



Produced by Lynn Hill. Dedicated to Miriam Kilmer. HTML
version by Al Haines.










THE ESKIMO TWINS


by

Lucy Fitch Perkins




INTRODUCTION--THE ESKIMO TWINS

    I.  THE TWINS GO COASTING
   II.  KOOLEE DIVIDES THE MEAT
  III.  THE TWINS GO FISHING
   IV.  THE SNOW HOUSE
    V.  THE FEAST
   VI.  THE REINDEER HUNT
  VII.  WHAT HAPPENED WHEN MENIE AND KOKO WENT HUNTING BY THEMSELVES
 VIII.  THE WOMAN-BOATS
   IX.  THE VOYAGE
    X.  THE SUMMER DAY

SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS




THE ESKIMO TWINS


This is the true story of Menie and Monnie and their two little dogs,
Nip and Tup.

Menie and Monnie are twins, and they live far away in the North, near
the very edge.

They are five years old.

Menie is the boy, and Monnie is the girl. But you cannot tell which is
Menie and which is Monnie,--not even if you look ever so hard at their
pictures!

That is because they dress alike.

When they are a little way off even their own mother can't always tell.
And if she can't, who can?

Sometimes the twins almost get mixed up about it themselves. And then
it is very hard to know which is Nip and which is Tup, because the
little dogs are twins too.

Nobody was surprised that the little dogs were twins, because dogs
often are.

But everybody in the whole village where Menie and Monnie live was
simply astonished to see twin babies!

They had never known of any before in their whole lives.

Old Akla, the Angakok, or Medicine Man of the village, shook his head
when he heard about them. He said, "Such a thing never happened here
before. Seals and human beings never have twins! There's magic in this."

The name of the twins' father was Kesshoo. If you say it fast it sounds
just like a sneeze.

Their mother's name was Koolee. Kesshoo and Koolee, and Menie and
Monnie, and Nip and Tup, all live together in the cold Arctic winter in
a little stone hut, called an "igloo."

In the summer they live in a tent, which they call a "tupik." The
winters are very long and cold, and what do you think! They have one
night there that is four whole months long!

For four long months, while we are having Thanksgiving, and Christmas,
and even Lincoln's Birthday, the twins never once see the sun!

But at last one day in early spring the sun comes up again out of the
sea, looks at the world for a little while, and then goes out of sight
again. Each day he stays for a longer time until after a while he
doesn't go out of sight at all!

Then there are four long months of daylight when there is never any
bedtime. Menie and Monnie just go to sleep whenever they feel sleepy.

Although many Eskimos think twins bring bad luck, Kesshoo and Koolee
were very glad to have two babies.

They would have liked it better still if Monnie had been a boy, too,
because boys grow up to hunt and fish and help get food for the family.

But Kesshoo was the best hunter and the best kyak man in the whole
village. So he said to Koolee, "I suppose there must be girls in the
world. It is no worse for us than for others."

So because Kesshoo was a brave fisherman and strong hunter, and because
Koolee was clever in making clothing and shoes out of the skins of the
animals which he brought home, the twins had the very best time that
little Eskimo children can have.

And that is quite a good time, as you will see if you read all about it
in this book.




I.  THE TWINS GO COASTING

THE TWINS GO COASTING

I.


One spring morning, very early, while the moon still shone and every
one else in the village was asleep, Menie and Monnie crept out of the
dark entrance of their little stone house by the sea.

The entrance to their little stone house was long and low like a
tunnel. The Twins were short and fat. But even if they were short they
could not stand up straight in the tunnel.

So they crawled out on all fours. Nip and Tup came with them. Nip and
Tup were on all fours, too, but they had run that way all their lives,
so they could go much faster than the twins. They got out first.

Then they ran round in circles in the snow and barked at the moon. When
Menie and Monnie came out of the hole, Tup jumped up to lick Monnie's
face. He bumped her so hard that she fell right into the snowbank by
the entrance.

Monnie didn't mind a bit. She just put her two fat arms around Tup, and
they rolled over together in the snow.

Monnie had on her fur suit, with fur hood and mittens, and it was hard
to tell which was Monnie and which was Tup as they tumbled in the snow
together.

Pretty soon Monnie picked herself up and shook off the snow. Then Tup
shook himself, too. Menie was rolling over and over down the <DW72> in
front of the little stone house. His head was between his knees and his
hands held his ankles, so he rolled just like a ball.

Nip was running round and round him and barking with all his might.
They made strange shadows on the snow in the moonlight.

Monnie called to Menie. Menie straightened himself out at the bottom of
the <DW72>, picked himself up and ran back to her.

"What shall we play?" said Monnie.

"Let's get Koko, and go to the Big Rock and slide downhill," said Menie.

"All right," said Monnie. "You run and get your sled."

Menie had a little sled which his father had made for him out of
driftwood. No other boy in the village had one. Menie's father had
searched the beach for many miles to find driftwood to make this sled.

The Eskimos have no wood but driftwood, and it is so precious that it
is hardly ever used for anything but big dog sledges or spears, or
other things which the men must have.

Most of the boys had sleds cut from blocks of ice. Menie's sled was
behind the igloo. He ran to get it, and then the twins and the
pups--all four--started for Koko's house.

Koko's house was clear at the other end of the village. But that was
not far away, for there were only five igloos in the whole town.

First there was the igloo where the twins lived. Next was the home of
Akla, the Angakok, and his two wives. Then there were two igloos where
several families lived together. Last of all was the one where Koko and
his father and mother and baby brother lived.

Koko was six. He was the twins' best friend.


II.

The air was very still. There was not a sound anywhere except the
barking of the pups, the voices of Menie and Monnie, and the creaking
sound of the snow under their feet as they ran.

The round moon was sailing through the deep blue sky and shining so
bright it seemed almost as light as day.

There was one window in each igloo right over the tunnel entrance, and
these windows shone with a dull yellow light.

In front of the village lay the sea. It was covered with ice far out
from shore. Beyond the ice was the dark water out of which the sun
would rise by and by.

There was nothing else to be seen in all the twins' world. There were
no trees, no bushes even; nothing but the white earth, the shadows of
the rocks and the snow-covered igloos, the bright windows, and the moon
shining over all.


III.

Menie and Monnie soon reached Koko's igloo. Menie and Nip got there
first. Monnie came puffing along with Tup just a moment after.

Then the twins dropped on their hands and knees in front of Koko's hut,
and stuck their heads into the tunnel. Nip and Tup stuck their heads
in, too.

They all four listened. There was not a sound to be heard except loud
snores! The snores came rattling through the tunnel with such a
frightful noise that the twins were almost scared.

"They sleep out loud, don't they?" whispered Monnie.

"Let's wake them up," Menie whispered back.

Then the twins began to bark. "Ki-yi, ki-yi, ki-yi, ki-yi," just like
little dogs!

Nip and Tup began to yelp, too. The snores and the yelps met in the
middle of the tunnel and the two together made such a dreadful sound
that Koko woke up at once. When he heard four barks he knew right away
that it must be the twins and the little dogs.

So he stuck his head into the other end of the tunnel and called, "Keep
still. You'll wake the baby! I'll be there in a minute."

Very soon Koko popped out of the black hole. He was dressed in a fur
suit and mittens just like the twins.


IV.

The three children went along together toward the Big Rock. Monnie rode
on the sled, and Menie and Koko pulled it. The Big Rock was very
straight up and down on one side, and long and slanting on the other.
The twins were going to coast down the slanting side.

They climbed to the top, and Menie had the first ride. He coasted down
on his stomach with his little reindeer-skin kamiks (shoes) waving in
the air.

Next Koko had a turn. What do you think he did? He stood straight up on
the sled with the leather cord in his hand, and slid down that way! But
then, you see, he was six.

When Monnie's turn came she wanted to go down that way, too. But Menie
said, "No. You'd fall off and bump your nose! You have hardly any nose
as it is, and you'd better save it!"

"I have as much nose as you have, anyway," said Monnie.

"Mine is bigger! I'm a boy!" said Menie.

Koko measured their noses with his finger.

"They are just exactly alike," he said.

Monnie turned hers up at Menie and said, "What did I tell you?"

Menie never said another word about noses. He just changed the subject.
He said, "Let's all slide down at once."

Koko and Menie sat down on the sled. Monnie sat on Menie. Then they
gave a few hitches to the sled and off they went.

Whiz! How they flew!

The pups came running after them. In some places where it was very
slippery the pups coasted, too! But they did not mean to. They did not
like it. The sled was almost at the end of the slide when it struck a
piece of ice. It flew around sideways and spilled all the children in
the snow.

Just then Nip and Tup came sliding along behind them. They couldn't
stop, so there they all were in a heap together, with the dogs on top!

Menie rolled over and sat up in the snow. He was holding on to the end
of his nose. "Iyi, iyi!" he howled, "I bumped my nose on a piece of
ice!"

Monnie sat up in the snow, too. She pointed her fur mitten at Menie's
nose and laughed. "Don't you know you haven't much nose?" she said.
"You ought to be more careful of it!"

Koko kicked his feet in the air and laughed at Menie, and the little
dogs barked. Menie thought he'd better laugh, too. He had just let go
of his nose to begin when all of a sudden the little dogs stopped
barking and stood very still!

Their hair stood up on their necks and they began to growl!

"Hark, the dogs see something," said Menie.

Monnie and Koko stopped laughing and listened. They could not hear
anything. They could not see anything. Still Nip and Tup growled. The
twins and Koko were children of brave hunters, so, although they were
scared, they crept very quietly to the side of the Big Rock and peeped
over.

Just that minute there was a dreadful growl! "Woof!" It was very loud,
and very near, and down on the beach a shadow was moving! It was the
shadow of a great white BEAR!

He was looking for fish and was cross because everything was frozen,
and he could not find any on the beach.

The moment they saw him, the twins and Koko turned and ran for home as
fast as ever their short legs could go! They did not even stop to get
the precious sled. They just ran and ran.

Nip and Tup ran, too, with their ears back and their little tails stuck
straight out behind them!

If they had looked back, they would have seen the bear stand up on his
hind legs and look after them, then get down on all fours and start
toward the Big Rock on a run.

But neither the children nor the little dogs looked back! They just ran
with all their might until they reached the twins' igloo. Then they all
dived into the tunnel like frightened rabbits.


V.

When they came up in the one little room of the igloo at the other end
of the tunnel Kesshoo and Koolee were just crawling out of the warm fur
covers of their bed. Menie and Monnie and Koko and the little dogs all
began to talk at once.

The moment the twins' father and mother heard the word--bear--they
jumped off the sleeping-bench and began to put on their clothes.

They both wore fur trousers and long kamiks, with coats of fur, so they
looked almost as much alike in their clothes as the twins did in theirs.

The mother always wore her hair in a topknot on top of her head, tied
with a leather thong. But now she wanted to make the bear think she was
a man, too, so she pulled it down and let it hang about her face, just
as her husband did.

In two minutes they were ready. Then the father reached for his lance,
the mother took her knife, and they all crawled out of the tunnel.

The father went first, then the mother, then the three children and the
pups. At the opening of the tunnel the father stopped, and looked all
around to see if the bear were near.

The dogs in the village knew by this time that some strange animal was
about, and the moment Kesshoo came out into the moonlight and started
for the Big Rock, all the dogs ran, too, howling like a pack of wolves.

Kesshoo shouted back to his wife, "There really is a bear! I see him by
the Big Rock; call the others."

So she sent Monnie into the igloo of the Angakok, and Menie and Koko
into the next huts. She herself screamed, "A bear! A bear!" into the
tunnel of Koko's hut.

The people in the houses had heard the dogs bark and were already
awake. Soon they came pouring out of their tunnels armed with knives
and lances. The women had all let down their hair, just as the twins'
mother did. Each one carried her knife.

They all ran toward the Big Rock, too. Far ahead they could see the
bear, and the dogs bounding along, and Kesshoo running with his lance
in his hand.

Then they saw the dogs spring upon the bear. The bear stood up on his
hind legs and tried to catch the dogs and crush them in his arms. But
the dogs were too nimble. The bear could not catch them.

When Kesshoo came near, the bear gave a great roar, and started for
him. The brave Kesshoo stood still with his lance in his hand, until
the bear got quite near. Then he ran at the bear and plunged the lance
into his side. The lance pierced the bear's heart. He groaned, fell to
the ground, rolled over, and was still.

