Читать книгу Animal Stories from Eskimo Land. Adapted from the Original Eskimo Stories Collected by Dr. Daniel S. Neuman онлайн

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Ivango, however, had not time to think about it. He must act quickly, or the ducks soon would be out of sight and then they would have no one to show them the way to their sister. So when the cliffs parted again, Ivango wielded his mighty paddle and the little boat shot into the foaming pass. It seemed as though they must be drawn down into the whirling waters and be drowned, but Ivango gathered his strength into one mighty effort just as the towering walls started to come together, and when they met with a deafening roar, Ivango and his little boat were safe in the quiet waters beyond.

At last they had reached their journey’s end and passed safely through the great danger. How happy and thankful they were to leave the menacing rocks behind!

They landed near a sandy cliff and walked carefully behind one another so as to make only one track in the sand with their mukluks. Their mukluks are their seal boots. Then they dug a hole in the ground, put the boat in it and hid.

The next day while Ivango was peeping out of the hole, he saw a man walking toward the cliff from the opposite direction from which they had come. When he reached the footprints on the sand, which looked as though only one person had walked up from the beach, he stopped and examined them carefully for a long time, then, jumping over, so as not to step on them, he went his way. After a while the man came back. This time he did not stop, but jumped over the footprints and went on. On his back he was carrying a lot of birds.

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