{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_61875/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_61875","id":"gutenberg_61875","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61875","summary":null,"tags":["Animals -- Folklore","Category: Adventure","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Short Stories","Eskimos -- Folklore"],"text":"Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n      file which includes the original illustrations in color.\n      See 61875-h.htm or 61875-h.zip:\n      (https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/61875/pg61875-images.html)\n      or\n      (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/61875/61875-h.zip)\n\n\n      Images of the original pages are available through\n      Internet Archive. See\n      https://archive.org/details/animalstoriesfro00rigg\n\n\n\n\n\nANIMAL STORIES FROM ESKIMO LAND\n\n\n[Illustration: \u201c\u2018Who are you?\u2019 said the boy.\u201d]\n\n\nANIMAL STORIES FROM ESKIMO LAND\n\nAdapted from the Original\nEskimo Stories Collected by\nDr. Daniel S. Neuman\n\nby\n\nREN\u00c9E COUDERT RIGGS\n\nWith Illustrations and Decorations by George W. Hood\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNew York\nFrederick A. Stokes Company\nMCMXXIII\n\nCopyright, 1923, by\nFrederick A. Stokes Company\n\nAll rights reserved\n\nPrinted in the United States of America\n\n\n\n\n                                  WITH\n                         AFFECTIONATE GREETING\n                               I DEDICATE\n                           THIS SMALL VOLUME\n                                   TO\n                           MY LITTLE FRIENDS\n                         THE CHILDREN OF ALASKA\n\n\n\n\nFOREWORD\n\n\nThe Eskimos are a kindly, industrious, smiling people. To our way of\nthinking their lives are uncivilized and cheerless. And yet, in their\nown primitive way, they find much happiness in life. They live from one\nmoment only to the next. When food is plentiful, they gorge. When seals\nand game are scarce, they patiently do without.\n\nEskimo children never cry. They are never punished by their parents, for\nthe spirits which inhabit their little bodies might take offense and\ndepart. They play happy games as do children the world over, with balls\nsewed together from reindeer or seal hides and with toys carved from\nivory, bone or wood.\n\nThe people are courteous and considerate. I have sat in their kasgas\nwhen the oomaliks (head men) were in council with my husband, who at\nthat time was Governor of Alaska. The dignity and order of their debates\nwould honor any legislative assembly. There is no interruption to a\nspeaker until the final \u201cI have spoken.\u201d\n\nThe council finished, comes the customary dance in the kasga. The dance\nis always symbolic\u2014the coming of spring, the flight of the ducks, the\nspearing of the whale, the wolf dance, or the killing of the bear. The\nmen dance with grotesque gesture until exhausted, while the women with\nquiet feet, sway gently in unison in the dim light from the opening\noverhead. On the platform at the end of the kasga the musicians beat\nindustriously on their drums.\n\nThe stories in this little book are adapted from some of the great\nnumber gathered through many years by Dr. Daniel S. Neuman, of Nome. It\nwas Dr. Neuman who painstakingly made the splendid and unequaled\ncollection of Eskimo antiquities and modern implements now on exhibit in\nthe territorial museum at Juneau. The acquiring of this collection for\nthe Territory was one of my husband\u2019s last official acts as governor.\n\nI have endeavored to rewrite these tales for boys and girls in the hope\nthat they may take an interest in that quaint people, living still in\nthe stone age, who, on account of their contact with the so-called\ncivilized races, are gradually vanishing into the past.\n\n                                           Ren\u00e9e Coudert Riggs.\n\n\n\n\n                                CONTENTS\n\n                    Foreword\n                    The Journey to Eskimo Land\n                    Ivango or the Lost Sister\n                    The Robin, the Crow and the Fox\n                    The Proud Mouse\n                    The Crow and the Daylight\n                    The Orphan Boy\n                    A Race Between a Reindeer and a Tom-Cod\n                    Why They Have Summer on St. Lawrence Island\n                    The Lost Son\n                    The Crow and the Owl\n                    The Running Stick\n                    The Treacherous Crow and His Cousin, the Mink\n                    Good and Bad Weather\n                    How the White Whales Happened\n                    A Giant and His Drum\n                    Lovek and Seranak\n                    The Caribou\n                    A Fox Story\n                    Mi-e-rak-puk\n\n\n\n\n                             ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n        \u201c\u2018Who are you?\u2019 said the boy\u201d\n        \u201cLooking up into the tree, saw Kaytak standing by his nest\u201d\n        \u201cAt last he saw that it was shining from a big snow house\u201d\n        \u201cStopped to say good-morning to the fish\u201d\n        \u201cPoured the black oil all over the crow\u201d\n        \u201cThe bear came round by the same track and saw the salmon\u201d\n        \u201c\u2018Lovek, I have you at my mercy now\u2019\u201d\n        \u201c_Snap_, Mr. Smart Fox was caught at last\u201d\n\n\n\n\nTHE JOURNEY TO ESKIMO LAND\n\n\nThe big easy-chair was drawn up before the fire, its hospitable arms\nextended, to embrace a father with a little boy on one knee and a little\ngirl on the other. It was story-telling time.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said Father, \u201cwhere shall we travel tonight?\u201d\n\nThe glowing embers showed two eager little faces. \u201cTake us to Eskimo\nLand!\u201d they said. So the father settled deeper down in the cosy chair\nand stretched out his long legs.\n\n\u201cVery well, to Eskimo Land we shall go. I will take you inside a \u2018kasga\u2019\nand let the Eskimos tell you their own stories; but before we go there I\nmust explain to you that in every Eskimo village there is one house\ncalled a \u2018kasga.\u2019 Now this kasga is the place where they all go to pass\nthe long, dark hours of winter, with song and story. Sometimes they\ndance to the weird music of beating drums and chanting voices, and\nagain, they sit quietly mending their weapons, their fishnets or spears;\nor again, some of them will be carving beautiful pieces of ivory taken\nfrom a walrus tusk.\n\n\u201cThe house called \u2018kasga\u2019 in which they meet is built by all the people\nof the village. Every one lends a hand; even the little children do\ntheir share of the work. There are logs of driftwood to be hauled: there\nis turf or moss from the tundra to be put over the round roof, and\ndigging to be done with the big bone shovels. So they all help to build\nthe place in which they spend so much of their time. The men gather\nthere when they get home from hunting. They cannot be out long in\nwinter. It is dark most of the day as well as the night, and the storms\nare so bad they do not dare to go very far away. The women bring their\nsewing too, which they do with thread made from dried sinews from the\nleg of the caribou or from the white whale which the old women patiently\npull apart into long threads.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said Father, \u201cshut your eyes tight and we will put on our\ninvisible caps and go to Eskimo Land, right inside a kasga to see what\nis happening there this cold winter night.\u201d\n\nSo the little boy and girl shut their eyes and clung tightly to Father\u2019s\nhand while he counted very slowly, \u201cOne, two, three!\u201d\n\n\u201cStoop over,\u201d said Father, \u201cand creep on your hands and knees, for to\nget into the kasga we have to go through a long, low, tunnel-like\nentrance, until we come to a hole right over our heads. Here we are! I\nwill give you a push. Jump up now!\u201d And they popped right through a hole\ninto the middle of the floor of a big room. Isn\u2019t that a funny way to\nget into a house? They were in the kasga at last.\n\nThere are no windows to this house, but a round hole in the middle of\nthe ceiling, or roof, serves both as window and ventilator. This, in\nwinter, is usually covered with a curtain of bear or seal intestine,\nwhich keeps out the cold. Also it keeps out the fresh air. Sometimes,\nwhen the room is very full of people, the warmth from their bodies and\nthe steam from many breaths form a moisture that drops down upon them\nlike rain.\n\nThe room is square, and about it runs a wide platform. This platform is\nabout four feet from the ground. All the men sit on it, while the women\nsit on the floor at their feet, with the little children gathered about\nthem. There are lots of little children in Eskimo Land. They are good\nlittle ones, too. Their parents love them dearly, but they have to learn\nearly in life to be good and patient, for sometimes they get little or\nnothing to eat for days at a time, when game is scarce and their fathers\ncome back from hunting without any meat for them. So these little ones\ndo not fuss and cry, for they know that they cannot always have what\nthey want when they want it.\n\nThere are no electric lights in Eskimo Land, nor do they have big open\nfireplaces in the houses, with bright, crackling logs to keep them warm,\nfor wood is hard to get.\n\nAbout the floor of the kasga are placed lamps of heavy stone, hollowed\nout like dishes, in which wicks of moss soaked in seal oil are burned.\nThe lamps give a yellow, flickering light and a little heat. The women\ntake care of the lamps, keep them clean and see that they do not smoke\nor go out.\n\nOn the middle of the platform, at the end of the room, sits the\n\u201cOmmalik\u201d of the village. Eskimos do not have real chiefs like Indians,\nbut in every village there is a rich man; that is a man who has more\nthan the others of what the Eskimos use and need the most. The Ommalik\nis like a chief for the time being, a sort of boss, so we will call him\nchief for convenience sake.\n\nIn the kasga we are in now there are two shelves high up, one at each\nend, where the unmarried men, the bachelors, sit; and quite a scramble\nthey have, too, in getting up so high.\n\nOn the floor at the feet of their husbands sit the married women with\ntheir babies in their parka hoods and their children playing near them,\nbut the little ones keep very quiet and never dare to make a noise when\nthe grown-ups are talking\u2014which would be a good example for lots of\nlittle white children I know.\n\nHuddled up in a corner sat a very dark little man, with long black hair\nthat hung down into his eyes. He was as close as he could get to one of\nthe lamps, and in his hand he held a piece of creamy ivory, upon which\nhe was carving the story of a walrus hunt, in pictures. Near him sat a\nman busily mending a spear. Ommalik looked around the room. Soon his\neyes rested upon Ungukuk, the little man carving the picture story.\n\u201cUngukuk,\u201d said Ommalik, \u201cwill tell us a story.\u201d\n\nThe little dark man stopped his work, but did not move or look up. No\none seemed to have heard the chief speak. Some of the little children\nstill slept on with their heads against their mothers\u2019 knees.\n\nAgain Ommalik looked about him and said, \u201cUngukuk will tell us a story.\u201d\n\nAgain there was silence, and the boy in the far corner went on mending\nhis fish net. At last, after five or six minutes had passed, Ungukuk\nraised his head and peered into the dark faces about him. In a\nmonotonous, sing-song voice, he began the following story:\n\n\n\n\nIVANGO OR THE LOST SISTER\n\n\nLong ago, in a village in the Far North, there lived a young man named\nIvango. He was the oldest of the family and had four brothers and a\nlittle sister, eleven or twelve years old.\n\nOne clear spring evening, the little girl was playing out on the sand\npit with some other children. They were playing \u201chouse,\u201d and on the\nbeach near them was the huge skull of a whale.\n\nWhen they had finished making a toy house out of pieces of driftwood,\nIvango\u2019s sister climbed to the top of the whale skull to rest.\n\nNo sooner had she sat down, than suddenly the skull began to roll\nquickly toward the sea. It moved so fast and the child was so frightened\nthat she just held on tight and screamed.\n\nAll the little ones ran after her, adding their cries to hers, until the\nskull plunged into the waves, turned into a whale and, with the little\ngirl still clinging to his back, swam away out of sight on the gray\nocean.\n\nThe children ran out into the water as far as they could, calling to\ntheir little playmate, but soon she was gone from sight. A sad troop of\nweeping children ran to Ivango\u2019s igloo, to tell him what had happened.\n\nIvango and his brothers were in despair, for they loved their sister\nvery dearly, as indeed did every one in the village.\n\nThat very night in the kasga they held a council as how best to find the\nlittle girl and bring her home again.\n\nIvango called all the shamans or witch-doctors to his house and bade\nthem sing, hoping that they would sing something about his lost sister,\nand where she had been taken; but each one told him a different tale, so\nthat he soon saw that they knew nothing at all about it. So he sent them\nall away again.\n\nNow there was one woman among his neighbors, who was very wise, although\nnot a sorceress. This woman could sing about many things that no one\nelse knew, so Ivango sent for her and told her to sing.\n\nAfter a while she began. She told Ivango and his brothers that the whale\nhad taken their sister to a far off country. This country, she said, was\nguarded by two great cliffs of solid rock, which could open wide apart\nand then come together again with a crash like thunder, crushing to\ndeath any living creature daring to venture between.\n\nIvango asked her what they must do to rescue their sister. She answered,\n\u201cYou must make a skin boat so swift that it will go faster than the\nswiftest bird can fly. When the boat is finished, kill a young seal and\ntake it with you. When all is ready, I will go with you to tell you what\nto do.\u201d\n\nThey thanked the woman very much and went to work to make the boat as\nsoon as it was daylight. They worked as quickly as they could, for they\nwere very anxious to rescue their sister. When they had finished, they\ntook the boat down to the shore, and waited for a bird to come along.\nPresently they saw a beautiful gray gull with a white breast, sailing\ngracefully through the sky. They got into the boat and paddled along as\nfast as they could, but the gull was soon far ahead of them and they\ncould not catch up with it at all. This was a dreadful disappointment,\nfor it meant a long delay. They came back to land very much discouraged,\nbut Ivango said, \u201cWe must not lose heart so easily. Let us go to work at\nonce and take more care this time that we are doing our very best. It\ndoes not pay to be in too much of a hurry.\u201d\n\nSo they started making another boat, and this time they worked very\ncarefully, for they must not fail a second time. They made the frame out\nof the lightest driftwood and covered it with white whale skin. First\nthey wet the skin to make it soft, then stretched it over the frame and\ntied it in place with rawhide. When the skin dried it became tight over\nthe frame and was quite water-proof. Ivango, who was a very strong man,\nmade a paddle for himself from the shoulder-bone of a whale. When they\nhad finished the second boat, it looked fine and they all felt happy\nagain; but it had taken many precious days to make.\n\nWhen all was ready they got into the boat and raced with the first gull\nthat came along. This time they beat it easily, so they came back to\nshore to get their provisions and to kill a baby seal to take with them.\n\nThe woman, who was waiting to go along too, told them that they must\nwatch for a flock of eider ducks and follow them closely. Pretty soon a\nflock of eider ducks flew over. The brothers and the woman got quickly\ninto the boat and paddled off as fast as they could. When the birds sank\nto rest, the men would stop paddling and rest, also, or eat. When the\nducks flew, the boat traveled along as swiftly as though it too had\nwings. When the ducks slept, the men stopped paddling and also slept,\nwhile the woman kept watch. When the birds rose again to fly, the woman\nwould awaken the men and take her turn at sleeping.\n\nThey traveled this way for many days and nights, until at last they\ncould hear a faint, rumbling noise like distant thunder. The sound lent\nrenewed strength to Ivango\u2019s mighty paddle. So powerfully did he wield\nit that they went faster than the ducks, who were leading them straight\nto their sister.