Then how everybody ran! Koko's mother had her baby in her hood, where
Eskimo mothers always carry their babies. She could not run so fast as
the others. The Angakok was fat, so he could not keep up, but he
waddled along as fast as he could.

"Hurry, hurry," he called to his wives. "Bespeak one of his hind legs
for me."

Menie and Monnie and Koko had such short legs they could not go very
fast either, so they ran along with the Angakok, and Koko's mother, and
Nip and Tup.

When they reached the bear they found all the other people crowded
around it. Each one stuck his fingers in the bear's blood and then
sucked his fingers. This was because they wanted all bears to know how
they longed to kill them. As each one tasted the blood he called out
the part of the bear he would like to have.

The wives of the Angakok cried, "Give a hind leg to the Angakok."

"The kidneys for Koko," cried Koko's mother when she stuck in her
finger. "That will make him a great bear-hunter when he is big."

"And I will have the skin for the twins' bed," said their mother.

Kesshoo promised each one the part he asked for. An Eskimo never keeps
the game he kills for himself alone. Every one in the village has a
share.

The bear was very large. He was so large that though all the women
pulled together they could not drag the body back to the village. The
men laughed at them, but they did not help them.

So Koolee ran back for their sledge and harnesses for the dogs. Koko
and Menie helped her catch the dogs and hitch them to the sledge.

It took some time to catch them for the dogs did not want to work. They
all ran away, and Tooky, the leader of the team, pretended to be sick!
Tooky was the mother of Nip and Tup, and she was a very clever dog.
While Koolee and Koko and Menie were getting the sledge and dog-team
ready, the rest of the women set to work with their queer crooked
knives to take off the bear's skin. The moon set, and the sky was red
with the colors of the dawn before this was done.

At last the meat was cut in pieces and Kesshoo and Koko's father held
the dogs while the women heaped it on the sledge. The dogs wanted the
meat. They jumped and howled and tried to get away.

When everything was ready, Koolee cracked the whip at the dogs. Tooky
ran ahead to her place as leader, the other dogs began to pull, and the
whole procession started back to the village, leaving a great red stain
on the clean white snow where the bear had been killed.

Last of all came the twins and Koko. They had loaded the bear's skin on
Menie's sled.

"It's a woman's work to pull the meat home. We men just do the hunting
and fishing," Menie said to Koko. They had heard the men say that.

"Yes, we found the bear," Koko answered. "Monnie can pull the skin
home."

And though Monnie had found the bear just as much as they had, she
didn't say a word. She just pulled away on the sled, and they all
reached the igloo together just as the round red sun came up out of the
sea, and threw long blue shadows far across the fields of snow.




II.  KOOLEE DIVIDES THE MEAT

KOOLEE DIVIDES THE MEAT

I.


The first thing that was done after they got the sledge back to the
village was to feed the dogs. The dogs were very hungry; they had
smelled the fresh meat for a long time without so much as a bite of it,
and they had had nothing to eat for two whole days. They jumped about
and howled again and got their harnesses dreadfully tangled.

Kesshoo unharnessed them and gave them some bones, and while they were
crunching them and quarreling among themselves, Koolee crawled into the
igloo and brought out a bowl. The bowl was made of a hollowed-out
stone, and it had water in it.

"This is for a charm," said Koolee. "If you each take a sip of water
from this bowl my son will always have good luck in spying bears!"

She passed the bowl around, and each person took a sip of the water.
When Menie's turn came he took a big, big mouthful, because he wanted
to be very brave, indeed, and find a bear every week. But he was in too
much of a hurry. The water went down his "Sunday-throat" and choked
him! He coughed and strangled and his face grew red. Koolee thumped him
on the back.

"That's a poor beginning for a great bear-hunter," she said.

Everybody laughed at Menie. Menie hated to be laughed at. He went away
and found Nip and Tup. They wouldn't laugh at him, he knew. He thought
he liked dogs better than people anyway.

Nip and Tup were trying to get their noses into the circle with the
other dogs, but the big dogs snapped at them and drove them away, so
Menie got some scraps and fed them.

Meanwhile Koolee stood by the sledge and divided the meat among her
neighbors. First she gave one of the hind legs to the wives of the
Angakok, because he always had to have the best of everything. She gave
the kidneys to Koko's mother. To each one she gave just the part she
had asked for. When each woman had been given her share, Kesshoo took
what was left and put it on the storehouse.

The storehouse wasn't really a house at all. It was just a great stone
platform standing up on legs, like a giant's table. The meat was placed
on the top of it, so the dogs could not reach it, no matter how high
they jumped.


II.

When the rest of the meat was taken care of, Koolee took the bear's
head and carried it into the igloo.

All the people followed her. Then Koolee did a queer thing. She placed
the head on a bench, with the nose pointing toward the Big Rock,
because the bear had come from that direction. Then she stopped up the
nostrils with moss and grease. She greased the bear's mouth, too.

"Bears like grease," she said. "And if I stop up his nose like that
bears will never be able to smell anything. Then the hunters can get
near and kill them before they know it." You see Koolee was a great
believer in signs and in magic. All the other people were too.

She called to the twins, "Come here, Menie and Monnie."

The twins had come in with the others, but they were so short they were
out of sight in the crowd. They crawled under the elbows of the grown
people and stood beside Koolee.

"Look, children," she said to them, "your grandfather, who is dead,
sent you this bear. He wants you to send him something. In five days
the bear's spirit will go to the land where your grandfather's spirit
lives. What would you like to have the bear's spirit take to your
grandfather for a gift?"

"I'll send him the little fish that father carved for me out of bone,"
said Menie. He squirmed through the crowd and got it from a corner of
his bed and brought it to his mother. She put it on the bear's head.

Monnie gave her a leather string with a lucky stone tied to it. Koolee
put that on the bear's head too.

Then she said, "There! In five days' time the bear's spirit will give
the shadows of these things to your grandfather. Then we can eat the
head, but not until we are sure the bear's spirit has reached the home
of the Dead."

"That is well," the Angakok said to the twins, when Koolee had
finished. "Your grandfather will be pleased with your presents, I know.
Your grandfather was a just man. I knew him well. He always paid great
respect to me. Whenever he brought a bear home he gave me not only a
hind leg, but the liver as well! I should not be surprised if he sent
the bear this way, knowing how fond I am of bear's liver."

The Angakok placed his hand on his stomach and rolled up his eyes. "But
times are not what they once were," he went on. "People care now only
for their own stomachs! They would rather have the liver themselves
than give it to the Angakok! They will be sorry when it is too late."

He shook his head and heaved a great sigh. Koolee looked at Kesshoo.
She was very anxious. Kesshoo went out at once to the storehouse. He
climbed to the top and got the liver.

By this time all the people had crawled out of the igloo again, and
were ready to carry home their meat. Kesshoo ran to the Angakok and
gave him the bear's liver. The Angakok handed it to one of his wives to
carry. The other one already had the bear's leg. He said to Kesshoo,
"You are a just man, like your father. I know the secrets of the sun,
moon, and stars. You know your duty! You shall have your reward." He
looked very solemn and waddled away toward his igloo with the two wives
behind him carrying the meat. All the rest of the people followed after
him and went into their own igloos.




III.  THE TWINS GO FISHING

THE TWINS GO FISHING

I.


When the people had all gone away, Menie and Monnie sat down on the
side of the sledge. Nip and Tup were busy burying bones in the snow.
The other dogs had eaten all they wanted to and were now lying down
asleep in the sun, with their noses on their paws.

Everything was still and cold. It was so still you could almost hear
the silence, and so bright that the twins had to squint their eyes. In
the air there was a faint smell of cooking meat.

Menie sniffed. "I'm so hungry I could eat my boots," he said.

"There are better things to eat than boots," Monnie answered. "What
would you like best of everything in the world if you could have it?"

"A nice piece of blubber from a walrus or some reindeer tallow," said
Menie.

"Oh, no," Monnie cried. "That isn't half as good as reindeer's stomach,
or fishes' eyes! Um-m how I love fishes' eyes! I tell you, Menie, let's
get something to eat and then go fishing, before the sun goes down!"

"All right," said Menie. "Let's see if Mother won't give us a piece of
bear's fat! That is almost as good as blubber or fishes' eyes."


II.

They dived into the igloo. Their mother was standing beside the oil
lamp, putting strands of dried moss into the oil. This lamp was their
only stove and their only light. It didn't look much like our stoves.
It was just a piece of soapstone, shaped something like a clamshell. It
was hollowed out so it would hold the oil. All along the shallow side
of the pan there were little tendrils of dried moss, like threads.
These were the wicks.

Over the fire pan there was a rack, and from the rack a stone pan hung
down over the lamp flame. It was tied by leather thongs to the rack. In
the pan a piece of bear's meat was simmering. The fire was not big
enough to cook it very well, but there was a little steam rising from
it, and it made a very good smell for hungry noses.

"We're hungry enough to eat our boots," Menie said to his mother.

"You must never eat your boots; you have but one pair!" his mother
answered. She pinched Menie's cheek and laughed at him.

Then she cut two chunks of fat from a piece of bear's meat which lay on
the bench. She gave one to each of the twins. "Eat this, and soon you
can have some cooked meat," she said. "It isn't quite done yet."

"We don't want to wait for the cooked meat," cried Monnie. "We want to
go fishing before the sun is gone. Give us more fat and we'll eat it
outside."

"You may go fishing if your father will go with you and cut holes for
you in the ice," said her mother.

Koolee cut off two more pieces of fat. The twins took a piece in each
hand. Then their mother reached down their own little fishing rods,
which were stuck in the walls of the igloo. The twins had bear's meat
in both hands. They didn't see how they could manage the fishing rods
too.

But Menie thought of a way. "I'll show you how," he said to Monnie. He
held one chunk of meat in his teeth! In his left hand he held the
fishing rod, in his right he carried the other piece of meat!

Monnie did exactly what Menie did, and then they crawled down into the
tunnel.


III.

The twins had some trouble getting out of the tunnel because both their
hands were full. And besides the fishing rods kept getting between
their legs. When they got outside they both took great bites of the
bear's fat.

Kesshoo was hanging the dogs' harnesses up on a tall pole, where the
dogs could not get them. The pole was eight feet long, and it was made
of the tusk of a narwhal. The harnesses were made of walrus thongs and
the dogs would eat them if they had a chance. That was the reason
Kesshoo hung them out of reach. The twins ran to their father at once.
They began to tell him that they wanted to go fishing right away before
the sun went down but their mouths were so full they couldn't get the
words out!

"Mm-m-m-m," Menie began, chewing with all his might!

Then Monnie did a shocking thing! She swallowed her meat whole, she was
in such hurry! It made a great lump going down her throat! It almost
choked her. But she shut her eyes, jerked her head forward, and got it
down!

"Will you make two holes in the ice for us to fish through?" she said.
She got the words out first! Then she took another bite of meat.

"Have you got your lines ready, and anything for bait?" asked their
father.

By this time Menie had swallowed his mouthful too. He said, "We can
take a piece of bear's meat for bait. The lines and hooks are ready."

Kesshoo looked at the lines. The rods were very short. They were made
of driftwood with a piece of bone bound to the end by tough thongs.

There was a hole in the end of the bone, and through this hole the line
was threaded. The line was made of braided reindeer thongs. On the end
of the line was a hook carved out of bone.

"Your lines are all right," said Kesshoo. "Come along."

He led the way down to the beach. The twins came tumbling after him,
and I am sorry to tell you they gobbled their meat all the way! After
the twins came Nip and Tup. The ice was very thick. Kesshoo and the
twins and the pups walked out on it quite a distance from the shore.

Kesshoo cut two round holes in the ice. One was for Menie and one for
Monnie. The holes were not big enough for them to fall into.

By this time the twins had eaten all their meat except some small
pieces which they saved for bait. They each put a piece of meat on the
hook. Then they squatted down on their heels and dropped the hooks into
the holes.

Kesshoo went back to the village, and left them there. "Don't stay out
too long," he called back to them.


IV.

The twins sat perfectly still for a long time. Nip sat beside Menie,
and Tup sat beside Monnie. It grew colder and colder. The sun began to
drop down toward the sea again. At last it rested like a great round
red wheel right on the Edge of the World!

