The Point Pleasant register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, W. Va.) 1909-1939, 1910-06-22
4 GREENLAND Legend
81 Marx ANnERsoN

A--NA- go ANSA EANsAN -AAAA4AlA4G
changes in different parts OF the earth
Is well known. But. though biologists
can tell Is that they have occurred,
they do not tel US why. some Of them
have possibly come 10 pass since man
attained sufficient intelligence 10 hand
down from generation TO generation
traditions concerning their origin.
These traditions. arising vixen the hu.
man fancy was untrammeied By fact
and when RIDE 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 deprivins
them of perpetual sunshine and sub
stitutins 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 cul-
ture and bathed in the tepid waves
that danced lightly on the strand. In
those days they knew only happiness.
But oae 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 lard.
"Awestruck. the people waited on
the verge till the white canoe reached
the sands, and there within it, infold-
ed in a robe Of ermine. lay a maiden
whose skin was fair and whose hair
fell over her shoulders like rlvulets OF
sunshine. The chief stood where the
canoe touched the beach and. STOPPING.
took the maiden in his arms, carried
her up 10 a grassy slope and asked:
What art thou, and whence cometh
tlou2
- am DELTA, the daughter Of the
Spirit Of the Winds, and l come from
his ice castle In the far north
"'And viii you stay with us asked
the chief. 'or will you. having gladden.
ed our hearts BIZ your coming. leave US
TO remember you as in a dream?
~ win not leave you. My home
shall be with YOU forever
Then was heard a far distant
moaning in the north. rising as it ap-
preached till 1t 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 aocked 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.
:hey saw on 4 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 10 them, for they knew a great
calamity was about 10 visit them. The
Gmg ofthe Winds looked down on the
form OF bis daughter. now cold IN death.
and great was his wrath. The multi
tude knelt before him. supplicating
him to spare them. But be needed not
their prayers. At his command his
servant, the darkness. came and threw
black mantle over the land.
And so. bereft Of the light and
warmth.of tie 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 10 the south and hid be-
hind the ocean for many months. Then
our ancestors. who had lived under
the trees, fearing no frost. were
obliged to build huts to protect them
from the cold. The warm waves in
which they had bathed became icy
2old, then hardened. The people, bereft
81 the fruits Of the earth exposed to
:hc cold. died IN great numbers. It
was many months before the snow
Ring 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 aourished
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 10 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
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