\n\nNearer and nearer they came to the strange sound, and louder and louder\nit grew, until it seemed as though mountains of rock were being hurled\ntogether by the hands of some mighty giant.\n\nSoon they could see two great cliffs drawing swiftly together through\nthe ocean. They met with a mighty crash that seemed to shake the sea and\nsky. Ivango had trouble in keeping the boat upright, so high were the\nwaves made by the rocks when they came together.\n\nAs the boat came nearer, the cliffs slowly drew apart, and some sea\nparrots and seals tried to pass through the opening, but the rocks\nrushed together and the birds and seals were caught and crushed to\ndeath.\n\nIvango felt his heart fail within him. Could they ever pass through\nalive, or must they all be crushed like the animals and birds? It did\nnot seem possible that they could ever reach the other side of the\ncliffs. Oh! if they only might fly over in the sky like the ducks were\ndoing! Then they would be safe.\n\nIvango, however, had not time to think about it. He must act quickly, or\nthe ducks soon would be out of sight and then they would have no one to\nshow them the way to their sister. So when the cliffs parted again,\nIvango wielded his mighty paddle and the little boat shot into the\nfoaming pass. It seemed as though they must be drawn down into the\nwhirling waters and be drowned, but Ivango gathered his strength into\none mighty effort just as the towering walls started to come together,\nand when they met with a deafening roar, Ivango and his little boat were\nsafe in the quiet waters beyond.\n\nAt last they had reached their journey\u2019s end and passed safely through\nthe great danger. How happy and thankful they were to leave the menacing\nrocks behind!\n\nThey landed near a sandy cliff and walked carefully behind one another\nso as to make only one track in the sand with their mukluks. Their\nmukluks are their seal boots. Then they dug a hole in the ground, put\nthe boat in it and hid.\n\nThe next day while Ivango was peeping out of the hole, he saw a man\nwalking toward the cliff from the opposite direction from which they had\ncome. When he reached the footprints on the sand, which looked as though\nonly one person had walked up from the beach, he stopped and examined\nthem carefully for a long time, then, jumping over, so as not to step on\nthem, he went his way. After a while the man came back. This time he did\nnot stop, but jumped over the footprints and went on. On his back he was\ncarrying a lot of birds.\n\nNow one of Ivango\u2019s brothers was very brave and wanted to jump out to\nkill that man and take the birds, but Ivango would not let him.\n\nSoon another man came along, and seeing the track, stopped to examine\nit, then jumped over, just as the first man had done. When he came back\nwith all the birds he could carry, the brave brother could wait no\nlonger. They were all hungry and tired and wanted the birds for food, so\nhe sprang out and captured the man and hid him back of the hole, then\nthey all had those fine birds to eat.\n\nIn the morning, being rested and refreshed, Ivango and his brothers got\ninto their boat and paddled in the direction from which the men had come\nwalking along the beach.\n\nSoon they saw a village in the center of which stood a large igloo.\n\nIvango and the brothers felt sure their sister must be there, so Ivango\nwent to the door of the igloo and entered. Sitting on a big white bear\nskin on the floor was his sister, looking very sad and lonely.\n\nWhen she saw Ivango she sprang up joyously, but quickly put her finger\nto her lips, which meant, \u201cBe quiet!\u201d and whispered to Ivango, \u201cO\nBrother, you should not have come for me. The whale man is waiting to\nkill you!\u201d\n\nShe looked terribly frightened, but Ivango comforted her, saying,\n\u201cThat\u2019s all right, Sister. We came for you and will die if we have to.\u201d\n\nBefore long, they heard the whale man coming in. He pretended to be a\nkind man and very polite, but Ivango knew better than to believe him.\nThe whale man could not fool Ivango.\n\nAfter a little while, the whale man told Ivango to fetch his brothers to\neat supper with them, and the brothers came. The whale man gave them a\ngood supper with plenty to eat, but they watched carefully, for they\nknew that he was just waiting for a chance to do them some harm.\n\nWhen night came the whale man suggested that they play all sorts of\ngames. Ivango beat him every time, and he did not seem to like that at\nall.\n\nThe next morning he took them out to see a big ditch that had been dug\nduring the night. All the men of the village were bringing logs of wood\nand pokes (skin bags) of oil to the ditch.\n\nThe whale man called Ivango and told him to look down into the ditch,\nand while he was looking gave him a shove. Ivango, taken by surprise,\nlost his balance and fell in.\n\nDown went Ivango into the deep dark hole. When he reached the bottom he\nstood still and felt the sides of the ditch all about him, until\nsuddenly his hands came upon a great stone embedded in the earth on one\nside of the hole. Digging quickly into the earth with his fingers, he\ndragged out the huge stone and found a deep hole in the earth back of\nit. Into this hole he crept, pulling the stone into place after him.\nOutside, the whale man built a big fire with logs and oil and shoved it\ninto the pit, thinking that Ivango would be burned up; but Ivango was\nsafe behind the rock, and the fire never even singed his mukluks. When\nthe flames had died down and there was nothing left but ashes, he crept\nout from his hiding-place and called for some one to let down a rope for\nhim to climb up by. Soon he saw the rope coming down. It was made of\nwalrus hide such as is used for lashing boats. Ivango took hold of the\nend of the rope and his brothers pulled him out.\n\nThe whale man stood there looking much surprised to see him come out\nunharmed, and Ivango, springing upon him, hurled him into the pit. Then\nturning to the people, Ivango said, \u201cIf this man is unkind to you, bring\nsome more wood and oil and we will burn him up. If he is good to you,\nlet down the rope again and pull him out after we have gone away.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, no!\u201d they shouted loudly. \u201cWe do not want to pull him out. He is\nnot good to us at all, but very wicked and cruel. Let us burn him up!\u201d\nand they all ran to bring more wood and oil, much more than before and\nmade a great fire themselves and threw it into the pit before Ivango\ncould stop them.\n\nIvango and the brothers and their little sister hurried down to the sea,\nwhere the woman was waiting for them with the boat, and started off for\nhome as fast as they could paddle.\n\nThis time they passed through the moving cliffs without fear or trouble,\nbut no sooner had the cliffs closed together behind them, than a big\nwhite whale rose to the top of the water and pursued them.\n\nAlthough they could make the boat go as fast as the swiftest bird, the\nwhale was faster than they and was getting very close. Just as the\nmonster rose beside them, the woman cut off the right flipper from the\nseal they had brought with them and threw it to the whale, which stopped\nto eat. This gave them time to get quite far ahead; but after the whale\nhad finished eating he soon caught up with them. Then the woman threw\nout the left flipper. Again the whale stopped to eat, and again caught\nup with them, but they were nearly home, so they threw over the rest of\nthe seal and paddled to shore. When they landed the whale hurried after\nthem so fast that he swam right up on the beach, where they killed him\nand cut him up for meat.\n\nThe people of the village crowded about to welcome Ivango and his\nbrothers and the little lost sister, and they all had a fine feast of\nthe meat of the whale.\n\nThey lived happily after that and Ivango made many presents to the good\nwoman who had helped them to find their sister, so that she was never\nallowed to want for anything all her life long.\n\nWhen Nugukuk had come to the end of the story, he raised his eyes to the\nface of the chief. \u201cAnd so is the winter shortened,\u201d said Nugukuk\nsolemnly. For that is the way they bring their story-telling to an end.\n\nAfter that the father and the little boy and girl came very often to the\nkasga and heard different men of the village tell their wonderful tales,\nuntil they had heard all of the following stories. Perhaps next winter\nthey will go back to hear some more.\n\n\n\n\nTHE ROBIN, THE CROW AND THE FOX\n\n\nA robin had its nest in a tree, and there were six pretty blue eggs in\nthe nest.\n\nAfter a while the eggs broke open and out came six baby robins.\n\nThe father robin, whose name was Kaytak, thought them the most beautiful\nbirds in the world, and brought them fine worms and little bugs, and\nwatched over them very carefully.\n\nOne day a red fox came by, and looking up into the tree, saw Kaytak\nstanding by his nest.\n\n\u201cHey, Robin,\u201d called the fox, \u201cI see you up there.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat do you want?\u201d said the robin.\n\n\u201cGive me one of your little birds for breakfast,\u201d said the fox.\n\n\u201cNo, indeed,\u201d said the robin. \u201cI will not give you one of my babies.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said Red Fox, \u201cyou say \u2018no.\u2019 If you don\u2019t drop down one to me\nthis minute, I will take them all.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou cannot get them,\u201d said the robin.\n\n[Illustration: \u201cLooking up into the tree, saw Kaytak standing by his\nnest\u201d]\n\n\u201cIndeed I can,\u201d said Red Fox. \u201cI have an ax, and with my ax I will cut\nthat tree down and then eat up all your little robins.\u201d\n\nWhen the robin heard that he was terribly frightened. Then, rather than\nlose all his babies, he took one of them in his beak and dropped it down\nto the fox, who grabbed the little bird and ran away. After that Red Fox\ncame back twice and did as before, the poor father robin being afraid to\nrefuse to do what was asked. Trembling with fright and very sad, the\npoor bird looked about for some one to help him. The only living thing\nin sight was a crow flying by, and he called to him for help. The crow\nflew down into the tree and said, \u201cWhat is it you want?\u201d\n\nThen the robin told him all about the wicked red fox, and how there were\nonly three baby robins left, and that he feared the fox would get them\nall.\n\nThe crow laughed. \u201cHaw, haw! Red Fox thinks he is smart, but he is\nreally foolish. He fooled you, though. He really has no ax, and he could\nnot cut down this tree. When he comes again, you say to him, \u2018I will\ngive you no more of my baby birds. You have no ax.\u2019 If he says, \u2018Who\ntold you that?\u2019 you say, \u2018Crow told me,\u2019\u201d and the crow flew away.\n\nThe next day Red Fox came back to the tree and demanded a little bird\nfor his breakfast.\n\n\u201cNo, no, Mr. Red Fox,\u201d said the robin. \u201cNo little bird any more for you\nout of my nest.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou had better give me one quick,\u201d said the fox, \u201cor I will chop the\ntree right down and eat them all.\u201d But the robin felt very safe and\nsaucy now, so he sang a little song and said, \u201cNo, you won\u2019t chop down\nthis tree, because you haven\u2019t any ax, and you are not as smart as you\nthink you are, only foolish.\u201d\n\n\u201cWho told you all that stuff?\u201d asked the fox angrily. The robin sang\nanother teasing song, then said, \u201cCrow told me all that\u2014about the ax and\nthe \u2018foolish\u2019 and everything. So you had better get away, for you get no\nmore of my babies.\u201d\n\nThen the red fox was very angry indeed and went off swearing he would\nget even with the crow for depriving him of the tender baby robins for\nbreakfast and calling him \u201cfoolish.\u201d He vowed he would find that crow\nand kill him.\n\nPretty soon the summer had passed, and winter with its short dark days\nhad come.\n\nOne cold, stormy morning Red Fox was walking about, wondering how he\ncould catch that crow. After thinking about it for a long time, he said,\n\u201cI know what I will do!\u201d So he lay down in the snow and played \u201cdead,\u201d\nfor he knew that crows like to pick at dead animals.\n\nAfter a while the crow came flying about, looking for food. He spied the\nred fox lying there, and slowly flew down nearby. At first he was afraid\nthe fox was not really dead, but the fox lay very still. Then the crow\ntouched the fox a little with his beak. The fox did not move, and the\ncrow grew bolder.\n\n\u201cHe is really dead,\u201d said the crow, \u201cand I will go around and have a\nlook at his eyes.\u201d\n\nHe walked around the fox and started to peck his eyes, but when he came\nnear the head, Red Fox opened his big mouth and snapped, and snapped the\ncrow in it, tight as a trap.\n\nCrow thought he would die of fright before the fox got a chance to eat\nhim, he was so scared, but Red Fox started up the mountain with Crow in\nhis mouth.\n\nThen Crow gathered his wits together in spite of his terror, and tried\nto think of some way he could get out of Red Fox\u2019s mouth. \u201cIf I can only\nmake him open his mouth to talk,\u201d thought Crow, \u201cthen I can get out.\u201d So\nhe said, \u201cO Fox, I know you are going to eat me, but I pray you tell me\none thing before I die. Which way is the wind blowing?\u201d\n\n\u201cWest wind,\u201d said the fox, and opened his mouth very wide to say \u201cWest.\u201d\n\nOut flew Mr. Crow as fast as he could, much to the surprise of Red Fox.\n\nAs he flew away the crow lingered a little over the head of Red Fox.\n\u201cHaw, haw, Mr. Fox,\u201d laughed he, \u201chaw, haw! I saved myself from your\nmouth. You cannot fool me. No animal can fool me.\u201d Then he flew off\nflapping his wings and laughing \u201cHaw, haw!\u201d Red Fox slunk away with his\ntail dragging on the ground. He was very much ashamed of how the crow\nhad fooled him twice, and he did not like to be beaten, for he and Crow\nare considered the two smartest animals at trickery and deceit; but no\none can beat the crow.\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROUD MOUSE\n\n\nThere was once a mouse who thought a great deal of himself and was\nalways longing for a chance to do something which would show how great\nhe was.\n\nOne night while he was asleep in a corner of the kasga, under the shelf,\nhe was startled by a strange noise and woke up with a jump. He looked\nabout him, but could see nothing; then he crept very quietly toward the\ndoor, and there he saw a great fire burning.\n\n\u201cNow I am going to be burned up,\u201d said the mouse. \u201cWhat shall I do to\nsave myself?\u201d\n\nThe fire was growing bigger and brighter every minute, and in despair he\ngave up all hope of getting out of the door, for he could never pass\nthrough those terrible flames. He sat down and began to think and think\nwhat he had better do.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d he thought, \u201cI will burn up if I stay in here, so I might as\nwell try to get out. If the fire burns me while I am getting out, I\ncan\u2019t help it.\u201d\n\nThen he made a dash through the flames to the door.\n\nHe was soon out, but he was much surprised that he did not feel burned\nat all. He looked himself over very carefully but his fur was not even\nsinged.\n\n\u201cNow I know that I am very great indeed, because fire does not burn me,\u201d\nsaid the mouse, and he walked about proudly whisking his little tail and\nthinking how great he was; then he looked back at the kasga, and saw\nthat there was really no fire at all. What he had taken for fire was\njust the sunshine at the door. The proud mouse felt very much ashamed\nand said, \u201cWhat a poor fool I am! What can I do now to show that I am\nreally great?\u201d\n\nHe looked about for a long time. At last he said, \u201cI know what I shall\ndo. I shall jump over that high bank.\u201d\n\nSo he started to walk to the bank, and when he got there, he looked up,\nand it seemed very high indeed.\n\n\u201cIf I jump over this bank,\u201d said he, \u201cI shall be great.\u201d\n\nHe ran, and then sprang as high as he could into the air, and came down\non top of the bank.\n\n\u201cSurely I am great now, since I can jump so high.\u201d When he looked back\nhe saw that the bank was not high at all, only a little heap of sand.\n\n\u201cShame on me!\u201d groaned the mouse. \u201cNow I must do something this time. I\nshall swim across that great lake.\u201d\n\nHe started for the lake and at last, after walking a long time, he got\nthere.\n\n\u201cThat lake is very big,\u201d he thought, for he could see only part way\nacross.\n\nThen the little mouse began to feel proud once more.\n\n\u201cIf I swim across that lake, all the animals will call me great.\u201d\n\nHe swam, and he swam, and it took him all day to swim over. Before he\nreached the other side, he was so tired he could only swim very slowly.