THAT was a never to be forgotten summer to Tuktu and Aklak. A ship came in the harbor1 near which they were camped, and they had a chance to see how the white men lived on the ship and all the wonders that the ship contained. One of the white men spent much time at their camp asking through one of the herders, who could speak his language, all sorts of questions, questions that made Tuktu and Aklak think that he knew very little. But then when they in their turn began asking questions, he told them such wonderful things that they began to think that they knew very little.
One day, as he sat watching Tuktu and her mother, Navaluk, making a coat—with a hood2 attached3, trimmed4 with a fringe5 of wolverine fur around the edge—he told them stories, and the story that he told of Christmas was the story that Tuktu liked best of all. She told it to Aklak.
“What do you think, Aklak?” she said. “The children outside of our beautiful Northland have no reindeer6. Most of them have never seen a reindeer.”
“What drags their sleds then, dogs?” demanded the practical7 Aklak.
“No,” replied Tuktu, “they have other animals called horses. But they cannot be beautiful like our deer, for they have no antlers. But all those children have heard of our reindeer, Aklak, and there is a certain time in the winter called Christmas when in the night after every one is asleep, there comes the children’s saint8 and visits each home. And, Aklak, he comes with reindeer!”
Aklak looked up quickly. “The Good Spirit?” he cried.
Tuktu’s eyes were shining as she nodded. “It must be,” she said, “for who else would have reindeer? And, listen, Aklak: he is short and round and shakes when he laughs; and he has a white beard and a fur-trimmed coat and a fur-trimmed hat; and his reindeer take him right up on the roofs of the{115} houses; and then he takes a pack on his back and goes right down the chimney9; and he leaves gifts for little children while they are asleep. And if any little boy or little girl lies awake and peeps10 and tries to see him, he doesn’t leave any presents for that little girl or that little boy and they never do see him. When he has made h............