TCRNEH.l FOLK LORE. 2fil 



legend. Tlie younger niembei-.s sit witli staring eyes and countenances 

 wliicli show tlieir wondering interest in the narration. Far into the 

 night the droning tone of her voice continues reciting the events of the 

 ]iast until one by one the listeners drowsily drop to sleep in the posi- 

 tion they last assumed. 



I was fortunately able to collect a number of these ancient legendary 

 stories, some of them of considerable length. 



Origin of the Iininit. — A man was created from nothing. It was 

 summer and he Journeyed until he found a woman in another land. 

 The two became man and wife, and from them sprang all the people 

 dwelling there. [ It is extremely difficult to get the native to go beyond 

 the immediate vicinity in wliich he lives while relating these stories 

 and legends. They invariably maintain that it was "here" that the 

 event took place. ] 



The Coming of the WIdte People. — The Eskimo were on the verge of 

 starvation and had eaten nearly all their food. They saw that in a few 

 more days death would come. The greatest Tungaksoak or great 

 Tung ak determined to bring relief and prophesied that people having 

 liglit hair and white skins would come in an immense iinuak. He 

 placed a young puppy on a chip and another on an old sealskin boot, 

 and set them adrift on the water. The puppies drifted in diflferent 

 directions, and in the course of time the one on the chip returned and 

 l)rouglit with it the Indians. A long time after that, when the people 

 had nearly forgotten the other puppy, a strange white object like an 

 iceberg came directly toward the shore. In a few moments the puppy, 

 now a man, announced that the people had come with many curious 

 things in their vessel. The man immediately became a dog. 



Origin of living thingn on the earth and in the water. — A long time ago 

 a man who was cutting down a tree observed that the chips continued 

 in motion as they fell from the blows. Those that fell into the water 

 became the inhabitants of the water. Those that fell on the land be- 

 came the various animals and in time were made the food of mankind. 

 (This was the version given me by a person living at Fort Cliimo.) 

 Another person from farther west gave the following account of the ori- 

 gin of the living things of the earth: Previous to a time when water 

 covered the earth the people lived on such food as they could always 

 And prepared for them in abundance. They did not know of any ani- 

 mals at that time on the land or in the water. The water finally went 

 away and the seaweeds became trees, shrubs, bushes, and grass. The 

 long seaweeds were the trees and the smaller kinds became the bushes 

 and grass. The grass, however, was in some manner put in various 

 places by a wah'us at a later date than the appearance of the trees. 



A woman who had lost her husband lived among strangers. As they 

 desired to change the place of their habitation, they resolved to journey 

 to another point of land at a distance. The woman who was depending 

 on charity had become a burden of which they wished to rid themselves. 