\nLooking back, he saw all kinds of fishes on his tail. He shook them off,\nand at last he reached land.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d thought he, \u201cI am really great, for I swam across that lake;\u201d and\nhe lay down for a good rest. When he got up he looked proudly back to\nsee the wonderful lake, and there was no lake at all. What he had\nthought was a big lake was only a man\u2019s footprint full of muddy water,\nthat he had taken all day to cross, and the fishes he had seen on his\ntail were the little bugs swimming about in the mud-puddle.\n\n\u201cNow, I am surely ashamed of myself!\u201d he cried. But he would not give up\ntrying to be great, though he was beginning to see that he was really\nnot as great as he supposed.\n\nFar on the horizon, he saw something tall and slender.\n\n\u201cI must go cut down that pole that reaches from earth to sky,\u201d said he,\nand off he started for the pole. When he reached it he walked all around\nthe pole, looking up, but he could not see the top.\n\n\u201cThat high pole holds up the sky,\u201d thought he, \u201cand if I cut it, the sky\nwill fall down upon the earth, and everybody will be killed. I will cut\nthat pole because I am ashamed of myself.\u201d\n\nFirst he dug a hole in the ground, to get into when the pole was cut.\nWhen the hole was finished he said, \u201cI will do like this when the sky\nfalls down,\u201d and he ran as fast as he could into the hole. He came out\nthen and started to cut the pole with his sharp little teeth.\n\nHe worked very hard, until at last the pole was cut, when he ran into\nthe hole as fast as he could scamper, to listen for the falling of the\npole.\n\nSaid the mouse to himself, \u201cNow the sky has come down and killed every\nliving thing.\u201d\n\nPretty soon he began to wonder how it would look with the sky fallen\ndown, and he peeped out of his hole; but everything seemed to be the\nsame as before. He looked up where the sky used to be, and there it\nstill was, all blue and shining. Then he looked down at the pole on the\nground, and saw that it was only a tall blade of grass.\n\n\u201cShame on me, shame on me! Now I am truly ashamed of myself. Because I\nam so ashamed of myself, I will pack that great mountain across the\ntundra.\u201d So he journeyed to the mountain, and at last he got there.\n\nFirst he dug all around with his little claws, then he lifted one grain\nof sand and packed it over the tundra. Back and forth he went for many\nweary days, carrying a grain of sand at a time, until he had carried the\nwhole mountain across.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said the little mouse, no longer proud, \u201cI know that no one can\nbe great unless he is willing to work hard and patiently.\u201d\n\nSo that is the way the mountain got there, far out over the tundra, and\nthe little mouse was rewarded at last for his perseverance.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CROW AND THE DAYLIGHT\n\n\nLong, long ago, when the world was new, there was no daylight in Alaska.\nIt was dark all the time, and the people in Alaska were living in the\ndark, just doing the best they could. They used to quarrel about whether\nit was day or night. Half of the people slept while the other half\nworked; in fact, no one really knew when it was time to go to bed, or if\nin bed when to get up, because it was dark all of the time.\n\nIn one village lived a crow. The people liked this crow because they\nthought him very wise; in fact he told them so himself; so they let him\nlive in their kasga.\n\nThe crow used to talk a lot too, and tell of all the wonderful things he\nhad seen and done, when he had spread his wings and flown away on his\nlong journeys to distant lands.\n\nThe people of Alaska had no light but the flame of their seal-oil lamps.\n\nOne evening the crow seemed very sad and did not speak at all. The\npeople wondered what was the matter, and felt sad too because they\nmissed their lively crow, so they asked him: \u201cCrow, what makes you so\nsad?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am sorry for the people of Alaska,\u201d said the crow, \u201cbecause they have\nno daylight.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat is daylight?\u201d said they. \u201cWhat is it like? We have never heard of\ndaylight.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said the crow, \u201cif you had daylight in Alaska you could go\neverywhere and see everything, even animals from far away.\u201d\n\nThis seemed very wonderful to them all, and they asked the crow if he\nwould try to get them that \u201cdaylight.\u201d\n\nAt first the crow refused all their entreaties. \u201cI know where it is,\u201d\nsaid he, \u201cbut it would be too hard for me to get it here.\u201d\n\nThen they all crowded around and begged him to go to the place where\ndaylight was and bring them some.\n\nStill the crow refused, and said he could not possibly get that light;\nbut they coaxed him nicely, and the chief said, \u201cO Crow, you are so\nclever and so brave, we know you can do that.\u201d\n\nAt last the crow said, \u201cVery well, I will go.\u201d\n\nThe next day he started on his journey. Of course it was dark, but it\nwas not stormy, and when he had said goodby to all the people he spread\nhis wings and flew away toward the East, for the sun comes from the\nEast.\n\nHe flew on and on in the dark, until his wings ached and he was very\ntired, but he never stopped.\n\nAfter many days he began to see a little bit, dimly at first, then more\nand more, until the sky was flooded with light.\n\nPerching on the branch of a tree to rest, he looked about him to see if\nhe could find where the light came from. At last he saw that it was\nshining from a big snow house in a village nearby.\n\nNow in that snow house lived the chief of the village, and that chief\nhad a daughter who was very beautiful. This daughter came out of the\nhouse every day to fetch water from the ice hole in the river; which is\nthe only way the Eskimos can get fresh water in winter. After she had\ncome out, the crow slipped off his skin and hid it in the entrance of\nthe house; then he covered himself with dust, and said some magic words,\nwhich sounded something like this:\n\n    \u201cYa-ka-ty, ta-ka-ty, na-ka-ty-O.\n    Make me little that I won\u2019t show.\n    Only a tiny speck of dust,\n    No one will notice me, I trust.\u201d\n\nThen he hid on a sunbeam in a crack near the door, and waited for the\nchief\u2019s daughter.\n\nWhen she had filled her seal-skin water-bag, she came back from the\nriver, and the crow, who looked like nothing but a speck of dust\nfloating on the sunbeam, lighted on her dress and passed with her\nthrough the door into the house where the daylight came from.\n\n[Illustration: \u201cAt last he saw that it was shining from a big snow\nhouse\u201d]\n\nInside, the place was very bright and sunny, and there was a dear little\ndark-eyed baby playing on the floor, on the skin of a polar bear which\nhad recently been killed.\n\nThat baby had a lot of little toys, carved out of walrus ivory. There\nwere tiny dogs and foxes, and little walrus heads, and kayaks (Eskimo\ncanoes). He kept putting the toys into an ivory box with a cover, then\nspilling them out again.\n\nThe chief was watching the baby very proudly, but the little one did not\nseem satisfied with his toys.\n\nWhen the chief\u2019s daughter came in she stooped to pick the baby from the\nfloor, and a little speck of dust drifted from her dress to the baby\u2019s\near. The dust was the crow, of course.\n\nThe baby began to cry and fuss, and the chief said, \u201cWhat you want?\u201d and\nthe crow whispered into his ear, \u201cAsk for the daylight to play with.\u201d\n\nThe baby asked for the daylight, and the chief told his daughter to give\nthe baby a small, round daylight to play with.\n\nThe woman unwound the rawhide string from his hunting bag and took out a\nsmall wooden chest covered with pictures, which told the story of the\nbrave things the chief had done. From the chest she took a shining ball,\nand gave it to the child.\n\nThe baby liked the shining ball, and played with it a long time; but the\ncrow wanted to get that daylight, so he whispered in the little one\u2019s\near to ask for a string to tie to his ball. They gave him a string, and\ntied the daylight to it for him; then the chief and his daughter went\nout, leaving the door open behind them, much to the delight of Crow, who\nwas waiting for just that chance.\n\nWhen the little boy got near to the door in his play, the crow whispered\nagain in his ear, and told him to creep out into the entrance with his\ndaylight.\n\nThe baby did as the crow told him, and as he passed the spot where the\ncrow\u2019s skin was hidden, the speck of dust slipped out of the child\u2019s\near, back into the crow\u2019s skin and the crow was himself again. Seizing\nthe end of the string in his beak, away flew Mr. Crow, leaving the\nhowling baby on the ground.\n\nThe child\u2019s cries brought the chief and his daughter and all the people\nof the village rushing to the spot; and they saw the crow flying away\nwith their precious daylight.\n\nIn vain they tried to reach him with their arrows, but he was too\nquickly out of sight.\n\nWhen the crow came near the land of Alaska he thought he would try the\ndaylight to see how it worked, so when he passed over the first dark\nvillage, he scratched a little bit of the brightness off, and it fell on\nthe village and lighted it up beautifully. Then every village he came to\nhe did the same thing, until at last he reached his home village, where\nhe had started from. Hovering over it, he shattered the daylight into\nlittle bits, and scattered them far and wide.\n\nThe people greeted him with shouts of delight. They were so happy they\ndanced and sang, and prepared a great feast in his honor. They were so\ngrateful to him they couldn\u2019t thank him enough for bringing that\ndaylight.\n\nThe crow told them that if he had taken the big daylight, it would never\nbe dark in Alaska, even in winter, but he said that the big daylight\nwould have been too heavy for him to carry.\n\nThe people have always been thankful to the crow since then, and never\ntry to kill him.\n\n\n\n\nTHE ORPHAN BOY\n\n\nLong ago, in a big village on Shismarief Inlet, lived a chief who had\none child, a daughter.\n\nThe chief\u2019s brother died and left a little boy, without any one to take\ncare of him, so the chief took the boy to live with him.\n\nThe boy and girl were cousins, and they had very happy times playing\ntogether.\n\nOne day they had been out making snowballs, and stopped to shake the\nsnow off their parkas before coming into the house. The Eskimo parka is\na sort of middy blouse with a hood attached to it. In winter these\nparkas are usually made of reindeer skin, with a big ruff of fur around\nthe edge of the hood to protect the face. The best fur to trim the hood\nis that of the wolverine, for it does not collect moisture from the\nbreath.\n\nThe children stamped their feet and brushed the snow from each other\nwith small flat ivory sticks shaped for that purpose. In doing this the\nboy broke the beautiful string of beads which the girl wore around her\nneck.\n\nNow these were very precious beads; and the boy was afraid of his uncle,\nand did not like to tell what he had done, but he bravely took his\nlittle cousin by the hand and went into the house trembling with fear.\nWalking up to the chief he said, \u201cUncle, I am sorry but I broke the\nprecious beads.\u201d\n\nHis uncle was furious. \u201cHow did you do it?\u201d he asked, and the boy told\nhim.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said the uncle, \u201cI am going to kill you for that. Those beads\nwere my sign of chief. Now you have broken the beads, the people will\nsay I am no longer chief, and will make some one else chief instead of\nme. You will have to die.\u201d\n\nHe took the boy out of the house and led him to the kasga. There were\nmany people in the kasga, but he drove them all out; then he took off\nthe little boy\u2019s clothes, and went away, leaving him all alone to die of\ncold and hunger. That cruel uncle closed the door, putting heavy pieces\nof wood against it, so that the little fellow could not push it open,\nand then went up to the top of the kasga, where he took the skin cover\noff from the round window hole, to let the cold air in. After that he\nwent away.\n\nWhen left alone in the cold without any clothes on, the little fellow\nstarted to run quickly around and around on the floor to keep warm.\n\nNow in that village lived a man and wife who were very sad because they\nhad no children of their own. These two people loved the little ones\nvery dearly, and were good to all the children in the village; and the\nchildren were very fond of them in return for all their kindness.\n\nLong after the chief had gone away from the kasga, and the little boy\nhad run about until he was too tired to run any more, and could no\nlonger keep warm, that kind man who loved little children came on top of\nthe hut, put his head through the window hole, and called, \u201cHello,\u201d and\nthe little boy answered, \u201cHello.\u201d\n\nThe man said, \u201cYou are alive yet?\u201d Then he put his head through the\nwindow hole and handed a bundle of things to the boy.\n\n\u201cI have brought you some food and some water in a bag, a little oil and\na good warm sleeping-bag. Put the sleeping-bag under the floor, and get\ninto it and keep warm.\u201d\n\nWhen the kind man had gone away, the boy put the sleeping-bag through\nthe hole which is in the middle of the floor of every kasga, then, after\neating some of the food and drinking some of the water, he fell fast\nasleep inside the nice, warm bag.\n\nEarly in the morning the boy crept out of the hole on to the floor, like\na little rat without any fur, and began to run around and around again,\nto keep warm. It was still dark because the sun is lazy, way up there in\nAlaska, and gets up very late. It was cold, too, icy cold.\n\nWith the first rays of daylight came the uncle\u2019s footsteps on top of the\nkasga; then the surprised and angry face peering down at the boy through\nthe window hole.\n\nNow the chief had come up there expecting to find his nephew frozen\nstiff, and was not at all pleased to see him skipping about all bare and\nso lively. It made him more angry than ever, and he called down in a\nbig, fierce voice, \u201cYou are alive yet?\u201d as though he could not believe\nhis own eyes.\n\nThe boy looked up without a word, and kept on running; then the uncle\ncalled him all kinds of names, and said, \u201cYou try to keep alive as hard\nas you can. This is the last day for you. I\u2019ll fix you.\u201d Then he went\naway.\n\nThe boy crept back into his warm bag. When it was getting dark again, he\nheard some one at the window hole calling, \u201cHello.\u201d\n\nThe boy answered, \u201cHello.\u201d Then the kind man said, \u201cListen, your uncle\nis determined to kill you. He sent for the shaman and told him that he\nmust kill you tonight. I cannot save you this time, for the shaman is\nmore powerful than I. You must try your best to save yourself.\u201d So\nsaying, the kind man went away.\n\nIt was night; dark, quiet and cold. The little boy stood shivering and\nwondering what was going to happen to him. Suddenly he heard a sound, a\nstrange rustling sound. He was terrified, and thought of what the kind\nman had told him about the shaman, who was very powerful, and knew all\nkinds of magic.\n\nThe strange sound came nearer, and he could see by a light at the door\nthat a big snake was coming near to him. Now, while there is a kind of\nwater serpent in one part of the North, there are no real snakes in\nAlaska, so the boy had never seen one, and did not know what it was.\n\nThe big snake hissed at him and said, \u201cI will eat you up.\u201d\n\nThe boy was terribly frightened, but he was a brave little fellow, so he\nanswered, \u201cAll right, I am ready.\u201d\n\nAll the time he was looking desperately about for a weapon of some sort;\nbut the only thing he saw was the skin of the flipper of a seal. This he\npulled quickly onto his own right hand, which it fitted like a glove.\n\n\u201cCome on, Snake, and eat me up,\u201d said he.\n\nThe big snake opened his mouth very wide, and quickly the boy thrust his\nhand with the seal claws on it down the snake\u2019s long throat, and pulled\nout the snake\u2019s stomach. Such an angry hissing as there was! Then the\nsnake glided away very fast.\n\nEarly in the morning, knowing that his uncle would come to see if the\nshaman had killed him, the boy got out of his bag, and started to run\naround on the floor to keep warm.\n\nSoon the uncle climbed to the top of the kasga and peered down through\nthe window hole to see if the boy was there. When he saw his nephew\nrunning about, he was more angry than ever, and called down in a loud\nvoice, \u201cTry as hard as you can to live, I will kill you.