Long ago when the North was still prowled by only the occasional white man hunting the Northwest Passage (to China) or by the odd whale hunter, an Eskimo camp was visited by a ship.

The captain wanted some white fox furs. All he had to trade for them was a gun and a coat.

The gun was good enough for its time, far better at killing seals than the Eskimo harpoon or bow and arrow.

The coat was a great fuzzy fur-trim job on deep Russian blue cloth with epaulettes and glittering medals down the left front.

One Eskimo with good skins bought the gun.

Another Eskimo had enough skins to pay for the coat.

The Eskimo who bought the gun became the best hunter in the band and was respected by all.

But the man who bought the coat wore it all around the camp and kids ran up to see it and touch it. Wives suggested that a man with such a coat might sway any woman's heart, and the man with the coat became the most admired and happiest Eskimo along the coast.

The man with the gun finally couldn't stand it any longer. He told his wife he was going to trade the gun for the coat. She said, "Don't even think about it".

But the Eskimo with the gun couldn't stand all the admiration the man with the coat was getting and went ahead and traded his gun for the coat.

Wearing the coat, he hurried to his igloo but a bear noticed him and followed him in. When he got inside the igloo, he cried to his wife, "There's a polar bear following me, what should I do"?

His wife said, "Shoot him with your coat".

Background Information

Talk about Canada's past: the fur-trade and the way that the settlers and explorers dealt with the first people. Then talk about greed and the saying, "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence". What can greed do to a person? How do you control it?

Questions

1. What is the Northwest Passage?

2. Why would the Eskimos want the gun and the coat?

3. What is a harpoon?

4. Why did the man who bought the gun decide to trade it for the coat?

5. What is an epaulette?

6. What is the difference between admiration and respect?

7. What colour is a polar bear?

8. Do you think the man was scared of the bear?

9.Was his wife happy that he traded the gun?

10.What did she say to him?