Slowly, slowly it sank until only a little bit of the red rim showed;
then that too was gone. Great splashes of red color came up in the sky
over the place where it had been.

Still the twins sat patiently by their holes. It grew darker and
darker. The colors faded. The stars began to twinkle, but the twins did
not move. Nip and Tup ran races on the ice, and rolled over each other
and barked.

At last--all of a sudden--there was a fearful jerk on Monnie's line! It
took her by surprise. The little rod flew right out of her hands!
Monnie flung herself on her stomach on the ice and caught the rod just
as it was going down the hole! She held on hard and pulled like
everything.

"I believe I've caught a whale," she panted.

But she never let go! She got herself right side up on the ice,
somehow, and pulled and pulled on her line.

"Let me pull him in!" cried Menie. He tried to take her rod.

"Get away," screamed Monnie. "I'll pull in my own fish."

Menie danced up and down with excitement, still holding his own rod.
The pups danced and barked too. Monnie never looked at any of them. She
kept her eyes fixed on the hole and pulled.

At last she shrieked, "I've got him, I've got him!" And up through the
hole came a great big codfish!

My! how he did flop around on the ice! Nip and Tup were scared. They
ran for home at the first flop.

"Let's go home now," said Monnie. "I want to show my fine big fish to
Mother."

But Menie said, "Wait a little longer till I catch one! I'll give you
one eye out of my fish if you will."

Monnie waited. She put another piece of meat on her hook and dropped it
again into the hole. After a while she said, "You can keep your old eye
if you get it. It's so dark the fish can't see to get themselves caught
anyway. I'm cold. I'm going home."

Menie got up very slowly and pulled up his line.

As they turned toward the shore, Monnie cried out, "Look, look! The sky
is on fire!" It looked like it, truly!

Great white streamers were flashing from the Edge of the World, clear
up into the sky! They danced like flames. Sometimes they shot long
banners of blue or green fire up to the very stars. Overhead the sky
shone red as blood. The stars seemed blotted out.

The twins had seen many wonderful things in the sky, but never such
color as this. Their eyes grew as round and big and popping as those of
Monnie's codfish, while they watched the long banners join themselves
into a great waving curtain of color that hung clear across the heavens.

"What is it? Oh, what is it?" they gasped. They were too astonished to
move, and they were a good deal frightened, too. They never knew the
sky could act like that.

Monnie felt her black hair rise under her little fur hood. She seized
Menie's coat. "Do you suppose the world is going to be burned up?" she
said.

Just then they heard a voice calling, "Menie, Monnie, where are you?"

"Here we are," they answered. Their teeth were chattering with cold and
fright, and they ran up the <DW72> and flung themselves into their
mother's arms.

"Oh, Mother, what is the matter with the sky?" they gasped.

Then Koolee looked up too. The long streamers were still flinging
themselves up toward the red dome overhead.

We call this the "aurora," or "northern lights," and know that
electricity causes it, but the twins' mother couldn't know that. She
told them just what had been told her when she was a little girl.

She said, "That is the dance of the Spirits of the Dead! Haven't you
ever seen it before?"

"Not like this," said the twins. "This is so big, and so red!"

"The sky is not often so bright," said Koolee. "Some say it is the
spirits of little children dancing and playing together in the sky!
They will not hurt you. You need not be afraid. See how they dance in a
ring all around the Edge of the World! They look as if they were having
fun."

"It goes around the Edge of the World just like the flames around our
lamp," said Menie. "Maybe it's the Giants' lamp!"

Menie and Monnie believed in Giants. So did their mother. They thought
the Giants lived in the middle of the Great White World, where the snow
never melts.

The thought of the Giants scared them all. The twins gave the fish to
their mother, and then they all three scuttled up the snowy <DW72>
toward the bright window of their igloo just as fast as they could go.
When they got inside they found some hot bear's meat waiting for them,
and Monnie had both the eyes from her fish to eat. But she gave one to
Menie.

When they were warmed and fed, they pulled off their little fur suits,
crawled into the piles of warm skins on the sleeping bench, and in two
minutes were sound asleep.




IV.  THE SNOW HOUSE

THE SNOW HOUSE

I.


It is very hard to tell what day it is, or what hour in the day, in a
place where the days and nights are all mixed up, and where there are
no clocks.

Menie and Monnie had never seen a clock in their whole lives. If they
had they would have thought it was alive, and perhaps would have been
afraid of it.

But people everywhere in the world get sleepy, so the Eskimos sometimes
count their time by "sleeps." Instead of saying five days ago, they say
"five sleeps" ago.

The night after the bear was killed it began to snow. The wind howled
around the igloo and piled the snow over it in huge drifts.

The dogs were buried under it and had to be dug out, all but Nip and
Tup. They stayed inside with the twins and slept in their bed.

The twins and their father and mother were glad to stay in the warm hut.

At last the snow stopped, the air cleared, and the twins and Kesshoo
went out. Koolee stayed in the igloo.

She sat on her sleeping bench upon a pile of soft furs. A bear's skin
was stretched up on the wall behind her. She had a cozy nest to work in.

The lamp stood on the bench beside her. She was making a beautiful new
suit for Menie. It was made of fawn-skin as soft as velvet, and the
hood and sleeves were trimmed with white rabbit's fur.

Her thimble was made of ivory, and her needle too. Her thread was a
fine strip of hide. There was a bunch of such thread beside her.

Soon Kesshoo came in, bringing with him a dried fish and a piece of
bear's meat, from the storehouse.

Koolee looked up from her sewing. "Isn't it five sleeps since you
killed the bear?" she said.

Kesshoo counted on his fingers. "Yes," he said, "it is five sleeps."

"Then it is time to eat the bear's head," said Koolee. "His spirit is
now with our fathers."

"Why not have a feast?" said Kesshoo. "There hasn't been any fresh meat
in the village since the bear was killed, and I don't believe the rest
have had anything to eat but dried fish. We have plenty of bear's meat
still."

Koolee hopped down off the bench and put some more moss into the lamp.

"You bring in the meat," she said, "and tell the twins to go to all the
igloos and invite the people to come at sunset."

"All right," Kesshoo answered, and he went out at once to the
storehouse to get the meat.


II.

When he came out of the tunnel, Kesshoo found the twins trying to make
a snow house for the dogs. They weren't getting on very well.

Kesshoo could make wonderful snow houses. He had made a beautiful one
when the first heavy snows of winter had come, and the family had lived
in it while Koolee finished building the stone igloo. The twins had
watched him make it. It seemed so easy they were sure they could do it
too. Kesshoo said, "If you will run to all the igloos and tell the
people to come at sunset to eat the bear's head, I will help you build
the snow house for the dogs."

Menie and Monnie couldn't run. Nobody could. The snow was too deep.
They went in every step above their knees. But they ploughed along and
gave their message at each igloo.

Everybody was very glad to come, and Koko said, "I'll come right now
and stay if you want me to."

"Come along," said the twins.

They went back to their own house, kicking the snow to make a path.
Koko went with them. The snow was just the right kind for a snow house.
It packed well and made good blocks.

While the twins were away giving the invitations, Kesshoo carried great
pieces of bear's meat into the house.

Koolee put in the cooking pan all the meat it would hold, and kept the
blaze bright in the lamp underneath to cook it.

Then Kesshoo took his long ivory knife and went out to help the twins
with the snow house, as he had promised.

"See, this is the way," he said to them.

He took an unbroken patch of snow where no one had stepped. He made a
wide sweep of his arm and marked a circle in the snow with his knife.

The circle was just as big as he meant the house to be. Then he cut out
blocks of snow from the space inside the circle. He placed these big
blocks of snow around the circle on the line he had marked with his
knife.

When he got the first row done Menie said, "I can do that! Let me try."

He took the knife and cut out a block. It wasn't nice and even like his
father's blocks.

"That will never do," his father said. "Your house will tumble down
unless your blocks are true."

He made the sides of the block straight by cutting off some of the snow.

"Now all the other blocks in this row must be just like this one," he
said. Koko tried next. His block was almost right the first time. But
then, as I have told you before, Koko was six.

Monnie tried the next one. I am sorry to say hers wouldn't do at all.
It was dreadfully crooked. They took turns. Menie cut a new block while
Koko placed the last one on the snow wall.

Kesshoo had to put on the top blocks to make the roof. Neither Koko nor
Menie could do it right, though they tried and tried. It is a very hard
thing to do. When the blocks were all laid up and the dome finished,
Kesshoo said, "Now, Monnie can help pack it with snow."

Monnie got the snow shovel. The snow shovel was made of three flat
pieces of wood sewed together with leather thongs. It had an edge of
horn sewed on with thongs, too.

Monnie threw loose snow on the snow house and spatted it down with the
back of the shovel.

While she was doing this, Menie and Koko built a tunnel entrance for
the dogs just like the big one on the stone house.

They worked so hard they were warm as toast, though it was as cold as
our coldest winter weather; and when it was all finished Menie ran
clear over it just to show how strong and well built it was.


III.

When the snow house was all ready, Menie called the three big dogs.
Tooky was the leader, and the three dogs together were Kesshoo's sledge
team. Tooky was a hunting dog too.

When Menie called the dogs, the dogs thought they were going to be
harnessed, so they hid behind the igloo and pretended they didn't hear.
Koko and Menie followed them, but the moment they got near, the dogs
bounded away. They went round to the front of the igloo and ran into
the tunnel.

Koolee was just turning the meat in the pan with a pointed stick. There
was a piece of bear's meat lying on the bench.

The dogs smelled the meat. They stuck their heads into the room, and
when Koolee's back was turned, Tooky stole the meat!

Just then Koolee turned around. She saw Tooky. She shrieked, "Oh, my
meat, my meat!" and whacked Tooky across the nose with the snow stick!

But Tooky was bound to have the meat. She ran out of the tunnel with it
in her mouth, just as Menie and Koko got round to the front of the
igloo once more.

"I-yi! I-yi!" they screamed, "Tooky's got the meat!" Kesshoo caught up
his dog-whip and came running from the storehouse.

The other two dogs wanted the meat too. They flew at Tooky and snarled
and fought with her to get it.

Then Koolee's head appeared in the tunnel hole! Tooky was crouching in
the snow in front of the tunnel, trying to fight off the other two dogs
and guard the meat at the same time.

She wasn't doing a thing with her tail, but she was very busy with all
the rest of her. Her tail was pointed right toward the tunnel.

The moment she saw it Koolee seized the tail with both hands and jerked
it like everything! Tooky was so surprised she yelped. And when she
opened her mouth to yelp, of course she dropped the meat.

Just at that instant Kesshoo's whip lash came singing about the ears of
all three dogs.

"Snap, snap," it went. They jumped to get out of the way of the lash.

Then Koolee leaped forward and snatched the meat from under their
noses, and scuttled back with it into the tunnel before you could say
Jack Robinson.

It is dangerous to snatch meat away from hungry dogs. If Kesshoo hadn't
been slashing at them with his whip, and if Menie and Koko hadn't been
screaming at them with all their might, so the dogs were nearly
distracted, Koolee might have been badly bitten.

Just then Monnie came up with some dried fish. She threw one of the
fish over in front of the snow house.

The dogs saw it and leaped for it. Then she threw another into the snow
hut itself. They went after that. She fed them all with dried fish
until they were so full they curled up in the snow house and went to
sleep.




V.  THE FEAST

THE FEAST

I


The moment the sun had gone out of sight all the people in the village
came pouring out of their tunnels on their way to the feast at
Kesshoo's house.

Kesshoo's house was so small that it seemed as if all the people could
not possibly get into it.

But the Eskimos are used to crowding into very small spaces, indeed.
Sometimes a man and his wife and all his children will live in a space
about the size of a big double bed.

First the Angakok came out of his igloo, looking fatter than ever. The
Angakok always found plenty to eat somehow. Both his wives were thin.
Their faces looked like baked apples all brown and wrinkled.

When they reached Kesshoo's house, the Angakok went into the tunnel
first.

Now I can't tell you whether he had grown fatter during the five days,
or whether the entrance had grown smaller, but this much I know: the
Angakok got stuck! He couldn't get himself into the room no matter how
much he tried! He squirmed and wriggled and twisted, until his face was
very red and he looked as if he would burst, but there he stayed.