\u201d Then the boy\nheard the footsteps going away over the snow, and crept back into the\nsleeping-bag.\n\nWhen it began to be dark, some one crept up to the window hole and said,\n\u201cHello.\u201d It was the kind man, and happy indeed was the poor little boy\nto hear the voice of his friend.\n\nThe man was very much surprised to hear the boy\u2019s answering \u201cHello,\u201d and\nvery much pleased, and said, \u201cLast night, the wicked shaman transformed\nhimself into a snake and went out. In the morning he came crawling back\nwithout his stomach, and died. You killed that shaman, I am sure. Now\ntonight your uncle sent for the very highest shaman of all, and told him\nhe must kill you himself. I am afraid he will succeed this time, with\nhis great magic. You must try your very best to save yourself any way.\u201d\n\nLeaving some food and water, the kind man went away, and the boy,\nshivering with cold and fright, crept back into his bag.\n\nPretty soon he heard a great noise by the door, and there was a bigger\nsnake than before; a real monster this time. My! How scared that poor\nlittle boy was!\n\nHe looked about for a weapon to fight the snake with, but there was\nnone.\n\nNearer and nearer came the horrible creature, with his mouth wide open.\n\nThen the boy\u2019s eyes fell upon the big stone lamp. It was very heavy, but\nhe took it in his hands and went right up to the snake.\n\n\u201cIf you are going to eat me, Snake,\u201d he said, \u201copen your mouth as wide\nas you can, and swallow me quick.\u201d The snake hissed loudly, and opened\nhis mouth very wide, and the boy threw the lamp right down the monster\u2019s\nthroat. When the snake had swallowed the lamp, he thought it was the boy\nand went out. After that the boy got into the bag as before and slept\nuntil morning.\n\nAs soon as it was daylight the chief came to see if the shaman had\nobeyed his command. He looked down through the window and saw the boy\nstanding there looking up at him. He surely was surprised.\n\n\u201cHow dare you be alive?\u201d said he. \u201cThis is the last day for you anyway.\nIf the shaman can\u2019t kill you, I will do it myself.\u201d\n\nLong after the uncle had gone, when it began to be dark, some one came\nto the window hole and shouted, \u201cHello!\u201d It was his friend, and how\nhappy it made the little boy to hear that kind voice!\n\n\u201cI am thankful that you are alive,\u201d said the voice. \u201cWhen the shaman\ncame back last night, he said he had something heavy inside of him, and\nthis morning he was dead. I am sure you killed the wicked shaman, but I\nfear you will be dead tomorrow yourself. Your uncle has told every man\nto try to kill you, but I brought you a little spear, and a bow, and a\ncrown; also a warm parka, and some oil. When you put on your clothes,\ntake some of this oil and grease yourself all over, then take some coals\nfrom one of the lamps and blacken your face. When you have done this,\nsit still until your uncle calls you; then go out.\u201d\n\nAfter saying this and giving him the things, the man went away, and the\nboy was alone again; but this time he felt more hopeful, for did he not\nhave a spear and a bow? And had he not a nice warm parka to put on?\nThen, too, he was going to get out, anything was better than staying\nthere alone in the dark and cold.\n\nIn the morning the boy got up and put on his clothes, which fit as\nthough made for him, and which felt so good and warm after having had no\nclothes at all for such a long time. He tried the little bow, and that\nwas just the right size for him, too. When he had blackened his face,\nand put on the little crown, he sat down to wait for the chief.\n\nHe did not have long to wait. Pretty soon he heard the _crunch, crunch_,\nof footsteps coming over the snow; then the cruel voice of his uncle\ncalling him to come out.\n\nNow the little fellow knew that he was going through that door to be\nkilled, but he took his spear and his bow, and went out as bravely as\nany man.\n\nWhen he got outside he saw his uncle standing by the door with a big\nspear, and a crowd of people armed with spears and bows, all waiting to\nkill one little boy.\n\nAs soon as they saw him they raised a great howl, and hurled their\nspears at him and shot their arrows; but the weapons struck the oily\nsurface of his parka and glanced aside without harming him at all. Then\nthe boy hurled his spear at his uncle with all his might. It struck deep\ninto his flesh, and the wicked man went off, howling like a dog, and\nnever came back; for which every one was sincerely thankful.\n\nAfter that the boy heard some one calling, and looking up he saw the\nkind man and his wife standing on the roof of their igloo, and they were\nshouting, \u201cLet us make him chief! Let us make him chief!\u201d\n\nThen the people who wanted to kill him when the wicked uncle was there,\nshouted, \u201cHe will be our chief now! He will be our chief!\u201d So the boy\nbecame chief, and went to live with the kind man and his wife, and took\nthem for his parents and was good to them, just as they had been good to\nhim when he was in trouble.\n\nFrom that time on, the Eskimos have continued the custom of adopting\nlittle orphan children into their homes, and taking care of them; being\nvery kind, and never like the wicked uncle at all.\n\n\n\n\nA RACE BETWEEN A REINDEER AND A TOM-COD\n\n\nLong ago somewhere on the shore of the Arctic Ocean a reindeer was\ntaking a walk on the beach, enjoying the fine air, and the sea salt of\nwhich the reindeer are so fond. As he passed a little point on the beach\njutting out into the ocean, a fish called tom-cod said, \u201cWell, Deer, how\ndo you do?\u201d The deer stopped to say good-morning to the fish, and asked\nhim if he did not think it would be fun to run a race, and settle for\nall time which could go the fastest, a reindeer or a fish.\n\n[Illustration: \u201cStopped to say good-morning to the fish\u201d]\n\nThe tom-cod thought about it for a while; then said, \u201cI am very busy\ntoday, Reindeer, but if you will come this time tomorrow morning, we\nshall race, and I shall beat you.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe shall see,\u201d said the deer, and went home.\n\nWhen the deer was out of sight the fish sent a message to all the\ntom-cods near that shore. He told them that the next morning he would\nhave a race with a deer, and that they must answer the deer ever time he\nsaid, \u201cFish, are you there?\u201d\n\nAt sunrise the next day the deer came to the meeting-place and said,\n\u201cFish, are you there?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d answered the tom-cod. \u201cI am waiting for you.\u201d\n\nThe reindeer walked along the shore, but the tom-cod laughed to himself\nin fish language, and stayed quietly in the same place in the water.\n\nAfter walking about a mile, the reindeer said, \u201cFish, are you there?\u201d\n\nThen another fish answered him, and said, \u201cYes, Reindeer, I am here, and\nI could go much faster if I did not have to wait for you.\u201d\n\nThe reindeer hurried on a little faster. After a while he said, \u201cFish,\nare you there?\u201d and still another fish answered him and said, \u201cYes,\nReindeer, I am here, but I could go much faster if I did not have to\nwait for you.\u201d\n\nThen the reindeer, who thought it was the same fish all the time, ran as\nfast as the wind for a little way. When he stopped he asked, \u201cFish, are\nyou there?\u201d and still another fish answered, \u201cO yes, I am here, but you\nare too slow for me.\u201d\n\nAfter that the deer fell exhausted on the beach and could run no more.\nSo in that way the tom-cod won the race.\n\n\n\n\nWHY THEY HAVE SUMMER ON ST. LAWRENCE ISLAND\n\n\nLong, long ago, on St. Lawrence Island, there lived an old woman with\nher little grandson. They were very poor, so poor that the old woman had\na hard time to feed and care for the boy.\n\nIt was always cold and stormy, and sometimes they had almost nothing to\neat for days at a time, because the wind blew so hard that the little\nboy could not stay out to catch tom-cods.\n\nOne time when it had been stormy for many days, and the old grandmother\nwas nearly dying of hunger, the little boy said to her, \u201cGrandma, do you\nknow what makes storms like this?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said she; \u201cI only know that it is always cold and windy; only some\ndays are worse than others. In some places they have sunshine, but never\nhere. We will die of hunger and cold, but the wind will go on blowing\njust the same, and the snow will fall.\u201d\n\nThe poor grandmother bowed her head, and the tears fell on her cheeks.\n\nThe boy said, \u201cHow is it, Grandma, that you live so long and do not know\nwhat makes storms? I shall find out myself.\u201d\n\nThe grandmother had to laugh, weak and sad as she was. \u201cWhy, how can you\nfind out such things? You are only a little boy.\u201d\n\nHe stood up beside her and tried to look very big and strong.\n\n\u201cGrandma,\u201d said he, \u201cI will teach you about storms myself, even if I am\nonly a little boy. I will find out how to stop these storms.\u201d\n\nThen he asked her to mend his mukluks and his mittens, and to be sure\nthere were no holes in his parka, for he was going out.\n\nThe old woman said \u201cNo\u201d at first, and begged him not to go, but seeing\nhow determined he was she let him have his way, and got his things ready\nas he had asked her to do.\n\nWhen she had finished, the little fellow put the parka over his head,\nand with his high fur mukluks, and good mittens, he was well protected\nfrom the wind.\n\nOutside the igloo he stopped to watch the storm and which way the snow\nwas drifting. After studying it for a while he said to himself, \u201cI know\nnow where the storm comes from,\u201d and putting his head down he took a\nlong breath and started to walk against the wind, which was so strong\nthat it took him a long time to make any progress at all. The snow was\nthick and caused him to stop every few steps, and turn his back to the\nwind, to rest and get his breath.\n\nAt last, when he began to despair of getting any farther, he saw\nsomething big and dark moving through the snow. It was a man, a very big\nman. He had on a fine parka with a big band of wolverine fur about the\nhood, that stood out from his face like the rays of the sun; only the\nlittle boy had never seen the sun, so he never thought of that.\n\nLuckily the man had his back to the boy, and of course could not hear\nhim in such a howling wind.\n\nBack and forth, the man walked in the snow, intent upon his work, and\nnot looking about him at all.\n\nThe boy watched him closely, and saw that he had a spear, and a big\nshovel made from the shoulder-bone of a whale. First the man would break\nup a lot of snow with the spear, then he would scoop it up with his\nshovel, and with a great shout fling that snow wildly about in every\ndirection. He seemed to be singing some kind of a wild song, and as he\nwaved his shovel high in the air the snow flew thick and fast, whirling\naway in the great blast of wind made by the fanning of the shovel.\n\nThe boy listened for the words of the song. They sounded something like\nthis:\n\n    \u201cWhir-r-r-r away.\n    Away blow.\n    Fill the day,\n    With flying snow.\n    Here you go.\n    There you go.\n    Blow, blow, BLOW!\u201d\n\nAt the last \u201cBLOW\u201d he would give a great shout, and whirl around so\nfast, and fling the snow so hard, that he would almost lose his balance\nand fall over on the ground.\n\nHow do you think the boy felt when he realized that he had all\nunexpectedly come upon the Storm Man himself? He was so excited he\nforgot to feel cold or tired, and began to wonder what he could do, he,\na little boy, as his dear old grandmother had so rightly said, to stop\nthe Storm Man from making any more storms. The man was very big and\nfierce and strong, and he himself was so very little, and had had so\nlittle to eat for a long time that he was not strong at all.\n\nWatching the Storm Man, he noticed that every time he got through\nchopping a lot of snow, he would drop the spear behind him, and stoop to\npick up the shovel; so, waiting until the man was entirely absorbed in\nhis shovel and his song, the little boy grabbed the big spear and\nscampered off across the snow for dear life.\n\nMy! How heavy that spear did feel, and how the boy did run! For in spite\nof his burden, he was so sure the Storm Man was after him that Fear lent\nwings to his feet and he fairly flew over the snow toward his\ngrandmother\u2019s little house.\n\nSafely he reached the door, and fell breathless on the floor behind his\ngrandmother with the spear in his hand. Almost at his heels, he heard\nthe Storm Man shouting behind him, \u201cGive me my spear! Give me my spear!\u201d\n\nThe old woman roused herself, opened her eyes, and saw the boy.\n\n\u201cMy son,\u201d said she, \u201cif you have anything belonging to that man, give it\nto him or he will kill us.\u201d\n\n\u201cGrandmother, dear Grandmother, don\u2019t make me give back the spear, for\nthat is the Storm Man, and if I give it back now, he will make a\nterrible big storm and we shall die anyhow. If I keep it he cannot make\nthe storms.\u201d\n\nThen the man shouted louder than ever, \u201cIf you do not give me back my\nspear the sky will fall on you! You will be killed and every one on St.\nLawrence Island will die, too; but if you give it back right away, it\nwill be summer when you wake up tomorrow morning. The sun will be\nshining, and the salmon-berries will be ripening all about the house.\nThen go down to the river and set your nets, and they will quickly be\nfull of fine salmon. Hurry! Hurry! Give me my spear!\u201d\n\nThe grandmother again said, \u201cBoy, give that man his spear.\u201d\n\nThe little boy was very angry, because he did not believe the Storm Man,\nand thought they would be killed anyway, but he did not dare disobey the\ngrandmother, so he took the spear to the fireplace and struck the point\nagainst the stone lamp to make it dull. When he had finished, he threw\nit out of the window hole, and called, \u201cThere is your spear. I know you\nare the Storm Man.\u201d\n\nThe Storm Man only laughed, and said, \u201cKonnu has sharpened my spear.\u201d\nNow \u201cKonnu\u201d was the boy\u2019s name.\n\nAfter that the grandmother and the boy heard the howling song of the\nStorm Man grow fainter and fainter in the distance, until they both fell\nasleep to its soothing sound.\n\nEarly in the morning the boy was awakened by a strange dazzling light in\nhis eyes. It was the sun. True to his word, the Storm Man had let the\nsummer come.\n\nOutside it was warm. Sunshine was everywhere, making everything look\nbright and beautiful. The ground about the house was thick with ripening\nsalmon berries, and the sky was blue, with little white puffy clouds\nfloating over it.\n\nKonnu took his nets down to the river, and saw the salmon swimming\nlazily about. His heart was full of joy, for he knew the Storm Man had\nkept his word, that this was summer, and they need not be hungry and\ncold any more.\n\n\n\n\nTHE LOST SON\n\n\nLong ago, in a village on the Arctic coast of Alaska, there lived a man\nand his wife, with their only son.\n\nThe boy was clever and brave, and a good hunter. Every spring he went\nout with his harpoon and killed a whale, but he did not worship the\nwhales as his father did. The father thought the whales had great power,\nand he used to pray to them.\n\nOne winter while the young man was out hunting, the ice broke and\ndrifted away from land, leaving him on the ice floe with a great expanse\nof shining sea between himself and the shore. There was no way for him\nto reach land, and, to make matters worse, a storm arose, and the wind\nblew and howled, and the waves grew so big that they looked like\nmountains. Pretty soon the ice was all broken up, so that he found\nhimself on a very small, high iceberg. He had scarcely room to turn\naround, and all night long he clung there, cramped up and cold.\n\nWhen daylight came again, and he saw that he was all alone on a little\npiece of ice, floating on a big black ocean, without even a glimpse of\nland to cheer him, he fell into deep despair. Very miserably he waited\nthere, looking out over the sea until night began to fall once more;\nthen he could bear it no longer. Taking his hunting knife from its\nsheath, he made ready to kill himself. As he raised the knife, a hand\nfrom above seized his hand, and a great voice spoke in his heart,\nsaying, \u201cYou must not do that. It is wrong.\u201d On hearing this, he dropped\nthe knife in the water, and suddenly he felt himself being drawn up\nswiftly through the air. When he recovered his breath and looked about\nhim, he was in heaven. It was very light, and he was not cold or sad any\nmore.\n\nWhile he stood there enjoying the balmy air and warm sunshine, a kind\nman came along, and took him to his home, where he was as well fed and\ntreated as by a loving father.