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How the loon got the ring around its neck

Once upon a time there was an old man who was blind. He had a wife who helped him to stay alive. Whenever she sighted game, she would hand him his arrow to moisten the stone point with his saliva – for this old man was possessed of magic powers. Then pointing the arrow in the direction of the game, she would let him release it himself, which he usually did with good effect. One day, they came upon a very fat caribou.

“Moisten the arrow-head with your saliva,” said the woman to her husband, which he did. He shot dead the animal. His wife, who coveted the fat of the caribou and was tired of living with a blind old man, pushed him aside, throwing him to the ground, saying, “That old fellow, what a bad shot he is!”

“But I think I have killed it.” insisted the old man. Yet as he was blind he could not get the game, and while searching for it, he strayed a long distance from his wife who now abandoned him.

As soon as the old man was out of sight, she set to cutting up the animal. At the same time she fried large slices of meat which she ate. What she did not eat on the spot she cut into thin pieces and hung out to dry.

Meanwhile the old man was bewailing his fated. In the course of his aimless wanderings he had reached the shore of a lake. A loon hearing his cries swam towards him, as his kin’s are wont to do even now whenever they hear anybody talking in the forest. “What ails you?” he asked the man.

“Poor wretch that I am, my wife has left me and I am blind,” answered the man.

“I will cure you,” said the loon. “Come over to me and hide your eyes in the down at the back of my neck." The old man did as he was told, and both the loon and he plunged into the water. When they reappeared on the surface, they found themselves at the opposite end of the lake. “Now can you see?” quivered the loon. “Look at yonder mountain,” he added.

The old man answered, “I can see a little, as if through a mist."
“Repeat the operation” said the loon. Again the loon dived with him, emerging this time at the original point of departure. “Now can you see?” asked the loon.

“I now see very well,” replied the old man wading ashore. Then to show his gratitude to his benefactor he presented him with his own Dentalium shell necklace, and taking some more Dentalium shells from his quiver, he threw them at him.

Ever since, the loon wears a white necklace and the shells which hit him also produced the white spots we now see on his wings.