan, a bird that lives far out on the ocean, \"You will\nseldom be seen near shore. You will live on lonely rocks, far out on\nthe ocean.\"\n\nWhen Raven came to Snipes, he said, \"You will always go in flocks. You\nwill never go out alone.\" Therefore we always see snipes in flocks.\n\nRaven said to Asq-aca-tci, a small bird with yellow-green plumage,\n\"You will always go in flocks. You will always be on the tree tops.\nThat is where your food is.\"\n\nRaven said to a very small bird, Kotlai, the size of a butterfly, \"You\nwill be liked. You will be seen only to give good luck. People will\nhear your voice, but seldom see you.\"\n\nThen to Blue-jay Raven said, \"You will have very fine clothes. You\nwill be a good talker. People will take colors from your clothes.\"\n\n  [Illustration: Figurehead on Indian Canoe]\n\n  [Illustration: \"Raven said to Crow, 'You will make lots of noise.\n      You will be great talkers'\"]\n\nThen Raven said to Xunkaha, \"You will never be seen unless the\nnorth wind is going to blow.\" That is what the name Xunkaha means.\n\nTo Crow, Raven said, \"You will make lots of noise. You will be great\ntalkers.\" That is why, when you hear one crow, you hear a lot of\nothers right afterward.\n\nRaven said to Gusyiadul, \"You will be seen only when warm weather is\ncoming. Never come near except when warm weather is coming.\"\n\nTo Humming-bird Raven said, \"People will enjoy seeing you. If a person\nsees you once, he will want to see you again.\"\n\nRaven said to Eagle, \"You will be very powerful and above all birds.\nYour eyesight will be very good. It will be easy for you to get what\nyou want.\" Then Raven put talons on the eagle and said they would be\nuseful to him.\n\nThus Raven taught all the birds.\n\n\n\n\nTHE ORIGIN OF THE WINDS\n\n_Tlingit_\n\n\nNow Raven went off to a certain place and created West Wind. Raven\nsaid to it, \"You shall be my son's daughter. No matter how hard you\nblow, you shall hurt nobody.\"\n\nRaven also made South Wind. When South Wind climbs on top of a rock it\nnever ceases to blow.\n\nRaven made North Wind and on top of a mountain he made a house for it\nwith ice hanging down the sides. Then he went in and said to North\nWind, \"Your back is white.\" That is why mountains are white with snow.\n\n  [Illustration: \"Raven said to North Wind, 'Your back is white'\" (On\n      the Road to Fairbanks)]\n\n  [Illustration: Old Russian Blockhouse, at Sitka\n    _Photograph by C. L. Andrews_]\n\n\n\n\nDURATION OF LIFE\n\n_Tlingit_ (_Wrangell_)\n\n\nRaven-at-the-head-of-Nass tried to make human beings, at the same\ntime, out of a rock and out of a leaf. But he created human beings out\nof the leaf first. Then Raven showed a leaf to people. He said, \"You\nsee this leaf. You are to be like it. When it falls off the branch and\nrots there is nothing left of it.\"\n\nThat is why there is death in the world. If men had come from the hard\nrocks there would be no death. Years ago, when people were getting\nold, they would say, \"It is unlucky that we did not come from the\nrock. We are made from leaves; therefore we must die.\"\n\n\n\n\nGHOST TOWN\n\n_Tlingit_ (_Wrangell_)\n\n\nOnce Raven came to a large town which was deserted. Every one seemed\nto have died. Raven entered the largest house, but he felt some one\ncontinually pushing him away. Yet he saw no one there. It was a ghost\nhouse. The place was called Ghost Town.\n\nRaven then loaded a canoe with provisions from the empty houses and\nstarted to paddle away. He did not notice that a long rope was\nfastened to the stern of the canoe and to a tree on the shore. When\nRaven had paddled the length of the rope, the canoe was pulled right\nback to the beach. All the provisions were carried back to the houses.\nYet Raven could see no one. Then a ghost dropped a large stone on\nRaven's foot. This made him very lame.\n\n\n\n\nHOW RAVEN STOLE THE LAKE\n\n_Haida_ (_Queen Charlotte Islands_)\n\n\nAfter Raven had made the crows black because they had eaten his\nsalmon--crows had always been white before that, they say--he met some\npeople with feathers on their heads and gambling-stick bags on their\nbacks. They said, \"What is the matter?\"\n\nRaven said, \"Oh, my father and mother are dead.\"\n\nThen they started home with him. These were the Beavers, they say.\nThey were going out to gamble, but turned back on account of him.\n\nThe next morning they put their gambling-stick bags upon their backs\nand started off again. Raven flew around behind a screen. Lo, a lake\nlay there! In a creek flowing from it was a fish trap. The fish trap\nwas so full of salmon it looked as if some one were shaking it. There\nwere plenty of salmon in it and in the lake were very small canoes\npassing each other. Several points of land were red with cranberries.\n\nRaven pulled out the fish trap, folded it together, and laid it down\nat the edge of the lake. Then he rolled it up with the lake and\nhouse, put them under his arm, and pulled himself up into a tree that\nstood close by. They were not heavy for his arm. He had rolled the\nlake up just as though it were a blanket. Raven sat in the tree\nhalf-way up.\n\nAfter a while some one came. His house and the lake were not there.\nAfter he had looked about him for some time, he looked up. Lo, there\nsat Raven with their property!\n\nThen the Beavers went quickly to that tree. They began cutting it with\ntheir teeth. When it began to fall, Raven went to another one. When\nthat began to fall, he went to another. After the Beavers had cut down\nmany trees in this way, they gave it up. They then travelled about for\na long time, they say. After a long time, they found a lake and\nsettled down on it.\n\nThen after Raven had travelled around for a while with the lake, he\ncame to a large open place. He unrolled the lake there. There it lay.\nHe did not let the fish trap or the house go. He kept them to teach\nthe Seaward (mainland) people and the Shoreward (Queen Charlotte\nIslands) people, they say.\n\n  [Illustration: \"Raven unrolled the lake there. There it lay\"]\n\n  [Illustration: \"The man-spirit was inside the Skana\"]\n\n\n\n\nTHE KILLER WHALE\n\n_Haida_\n\n\nA long time ago, a canoe-load of Indians were out seal-hunting. The\nweather was calm and the sea was smooth. Then a killer whale kept near\nthe canoe and the young men threw stones at it. They hit the fin of\nthe killer whale with several stones. Then the whale went to the\nbeach. Soon the men in the canoe saw a smoke rising from the beach.\nThey went to see who was there. When they reached the shore, there was\nnot the Skana, the killer whale, but a man cooking some food.\n\nThe man said, \"Why did you throw stones at my canoe? You have broken\nit. Now go get cedar withes in the woods and mend it.\"\n\nSo the men mended the broken canoe. When they had finished, the man\nsaid, \"Turn your backs to the water. Cover your heads with your fur\nrobes. Don't look until I call you.\" They all did as he told them.\nThey heard the canoe grate on the beach as it was hauled down into the\nwater. Then the man said, \"Look now.\"\n\nThey looked and there was the canoe in the water. But when the canoe\ncame to the second breaker, it went under. When it came to the\nsurface, behold!--there was no canoe. There was a Skana--a killer\nwhale. The man-spirit was inside the Skana.\n\n\n\n\nORIGIN OF THE CHILKAT BLANKET[3]\n\n_Tsimshian_\n\n    [3] Although the patterns of the Chilkat blankets vary, nearly\n    all of them show, in symbolic weaving, the bear with his heart\n    between his eyes, Gonaqadet the sea spirit, the boy, and the\n    father of the chief's daughter. In some of them also, the raven\n    and the thunderbird figure. Only the Indians can really\n    interpret the various weavings, and their interpretations vary.\n\n\nIn the days of the animal people, long, long ago, all the animals were\ndivided into different tribes. In those days also, animals could take\noff their furry skins; then they looked just like people.\n\nNow in those days long ago, a group of women once went out to search\nfor wild celery in the early spring. They found it growing here and\nthere, and spent all day gathering it. Then they tied it in bundles\nand started home with it on their backs.\n\nNow among these women was the daughter of a chief. She picked twigs as\nshe followed in the trail in the evening light, and then slipped into\nthe footprints of a brown bear. The jolt loosened her pack. She\nstopped to readjust her bundle of celery. She said sharp words about\nbears. Then she hastened on to rejoin her companions who were already\nlost in the dusk.\n\nSuddenly the chief's daughter heard footsteps behind her. A handsome\nyoung man joined her. Soon he asked her to be his wife. The chief's\ndaughter consented, so she went home with him. They walked far, far\ninto the woods until they came to Bear village. Then the chief's\ndaughter knew that her lover belonged to the Bear tribe.\n\nAfter a while the chief's daughter became unhappy. She wanted to go\nback to her father's home, but the Bear tribe watched her so she could\nnot escape.