A poem by an
Eskimo:
In the earliest time,
when both people and animals lived on earth,
a person could become an
animal if he wanted to
and an animal could become a
human being.
Sometimes they were people
and sometimes animals
and there was no difference.
All spoke the same language.
That was the time when
words were like magic.
The human mind had mysterious powers.
A word spoken by chance
might have
strange consequences.
It would suddenly come alive
and what people wanted to happen could happen--
Nobody can explain this:
That's the way it was.