n it darts at
him, entering the toe of his boot and crawling all over him. If the
man keeps perfectly quiet, it will leave him unharmed. But if he is a
coward, and lifts so much as a finger to brush it away, it instantly
burrows into his flesh going directly to his heart and causing death.

"Here is another, a large leather-skinned animal with four long,
wide-spreading arms. This is a fierce animal, living in the sea, which
wraps its arms around a man or a kayak and pulls them into the water.
If the man tries to escape by getting out of his kayak upon the ice
and running away, it will dart underneath and break the ice under his
feet. Or if he gets on the shore and runs, it burrows through the
earth as easily as it swims through the water. No one can escape if
once it pursues him."

"Why did you make such an animal?" asked Man.

"This is like man's own misdeeds, from which he cannot escape,"
replied Raven.

Raven then showed Man several other animals: one somewhat like an
alligator, another with a long scaly tail with which it could kill a
man at one stroke; some walruses, and otter, and many kinds of fish.
They finally came to a place where the shore rose before them, and the
ripples on the surface of the water could be seen.

"Close your eyes and hold fast to me," said Raven.

As soon as he had done this, Man found himself standing on the shore
near his home, and was very much astonished to see a large village
where he had left only a few huts. His wife had become an old woman
and his son was an old man. The people saw him and welcomed him back,
making him their Headman, and giving him the place of honor in their
gatherings. He told them all he had seen and heard since he left them,
and taught the young men many things about the sea animals.

XIX

TAKING AWAY THE SUN

People were becoming such good hunters that they killed a great many
animals, more than Raven was willing to have killed, lest the animals
become too few for the large number of people now on earth. For this
reason, Raven took a grass basket and tied a long line to it and,
going down to earth, caught ten reindeer which he took up to the
skyland. The next night he let the reindeer down near one of the
villages and told them to run fast and break down the first house they
came to, and destroy the people in it.

The reindeer did so and ate up the people with their sharp, wolf-like
teeth; then they returned to the sky. The next night they