Chapter VI: Part 6

And in this way he led them southward. When they came to their own country, they had grown so fond of him that they would not let him go northward again. And so that wifeless man took a wife from among those women, because they would not let him go away to the north.

It is said that the skeleton of that wifeless man lies there in the south to this day.

KÁNAGSSUAQ

Kánagssuaq, men say, went out from his own place to live on a little island, and there took to wife the only sister of many brothers. And while he lived there with her, it happened once that the cold became so great that the sea between the islands was icebound, and they could no longer go out hunting. At last they had used up their store of food, and when that store of food was used up, and none of them could go out hunting, they all remained lying down from hunger and weakness.

Once, when there was open water to the south, where they often caught seal, Kánagssuaq took his kayak on his head and went out hunting. He rowed out in a northerly wind, with snow falling, and a heavy sea. And soon he came upon a number of black seal. He rowed towards them, to get within striking distance, but struck only a little fjord seal, which came up between him and the others. This one was easier to cut up, he said.

Now when he had got this seal, he took his kayak on his head again and went home across the ice. And his house-fellows shouted for joy when they saw the little creature he sent sliding in. Next day he went out again, and caught two black seal, and after that, he never went out without bringing home something.

The north wind continued, and the snow and the cold continued. When he lay out waiting for seal, as was now his custom, he often wished that he might meet with Kilitêraq, the great hunter from another place, who was the only one that would venture out in such weather. But this did not come about.

But now there was great dearth of food also in the place where Kilitêraq lived. And therefore Kilitêraq took his kayak on his head and went out across the ice to hunt seal. And coming some way, he sighted Kánagssuaq, who had already made his catch, and was just getting his tow-line out. As soon as he came up, Kánagssuaq cut away the whole of the belly skin and gave to him. And Kilitêraq felt now a great desire for blubber, and took some good big pieces to chew.

And while he lay there, some black seal came up, and Kánagssuaq said:

"Row in to where they are."

And he rowed in to them and harpooned one, and killed it on the spot with that one stroke. He took his bladder float, to make a tow-line fast, and wound up the harpoon line, but before he had come to the middle, a breaking wave came rolling down on him. And it broke over him, and it seemed indeed as if there were no kayak there at all, so utterly was it hidden by that breaking wave. Then at last the bladder showed up behind the kayak, and a little after, the kayak itself came up, with the paddles held in a balancing position. Now for the second time he took his bladder and line, and just as he came to the place where the tow-line is made fast, there came another wave and washed over him so that he disappeared. And then he came up a second time, and as he came up, he said:

"I am now so far out that I cannot make my tow-line fast. Will you do this for me?"

And then Kánagssuaq made his tow-line fast, and as soon as he had taken the seal in tow, he rowed away in the thickly falling snow, and was soon lost to sight. When he came home, his many comrades in the village were filled with great thankfulness towards him. And thereafter it was as before; that he never came home without some catch.

A few days later, they awoke and saw that the snow was not falling near them now, but only far away on the horizon. And after that the weather became fine again. And when the spring came, they began hunting guillemots; driving them together in flocks and killing them so. This they did at that time.

And now one day they had sent their bird arrows showering down among the birds, and were busy placing the killed ones together in the kayaks. And then suddenly a kayak came in sight on the sunny side. And when that stranger came nearer, they looked eagerly to see who it might be. And when Kilitêraq came nearer--for it was Kilitêraq who came--he looked round among the kayaks, and when he saw that Kánagssuaq was among them, he thrust his way through and came close up to him, and stuck his paddle in between the thongs on Kánagssuaq's kayak, and then loosened the skin over the opening of his own kayak, and put his hand in behind, and drew out a splendid tow-line made of walrus hide and beautifully worked with many beads of walrus tooth. And a second time he put in his hand, and took out now a piece of bearskin fashioned to the seat of a kayak. And these things he gave to Kánagssuaq, and said:

"Once in the spring, when I could not make my tow-line fast to a seal, you helped me, and made it fast. Here is that which shall thank you for that service."

And then he rowed away.

Note.--The particular sources of the various legends are as follows:

Polar Eskimo, Smith Sound-- Page

The two Friends who set off to travel round the world 15
The coming of Men, a long, long while ago 16
The woman who had a bear as a foster-son 40
The great bear 81
The man who became a star 82
The woman with the iron tail 83
How the fog came 84
The man who avenged the widows 86
The man who went out to search for his son 88
Atungait, who went a-wandering 90
Kumagdlak and the living arrows 93
The giant dog 95
The Inland-dwellers of Etah 97
The man who stabbed his wife in the leg 98
The soul that lived in the bodies of all beasts 100
Papik, who killed his wife's brother 104
Pâtussorssuaq, who killed his uncle 107
The men who changed wives 109
Artuk, who did all things forbidden 110
The thunder spirits 111
Nerrivik 113
The wife who lied 115
Kâgssagssuk, the homeless boy who became a strong man 117

South-East Greenland--

Nukúnguasik, who escaped from the Tupilak 18
Ímarasugssuaq, who ate his wives 44
Qalagánguasê, who passed to the land of Ghosts 46
Isigâligârssik 49
The Insects that wooed a wifeless man 52
The very obstinate man 56
The Dwarfs 60
The Boy from the Bottom of the Sea, who frightened the
people of the house to death 64
The Raven and the Goose 66
When the Ravens could speak 67

West Greenland--

Makíte 68
Asalôq 71
Ukaleq 73
The man who took a Vixen to wife 79
Qasiagssaq, the great liar 123
The Eagle and the Whale 130
The two little Outcasts 133
Atdlarneq, the great glutton 136

Godthaab, West Greenland--

Qujâvârssuk 20
Kúnigseq 38
Ángángujuk 139
Âtârssuaq 142
Puagssuaq 146
Tungujuluk and Saunikoq 148
Anarteq 150
The Guillemot that could talk 152
Kánagssuaq 154

South Greenland--

Íkardlítuarssuk 75

Upernivik, North Greenland--

The Raven who wanted a wife 77

NOTES

[1] Tupilak: a monster created by one having magic powers, who uses it to wreak vengeance on an enemy.

[2] According to custom. It is believed that the qualities of the dead are thus transferred to the living namesake.

[3] Umiak: a large boat, as distinct from the small kayak.

[4] The first dress worn by a child is supposed to act as a charm against wounds if the former wearer can put it on when a grown man.

[5] The story-teller speaks the dwarf's part throughout in a hurried and jerky manner, to illustrate the little man's shyness.

[6] A heavy burden carried on the back is supported by a strap or thong passing over the forehead.

[7] I.e. a creature fashioned by an enemy, after the same manner as a Tupilak.

[8] A small black mollusc.

[9] The star is that which we know as Venus. "Listening": perhaps as the old man had stood listening for the breathing of the seal.

[10] A game played with rings and a stick; the "ring and pin game."

[11] Lit., "Meat Dish."

[12] Speckled seal may often be caught in this fashion.

[13] The souls of the dead are supposed to be born again in the body of one named after them.

[14] There is a fabulous being in Eskimo folklore supposed to have cheeks of copper, with which he can deliver terrible blows by a side movement of the head. Naughty children are frequently threatened with "Copper-cheeks" as a kind of bogey.