482 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT (ETH. ANN. 18 
THE SUN AND THE MOON 
(From the lower Yukon) 
In a certain village on the great river once lived four brothers and a 
sister. The sister had for a companion a small boy of whom she was 
very fond. This boy was lazy and could never be made to work. The 
other brothers were great hunters and in the fall hunted at sea, for 
they lived near the shore. As soon as the Bladder feast was over 
they went to the mountains and hunted reindeer. 
The boy never went with them, but stayed at home with the sister, 
and they amused each other. One night the sister awoke and found 
the boy lying in bed close to her, at which she became very angry and 
made him go to sleep in the kashim with the men. The next evening, 
when she carried food to her brothers in the kashim she gave none to 
the boy; instead, she went home, and after mixing some berries and 
deer fat, cut off one of her breasts, placed it in the dish, and carried it 
to the boy. Putting the dish before him she said, ‘‘ You wanted me 
last night, so I have given you my breast. If you desire me, eat it.” 
The boy refused the dish, so she took it up and went outside. As 
she went out she saw a ladder leading up into the sky, with a line 
hanging down by the side of it. Taking hold of the line, she ascended 
the ladder, going up into the sky. As she was going up her younger 
brother came out and saw her and at once ran back into the kashim, 
telling his brothers. They began at once to scold the boy and ran out 
to see for themselves. 
The boy caught up his sealskin breeches and, being in such a hurry, 
thrust one leg into them and then drew a deerskin sock upon the other 
foot as he ran outside. There he saw the girl far away up in the sky and 
began at once to go up the ladder toward her, but she floated away, he 
following in turn. 
The girl then became the sun and the boy became the moon, and ever 
since that time he pursues but never overtakes her. At night the sun 
sinks in the west and the moon is seen coming up in the east to go 
circling atter, but always too late. The moon, being without food,wanes 
slowly away from starvation until it is quite lost from sight; then the 
sun reaches out and feeds it from the dish in which the girl had placed 
her breast. After the moon is fed and gradually brought to the full, it 
is then permitted to starve again, so producing the waxing and waning 
every month. 
ORIGIN OF LAND AND PEOPLE 
(From the lower Yukon) 
In the beginning there was water over all the earth, and it was very 
cold; the water was covered with ice, and there were no people. Then 
the ice ground together, making long ridges and hummocks. At this 
time came a man from the far side of the great water and stopped 
