LIFE AND HISTORY OF THE ESKIMOS 



Is it possible in any community to get closer to the ideal 

 than this, that the only reason for poverty is laziness? 



The Eskimos thus live merrily together, treating their 

 women and children kindly ; and the families are bound to 

 each other with bonds of affection, often manifested in a 

 striking manner. 



PRIMITIVE VIEWS OF LIFE 



It would not be possible to finish even the shortest sketch 

 of the Polar Eskimos without briefly mentioning their peculiar 

 and primitive views of life. 



The Polar Eskimos do not believe in a God to whom one 

 must pray, but they have as a foundation for their religious 

 ideas a series of epic myths and traditional conventions, which 

 are considered an inheritance from the very oldest time. In 

 these their ancestors laid down all their wealth of experience, 

 so that those who came after might not make the same mistakes 

 and harbour the same erroneous notions as did they themselves. 



The myths, which are handed down from generation to 

 generation by the oldest to the youngest within the community, 

 are to be looked upon as the saga of the Inuit people. These 

 myths are partly simple narratives, partly a warning against 

 those who will not submit to the demands of tradition, and for 

 the rest they are tales of heroes who in every possible danger 

 acquitted themselves in such a way that they are held up as 

 glorious examples for coming generations. 



Osarqaq, a wise and intelligent man, once defined to me 

 their own conception in the following words: "Our tales are 

 narratives of human experience, and therefore they do not 

 always tell of beautiful things. But one cannot both embellish 

 a tale to please the hearer and at the same time keep to the 

 truth. The tongue should be the echo of that which must be 

 told, and it cannot be adapted according to the moods and the 

 tastes of man. The word of the new-born is not to be trusted, 

 but the experiences of the ancients contain truth. Therefore, 

 when we tell our myths, we do not speak for ourselves ; it is the 

 wisdom of the fathers which speaks through us." 



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