oing down here?" he asked.

"I and some of my people thought we would like a change, and so we
came down to live on earth for a while," replied the dwarf.

"What has become of Man?"

"Who is Man? I never heard of him," said Raven boy.

"He was the first person ever seen on earth. He was our Headman until
he went away with Raven," said the people.

"I will go into the skyland and find him," said Raven boy. He tried to
fly, but could get up only a little way. He tried several times,
getting only a short distance above the ground. When he found that he
could not get back to the sky, he wandered off and finally came to
where there were living the children of the three men who last dropped
from the pea-vine. There he took a wife and lived for a long time
having many children, all of whom were Raven people like himself and
could fly over the earth. But they gradually lost their magical
powers, and were no longer able to turn themselves into men by pushing
up their beaks. They became just ordinary ravens like those we see now
on the tundras or marshy plains.

FOOTNOTES:

[2] This story is probably the Eskimo's explanation of the very long
nights in the far north during part of the year.

XX

THE DWARF PEOPLE

Very long ago, before the white people ever went into the land of the
Eskimo, there was a large village at Pik-mik-tal-ik. One winter day
the people living there were surprised to see a small man and a small
woman with a child coming down the river on the ice. The man was so
little that he wore a coat made of a single white fox skin. The
woman's coat was made from the skins of two white hares; while two
muskrat skins clothed the child.

The father and mother were about two cubits high, and the boy not over
the length of one's forearm. Though he was so small, the man was
dragging a sled much larger than those used by the villagers, and he
had on it a heavy load of various articles. He seemed surprisingly
strong, and when they came to the shore below the village, he easily
drew the sled up the steep bank, and taking it by the rear end raised
it on the sled frame, a feat which would have required the strength of
several of the villagers.

The couple entered one of the houses and were made welcome. This small
family remained in the village for some time, the man taking his place
among the other men and seeming entirely at home and friendly. He was
very fond of his little son; but one day when the lat