\n\nNow his own father and mother were in great distress, and scarcely knew\nhow to live without him. The neighbors were sorry for them, and every\none in the village spoke kindly of the young man, whom they looked upon\nas lost forever.\n\nAt the far end of the village, in a tiny hut, there lived an old woman\nwith her little granddaughter.\n\nOne day the little girl said, \u201cGrandma, I wish I might bring back that\nyoung man.\u201d\n\n\u201cIndeed, my dear, I wish so too,\u201d answered the old woman; \u201cbut how could\none little girl do what all the wise people in the village have not been\nable to accomplish?\u201d\n\nBut the little girl kept on thinking about it and wishing she could\nbring the young man back to his unhappy parents; until at last she could\nthink of nothing else, and could neither eat nor sleep for thinking of\nit.\n\nOne night, while her grandmother slept, the little girl lay looking at\nthe old stone lamp, dreaming of the sadness that had come over her\nvillage because the boy, whom they all loved, was lost. She fancied the\nflickering light, from its wick of moss, winked at her, as much as to\nsay, \u201cI know something you would like to know.\u201d So she began to talk to\nit in a low voice, that she might not awaken her grandmother. \u201cLamp,\ndear Lamp, can\u2019t you go and find that boy? Your eyes are so bright, and\nyou look so wise. Won\u2019t you please go and find him?\u201d\n\nShe sat up on her little heels, with her hands clasped, speaking\neagerly.\n\nThe old grandmother stirred uneasily among her bear skins on the floor.\nThe lamp twinkled and flickered, then, trembling a little, began to hop\nwith short quick hops at first, then higher and higher, until at last,\nwaving a bright goodby to her, the little lamp shot right out through\nthe hole that is in the roof of every Eskimo house, and went straight up\nto heaven to get the young man, and bring him home.\n\n\u201cO Grandmother!\u201d cried the little girl. \u201cOur lamp has gone after him.\u201d\n\nThe grandmother shivered, for without the lamp which supplied their heat\nand light, she felt cold. Drawing the little girl down beside her, she\nsnuggled under the big fur rugs and went to sleep.\n\nWhen the lamp reached heaven it went straight to the house where the\nyoung man was. It hopped so quickly through the ventilator, into the\nhouse, that some of the oil spilled out on the floor. The man who lived\nthere tried to grab it, but each time he thought he had caught it, the\nlamp slipped from his fingers, and hopped away through the air,\nbeckoning to the young man to come. Quickly jumping into the bowl of the\nlamp, the boy sat there and was carried straight down to the little\ngirl.\n\nWhen the little girl opened her eyes in the morning, she was\ndisappointed to see the old lamp twinkling away in its accustomed place,\nlooking very innocent indeed. The child thought it must have been a\ndream. Then a shadow came between her and the lamp, and she saw the boy\nstanding, smiling down at her and the grandmother, and she knew that her\ndream had come true.\n\nWhen they had recovered from their astonishment, and the boy had asked\nall about his parents and his friends, they talked a long while together\nand arranged a fine plan to give his father and mother a surprise.\n\nThe grandmother was to go to his house at once and ask his parents to\ngive her some clothes, for those he had on were shabby and soiled, but\nshe was to make believe that she wanted them for herself.\n\nWhen the old woman reached the boy\u2019s home, the parents welcomed her very\nkindly and asked what they could do for her.\n\n\u201cLet me have some of your son\u2019s clothes,\u201d said she. \u201cMy little\ngranddaughter and I are very poor, and the weather is cold.\u201d\n\n\u201cAlas!\u201d sighed the man. \u201cOur son is lost to us, and I fear he will not\nwant his clothes any more. He would be happy to know that they were of\nuse to you.\u201d\n\nThey gave her the very best parka and mukluks the boy had, also some\nfood. She thanked them heartily, and went home as fast as she could, for\nthe sight of their sad faces made her feel that no time must be lost in\nmaking them happy again.\n\nBy the time the boy was dressed, and they had all had some food, it was\nevening. Then the two children ran hand in hand to the kasga, where the\npeople were gathering to sing songs and play games.\n\nThe little girl went in first, and asked if she too might sing. They\ngave her a drum, and she sang a wonderful song, all about a dream she\nhad had, which really was the story of how the lamp had found the boy\nand brought him home.\n\nThe sad parents were there, and the mother began to cry for her son, and\nthe father said, \u201cI wish that dream would come true!\u201d\n\nJust as he said this, the boy gave a shout and rushed into the room. You\ncan imagine how surprised they all were, and how happy too.\n\nThen the little girl slipped quietly out and went home with a shining\nface.\n\n\u201cGrandmother,\u201d said she, \u201cI can sleep well tonight, for I know everybody\nis glad again.\u201d\n\nThe next day the boy came to the grandmother, and asked her and her\ngranddaughter to come to live at his home with his father and mother.\n\nThey went with him, and after that they were always happy and\ncomfortable, for the boy became a famous hunter, and kept them all\nsupplied with good things to eat, and plenty of fur skins to keep them\nwarm.\n\nThe little girl grew big, and the old grandmother bossed them all.\nGrandmothers always do in Eskimo Land.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CROW AND THE OWL\n\n\nLong ago, when crows were white, a crow and an owl sat on a log, talking\ntogether.\n\nThe crow said he did not like his color, and the owl said, \u201cI wish I had\nsome pretty spots on my back.\u201d\n\n\u201cSo do I,\u201d said the crow. \u201cLet us paint each other with black oil from\nthe lamp.\u201d\n\n\u201cTo-whit, to-whoo,\u201d said the owl. \u201cWhat fun that would be!\u201d\n\nNow when a clay lamp gets old there is a lot of thick black oil in the\nbottom of it. The Eskimos make chewing-gum out of this oil.\n\nThe crow took one of the owl\u2019s feathers, dipped it into the oil, and\npainted beautiful black spots all over the owl\u2019s body. He did it very\nwell and made the owl look fine.\n\nThen came the owl\u2019s turn to paint the crow. At first he liked to do it,\nand made such pretty round spots that the crow began to feel very proud\nindeed; but before he was half through, the owl got tired of working so\nhard; and taking the lamp, he turned it upside down, and poured the\nblack oil all over the crow.\n\nHow angry that crow was when he found himself black all over! He tried\nhis best to get it off, but it was no use. The black stuck fast.\n\nEver since then, the crow has been the blackest of all birds.\n\n[Illustration: \u201cPoured the black oil all over the crow\u201d]\n\n\n\n\nTHE RUNNING STICK\n\n\nLong ago, in the village of Na-ki-a-ki-a-mute, there lived a strong man,\nor chief, with his wife, to whom he was very devoted. They had no\nchildren, but among their neighbors was a little girl who lived in a\ntiny house with her grandmother. These two were very poor, but the chief\nwas rich, and the chief\u2019s wife loved the little girl and had her often\nwith her. Indeed the child used to come every day to fetch water for the\nchief\u2019s wife, from the water hole through the ice in the river nearby.\n\nOne day the man went off hunting, and when he came back with a fine fat\nseal for their food his wife was gone. He called and called her, but she\ndid not answer. Then he went to all his neighbors seeking her, but no\none had seen her, and no trace of her could he find anywhere. There was\nnot even a footprint to show in which direction she had gone.\n\nThe poor man was nearly crazy with grief and anger, for he felt sure\nsome one must have taken his wife away from him. He became fierce and\nsullen, brooding over his troubles and loneliness, and would speak to no\none. In fact no one dared to come near him for fear of being killed.\n\nAll day long he would sit out in front of his house with his big bow and\nquiver full of arrows, watching; and at night he did not sleep, nor\ncould he eat.\n\nOne day the old grandmother said to the little girl, \u201cI am sorry for\nthat poor man; he is so unhappy. You go to him and ask him to come and\neat with us. His wife loved you. He will not hurt you. Try to bring him\nback with you.\u201d\n\nVery timidly the little girl obeyed, for in her heart she was afraid to\ngo. When she got near the chief\u2019s house she stopped and felt like\nturning back, for he sat there looking so fierce and gloomy that she was\nfrightened; but when he saw the child standing there he motioned to her\nto come. Then she felt no longer afraid, but went and sat beside him,\nand told him what her grandmother had said. The chief answered nothing,\nbut when she slipped her little hand in his, he got up and went with her\nto her home, where the old woman had already cooked him a fine supper of\nreindeer meat.\n\nThe poor man had not eaten for so long that he was starving, and when he\nhad finished all the meat the old woman had, he sent the little girl to\nhis own house to get some more.\n\nAs soon as the little one had gone out of the room, the grandmother said\nto him, \u201cI sent for you because you have been kind to us, and I believe\nI can help you to find your wife. You must make a good strong staff of\ndriftwood, then take this bunch of charms and tie it firmly to the\nstick,\u201d and she gave him a little bunch of charms. These charms were\nivory animals and faces and some tufts of feathers from sea birds.\n\nNext she said that he must set the stick upright in the ground, in front\nof his house, very firmly, so that the wind could not blow it over. When\nhe had done this he should go to bed and sleep. In the morning he must\nexamine the stick carefully, and go in the direction in which the stick\nleaned. Wherever he stopped for the night he must set the stick up in\nthe same way, and in the morning the stick would point in the direction\nhe must follow to find his wife.\n\n\u201cIf you obey my instructions,\u201d said she, \u201cthe stick will lead you\nstraight to your wife.\u201d\n\nThen the little girl came in with some more reindeer meat, and the man\nate until he was satisfied, and went home.\n\nAs soon as he reached his house, he made a fine staff, tied the charms\nto it and planted it firmly in the ground before the door. Then he went\nin, and rolling himself up in a big bear skin, fell asleep.\n\nHe woke up in the morning feeling well rested, and more like himself\nthan at any time since his wife\u2019s disappearance. It was late and the sun\nhad already risen. He hurried out anxiously to look at his stick. It was\nbent directly toward the North, so he pulled it up and started on his\njourney, with the staff moving along before him.\n\nFor two days and two nights he traveled without rest, having a hard time\nto keep up with that stick, which hopped along in front of him. Then,\nbeing tired, he stuck the staff into the ground and went to sleep.\n\nWhen he woke, the stick was again pointing North. This time it leaned\nover more than before.\n\nFor three days and nights he traveled, then he slept, and in the morning\nhis faithful staff was bending way over, still toward the North.\n\n\u201cNow my wife cannot be very far away,\u201d he thought.\n\nThat night he slept again, and when he awoke, the staff had leaned so\nfar over that the tip almost touched the ground; so he felt sure he must\nbe near his journey\u2019s end.\n\nAbout noon, when the sun hung very round and very red, low down in the\nsky, he came to a huge snow house, the biggest house he had ever seen.\nRight by the house stood four posts close together, and on these posts\nwas hung the skin of an enormous bird.\n\nHiding himself among some willow bushes, he watched to see what would\nhappen.\n\nPretty soon a very tall man came out of the house and went to the posts.\nClimbing up on them, he took the skin, put it on, and flew away over the\nsea.\n\nWhen the bird man was out of sight, our friend took his faithful staff\nand went into the house. There he found his wife, who was very happy to\nsee him.\n\n\u201cI knew you would come and find me,\u201d she said. \u201cThat terrible big bird\ncarried me away in his claws; that is why you could not find my\nfootprints in the snow.\u201d\n\nHer husband wanted her to come home with him at once, but she told him\nthat it would be better if she could first see the bird man, who would\ncome back soon again. Her plan was to send the bird man on some far\ndistant fight, so that they might get away during his absence. She gave\nher husband some food, and he went back to his hiding-place to wait for\nthe bird man to come and go.\n\nAfter a short time the bird came back with a walrus in one claw and a\nseal in the other. Flying to the rack, he took off the bird skin, hung\nit up, and went into the house.\n\nWhen he came in, he found the woman crying. \u201cWhat do you want?\u201d said he.\n\n\u201cI want a white whale and a hump-back whale. I didn\u2019t want any seal. I\nam tired of seal and walrus meat. Boo-hoo!\u201d and she howled and wailed\ndismally.\n\n\u201cOnly be quiet,\u201d said the bird man, \u201cand I will get you what you want.\u201d\nAnd he came out again and, putting on his bird skin, once more flew out\nover the sea.\n\nWhen the bird was out of sight, the woman ran from the house to her\nhusband, who put her on his back and started for home as fast as he\ncould go. He was the swiftest runner in his village, and covered the\nground pretty fast; but, after all, legs are not wings. It was not long\nbefore they met the bird man coming back with a whale in each of his\ntalons. When he saw the man carrying the woman away on his back, the\nbird was very angry, and circled about in the air over their heads,\ncalling out to them, \u201cI shall kill you. First, however, I am going to\ntake these two whales home, then I shall come back and kill you.\u201d And\naway he flew.\n\nThe man ran as fast as he could, but just as they reached the banks of a\nbig river the bird came in sight.\n\nThe man and his wife dug a cave in the river bank, and hid in it while\nthe bird flew by looking for them. Nowhere could the big bird find those\ntwo people, although he was sure they must be hiding somewhere nearby.\nSuddenly he circled about, and flew down to the water. \u201cI shall set my\ngreat wing across the river like a dam, and the water will rise and\ndrown them,\u201d cried he; so he stretched his great wing across the river\nand the water rose over the wing, and crept nearer and nearer to where\nthe man and his wife were hidden.\n\nThe two poor people were in despair. They thought that surely they would\nbe drowned, when suddenly the man remembered his father, who was a witch\ndoctor, and some magic words came to his mind:\n\n    \u201cKluk-a-luk.\n    Muk-a-luk.\n    puk-a-luk.\n    Freeze up hard,\n    Or you must run dry.\u201d\n\nHe said these words over three times aloud. At that moment the water of\nthe river began to freeze. It was the month called \u201cNaz-ze-rak-sek\u201d by\nthe Eskimos, which means October.\n\nAt last the river froze so hard and solid, that the bird\u2019s wing was\nfrozen fast into the ice and he could not pull it out. Then the husband\nkilled the wicked bird, and plucking one of the long feathers from its\nwing for a charm, took his wife safely home without any further trouble.\n\nThey brought the old grandmother and the little girl to live with them,\nand they were all happy the whole winter long with the meat of the big\nbird for food.\n\n\n\n\nTHE TREACHEROUS CROW AND HIS COUSIN, THE MINK\n\n\nLong ago, a crow and a mink lived together. The crow called the mink his\ncousin. They made a little cabin where there was a sand bar and willows.\nIn summer time when the weather was fine they played together on the\nsand bar, which was bigger than any sand pile any children ever had.\n\nOne day they saw some dead salmon on the beach, and the tracks of a\nbrown bear.\n\nThe crow said to the mink, his cousin, \u201cWhat shall we do if that brown\nbear comes around here?\u201d\n\nThe mink answered, \u201cWe cannot catch that bear. He is bigger and stronger\nthan we are. He will kill us.\u201d\n\nThen the crow laughed, \u201cHaw, haw! I know how to kill that bear; it is\neasy. Cousin, you will go inside the dead salmon, and I will put it in\nthe bear\u2019s track.\u201d\n\n\u201cO no!\u201d said the mink. \u201cI am afraid. You go yourself into the salmon.\u201d\n\nBut the crow was boss. \u201cI do not wish to go into the salmon,\u201d said he.