y toward the
south, and while the husband was talking thus to himself, the son
stood in the entrance to the house and heard what he said. It angered
the son to hear the husband gloating over him. He hid in the passage
and waited until the people inside were asleep, when he crept into the
house and, seizing the woman by the shoulders, began dragging her
away.

Just as he reached the doorway he was overtaken by the husband who
caught the woman by her feet. The two held on like grim death and
tugged and pulled until it ended in the woman being torn in two. The
thief carried the upper half of the body away, while the husband was
left with the lower portion of his wife.

Each man set to work to replace the missing parts from carved wood.
After these parts were fitted on they came to life; and thus two women
were made from the halves of one.

Owing to the clumsiness of her wooden fingers, the woman of the south
was a poor needlewoman, but was a fine dancer. The woman of the north
was very expert in needlework, but her wooden legs made her a poor
dancer. Each of these women gave these traits to her daughters, so
that to the present time the same difference is noted between the
women of the north and those of the south, "thus showing that the
story is true."

XXII

WHY THE MOON WAXES AND WANES

In a certain village on the Yukon River there once lived four brothers
and a sister. The sister's companion was the youngest boy, of whom she
was very fond. This boy was lazy and could never be made to work. The
other brothers were great hunters and in the fall they hunted at sea,
for they lived near the shore. As soon as the Bladder feast in
December was over, they went to the mountains and hunted reindeer. The
boy never went with them, but remained at home with his sister, and
they amused each other.

One time, however, she became angry at him, and that night when she
carried food to the other brothers in the kashim or assembly house
where the men slept, she gave none to the youngest brother. When she
went out of the assembly house she saw a ladder[3] leading up into the
sky, with a line hanging down by the side of it. Taking hold of the
line, she ascended the ladder, going up into the sky. As she was going
up, the younger brother came out and, seeing her, at once ran back and
called to his brothers:

"Our sister is climbing the sky! Our sister is climbing the sky!"

"Oh, you lazy youngster, why do you tell us that