NELSON] RAVEN AND THE MARMOT 515 



bringing home some food. When the Marmot saw the Eaveu in front 

 of his door he asked him to stand aside, but the Eaven refused, saying, 

 &quot;They called me carrion eater, and I will show that I am not, for I will 

 eat you.&quot; To this the Marmot answered, &quot;All right; but I have heard 

 that you are a very fine dancer; now, if you will dance, I will sing, 

 and then you can eat me, but I wish to see you dance before I die.&quot; 

 This pleased the Eaven so much that he agreed to dance, so the Mar 

 mot sang, &quot; Oh, Eaven, Eaven, Eaven, how well you dance ! Oh, Eaveu, 

 Eaven, Eaven, how well you dance!&quot; Then they stopped to rest, and 

 the Marmot said, &quot; I am very much Ipleased with your dancing, and 

 now I will sing once more, so shut your eyes and dance your best.&quot; 

 The Eaven closed his eyes and hopped clumsily about while the Mar 

 mot sang, &quot; Oh, Eaven, Eaven, Eaveu, what a graceful dancer ! Oh, 

 Eaven, Eaven, Eaven, what a fool you are ! &quot; Then the Marmot, with a 

 quick run, darted between the Eaven s legs and was safe in his hole. 

 As soon as the Marmot was safe he put out the tip of his nose and 

 laughed mockingly, saying, &quot;0M-fcfc-fcifc, eM-Mfc-Mfc, chi-kik-kik! You 

 are the greatest fool I ever saw; what a comical figure you made while 

 dancing; I could hardly keep from laughing; and just look at me; see 

 how fat I am. Don t you wish you could eat me! &quot; And he tormented 

 the Eaven until the latter flew far away in a rage. 



THE SHAMAN IN THE MOON 

 (From Kotzebne sound) 



A Malemut shaman from Kotzebue sound near Selawik lake told me 

 that a great chief lives in the moon who is visited now and then by 

 shamans, who always go to him two at a time, as one man is ashamed 

 to go alone. In the moon live all kinds of animals that are on the 

 earth, and when any animal becomes scarce here the shamans go up to 

 the chief in the moon and, if he is pleased with the offerings that have 

 been made to him, he gives them one of the animals that they wish for, 

 and they bring it down to the earth and turn it loose, after which its 

 kind becomes numerous again. 



The shaman who told me the foregoing said he had never been to the 

 moon himself, but he knew a shaman who had been there. He had 

 been up only as high as the sky, and went up that high by flying like 

 a bird and found that the sky was a land like the earth, only that the 

 grass grew hanging downward and was filled with snow. When the 

 wind blows up there it rustles the grass stems, loosening particles of 

 snow which fall down to the earth as a snowstorm. 



When he was up near the sky he saw a great many small, round 

 lakes in the grass, and these shine at night to make the stars. The 

 Malemut of Kotzebue sound also say that the north wind is the breath 

 of a giant, and when the snow falls it is because he is building himself 

 a snow house and the particles are flying from his snow shovel. The 

 south wind is the breath of a woman living in the warm southland. 



