Photograph by B. B. Dobbs
Reindeer on the Tundra
“Raven taught them how to build houses of driftwood and bushes, covered with earth”
Thus Raven began to create the animals.
Raven said one day to Man, “You are lonely by yourself. I will make you a companion.” He went to some white clay at a spot distant from the clay of which he had made animals, and made of the clay a figure almost like Man. Raven kept looking at Man while he shaped the figure. Then he took fine water grass from the creek and fastened it on the back of the head for hair. When the clay was shaped, Raven drew down his beak-mask and waved his wings over it. The clay became a beautiful girl. The girl was white and fair because Raven let the clay dry entirely before he waved his wings over it.
Raven took the girl to Man. “There is a companion for you,” he said.
Now in the days of the first people on the earth plain, there were no mountains far or near. No rain ever fell and there were no winds. The sun shone always very brightly.
Then Raven showed the first people on the earth plain how to sleep warmly in the dry moss when they were tired. Raven himself drew down his beak-mask and went to sleep like a bird.