\n\nOne day chief's daughter reached the shore. Out on the water she saw a\nfisherman in a boat, and she called to him to rescue her. The\nfisherman touched his canoe with his killing club and in one bound it\nsprang to the shore, just as the Bear and some of his tribe appeared.\nThe fisherman began to fight Bear, but he could not kill him. Then the\nchief's daughter told him to strike Bear between the eyes, because his\nheart was there. So Bear was killed.\n\nThe fisherman took the chief's daughter in his canoe. But behold!--he\nwas no fisherman at all. It was Gonaqadet, the spirit of the sea. So\nthe woman married Gonaqadet, who was very kind to her.\n\n  [Illustration: A Chilkat Blanket]\n\n  [Illustration: Alaskan Baskets\n    _Copyrighted by F. H. Nowell_]\n\nAfter a long while, the chief's daughter became unhappy again. She\nwanted her son to be trained by her people, as the custom was. Then\nGonaqadet permitted her to return to earth with the boy, but he\nmade her promise that she would weave him a blanket telling of her\nlife and his courtship. So the woman returned to earth from the sea.\nThen she wove for Gonaqadet the blanket. This was the first Chilkat\nblanket.\n\nNow one day Yel, the Raven, wandering along the seashore, entered a\ngreat cavern under the sea. There he found Gonaqadet, wearing a\nbeautiful Chilkat blanket. Gonaqadet welcomed Raven, and offered him\nfood. He placed food before him in two long carved platters. After\nRaven had feasted, Gonaqadet taught him many dances and gave him a\ncopy of the blanket pattern. Then Raven taught the people how to weave\nthe blankets, but he taught the Tsimshian tribe first. Afterward the\nChilkats learned how to weave them.\n\n\n\n\nORIGIN OF LAND AND PEOPLE\n\n_Eskimo_ (_Lower Yukon_)\n\n\nIn the beginning there was water over all the earth. There were no\npeople. It was very cold. The water was covered with ice, and the ice\npieces ground together, making long ridges and hummocks.\n\nThen a man came from the other side of the great water and stopped on\nthe ice hills. He took for his wife a wolf. Then their children grew\nup. Each pair spoke a different language from that of their parents,\nor from that of their brothers and sisters. So each pair went out in a\ndifferent direction and built houses on the ice hills. Then the snow\nmelted and ran down the hillsides. It scooped out ravines and river\nbeds and made the earth. Thus the earth was made and the people. That\nis why so many different languages are spoken.\n\n  [Illustration: Keystone Canyon]\n\n  [Illustration: The \"S\" Glacier\n    _Photograph by C. L. Andrews_]\n\n\n\n\nCREATION OF THE WORLD\n\n_Athapascan_ (_Upper Yukon_)\n\n\nA long time ago, water flowed all over the world. There was one family\nand they made a big raft. Then they put animals on the raft.\n\nNow there was no land but all water, so the people wanted to make a\nworld. The man tied a cord around a beaver and sent him down to find\nthe bottom of the water. But the beaver got only half-way and drowned.\nThen the man tied a string around a muskrat and sent him down. Muskrat\ndrowned, but he reached the bottom and got a little mud on his hands.\nThen the man took the mud out of the muskrat's hands into his palm. He\nlet it dry and then crumbled it to dust. Then he blew the dust out of\nhis palm all over the waters. This made the world.\n\n\n\n\nORIGIN OF MANKIND\n\n_Eskimo_ (_Bering Straits_)\n\n\nLong, long ago, a man and a woman came down from the sky and landed on\none of the Diomede Islands. They lived there a long while, but they\nhad no children. At last one day the man took some walrus ivory, and\nfrom this he carved five dolls, just like people. Then he took some\nwood and made from it five more dolls. Then, one night, when all were\nfinished, he set them off to one side, all ten in a row. The next\nmorning the dolls had become people. The ivory dolls became men,\ntherefore they are brave and hardy; but the wooden dolls became women,\ntherefore they are soft and timid. From these ten dolls came all the\npeople of the Diomede Islands.\n\n\n\n\nTHE FIRST WOMAN\n\n_Eskimo_ (_Bering Straits_)\n\n\nLong, long ago there were many men living in the northland, but there\nwas no woman among them. Far away in the southland lived one woman. At\nlast one of the young men in the northland travelled south to the home\nof the woman and married her. He thought, \"I have a wife, while the\nson of the headsman has none.\"\n\nNow the son of the headsman had also started to travel to the home of\nthe woman in the southland. He stood in the passage to the house and\nheard the husband talking to himself. So he waited until all the\npeople were asleep. Then the son of the headsman crept into the house\nand began to drag the woman away. He caught her by her shoulders.\n\nThen the husband was awakened. He ran to the passage and caught the\nwoman by her feet. So the men pulled until they pulled the woman in\ntwo. The son of the headsman carried the upper part of her body to the\nnorth. Then they began to carve wood to make each woman complete. Thus\nthere were now two women.\n\nThe woman in the south was a good dancer; but she could not do fine\nneedlework in sewing the furs, because her hands were wooden. The\nwoman in the north was a poor dancer, because her feet were wooden,\nbut she could sew with fine stitches in the furs. So all the women of\nthe north are skilful with their hands, and all the women of the south\nare good dancers, even to this day. Thus you may know that the tale is\ntrue.\n\n  [Illustration: The Yukon, Taken at Midnight in June\n    _Photograph by C. L. Andrews_]\n\n  [Illustration: Islands in Sitka Sound\n    _Photograph by C. L. Andrews_]\n\n\n\n\nTHE FIRST TEARS\n\n_Eskimo_ (_Bering Straits_)\n\n\nOne day Man hunted for seals along the seashore. Many seals were\nthere, but as Man crept carefully up to them, they slipped into the\nwater. At last only one seal was left on the rocks. Man crept up to it\ncarefully, but just as he was about to catch the seal, it slipped into\nthe water.\n\nThen Man stood up. His breast was full of a strange feeling. Water\nbegan to drop from his eyes. He put up his hand and caught the drops;\nthus he saw that they were really water. Then loud cries came from his\nbreast and more water came out of his eyes. Now Man's son saw him\ncoming. He called to his wife that Man was making a strange noise. So\nthey went down to the seashore. They were surprised to see water\ncoming out of his eyes. Then Man told them he had tried to catch\nseals. He had crept carefully up, but they slipped into the water.\nThus all the seals had escaped. Then water began to come out of the\neyes of the son and his wife. Loud cries came from their breasts. In\nthis way people first learned to cry. Afterward, Man and his son\nkilled a seal; then they made snares for more seals from its skin.\n\n\n\n\nORIGIN OF THE WINDS\n\n_Eskimo_ (_Lower Yukon_)\n\n\nA long time ago a man and his wife had no children. So one night the\nman went out of the house to find a solitary tree that grew on the\ntundra. First he saw a long track of bright light, like that made by\nthe moon shining on the snow. It led across the tundra. So far, far\nalong the trail of bright light travelled the man until he saw a\nbeautiful tree, all alone, shining in the bright light. He took out\nhis hunting knife, cut off part of the trunk, and went home again over\nthe bright trail.\n\nWhen the man reached home, he carved a boy doll from the wood and his\nwife made fur clothes for it. Then the man carved little wood dishes\nfrom the scraps of wood. The wife set the doll on the bench opposite\nthe entrance, in the place of honor. She placed before it food and\nwater.\n\nThat night, when all was dark, they heard low whistling sounds. The\nwoman said, \"Do you hear that? It was the doll.\" When they made a\nlight, they saw that the doll had eaten the food and drunk the water.\nThey saw that its eyes moved.\n\nIn the morning, the doll was gone. The man and his wife could not find\nit, but they saw the tracks of the boy doll leading away from the\ndoor. The tracks followed the direction of the trail of light which\nthe man had followed the night before. So the man and his wife went\ninto the house.\n\nBut Doll followed the bright path until he came to the edge of day,\nwhere the sky comes down to the earth. There were holes in the sky\nwall covered with gut-skin.\n\nIn the east, Doll saw the gut-skin cover over the hole in the sky wall\nbulging inward. Doll stopped and said, \"It is very quiet in here. I\nthink a little wind will make it better.\" Doll drew his knife and cut\nthe cover loose about the edge of the hole. A strong wind blew\nthrough, bringing with it a live reindeer. Looking through the hole,\nDoll saw another world, just like the earth. Then he drew the cover\nloosely over the hole, and said to East Wind, \"Sometimes blow hard,\nsometimes lightly. Sometimes do not blow at all.\"\n\nDoll walked along the sky wall to another opening at the southeast.\nThe gut-skin cover bulged inward. Then Doll cut the cover loose at the\nedges, and a great gale swept in. It brought reindeer, trees, and\nbushes. Then Doll fastened the cover lightly and said, \"Sometimes\nblow hard, sometimes lightly. Sometimes do not blow at all.