Other people had crawled into the tunnel after him. His two wives were
just behind. Everybody got stuck, of course, because no one could move
until the Angakok did. He was just like a cork in the neck of a bottle.

Kesshoo and Koolee and the twins and Nip and Tup were all in the igloo.
When they saw the Angakok's face come through the hole they thought, of
course, the rest of him would come too. But it didn't, and the Angakok
was mad about it.

"Why don't they build igloos the way they used to?" he growled. "Every
year the tunnels get smaller and smaller! Am I to remain here forever?"
he went on. "Why doesn't somebody help me?"

Kesshoo and Koolee seized him under his arms. They pulled and pulled.
The two wives pushed him from behind.

"I-yi! I-yi!" screamed the Angakok. "You will scrape my skin off!"

He kicked out behind with his feet. His wives backed hastily, to get
out of the way. That made them bump into Koko's mother who was just
behind them. Her baby was in her hood, and when she backed, the baby's
head was bumped on the roof of the tunnel.

The baby began to roar. In the tunnel it sounded like a clap of
thunder. The wives of the Angakok and Koko's mother all began to talk
at once, and with that and the baby's crying I suppose there never was
a tunnel that held so much noise. It all came into the igloo, and it
sounded quite frightful. The twins crept into the farthest corner of
the sleeping bench and watched their father and mother and the Angakok,
with their eyes almost popping out of their heads.

Nip and Tup thought they would help a little, so they jumped off the
bench; and barked at the Angakok. You see, they didn't know he was a
great medicine man. They thought maybe he ought not to be there at all.

Nip even snapped at the Angakok's ear!

That made the Angakok more angry than ever. He reached into the room,
seized Nip with one hand and flung him up on to the sleeping bench. Nip
lit on top of Menie. Nip was very much surprised, and so was Menie.

Now, whether the jerk he gave in throwing Nip did it or not, I cannot
say, but at that instant Kesshoo and Koolee both gave a great pull in
front. At the same moment the two wives gave a great push behind, and
the next moment after that, there was the Angakok, still red, and still
angry, sitting on the edge of the sleeping bench in the best place near
the fire!

Then his two wives came crawling through. The Angakok looked at them as
if he thought they had made him stick in the tunnel, and had done it on
purpose, too. The wives scuttled up on to the sleeping bench, and got
into the farthest corner of it as fast as they could.

The women and children always sat back on the bench at a feast.

When Koko's mother came in, the baby was still crying. She climbed up
on to the bed with him, and Menie and Monnie showed him the pups and
that made the baby laugh again.

As fast as they came in, the women and children packed themselves away
on the sleeping bench. The men sat along the edge of it with their feet
on the floor.


II.

The smell of food soon made everybody cheerful. When at last they were
all crowded into the room, Koolee placed the bear's head and other pans
of meat on the floor.

Then she crawled back on to the bench with the other women.

The Angakok was the first one to help himself. He reached down and took
a large chunk of meat. He held it up to his mouth and took hold of the
end with his teeth. Then he sawed off a huge mouthful with his knife.

It looked as if he would surely cut off the end of his nose too, but he
didn't.

When the men had all helped themselves, pieces of meat were handed out
to the women and children.

Soon they were all eating as if their lives depended on it. And now I
think of it, their lives did depend on it, to be sure! I will not speak
about their table manners. In fact, they hadn't any to speak of! They
had nothing to eat with the meat--not even salt--but it was a great
feast to them for all that, and they ate and ate until every scrap was
gone.

The Angakok grew better natured every minute. By the time he had eaten
all he could hold he was really quite happy and benevolent! He clasped
his hands over his stomach and smiled on everybody.

The women chattered in their corner of the sleeping-bench, and Koolee
showed Koko's mother the new fur suit trimmed with white rabbit's skin
that she was making for Menie. And Koko's mother said she really must
make one for Koko just like it.

The twins and Koko talked about a trap to catch hares which they meant
to made as soon as the long days began again, and the baby went to
sleep on a pile of furs in the corner. Menie fed the pups with some of
his own meat, and gave them each a bone. Nip and Tup buried their bones
under the baby and then went to sleep too.


III.

After a while the Angakok turned his face to the wall, as he always did
when he meant to tell a story or sing a song. Then he said, "Listen, my
children!" He called everybody--even the grown up people--his children!
Everybody listened. They always listened when the Angakok spoke.

The Angakok knew the secrets of the sun, moon, and stars. He had told
them so many times! The people believed it, and it may be that the
Angakok really believed it himself, though I have some doubt about that.

"Listen, my children," said the Angakok, "and I will tell you wonderful
things.

"There is a world beneath the sea! You catch glimpses of that world
yourselves in calm summer weather, when the water is still, and you
know that I speak the truth!

"Then you can see the shadows of rocks and islands and glaciers in the
smooth water. Far below you see blue sky and white clouds. That is the
calm world in which the Spirits of the Dead live. I have visited that
underworld, many times, I have talked there with the spirits of your
ancestors."

The Angakok paused and looked around to see if every one was paying
attention. Then he went on with his story.

"Do you remember how two springs ago there were so few walruses and
seals along the coast that you nearly died for lack of food and oil?"
he said. "My children, it was I who brought the seals and walruses back
to you! Without my efforts you might all have starved!

"I will tell you of the perils of a fearful journey which I undertook
for your sakes. Then you will see what you owe to the skill and
faithfulness of your Angakok!"

All the people looked very solemn, and nodded their heads. The Angakok
went on.

"You must know that in the depths of the underworld, far beyond the
beautiful abode of the Spirits of the Dead, lives the Old Woman of the
Sea!

"There she sits forever and forever beside a monstrous lamp. Underneath
the lamp is a great saucer to catch the oil which drips from it.

"In that saucer there are whole flocks of sea-birds swimming about! All
the animals that live in the sea--the whales and walruses, the codfish
and the seals--swarm in the saucer of the Old Woman of the Sea. That is
where they all come from. Sometimes the Old Woman of the Sea keeps all
the creatures in the saucer. Then there are no seal or fish or walrus
along our coasts, and there is hunger among the innuit (human beings).

"At the time of my journey she had kept all the creatures for so long a
time in her saucer that you and many others were nearly dead for lack
of food."

"It was then that I prepared myself for the perils of this journey to
the underworld. I called my Tornak, or guiding spirit, to lead my
steps. Without his Tornak an Angakok can do nothing. The Tornak came at
once in answer to my call. He took me by the hand, and we plunged down
into the water. First we passed through the beautiful World of Spirits,
where it is always summer. This part of the way was quite pleasant, but
on the farther side of that world we came to a fearful abyss. It could
be crossed only on a large slippery wheel, as slippery as ice."

"I mounted this wheel and was whirled across the chasm. No sooner had I
reached the other side than new terrors came upon me. I had to pass by
great cauldrons of boiling oil, in which seals were swimming about."

"A misstep would have sent me plunging into the boiling oil, and you
would have lost your Angakok forever!"

The thought of this was so dreadful that the Angakok paused and wiped
his eyes. Then he went on again with his story.

"However, with great courage I kept upon my way until at last I saw the
Old Woman's house! A deep gulf lay between us and her dwelling, and
outside it stood a great dog with bloody jaws. This dog guards the
entrance, and he sleeps only for a single moment, once in a very great
while."

"For six days I and my Tornak waited there for the dog to sleep. At
last on the seventh day he closed his eyes! Instantly the Tornak seized
my hand and drew me across the bridge which spanned the chasm. This
bridge was as narrow as a single thread."

"When we were safely across the bridge we passed the sleeping dog and
boldly entered the Old Woman's house. The Old Woman is terrible to look
upon! Her hand is the size of a large walrus, and her teeth like the
rocks along the coast!" The Angakok dropped his voice to a whisper.

"However, when she looked upon me she trembled!" he said. "She saw at
once that I possessed great power, and was a great Angakok. I spoke to
her flattering words. Then I told her of the hunger of my children!"

"I begged that she would send the seal and walrus and sea-birds to our
coast at once. But she had no mind to yield to my requests. Then I
stormed and threatened." The Angakok's voice grew louder. "The walls
shook with the thunder of my voice! At last I seized her by the hair! I
tipped over the saucer with my foot! My great power prevailed against
the mighty sorceress!"

"The seal and walrus swam away. The birds flew into the air and were
gone. I had conquered the Old Woman of the Sea! My children were
saved!" The Angakok was silent for a moment. Then he spoke again in a
natural voice.

"When I opened my eyes in my own igloo again," he said, "the famine was
already over. Flocks of sea-birds were flying overhead. The sea swarmed
with fish, and with walrus and seal. Every one along the whole coast
was happy. Ask yourselves--is it not so?"

The Angakok seemed very much pleased with himself, and he looked about,
as if he expected every one else to be pleased with him too. All the
people were filled with wonder at his great power. They began to talk
among themselves.

"Yes, I remember the famine well," said Koko's father. "I was away up
the coast that season. Several died in our village for lack of food."

Other men remembered things about other times when food had been scarce.

"It is lucky," they said to each other, "that here we have a great
Angakok who understands all the secrets of the World and who can save
us from such dreadful things."


IV.

At last Kesshoo said, "Will you tell us, great Angakok, how you make
these wonderful journeys?"

"Do you really wish to know?" asked the Angakok. "If you do, I will
summon my guiding spirits to tell you, but they will speak only in the
darkness."

Kesshoo took the lamp at once and put it out in the tunnel. Then he
placed a thick musk-ox hide over the entrance, so that not a single ray
of light came into the room. The darkness could almost be felt.
Everybody sat very still and listened.

Soon a heavy body was heard to strike the floor with a dull thud, and a
strange voice said, "Who calls me?"

Another voice said, "You are called, mighty spirits, to tell these
children of the labors of their Angakok."

Then began all sorts of strange noises, as of different persons
speaking. All the voices sounded much like the Angakok's, and they all
said what a great medicine man the Angakok was, and how every one in
the village must be sure to do what he told them to!

At last the Angakok himself spoke, in his own voice. "I will tell you
how I make these strange journeys," he said.

"My body is now lying on the floor at your feet. Now I begin to rise.
You cannot see me. You cannot touch me. Now I am floating about your
heads, now I am touching the roof! I can go wherever I please! Nothing
can stop me! I know the secret places of the sun, moon, and stars. I
can fly through the roof and go at once to the moon, if I wish to."

Then the voice was still. Nobody moved or spoke.

Monnie had gone to sleep in the corner of the bed, but Koko and Menie
were still awake. They had listened to every word about the Old Woman
of the Sea, and how the Angakok traveled to the moon.

You know I told you before that Koko was six. He wanted to know all
about things. So he spoke right out in the dark, when every one else
was still.

He said, "Mother, if the Angakok can go anywhere he wants to, why
couldn't he get out of the tunnel?"

Koko's mother tried to hush him up. "Sh, sh," she said, and put her
hand over his mouth. At least she thought she did, but she made a
mistake in the dark and put her hand over Menie's mouth instead!

Menie tried to say, "I never said a word," but he could only make queer
sounds, because Koko's mother's hand was tight on his mouth.

Of course Koko didn't know his mother was trying to keep him still, so
he said again, "Why is it, mother?"

Koko's mother heard Koko's voice speaking just as plainly as ever
though she was sure she had her hand over his mouth! She was frightened.

"Magic! magic!" she screamed. "Bring the light! Koko is bewitched! I
have my hand over his mouth, yet you hear that he talks as plainly as
ever!"

Koko tried to say, "Your hand isn't over my mouth," and Menie tried to
say, "It's over mine!" but he could only say, "M-m-m," because she held
on so tight!

Koko's mother was making so much noise herself that she wouldn't have
heard what either one said anyway. The baby woke up and whimpered. Nip
and Tup woke up and barked like everything.

Kesshoo got the light from the tunnel as quickly as he could, and set
it on the bench. Then every one saw what was the matter! They all
laughed--all but Menie and the Angakok. The Angakok said to Koko's
father, "You'd better look after that boy. He is disrespectful to me.
That is a bad beginning!"

Koko's father was ashamed of him. He said, "Koko is so small!"

But the Angakok said, "Koko is six. He is old enough to know better."


V.

Everybody was so glad to see the light again that they all began to
talk at once.

Some one said to Kesshoo, "Tell us about the long journey to the south
you took once long ago."

