Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1909-08-25
A GREENLAND LEGEND.
By MARK ANDERSON.

That there have been great climatic
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 VIXEN the hui
man fancy was untrammeled by fact
and when rude people spoke by natural
symbols. are often very poetic. Here
Is one current among the Eskinos of
Greenland accounting for change they
believe long ago took place depriving
them of perpetual sunshine and SUBJ
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-
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 a per-
petual green. Our people lived on
luscious fruits that grew without cuI-
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 We're 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 till the white canoe reached
the sands. and there within it, Unfold
ed in a robe of ermine. lay a maiden
whose skin was fair and whose hair
fell over her shoulders like rivuets 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
thouy'
~ am DELTA. the daughter of the
Spirit of the Winds. and come from
his ice castle in the far north.
land will you stay with u.s. asked
the chief. or will you. having gladden.
ed our hearts by your coming. leave US
to remember you as in a dream?
81 will not leave you. My home
shall be with you forever
Then was heard a far distant
moaning in the north. rising as it APP
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 focked to their
chief and besought him to give the
maiden to her father. But the chief
stood mute, pointing to his house.
which was now ruin. Entering there.
they saw on a 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
the maiden first touched their land
came to them. for they knew 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
their prayers. At his command his
servant. the darkness. came and threw
a black mantle over the land.
And so, bereft of the light and
warmth of the sun. the verdure whiten-
ed and died. The north wind blew
snow from the clouds and the cold
CONCEALED the waters. The sun. whose
track had been a golden circle In the
north. went to the south and hid be-
hind the ocean for many months. Then
our ancestors. who had lived under
the trees. fearing no frost. were
ODilSSu " uutS " pAOtCtt thCh
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. 1t
was many months before the snow
king relented sufficiently to permit the
sun to show his face again and his
warm breath to revive the frozen land
even for brief season.
Since that period, every winter. the
sun goes south and leaves us in dark
ness. The fruits which grew so plen-
tifully for us have never 6ourished
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 hide his face beneath
the ocean and when he comes back In