“Shame on me, shame on me! Now I am truly ashamed of myself. Because I am so ashamed of myself, I will pack that great mountain across the tundra.” So he journeyed to the mountain, and at last he got there.
First he dug all around with his little claws, then he lifted one grain of sand and packed it over the tundra. Back and forth he went for many weary days, carrying a grain of sand at a time, until he had carried the whole mountain across.
“Now,” said the little mouse, no longer proud, “I know that no one can be great unless he is willing to work hard and patiently.”
So that is the way the mountain got there, far out over the tundra, and the little mouse was rewarded at last for his perseverance.
Long, long ago, when the world was new, there was no daylight in Alaska. It was dark all the time, and the people in Alaska were living in the dark, just doing the best they could. They used to quarrel about whether it was day or night. Half of the people slept while the other half worked; in fact, no one really knew when it was time to go to bed, or if in bed when to get up, because it was dark all of the time.
In one village lived a crow. The people liked this crow because they thought him very wise; in fact he told them so himself; so they let him live in their kasga.
The crow used to talk a lot too, and tell of all the wonderful things he had seen and done, when he had spread his wings and flown away on his long journeys to distant lands.
The people of Alaska had no light but the flame of their seal-oil lamps.
One evening the crow seemed very sad and did not speak at all. The people wondered what was the matter, and felt sad too because they missed their lively crow, so they asked him: “Crow, what makes you so sad?”
“I am sorry for the people of Alaska,” said the crow, “because they have no daylight.”
“What is daylight?” said they. “What is it like? We have never heard of daylight.”
“Well,” said the crow, “if you had daylight in Alaska you could go everywhere and see everything, even animals from far away.”
This seemed very wonderful to them all, and they asked the crow if he would try to get them that “daylight.”
At first the crow refused all their entreaties. “I know where it is,” said he, “but it would be too hard for me to get it here.”