Then everybody else listened, while Kesshoo told about how once he had
taken his dog sledge with a load of musk-ox and seal skins on it far
down the coast and how at last he had come to a little settlement where
the houses were all made of wood, if they would believe it!

He told them that in the bay before the village there was a boat as big
as the Big Rock itself. It had queer white wings, and the wind blew on
these wings and made the boat go!

Kesshoo had been out in a kyak to see it. He had even paddled all round
it. The men on the great boat had fair hair, and one of them, the chief
man of all, had bought some of Kesshoo's skins and one of his dogs. The
man was a great chief. His name was Nansen.

This great chief had told Kesshoo that he was going to take a sledge
and go straight into the inland country where the Giants live! He said
he was going to cross the great ice! No man had ever done that since
the world began.

Kesshoo thought probably the great chief had been eaten by the Giants,
but he did not know surely, because he had never been back there since
to find out. And to be sure, if he had been eaten by Giants, no one
ever would know about it anyway.

Then Kesshoo showed them all a great knife that the white chief had
given him, in exchange for a sealskin, and two steel needles that he
had sent to Koolee. Koolee kept the needles in a little ivory case all
by themselves.

She always carried the case in her kamik, so it would not be lost. She
could do wonderful sewing with the needles. Koolee was very proud of
her sewing. No one else in the whole village could sew so well, because
they had not such good needles to do it with. Koolee used them only for
her very finest work.

At last the Angakok said, "It is time to go home." He called to his
wives. They climbed down off the bench.

That started the others. One after another they put on their upper
garments, which they had taken off in the warm igloo, said good bye,
and popped down into the tunnel. Last of all came the Angakok's turn.

Then Kesshoo and Koolee and the Angakok's wives all began to look very
anxious. The Angakok looked a little worried himself. If he had stuck
coming in, what would happen now after he had eaten so much!

He got down on his hands and knees, and looked at the hole. He had
taken off his thick fur coat when he came in. Now he took off his
undercoat, and his thick fur trousers! He gave them to his wives.

Then he stretched himself out just as long as he possibly could and
slowly hitched himself down into the tunnel, groaning all the way.

Kesshoo and Koolee and the wives waited until his feet disappeared, and
they heard him scraping along through the tunnel. Then they breathed a
great sigh of relief, and the two wives popped down after him.

The last Kesshoo and Koolee heard of the Angakok, was a kind of muffled
roar when a piece of ice fell from the top of the tunnel on to his bare
back.

Menie and Monnie and the pups were already sound asleep in their corner
of the bench when their father and mother fixed the lamp for the night
and crawled in among the fur robes beside them.




VI.  THE REINDEER HUNT

THE REINDEER HUNT

I.


The day after the feast it was still very cold, but there were signs of
spring in the air. When Menie went out to feed the dogs, he saw a flock
of ravens flying north, and Koko saw some sea-birds on the same day.

Two days after that, when the twins and Koko were all three playing
together on the Big Rock, they saw a huge iceberg float lazily by.

It had broken away from a glacier, farther north, and was drifting
slowly toward the Southern Sea. It gleamed in the sun like a great ice
palace.

One morning the air was thick with fog. When Kesshoo saw the fog he
said, "This would be a great day to hunt reindeer."

"Oh, let me go with you!" cried Menie.

Monnie knew better than to ask. She knew very well she would never be
allowed to go.

Kesshoo thought a little before he answered. Then he said, "If Koko's
father will go, too, you and Koko may both go with us. You are pretty
small to go hunting, but boys cannot begin too early to learn."

Menie was wild with joy. He rushed to Koko's house and told him and his
father what Kesshoo had said.

When he had finished, Koko's father said at once, "Tell Kesshoo we will
go."

It was not long before they were ready to start. Kesshoo had his great
bow, and arrows, and a spear. He also had his bird dart. Koko's father
had his bow and spear and dart, too. Menie had his little bow and
arrows.

Kesshoo put a harness on Tooky and tied the end of Tooky's harness
trace around Menie's waist. Koko's father had brought his best dog,
too, and Koko was fastened to the end of that dog's harness in the same
way.

Then the four hunters started on their journey--Menie and Koko driving
the dogs in front of them.

Monnie stood on the Big Rock and watched them until they were out of
sight in the fog. Nip and Tup were with her. They wanted to go as much
as Monnie did and she had hard work to keep them from following after
the hunters.


II.

Kesshoo knew very well where to look for the reindeer. He led the way
up a steep gorge where the first green moss appeared in the spring.
They all four walked quietly along for several miles.

When they got nearly to the head of the gorge, Kesshoo stopped. He said
to the boys, "You must not make any noise yourselves, and you must not
let the dogs bark. If you do there will be no reindeer today."

The boys kept very still, indeed. The dogs were good hunting dogs. They
knew better than to bark.

They walked on a little farther. Then Kesshoo came very near the others
and spoke in a low voice. He said, "We are coming to a spot where there
are likely to be reindeer. The wind is from the south. If we keep on in
this direction, the reindeer will smell us. We must go round in such a
way that the wind will carry the scent from them to us, not from us to
them."

They turned to the right and went round to the north. They had gone
only a short distance in this direction, when they found fresh reindeer
tracks in the snow. The dogs began to sniff and strain at their
harnesses.

"They smell the game," whispered Kesshoo. "Hold on tight! Don't let
them run."

Menie and Koko held the dogs back as hard as they could. Kesshoo and
Koko's father crept forward with their bows in their hands. The fog was
so thick they could not see very far before them.

They had gone only a short distance, when out of the fog loomed two
great gray shadows. Instantly the two men dropped on their knees and
took careful aim.

The reindeer did not see them. They did not know that anything was near
until they felt the sting of the hunters' arrows. One reindeer dropped
to the earth. The other was not killed. He flung his head in the air
and galloped away, and they could hear the thud, thud, of his hoofs
long after he had disappeared in the fog.

The moment the dogs heard the singing sound of the arrows, they bounded
forward. Koko and Menie were not strong enough to hold them back, and
they could not run fast enough to keep up with them. So they just
bumped along behind the dogs! Some of the time they slid through the
snow.

The snow was rough and hard, and it hurt a good deal to be dragged
through it as if they were sledges, but Eskimo boys are used to bumps,
and they knew if they cried they might scare the game, so they never
even whimpered.

It was lucky for them that they had not far to go. When they came
bumping along, Kesshoo and Koko's father laughed at them.

"Don't be in such a hurry," they called. "There's plenty of time!"

They unbound the traces from Menie and Koko and hitched the dogs to the
body of the reindeer. Then they all started back to the village with
Koko's father driving the dogs.

Soon the fog lifted and the sky grew clear.

Monnie was playing with her doll in the igloo, when she heard Tooky
bark. She knew it was Tooky at once. She and Koolee both plunged into
the tunnel like mice down a mouse hole. Nip and Tup were ahead of them.

Outside they found Koko's mother and the baby. Koolee called to her,
and she called to the wives of the Angakok, who were scraping a bear's
skin in the snow.

The Angakok's wives, and Koko's mother and her baby, and Koolee, and
Monnie, and Nip and Tup all ran to meet the hunters, and you never saw
two prouder boys than Koko and Menie when they showed the reindeer to
their mothers.

The mothers were proud of their young hunters, too. Koolee said, "Soon
we shall have another man in our family."

When they were quite near the village again, they met the Angakok. He
had been trying to catch up with them and he was out of breath from
running. He looked at them sternly.

"Why didn't you call me?" he panted.

His wives looked frightened and didn't say a word. Nobody else said
anything. The Angakok glared at them all for a moment. Then he poked
the reindeer with his fingers to see if it was fat and said to the men,
"Which portion am I to have?"

"Would you like the liver?" asked Kesshoo. He remembered about the
bear's liver, you see.

But the Angakok looked offended. "Who will have the stomach?" he said.
"You know very well that the stomach is the best part of a reindeer."

"Take the stomach, by all means, then," said Kesshoo, politely.

Koolee and Monnie looked very much disappointed. They wanted the
stomach dreadfully.

But the Angakok answered, "Since you urge me, I will take the stomach.
I had a dream last night, and in the dream I was told by my Tornak that
today I should feed upon a reindeer's stomach, given me by one of my
grateful children. When you think how I suffered to bring food to you,
I am sure you will wish to provide me with whatever it seems best that
I should have."

He stood by while Kesshoo and Koko's father skinned the reindeer and
cut it in pieces. Then he took the stomach and disappeared into his
igloo--with his face all wreathed in smiles.




VII.  WHAT HAPPENED WHEN MENIE AND KOKO WENT HUNTING BY THEMSELVES

WHAT HAPPENED WHEN MENIE AND KOKO WENT HUNTING BY THEMSELVES

I.


It was very lucky for the twins that their father was such a brave and
skillful kyak man. You will see the reason why, when I tell you the
story of the day Menie and Koko went hunting alone on the ice.

One April morning Kesshoo was working on his kyak to make sure that it
was in perfect order for the spring walrus hunting. Koko and Menie
watched him for a long time. Monnie was with Koolee in the hut.

By and by Koko said to Menie, "Let's go out on the ice and hunt for
seal-holes."

"All right," said Menie. "You take your bow and arrows and I'll take my
spear. Maybe we shall see some little auks."

Koko had a little bow made of deer's horns, and some bone arrows, and
Menie had a small spear which his father had made for him out of
driftwood.

"I'll tell you!" said Menie. "Let's go hunting just the way father
does! You do the shooting and I'll do the spearing! Won't everybody be
surprised to see us bring home a great load of game? I shall give
everything I get to my mother."

"I'm going to hunt birds and seal-holes too," Koko answered.

Kesshoo was very busy fixing the fastening of his harpoon, and he did
not hear what they said.

The two boys went to their homes for their weapons, and then ran out on
the ice. Nobody knew where they were. Of course, Nip and Tup went along.


II.

All the way over the ice they looked for seal-holes. It takes sharp
eyes to find them, for seal-holes are very small.

You see, the mother seals try to find the safest place they can to hide
their babies, and this is the way they do it:

As soon as the ice begins to freeze in the autumn, the seals gnaw holes
in it to reach the air, and they keep these holes open all winter. It
freezes so fast in that cold country that they have to be busy almost
every minute all through the winter breaking away the ice there. They
get their sleep in snatches of a minute or so at a time, and between
their naps they clear the ice from their breathing holes.

There is usually a deep layer of snow over the ice. Each mother seal
hollows out a little igloo under the snow, around her breathing hole,
and leaves a tiny hole in the top of it, so her baby can have plenty of
fresh air and be hidden from sight at the same time.

The mother seal leaves the baby in the snow house, and she herself
dives through the hole and swims away. Every few minutes she comes back
to breathe, and to see that her baby is safe.

It was the tiny hole in the top of the seal's snow house that Menie and
Koko hoped to find.

The days had grown quite long by this time and there was fog in the
air. Once in a while there would be a loud crackling noise.

"The ice is beginning to break," Koko said. "Don't you hear it pop? My
father says he thinks the warm weather will begin early this year."

They had gone some distance out on the ice, when suddenly Menie said,
"Look! Look there!" He pointed toward the north. There not far from
shore was a flock of sea-birds, resting on the ice.

"Just let me get a shot at them!" cried Koko. "You stay here and hold
on to the dogs! Nip and Tup haven't any sense at all about game!
They'll only scare them."


III.

Koko ran swiftly and quietly towards the birds. Menie sat on the ice
and watched him and held Nip and Tup, one under each arm. When Koko got
quite near the birds, he took careful aim and let fly an arrow at them.

It didn't hit any of the birds, but it frightened them. They flew up
into the air and away to the north and alighted farther on. Koko
followed them.

All at once Menie heard a queer little sound. It went "Plop-plop-plop,"
and it sounded very near. Nip and Tup sniffed, and began to growl and
nose around on the ice.

Menie knew what the queer noise meant, for his father had told him all
about seal hunting. It meant that a seal-hole was near, and that a seal
had come up to breathe. It was the seal that made the "plopping" noise.

Menie tried to keep the dogs still, but they wouldn't be kept still.
They ran round with their noses on the snow, giving little anxious
whines, and short, sharp barks.