\"\n\n  [Illustration: Tool and Trinket Boxes\n    _From photograph loaned by the Smithsonian Institution_]\n\n  [Illustration: Spoons and Ladles\n    _From photograph loaned by the Smithsonian Institution_]\n\nThen Doll came to a hole in the south, and the gut-skin cover bulged\ninward. He cut the edges loose and a hot wind rushed in. It brought\nrain, and spray from the great salt sea which lay beyond the sky hole\non that side. Then Doll closed the opening lightly and said to South\nWind, \"Sometimes blow hard, sometimes lightly. Sometimes do not blow\nat all.\"\n\nDoll walked along the sky wall to the west. There he saw another\nopening, covered by gut-skin. So he cut the edges loose, and West Wind\nswept in, bringing with him rain, with sleet and spray from the gray\nocean. Then Doll fastened the edges of the gut-skin loosely, and said\nto West Wind, \"Sometimes blow hard, sometimes lightly. Sometimes do\nnot blow at all.\"\n\nSo Doll passed along the sky wall to the northwest. When he cut the\nedges of the gut-skin covering, a blast of cold wind rushed in,\nbringing snow and ice. Doll became cold; he almost froze. Therefore\nDoll closed the hole quickly, saying, \"Sometimes blow hard, sometimes\nlightly. Sometimes do not blow at all.\"\n\nAgain Doll went along the sky wall to the north, but it became so cold\nhe had to leave it. So he went toward the centre of the earth, away\nfrom the sky wall, until he saw the opening to the north. Then he went\nto the hole in the sky wall, but so great was the cold that Doll\nfeared to cut the strings. He waited. Then he cut the strings quickly.\nThe terrible North Wind swept in, bringing with him great masses of\nsnow and ice. North Wind strewed the snow and ice all over the earth\nplain. Then Doll closed the hole very quickly, yet he fastened it\nloosely. He said to North Wind, \"Sometimes blow hard, sometimes\nlightly. Sometimes do not blow at all.\"\n\nThen Doll travelled into the midst of the earth plain. He looked up\nand saw the sky arch, resting upon long, slender poles, like a tepee,\nbut of beautiful blue material. Then Doll went back to the village\nwhere he was made.\n\n\n\n\nORIGIN OF THE WIND\n\n_Athapascan_ (_Upper Yukon_)\n\n\nA long time ago, when all were men, there was no wind. Now Bear used\nto go about with a bag on his back. The animal people wanted to know\nwhat was in the bag. Many times they asked Bear but he would not tell\nthem. One day Bear fell asleep with the bag on his back. Then a man\nsaw him asleep. The man cut the bag and found the wind in it.\nTherefore the wind escaped and has never since been caught.\n\n\n\n\nNORTH WIND\n\n_Tlingit_ (_Wrangell_)\n\n\nAfter Raven left the Land Otters, he came to Taku. There North Wind\nlived in a cliff at the mouth of the inlet. Raven stayed there with\nhim.\n\nNow North Wind is very proud and shines all over with what the Indians\nthink are icicles. So the Indians never say anything against North\nWind, no matter how long it blows, because the spirits give it power.\nYears ago people thought that there were spirits in all the large\ncliffs upon the islands and would pray to those cliffs. This was\nbecause Raven once lived in this cliff with North Wind.\n\n  [Illustration: Skagway River, from Porcupine Hill]\n\n  [Illustration: Middle Lake and Bridge on the '97 Trail\n    _Copyrighted by C. L. Andrews_]\n\n\n\n\nEAST WIND AND NORTH WIND\n\n_Tlingit_\n\n\nA high-caste man married first the daughter of East Wind. When he\nheard of the pretty daughter of North Wind he married her also. He\ntook her back to the village where his first wife lived.\n\nThen people said to the daughter of East Wind, \"There is a pretty\nwoman here. Her clothes sparkle all over. They make a tingling noise.\"\n\nThe daughter of East Wind was very jealous. She made the east wind to\nblow. It began to grow warm and cloudy. Then the daughter of North\nWind lost all her sparkling clothing. The icicles and the frost melted\naway. Then the daughter of North Wind was no longer beautiful.\n\n\n\n\nCREATION OF THE KILLER WHALE\n\n_Tlingit_\n\n\nA man named Natsayane, belonging to the Seal People, made the killer\nwhales. He first tried to carve them out of red cedar, then out of the\nhemlock, and then out of all other kinds of woods. He took each set of\nfigures to the beach and tried to make them swim; but they only\nfloated on the surface. Last of all he tried yellow cedar. Then the\nkiller whales swam.\n\nNatsayane on one marked white lines from the corners of its mouth back\nto its head. He said, \"This is going to be the white-mouthed killer\nwhale.\"\n\nWhen Natsayane put them into the water, he said, \"Go up into the\ninlets. Go up into the head of the bays. Hunt for seal, for halibut,\nand for things under the sea. Do not hurt human beings.\" Before this\npeople did not know what a killer whale was.\n\nWhen the Killer whale tribe start north, the Seal People say, \"Here\ncomes another battle. Here come the warriors.\" They say this because\nthe killer whales are always after seals. The killer whale which\nalways swims ahead is the red killer whale, called the \"killer whale\nspear\" because it is long and slender.\n\n\n\n\nFUTURE LIFE\n\n_Tlingit_ (_Wrangell_)\n\n\nAfter Raven had created people, a man died. Raven came into his house\nand saw his wife and children weeping around him. Raven raised with\nboth hands the blanket of the dead man and held it over his body. So\nhe brought him back to life.\n\nNow Raven and the man both told the woman there was no death. She\nwould not believe them. Then Raven said to her, \"Lie down and go to\nsleep.\"\n\nWhen the woman slept she saw a wide trail. There were many people on\nit and many fierce animals. Good people had to pass this trail in\norder to live again. At the end of the trail there was a broad river,\nand a canoe came to her from the other side. When she crossed the\nriver, people came to her. They said, \"You had better go back. We are\nnot in a good place. We are hungry here and can get no water to drink.\nWe are cold.\"\n\nThat is why people burn the bodies of the dead and place food in the\nfire for them to eat. If they were not burned their spirits would be\ncold. That is why food and drink are given to them at the feast of the\ndead.\n\n  [Illustration: Face of Davidson Glacier]\n\n  [Illustration: \"The Land of the Dead\"--Graveyard at Rasboinsky\n    _From photograph loaned by the Smithsonian Institution_]\n\n\n\n\nTHE LAND OF THE DEAD\n\n_Eskimo_ (_Lower Yukon_)\n\n\nA young woman on the Lower Yukon died. When she died she went to sleep\nfor a while. Then some one shook her arm and said, \"Get up. Do not\nsleep. You are dead.\" Then she saw she was in her grave box and the\nshade of her grandfather was shaking her. Then she went with her\ngrandfather back to the village, but the country she knew had\ndisappeared. In its place was a strange village which reached as far\nas the eye could see.\n\nAs she entered the village, the old man told her to go into one of the\nhouses. As soon as she entered it, a woman picked up a stick of wood\nand raised it to strike her. The woman said, \"What do you want here?\"\n\nSo the young woman ran out, crying to her grandfather. He said, \"This\nis the village of the dog shades. Now you see how living dogs feel\nwhen beaten by people.\"\n\nThey came to another village. Here she saw a man lying on the ground\nwith grass growing up through his joints. He could move, but he could\nnot rise. The grandfather said this shade was punished for pulling up\nand chewing grass stems when he was on earth. Then the grandfather\nsuddenly disappeared.\n\nThe girl followed a trail to another village, but she came to a swift\nriver. This river was made up of the tears of people who on earth weep\nfor the dead. When the girl saw she could not cross the river, she\nbegan to weep. At once a mass of straw floated down the river to her.\nUpon this, as a bridge, she crossed the stream. Before she reached the\nvillage the shades smelled her. They crowded around her, saying, \"Who\nis she? Where does she come from?\" They looked for the totem marks on\nher clothing.\n\nSome one said, \"Where is she? Where is she?\" and her grandfather came\ntoward her. He led her into a house nearby and there was her\ngrandmother. The old woman asked her if she were thirsty. The girl\nlooked about and saw only one water vessel made like those of her own\nvillage. This had in it their own Yukon water. It had been given them\nat the festival of the dead by the girl's father. The other tubs had\nonly the water of the village of the shades. The old woman gave the\ngirl a piece of deer fat. This, too, had been given at the festival of\nthe dead. Then the grandmother explained that the guide had been the\ngrandfather because the last person thought of by a dying person\nhurries away to show the road to the new shade. Thoughts are heard in\nthe land of the shades.\n\n\n\n\nTHE GHOST LAND\n\n_Tlingit_\n\n\nThe young wife of a chief's son died and the young man was so\nsorrowful he could not sleep. Early one morning he put on his fine\nclothes and started off. He walked all day and all night. He went\nthrough the woods a long distance, and then to a valley. The trees\nwere very thick, but he could hear voices far away. At last he saw\nlight through the trees and then came to a wide, flat stone on the\nedge of a lake.