Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/30

 2 2 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

and moon myth in Greenland : Rink, " Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo," p. 236.)

At any rate, it is clear that the animal personage of the Eskimo beast fable, who contents himself with bandying repartee with one of his brethren, is a very different character from the American In- dian's coyote, or raven, or hare, who makes, or liberates, or visits the sun, or re-creates the world. At bottom, originally, they may have been alike ; they still have a distinct point of resemblance in their common semi-human, semi-animal qualities. But on the whole there is a constant and marked difference between Eskimo and Indian tales and myths, not only in the frequency of occurrence, but in the treatment and nature, of their animal element.

[I subjoin a list of Eskimo animal tales, which is, I believe, complete. The occurrence of the tales is indicated by the signs used by Rink to designate the various divisions of the Eskimo: G = Greenland; Ge=East Greenland; C= Central Regions; L= Labrador; M = Mackenzie delta; W = Western. To these I have added H for Hudson Bay and S for Smith Sound. The tales from the Central Regions and Smith Sound not followed by a reference are unpub- lished. The books referred to are : Rink, Eskimoiske Eventyr og Sagn ; Rink, Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo (designated as Rink) ; Holm, Sagn og For- taellinger fra A?igmagsalikj Boas, The Central Eskimo, Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology ; Turner, The Hudson Bay Eskimo, Eleventh An- nual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology j Journal of American Folk-Lore, ii. (Boas and Rink), vii., ix. (Boas); J. Murdoch in American A r aturalist, 1886.]

I. Animal Tales Proper.

The Duck and the Ptarmigan. Ge : Holm, p. 83.

The Owl and the Raven. C: Boas, p. 641 ; Folk-Lore, vii. p. 49; S.

The Snowbird and the Raven. S.

The Raven and the Geese. G : Eventyr og Sagn, i. p. 88 ; S.

The Walrus and the Swordfish. S.

The Owl and the Snowbird. C : Folk-Lore, x. p. no.

The Owl and the Lemming. C : Folk-Lore, x. p. 1 11.

The Lemming and the Fox. C : Folk-Lore, ii. p. 129.

The Lemming and the Fox. C, L : Folk-Lore, x. p. in.

The Lemming. C, L: Folk-Lore, x. p. 112.

The Raven's Song. C : Folk-Lore, vii. p. 48.

The Singing Fox. C: Folk-Lore, x. p. no.

The Raven with the Bone. S.

The Dying Raven. C.

The Talking Bird. G : Eventyr og Sagn, ii. p. 118.

The Visiting Animals. G: Rink, p. 450.

The Revenging Animals. G: Rink, p. 456.

The Raven and the Gull. C: Folk-Lore, ii. p. 128; S ; G : Rink, p. 451.

The Talking Fishes. G : Eventyr og Sagn, ii. p. 119.

II. Tales containing a Human-Animal Marriage.

A Tale about Two Girls. G : Rink, p. 126; S ; L: H. I. Smith, Folk-Lore, vii. p. 210.

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