NORTHERN LIGHTS

 

The Legend of the Arctic Hares

And why they Change Colour in Winter Time

 

      Along time ago in the Arctic forest lived a rabbit. She was a little brown rabbit. She was born when the sky was blue, green, pink, purple and orange.

 

      The little rabbit liked the colours of the sky so much she wanted to be those colours. The rabbit tried and tried, but she just couldn't change herself into these colours.

     It was getting close to winter, the little rabbit needed food. Mama rabbit told her daughter . " Now go get food!"

 

As the little rabbit left she asked her Mom " Is it safe out there ?"

" Yes " answered Mom .

      When the little rabbit came back home it was raining. For 5 days it rained none stop. On the 6th day the rain stopped . A beautiful shinning rainbow appeared in the sky.

      The little rabbit looked at all the beautiful colours in the sky and wished he could be all those colours. The little rabbit was very upset that he would never be able to change colours.

       Just then snowflakes fell on her back. She tried to shake them off but just couldn't. She noticed she was now white. The little rabbit felt very excited because she was no longer brown and was a beautiful white . Still she was a little disappointed because she wasn't the colours of the rainbow. Mostly she was proud of her white coat.

 

      Today if see an Arctic hare you'll remember that it turns white in the winter because the snow flakes stuck to his back. Now all Arctic hares turn white in the winter.                                             by Alyssa M.

How the Arctic Duck got its Sharp Beak

        One golden summer day a mother duck hatched her eggs. Out came two baby ducklings. Then out came the cutest baby duckling.

When the baby duck was five he made two more friends. They were Whale and Seal.

      One damp and sunny day Taky's mom tried to teach him how to fly .

Every day Talky, Whale and Seal played on the silver icebergs and in the golden ponds.

       One night Talky made a new friend. His name was Pablo the penguin. One Christmas Eve Talky and Pablo ate dinner. Then Talky got a weird feeling on his bright beak. As the night went on Talky and Pablo watched the dancing lights. Then Seal came and told Talky that all the ducks beaks have gone weird. "Even yours," he said to Talky.

 

"Mine's gone bad too?" asked Talky.

 

"Yes, and it's pointy too," answered Seal.

 

"Also, it's not yellow. It's red with a bit of orange," said Pablo.

 

      Then they went to see Whale. By then all ducks had normal beaks. All except for Talky. The other ducks hadn't eaten very much of the magic fish because they didn't like the taste. But Talky had eaten a lot because he liked it. Talky told the other ducks that he eaten a magic fish that made him have a tiny sharp beak.

      Later, he met another duck. They had three babies and they all had tiny sharp beaks. Then another duck with a curved beak had babies that had tiny and sharp beaks. All of the ducks ate magic fish and all the ducks had sharp beaks and thank God because some ducks had really big beaks before and now they have tiny sharp beaks.

THE END

Flora and Fauna

The richest plant growth is found in the sub-arctic belt, which includes only the very southernmost part of Greenland and the inner fjords. The greater part of Greenland, however, has diverse mountain vegetation, reminiscent of northern Scandinavia. In the driest inland areas, the vegetation is similar to that found in the mountainous regions of central North America.

Among the many different types of whale in the waters of Greenland are the fin whales, blue whales, humpbacks, narwhal, white whales, lesser rorquals, sperm whales and pilot whales. On a whale watching trip, it isn't unusual to see two different species, and meeting a humpback with a tail up to 5 meters wide is an experience to be remembered.

REINDEER LAND



These few short legends and many many more fantastic facts about Alaska can be found at
http://www.alaskafilmstudios.com/alleandmyst.html

Alaskan Legends and Mythical Stories

The Raven, incarnated as a young man, had paddled his canoe across a great body of water to ask a woman to marry him. She refused to be his wife, so he made her sink into the mud and disappear; and then he began paddling back home. The woman's mother kept two brown bears, and in her anger she told them to drown the young man. They dug furiously at the lake's edge, making huge waves everywhere on the water. But Raven calmed a narrow path before him and paddled on.

Eventually he became exhausted, so he threw a harpoon that struck the crest of a wave. At that moment he fainted from the intensity of his concentration, and when he awoke a forested land had replaced the water.

He saw that the first wave his harpoon had struck had become a small mountain. Then it had glanced off, eventually striking a huge wave that solidified into another mountain - the one now called Deenaalee, or Mount McKinley.

---Julius Jette' Riddles of the Ten'a Indians

Some tribes also believed that if the man wanted to, he would make the woman take a newborn baby out on the ice and leave it to freeze to death just after birth, if he didn't want the baby for some reason. Perhaps the baby was clearly not well or they couldn't hope to feed it.

Some tribes, especially in the interior of Alaska, believed that the raven created the world and that the raven has mystical powers and is at the same time clever. The raven is also believed to be very bold and a scavenger, as it can be seen easily stealing a kill from a pack of wolves or from a grizzly bear. Many believe the raven comes to someone who is getting ready to pass on, in order to take them there. Ravens are a protected bird in many areas of Canada. Ravens have been known to copy hundreds of sounds, some even sounding like machines they've been around.