Eskimo Folk Tales Part 4

"You are a dear little thing, you that have come in here. It is long since I was so nicely cleaned. Not since little Atakana from Sardloq cleaned me have I ever been cleaned at all. I have nothing to give you in return. Move my lamp away."

And when she did so, there was a noise like the moving of wings. When she turned to look, she saw a host of birds flying in through the pa.s.sage way. For a long time birds flew in, without stopping. But then the woman said:

"Now it is enough." And she put the lamp straight. And when that was done, the other said again:

"Will you not put it a little to the other side?"

And she moved it so. And then she saw some men with long hair flying towards the pa.s.sage way. When she looked closer, she saw that it was a host of black seal. And when very many of them had come in this manner, she said:

"Now it is enough." And she put the lamp in its place. Then the old woman looked over towards her, and said:

"When you come home, tell them that they must never more face towards the sea when they empty their dirty vessels, for when they do so, it all goes over me."

When at last the woman came out again, the big dog wagged his tail kindly at her.

It was still night when Tugto's wife came home, and when she came in, none of them had yet yawned or winked an eye. When she lit the lamp, her face was fearfully scratched, and she told them this:

"You must not think that the ice will break up at once; it will not break up until these sores are healed."

After a long time they began to heal slowly, and sometimes it might happen that one or another cried in mockingly through the window:

"Now surely it is time the ice broke up and went out to sea, for that which was to be done is surely done."

But at last her sores were healed. And one day a black cloud came up in the south. Later in the evening, there was a mighty noise of the wind, and the storm did not abate until it was growing light in the morning. When it was quite light, and the people came out, the sea was open and blue. A great number of birds were flying above the water, and there were hosts of black seal everywhere. The kayaks were made ready at once, and when they began to make them ready, Tugto's wife said:

"No one must hunt them yet; until five days are gone no one may hunt them."

But before those days were gone, one of the young men went out nevertheless to hunt. He tried with great efforts, but caught nothing after all. Not until those days were gone did the witch-wife say:

"Now you may hunt them."

And now the men went out to sea to hunt the birds. And not until they could bear no more on their kayaks did they row home again. But then all those men had to give up their whole catch to Tugto's house. Not until the second hunting were they permitted to keep any for themselves.

Next day they went out to hunt for seal. They harpooned many, but these also were given to Tugto and his wife. Of these also they kept nothing for themselves until the second hunting.

Now when the ice was gone, then that old man we have told about before, he put life into the Tupilak, and said to it then:

"Go out now, and eat up Qujavarssuk."

The Tupilak paddled out after him, but Qujavarssuk had already reached the sh.o.r.e, and was about to carry up his kayak on to the land, with a catch of two seals. Now the Tupilak had no fear but that next day, when he went out, it would be easy to catch and eat him. And therefore, when it was no later than dawn, it was waiting outside his house. When Qujavarssuk awoke, he got up and went down to his kayak, and began to make ready for hunting. He put on his long fur coat, and went down and put the kayak in the water. He lifted one leg and stepped into the kayak, and this the Tupilak saw, but when he lifted the other leg to step in with that, he disappeared entirely from its sight. And all through the day it looked for him in vain. At last it swam in towards land, but by that time he had already reached home, and drawn the kayak on sh.o.r.e to carry it up. He had a catch of two seal, and there lay the Tupilak staring after him.

When it was evening, Qujavarssuk went to rest. He slept, and awoke, and got up and made things ready to go out. And at this time the Tupilak was waiting with a great desire for the moment when he should put off from land. But when he put on his hunting coat ready to row out, the Tupilak thought:

"Now we shall see if he disappears again."

And just as he was getting into his kayak, he disappeared from sight. And at the end of that day also, Qujavarssuk came home again, as was his custom, with a catch of two seal.

Now by this time the Tupilak was fearfully hungry. But a Tupilak can only eat men, and therefore it now thought thus:

"Next time, I will go up on land and eat him there."

