Translations 39 a 



time, and another youth entered. This one wore clothes fringed with wolverine 

 fur. He sat down beside the first youth and said to him, "You may have got here 

 before me, but I am going to marry the girl, not you." "No, you are not," 

 the other replied, and the two began to wrangle. Then the girl's father told 

 them that if they wanted to quarrel they had better go outside; so they both 

 got up and went out. Presently the family within the hut heard heavy stamp- 

 ing up and down outside. However, they took no notice, and after a time the 

 noise died away, so they all went to bed. 



In the morning the girl saw two tracks outside, one a wolf's, the other a 

 wolverine's. They were covered with blood stains, and when she followed them 

 along, she saw something black ahead of her. It was a wolverine, dead; there 

 "was a great gash visible in its side. She went home and told her parents, and 

 her father warned her not to go away. They sat up that night, and about the 

 same time as the two youths had appeared the previous evening, they heard 

 the sound of footsteps again. Then a man entered, and he too had clothes 

 fringed with wolf fur; but he was not a young man. As soon as he came in he 

 said, "My son is very ill, so I came to get your daughter. He may be dead 

 already, so it is no use wasting time here talking over the matter." The two 

 old people were unable to travel themselves, but they agreed to let the girl go, 

 though they said that she couldn't walk very far, and asked if he had brought 

 a sled. He said he had not, but when he left with the girl, he took her hand and 

 led her inland. Then as soon as they were out of sight of the house, he put her 

 on his back and, warning her not to look about, started to run; only, as he ran, 

 the motion became more like galloping. At last he set her down just as it was 

 growing light, and, taking her hand, dragged her along until they reached the 

 house. There he drew her down into the long passage, and they entered. In 

 the rear of the hut sat the son, with his back towards them. "Am I too late 

 after all?" said his father; but at the sound of his words the youth looked 

 around, and, seeing both his father and his bride, he smiled. Then his mother 

 said, "Let the bride take charge of his food and feed her future husband." 

 The father told his wife to bring in some clothes, so she went out and after a time 

 brought in some fine clothing. They stripped off the old clothes that the girl 

 was wearing, and gave her the new ones to put on, after which she took over 

 the care of her husband. 



The young man was woefully thin, but after a time he began to walk again, 

 and soon was able to resume caribou hunting. Then his parents bade them 

 return to his wife's father and mother, for they thought they might be in want 

 of food. So the young man made ready his sled. First he set a load of caribou 

 meat on it, then laid deer skins in the middle, and made a kind of tent for his 

 wife to sit in. When all was ready, he placed her inside, warning her not to 

 look around. At first they travelled rather- slowly, but soon their speed greatly 

 increased. After a time he bade her aUght, and they walked on a little farther, 

 until, just as dawn was breaking, they saw her parents' home. As soon as they 

 reached it, they went inside, and told the old people that they had brought 

 them some food, whereupon the old man bade his daughter bring some in off 

 the sled. She then went out and brought some in. When they got up in the 

 morning, the young man wanted to go hunting, but before he left he warned 

 them not to go outside about noon. They therefore stayed indoors at that 

 time, and after a while he came in with the news that he had killed some deer 

 close' by. Her parents went over and found five caribou lying in a row one 

 beyond the other, so they cut them up and stored them away. The young man 

 was very successful in his caribou hunting, but never managed to secure any 

 seals. How, indeed, could he be expected to seal, when he had always lived on 

 the land? But his father-in-law gave him his own sealing weapons, and taught 

 him to seal as he himself used to in his younger days. After that the young man 

 would go down to the sea, spear a bearded seal and drag it home with a special 

 harness that he made for the purpose. 



