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The Flight of the
Geese
Once upon a time, there were some
families of geese going back to their home in the south. And
they were held back by a storm in Alaska. They talked among
themselves, in Eskimo, of course. And the longer the storm
lasted, the more worried they became. Every morning the
geese boys were sent out to see what the weather looked
like. It stayed cloudy and windy for days. The geese were in
fear of being caught by the winter and of having to stay
over a year. They didn't like that a bit. They wanted to go
south and spend the winter. (They were lucky; I have to stay
here and live in harsh weather through eight months of the
year!)
The geese had two strangers with them,
the raven and the snow bunting. Now the raven, in our way of
speaking, is the symbol for loudmouthed and careless people.
The raven was there because he
wanted to marry one of the geese girls.
When it kept blowing, the geese
families asked the two strangers to see if they knew of any
way to clear the weather. In those days, there were many
supernatural ways. They even had a prayer that made the
storms calm down.
So, in answer to the question, the
talkative raven offered right away to go and clear the
weather. Then, in the storm and blizzards, Raven got out of
the igloo of the geese. He tried hard
and fought to climb up with his wings flopping against the
blizzards. But the wind was so strong that he had to give up
and go back inside.
In the igloo the geese asked eagerly
how it was out there. In answer, the raven said that at
least he could see the dump at the edge of the settlement.
So the geese boys were sent out to look. They came in sadly,
very sadly. When asked, they answered that it was the worst
wind they had ever seen.
The next day it was still blowing and
the geese were getting more anxious because the ice soon
would be arriving. So they earnestly asked the little
bunting if he could do anything to make the weather calm
down. And the little bird listened and said that he would
try.
The little snow bunting went out. He
managed to stretch his little wings out and strove against
the ninety-mile an hour winds. Up, up he went, higher and
higher, sending out his little voice in tune, "Bei-ah-ah,
bei-ah-ah, bei-ah-ah, bei-ah-ah." Every attempt sent him a
little higher until he got over the heavy storm and was up
in the sky where the sun was shining bright and it was calm.
And how dark it looked down below with the heavy
storm!
There he was, victoriously gliding
around over the clouds. Then, in his pleading words to the
Maker of All, he stretched out his little wings and started
going down, sending out his little voice in tune, "Bei-ah-ah, bei-ah-ah, bei-ah-ah, bei-ah-ah." He just went
driving the dark heavy clouds down. Down, down the clouds
went, with the snow bunting pushing them. As he flew lower
and lower with his little wings stretched wide, he kept
singing, "Bei-ah-ah, bei-ah-ah." He did this until he was
down to the ground, and the heavy clouds disappeared and the
weather got calm. As soon as it calmed down, the families of
geese noticed it and were eagerly waiting for the snow
bunting to come in."
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As soon as he entered the igloo, they
asked very eagerly about the weather, ìHow is it? How
is it?"
The snow bunting just nodded his head
and told them that it was better. Excitedly, the young geese
ran out to see what it looked like. And excitedly, the young
geese ran back, telling how calm it was out. So once more,
the families packed and got all ready to leave in the
morning.
Early the next morning the geese
started on their journey to the south for the winter.
Everyone was eager to take the little snow bunting along,
but they kept giving warnings to the raven. They told him
that the flight would be long and that he should stay where
he was and do things there.
But the raven wanted to go along. The
geese kept giving him warnings, telling him that they were
going high and that it was going to be a long, long flight,
and he might be sleepy. But the raven kept saying that it
was going to be all right and that he didn't sleep. He said
that the ravens don't sleep at all.
So when everyone was ready, they took
their journey. They followed their leader up in the air.
Toward the south they went. On the way, the geese put the
little snow bunting on their backs and their feathers held
him while traveling. But the raven was too big for them to
carry. As the raven got tired, he was slower and slower. The
geese urged him to go back. They asked him many times along
the way. But he wouldn't go back Pretty soon he was dropping
down, flying lower as he got tired. The young geese boys
would try to keep him up by getting under him when he fell
in his dozes.
The elderly geese warned the young men
not to waste their time and strength, saying that they had a
long way to go. So at last, down went the raven when he was
asleep. And he died in the sea where he landed, because
ravens don't float.
But the snow bunting lived with the
geese families down south. The story goes that he married
one of their girls and may have lived happily forever
after.
Grace Slwooko
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Marshall
Cultural Atlas