NELSON] RAVEN AND THE MARMOT 515 
bringing home some food. When the Marmot saw the Raven in front 
of his door he asked him to stand aside, but the Raven refused, saying, 
“They called me carrion eater, and I will show that I am not, for I will 
eat you.” To this the Marmot answered, “All right; but I have heard 
that you are a very fine dancer; now, if you will dance, I will sing, 
and then you can eat me, but I wish to see you dance before I die.” 
This pleased the Raven so much that he agreed to dance, so the Mar- 
mot sang, “Oh, Raven, Raven, Raven, how well you dance! Oh, Raven, 
Raven, Raven, how well you dance!” Then they stopped to rest, and 
the Marmot said, “I am very much pleased with your dancing, and 
now I will sing once more, so shut your eyes and dance your best.” 
The Raven closed his eyes and hopped clumsily about while the Mar- 
mot sang, “Oh, Raven, Raven, Raven, what a graceful dancer! Oh, 
Raven, Raven, Raven, what a fool youare!” Then the Marmot, with a 
quick run, darted between the Raven’s legs and was safe in his hole. 
As soon as the Marmot was safe he put out the tip of his nose and 
laughed mockingly, saying, “Ohi-kik-kik, chi-kik-kik, chi-kik-kik! You 
are the greatest fool I ever saw; what a comical figure you made while 
dancing; I could hardly keep from laughing; and just look at me; see 
how fat Lam. Don’t you wish you could eat me?” And he tormented 
the Raven until the latter flew far away in a rage. 
THE SHAMAN IN THE MOON 
(From Kotzebue sound) 
A Malemut shaman from Kotzebue sound near Selawik lake told me 
that a great chief lives in the moon who is visited now and then by 
shamans, who always go to him two at a time, as one man is ashamed 
to go alone. In the moon live all kinds of animals that are on the 
earth, and when any animal becomes scarce here the shamans go up to 
the chief in the moon and, if he is pleased with the offerings that have 
been made to him, he gives them one of the animals that they wish for, 
and they bring it down to the earth and turn it loose, after which its 
kind becomes numerous again. 
The shaman who told me the foregoing said he had never been to the 
moon himself, but he knew a shaman who had been there. He had 
been up only as high as the sky, and went up that high by flying like 
a bird and found that the sky was a land like the earth, only that the 
grass grew hanging downward and was filled with snow. When the 
wind blows up there it rustles the grass stems, loosening particles of 
snow which fall down to the earth as a snowstorm. 
When he was up near the sky he saw a great many small, round 
lakes in the grass, and these shine at night to make the stars. The 
Malemut of Kotzebue sound also say that the north wind is the breath 
of a giant, and when the snow falls it is because he is building himself 
@ snow house and the particles are flying from his snow shovel. The 
south wind is the breath of a woman living in the warm southland. 