The "plop-plop" stopped. The seal had gone down under the ice, but
Menie meant to find the hole. He went out quite near the open water in
his search. At last, just beyond a hummock of ice, he saw it! He crept
carefully up to it.

He lay down on his stomach and peeped into the hole to see what it was
like. He could not see a thing!

Then he stuck his lance down. His lance touched something soft that
wiggled! Menie stood up. He was so excited that he trembled. He knew he
had found a seal-hole with a live seal in the snow house!

With all his strength he struck his lance down through the snow. The
snow house fell in and Menie fell with it, but he kept hold of his
lance. The end of the lance was buried in the snow, but it was moving.
Menie knew by this that he had stuck it into the seal!

He lay still and kept fast hold of his lance, and pressed down on it
with all his might.

Nip and Tup were crazy with excitement. They jumped round and barked
and tried to dig a hole in the snow with their forefeet.

At last the spear stopped wiggling. Then Menie carefully dug the snow
away. There lay a little white seal! It was too young to swim away with
its mother. That was why such a small boy as Menie had been able to
kill it.

He dragged it out on the ice. He was so excited and so busy he did not
notice how near he was to the open water.


IV.

All of a sudden there was a loud cracking noise, and Menie felt the ice
moving under him! He looked back. There was a tiny strip of blue water
between him and the shore!

The strip grew wider while he looked at it! Menie knew that he was
adrift on an ice raft, and he was terribly frightened. Nip and Tup
cuddled close to him and whined with fear.

Menie understood perfectly well that he might be carried far out to sea
and never come back any more. He put his hands to his mouth and yelled
with all his might!

Koko was still following the birds, and did not hear Menie's cries.
Menie could see him running up the beach after the birds, and he could
see his father working over his kyak near his home.

He even saw Monnie come out of the tunnel and go to watch her father at
his work. They seemed very far away, and every moment the distance
between them and the raft grew greater.

Menie screamed again and again. At the third scream he saw his father
straighten up, shade his eyes with his hand, and look out to sea.

"Oh," Menie thought. "What if he shouldn't see me!" He shouted louder
than ever! He waved his arms! He even pinched the tails of Nip and Tup
and made them bark. Then he saw his father wave his hand and dive into
the tunnel.

In another instant he was out again and pulling on his skin coat. Then
he took the kyak on his shoulders and ran with it to the beach. Monnie
and Koolee came running after him.

They were doing the screaming now! Every one in the village heard the
screams and came running down to the beach, too.

When Menie saw his father coming with the kyak, he wasn't afraid any
more, for he was sure his father would save him. He wasn't even afraid
about the cakes of ice that were floating in the water, though there is
nothing more dangerous than to go out in a kyak among ice floes. One
bump from a floating cake of ice is enough to upset any boat, and I
don't like to think of what might happen if a kyak should get between
two big cakes of ice.

Kesshoo ran with his kyak as far as he could on the ice. Then he got in
and fitted the bottom of his skin jacket over the kyak hole and
carefully slid himself into the open water.

Once in the water, how his paddle flew!

It seemed to Menie as if his father would never reach him! He sat very
still on the ice pan with the dead seal beside him, and Nip and Tup
huddled up against him.

At last Kesshoo came near enough so he could make Menie hear everything
he said. "Menie," he cried, "if you do exactly what I tell you to, I
can save you.

"I will throw you my harpoon. You must drive it way down into the ice.
Then by the harpoon line I will tow your ice pan back toward shore.
When we get to the big ice I will find a place for you to land.

"You must be ready, and when I give the word jump from your ice raft on
to the solid ice."

Then Kesshoo threw his harpoon, and Menie drove it into the ice with
all his might. Slowly Kesshoo drew the line taut, turned his kyak
round, and started for the shore. The journey out had been dangerous,
but the journey back was much more so, for Kesshoo could not dodge the
floating ice nearly so well. He had to pick his way carefully through
the clearest water he could find. Very cautiously they moved toward
shore.


V.

They were getting quite near the place where the ice had broken with
Menie, when suddenly, right near them, they saw the head and great,
round eyes of a seal! It was the seal mother.

She had come back to find her breathing hole and her baby.

The moment Kesshoo saw her he seized his dart, which lay in its place
on top of his kyak, and threw it with all his might at the seal.

The seal dived down into the sea, but a bladder full of air was
attached to the line on the dart, and this bladder floated on the
water, so Kesshoo could tell by watching it just where the seal was.

Kesshoo knew he had struck the seal, and although he was already towing
the ice raft, he was determined to bring home the big seal, too!

He called to Menie. "Sit still and wait until I come for you."

Then he quickly cut the harpoon line by which he was towing the ice
raft, and set it adrift again. As soon as he was free he paddled away
after the bladder, which was now bobbing along over the water at some
little distance from the boat.

Menie sat perfectly still and watched his father. Kesshoo reached the
bladder and began to pull on the line, but just at that moment the big
seal turned round and swam right under the kyak!

In a second the kyak turned bottom side up in the water! Menie
screamed. The people watching on the shore gave a great howl, and
Koko's father started up the beach after his own kyak.

He thought perhaps Kesshoo could not manage both the ice raft and the
seal, and he meant to go to help him.

But in one second Kesshoo was right side up again. No water could get
into the kyak because Kesshoo's skin coat was drawn tight over the hole
in the deck, and Kesshoo was in the coat!

Kesshoo often turned somersaults in the water in that way. Sometimes he
even did it for fun! He said afterward that he could have turned the
boat right side up again with just his nose, without using either his
paddle or his arms, if only his nose had been a little bigger, and
though he meant this for a joke, the twins believed that he really
could do it.

The moment he was right side up again, Kesshoo gave chase once more to
the bladder. The seal was very weak now, and Kesshoo knew that it would
soon come to the surface and float and that then he could tow it in.

He had not long to wait. The bladder bobbed about for a while and then
was still. Kesshoo drew up the line, and paddled back to the ice raft,
towing the big seal after him.

"Catch this," he said to Menie. He threw him the end of the line. "Wind
the line six times round the harpoon," he said, "and hold tight to the
end of it."

Menie did as he was told. Then Kesshoo tied together the two ends of
the harpoon line, which he had cut, and began to tow the ice raft back
to share again.

Menie kept tight hold of the other line and towed the seal!

Kesshoo paddled slowly and carefully along, until at last there was
only a little strip of water between the kyak and the solid ice.

But how in the world could Menie get across that strip of water to
safety?

The kyak was between him and the solid ice, and Menie could not
possibly get into the kyak. Neither could he swim. But Kesshoo knew a
way.

He came up closer to the solid ice. Then he gave a great sweep with his
paddle and lifted his kyak right up on to it. He sprang out, and,
seizing the harpoon line, pulled Menie's raft close up to the edge of
the firm ice.

Menie was still holding tight to the line that held the big seal.
Kesshoo threw him another line. Menie caught the end of it.

"Now tie the big seal's line fast to that," Kesshoo said. Menie was a
very small boy, but he knew how to tie knots. He did just what his
father told him to.

"Now," said his father, "pull up the harpoon." Menie did so. "Tie the
harpoon line to the little seal." Menie did that. "Now throw the
harpoon to me," commanded Kesshoo.

Menie threw it with all his might. His father caught it, and stood on
the firm ice, holding in his hands the line that the big seal was tied
to, and the harpoon, with its line fastened to the little seal.

"Now hold on to the little seal, and I will pull you right up against
the solid ice, and when I say 'Jump,' you jump," said Kesshoo.

Slowly and very, carefully he pulled, until the raft grated against the
solid ice.

"Jump!" shouted Kesshoo.

Menie jumped. The ice raft gave a lurch that nearly sent him into the
water, but Kesshoo caught him and pulled him to safety.

A great shout of joy went up from the shore, and Menie was glad enough
to shout too when he felt solid ice under his feet once more!

While he helped his father pull in the little seal, all the people came
running out on to the ice to meet them, but Kesshoo sent back every one
except Koko's father. He was afraid the ice might break again with so
many people on it. Koko's father helped pull the big seal out of the
water and over the ice to the beach.

Menie dragged his own little seal after him by the harpoon line, and
when he came near the beach, the people all cried out, "See the great
hunter with his game!" And Koolee was so glad to see Menie and so proud
of her boy that she nearly burst with joy!

"I knew the charm would work," she cried. "Not only does he spy
bears--he kills seals! And he only five years old!"

She put her arms around him and pressed her flat nose to his. That's
the Eskimo way of kissing.

Menie tried to look as if he killed seals and got carried away on an
ice pan every day in the week, but inside he felt very proud, too.

When Kesshoo and Koko's father came up with the big seal, Koolee and
the other women dragged it to the village, where it was skinned and cut
up. Every one had a piece of raw blubber to eat at once, and the very
first piece went to Menie.

While they were eating it, Koko came back. He had gone so far up the
shore hunting little auks that he hadn't seen a thing that had
happened. And he hadn't killed any little auks either.

Koko felt that things were very unequally divided in this world. He
wanted to kill a seal and get lost on a raft and be a hero too.

But Koolee gave him a large piece of blubber, and that made him feel
much more cheerful again. He just said to Monnie, "If I had been with
Menie, this never would have happened! I should not have let him get so
near the edge of the ice! But then, you know, I am six, and he is only
five, so, of course, he didn't know any better."

Everybody in the village had seal meat that night, and the Angakok had
the head, which they all thought was the best part. He said he didn't
feel very well, and his Tornak had told him nothing would cure him so
quickly as a seal's head. So Koolee gave it to him.

The skin of the little white seal Koolee saved and dressed very
carefully. She chewed it, all over, on the wrong side, and sucked out
all the blubber, and made it soft and fine as velvet; and when that was
done, she made out of it two beautiful pairs of white mittens for the
twins.




VIII.  THE WOMAN-BOATS

THE WOMAN-BOATS

I.


During the long, dark hours of the winter Kesshoo found many pleasant
things to do at home. He was always busy. He carved a doll for Monnie
out of the ivory tusk of a walrus.

Monnie named the doll Annadore, and she loved it dearly. Koolee dressed
Annadore in fur, with tiny kamiks of sealskin, and Monnie carried her
doll in her hood, just the way Koko's mother carried her baby.

For Menie, his father made dog harnesses out of walrus hide. He made
them just the right size for Nip and Tup.

Menie harnessed the little dogs to his sled. Then he and Monnie would
play sledge journeys. Annadore would sit on the sled all wrapped in
furs, while Menie drove the dogs, and Monnie followed after.

Nip and Tup did not like this play very well, and they didn't always go
where they were told to. Once they dashed right over the igloo and
spilled Annadore off.

Annadore rolled down one side of the igloo, while Nip and Tup galloped
down the other. Annadore was buried in the snow and had to be dug out,
so it was quite a serious accident, you see, but Nip and Tup did not
seem to feel at all responsible about it.

Kesshoo made knives and queer spoons out of bone or ivory for Koolee,
and for himself he made new barbs for his bladder-dart, new bone hooks
for fishlines, and all sorts of things for hunting.

He made salmon spears, and bird darts, and fishlines, and he ornamented
his weapons with little pictures or patterns. He carved two frogs on
the handle of his snow knife, and scratched the picture of a walrus on
the blade.

Sometimes Koolee carved things, too, but most of the time she was busy
making coats or kamiks, or chewing skins to make them soft and fine for
use in the igloo; or to cover the kyaks, or to make their summer tent.

Once during the winter the whole family went thirty miles up the coast
by moonlight to visit Koolee's brother in another village. They went
with the dog sledge, and it took them two days.

They had meat and blubber with them and plenty of warm skins, and when
they got tired, Kesshoo made a snow house for them to rest in. The
twins thought this was the best fun of all.


II.

When spring came on, there were other things to do. As the days grew
longer, the ice in the bay cracked and broke into small pieces and
floated away.

The water turned deep blue, and danced in the sunlight, and ice floated
about in it. Often there were walrus on these ice-pans.

The twins sometimes saw their huge black bodies on the white ice, and
heard their hoarse barks. Then all the men in the village would rush
for their kyaks and set out after the walrus.

The men were brave and enjoyed the dangerous sport, but the women used
to watch anxiously until they saw the kyaks coming home towing the
walrus behind them.

Then they would rush down to the shore, help pull the kyaks up on the
beach, where they cut the walrus in pieces and divided it among the
families of the hunters.

