The daily Alaskan., 1909-08-26
\ GREENLAND LEGEND
sy MARK ANpERsoN,

[ AOcEyNANttAs AsN%f " @NatN. - ciatlon.l
 That there have been great climatic changes in different parts of the earth $ well known. But though geoioSists can tell us that they have occurred they do not tell os why. Some of them have possibly come to pass since man attained sufficient Intelligence to band down from generation to generation traditions cuscerning their origin These traditions. arising when the hu- man fancy was untrammeled by fact and when rude people spoke by natural symbols, are often very poetic, Here is one current among the EskilDos of Greenland accounting for Q change they believe long ago took place depriying them Of perpetual sunshine and sub stituting the dreary arctic night:
 .'Time was when the sun, which now hides himself beyond the southern ocean for many months in winter, cir cled always above the northern hori' zou. AS 1t Is now night for many months, It was then always day, for at midnight the sun stlIl stood above the horizon. Then our mantle, instead of the white one 1t now Is, was a per petual green. Our people lived on luscious fruits that grew without cul- ture and bathed in the tcpid waves that danced lightly on the strand. In those days they knew only happiness.
 But one day when some were unak- ing merry under the green trees and others were sporting In the waves q canoe white as the snow amid which VIC now live was discovered far out at sea. now gently raised on the crest of a below, now sinking out of sight, but slowly drifting toward the land.
 "Awestruek. the people waited on the verge tnl the white eSpoo reached the sands, and there within it, infold- d in robe of ermine. lay q maiden whose skin was fair and whose hair fell over her shoulders ike rivulets of sunshine. The chief stood where tho canoe touched the beach and. stoOpins, took the maiden In his arms carried her up to a grassy slope and asked;
 "what art thou, and whence cometh thOuy
 "I am pelta, the daughter of the Spirit of the Winds. and come from his Ice castle in the far north ,.4
 "'And VIII you stay with us' asked the chief. or VIII you. having gladden. cd our hearts by your coming, leave us to remember you as In 6 dreamy
 "'I will not leave you. My home shah be with you forever of.
 Then was heard q far distant moaning in the north. rising as + Sp- preached tIil IL became sn awful roar, It was the voice of the Spirit of the Winds, aud 1t commanded our people to return at once his daughter Co Der white home In the north Terror stricken. the people noeked to their chief and beSought him to give the madden to her father. But the chief stood mute, pointing to bis house. which was now a ruin. Entering there, they saw oa couch the maiden, her hands, white as marble. folded over her breast
 Then an awe greater than that which had fallen on the people when tbe maiden hrst touched their land came to them. for they knew a great calamity was about to visit them. The King of the Winds looked down on the form of his daughter, now cold in death, and great was his wrath. The multi tude knelt before him. supplIcating him to spare them, But he needed not thelr prayers. At his command bis servant, the darkness. came and threw black mantle over the land.
 And SO berect of the light and warmth of the sun, the venture whlten- cd and died The north wind blew snow from the clouds and the cold congealed the waters. The sun. whose track had been a golden circle To the north. went to the south and bid be- hind the ocean for many months. Then our ancestors, who had lived under the trees. fearing DO frost were obliged to build huts to protect them from the cold. The warm waves in which they had bathed became icy cold, then hardened. The people. bereft of the fruits of the earth exposed to the cold, died in great numbers u was many months before the snow king relented sufficiently to permit the sun to show his face again and bis warm breath to revive the frozen land even for a brief season.
 Since that period. every winter, the sun goes south, and leaves us ln dark ness The fruits which grew So plen- tlfuny for us have never tourished again. But the spirit that deprived us of them sent the white bear and the walrus, and we are obliged to hunt them in order to sustain ourselves with their meat and warm our bodies by burning their oil. The sun continues every winter to hlde his face beneath