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 Rayen 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 sound) 
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’-cho-lik’ 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 explained 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 
Iam going to die, and the third day from now will be the time of my 
death.” 
At this Ta-ku/-ka began to ery 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 I am dead you must put my kaiak into 
