The translator W. W. Worster’s claim, in his introduction to Rasmussen’s Eskimo Folktales, that “No man is better qualified to tell the story of Greenland, or the stories of people” will rightly raise some eyebrows today. Yet, all things considered, Rasmussen appears to have been both familiar with and relatively respectful of the people he called “Eskimos” (an Algonquin word for their neighbors to the north not typically used by Inuit people). His collection of their tales, “taken down from the lips of the Eskimo story-tellers themselves”, offers a fascinating glimpse into a complex culture. Many of the stories in Eskimo Folktales revolve around adventures. “The Two Friends who Set Off to Travel Round the World”, for example, recounts the epic voyage of two men who, together with their wives, set off in opposite directions to see the globe, hoping they’ll eventually meet again: It took a long time to get around the world; they had children and they grew old, and then their children also grew old, until at last, the parents were so old that they could not walk, but the children led them.