A TEEASUEY OF ESKIMO TALES 



The Man then got into his sledge and went 

 back to his place in the Moon. 



Every time a moonbeam had hit Quadjaq he 

 had felt himself growing. His feet began first 

 and became enormously large, and when the Man 

 left him, he found himself a good-sized man. 



In the morning he waited for the bears, and 

 three bears did really come, growling and looking 

 so fierce that the men of the village ran into their 

 huts and shut the doors. But Quadjaq put on 

 his boots and ran down to the ice where the bears 

 were. The men peering out through the window 

 holes said, " Can that be Quadjaq? The bears 

 will soon eat the foolish fellow." 



But he seized the first one by its hind legs and 

 smashed its head on an iceberg near which it was 

 standing. The next one fared no better. But 

 the third one he took in his arms and carried it up 

 to the village and let it eat some of his persecu- 

 tors. 



" That is for abusing me ! " he cried. " That is 

 for ill-treating me ! " 



Those that he did not kill ran away never to re- 

 turn. Only a few who had been kind to him 

 when he was a poor skinny boy were spared. 

 Among them, of course, was the girl who had 

 given him the knife, and she became his wife. 



40 