\n\u201cYou go yourself. I am bigger than you, and I have wings. I will put you\ninto the salmon, and I will put the salmon in the bear\u2019s track, and\ndon\u2019t you move one bit, even if you are scared. I will tell you what to\ndo. If the bear comes, keep very still. If he opens his mouth to bite,\nyou just jump down his throat, and go in as far as you can. Bite him\nhard inside, and then he will drop dead.\u201d\n\nThe mink was terribly afraid, but the crow said, \u201cI will help you. When\nthe bear drops dead, I will run out of my hiding-place, and cut a little\ndoor in his side with my knife, and you will jump out. If you do that,\nwe will live well and have lots of meat to eat all winter.\u201d\n\nThe poor mink looked very sad indeed, but did not dare to refuse to do\nwhat the crow told him.\n\n\u201cAll right,\u201d said the mink, \u201cI will do it, but I know that I shall die.\u201d\n\nThe crow went to work to prepare the big fish. He skinned it nicely, and\nwhen it was ready, put his cousin, the mink, inside of it, and laid it\nwhere the bear track was.\n\nThe mink was terribly frightened inside the salmon, because he knew the\nbear would eat him up. The crow hid among the willows and watched his\ncousin.\n\n[Illustration: \u201cThe bear came around by the same track and saw the\nsalmon\u201d]\n\nAfter a while the bear came around by the same track, looking for a fish\nto eat, and saw the salmon. First he sniffed at it, and noticed that it\nsmelled a little different, but very good. Then he sniffed again, and,\nbeing very hungry, he opened his big mouth wide, and the mink popped\nright down his throat. Down he went, down as far as he could jump,\nbiting hard all the time. The crow was watching from the willows, and\npretty soon the bear danced around on his hind legs and fell to the\nground. Quickly the crow flew to the bear, and with his little knife cut\na door for the poor frightened mink to jump out of.\n\n\u201cSee,\u201d said the crow, \u201cI told you it was easy to kill the big bear. Now\nwe have killed him, we will have meat all winter, and will not have to\ngo out to hunt in bad weather.\u201d\n\nThe mink said nothing, but went to work to help the crow fix up the bear\ninto fine steaks.\n\nThey dried the meat and hung it up, and there was enough to feed the\nwhole village.\n\nOne night the crow said to the mink, \u201cCousin, once upon a time in the\nolden days people of one village used to invite the people of another\nvillage to come to a feast and dance. I should like to do that myself.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy,\u201d said the mink, \u201cI have never heard of that before. I don\u2019t know\nwhat that would be like, but I should love to see it.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe will do it,\u201d said the crow. \u201cWe have plenty of fine bear meat for\nevery one, and we will give a party. I will tell you what to do, Cousin,\nand tomorrow you will start, but you must do just what I tell you.\u201d\n\nThen they went to sleep, and early in the morning, the crow sent his\ncousin to the sea.\n\n\u201cYou walk until you come to a village,\u201d said he, \u201cbut don\u2019t stop at that\none; go right on until you come to a second village; pass that one also.\nWhen you come to the third village, stop, and the people will ask you\nwhere you come from. Say to them, \u2018I come from a big village. We have a\nchief in our village, and he has sent me to invite you all to his big\ndance.\u2019 If they ask you what kind of a chief you have, don\u2019t tell them\nit is a crow, because if you tell them that, no one will come. Just say,\n\u2018We have a fine chief.\u2019\u201d\n\nWhen the crow had finished talking, the mink jumped on to the ice, and\nwent toward the sea. He went on until he came to a village, but he did\nnot stop at that one; he passed it as his cousin had told him to do, and\nwent on again. Then he came to the second village, but he passed that\none too, and at last came to the third village. Here he stopped, and the\npeople were happy when he gave them his cousin\u2019s invitation.\n\nEverybody in the village wanted to go to the feast, and the next morning\nthey all started off.\n\nWhen they passed the first village, where the crow had told the mink not\nto stop, two people came out and asked if they might go also.\n\nThe mink said, \u201cNo, we do not want you.\u201d But they came anyway.\n\nJust before dark the mink got home to the crow. What was his surprise to\nsee a fine village, where he had left only a cabin the day before; and a\nlot of people coming out to meet him and his guests.\n\nThe mink saw his crow cousin surrounded by a crowd of people, all\ndressed up in fine clothes, looking very fine indeed. The crow was so\nhappy to see the mink coming with the people of the sea village that he\nstarted up a great shout. They all shouted loudly, and the crow, in his\nexcitement, forgetting that he was a crow, tried to shout with them, but\nall he could say was \u201cCaw, caw!\u201d\n\nThe two people from the first village, who had not been invited, were\nwatching very closely to see what sort of people these were who gave\nthis great feast, and when they heard the crow shouting, \u201cCaw, caw,\u201d\nthey called, \u201cLook out, friends. We see that the chief of this village\nis a crow!\u201d\n\nThen the crow spoke up and said, \u201cI am not a crow, people. Don\u2019t be\nafraid. I promise you a good time. We will dance tonight only, then I\nwill send you home.\u201d\n\nBefore the dance they had some races. The marten came first, then the\nwolf, then the lynx. The Arctic hare came fourth, and fifth, the fox.\nThe Arctic hare could have won first prize if he had wanted to, but he\nkept sitting down every minute. One of the people, a muskrat, had not\ncome back from the race when the dance started, and when he came in all\nhot and tired the people laughed and made fun of him. That made him so\nangry that he was in a great temper, but the crow said, \u201cDon\u2019t you mind\nthem; you are all right.\u201d So he felt better about it.\n\nBefore the dance started, the crow stood up on top of the house, and\ncalled out, \u201cPeople, I am going to do something fine for you. I am going\nto rub some oil on your eyes that will make you all see every animal\nwhen you go hunting. Last fall I killed a bear, and the oil is from that\nbear.\u201d\n\nAt this the mink was in a terrible rage, because the crow did not tell\nthem that it was he who had killed the bear, and he began to shout, \u201cHe\nlies, he lies! He did not kill the bear. I killed it myself.\u201d\n\nWell, the crow was so embarrassed and surprised when he heard his cousin\nsay this that he fell right down from the top of the house where he had\nbeen standing.\n\nThe mink, too, was terribly sorry he had spoken so hastily, and he\ncalled out to the crow, \u201cO dear Cousin, forgive me; I did not mean that.\nI was only jealous. People, listen to me. I did not kill the bear at\nall. My cousin told the truth. He really killed that bear.\u201d\n\nThen the crow was happy again, and flew back to his high perch, where he\nrecovered his dignity.\n\nThen the people began to ask about the oil, and all stepped up to the\ncrow in turn, and he put it on their eyes.\n\nThe two people from that first village were watching the crow all the\ntime, and suddenly one of them jumped up and began to shout, \u201cStop,\npeople! Stop! He is putting glue on your eyes!\u201d\n\nThere was great excitement, and the people tried to open their eyes, but\ncould not, for their eyes were stuck together with glue.\n\nAll at once salt water began to pour into the house, and every one\nrushed to get out of the door, but their eyes were glued, so they could\nnot see the hole to go out.\n\nNow the crow took a big stick, and the mink one also, and all the crow\u2019s\npeople armed themselves with big sticks, and killed all the people the\nmink had gone to sea to invite, and who turned out to be seals after\nall.\n\nThen the treacherous and tricky crow gave one of the seals to each of\nhis own people and sent them home.\n\nThis is how the crow got the name of being the trickiest of all the\nbirds, and no animal really likes him, because they know they cannot\ntrust him.\n\n\n\n\nGOOD AND BAD WEATHER\n\n\nLong ago, on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, two Eskimo boys were\nwalking from their own home to a far-away village. While they were going\nalong, a terrible storm overtook them and they had to hold each other by\nthe hand to keep from falling. Pretty soon the wind rose so high, and\nthe snow fell so fast, they felt they could go no farther. In despair,\nthey clung to each other, blinded by the snow, when a tremendous gust of\nwind suddenly caught them, and blew them against the side of a little\nsnow house. How glad they were to find shelter!\n\nInside the house was an old woman, living all alone. She was very kind\nand invited them to sit down and rest; then she gave them something to\neat, and told them that she was going out.\n\n\u201cDo not look after me to see what I am doing,\u201d said she, \u201cor you will be\nsorry.\u201d\n\nShe put on her parka and mukluks, and took her stone skin scraper in her\nhand and went out the door.\n\nThe Eskimo women have a scraper which they use to scrape the flesh, or\nmeat, from the skin of the animals they prepare for clothing. This\nscraper is somewhat the shape of a carpenter\u2019s plane. The blade is made\nof a sharp piece of stone. That was the kind of thing the old woman took\nout with her.\n\nThe boys were devoured with curiosity, and after she had gone the oldest\none said, \u201cLet us go out and look at her.\u201d But the younger boy\nwhispered, \u201cNo, no.\u201d He was afraid; but his brother was determined to\nsee what that old woman was doing out there with her knife, so he\npersuaded the little one to creep softly to the door with him, and peek\nout.\n\nWhere do you think the old woman was? And what do you think she was\ndoing? Way up in the sky she sat, scraping away at the clouds. She had\nalready scraped off half the clouds, and where she had scraped, the sky\nwas as blue, as blue as could be, but the other half was still covered\nwith thick black clouds.\n\nWhen she saw the two boys peeping at her, she let go of the sky and fell\ndown. As she came into the house, the boys were sitting on the floor,\njust as she had left them, hoping she had not really seen them looking\nat her.\n\n\u201cYou rascals! You bad boys!\u201d she cried. \u201cYou did just what I told you\nnot to do. If you had not looked out at me, and made me fall off, I\nwould have cleaned all the clouds away, and we should never have had any\nmore storms. But alas! I cannot go up there again, and now we shall have\nboth clear and cloudy weather.\u201d\n\nEver since then it has been sometimes clear and sometimes stormy,\nbecause the old woman had only had time to clean off one-half of the\nsky.\n\n\n\n\nHOW THE WHITE WHALES HAPPENED\n\n\nLong, long ago, on St. Lawrence Island, there lived with his grandmother\na little blind orphan boy. He was so blind that he could not even see a\nray of light.\n\nThe grandmother was a wicked old witch, and treated him very badly.\n\nThey were frightfully poor, and had to eat muskrats, for they had no one\nto go hunting food for them.\n\nOne day the old woman came in very much excited because she had seen a\npolar bear with two cubs. Now you must understand that the bear cubs are\nthe baby bears, and are nice and round and plump and juicy and covered\nwith white fluffy fur. The grandmother smacked her lips at the thought\nof those delicious little bears.\n\nAfter grumbling about for a while, and scolding the boy because he could\nnot see to go hunting, she handed him a strong bow made from driftwood\nand some fine arrows tipped with bone, and told him to go out and kill\nthose bears.\n\n\u201cBut, Grandmother,\u201d said he, \u201chow can I kill the bears when I cannot see\nto shoot them?\u201d\n\n\u201cCome out and I will show you.\u201d And she shoved him out of the house.\n\nThey sat down outside and waited for Mother Bear to come by with her\nbabies.\n\nThe grandmother told the boy to hold the arrow pointed straight in front\nof him, and that she would tell him when to let it fly.\n\nThey waited a long time for the bears to come, and just as he was\ngetting so tired he feared he would drop the heavy bow, who should come\nsauntering slowly along but Mother Bear and her two frisky babies. Just\nas they passed the very spot at which the blind boy was aiming, his\ngrandmother whispered, \u201cShoot!\u201d and he let fly the arrow. One by one he\nkilled the three bears in this way.\n\nOf course the poor little fellow could not see the bears at all and was\nnot sure that he had killed them, but when he asked her the old witch\nwould tell him nothing. She only scolded him and shoved him into the\nhouse.\n\nSaying that she was going to gather sticks for the fire, she took her\nbig knife, with a green jade blade and walrus ivory handle, and went out\nto skin the bears. Having carefully removed the skins, she hung the meat\nto dry in the cache, a sort of high drying-frame, where no wild animal\ncould get at it.\n\nWhen dinner time came the old grandmother feasted greedily on bear\nsteak, but she gave only lean muskrats to the hungry little boy.\n\nIn the morning the little fellow crawled out on his hands and knees to\nsearch for willow weeds, which the Eskimos like to make tea from. They\nchew it too sometimes. He had to feel his way very carefully so as not\nto hurt himself, for of course he could see nothing.\n\nWhile he was crawling along, reaching out with his hands for the\nwillows, he heard something hopping lightly before him.\n\nA little twittering voice said, \u201cGood-morning, boy.\u201d\n\n\u201cWho are you?\u201d said the boy, and he stopped to listen.\n\n\u201cI am a snipe, and I can make your eyes see if you will let me.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said the boy, \u201cI have always been blind, and I don\u2019t think a\nsnipe could give me my sight, but I could not be worse off than I am\nnow, so you might try, if you want to.\u201d\n\nNo sooner had he said this than the snipe hopped on his shoulder and\nbegan brushing his eyes very lightly with the tip of her pretty spotted\nwing. This she did gently back and forth many times, until at last he\nshouted gladly that he could see.\n\nThe little snipe did not let him go just then, but made him keep very\nquiet until she had polished his eyes so bright that he could see the\ntiniest speck of sand in the bottom of the ocean; then she sent him\nhome.\n\nThanking his little new-found friend, the boy ran back as fast as his\nfeet could carry him. When he got near the house, he dropped down on his\nhands and knees again, and closing his eyes, came crawling in. As he\nentered he detected the odor of bear meat.\n\n\u201cGrandmother, what is that good smell that makes me so hungry?\u201d said he;\nbut the old woman spoke harshly, and scolded him for not bringing back\nany willow weed. He still kept asking for food, hoping she would give\nhim some of the bear, but she placed the muskrat before him again, while\nshe ate the bear steaks. When she was too busy eating to notice him, he\npeeped at her with one eye, and saw her devouring greedily. When she was\ntoo well filled to eat any more, she went down to the sea to wash the\nbear grease off her hands and face, but she was so heavy with food that\nwhen she leaned over she fell into the water head first.\n\nThe boy heard a shriek and ran to the shore just in time to see her rise\nto the surface, turn into a white whale, and swim away.\n\nEver since then the Eskimos have believed that all white whales were\nonce old women. Indeed, to this day, they insist that a bunch of white\nhair is found inside the brain of a white whale, which makes them all\nthe more sure of it.\n\n\n\n\nA GIANT AND HIS DRUM\n\n\nLong ago, in a village in Eskimo Land, there lived a man with his wife\nand five sons, of whom they were very proud.\n\nOne day the oldest son came to his father and said, \u201cFather we have\nalways been in the same place, and seen the same kind of people. I think\nit is time for me to go in search of another village and see something\nof the world.\u201d\n\nSo bidding them all goodby, he took his hunting knife and his strong bow\nwith a quiver full of arrows and went away.\n\nThe next day the second son said that he must go after his brother. So\nhe went too; and after him the third. At last the fourth followed the\nothers and the parents found themselves alone with the youngest son, who\nwas only a boy. He of course wanted to go to find his brothers, and the\nfather and mother, who were already very sad at losing four boys, had\nhard work to keep him at home. They shut him in the house, and took\nturns watching that he did not get away.\n\nOne day, however, the mother fell asleep and the boy, who had been\nwaiting for a chance, slipped out of the house and ran as fast as he\ncould go. After he had run far enough to feel sure they could not catch\nhim, he made the image of a man out of birchbark and fastened it to the\ntop of his parka hood, where it stood up very high and white. Having\ndone this he went merrily on his way.