132 THE PRINCIPLES OF SELF-MASTERY
his native village he told stories of buildings that rose into the
very face of the sky; of street cars, which he described as houses
that moved along the trail, with people living in them as they
moved; of mammoth bridges, artificial lights, and all the other
dazzling concomitants of the metropolis.
"His people looked at him coldly and walked away. And
forthwith throughout the whole village he was dubbed 'Sag-
dluk; meaning 'the Liar; and this name he carried in shame to
his grave. Long before his death his original name was entirely
forgotten.
"When Knud Rasmussen made his trip from Greenland
to Alaska he was accompanied by a Greenland Eskimo named
Mitek (Eider Duck). Mitek visited Copenhagen and New York,
where he saw many things for the first time and was greatly im-
pressed. Later, upon his return to Greenland, he recalled the
tragedy of Sagdluk, and decided that it would not be wise to
tell the truth. Instead, he would narrate stories that his people
could grasp and thus save his reputation.
"So he told them how he and Doctor Rasmussen main-
tained a kayak on the banks of a great river, the Hudson, and
how, each morning, they paddled out for their hunting. Ducks,
geese, and seals were to be had aplenty, and they enjoyed the
visit immensely.
"Mitek, in the eyes of his countrymen, is a very honest
man. His neighbors treat him with rare respect."
The road of the truth-teller has always been rocky. Socrates
sipping the hemlock, Christ crucified, Stephen stoned, Bruno
burned at the stake, Galileo terrified into retraction of his starry
truths-forever could one follow that bloody trail through the
pages of history.
Something in human nature makes us resent the impact
of new ideas.