A marvelous book has just come into my hands, and it seemed only natural to share something from it here. The book is called Beyond the High Hills and is a book of Inuit (Eskimo) poems. It was published by World Publishing Company in 1961 and is illustrated by Guy Mary-Rousseliere.
The poems have no known authors. They are really songs, chanted spontaneously by the poeple. One of my favorites places austerity in relation to abundance. I am happy to print excerpts of it here.
Hard times, dearth times
Plague us every one,
Stomachs are shrunken,
Dishes are empty...
Mark you there yonder?
There come the men
Dragging beautiful seals
To our homes.
Now is abundance
With us once more,
Days of feasting
To hold us together....
Joyfully
Greet we those
Who brought us plenty!
-- from Beyond the High Hills. A Book of Eskimo Poems. Collected by Knud Rasmussen. World Publishing Co., 1961, p. 13
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