Legends and Tales from Angmagsalik. 295 



father said to him: "What do you mean by never going out in 

 your kaiak?" The next morning he rowed up the fjord. He saw 

 an eider-duck, wliich he caught, went up to a naze, scraped the 

 blubber off its skin, and ate it. When he had doubled the naze, he 

 saw a pregnant Kobajak^), who was digging in reddish sand. She 

 had nails of iron. As she dug, clouds of dust flew up, and, when 

 she had dug in the sand for some time, she looked out to sea. As 

 he approached , lie took out his knife, went up to her, and asked : 

 "What are you about"? "It is something to get children on", she 

 replied. "What are you watching for?" "I am watching for my 

 husband who went out in a kaiak two days ago and has not come 

 home yet". He now told her to go on with her digging, and when 

 she set to work again, he stabbed her in the belly with the knife, 

 so that she toppled down. 



Before she died, he cut the child out of her womb. It was a 

 little Kobajak, that had nails of iron, and which he said he would 

 use as his assistant. He carried it down to the shore, and stuck it 

 in the kaiak. When he set off", a thick fog came on, and after some 

 time he found himself back at the place from which he had started. 

 He rowed out again; but again he came back to the same spot. 

 He rowed out three times, but each time he found himself back in 

 the same place, and, when he tried to step on shore, he found he 

 could not get out of the kaiak , and perceived there was some- 

 thing moving at the back of it. It was the little Kobajak which was 

 holding him and scratching his back, so that he died, and it gobbled 

 him up. 



42. SIETEREVARSUSUAK AND KOBALUARSUSUAK 



told by Angitinguak. 



These were two cousins who lived on a large island. Kobaluarsu- 

 suak lived further in than Sieterevarsusuak. They were both unmarried, 

 and the latter, who had no kaiak, wanted to marry his first cousin. 

 When Kobaluarsusuak returned home from hunting, he generallj'^ 

 came towing two walruses. He used to row past his cousin's house 

 and call to him to come over to him. 



Sieterevarsusuak then went over land to his cousin, and, w^hen 

 the walruses were divided, he would get one side of them as his share. 



Kobajak — 'pot-bellied woman'. The}' are said to live many together. Tlie 

 West Greenlanders' name for these creatures is: Narrajok. 