When the snow had melted on the Big Rock, hundreds of sea-birds made
their nests there and filled the air with their cries.

Sometimes Kesshoo went egg hunting on the cliff, and sometimes he set
traps there for foxes, and he helped Menie and Koko make a little trap
to catch hares. There was plenty to do in every season of the year.

At last the nights shortened to nothing at all. The long day had begun.
The stone but, which they had found so comfortable in winter, seemed
dark and damp now.

Menie and Monnie remembered the summer days when they did not have to
dive down through a hole to get into their house, so Menie said to
Monnie one day, "Let's go and ask father if it isn't time to put up the
tents."

They ran out to find him. He was down on the beach talking with Koko's
father and the other men of the village.

On the beach were two very long boats. The men were looking them over
carefully to see if they were water tight.

Koko was with the men. When he saw the twins coming, he tore up the
<DW72> to meet them, waving his arms and shouting, "They're getting out
the woman-boats! They're getting out the woman-boats!"

This was glorious news to the twins. They ran down to the beach with
Koko as fast as their legs could carry them.

They got there just in time to hear Koko's father say to Kesshoo, "I
think it's safe to start. The ice is pretty well out of the bay, and
the reindeer will be coming down to the fiords after fresh moss."

All the men listened to hear what Kesshoo would say, and the twins
listened, too, with all their ears.

"If it's clear, I think we could start after one more sleep," said
Kesshoo.


III.

The twins didn't wait to hear any more. They flew for home, and dashed
down the tunnel and up into the room.

Koolee was gathering all the knives and spoons and fishing-things and
sewing things, and dumping them into a large musk-ox hide which was
spread on the floor.

The musk-ox hide covered the entrance hole. The first thing Koolee knew
something thumped the musk-ox skin on the under side, and the knives
and thimbles and needle cases and other things flew in all directions.
Up through the hole popped the faces of Menie and Monnie!

"Oh, Mother," they shouted. "We're going off on the woman-boats! After
only one more sleep, if it's pleasant! Father said so!"

Koolee laughed. "I know it!" she said. "I was just packing. You can
help me. There's a lot to do to get ready."

The twins were delighted to help. They got together all their own
treasures--the sled, and the fishing rods, the dog harnesses, and
Annadore, and bound them up with walrus thongs. All but Annadore.
Annadore rode in Monnie's hood as usual.

Koolee gathered all her things together again and wrapped them in the
musk-ox hide. She took down the long narwhal tusks that the dog
harnesses were hung on.

These were the tent poles. She and the twins carried all these things
to the beach. The men stayed on the beach and packed the things away in
the boats. The other women brought down their bundles from their
igloos. There was room for everything in the two big boats.

Only the skins were left on the sleeping bench in the hut. When
everything else was ready, Koolee and the twins went up on top of the
igloo.

They pulled the moss and dirt out of the chinks between the stones that
made the roof, and then Koolee pulled up the stones themselves and let
them fall over to one side. This left the roof open to the sky.

"What makes you do that?" Menie asked.

"So the sun and rain can clean house for us," said Koolee.

Everybody else in the village got ready in the same way.

At last Kesshoo came up from the beach and said to Koolee, "Let us have
some meat and a sleep and then we will start. Everything is ready. The
boats are packed and it looks as if the weather would be clear."

Koolee brought out some walrus meat and blubber for supper, though it
might just as well be called breakfast, for there was no night coming,
and the twins ate theirs sitting on the roof of the igloo with their
feet hanging down inside.

Once Menie's feet kicked his father's head. It was an accident, but
Kesshoo reached up and took hold of Menie's foot and pulled him down on
to the sleeping bench and rolled him over among the skins.

"Crawl in there and go to sleep," he said.

Monnie let herself down through the roof by her hands and crept in
beside Menie. Then Kesshoo and Koolee wrapped themselves in the warm
skins and lay down, too.

It took Menie and Monnie some time to go to sleep, for they could look
straight up through the roof at the sky, and the sky was bright and
blue with little white clouds sailing over it. Besides, they were
thinking about the wonderful things that would happen when they should
wake up.




IX.  THE VOYAGE

THE VOYAGE

I.


When the twins awoke, the sun was shining as brightly as ever, and Nip
and Tup were barking at them through the hole in the roof.

Kesshoo and Koolee were gone!

Menie and Monnie were frightened. They were afraid they were left
behind. They sat up in bed and howled!

In a moment Koolee's face looked down at them through the roof.

"What's the matter?" she said.

"We thought we were left," wailed Monnie!

"As if I could leave you behind!" cried Koolee.

She laughed at them. "Hand up the skins to me," she said. She reached
her arm down the hole and pulled out all the skins from the bed as fast
as the twins gave them to her.

Then she put her head down into the opening and looked all around. "We
haven't left a thing," she said; "come along."

The twins couldn't climb out through the roof, though they wanted to,
so they went out by the tunnel, and helped their mother carry the skins
to the beach.

All the people in the village and all the dogs were there before them.
The great woman-boats were packed, the kyaks of the men waited beside
them in a row on the beach, with their noses in the water.

The dogs barked and raced up and down the beach, the babies crowed, and
the children shouted for joy. Even the grown people were gay. They
talked in loud tones and laughed and made jokes.


II.

At last Kesshoo shouted, "All ready! In you go!" He told each person
where to sit.

He put the Angakok in one boat to steer. He put Koko's father in the
other.

In Koko's father's boat he placed Koko and his mother and the baby,
Koolee and the twins, the pups, all three dogs, and four of the women
who lived in the other igloos. So you see it was quite a large boat.

In the Angakok's boat he placed his two wives, and all the rest of the
women and children and dogs. The women took up the paddles. One end of
the boat was partly in the water when they got in. The men gently
pushed it farther out until it floated.

Then the men got into their kyaks at the water's edge, fastened their
skin coats over the rims, and paddled out into deep water.

At last, when all the boats, big and little, were afloat, Kesshoo
called out, "We are going north. Follow me."

The women obeyed the signal of Koko's father and the Angakok. The
paddles dipped together into the water. The great boats moved! They
were off!

The children all sat together in the bottom of the boat, but the twins
and Koko were big enough to see over the sides. While the babies played
with the dogs, they were busy watching the things that passed on the
shores. Soon they passed the Big Rock with little auks and puffins
flying about it. They could see the red feet of the puffins, and a blue
fox sitting on the top of the rock, waiting for a chance to catch a
bird.

Then the Big Rock hid the village from sight.


III.

Beyond the Big Rock the country was all new to the twins and Koko. They
looked into narrow bays and inlets as the boat moved along, and saw
green moss carpeting the sunny <DW72>s in sheltered places.

They could even see bright flowers growing in the warm spots which
faced the sun. The sky was blue overhead. The water was blue below.

Beyond the green <DW72>s they could see the bare hillsides crowned with
the white ice cap which never melts, and streams of water dashing down
the hillsides and pouring themselves into the waters of the bay.

When they had gone a good many miles up the coast, Kesshoo waved his
hand and pointed to a strange sight on the shore.

There was a great river of ice! They could see where it came out of a
hollow place between two hills. It looked just like a river, only it
was frozen solid, and the end of it, where it came into the sea, was
broken off like a great wall of ice, and there were cakes of ice
floating about in the water.

Suddenly there was a cracking sound. Menie had heard that sound before.
It was the same sound that he had heard when he went seal-hole hunting
and got carried away on the ice raft. Menie didn't like the sound
anymore. It scared him!

Right after the cracking noise Kesshoo's voice shouted, "Row farther
out! Follow me!"

He turned his kyak straight out to sea. All the other boats followed.

They had gone only about half a mile when suddenly there was a loud
crick-crick-CRACK as if a piece of the world had broken off, and then
there was a splash that could be heard for miles, if there had been any
one to hear it.

The end of the glacier, or ice river, had broken off and fallen down
into the water! It had made an iceberg!

The splash was so great that in a moment the waves it made reached the
boats. The boats rocked up and down on the water and bounced about like
corks.

The twins and Koko thought this was great fun, but the Angakok didn't
like it a bit. One wave splashed over him, and some of the water went
down his neck.

All the grown people knew that if they hadn't rowed quickly away from
shore when Kesshoo called they might have been upset and drowned.


IV.

When the waves made by the iceberg had calmed down again, Kesshoo
paddled round among the boats.

He said, "I think we'd better land about a mile above here. There's a
stream there, and perhaps we can get some salmon for our dinner."

He led the way in his kyak, and all the other boats followed. They kept
out of the path of the iceberg, which had already floated some distance
from the shore, and it was not long before they came to a little inlet.

Kesshoo paddled into it and up to the very end of it, where a beautiful
stream of clear water came dashing down over the rocks into the sea.

The hills sloped suddenly down to the shore. The sun shone brightly on
the green <DW72>s, and the high cliffs behind shut off the cold north
winds. It was a little piece of summer set right down in the valley.

"Oh, how beautiful!" everybody cried.

The boats were soon drawn up on the beach, the women and children
tumbled out, and then began preparations for dinner.

The women got out their cooking pots, and Koolee set to work to make a
fireplace out of three stones.

They had blubber and moss with them, but how could they get a fire?
They had no matches. They had never even heard of a match.

The Angakok sat down on the beach. He had some little pieces of dry
driftwood and some dried moss.

He held one end of a piece of driftwood in a sort of handle which he
pressed against his lips. The other end was in a hollow spot in another
piece of wood.

The Angakok rolled one driftwood stick round and round in the hollow
spot of the other. He did this by means of a bow which he pulled from
one side to the other. This made the stick whirl first one way, then
back again. Soon a little smoke came curling up round the stick.

Koolee dropped some dried moss on the smoking spot. Suddenly there was
a little blaze!

She fed the little flame with more moss, and then lighted the moss on
the stones of the fireplace. She put a soapstone kettle filled with
water over the fire, and soon the kettle was boiling.

While all this was going on down on the beach, the men took their
salmon spears and went up the river, and Koko and the twins went with
them.

The wives of the Angakok went to find moss to feed the fire. They
brought back great armfuls of it, and put it beside the fireplace.

Koolee was the cook. She stayed on the beach and looked after the
babies and the dogs, and the fire. Everything was ready for dinner,
except the food!

Meanwhile the men had found a good place where there were big stones in
the river. They stood on these stones with their spears in their hands.
There were hundreds of salmon in the little stream. The salmon were
going up to the little lake from which the river flowed.

When the fish leaped in the water, the men struck at them with their
fish spears. There were so many fish, and the men were so skillful that
they soon had plenty for dinner.

They strung them all on a walrus line and went back to the beach.
Koolee popped as many as she could into her pot to cook, but the men
were so hungry they ate theirs raw, and the twins and Koko had as many
fishes' eyes to eat as they wanted, for once in their lives.

When everybody had eaten as much as he could possibly hold, the babies
were rolled up in furs in the sand and went to sleep. The Angakok lay
down on the sand in the sunshine with his hands over his stomach and
was soon asleep, too.

The men sat in a little group near by, and Menie and Koko lay on their
stomachs beside Kesshoo.

The women had gone a little farther up the beach. The air was still,
except for the rippling sound of the water, the distant chatter of the
women, the snores of the Angakok, and the buzzing of mosquitoes!

For quite a long time everybody rested. Menie and Koko didn't go to
sleep. They were having too much fun. They played with shells and
pebbles and watched the mosquitoes buzzing over the Angakok's face.
There were a great many mosquitoes, and they seemed to like the
Angakok. At last one settled on his nose, and bit and bit. Menie and
Koko wanted to slap it, but, of course, they didn't dare. They just had
to let it bite!

All of a sudden the Angakok woke up and slapped it himself. He slapped
it harder than he intended to. He looked very much surprised and quite
offended about it. He sat up and looked round for his wives, as if he
thought perhaps they had something to do with it. But they were at the
other end of the beach. The Angakok yawned and rubbed his nose, which
was a good deal swollen.

Just then Kesshoo spoke, "I think we shall look a long time before we
find a better spot than this to camp," he said. "Here are plenty of
salmon. We can catch all we need to dry for winter use, right here.
There must be deer farther up the fiord. What do you say to setting up
the tents right here?"

When Kesshoo said anything, the others were pretty sure to agree,
because Kesshoo was such a brave and skillful man that they trusted his
judgment.

All the men said, "Yes, let us stay."

