36 THE MOOSE 



to steal the salmon from the bears, rob the eagles 

 of their eggs, drive the seals on to rocks, and 

 generally make themselves all round disagreeable. 



The moose cow gave it as her opinion, unsup- 

 ported certainly, but her own for all that, that the 

 Nunataks had more than a little to do with the 

 wholesale mortality which exterminated the rabbits 

 every seven years. They could say also, if they 

 would, whence and why the martens vanish. Each 

 decade sees them disappear absolutely, and no tell- 

 tale bodies lie about the bush which, for a time, 

 knows them no more. Where do they go and how ? 



The Nunataks know all about it ! 



It was of the forest-dwelling Puk-wudjies the 

 calf most liked to be told. Ill-balanced spirits, 

 also, with no redeeming qualities, with whom it be- 

 hoved a moose to keep on good terms. 



He heard of no good fairies, because there are no 

 good fairies in Alaska to hear of — the goblins of 

 Grimm alone hold sway. Oberon and Titania could 

 not live in the frozen ways of the Arctic region, 

 needing the sun of the South to gild their revelries. 



Calf-grabbing is to-day as popular with the Puk- 

 wudjies as child-abduction used to be with our 

 own fairies before we killed them off and crippled 