\n\nAfter walking a long time he saw a huge house, with an enormous giant\nstanding out in front of it. Beside the giant hung a drum. This drum was\na big box, with seal intestine stretched over the ends, and all around\nthe edge of it was bone, as sharp as a knife. The Eskimos use drums for\ntheir ceremonial dances, but the boy had never seen such a big one as\nthis. On the ground all about the giant were the bones and skulls of the\nmen he had devoured.\n\nThe little fellow was so frightened he wanted to run away, but it was\ntoo late, for the giant had already seen him and shouted to him that he\nmust dance. The boy obeyed, and while he was dancing the giant beat upon\nthe drum and sang a long song. When he came to the end of the song, he\ngave a mighty shout and hurled the drum at the boy\u2019s head. Whizzing\nthrough the air, the drum struck the arm of the birchbark image and\nbroke it off; then the boy took the drum and sang the giant\u2019s song. When\nhe had finished, he threw the drum back and it cut off one of the\ngiant\u2019s arms. They kept throwing the drum back and forth at each other\nuntil at last the image was broken, and the giant fell dead. The\nbirchbark image had saved the boy\u2019s life, because the giant mistook it\nfor the boy and threw the drum at it every time.\n\nThe boy was terribly proud of himself; indeed, he could hardly believe\nhe had killed that great giant, and he waited a little way off until he\nsaw that the giant did not move; then he went into the house. When he\ngot inside he heard a sound of crying that seemed to come from under the\nfloor. There, in a deep pit, he found his four brothers, who were being\nkept by the giant for a great feast that was to take place the next day.\nIf the boy had come two days later he would have found nothing left of\nhis brothers but their bones.\n\nYou may be sure the four boys were happy to be saved from such a cruel\nfate, and they could not praise their brother enough for his cleverness\nand courage.\n\nBringing the great drum with them, they hurried back as fast as they\ncould to their parents.\n\nAfter that they were all content to stay at home and hunt walruses and\nwhales; for they had had enough of going abroad in search of adventure.\n\n\n\n\nLOVEK AND SERANAK\n\n\nLong ago, on St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea there lived a strong\nman named Lovek. This man was very bad; indeed, he was a big bully.\nWhenever any of his neighbors went hunting, Lovek would take away\nwhatever they had killed, as soon as they had hauled it over the ice to\nthe shore. Every one in the village was afraid of this man who took away\nall their food, and who was so strong no one could beat him. The people\ndid not know what to do, and were almost afraid to go hunting at all,\nfor Lovek was sure to find them and take away their game.\n\nNow in this village there lived an orphan boy with his uncle. The boy\u2019s\nname was Seranak, and he was so poor he had scarcely any clothes to wear\nand almost no food to eat.\n\nOne night at the kasga, Seranak heard the people talking about Lovek.\nThey hardly dared to speak aloud, and Seranak had to creep up close to\nhis uncle to hear what they were saying; but he heard enough to make him\nfeel very sorry for all the people, and determined to do something to\nhelp them get rid of such a bad man.\n\nWhen his uncle reached home, Seranak begged for some clothes and weapons\nthat he might go hunting.\n\nAt first his uncle refused, saying, \u201cNo, Seranak. What would a little\nboy like you do if Lovek came along? He would take away anything you had\ncaught and might kill you too.\u201d\n\nSeranak begged so hard that at last his uncle said he might go, and gave\nhim a warm parka, a good pair of mukluks and a fine strong spear with a\nsharp tip made of walrus ivory, and a long line made of walrus hide. The\nboy thanked his uncle and went down to the ice which spread out like a\nroof over the sea.\n\nNo sooner did he reach the edge of the ice than a walrus stuck his great\nhead up out of the water. To Seranak that walrus looked very funny with\nhis whiskers like an old man and two long tusks; he seemed to be saying,\n\u201cWhat do you think you can do, little boy, with that long spear?\u201d But he\nsoon knew what \u201clittle boy\u201d could do, for quickly Seranak raised his\narm, gave the spear a thrust, and it sank deep into the side of the\nwalrus. After that the boy hauled the animal upon the ice and began\ncutting him up for meat.\n\n[Illustration: \u201c\u2018Lovek, I have you at my mercy now\u2019\u201d]\n\nWhile he was working away with his uncle\u2019s fine hunting knife, Lovek\ncame along, and stopping beside him with an evil grin, said, \u201cHa ha,\nSeranak. So you are a big man now that you have killed a walrus! It is\ngood of you to go hunting for me. I will take the head now and the meat\nlater.\u201d\n\nSeranak said not a word but went on with his work just as though he had\nheard nothing at all.\n\nThis surprised Lovek, whose stupid big face took on a puzzled\nexpression. He had never been treated like that before. Usually people\njumped and looked scared when he shouted at them.\n\nComing a little nearer, he roared at Seranak, \u201cBoy, don\u2019t you hear me?\nHand me that walrus head!\u201d\n\nSeranak paid no attention at all, until Lovek was almost on top of him;\nthen suddenly springing to his feet, he flung the surprised Lovek into\nthe deep water between the floes of ice. After a while Lovek came to the\ntop, puffing and blowing like a whale. Every time he stuck his head out\nof the water, there was Seranak with his big spear. At last, when Lovek\nwas nearly drowned and almost frozen, Seranak said, \u201cLovek, I have you\nat my mercy now and I will not let you out unless you promise to be good\nand never again take that which does not belong to you.\u201d\n\nOf course Lovek promised. He was terribly frightened and greatly\nsurprised to find that he could be beaten by a little boy. After that he\nwas good to the hunters and became the kindest man in the village.\n\nFrom that time Seranak was the hero of the people, and when he grew up\nthe people called him \u201cOmmalik,\u201d which is the same almost as \u201cBig\nChief.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nTHE CARIBOU\n\n\nLong ago there was an Eskimo family living in a place quite by\nthemselves, and far away from any village.\n\nThe father had been killed by a caribou some years before, so the\nwidowed mother was alone with her two sons. They had been little boys\nwhen the father died, but now they were young men and fine hunters.\n\nEvery day they used to go hunting. Always they brought back game of some\nkind, so the family lived on the fat of the land.\n\nAt that time there were many caribou, which in those days had long sharp\nteeth and could bite and kill people. Men used to hunt them with bows\nand arrows and spears.\n\nOne day the two young men went out to hunt as usual, but this time they\ndid not return.\n\nDays passed and they did not come. Their poor mother was sad and\nanxious, waiting for them. Every day she looked about and watched and\nwaited, but still they did not come home. She did not dare to go far\nfrom the house to search for them, for she was afraid of the fierce\ncaribou with their sharp teeth.\n\nOne day as she was watching, always hoping to see her sons coming back,\na big crow came flying by. She called out, \u201cCrow, Crow, can you tell me\nwhere are my two boys?\u201d\n\nAnd the crow said, \u201cYes, I know where your two boys are.\u201d Then he flew\nup still higher and circled about saying, \u201cCaw, caw!\u201d and the poor\nmother was nearly frantic for fear that he would fly away without\ntelling her.\n\n\u201cO please come back!\u201d she cried; but he flew a little higher, teasingly\nsaying, \u201cCaw, caw! Wouldn\u2019t you like to know?\u201d\n\nThe woman went into her house and brought a piece of seal blubber and\nheld it up.\n\n\u201cI will give you this, Crow, if you tell me where to find them.\u201d\n\nLazily the crow floated down and perched on the ground nearby.\n\n\u201cGive it to me,\u201d said he.\n\n\u201cTell me first,\u201d said she.\n\nSo cocking his head on one side he said, \u201cAll right, I will tell you,\nbut your sons are both dead. The caribou killed them with their long\nteeth.\u201d\n\nThe poor mother was in despair, but she remembered to give the crow his\nmeat, and as he was about to fly away, she said, \u201cCrow, if you will show\nme the way to my sons, I will feed you whenever you come.\u201d\n\nSo the crow told her where to go, but he said, \u201cYou will never feed me\nagain if you go there, because the caribou will tear you with their\nteeth.\u201d\n\nThen he flapped his big black wings and said, \u201cCaw, caw!\u201d And the woman\nthought he was laughing at her.\n\nGoing into the house, she covered herself all over with the red juice of\ncranberries. It is very sour and tastes very bad. Her whole parka was\nstained bright red with it; even her mukluks and mittens. Then, without\ntaking a weapon of any kind, she started off for the place where the\ncrow had told her she would find her boys.\n\nIt was a long way, and many caribou came after her and caught her parka\nin their teeth and tried to bite her, but as soon as they tasted the\ncranberry juice it was so terribly sour all their teeth fell out,\nleaving them unable to bite any more.\n\nWhen the mother came to where her two sons were lying, they seemed to be\nasleep and covered with wounds from the bites of the caribou.\n\nCrying, \u201cWake up, wake up!\u201d in a loud voice, she kicked the soles of\ntheir feet, first one then the other. As she did this, each one in turn\nsat up and opened his eyes. They were very happy to see their mother,\nand she rejoiced to find them alive. Then she helped them to their feet\nand took them home and nursed them back to health.\n\nAs soon as their wounds healed, the boys went hunting as before, but\nwithout fear, for from that time on, the caribou have never had any long\nteeth.\n\n\n\n\nA FOX STORY\n\n\nLong ago, in the mountains of the Seward Peninsula, there lived a fox\nwho had a family of babies in his den. It was summer time, and he was\nbusy trying to find food for his little family. Every morning he used to\ngo hunting, while Mother Fox stayed home to take care of the baby foxes,\nand see that they got into no mischief. When the young foxes grew big\nenough to hunt for themselves, Father Fox decided to go on a journey of\nadventure.\n\nOne day he climbed a high mountain. There was a deep ravine and then\nanother mountain, and he thought he would like to cross the divide to\nsee if there was any game on the opposite mountain. He had never been\nover there, and he hoped he might find some good, fat ptarmigans or\nrabbits on a new hunting-ground. Looking about, he saw a bear who was\neating a newly killed caribou.\n\nThe fox called to the bear in a coaxing voice, saying, \u201cDear Cousin,\ngive me a piece of that meat and some of the fat.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo!\u201d growled the bear. \u201cYou get away from here right away! If you don\u2019t\nI will kill you, too!\u201d That bear was not at all polite, nor was he very\ngenerous, but the fox did not dare to say anything because he was really\nafraid of the bear, so he just went slinking away through the brush with\nhis bushy tail dragging on the ground.\n\n\u201cI will get even with the bear somehow,\u201d he muttered.\n\nAfter a while what should he meet but another bear.\n\n\u201cGood-morning, Cousin,\u201d said the fox most politely; \u201cI was looking for\nyou.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat were you looking for me for?\u201d asked the bear.\n\n\u201cWell, if you are hungry, I know where you can get a fine dinner,\u201d said\nthe sly fox.\n\n\u201cWhere is that?\u201d asked the bear, beginning to look interested.\n\n\u201cA little while ago I saw another animal like you, only not so big, and\nhe was eating a fine, fat caribou. I will show you where he is if you\nwant; then, together, we can kill that other bear, and both have plenty\nto eat.\u201d\n\nThe bear looked surprised. \u201cO no,\u201d said he. \u201cWe never do such things as\nthat. Bears do not kill each other. We are friends.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is nothing,\u201d said the fox. \u201cWhen we are hungry, we foxes kill each\nother, and eat each other, too. The bear I saw is a bad bear. He said he\nwould bite you, if he met you.\u201d\n\nNow the fox knew he was telling an untruth, but he wanted to make this\nbear angry with the other one. He was not a good character, that fox. Of\ncourse, the bear was angry at that.\n\n\u201cWe will go fight now, and I will see what that bear means by saying\nsuch things.\u201d He was really furious, and went off through the woods with\ngreat strides, so that the fox had to run to keep up with him.\n\nAs soon as he saw the bear with the caribou, he jumped at him and a\ndesperate battle began. While they were busy fighting, the fox took all\nthe fat from the caribou and hid it under his skin.\n\nWhen the second bear had beaten the bear with the caribou, and had\ndriven him away, he saw the fox lying on the ground moaning and groaning\nas though in great pain.\n\n\u201cWhat is the matter, Cousin?\u201d asked the bear.\n\n\u201cO!\u201d groaned the fox, \u201cI am almost dead!\u201d And he rolled over and made\nbelieve to cry. \u201cI got terribly hurt helping you in that terrible fight.\nIt was I who gave your enemy the blow that drove him away.\u201d\n\nNow of course this was not true at all, but the bear was very sorry and\nthought him a brave and loyal friend.\n\n\u201cYou are a brave fox,\u201d he said, \u201cand we will always be friends.\u201d\n\nThen they ate all they wanted of the caribou, and left the place\ntogether.\n\nWhen the fox got hungry he would just take some of the fat of the\ncaribou from under his skin and feed on that. When the bear got hungry\nhe could find nothing to eat but a few blueberries. The poor animal who\nwas starving began to wonder why the fox was never hungry, so he asked\nhim, \u201cCousin have you been eating something?\u201d and the fox said, \u201cWhen I\nam hungry, I just make a little hole in my skin and eat some of my own\nfat, then I am satisfied.\u201d Wasn\u2019t he an awful story-teller?\n\nThe bear thought he would like to try that, too, so he took a bite out\nof himself, and pretty soon he died. The wicked fox laughed at that, for\nit was the very thing he had planned. He was pleased to have the bear to\neat, and removing the fat from his one-time friend, he stuffed it under\nhis own skin, and for a long while lived not on the \u201cfat of the land\u201d as\nthey say, but on the fat of the companion who trusted and admired him.\n\nWinter was coming; the days were growing dark and cold, and Mr. Sly Fox\nwas beginning to get hungry again. He wondered what he should do for\nfood, and began to hunt about the woods.\n\nOne day he met a wolf who was also in search of food.\n\nThe wolf asked him, \u201cFox, Fox, where have you been, you look so fine and\nfat, while all the other animals are hungry these cold days?\u201d\n\n\u201cOf course I look fine,\u201d said the fox. \u201cI hunt all the time and get\nplenty of food.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat do you hunt?\u201d\n\nThe fox had to think hard for an answer; then he said, \u201cWell, I fish\nevery day.\u201d\n\nIt was winter then, and so far north the days were very short. The sun\ngot up late in the morning, and went to bed again in about three hours;\neven then he didn\u2019t get far up in the sky, but hung low like a great big\nred balloon on the horizon.\n\nThe wolf asked the fox where he was getting all that fish.\n\nThe fox answered, \u201cO, I have a big lake where I get all the fish I want.\nI will show it to you if you would like me to.\u201d And he asked the wolf if\nhe had any hooks to fish with.\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said the wolf. \u201cI have no fish-hooks because I never fish. I don\u2019t\nknow how.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will make you a hook and show you how to fish. It is easy,\u201d said the\nfox.\n\nThen he took some of the dried grass which is used by the Eskimo women\nfor making baskets; weaving a rope out of it, he put a piece of stone on\nthe end, and he and the wolf went fishing like the best of friends. When\nthey reached the lake the fox made a hole in the ice and told the wolf\nto sit near the hole and to drop the stone into the water through the\nhole, then to keep moving it up and down by the string.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said the fox, \u201cyou must remain the whole day moving that string\nup and down. When the sun sets you will get fish.