February Fifth

IN THE very earliest time, when both people and animals lived on earth, a person could become an animal if he wanted to and an animal could become a human being.
Sometimes, they were people and sometimes animals and there was no difference. All spoke the same language. That was the time when words were like magic.
The human mind had mysterious powers. A word spoken by chance might have strange consequences. It would suddenly come alive and what people wanted to happen could happen -- all you had to do was say it. Nobody can explain this. That's the way it was.

-- AFTER NALUNGIAQ (ESKIMO) "Magic Words", photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt from Life magazine archives