NELSON] TALE OF THE GIANT 471 



TjaE GIANT (KTN'-AK) 

 (From Unalaklit, Norton soniid) 



One dark winter night a woman ran through the village of Nlkh'-ta 

 and out on to the snow-covered tundra; she was fleeing from her hus- 

 band whose cruelty had become unbearable. All through the night 

 and for many days afterward she traveled ou toward the north, always 

 going around the villages she came near, fearing that she might be 

 pursued. Finally she left all signs of human life behind, and the cold 

 became more and more intense; her small supply of food was exhausted 

 and she began to eat snow to lessen her hunger. One day, as evening 

 drew nigh, she was in such a wind-swept place that she forced herself 

 to go on. At last she saw before her what seemed to be a hill with five 

 elevations on its crest; when she came to it she saw that it looked like 

 an enormous human foot. Removing the snow from between two eleva- 

 tions, that looked like huge toes, she found it warm and comfortable, 

 and slept there until morning, when she started and walked toward a 

 single elevation that showed in the snowy level. This she reached near 

 nightfall and noticed that it appeared to be shaped like a great knee. 

 Finding a sheltered place by it she stayed there until morning, when 

 she went on. That evening a hill like a huge thigh sheltered her for 

 the night. The next night she was sheltered in a round pit-like hollow, 

 around which grew scattered brush; as she left this place in the morn- 

 ing it appeared to her like a great navel. 



The next night she slept near two hills shaped like enormous breasts; 

 the night following she found a sheltered, comfortable hollow, where she 

 slept. As she was about to start from there in the morning a great 

 voice seemed to come from beneath her feet, saying: "Who are you T 

 What has driven you to me, to whom human beings never come!" She 

 was very much frightened, but managed to tell her sorrowful tale, and 

 then the voice spoke again : " Well, you may stay here, but you must 

 not sleep again near my mouth nor on my lips, for if I should breathe 

 on you it would blow you away. You must be hungry. I will get you 

 something to eat." 



While she waited it suddenly occurred to her that for five days she had 

 been traveling on the body of the giant, KTn'-a-g'ak', or Kiil'-ak. Then 

 the sky became suddenly obscured, and a great black cloud came swiftly 

 toward her ; when it was near she saw that it was the giant's hand, 

 which opened and dropped a freshly killed reindeer, and the voice told 

 her to eat of it. Very quickly she got some of the brushwood that grew 

 all about, made a fire, and ate heartily of the roasted flesh. The giant 

 spoke again : " I know you wish a place in which to rest, and it is best 

 for you to go into my beard where it grows most thickly, for I wish to 

 take breath now and to clear from my lungs the hoarfrost which has 

 gathered there and which bothers me; so go quickly." 



