460 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT [ETH. ANN. 18 
best hunters being able to capture it. They passed many kinds of fish 
and then the shore rose before them, and overhead could be seen the 
ripples on the surface of the water. ‘Close your eyes, and hold fast 
to me,” said Raven. As soon as he had done this, Man found himself 
- standing on the shore near his home, and was very much astonished to 
see a large village where he had left only a few huts; his wife had 
become very old and his son was an old man. The people saw him and 
welcomed him back, making him their headman; he was given the 
place of honor in the kashim, and there told the people what he had 
seen and taught the young men many things. The villagers would 
have given Raven a seat by the old man in the place of honor, but he 
refused it and chose a seat with the humble people near the entrance. 
After a time the old man began to wish to see the fine sky land 
again, but his people tried to induce him to stay with them. He told 
his children that they must not feel badly at his absence, and then, in 
company with Raven, he returned to the sky land. The dwarf people 
welcomed them, and they lived there for a long time, until the villagers 
on the earth had become very numerous and killed a great many ani- 
mals. This angered Man and Raven so much that one night they took 
a long line and a grass basket with which they descended to the earth. 
Raven caught ten reindeer, which he put into the basket with the old 
man; then one end of the cord was fastened to the basket and Raven 
returned to the sky, drawing it up after him. The next evening they 
took the reindeer and went down close to Man’s village; the deer were 
then told to break down the first house they came to and destroy the 
people, for men were becoming too numerous. The reindeer did as 
they were told and ate up the people with their sharp, wolf-like teeth, 
after which they returned to the sky; the next night they came back 
and destroyed another house with its people in the same manner. The 
‘villagers had now become much frightened and covered the third house 
with a mixture of deer fat and berries. When the reindeer tried to 
destroy this house they filled their mouths with the fat and sour 
berries, which caused them to run off, shaking their heads so violently 
that all their long, sharp teeth fell out. Afterward small teeth, such as 
reindeer now have, grew in their places, and these animals became 
harmless. 
Man and Raven returned to the sky after the reindeer ran away, Man 
saying, ‘‘ If something is not done to stop people trom taking so many 
animals they will continue until they have killed everything you have 
made. It is better to take away the sun from them so that they will 
be in the dark and will die.” 
To this Raven agreed, saying, “You remain here and I will go and 
take away the sun.” So he went away and, taking the sun, put it into 
his skin bag and carried it far away to a part of the sky land where 
his parents lived, and it became very dark on earth. In his father’s 
village Raven took to himself a wife from the maidens of the place and 
lived there, keeping the sun hidden carefully in the bag. 
