me?" asked the man in surprise.

"Yes," replied the boy.

"That is well; come into the house with me," said the man.

He dropped his shovel on the ground and, stooping down, led the way
into the underground passage to the house, letting the curtain fall in
front of the door as he passed, for he thought the boy was close
behind him.

The moment the door flap fell behind the man as he entered, the boy
caught up the ball of light and put it in the turned-up flap of his
fur coat in front. Catching up the shovel in one hand, he ran away to
the north, running until his feet became tired. Then he whipped on his
magic coat and became a raven and flew as fast as his wings would
carry him. Behind he heard the frightful shrieks and cries of the old
man, following fast in pursuit.

When the old man found that he could not overtake the raven he cried
to him, "Never mind; you may keep the light, but give me my shovel."

"No; you made our village dark and you cannot have the shovel," called
the raven, and flew faster, leaving the man far in the rear.

As the raven boy traveled home, he tore out a chunk from the light
ball and threw it away, thus making a day. Then he went on for a long
way in the darkness, and threw out another piece of light, making it
day again. He continued to do this at intervals until he reached the
kashim in his own village, where he dropped the rest of the ball.

Then he went into the kashim and said, "Now, you worthless shamans,
you see I have brought back the light, and hereafter it will be light
and then dark, making day and night."

And the shamans could not answer.

XXIV

THE RED BEAR

On the tundra south of the mouth of the Yukon River an orphan boy once
lived with his aunt. They were all alone with no house within sight;
but the boy had heard that there were people living farther up the
river. One summer day he got into his kayak and rowed up the river
hoping to find other human beings. He traveled on until he came to a
large village where he saw many people moving about. There he landed
and began calling to the people expecting to make friends with them.

But instead of being friendly, they disliked all strangers and,
running down to the shore, they seized him, broke his kayak to pieces,
tore his clothing off him, and beat him badly. Then they took him up
into the village and kept him there all summer, beating and
ill-treating him very often. In the fall one of the men took pity