462 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT [eth.axx. 18 



While he was standiDg close by the edge of the earth, just before 

 snurise, he stuck into the sky a bunch of the glowing grass that 

 he held in his hand, and it has stayed there ever since, forming the 

 brilliant morning star. Going down to the earth he came at last to the 

 village where the first j^eople lived. There the old people welcomed 

 him, and he told them that Eaven had been angry with them and had 

 taken the sun away, but that he had put it back himself so that it 

 would never be moved again. 



Among the people who welcomed him was the headman of the sky 

 dwarfs, who had come down with some of his people to live on the 

 earth. Then the people asked him what had become of Man, who had 

 gone up to the sky with Eaven. This was the first time the Eaven boy 

 had heard of Man, and he tried to fly up to the sky to see him, but 

 found that he could rise only a short distance above the earth. AYhen 

 he found that he could not get back to the sky, he wandered away until 

 he came to a village where lived the children of the other men last 

 born from the pea-vine. There he took a wife and lived a long time, 

 having many children, all of whom became Eaven people like himself 

 and were able to fly over the earth, but they gradually lost their magic 

 l^owers until finally they became ordinary ravens like the birds we see 

 now on the tundras. 



RAVEN TAKES A WIFE 



(From the Unalit of Norton sound) 



For a long time Eaven lived alone, but finally became tired of this and 

 decided to take a wife. For this purj)ose he looked about and noticed 

 that it was late in the fall and that the birds were going southward in 

 large flocks. Then Eaven flew away and stopped directly in the path 

 taken by the geese and other wild fowl on their way to the land of sum- 

 mer. As he sat by the way he saw a pretty young Hutchins goose com- 

 ing near. Then he modestly hid his face by looking at his feet, and as 

 the goose passed he called out, " Who wishes me for a husband f I am a 

 very nice man." Unheeding him, the goose flew on, and Eaven looked 

 after her and sighed. Soon after a black brant passed, and Eaven 

 cried out as before, with the same result. He looked after her and cried 

 out, "Ah, what kind of people are these? They do not even wait to 

 listen." Again he waited, and a duck iiassed near, and when Eaven 

 cried out she turned a little toward him but passed on. For an instant 

 his heart beat (piickly with hope, and as the duck passed, he cried, 

 "Ah, I came very near then; perhaps 1 shall succeed this time;" and 

 he stood waiting with bowed head. 



Very soon a family of white-front Geese came along, consisting of 

 the parents with four brothers and a sister, and the Eaven cried out, 

 "Who wishes me for a husband f I am a fine hunter and am young 

 and handsome." As he finished thej^ alighted just beyond him, and he 

 thought, " Now I will get a wife." Then he looked about and saw a 



