Evening journal., 1909-08-11
A GREENLAND LEGEND
ex MARk ANDERSON.

That there have been great climatic
changes in different parts of the earth
is well known. But. though geologists
can tell us chat 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 hui
man fancy was untrammeed by fact
and when rude people spoke by natural
symbols, are often very poetic. Here
is one current among the Eskimos Of
Greenland accounting for change they
believe long ago took place depriving
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-
zon. 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 it now is, was Il 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 strand. 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 a
canoe white as the snow amid which
we 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.
"Awestruck. the people waited on
the verge til the white canoe reached
che sands, and there within It, infold-
ed in a robe Of ermine. lay maiden
whose skin was fair and Whose hair
fell over her shoulders like rivulets OF
sunshine The chief stood where the
canoe touched the beach and. STOPPING,
took the maiden in his arms. carried
her up to a grassy slope and asked:
"'What art thou. and whence cometh
thouT
~ am DELTA, the daughter of the
Spirit Of the Winds. and l come from
his ice castle In the far north
"'And will you stay with us asked
the chief. or will you. having gladden.
cd our hearts by your coming. leave us
to remember you as in n dreamT
"'I will not leave you. My home
shall be with you forever
"Then was heard far distant
moaning in the north. rising as it ap-
preached till it became an awful roar.
1t was the voice of the Spirit of the
Winds and it commanded our people
to return at once his daughter to her
white home in the north Terror
stricken, the people tiocked TO thelJ
chief and besought him to give the
maiden TO her father. But the CHIEF
stood mute. pointing TO bis house
which was now a ruin. Entering there
they saw on a couch the maiden. hel
hands. white as marble. folded ovei
her breast.
"Then an awe greater than tha
which had fallen on the people wheI
the maiden drst touched their lanC
came to them. for they knew grea
calamity was about to visit them. Th'
King Of the Winds looked down on tn
form Of his daughter. now cold in death
and great was his wrath. The multi
tude knelt before him. supplicatini
him to spare them. But he needed no
their prayers. At his command hi
servant, the darkness, came and threy
a black mantle over the land.
"And so. bereft of the light anl
warmth Of the sun. the verdure whiteu
ed and died The north wind blew
snow from the clouds and the coli
CONCEALED the waters. The sun. .,whos
track had been a golden circle in tn
north. went to the south aud hid be
hind the ocean for many months. The
our ancestors. who had lived unde
the trees. fearing no frost. wer
obliged to build huts to protect ther
from the cold. The warm waves 4
which they had bathed became ic
cold. then hardened. The people. berei
Of the fruits of the earth exposed t
the cold. died in great numbers.
was many months before the sno'
king relented sufficiently to permit tn
sun to show his face again and hi
warm breath to revive the frozen Ian
even for a brief season.
"Since that period. every winter. th
! sun goes south and leaves us In darl
ness. The fruits which grew so pler
tifully for us have never iourishe
again But the spirit that deprived u
of them sent the white bear and th
walrus. and we are obliged to hun
them in order TO sustain ourselves wit
their meat and warm our bodies b
burning their oil. The sun continue
every winter to hide his face beneat
the ocean and when he comes back {
summer shines for so short n perio
that there is no time for the fruits q
the earth to ripen."
Is this tradition based on SON
change in the plane in which the cart
revolves. a new direction in the Gu
rent Of that mighty river we call th
gulf stream, shrinkage in the terre
trial crust. or is It an ebullition {
that poetic constitution common anon
men when they first enter upon a civ
lized condition? Whether it is TO /
explained by the first or the secon