\n\nNow all the time this young man had been walking in the Death Trail.\nHe saw houses and people on the other side of the lake. He could see\nthem moving around. So he shouted, \"Come over and get me.\" But they\ndid not seem to hear him. Upon the lake a little canoe was being\npaddled about by one man, and all the shore was grassy. The chief's\nson shouted a long while but no one answered him. At last he whispered\nto himself, \"Why don't they hear me?\"\n\nAt once a person across the lake said, \"Some one is shouting.\" When he\nwhispered, they heard him.\n\n  [Illustration: Perry Island, Bogosloff Group, Newly Risen from the\n      Sea]\n\n  [Illustration: \"The end of the Death Trail\"]\n\nThe voice said also, \"Some one has come up from Dreamland. Go and\nbring him over.\"\n\nWhen the chief's son reached the other side of the lake, he saw his\nwife. He was very happy to see her again. People asked him to sit\ndown. They gave him something to eat, but his wife said, \"Don't eat\nthat. If you eat that you will never get back.\" So he did not eat it.\n\nThen his wife said, \"You had better not stay here long. Let us go\nright away.\" So they were taken back in the same canoe. It is called\nGhost's Canoe and it is the only one on that lake. They landed at the\nbroad, flat rock where the chief's son had stood calling. It is called\nGhost's Rock, and is at the very end of the Death Trail. Then they\nstarted down the trail, through the valley and through the thick\nwoods. The second night they reached the chief's house.\n\nThe chief's son told his wife to stay outside. He went in and said to\nhis father, \"I have brought my wife back.\"\n\nThe chief said, \"Why don't you bring her in?\"\n\nThe chief laid down a nice mat with fur robes on it for the young\nwife. The young man went out to get his wife, but when he came in,\nwith her, they could see only him. When he came very close, they saw a\ndeep shadow following him. When his wife sat down and they put a\nmarten skin robe around her, it hung about the shadow just as if a\nperson were sitting there. When she ate, they saw only the spoon\nmoving up and down, but not the shadow of her hands. It looked very\nstrange to them.\n\nAfterward the chief's son died and the ghosts of both of them went\nback to Ghost Land.\n\n\n\n\nTHE SKY COUNTRY\n\n_Tlingit_\n\n\nLong ago, a man's wife was stolen from him. He cared for her so much\nhe thought he would follow her. So he began to walk. He thought he was\nwalking along the beach, but he was following a wide trail through the\nwoods. He walked on for a long time with his head bent down, until he\nsaw smoke ahead. When he came near he saw a woman tanning a skin. He\nshowed her a necklace he had made. He said, \"I will give you this\nstring if you will tell me where my wife is.\"\n\nThe woman said, \"She is over at the next camp.\"\n\nSo he at last reached his wife and stayed there a long time.\n\nNow the people of this village wanted to kill him. They kindled a fire\nand began to drag him to it. He said, \"Oh, how glad I am! I want to\ndie.\" Then they stopped and began to drag him toward the water. The\nman said he was afraid of water, so they threw him in. He came up in\nthe middle of the lake.\n\nPeople said, \"See him. He is looking at us.\"\n\nThe man laughed. He said, \"The water is just where I like to be.\" He\nsaid this because he was a good swimmer and there was much rain in his\ncountry. He stayed in the water all the time he remained in that\ncountry.\n\nNow all this while the man and his wife had really been in the sky.\nNow they wanted to get down. They started back to the house of a\ncertain woman. She was the spider. The house was her web. The woman\nput them into a web and began to lower them to the earth. Before they\nstarted, the woman said, \"If you get caught on anything, jerk backward\nand forward until the web comes loose.\" She thought they might get\ncaught on the edges of the clouds. So the man and his wife reached the\nearth safely and the web was drawn up into the sky.\n\n\n\n\nTHE LOST LIGHT\n\n_Eskimo_ (_Port Clarence_)\n\n\nOnce upon a time, all the people were together in a singing house.\nWhile they were dancing the sun disappeared. No one knew where it had\ngone. Because it was so dark, people could not go hunting and soon\ntheir provisions were exhausted. Then they told the women to mend\ntheir clothing carefully and to make as many boots as possible. These\nthey put into bags. Then the people set out to search for the sun.\n\nThey followed the seacoast. They travelled so far they wore out their\nboots, so they put on new boots from their bags. Yet it was dark all\nthe time.\n\nAfter many days they came to a country where were many, many seals and\nwalrus and deer. The language of the people was different from their\nown. After a while they learned to talk it a little. They asked these\npeople where to find the sun.\n\nThese people said that the sun was far off. Before they came to the\nsun's country they would come to five places. This was the first\nplace. But in the fourth place beyond there lived a woman who kept\nboth the sun and moon in her house.\n\nSo they went on. It was very cold and they ran as fast as they could\nbecause it was so cold. Then their food gave out. But they reached a\ncountry where there was plenty to eat. Here the people spoke a strange\nlanguage. After a while they learned to talk it a little. These people\ntold them that at the third place they reached they would find a woman\nwho kept the sun and moon in her house.\n\nThe people ran on. They ran because it was so very cold. Then when\ntheir food was gone, they reached another country where there was\nplenty of food. The language of the people was different from their\nown. But after a while they learned to understand it a little. These\npeople said that at the second place which they would reach lived a\nwoman named Itudluqpiaq who had both sun and moon in her house, but it\nwas doubtful if they would be able to get them.\n\nThen they went on again. They had to run as fast as they could to keep\nwarm. It was very cold. When their food was almost gone, they reached\nthe country of the dwarfs. It was a country with plenty of food,\nwalrus and seal and deer. The dwarfs tried to run away when they saw\nthe large men coming. But the people caught them. The dwarfs said that\nat the next place lived the woman Itudluqpiaq who had both sun and\nmoon.\n\n  [Illustration: Walrus Tusks\n    _Photograph by B. B. Dobbs_]\n\n  [Illustration: A Shaman\n    _Copyrighted by Case and Draper_]\n\nAs the people ran on from the country of the dwarfs, they found ice\nand driftwood in their way. They kicked it all aside. At that time the\npeople were very strong and able to lift heavy stones.\n\nAfter they had run a long way, they saw a singing house. When they\ncame near, they went very slowly because they were afraid. At last one\nof the men tied his jacket around his waist and his trousers around\nhis knees. Then he crept cautiously through the entrance and put his\nhead through the door at the bottom of the floor. He saw a young\nwoman, Itudluqpiaq, sitting in the middle of the house toward the\nrear. Her father was sitting in the middle of the house on the\nright-hand side and her mother on the left-hand side. At the back of\nthe house, in the right-hand corner on the rafter, hung a large ball;\nin the left-hand corner a small ball.\n\nThe man whispered, \"Itudluqpiaq, we came to ask you for some light.\"\n\nThe mother said, \"Give them the small ball.\"\n\nThe man refused the small ball. He asked for the large one. Then\nItudluqpiaq took it down and gave it a kick. It fell right into the\nentrance hole.\n\nThe people took the ball and ran outside. Then they tore the ball to\npieces and the daylight came out of it.\n\nIt was not so warm at once, but it grew warmer day after day. If they\nhad taken the small ball it would have been light, but it would have\nremained cold. The small ball was the moon.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CHIEF IN THE MOON\n\n_Eskimo_ (_Bering Straits_)\n\n\nFar away in the moon lives a great chief and shamans with strong magic\nvisit him there. A long time ago a shaman went to visit the great\nchief. He flew like a bird up as high as the sky because of his magic.\nThe sky was a land just like the earth, only the grass was long, and\ngrew downward toward the earth. And the grass was filled with snow.\nWhen the wind blows up in the sky it rustles the long grass stems,\nhanging downward, and loosens the snow. When the wind blows the snow\nloose in the sky, it falls down upon the earth from the long grass\nstems, and men call it a snowstorm.\n\nUp in the sky, among the grass, are many small, round lakes. At night\nthese shine and men call them stars.\n\nBut the Malemut tribes say that the north wind is the breath of a\ngiant. When he builds a snow house and the snow flies from his shovel,\nthen there is a snowstorm upon earth.