NELSON] TALE OF THE RED BEAR 467 



seal, except a small one near the door, which he overlooked. The last 

 seal whose eyes were shut was also a small one, and as soon as its eyes 

 were made fast it tried to get them open, and began to cry. The little 

 one by the door cried out to the others, '' Raven has stuck your eyes shut, 

 and you can not open them." Then every seal tried to open his eyes, 

 but could not. With the stick he had made the day before Raven now 

 killed all the guests by striking them on the head, each seal man 

 changing back to a seal as it was killed. As soon as the little one by 

 tne door saw Raven killing his companions, it ran out and escaped alone 

 into the sea. 



When he had finished, Raven turned to Mink and said, '^ See what a 

 lot of seals I have killed. We will have plenty of oil bags now." Then 

 they made bags of the sealskins and filled them with oil for the winter. 

 Ever since that time Raven and Mink have been friends, and even to 

 this day ravens will not eat the flesh of a mink, be they ever so hungry; 

 and the mink and the raven are often found very close together on the 

 tundras. 



THE RED BEAR (TA-KU'-KA) 

 (From St Michael and Norton Bound) 



On the seashore, near where the village of Pikmiktalik now stands, 

 there once lived the Eskimo hunter Pi-tikh'-cho-lik' and his wife 

 Ta ku'-ka. The mountains were filled with great herds of reindeer 

 and the sea was full of seals and fish, so that Pi-tikh'-cholik' brought 

 home an abundance of food and skins. 



One fine summer evening Ta-ku'-ka stood on the seashore waiting 

 for her husband's return. She was uneasy and anxious, as he had 

 remained away much longer than usual on his recent hunting excur- 

 sions, although he had exi)lained to her that the deer were getting 

 farther back into the mountains and the seals were to be found only 

 farther at sea. 



After a time Ta-ku'-ka went into the house to attend to her children 

 and when she came out again her husband was putting his kaiak on 

 the framework standing by the house. 



She asked him many questions about his long stay, but he replied 

 peevishly that he had gone far out to sea and had remained because 

 he did not wish to come home without game. When they went into 

 the house Ta-ku'-ka placed before him different kinds of food, prepared 

 as he liked it best, but he ate very little, and seemed gloomy and sad. 

 His wife urged him to tell her the cause of his sadness, and at last he 

 said, " If you must know the cause of my sadness, hear it. I feel that 

 I am going to die, and the third day from now will be the time of my 

 death." 



At this Ta- ku'-ka began to cry very bitterly, but he stopped her, 

 saying, "Do not cry and make me unhappy while I am with you, but 

 hear my last wishes. When 1 am dead you must put my kaiak into 