\u201d\n\nThe fox stayed, playing about watching the wolf, who sat patiently by\nthe hole splashing the stone up and down in the water. Pretty soon the\nfox saw the wolf\u2019s big, bushy tail was getting covered with water. Now\nit was getting colder every minute, and almost dark, and at last the fox\nsaw that the wolf\u2019s tail was freezing fast to the ice of the lake. Then\nhe began to laugh out loud: \u201cHa ha ha!\u201d\n\nThe wolf looked around suspiciously to see if the fox was laughing at\nhim, as he was beginning to get cross. He was tired, anyway, of sitting\nthere joggling that line up and down all day.\n\n\u201cWhat are you laughing at, Fox?\u201d he said. \u201cAre you trying to trick me\nlike you do every one?\u201d\n\nMr. Sly Fox put on a very surprised and sorry face. \u201cO no,\u201d said he. \u201cI\nwouldn\u2019t think of doing such a thing. I was just laughing with joy at\nthe thought of all the fine whitefish we will soon have for supper.\u201d\nThen he began to play around the wolf, and soon he laughed. \u201cHa! ha! ha!\nO my! I will have plenty to eat now!\u201d\n\nThe wolf turned with an angry snarl, showing his long fangs. \u201cWhat! Are\nyou talking about me? Do you think you will eat me? We will see!\u201d And he\nmade a leap for the fox, but his tail was stuck fast to the ice so that\nhe could not get away. Throwing himself from side to side, and yelping\nlike a dog, he struggled to get free, but still the ice held him\nprisoner, until at last, with an angry howl, he snapped off his tail\nwith his own sharp teeth, and ran furiously after the treacherous fox,\nwho was already nearly out of sight. The wolf chased him as hard as he\ncould, and had nearly caught up with him, when the fox saw a hole in a\nsteep bank and popped inside. The wolf was too big to go into the hole,\nso he sat outside, waiting for the fox to come out; but Mr. Fox was not\nto be caught that way. Knowing that the wolf would die from having\nchopped off his tail with his teeth, the fox just stayed safely where he\nwas until morning; then came out and ate up his former friend. When he\nhad finished devouring the wolf and felt well fed and comfortable, he\nstarted out in search of some other animal to fool.\n\nIn his wanderings he came upon a high mountain, which had a long smooth\nplace down its steep side, made by a snowslide which had swept\neverything before it, leaving a glistening path in its wake.\n\nThe fox began to play sliding-down-the-mountain, and was enjoying it\nhugely. In one place he had to pass close to some big, sharp rocks, and\nhe dug into the snow a little with his claws to get safely by. After\nthat he climbed up to the top again, and there he saw a mountain sheep\ncoming toward him.\n\n\u201cHello, Sheep. Don\u2019t you want to play with me?\u201d asked the fox; but the\nsheep said that he did not want to slide there.\n\n\u201cWhy not?\u201d inquired the fox in a surprised sort of voice.\n\n\u201cBecause I know that if I slide down there, I shall be killed by those\nsharp rocks,\u201d said the sheep.\n\nBut the fox answered, \u201cWhy, I thought a mountain sheep would not be\nafraid of a nice little slide like that. I will tell you how to do it.\nWhen you slide down, shut your eyes tight, as soon as you come near the\nrocks, and you will get past all right.\u201d\n\nThe sheep said, \u201cLet me see you do it first.\u201d\n\nSo the fox lay down on the snow and slid. As he came near the rocks he\ndug his claws a little into the snow to steer himself safely past. When\nthe sheep saw the fox come back without a scratch on his fine red coat,\nhe said, \u201cWell, I will try it, for surely a mountain sheep is as brave\nas a red fox!\u201d\n\nShutting his eyes tight, he said, \u201cOne, two, three!\u201d And away he went,\ndown like the wind straight into the sharp rocks, and was killed.\n\nThat wicked fox was glad. He laughed again, for now he had a whole\nmountain sheep to eat, and that is the sweetest and tenderest meat in\nthe world, and would last him a long time.\n\nBefore he had finished eating the sheep, a bear came along.\n\n\u201cFox, how did you kill that sheep?\u201d\n\n\u201cI didn\u2019t kill that sheep. I found it dead,\u201d said the fox, for he did\nnot want the bear to know how treacherous he was.\n\n\u201cWell, we will share what is left,\u201d said the bear; and of course the fox\ndid not dare to refuse him. He was a pretty big bear, and looked rather\nfierce and very hungry.\n\nNo bear has any business to be wandering about the forest in winter. He\nshould have been snugly sleeping in his den until summer time like any\nself-respecting bear does, except a polar bear, who stays out all night.\n\nThey filled themselves up on sheep meat, and then walked away through\nthe woods together like old friends.\n\n\u201cFox,\u201d said the bear, \u201care you ever afraid of animals?\u201d\n\n\u201cThere is not an animal in the world I am afraid of,\u201d said the fox,\n\u201cexcept that two-legged creature called Man. Of him I am in constant\nterror.\u201d\n\nThe bear laughed at him. \u201cYou are silly to be afraid of that. I am not\nafraid of a man; only of ptarmigan.\u201d\n\nThen it was the fox\u2019s turn to laugh. \u201cWhy, I kill ptarmigan and eat\nthem!\u201d\n\nThe bear did not like to be laughed at much by a fox, so he walked\nquietly along for a while, thinking; then he said, \u201cWell, Fox, I will\nmake a bargain with you. If you will kill two ptarmigan for me, I will\nkill two men, and give you one.\u201d\n\nThe fox looked pleased. \u201cThat is easy,\u201d said he. \u201cYou wait here.\u201d And\noff he went trotting out of sight.\n\nI am sure he played some trick again, for ptarmigan are not easy to see\nin winter against the snow, when they wear their white dresses.\n\nMr. Fox very shortly came back with a ptarmigan in his mouth. He gave it\nto the bear, who after eating it said, \u201cNow, Fox, I will go and find a\nman for you.\u201d\n\nFor two whole days the fox waited for the bear, and the bear did not\ncome back. Then the fox felt sure that the bear had been killed, and he\nwanted to see how the man had killed him.\n\nClosely following the bear\u2019s tracks, he found the tracks of two men\nalso. The fox was really scared at the sight of the men\u2019s tracks. He was\nterribly afraid of men, and he began to be sorry that he had been so\nwicked and had killed so many of his friends.\n\nSneaking through the woods with his tail dragging, he passed near a\ntrap, which he could smell for a long distance, it was so dirty. There\nwas no danger of his being caught in that trap. He said to himself,\n\u201cThat man is lazy; he will never catch any animals in his dirty traps. A\nlazy man will never catch anything.\u201d\n\nAfter a while he passed another trap, but this one had been set out\nhastily, so the fox got the bait without getting caught.\n\n\u201cThat man is lazy, too,\u201d said the fox, \u201cfor he gets up too late in the\nmorning to put out his trap. These men are stupid creatures anyway. I\ndon\u2019t believe I am afraid of them after all.\u201d\n\nJust as he said this, snap, Mr. Smart Fox was caught at last.\n\n[Illustration: \u201c_Snap_, Mr. Smart Fox was caught at last\u201d]\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d sighed the fox. \u201cThere is one man who is not lazy. His trap is\nclean; I could neither smell it, nor see it. I am caught now.\u201d\n\nSo this is what happened to the bad fox who had killed so many animals.\n\nIt never pays to be treacherous. One should always be loyal to one\u2019s\nfriends.\n\n\n\n\nMI-E-RAK-PUK\n\n\nLong ago, near the mouth of the Copper Mine River, which flows into the\nArctic River, there lived an enormous giant whose name was Mi-e-rak-puk,\nwhich in the Eskimo language means \u201cGiant.\u201d His cave was not far from an\nEskimo village, and he kept the people of that village in constant\nterror because when he could not get enough whale meat, or seal to eat,\nhe would capture the little children and eat them up.\n\nOne fine day in the autumn a band of children went out from the village\nto gather berries. There were different sorts of berries all about there\nthat were good to eat: blueberries, lowbush cranberries, salmon-berries\nand still others. The mothers put these berries away, so that they would\nall have something good during the long cold winters.\n\nBefore starting, the children had been cautioned not to go near the\ngiant\u2019s cave; but the sun was bright and warm, and the farther they got\nfrom home, the bigger and sweeter the berries seemed to grow. Then, too,\nthey grow close to the ground, so that the children were looking down,\nand not noticing where their footsteps were leading them.\n\nThere was great rivalry as to which one would get the most berries.\n\nOne little girl said, \u201cLook at my basket. It is nearly full!\u201d And\nanother one said, \u201cMine are the biggest berries!\u201d\n\nThen they all fell to quarreling about their berries, and no one thought\nof the giant; until suddenly a big voice roared at them, and there he\nstood.\n\nBefore they had time to recover from their surprise and run away, the\ngiant gathered them all up in his immense hands and popped them into his\nbig parka. Then, laughing loudly, he threw the coat over his shoulder\nand carried them to his cave. Poor little things! They writhed and\nwriggled and screamed and cried, but it did them no good at all.\n\nThe giant only laughed the louder.\n\n\u201cOh, if we had only paid attention to our parents,\u201d cried one little\nboy, \u201cwe would not have come near the cave! Now the giant will eat us\nup!\u201d\n\nThey all fell to weeping bitterly, saying they would never be\ndisobedient again, if only they could get away from the giant.\n\nJust outside of the cave was a tall post with the giant\u2019s totem, which\nwas a large whale. Mi-e-rak-puk tied the parka to the post and left it\nhanging there.\n\nPretty soon, one of the children saw a bird fly by. They all began to\nsing:\n\n    \u201cPlease come and set us free,\n    For if we must stay here,\n    Then eaten up we\u2019ll be.\u201d\n\nBut the bird was a sea gull, and flapping his beautiful gray wings he\nsailed past them as though he heard nothing. Then they all fell to\ncrying again.\n\nAfter a while a weasel came along, and they started again to sing:\n\n    \u201cO Weasel, if you are kind,\n    Please come and set us free.\n    For if we must stay here,\n    Then eaten up we\u2019ll be.\u201d\n\nBut the weasel went along about his business, and never even turned his\nhead around.\n\nThen the children spied some little mice playing around the foot of the\npost, and sang their song to them; but the wretched little creatures\nonly frisked their little tails and scampered away.\n\nAt last a fox came by, the kind called \u201ccross fox\u201d because he has a\nbeautiful dark cross on his back.\n\nWhen the fox reached the post, he stopped and sniffed the air and looked\nup.\n\nThen the little children sang their song once more, and the fox freed\nthem by biting the rawhide rope with which they were tied to the post.\nBut there was one little girl who had fallen asleep, way down deep in\none of the sleeves of the parka, and didn\u2019t hear the others when they\ntumbled out, which they did in such a hurry that they did not notice her\nabsence.\n\nThe fox, who was very wise, suggested that they fill the coat with the\nwhite reindeer moss which grew so abundantly about them, so that the\ngiant, seeing the coat so full, might think the children were still\ninside of it. Quickly they set to work and stuffed it out; then, hearing\nthe giant coming, hid themselves behind a clump of low bushes nearby,\nand watched.\n\nPretty soon he came striding along with a huge jade knife in his hand\nwhich he was busily sharpening on a great boulder he had picked up in\nfront of his cave.\n\nHe smacked his lips as he walked along, just as if he were tasting\nsomething good.\n\nWhen he came to the post, he raised the knife and slashed open one of\nthe sleeves, saying, \u201cNow, my little birds, you are going to make me a\nfine dainty for my dinner!\u201d\n\nWhen he said that, and a bunch of moss fell out of the sleeve instead of\na nice tasty baby, Mi-e-rak-puk flew into a rage, and stormed about the\nplace and stamped his foot until the earth shook and the seismographs\nrecorded an earthquake. Ask your parents what a seismograph is.\n\nWell, then the angry giant tore at the coat, and the moss fell out and\ngot into his hair and eyes, it blew about so; when suddenly out tumbled\nthe frightened little girl from the end of the sleeve. Mi-e-rak-puk\npicked her up by the back of her dress, and held her out with her legs\nand arms waving in the air, just as a person sometimes holds a kitten by\nthe back of its neck.\n\n\u201cHa ha!\u201d roared the giant. \u201cNow I\u2019ve got you! But there\u2019s so little of\nyou, I couldn\u2019t even make one good bite out of you.\u201d\n\nThe little girl squirmed and kicked, and then she said, \u201cO please, Mr.\nGiant, if you only won\u2019t eat me, I will be good and work for you all my\nlife, and keep your house clean, and do the cooking.\u201d\n\nSo the giant carried her in and put her down on the floor.\n\n\u201cIf you dare to try to run away, I will throw you into the soup,\u201d he\nsaid, pointing to a huge stone pot.\n\nThen he made her take off her little parka and put on one of his, which\ndragged about her feet so that she could hardly move at all without\nfalling down. After that he tied her by a long rope made of walrus hide,\nwhich is very strong, so that she could go out of doors but could not\npossibly get away.\n\nWhile the giant was off hunting one day, the little girl\u2019s parents came\nlooking for her, and wanted to take her home at once; but she told them\nthat the giant would surely come after her and destroy the whole\nvillage, if they did that; so the parents planned a trick to fool the\ngiant.\n\nThe father and mother hid behind some bushes, and when the giant came\nhome with a seal on his back, the child began to cry pitifully.\n\n\u201cWhat is the matter with you?\u201d said the giant. \u201cYou squeak like a\nmouse!\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, some of my old friends, the little children I used to play with,\npassed by picking berries, and they made fun of these clothes.\u201d Then she\ncried some more.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said the giant, \u201cstop that silly squalling, and put on your own\nparka. You can\u2019t get away from me anyway, for I keep you tied all the\ntime. But give me my dinner first. I am hungry, and would eat you, if\nyou were fat enough.\u201d\n\nThe little girl placed a whole cooked seal before him, which he devoured\nas though it were a dainty lamb chop, then she sang a little song, and\nhe went to sleep. He snored so loud that the people thought it was\nthunder, which is very seldom heard so far north.\n\nSoftly slipping into his hand a tiny seal-skin pouch containing some\n\u201csleep charms\u201d the witch-doctor had given her father, the little girl\nslipped out of the giant\u2019s clumsy parka into her own small one. Taking a\nlast look at the giant, to make sure that he was fast asleep, she ran\nout to her father, who cut the rope with his hunting knife. Lifting the\nlittle girl to his back, he started for the village as fast as he could\ngo. The mother trotted along behind, keeping a sharp lookout over her\nshoulder to see if they were being followed.\n\nBefore they got out of sight, the giant snored so loud that the bag\nshook out of his hand and he awoke. Loudly he called for the little\ngirl. No one answered. Muttering angrily, he rushed outside, and saw\nthem hurrying away.\n\nWith a howl of rage, he strode after them, gaining rapidly upon them at\nevery step.\n\nWhen the little girl saw that he was catching up with them, she slipped\ndown from her father\u2019s back and struck the ground with her little\nfingers, saying some magic words that just came into her mind.\nImmediately a deep river flowed between the giant and her. It was so\ndeep and wide that he could not cross it.\n\nThe little girl and her parents sat on their side of the river to rest,\nand watched the giant, who tried in vain to get across.\n\nAfter a while he called out to the little girl to tell him how to get\nover.\n\nShe told him to get into a mussel shell, so he looked and found a mussel\nshell, but as soon as he touched it, the shell sank.\n\nThen he called over to the child again, commanding her to show him a way\nacross, and she told him to drink up the river and walk over.\n\nStooping down, the giant began to drink. He drank and drank until he was\nso full of water that he rolled right over into the river and was\ndrowned.\n\nThen the little girl and her parents went home, and the people of the\nvillage were safe and happy once more.\n\nAnd so the winter is passing.","title":"Animal Stories from Eskimo Land: Adapted from the Original Eskimo Stories Collected by Dr. Daniel S. Neuman","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":24877}