BOAS.] SUNDRY TALKS. 639 



mies had retii-ed to their liouscs. tln' ui.hliii hail a Imin talk with her son — now well 

 grown in years — telling; liini thai wi.lM.I mni wrrr al.oiit to kill him, and that the 

 only way to save his litV' ami hers wa^. tm- I urn t(i nocilVanil not return. At the same 

 time she begged him not to go so far that she could not %\ aniler off and meet him, and 

 get from him a seal or something else which she might need. The bear, after list- 

 ening to what she said with tears streaming down her furrowed cheeks, gently 

 placed one huge paw on her head, aad 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 cliildren 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 hm-ry away and get some- 

 thing 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, w-as 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 

 liluhber. and telling him that she would soon retmn for the meat, which she could 

 not at first carry to her house, an 1 when her supply should again fail she would 

 comeback for his help. Tliis she continued to do for "a long, long time," the 

 faithful bear always serving her and receiving the same unbroken hjve of his youth. 



SUNDRY TALES. 



(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. 223). 



(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 e.xclaimed, pointing to Kamingujang, "There he blows," 

 nuikiiii; liis enemy believe that a whale was passing up the fjord 

 and iiidnciiii;- lihn to look out for it. Then he killed him from behind, 

 piercing him with the spear. 



(o) At Qognung, near tlie hetul of Nettilling Fjord, there is a large 

 white stone ou each side of the fjord, somewhat resembling a bear. 

 It is said that these stones have been bears which, being pursued by 

 an Eskimo in the water, escaped to the land, but were transformed 

 into these stones. 



(4) A long time ago a dead boy was buried under a hirge stone. Be- 

 fore his relatives had returned to their liut tlie body was transformed 

 into a hare, which jumped forth from the tomb. All hares come 

 from this animal. 



