Translations 37 A 



One day the boy heard that the son of the younger chief had failed to 

 return. So he asked his grandmother, "Grandmother, do you know whether 

 there are any other settlements in our neighbourhood?" "No," the old woman 

 answered, "I don't know of any." "The people in this place are a useless lot," 

 continued the boy; "The young men are afraid to go out and find out what is 

 happening." "What!" said his grandmother, "Do you think you could do any 

 better than they?" And the boy answered, "Well, as long as I don't encounter 

 an invisible spirit, I at least shall not be killed." The old woman had told him 

 that she did riot know whether there were any other settlements; but now, 

 thinking that it did not matter much whether he escaped alive or not, she said 

 to him, "There are people living on an island, and amongst them is a man named 

 Inuqaqnailaq ("onp with whom others cannot live," i.e., a cut-throat). If 

 you travel eastward you will see the dark land-sky." The boy merely said 

 "Oh," and went away to the younger chief's house. "Chief," he said, 'I want 

 to go and look for the man who killed your son, but I have no clothes." The 

 chief was weeping for the death of his son and did not hear him, so the boy 

 spoke to him again. Then the man told his daughter to bring in some of his 

 own clothes, and the girl went out and brought him in some new garments. But 

 the boy said again, "I want some soft clothes as well." The chief invited him 

 to stay and eat, but he declined. However, the daughter gave him some good 

 fawn-skin clothing, whereupon he took his departure towards evening, carrying 

 his old clothes along with hiin. 



He journeyed by night, but one morning he examined the route ahead of 

 him and travelled all that day, until towards evening he came upon men's 

 tracks in. the snow, one following the other. He looked out to sea, and saw a 

 dark land-sky, so, remembering his grandmother's words, he travelled towards 

 it. After a time he came in sight of land, and stopped to put on his soft warm 

 clothes. Then, leaving his other new suit behind, he continued his journey. As 

 he drew near the island -he heard people playing foot-ball, so he put on his old 

 clothes. They saw him, and came running towards him, hallooing to one 

 another, "There's a man over there." One was a long way ahead of the rest, 

 and as soon as he came up he cried, "Oh, I thought the stranger was some fine- 

 looking man and it's this rascal." The rest said the same when they came up. 

 Then they all turned back to the settlement, the men merely walking, though 

 the boy was compelled to run to keep up with them. One man came up to him 

 and said, "What is it you want? You were all right in your home. You are 

 not frozen, are you?" But the orphan asked him, "What has become of the 

 chief's son? That is what I came to find out." "Inuqaqnailaq killed him the 

 other day," the other man replied. They were still talking on that subject when 

 they reached the settlement. There the orphan put on his fine soft clothes, so 

 that people said to one another, "That boy has fine clothes." He told them that 

 the chief had given them to him just as he was leaving. 



One of the men then invited him over to his house to eat, and the boy 

 accepted. Going inside,- they found a woman cutting up black-skin (i.e. the 

 skin of the whale) . She gave some Of it to the boy, and he was still eating when 

 two men called from outside, "Inuqaqnailaq wants to see the orphan." "Very 

 well," the boy responded. These two men expressed great sympathy for him, 

 and before he went over they told him to be on his guard. The boy stood and 

 watched them enter the house first, then entered himself and stood on the 

 floor beside the door. Up on the platform, lying on top of the skins, were 

 Inuqaqnailaq and his son, Samkpah. Inuqaqnailaq said to the boy, "I thought 

 it was some fine-looking stranger who had come, and it's this rascal. What 

 idea did you have in mind that brought you?" The orphan told him that he 

 wa;nted to find out what had become of the chief's son, whereupon Inuqaqnailaq 

 answered, "Oh, the dogs have eaten him, and they are going to eat you too." 

 "No," said the boy, "It's you and your son that they will eat." "Indeed," 

 -replied Inuqaqnailaq, "Wouldn't our visitor become a great man if they did? 