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOY IN THE MOON\n\n_Eskimo_ (_Lower Yukon_)\n\n\nOnce upon a time, long, long ago, in a village on the great river,\nlived four brothers and a sister. There was also a small boy who was a\ngreat friend of his sister. The brothers were hunters and in the fall\nhunted at sea, but after the Bladder-feast was over they went to the\nmountains and hunted reindeer. But the boy was lazy.\n\nNow the boy fell in love with the girl. One day the girl took up a\ndish of meat and berries and went out of the house. There she saw a\nladder leading up into the sky, with a line hanging down by the side\nof it. Taking hold of the line, the girl climbed the ladder going up\ninto the sky. Then her brothers saw her and began at once to scold the\nboy.\n\nThe boy caught up his sealskin trousers. Being in a hurry, he thrust\nhis right leg into them and drew a deerskin sock upon the other foot\nas he ran outside the house. There he saw the girl, far, far up in the\nsky, and he began to climb the ladder to her. But the girl floated far\naway, the boy following her.\n\n  [Illustration: Box Canyon on White Pass and Yukon Route]\n\n  [Illustration: Near Valdez Narrows]\n\nNow the girl became the sun and the boy the moon. Ever he pursues her\nbut never overtakes her. When the sun sinks in the west, the moon\nrises in the east, but always too late. The moon has no food, and\nsometimes almost fades away. Then the sun reaches out the dish of meat\nand berries and the moon becomes fat again.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOY IN THE MOON\n\n_Athapascan_ (_Upper Yukon_)\n\n\nLong ago, in the days of Raven, there was a great famine. No one in\nthe village had anything to eat. Then a boy dreamed that they would\nkill many caribou. Then the hunters began to find caribou and to kill\nthem. The boy said when they killed all the caribou that the leader of\nthe herd must be given to him. The boy's uncle gave him caribou, but\nnot the leader, because he did not believe the boy dreamed what he\nsaid. Then the boy cried two nights because he did not get the right\ncaribou.\n\nThe next morning the boy was gone. Now this boy wore trousers of\nmarten skin. When they searched for him, they found only the left leg\nof his trousers on a pole in the smoke hole. So they knew the boy had\ngone away through the smoke hole.\n\nThe boy went up into the moon. He was seen there the next night. His\nfather and mother knew it was the boy because the right leg was larger\nthan the left. The left leg had no trousers because it had been caught\nin the smoke hole.\n\n\n\n\nTHE METEOR (?)\n\n_Tsetsaut_\n\n\nA long time ago fire was seen coming through the air from the north.\nIt looked like a huge animal. Its face was fire. Fire came from its\nmouth and also from its back. Flames of fire shot from its paws. The\nThing, moving backward, thundered through the air.\n\nIn the olden times, these monsters came often. Now they have not been\nseen for a long time.\n\n\n\n\nSLEEP HOUSE\n\n_Tlingit_\n\n\nOnce a Huna man and his wife were paddling along in a canoe, about\nmidnight, in search of seals. The man kept hearing a noise around his\nhead like that made by a bird. At last he hit the thing with his hand\nand knocked it into the canoe. It was shaped like a bird, only with\neyelids hanging far over, and its name was Ta, Sleep. He gave the bird\nto his wife, saying, \"Here, you can keep this for your own.\" So she\ngave it to her relatives who built a house called Sleep House. All the\npoles in it were carved to look like this bird. After that the man got\nvery tired without being able to sleep. At last he ran away into the\nforest.\n\n  [Illustration: Frozen Waterfall]\n\n  [Illustration: \"The wind blows over the Yukon\"\n    _Photograph by C. L. Andrews_]\n\n\n\n\nCRADLE SONG[4]\n\n_Koyukun_\n\n    [4] Transcribed by J. A. Dall.\n\n\n    \"The wind blows over the Yukon,\n    My husband hunts the deer on the Koyukun Mountains.\n    Ahmi, Ahmi, sleep, little one.\n\n    \"There is no wood for the fire.\n    The stone axe is broken, my husband carries the other.\n    Where is the sun-warmth? Hid in the dam of the beaver, waiting\n        the spring-time?\n    Ahmi, Ahmi, sleep, little one, wake not!\n\n    \"Look not for ukali, old woman.\n    Long since the cache was emptied, and the crow does not light on\n        the ridge pole!\n    Long since my husband departed. Why does he wait in the mountains?\n    Ahmi, Ahmi, sleep, little one, softly.\n\n    \"Where is my own?\n    Does he lie starving on the hillside? Why does he linger?\n    Comes he not soon I will seek him among the mountains.\n    Ahmi, Ahmi, sleep, little one, sleep.\n\n    \"The crow has come, laughing,\n    His beak is red, his eyes glisten, the false one.\n    'Thanks for a good meal to Kuskokala the shaman.\n    On the sharp mountain quietly lies your husband.'\n    Ahmi, Ahmi, sleep, little one, wake not!\n\n    \"'Twenty deer's tongues tied to the pack on his shoulders;\n    Not a tongue in his mouth to call to his wife with.\n    Wolves, foxes, and ravens are tearing and fighting for morsels.\n    Tough and hard are the sinews; not so the child in your bosom?'\n    Ahmi, Ahmi, sleep, little one, wake not!\n\n    \"Over the mountain slowly staggers the hunter.\n    Two bucks' thighs on his shoulders, with bladders of fat between them.\n    Twenty deer's tongues in his belt. Go, gather wood, old woman!\n    Off flew the crow,--liar, cheat, and deceiver!\n    Wake, little sleeper, wake, and call to your father!\n\n    \"He brings you backfat, marrow, and venison fresh from the mountain.\n    Tired and worn, he has carved a toy of the deer's horn,\n    While he was sitting and waiting long for the deer on the hillside.\n    Wake and see the crow, hiding himself from the arrow!\n    Wake, little one, wake, for here is your father!\"\n\n\n\n\nPROVERBS\n\n_Tsimshian_\n\n\nA deer, although toothless, may accomplish something.[5]\n\n    [5] Deceptive appearances.\n\nHe is just now sleeping on a deerskin.[6]\n\n    [6] Comfort now but trouble ahead.\n\nHe wants to die with all his teeth in his head.[7]\n\n    [7] Too reckless to live to old age.\n\nYou think Nass River is always calm.[8]\n\n    [8] Foolhardiness of those who think everything favorable to\n    them. The mouth of the Nass is very rough.\n\nYou mistake the corner of the house for the door.[9]\n\n    [9] A gross blunder.\n\nWhat will you eat when the snow is on the north side of the trees?[10]\n\n    [10] Improvidence. At the end of winter food is always scarce.\n\n  [Illustration: Travellers over the Chilkoot Pass (1891) after the\n      Discovery of Gold\n    _Copyright, 1898, by E. A. Hegg_]\n\n  [Illustration: Looking Down Cut-off Canyon from below White Pass\n      Summit]\n\n\n\n\nHOW THE FOX BECAME RED\n\n_Athapascan_\n\n\nOnce Fox, when very hungry, was travelling through the country. All at\nonce he saw a goose with many goslings. Fox ran after them. As he ran\nhe sang,\n\n    \"I shall have your tender breasts before I go to sleep;\n    I shall have your tender breasts before I go to sleep.\"\n\nAs Fox ran toward them, the geese came to water and plunged in. Fox\nfollowed slowly along the edge of the water. When he saw he could not\nget the geese, Fox became so angry he turned red all over--all except\nthe tip of his tail.\n\n\n\n\nBEAVER AND PORCUPINE\n\n_Tsimshian_\n\n\nNow Beaver was the friend of Porcupine. Much they loved each other.\nThen Beaver invited Porcupine to his house on the large lake. There in\nthe very middle of the lake was the house of Beaver. Now Beaver, on\nhis part, liked the water, but Porcupine had no way to go from the\nshore to the lake, because he knew not how to swim. Therefore feared\nPorcupine that he should die should his stomach be filled with water,\nbecause he knew not how to swim. Therefore this did Beaver: from the\nlake to the land he went for Porcupine. Only twice rose Beaver above\nthe water, going to where Porcupine was sitting on the shore.\n\nThen said Beaver to Porcupine, \"I carry you. Fast hold my neck.\"\n\nPorcupine was afraid. He said to Beaver, \"I might die.\"\n\n\"You shall not die.\" Thus said the Beaver to the Porcupine.\n\nThen went up Porcupine to the back of Beaver.\n\nBeaver said, \"Fast hold my neck.\"\n\nThus did Porcupine. Then swam Beaver out on the water. But not long\ndid he swim. Beaver dived. Then much troubled was Porcupine because he\nknew not how to swim. Now the Beavers really own the country of the\nwater, but among the mountains is the country of Porcupine.\n\nTwice rose Beaver above the water. Then reached he the middle of the\ngreat lake where floated his home. But much troubled was Porcupine,\nlest he die in the water. Then they entered the house of Beaver. Then\nthey ate. Now this for food had the Beaver: sticks were the food for\nhis feast. Then really troubled was the Porcupine, there to eat\nsticks. Yet Porcupine ate the stick.\n\nWell, then one day, said Beaver to Porcupine: \"Friend, now we play.\"\n\nThen said Beaver how he would play: \"I carry you. Four times I emerge\nfrom the water.\"\n\n\"Surely I die.\" Thus said the heart of Porcupine. Yet he agreed.