XX 



THE DWARF PEOPLE 



VERY long ago, before the white people ever 

 went into the land of the Eskimo, there was a 

 large village at Pik-mik-tal-ik. One winter day 

 the people living there were surprised to see a 

 small man and a small woman with a child com- 

 ing down the river on the ice. The man was so 

 little that he wore a coat made of a single white 

 fox skin. The woman's coat was made from the 

 skins of two white hares ; while two muskrat skins 

 clothed the child. 



The father and mother were about two cubits 

 high, and the boy not over the length of one's 

 forearm. Though he was so small, the man was 

 dragging a sled much larger than those used by 

 the villagers, and he had on it a heavy load of 

 various articles. He seemed surprisingly strong, 

 and when they came to the shore below the vil- 

 lage, he easily drew the sled up the steep bank, 

 and taking it by the rear end raised it on the sled 

 frame, a feat which would have required the 

 strength of several of the villagers. 



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