Native Americans: 22 Books on History, Mythology, Culture & Linguistic Studies. James Mooney

      Savirqong, an old man, lived alone with his daughter. Her name was Niviarsiang (i.e., the girl), but as she would not take a husband she was also called Uinigumissuitung (she who would not take a husband). She refused all her suitors, but at last a dog, spotted white and red, whose name was Ijirqang, won her affection and she took him for a husband. They had ten children, five of whom were Adlet and five dogs. The lower part of the body of the Adlet was that of a dog and hairy all over, the soles excepted, while the upper part was that of a man. When the children grew up they became very voracious, and as the dog Ijirqang did not go out hunting at all, but let his father in law provide for the whole family, it was difficult for Savirqong to feed them. Moreover, the children were awfully clamorous and noisy; so at last the grandfather got tired of it, put the whole family into his boat, and carried them to a small island. He told the dog Ijirqang to come every day and fetch meat.

      Niviarsiang hung a pair of boots round his neck and he swam across the narrow channel. But Savirqong, instead of giving him meat, filled the boots with heavy stones, which drowned Ijirqang when he attempted to return to the island.

      The daughter thought of revenging the death of her husband. She sent the young dogs to her father’s hut and let them gnaw off his feet and hands. In return Savirqong, when Niviarsiang happened to be in his boat, threw her overboard and cut off her fingers when she held to the gunwale. As they fell into the sea they were transformed into seals and whales. At last he allowed her to climb into the boat.

      As she feared that her father might think of killing or maiming her children, she ordered the Adlet to go inland, where they became the ancestors of a numerous people. She made a boat for the young dogs, setting up two sticks for masts in the soles of her boots, and sent the puppies across the ocean. She sang: “Angnaijaja. When you arrive there across the ocean you will make many things giving you joy. Angnaija.” They arrived in the land beyond the sea and became the ancestors of the Europeans.

      The Great Flood

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A long time ago the ocean suddenly began to rise, until it covered the whole land. The water even rose to the top of the mountains and the ice drifted over them. When the flood had subsided the ice stranded and ever since forms an ice cap on the top of the mountains. Many shellfish, fish, seal, and whales were left high and dry and their shells and bones may be seen to this day. A great number of Inuit died during this period, but many others, who had taken to their kayaks when the water commenced to rise, were saved.

Inugpaqdjuqdjualung14

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      In days of yore, an enormous man, whose name was Inugpaqdjuqdjualung, lived in company with many other Inuit in a village on a large fjord. He was so tall that he could straddle the fjord. He used to stand thus every morning and wait for whales to pass beneath him. As soon as one came along he stooped and caught it, just as another man would scoop up some little thing that had fallen into the water, and he ate it as other men eat a small piece of meat.

      One day all the natives had manned their boats to hunt a whale. Inugpaqdjuqdjualung at the time was sitting lazily near his hut, but when he saw the efforts of the men he scooped both whale and boats from the water and placed them upon the beach.

      At another time, being tired from running about, he lay down on a high hill to take a nap. The Inuit told him that a couple of huge bears had been seen near the village, but he said he didn’t care, and told his friends to rouse him by throwing large stones upon him if they should see the bears coming. They did so and Inugpaqdjuqdjualung, suddenly starting up, cried: “Where are they? Where are they?” When the Inuit pointed them out he said: “What! those little things? Those are not worth the bustle; they are small foxes, not bears,” and he crushed one between his fingers, while he put the other into the eyelet of his boot and strangled it there.

      The Bear Story

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      This story is reprinted from Hall (II, p. 240):

Many moons ago, a woman obtained a polar bear cub but two or three days old. Having long desired just such a pet, she gave it her closest attention, as though it were a son, nursing it, making for it a soft warm bed alongside her own, and talking to it as a mother does to her child. She had no living relative, and she and the bear occupied the house alone. Kunikdjuaq, as he grew up, proved that the woman had not taught him in vain, for he early began to hunt seals and salmon, bringing them to his mother before eating any himself, and receiving his share from her hands. She always watched from the hilltop for his return, and if she saw that he had been unsuccessful, she begged from her neighbors blubber for his food. She learned how this was from her lookout, for if successful, he came back in the tracks made on going out, but if unsuccessful always by a different route. Learning to excel the Inuit in hunting, he excited their envy, and, after long years of faithful service, his death was resolved upon. On hearing this, the old woman, overwhelmed with grief, offered to give up her own life if they would but spare him who had so long supported her. Her offer was sternly refused. Upon this, when all his enemies had retired to their houses, the woman had a long talk with her son—now well grown in years—telling him that wicked men were about to kill him, and that the only way to save his life and hers was for him to go off and not return. At the same time she begged him not to go so far that she could not wander off and meet him, and get from him a seal or something else which she might need. The bear, after listening to what she said with tears streaming down her furrowed cheeks, gently placed one huge paw on her head, and then throwing both around her neck, said, “Good mother, Kunikdjuaq will always be on the lookout for you and serve you as best he can.” Saying this, he took her advice and departed, almost as much to the grief of the children of the village as to the mother.

      Not long after this, being in need of food, she walked out on the sea ice to see if she could not meet her son, and soon recognized him as one of two bears who were lying down together. He ran to her, and she patted him on the head in her old familiar way, told him her wants, and begged him to hurry away and get something for her. Away ran the bear, and in a few moments the woman looked upon a terrible fight going on between him and his late companion, which, however, to her great relief, was soon ended by her son’s dragging a lifeless body to her feet. With her knife she quickly skinned the dead bear, giving her son large slices of the blubber, and telling him that she would soon return for the meat, which she could not at first carry to her house, and when her supply should again fail she would comeback for his help. This she continued to do for “a long, long time,” the faithful bear always serving her and receiving the same unbroken love of his youth.

      Sundry Tales

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      (1) Two little girls, while playing about a cliff near Aivillik, with infants in the hoods on their backs, went into an opening between the rocks, which closed upon them before escape was possible. All attempts at rescue were unsuccessful, and the poor children, to whom for a time meat and water were passed, perished in the cliffs (Hall II, p. 222).

      (2) Opposite to Niutang, a village in Kingnait, Cumberland Sound, there is a vein of diorite resembling a boot, and therefore called Kamingujang. A long time ago two enemies lived in the village. One day they stood on the beach ready to go hunting. Suddenly the one exclaimed, pointing to Kamingujang, “There he blows,” making his enemy believe that a whale was passing up the fjord and inducing him to look out for it. Then he killed him from behind, piercing him with the spear.