Told of the Red Indian Whalers 35 



she called his attention to a tube leading along the top 

 of the room from the end of which oil was dripping 

 into the burning lamp. That tube, she said, he must 

 not touch. In spite of the repeated warnings, however, 

 his curiosity led the Raven to catch a drop of the drip- 

 ping oil on one claw and lick it off with his tongue. 

 The taste was so sweet that he caught more of it, until 

 finally that method of collecting the oil "became too 

 slow for him, so he reached up and tore a piece from 

 the side of the tube and ate it." Instantly "a great 

 rush of oil poured into the room extinguishing the light. 

 . . . The inua never came back to the room and the 

 whale drifted ashore." 



The Eskimos of a near-by village found the dead 

 whale, and in cutting it up released the Raven. Leav- 

 ing his fire drill behind him, the Raven flew away un- 

 observed and alighted upon a hill from which he watched 

 the people at their work. After a time he changed him- 

 self into the semblance of a man, and joined them in 

 cutting up the whale until he found his fire drill. With 

 that in hand he began rolling down his sleeves, saying, 

 " This is too bad, for my daughter has told me that if a 

 fire drill is found in a whale and people try to cut up 

 that whale, many of them will die. I shall run away." 

 "And away he ran," adds the tale. 



Being frightened, the people ran away as he had 

 done, whereat the Raven laughed heartily, and return- 