Then the Angakok said, "Yes, my children, let us stay! While you
thought I was asleep here on the sand I was really in a trance. I
thought it best to ask my Tornak about this spot, and whether we should
be threatened here by any hidden danger. My Tornak says to stay!"

This settled the matter.

"Tell the women," said Kesshoo. Koko's father went over to the place
where the women and children were.

"Get out the tent poles," he called to them. "Here's where we stay."


V.

The women jumped up and ran to the woman-boats. They got out the long
narwhal tusks, and the skins, and set them down on the beach.

"Come with me," Koolee called to the twins. She gave them each a long
tent pole to carry. She herself carried the longest pole of all, and a
pile of skins.

Koolee led the way up the green <DW72> to a level spot overlooking the
stream and the bay. It was beside some high rocks, and there were
smaller stones all about.

There was a flat stone that she used for the sleeping bench. When the
poles were set up and securely fastened, she got the tent skins and
covered the poles.

She put on one layer of skin with the hair inside and over that another
covering of skin with the fur side out. She sewed the skins together
over the entrance with leather thongs and left a flap for a door.

Then she placed stones around the edge of the tent covering to keep the
wind from blowing it away. She piled the bed skins on the rock, and
their summer house was ready.

The twins brought the musk-ox hides, with all their treasures in them,
and the cooking pots and knives and household things from the beach,
while Koolee made the fireplace in the tent.

She made the fireplace by driving four sticks into the ground and
lashing them together to make a framework.

She hung the cooking kettle by straps from the four corners. Under the
kettle on a flat stone she placed the lamp. Then the stove was ready.

"We shall cook out of doors most of the time," she said to the twins,
"but in rainy weather we shall need the lamp."

It was only a little while before there was a whole new village ready
to live in, with plenty of fish and good fresh water right at hand.


VI.

Menie and Monnie were happy in their new home. They climbed about on
the rock and found a beautiful cave to play in. They gathered flowers
and shells and  stones and brought them to their mother.

Then later they went for more fish with the men, and Kesshoo let them
stand on the stones and try to spear the fish just the way the men did.

Menie caught one, and Koko caught one, but Monnie had no luck at all.
"Anyway, I caught a codfish once," Monnie said, to comfort herself.

In two hours everything was as settled about the camp as if they had
lived there a week, and every one was hungry again. Hungriness and
sleepiness came just as regularly as if they had had nights and clocks
both, to measure time by.

When the food was ready, Kesshoo called "Ujo, ujo," which meant "boiled
meat," and everybody came running to the beach.

The men sat in one circle, the women and children in another. Pots of
boiled fish were set in the middle of the circles, and they all dipped
in with their fingers and took what they wanted.

When everybody had eaten, the children played on the beach. They
skipped stones and danced and played ball, and their mothers played
with them.

The men had their fun, too. They sat in their circle, told stories, and
played games which weren't children's games, and the Angakok sang a
song, beating time on a little drum. All the men sang the chorus.

By and by, Koolee saw Monnie's head nodding. So she said to the twins,
"Come, children, let's go up to the tent."

She took their hands and led them up the <DW72>.

"We're not sleepy," the twins declared.

"I am," said Koolee, "and I want you with me."

They went into the tent, which was not so light as it was out of doors
in the bright sunlight. Then they undressed, crawled in among the
deerskins, and were soon sound asleep, all three of them. After a while
Kesshoo came up from the beach and went to sleep too.




X.  THE SUMMER DAY

THE SUMMER DAY

I.


The summer days flew by, only one really shouldn't say days at all, but
summer day. For three whole bright months it was just one daylight
picnic all the time!

The people ate when they were hungry and slept when they were sleepy.
The men caught hundreds of salmon, and the women split them open and
dried them on the rocks for winter use. The children played all day
long.

The men hunted deer and musk-ox and bears up in the hills and brought
them back to camp. They hunted game both by land and by sea. There was
so much to eat that everybody grew fatter, and as for the Angakok, he
got so very fat that Koko said to Menie, "I don't believe we can ever
get the Angakok home in the woman-boat! He's so heavy he'll sink it! I
think it would be a good plan to tie a string to him and tow him back
like a walrus!"

"Yes," said Menie. "Maybe he would shrink some if we soaked him well.
Don't you know how water shrinks the walrus hide cords that we tie
around things when we want them to hold tight together?"

It was lucky for Menie and Koko that nobody heard them say that about
the Angakok. It would have been thought very disrespectful.

When the game grew scarce, or they got tired of camping in one spot
everything was piled into their boats again, and away they went up the
coast until they found another place they liked better. Then they would
set up their tents again.

Sometimes they came to other camps and had a good time meeting new
people and making new friends.

At last, late in August, the sun slipped down below the edge of the
World again. It stayed just long enough to fill the sky with wonderful
red and gold sunset clouds, then it came up again. The next night there
was a little time between the sunset sky and the lovely colors of the
sunrise.

The next night was longer still. Each day grew colder and colder. Still
the people lingered in their tents. They did not like to think the
pleasant summer was over, and the long night near.

But at last Kesshoo said, "I think it is time to go back to winter
quarters. The nights are fast growing longer. The snow may be upon us
any day now. I don't know of a better place to settle than the village
where we spent last winter. The igloos are all built there ready to use
again. What do you say? Shall we go back there?"

"Yes, let us go back," they all said.


II.

The very next day they started. The boats were heavily loaded with
dried fish, there were great piles of new skins heaped in the
woman-boats, and every kyak towed a seal.

For days they traveled along the coast, stopping only for rest and
food. The twins and Koko sat in the bottom of the boat with the dogs,
and listened to the regular dip of the paddles, to the cries of the
sea-birds as they flew away toward the south, and to the chatter of the
women. These were almost the only sounds they heard, for the silence of
the Great White World was all about them. They talked together in low
voices and planned all the things they would do when the long night was
really upon them once more.

When at last they came in sight of the Big Rock, they felt as if they
had reached home after a very long journey.

Koko stood up in the boat and pointed to it. "See," he cried, "there's
the Big Rock where we found the bear!"

"Yes," Monnie said, "and where we slid downhill."

"And I see where I got caught on the ice raft," Menie shouted.

"Sit down," said Koko's mother. "You'll tip the boat and spill us all
into the water."

Koko sat down; the boat glided along through the water, nearer and
nearer, until at last they came round the Big Rock, and there, just as
if they had not been away at all, lay the whole village of five igloos,
looking as if it had gone to sleep in the sunshine.

The big boats waited until the men had all paddled to the shore and
beached their kyaks, then they were drawn carefully up on to the sand,
and every one got out. The beach at once became a very busy place. The
men pulled the walruses and seals out of the water and took care of the
boats, while the women set up the tents, cut the meat into big pieces
for storage, and carried all their belongings to the tents.

Although the village looked just the same, other things looked quite
different. Nip and Tup were big dogs by this time. They ran away up the
beach with Tooky and the other dogs the moment they were out of the
boats. They did not stay with the twins all the time now, as they used
to do. The twins were much bigger, too. Koolee looked at them as they
helped her carry the tent-skins up from the beach, and said to them,
"My goodness, I must make my needles fly! Winter is upon us and your
clothes are getting too small for you! You must have new things right
away." The twins thought this was a very good idea. They liked new
clothes as well as any one in the world.

Koolee set up the tent beside their old igloo, and there they lived
while the men of the village went out every day in their kyaks for seal
and walrus, or back into the hills after other game to store away for
food during the long winter. The women scraped and cured the skins and
cut up the meat and packed it away as fast as the men could kill the
game and bring it home.

Each day it grew colder, and each night was longer than the last, until
one short September day there came a great snow storm! It snowed all
day long, and that night the wind blew so hard that Koolee and the
twins nearly froze even among the fur covers of their bed, and when
morning came they found themselves nearly buried under a great drift.

That very day Koolee put the stones over the roof of the igloo once
more, and the twins helped her fill in the chinks with moss and earth,
and cover it with a heavy layer of snow, patted down with the snow
shovel, until everything was snug and tight again.

Then they moved in. By the next day all the igloos in the village were
in use, and when night came their windows shone with the light of the
lamps, just as they had so many months before.

Nip and Tup slept outside with Tooky now, in a snow house which Kesshoo
had built for them. Menie and Monnie missed them, but Koolee said, "You
are getting so big now you must begin to do something besides play with
puppies. Monnie must learn to sew, and Menie must help Father with
feeding the dogs and looking after their harnesses, and driving the
sledge."

"Maybe Father will teach you both to carve fine things out of ivory
this winter! Monnie will soon need her own thimble and needles. They
must be made. And she can help me clean the skins and suck out the
blubber, and prepare them for being made into clothes!"

"Dear me! what a lot there is to do to keep clothes on our backs and
food in our mouths! The Giants are always waiting before the igloo and
we must work very hard to keep them outside!"

She did not mean real giants. She meant that Hunger and Want are always
waiting to seize the Eskimo who does not work all the time to supply
food for himself and his family. She meant that Menie must learn to be
a brave strong hunter, afraid of nothing on sea or land, and that
Monnie must learn to do a woman's work well, or else the time would
come when they would be without food or shelter or clothing, and the
fierce cold would soon make an end of them.

It was lucky they got into the warm igloo just when they did, for the
winter had come to stay. The bay froze over far out from shore, and the
white snow covered the igloos so completely that if it had not been for
the windows, and for people moving about out of doors, no one could
have told that there was any village there.

The Last Day of all was so short that Menie and Monnie and Koko saw the
whole of it from the top of the Big Rock! They had gone up there in the
gray twilight that comes before the sunrise to build a snow house to
play in. They had been there only a little while when the sky grew all
rosy just over the Edge of the World. The color grew stronger and
stronger until the little stars were all drowned in it and then up came
the great round red face of the sun itself! The children watched it as
it peered over the horizon, threw long blue shadows behind them across
the snow, and then sank slowly, slowly down again, leaving only the
flaming colors in the sky to mark the place where it had been. They
waved their hands as it slipped out of sight. "Good bye, old Sun," they
shouted, "and good bye, Shadow, too! We shall be glad to see you both
when you come back again."

Then, because the wind blew very cold and they could see a snow cloud
coming toward them from the Great White World where the Giants lived,
the children ran together down the snowy <DW72> toward the bright
windows of their homes.


THE END




SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS

To arouse the children's interest and thus to make the reading of this
story most valuable as a school exercise, it is suggested that at the
outset the children be allowed to look at the pictures in the book in
order to get acquainted with "Menie" and "Monnie" and with the scenes
illustrating their home life and surroundings.

During the reading, point out the North Pole, Greenland, etc., on a map
of the world or on a globe, and tell the children something about the
many years of effort before Peary succeeded in reaching his goal; also
about the work of subsequent explorers in this part of the world, and
around the South Pole as well. Thus this supplementary reading material
may be connected with the work in geography.

The text is so simply written that the second grade child can read it
without much or any preparation. It may be well to have the children
read it first in a study period in order to work out the pronunciation
of the more difficult words. But many classes will be able to read it
at sight, without the preparatory study. The possibilities in the story
for dramatization and for language and constructive work will be
immediately apparent.

In connection with the reading of the book, teachers should tell to the
children stories describing Eskimo life, and the experiences of
explorers and pioneers in the North. Grenfell's Adrift on an Ice-Pan is
suitable, for example. Holbrook's Northland Heroes and Schultz's
Sinopah, the Indian Boy, while not belonging to the land of the
Eskimos, contain stories of allied interest. Let the children bring to
class pictures of scenes in the North, clipped from magazines and
newspapers.

The unique illustrations in The Eskimo Twins should be much used, both
in the reading of the story and in other ways. Children will enjoy
sketching some of them; their simple treatment makes them especially
useful for this purpose.

The book is printed on paper which will take watercolor well, and where
the books are individually owned some of the sketches could be used for
coloring in flat washes. They also afford suggestions for action
sketching by the children.

An excellent oral language exercise would be for the children, after
they have read the story, to take turns telling the story from the
illustrations; and a good composition exercise would be for each child
to select the illustration that he would like to write upon, make a
sketch of it, and write the story in his own words.

These are only a few of the many ways that will occur to resourceful
teachers for making the book a valuable as well as an enjoyable
exercise in reading.









End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Eskimo Twins, by Lucy Fitch Perkins

*** 