The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1909-08-03
A GREENLAND LEGEND
ay MARk ANpERsoN.
tcopyrieht. 1903. bg American press A.
l-lnl -.

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eiat0nl
That there have been great climati.
changes in different parts Of the earth
IS well known. But. though biologists
can tell US that they have occurred
they do not tell US why Some OF them
have possibly come to pass since man
attained sufficient intelligence TO hand
down from generation to generation
traditions concerning 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
y one current among the Eskimos Of
Greenland accounting for a change they
believe long ago took place depriving
them Of perpetual sunshine and sub.
shutting 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-
Eon- As It Is now night for many
months. It was then always day, for
at midnight the sun still 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 tepid waves
that danced lightly on, the straud. In
those days they knew only happiness.
But one day when some were max
ing merry under the green trees and
others were sporting in the waves
canoe white as the snow amid which
we now live was discovered far out at
sea, now gently raised on the crest Of
q below, now sinking out Of sight but
slowly drifting toward the land.
"Awestruck, the people waited on
the verge tin the white canoe reached
the sands. and there within 1t, infold-
ed In a robe Of ermine, lay a maiden
whose skin was fair aud whose hair
fell over her shoulders like r4rulets Of
sunshine The chief stood where the
canoe touched the beach and STOPPING.
took the maiden In his arms. carried
her up to grassy slope and asked:
what art thou. aud whence cometh
thoug
~ am Della. the daughter Of the
Spirit Of the Winds. and come from
his lee castle in the far north
"'And viii you stay with us. asked
the chief, or viii You, having gladden.
ed our hearts by your coming, leave US
to remember you as In a dreamY
4 win not leave you. My home
shall be with you forever
'Then was heard far distant
moaning III the north. rising as 1t APP
preached til it became an awful roar
II was the voice Of the Spirit OF the
Winds and It commanded our people
to return 1T once bis daughter to her
white home III the north Terror
stricken the people locked to their
rhief md hesodglt him to give the I
maIden to hef fnther But the chief \
stood mute Epointine to bis house. (
q 49, 5wSa ruin. Entering there. |
TNvsa a dNuch the maiden. her \
SAINTS, white as marble, folded over
her breast
Then IN awe greater than that
which had fallen on the people when
the maiden first touched their land I
came TO them. for they knew great 4
calamity was about to visit them. The I
King Of the Winds looked down on the {
form OF his daughter. now cold IN death.
and great was his wrath The multi K
tude knelt before him. supplicating (
him to spare them But he needed not 4
their prayers. At his command his
servant. the darkness. came and threw (
a black mantle over the land.
.And SO. hereft Of the light and I
warmth Of the sun, the verdure whiten
ed and died. The north wind blew
snow from the clouds and the cold 4
concealed the waters The sun. whose
track had been a golden circle in the I
north. went to the south and hid be- 4
hind the ocean for many mouths. Then
95u. ancestors. who had lived under
the trees. fearing no frost we're
Obliged to build buts 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 It
was many months before the snow
king relented sufficiently to permit the
sun 10 show bis fnce again and his
warm breath to revive the frozen land
even for a brief season.
"since that period. every winter the
sun goes south and leaves us in dark
ness. The fruits which grew so plen-
tifulIy for US have never flourished
again. But the spirit that deprived us
Of them sent the white bear and the
walrus. and we are obliged TO hunt
them III order to sustain ourselves with
their meat and warm our bodies BY
burning their 81 The sun continues
every winter to hide his face beneath
the ocean ard when be comes back III
summer shines for SO short period
that there is no time for the fruits of
the earth to ripenn
Is this tradition based on some
change 70 the plane IN which the earth
revolves. new direction in the cur
rent Of that mighty river we call the
gulf stream. a shrinkage in the terres-
trial crust. or is # an ebullition of
that poetic constitution common among