Red Fox Mask Story

A fox was getting food for her young ones. She came upon a bear who was also hungry. The fox shaped snow into several ptarmigans. She barked and they were instantly living birds, which she killed and fed to the bear. The grateful bear wished to repay the fox. The fox said that only when she ate human beings was her hunger satisfied. The bear went out to the sea looking for seal hunters. Towards evening, as he returned, the fox saw that he had been struck by the hunters' spears.

The fox said she would heal the wounds. She heated two pebbles in a fire. When they were red, the fox put one pebble in a spear wound, which made the bear howl and snarl. Then she put the next pebble in the second wound, which killed the bear. The cunning fox laughed and ate bear meat for many days, forgetting her own young ones. Suddenly she remembered them and returned to her den where she discovered that the young foxes had left to find food for themselves.