Eskimo Folk Tales Part 26

"Then tell them to give us back the beads and the cooking pot."

And those things were brought, and given back to them.

Then Qasiagssaq's wife said as usual:

"Now you have lied again. When you do such things, one cannot but feel shame for you."

"Hrrrr!" said Qasiagssaq, to frighten her, and went on as if nothing had happened.

Now it is said that Qasiagssaq's wife Qigdlugsuk had a mother who lived in another village, and had a son whose name was Ernilik. One day Qasiagssaq set out to visit them. He came to their place, and when he entered into the house, it was quite dark, because they had no blubber for their lamp, and the little child was crying, because it had nothing to eat. Qasiagssaq cleared his throat loudly and said:

"What is the matter with him?"

"He is hungry, as usual," said the mother.

Then said Qasiagssaq:

"How foolish I was not to take so much as a little blubber with me. Over in our village, seals are daily thrown away. You must come back with me to our place."

Next morning they set off together. When they reached the place, Qasiagssaq hurried up with the harpoon line in his hand, before his wife's mother had landed. And all she saw was that there was much carrion of ravens on Qasiagssaq's rubbish heap. Suddenly Qasiagssaq cried out:

"Ah! One of them has got away again!"

He had caught a raven in his snare. His wife cooked it, and their lamp was a shoulder-blade, and another shoulder-blade was their cooking pot, and when that meat was cooked, Qigdlugsuk's mother was given raven's meat to eat. Afterwards she was well fed by the other villagers there, and next morning when she was setting out to go home, they all gave her meat to take with her; all save Qasiagssaq, who gave her nothing.

And time went on, and once he was out as usual in his kayak, and when he came home in the evening, he said:

"I have found a dead whale; to-morrow we must all go out in the umiak and cut it up."

Next day many umiaks and kayaks set out to the eastward, and when they had rowed a long way in, they asked:

"Where is it?"

"Over there, beyond that little ness," he said.

And they rowed over there, and when they reached the place, there was nothing to be seen. So they asked again:

"Where is it?"

"Over there, beyond that little ness."

And they rowed over there, but when they reached the place, there was nothing to be seen. And again they asked:

"Where is it? Where is it?"

"Up there, beyond the little ness."

And again they reached the place and rowed round it, and there was nothing to be seen.

Then the others said:

"Qasiagssaq is lying as usual. Let us kill him."

But he answered:

"Wait a little; let us first make sure that it is a lie, and if you do not see it, you may kill me."

And again they asked:

"Where is it?"

"Yes ... where was it now ... over there beyond that little ness."

And now they had almost reached the base of that great fjord, and again they rounded a little ness farther in, and there was nothing to be seen. Therefore they said:

"He is only a trouble to us all: let us kill him."

And at last they did as they had said, and killed him.

THE EAGLE AND THE WHALE

In a certain village there lived many brothers. And they had two sisters, both of an age to marry, and often urged them to take husbands, but they would not. At last one of the men said:

"What sort of a husband do you want, then? An eagle, perhaps? Very well, an eagle you shall have."

This he said to the one. And to the other he said:

"And you perhaps would like a whale? Well, a whale you shall have."

And then suddenly a great eagle came in sight, and it swooped down on the young girl and flew off with her to a high ledge of rock. And a whale also came in sight, and carried off the other sister, carrying her likewise to a ledge of rock.

After that the eagle and the girl lived together on a ledge of rock far up a high steep cliff. The eagle flew out over the sea to hunt, and while he was away, his wife would busy herself plaiting sinews for a line wherewith to lower herself down the rock. And while she was busied with that work, the eagle would sometimes appear, with a walrus in one claw and a narwhal in the other.

One day she tried the line, with which she was to lower herself down; it was too short. And so she plaited more.

But as time went on, the brothers began to long for their sister. And they all set to work making crossbows.

And there was in that village a little homeless boy, who was so small that he had not strength to draw a bow, but must get one of the others to draw it for him every time he wanted to shoot. When they had made all things ready, they went out to the place where their sister was, and called to her from the foot of the cliff, telling her to lower herself down. And this she did. As soon as her husband had gone out hunting, she lowered herself down and reached her brothers.

Towards evening, the eagle appeared out at sea, with a walrus in each claw, and as he pa.s.sed the house of his wife's brothers, he dropped one down to them. But when he came home, his wife was gone. Then he simply threw his catch away, and flew, gliding on widespread wings, down to where those brothers were. But whenever the eagle tried to fly down to the house, they shot at it with their bows. And as none of them could hit, the little homeless boy cried:

"Let me try too!"