\n\nBeaver said, \"Fast hold to my neck. Lie close against the nape of my\nneck.\"\n\nThen was ready the heart of Porcupine to die. Then dived Beaver. Yet\nfirst struck he the water with his tail. Thus he first splashed water\ninto the face of Porcupine. Then dived Beaver. Long was he under\nwater. Then a little dead was Porcupine. His stomach was full of\nwater. Three times the Beaver rose from the water. Then only once more\nremained. Then again dived Beaver. Almost dead was Porcupine. Then\nwith him he returned. From lake to land he took him.\n\nThen Porcupine went back to his tribe. When again he reached his\ntribe, to his house he invited the people. Then into the house of\nPorcupine went the invited ones. Then he told them what Beaver had\ndone in his great house on the lake. He told the people what Beaver,\nwho had invited him, had done. He said, \"Almost dead was I through my\nfriend.\"\n\nThen said his people, \"Good! You also invite him. Also play with him.\"\n\nThis did Porcupine. He also invited Beaver, his friend. To the house\nof Beaver did he send. Then came Beaver into the valley. Up he went.\nThen came he to the house of Porcupine. Then this did Porcupine: when\nBeaver entered into the house, Porcupine struck on the fireplace with\nhis own tail. Then it burnt. Then Beaver made a song:\n\n    \"In the middle burnt the tail of little Porcupine, pa!\n    In the middle burnt the tail of little Porcupine.\"\n\n  [Illustration: Dog Team with Record of 412 Miles in 72 Hours\n    _Copyrighted by B. B. Dobbs_]\n\n  [Illustration: Siberian Husky\n    _Courtesy \"Alaska-Yukon Magazine\"_]\n\nThen ran Porcupine around in front of Beaver to play with his friend.\nNow when this was finished, what did the Porcupine? He got food for\nthe Beaver to eat. Then this did the Porcupine: bark of a tree and\nleaves of a tree did he give him for a feast. Then, on his part,\nBeaver was afraid to eat. Then this said the Porcupine to his great\nfriend, Beaver: \"Eat fast, friend. Eat fast, friend.\" Then so did the\nBeaver.\n\nThen said Porcupine, \"Friend,\"--thus said he to Beaver--\"to-morrow\nmorning we play, you and I. There stands a tree on a grassy slope.\nThere is my playground.\"\n\nThen they slept. But Porcupine sang,\n\n    \"Now along the edge I walk . . . out falls my shooting star.\"\n\nThen spoke Porcupine to the sky, and the sky did so. Clear became the\nsky. The ground was ice in the morning.\n\nNow again Porcupine invited the people to a feast for great Beaver.\nThen Porcupine said, \"We play, friend. There stands my playground.\"\n\nNow very sharp was the cold. The ground was ice. Where water ran down,\nslippery was it with ice. But Beaver followed Porcupine. Then again\nwas Beaver troubled. Always slippery were his hands, but long were the\nclaws of Porcupine. Then Porcupine returned to see great Beaver. Then\nsaid Porcupine, \"Come, do it, friend.\" Thus said Porcupine to great\nBeaver. But the Beaver could not cross, because icy was the mountain.\nThen this did the Porcupine: he took the hands of Beaver, then across\nhe led him. Thus across he got. Porcupine was going to play with\nBeaver, just as he also did once. So they reached the place where\nstood the tree.\n\n\"Good! Go up!\" Thus said Porcupine to Beaver. Then much troubled was\nBeaver. He was afraid.\n\n\"Well! See!\" Thus said Porcupine. So Porcupine went up first. Up he\nwent to the very top. Then he let go the top of the tree. As soon as\nhe dropped, this he said, while coming down:\n\n    \"An-de-be-laq! An-de-be-laq!\"\n\nThen he dropped on a stone, but arose. Not dead was he!\n\nThen said Porcupine to Beaver, \"See, friend! It is not hard.\"\n\nThen up on the tree carried he Beaver. He said, \"Fast hold to my\nneck.\" And very fast he held to the neck of Porcupine. Then when\nPorcupine reached near the top of the tree, he put Beaver on a branch.\nThen greatly afraid was Beaver for his hands were not good for holding\nfast to a tree. Only a Porcupine knows that, because long are his\nclaws.\n\nThen thus said Porcupine: \"Really hold fast, friend. I go down\nfirst.\" The Beaver did so. All around the branch were his hands. Then\nPorcupine let go the tree. Into space he went. Again he said,\n\n    \"An-de-be-laq! An-de-be-laq!\"\n\nThen once more he dropped on the stones, but not dead was he!\n\nMuch troubled was the heart of great Beaver, in holding the branch.\nMuch troubled was he at falling. Then about the foot of the tree ran\nPorcupine. Then up he looked to where was his friend. Thus said\nPorcupine: \"Go on, friend. It is not hard. Look at me. Not dead am I\nbecause I fell!\"\n\nThen Beaver let go the branch. Thus said Beaver as he fell,\n\n    \"Loop! Lo-op!\"[11]\n\n    [11] \"Stone! Stone!\"\n\nThen Beaver struck the rocks. He lay on his back. He was dead.\n\n\n\n\nTHE MARK OF THE MARTEN\n\n_Athapascan_ (_Upper Yukon_)\n\n\nLong ago a hungry marten went to an Indian camp. The Indians around\nthe camp fire were eating salmon. Marten sat still and watched them.\nHe was hungry and he watched this Indian and then that. Then an Indian\nthrew at him a piece of red salmon. It struck Marten on the breast and\nthe reddish mark is there, even to this day.\n\n  [Illustration: Totem Poles\n    _Copyrighted by F. H. Nowell_]\n\n  [Illustration: Laplanders Milking Reindeer, near Port Clarence]\n\n\n\n\nTHE WOLVES AND THE DEER\n\n_Tsimshian_\n\n\nNow the Wolves had a feast on a prairie at the mouth of Skeena River.\nThen invited the Wolves to the feast all the Deer chiefs. At once came\nthe invited Deer. At once they sat down on the prairie face to face\nwith the Wolves.\n\nThen said the Wolves to the Deer, \"Laugh ye on the other side.\"\n\n\"No,\" thus said the Deer to the Wolves, \"ye first laugh.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said the Wolves at once, \"then we will laugh. _Ha, ha, ha, ha,\nha!_ Go on, ye also. Ye also, on the other side, laugh.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said the Deer. Then they laughed, \"_Mm, mm, mm, mm, mm!_ Again\nalso ye must laugh.\"\n\n\"Well.\" At once again laughed the Wolves: \"_Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!_\"\n\nAt once the Deer were much afraid when they saw the great teeth of the\nWolves. Then again said also the Wolves, \"Go on! Laugh again, ye on\nthe other side. Keep not your mouths closed when ye laugh. Not so\ndoes any one laugh. Open wide your mouths when ye laugh.\" Thus said\nthe Wolves. \"Now, laugh ye!\"\n\nAt once then laughed the Deer: \"_Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!_\" Thus laughed\nthe Deer, opening their mouths. But they had no teeth. Then the Wolves\nsaw that the Deer had no teeth. At once they attacked them. At once\nthe Wolves bit them all over. At once they ate the Deer. Only a few\nescaped. Therefore now are the Deer afraid of Wolves.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CAMP ROBBER[12]\n\n_Athapascan_ (_Upper Yukon_)\n\n    [12] The camp robber is the slate-colored Alaskan jay,\n    troublesome for its habit of stealing food from the camps.\n\n\nNow in the days of the animal people, the camp robber was a medicine\nman. One time the people had nothing to eat, so they asked the\nmedicine man to find food for them. Therefore for six nights the men\ndreamed of a way to find food. The camp robber was the sixth man. He\ndreamed on the sixth night. Then he called all the people together and\ntold them to bring their snares with them. He took all the snares,\nmake a pack of them, and put them on his back. But the people heaped\nup the snow in a great pile. Around this snow pile the camp robber\nwalked, chanting and singing \"By and by meat will come.\" Thus he sang.\n\nThen the camp robber reached into the snow and pulled out a caribou's\nhead by the horns. This was not a real caribou; it was the spirit\ncaribou. So the camp robber painted the horns and tail red and sent it\nback into the snow heap. The next day a great herd of caribou came.\nThe one with red horns and tails was among them.\n\nThat is why an Indian never kills a camp robber when he steals food.\nHe lets him go because he helped to find food for them in the days of\nthe animal people, when the camp robber was a medicine man.\n\n  [Illustration: View of Skagway\n    _Photograph by C. L. Andrews_]\n\n  [Illustration: Bering Sea, near Nome]\n\n\n\n\nTHE CIRCLING OF CRANES\n\n_Eskimo_ (_Bering Straits_)\n\n\nOne day in the autumn, long, long ago, the cranes were preparing to go\nsouthward. As they gathered in a great flock, they saw a beautiful\ngirl standing alone near the village. The cranes wanted to take her\nwith them. They gathered about and lifted her on their outspread\nwings. So they carried her into the air and far away. Now when the\ncranes were taking her up into the air, they circled below her closely\nso she could not fall. They also cried in loud, hoarse voices so that\npeople could not hear her call for help. Therefore the cranes always\ncircle about in autumn when preparing to fly southward, and utter loud\nhoarse cries.\n\n\n\n\nTHE LAST OF THE THUNDERBIRDS\n\n_Eskimo_ (_Lower Yukon_)\n\n\nLong, long ago there were many thunderbirds living in the mountains,\nbut at last there were only two left. These birds made their home on\nthe round top of a mountain overlooking the Yukon. They hollowed out a\ngreat basin on the summit for a nest, and from the rocky rims they\ncould look down upon a village upon the river bank.\n\nFrom this perch the thunderbirds, looking like a black cloud, would\nsoar away, bringing back to their young a reindeer in their talons.\nSometimes with a great noise like thunder they swooped down upon a\nfisherman in his kayak and carried him away. The man would be eaten by\nthe young birds, and the kayak broken to bits in the nest. Every fall\nthe young birds flew away into the northland, but the old birds\nremained in the nest. They had carried away so many fishermen that\nonly the most daring would go out on the great river.\n\nOne day when a fisherman went to look at his traps, he cautioned his\nwife not to leave the house for fear of the thunderbirds. During the\nmorning, she needed fresh water and started for the river. A noise\nlike thunder filled the air, a black shadow fell over her, and a\nthunderbird darted down upon her.\n\nWhen the fisherman returned to his house, people of the village told\nhim of the thunderbird. He made no answer. He took his bow and\nquiverful of war arrows and started for the mountain. When he reached\nthe rim of the great nest, he looked in. The old birds were away. The\nnest was full of young eagles with fiery, shining eyes and shrill\ncries. The hunter fitted a war arrow, the string twanged, and the\narrow killed a young thunderbird. So the hunter killed them all.\n\nThe hunter hid behind a great rock near the nest. When the old birds\ncame home, the thunder of their wings was heard even across the great\nriver; their cries of rage frightened the villagers on the river's\nbank. The mother bird swooped down upon the hunter beside the rock.\nQuickly he fitted a war arrow, the string twanged, and the arrow bit\ndeep into her throat. Then the mother bird, flapping her wings so that\nthe hills shook, flew away to the northland.\n\nThe father bird circled overhead and then swooped down upon the\nhunter. He crouched below the rocks and the thunderbird's great talons\ncaught only the rock. The hunter fitted a war arrow in his bow, the\nstring twanged, and the heavy war arrow bit deep under his great wing.\nSpreading his wings like a black cloud in the sky, the thunderbird\nflew away to the northland.\n\n\n\n\nHOW THE KIKSADI CLAN CAME TO SITKA\n\n_Tlingit_\n\n\nLong ago, when we were first born, people hated us. Then the Sky\nPeople brought war upon us. They destroyed us completely. One woman\nsaved herself; she hid in a hole which she dug under a log.\n\nAfterward various people came to her. \"I wonder who can tell me about\nthings,\" she said. Grizzly Bear came near her.\n\n\"What can you do?\" she asked.\n\n\"Whenever I catch a man, I slap my paws down upon him.\"\n\nThe woman said, \"That is nothing.\"\n\nSome one in the sun spoke to her. \"How am I?\" said a voice.\n\n\"What can you do?\"\n\n\"My father in the sun peeps out through the clouds--the mottled\nclouds.\"\n\nSo the woman married the child of the sun. He lowered down from the\nsky a great fort to protect the woman and her children. When the enemy\nsaw that, they came back. The father said, \"When the enemy get too\nstrong, put your minds on me.\" So when the enemy became too strong,\nthe woman and her children put their minds on Grandfather Sun. He\npeeped out through the clouds upon the enemy. It quickly became\nsmoking hot. The sea water out there boiled. The enemy ran down\nquickly into the water and were all destroyed. Then the water stopped\nboiling. The grandchildren of Sun stayed inside their fort.\n\n  [Illustration: View of Eldorado]\n\n  [Illustration: Scene on the White Pass and Yukon Route]\n\n\n\n\nORIGIN OF THE GRIZZLY BEAR CREST\n\n_Tlingit_\n\n\nA long time ago when some of the Kagwantan clan were catching herring\nat Town-at-mouth-of-lake, a bear came to the place where they were\nfishing. The bear reached down through the smoke hole and stole the\nherring they were drying. Then people said; \"Who is this thief that is\nstealing our fish?\" Because they said that, the grizzly bear killed\nall of them. Then the Kagwantan seized their spears and set out to\nkill the bears nearby. When they found them, the bears were lying in\nholes they had dug out for themselves. The people said to them, \"Come\nout here. We will fight it out.\" So the bears came out and the people\nkilled them. They took the skins from the heads of the bears and\npreserved them. That is how the Kagwantan came to use the grizzly bear\ncrest.\n\n\n\n\nORIGIN OF THE FROG CREST\n\n_Tlingit_\n\n\nLong ago, a man and his wife were crossing a large bay near Sitka when\nit became very foggy. They could not even see the water around their\ncanoe. Then, in the thick fog, they heard singing. The song was:\n\n    We picked up a man;\n    We picked up a man;\n    You picked up a man.\n\n    They captured a man;\n    They captured a man;\n    You've captured a man.\n\nThe voice was so strong they could hear it re\u221a\u0119cho among the mountains.\n\nAs the fog rose, the song came nearer and nearer. At last they saw the\nvoice came from a wee little frog.\n\nThe man said: \"This frog is mine. I shall claim it.\"\n\nHis wife said, \"No, it is mine. I shall claim it.\"\n\nThus they argued. At last the man let his wife take the frog.\n\nThe woman took it ashore, treating it just like a child. She took it\nup into the woods, put it down by a lake, and left it there. That is\nwhy the Kiksadi clan at Sitka claim the frog as their totem.\n\n\n\n\nORIGIN OF THE BEAVER CREST\n\n_Tlingit_\n\n\nA young beaver was captured, long ago, by a family of the Decitan. It\nwas well cared for, but it became angry and began to make songs.\nAfterward the beaver's master went through the woods to a creek and\nfound there two salmon-spear handles, beautifully carved. They were at\nthe foot of a big tree. He took them home and when the beaver saw them\nhe said, \"That is my work.\"\n\nAfter a while, something offended the beaver again. He began to sing\njust like a human being. Then he seized a spear and threw it through\nhis master's chest. So his master was killed. The beaver thumped its\ntail on the ground and the house fell into the ground. The beaver had\ndug a great hollow under the house. It is from this story that the\nDecitan clan claim the beaver as their totem and have the beaver\ncrest. They also have songs composed by the beaver.\n\n\n\n\nORIGIN OF THE KILLER WHALE CREST\n\n_Tlingit_\n\n\nA long time ago there was a man named Natsiane who always quarrelled\nwith his wife. One day his brothers-in-law took him to an island far\nout at sea and left him there.\n\nNatsiane began to think, \"What can I do?\" As he sat there thinking, he\nwhittled two killer whales out of cottonwood bark. He put them into\nthe water and shouted as the shamans do. They looked as if they were\nswimming but when they came to the surface, they were only cottonwood\nbark.\n\nNatsiane made two more whales out of alder. He tried to put the spirit\nof his clan into them. As he put them in the water, he whistled four\ntimes like a spirit, \"_Whu, whu, whu, whu_.\" When they floated to the\nsurface they were only alder wood. Then he tried hemlock, then red\ncedar. Afterward he tried yellow cedar. These whales swam right away\nlike large killer whales. They swam out a long distance. When they\ncame back they turned into wood.\n\nThen Natsiane made holes in their dorsal fins, seized one of them\nwith each hand, and let the killer whales tow him out to sea. He said\nto them, \"If you see my brothers-in-law in canoes, you are to upset\nthem.\" After the whales had towed Natsiane to sea for some distance,\nthey returned to the island. They became wood again.\n\nThe next time Natsiane saw his brothers-in-law in their canoes, he put\nthe spirit of his clan into the killer whales. Then they overturned\nthe canoes and broke them to bits. They killed the people in them.\nAfter that Natsiane said to his killer whales, \"You are not to injure\npeople again. You must be kind to them.\"\n\nSo these two killer whales became the canoes of the spirits. Shamans\nare lucky if they can get the spirit canoes.\n\nIt is through this story that the Daqlawe clan have the killer whale\ncrest.\n\n\n\n\nTHE DISCONTENTED GRASS PLANT\n\n_Eskimo_ (_Bering Straits_)\n\n\nNear the village of Pastolik, at the mouth of the Yukon, grows a tall,\nslender grass which the women weave into baskets and mats.\n\nA grass-stalk which had almost been pulled up by the women became much\nfrightened. He wished he were something else. Close to him was a bunch\nof herbs, living peacefully and quietly. Grass said, \"I wish I were an\nHerb.\" At once it became an Herb, and lived peacefully.\n\nOne day the women came back with sharp-pointed picks, made from the\nantlers of the reindeer. They began to dig up the herbs and to eat\nsome of the roots. Again Grass was frightened. He saw a small creeping\nplant nearby, very small and obscure. Grass said, \"I wish I were a\nCreeping Plant.\" At once he became a small Creeping Plant.\n\nThe women came back again and tore up much of the small creeping\nplant. Grass became much worried. He said, \"I wish I were that small\nTuber-plant there.\" At once he became a plant having a tuberous root.\n\n  [Illustration: Alaska Cotton on the Tundra, near Nome\n    _Courtesy \"Alaska-Yukon Magazine\"_]\n\n  [Illustration: A Crested Hat\n    _Copyrighted by Case and Draper_]\n\nSoon a small tundra mouse came creeping through the grass, and began\nnibbling at one of the tubers nearby. Grass thought, \"I will not be\nsafe until I become a Mouse.\" At once Grass became Mouse.\n\nHe felt quite free as Mouse, and ran around over the tundra, nibbling\nat roots. Sometimes he would sit up on his hind legs and look about\nhim. While travelling along, Mouse saw a great white Thing coming\ntoward him. Sometimes it dropped to the ground, and after eating\nsomething would fly on. As it came near, Mouse saw it was a great\nwhite owl. Owl saw Mouse and darted down upon it, but Mouse slipped\ninto a hole nearby and Owl flew away.\n\nMouse was very badly frightened by this. When he came out of his hole,\nhe said, \"I will be Owl. Then I will be safe.\" At once he became a\nbeautiful white Owl. With slow, noiseless wing he flew toward the\nnorth, stopping now and then to catch and eat a mouse. After a long\nflight, he came in sight of Sledge Island. Owl thought he would go\nthere. When far out at sea, he became very tired. He could hardly\nreach the shore.\n\nAs he rested on a piece of driftwood on the sand, two men passed along\nthe shore. Owl thought for a while. Then he said, \"I will be a Man.\"\nAt once he became a fine-looking young man, but he had no clothing.\nNight came on and the air became cool. Man sat down with his back\nagainst the piece of driftwood and slept there until morning. When the\nsun arose he awakened. He felt lame and stiff from the cold night air.\n\nLooking about him, Man found some grass which he wove into a loose\nrobe, which helped to keep out the cold. Suddenly he saw reindeer near\nhim. He crept on hands and knees close to one, seized it by the horns\nand broke its neck with a single effort. He carried the reindeer on\nhis back to his sleeping place. He felt all over the reindeer's body\nbut its skin was too thick for his fingers to break an opening. For a\nlong time he thought. Then he saw near him a sharp-edged stone. He\npicked it up and found he could cut the skin with it. So Man skinned\nthe deer. But he had no fire with which to cook it. Looking around, he\nsaw two round white stones upon the beach. Striking them together, he\nsaw they gave out sparks. He then found some dry wood and scraped off\nbits. With the wood and the stones he made a fire, and roasted some of\nthe meat.\n\nMan tried to swallow a large piece of meat, as he had done when he was\nOwl, but he could not do it. He had to cut it with the sharp-edged\nstone into smaller pieces.\n\nThe next day he killed another reindeer and skinned it. And the next\nday another. Then the nights became so cold he wrapped the skins upon\nhim. When they dried, they became as part of his body. But the nights\nbecame still colder, and the days were colder. Then Chunuhluk, the\nman, found some driftwood and made a rough hut.\n\nAfter finishing his hut, Chunuhluk was walking over the hills one day\nwhen he met a strange black beast among the blueberry bushes.\nChunuhluk did not know what to do, but at last he caught it by the\nhind legs. The black thing turned around with a growl and showed its\nwhite teeth. Chunuhluk quickly caught the bear by the heavy hair and\nthrew it to the ground so it lay quiet. Then he killed it. Then he\nthrew it across his shoulders and went home. Then he skinned it.\n\nWhen Chunuhluk skinned the bear, he found it had much fat. He thought\nit might burn. His hut was very dark. So he went along the beach until\nhe found a flat stone with a small hollow in it. He put the oil from\nthe fat in this; then he put in a bit of dry moss and set the end of\nthe moss on fire. Then his hut was lighted very well.\n\nChunuhluk also hung the bearskin in the opening of the door to keep\nout the cold. So he lived many days.\n\nBut at last Chunuhluk became lonely. Then he remembered the two men\nwho had passed him when he was Owl. He went in search of people. At\nlast he found two new kayaks at the foot of a hill, with spears,\nlines, floats, and other hunting implements. Then he saw a path\nnearby. On the top was a house. On the ground around were several dead\nwhite whales. Chunuhluk crept cautiously into the entrance way and up\nto the door. He lifted the corner of a skin and saw a young man\nworking on some arrows. He stepped in very quietly. The young man\nraised a bow and arrow to shoot, but Chunuhluk said, \"I have come,\nbrother.\"\n\nThe young man said gladly, \"Are you my brother? Come and sit beside\nme.\"\n\nAt first the young man was very glad. He taught Chunuhluk all things.\nThen at last he became jealous of him. Then Chunuhluk became scornful.\nHe said one day, \"You cannot kill anything without a bow and arrow. I\ncan kill with my hands alone.\" Then the brother became still more\nangry.\n\nOne day both were out on the water in their kayaks. The young man\nsaid, \"Now let us see who can gain the shore first.\" They both reached\nthe beach at the same time. Then the young man said, \"You are no more\nmy brother. You go in that direction and I will go in this.\" So they\nparted angrily. As they went, Chunuhluk turned into Wolverine and his\nbrother became Gray Wolf. To this day they wander in the same country,\nbut never together.\n\n\n\n\nTHE WIND PEOPLE\n\n_Koryak_ (_Siberia_)\n\n\nIt was at a time when the Creator lived. Once a violent snowstorm\nbroke out and it blew incessantly. Creator got ready to go to Wind\nMan's village to find out why the storm raged so constantly. He took a\nskin boat instead of a sledge. He hitched to it mice instead of\nreindeer. Then he started.\n\nHe came to the village of the Wind People. All the people surrounded\nhim and laughed at his sledge and reindeer. \"How will you carry off\nour presents on such reindeer?\" they asked.\n\nCreator said, \"Just put them into the boat and never mind how I carry\nthem off.\"\n\nThe Wind People took out all the food and clothes they had and loaded\nthe skin boat heaping full. Creator drove back his mice which dragged\nthe loaded skin boat home. Then he returned to the village of the Wind\nPeople. They loaded his skin boat again and he carried off everything\nthey had. Then Creator's mice gnawed the straps off all the sledges\nand harness of the Wind People. Thus the Wind People could not drive\nany more and the snowstorm ceased. That's all.\n\n\n\n\nTRICKS OF THE FOX\n\n_Koryak_ (_Siberia_)\n\n\nOne day Fox said to his children, \"I am going to get some eggs.\" He\nwent to the woods and saw Eagle's nest high up in a tree. He put some\ngrass stalks into his ears, knocked with them on the tree, and said to\nEagle, \"Throw me down an egg. If you don't, I will knock the tree over\nwith these stalks and break it.\"\n\nEagle became frightened and threw down an egg.\n\n\"Throw down another,\" said Fox.\n\n\"That's enough,\" said Eagle. \"I will not throw down any more.\"\n\nFox said, \"Throw it down. If I knock down the tree, I'll take them\nall.\"\n\nEagle was frightened and threw down another egg. Then Fox laughed and\nsaid, \"I fooled you nicely. How could I have knocked down a whole tree\nwith these small grass stalks?\"\n\nEagle became angry. He threw himself upon Fox, grasped him with his\ntalons, lifted him high in the air, flew far out to sea and threw him\ndown upon a lonely island.\n\nFox remained on that island. He lived there and thought to himself,\n\"Am I really going to die on this island?\"\n\nFox began to sing shamans' songs. Seals, walrus, and whales appeared\nnear the island. \"What are you singing about?\" they asked Fox.\n\n\"This is what I was singing about,\" said Fox. \"Are there more animals\nin the waters of the sea or on the dry land?\"\n\n\"Certainly there are more in the waters of the sea,\" so the Sea People\nreplied.\n\n\"Well, let us see,\" said Fox. \"Come up to the surface of the water and\nform a raft from this island to the land. Then I will take a walk over\nyou and count you all.\"\n\nThe Sea People all came up to the surface of the water and formed a\nraft. Fox ran over their backs, pretending to count them. But as soon\nas he reached land, he jumped ashore and went home. That's all.\n\n\nTHE END\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Note\n\nVariations in spelling are preserved as printed.\n\nThe following amendments have been made:\n\n    Frontispiece caption--Tinglit amended to Tlingit--Tlingit\n    Indians in Dancing Costume\n\n    Page xiii--Tinglit amended to Tlingit--Tlingit Indians in\n    Dancing Costume\n\n    Page 19--beak-mast amended to beak-mask--Then Raven pulled down\n    his beak-mask, ...\n\nThe frontispiece illustration has been moved to follow the title page.\nOther illustrations have been moved where necessary so that they are\nnot in the middle of a paragraph.","title":"Myths and Legends of Alaska","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":24624}