Then it swam over towards land, and as the sh.o.r.e was level, it moved swiftly, so as to come well up. But it struck its head on the ground, so that the pain pierced to its backbone, and when it tried to see what was there, the sh.o.r.e had changed to a steep cliff, and on the top of the cliff stood Qujavarssuk, all easy to see. Again it tried to swim up on to the land, but only hurt itself the more. And now it was surprised, and looked in vain for Qujavarssuk's house, for it could not see the house at all. And it was still lying there and staring up, when it saw that a great stone was about to fall on it, and hardly had it dived under water when the stone struck it, and broke a rib. Then it swam out and looked again towards land, and saw Qujavarssuk again quite clearly, and also his house.

Now the Tupilak thought:

"I must try another way. Perhaps it will be better to go through the earth."

And when it tried to go through the earth, so much was easy; it only remained then to come up through the floor of the house. But the floor of the house was hard, and not to be got through. Therefore it tried behind the house, and there it was quite soft. It came up there, and went to the pa.s.sage way, and there was a big black bird, sitting there eating something. The Tupilak thought:

"That is a fortunate being, which can sit and eat."

Then it tried to get up over the walls at the back part of the house, by taking hold of the gra.s.s in the turf blocks. But when it got there, the bird's food was the only thing it saw. Again it tried to get a little farther, seeing that the bird appeared not to heed it at all, but then suddenly the bird turned and bit a hole just above its flipper. And this was very painful, so that the Tupilak floundered about with pain, and floundered about till it came right out into the water.

And because of all these happenings, it had now become so angered that it swam back at once to the man who had made it, in order to eat him up. And when it came there, he was sitting in his kayak with his face turned towards the sun, and telling no other thing than of the Tupilak which he had made. For a long time the Tupilak lay there beneath him, and looked at him, until there came this thought:

"Why did he make me a Tupilak, when afterwards all the trouble was to come upon me?"

Then it swam up and attacked the kayak, and the water was coloured red with blood as it ate him. And having thus found food, the Tupilak felt well and strong and very cheerful, until at last it began to think thus:

"All the other Tupilaks will certainly call this a shameful thing, that I should have killed the one who made me."

And it was now so troubled with shame at this that it swam far out into the open sea and was never seen again. And men say that it was because of shame it did so.

One day the old one said to Qujavarssuk:

"You are named after a man who died of hunger at Amerdloq."

It is told of the people of Amerdloq that they catch nothing but turbot.

And Qujavarssuk went to Amerdloq and lived there with an old man, and while he lived there, he made always the same catch as was his custom. At last the people of Amerdloq began to say to one another:

"This must be the first time there have been so many black seal here in our country; every time he goes hunting he catches two seal."

At last one of the big hunters went out hunting with him. They fixed the heads to their harpoons, and when they had come a little way out from land, Qujavarssuk stopped. Then when the other had gone a little distance from him, he turned, and saw that Qujavarssuk had already struck one seal. Then he rowed towards him, but when he came up, it was already killed. So he left him again for a little while, and when he turned, Qujavarssuk had again struck. Then Qujavarssuk rowed home. And the other stayed out the whole day, but did not see a single seal.

When Qujavarssuk had thus continued as a great hunter, his mother said to him at last that he should marry. He gave her no answer, and therefore she began to look about herself for a girl for him to marry, but it was her wish that the girl might be a great glutton, so that there might not be too much lost of all that meat. And she began to ask all the unmarried women to come and visit her. And because of this there came one day a young woman who was not very beautiful. And this one she liked very much, for that she was a clever eater, and having regard to this, she chose her out as the one her son should marry. One day she said to her son:

"That woman is the one you must have."

And her son obeyed her, as was his custom.

Every day after their marriage, the strongest man in Amerdloq called in at the window:

"Qujavarssuk! Let us see which of us can first get a bladder float for hunting the whale."

Qujavarssuk made no answer, as was his custom, but the old man said to him: