XXIII 

 CHUNKS OF DAYLIGHT 



AT the northern part of the continent, in the 

 land of the midnight sun, where in the long sum- 

 mer days the sun at midnight is just slipping be- 

 low the northern horizon and immediately is seen 

 coming up again, and where in the long nights of 

 winter there is scarcely any daytime at all, it is 

 not strange that the legends of the people often 

 treat of daylight and especially of darkness. The 

 long nights become oppressive, and the people 

 have different theories as to the cause of it, which 

 they weave into legends such as the following. 



In the days when the earth was a child, there 

 was light from the sun and moon as there is now. 

 Then the sun and moon were taken away and the 

 people were left for a long time with no light but 

 the shining of the stars. The shamans, or priests, 

 made their strongest charms to no purpose, for 

 the darkness of night continued. 



In a village of the lower Yukon there lived an 

 orphan boy who always sat upon the bench with 



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