The Raven Steals the Sun

The common raven is larger than his cousin the crow, he also has a heavier beak, a shaggy throat and a wedge-shaped tail.

Inuit, meaning person, is a general term for a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Alaska, Canada and Greenland.

The raven appears in many Inuit legends. One legend describes an argument between the raven and a fox. When the earth was young and light had only just been created, the fox and raven argued over the situation. The raven, who sees better in the daylight wanted sunshine all the time. The fox, one the other hand, preferred to hunt at dusk and wished for the light to go away. A compromise was reached and the time was divided into dark and light periods.

When the missionaries arrived bringing Christianity to the native peoples the legends and myths faded but are still told as part of their history.

The Raven Steals the Sun

A long time ago the Raven looked down from the sky and saw the people of the world were living in darkness, he was most distressed by this and wished to correct the situation. He knew that the Ball of Light was in the possession of a selfish old chief.

One day the chief's daughter came to the river for water. When the Raven saw this he turned himself into a spruce needle and fell into the river. The chief's daughter drank the spruce needle in the water.

She became pregnant and gave birth to a son, which was the Raven in disguise. If there had been light the mother would have seen her child had the raven's beak.

The chief and his daughter were very happy to have the small child in the house and played with him all the time. The chief, being a happy grandfather, spoiled the boy and gave him gifts.

There was a bladder which had been blown up and hung on one wall. The Raven knew the Ball of Light was inside the bladder.

One day the baby cried and pointed to the bladder. The chief gave the boy the bladder to play with so he would not cry. As soon as the Raven had the bladder he turned back into himself and carried bag up as high as he could fly and threw the Ball of Light into the sky .

From that time on, we no longer live in total darkness.