Alaskan and Mackenzie Delta Traditions 53 a 



the father said, "Well, my daughter can't marry both of you;" so they stopped 

 arguing for a time. When it was bed-time the girl slept over on one side of the 

 house and the two youths on the other, with the father and mother between 

 them. Hardly had they lain down when the youths renewed their dispute. 

 "I'm going to make her my wife very soon," said one. "No, you're not. I 

 am," retorted the other. The father told them to be quiet and go to sleep, but 

 every now and then the. dispute would break out afresh. In the morning, after 

 breakfast, the boys and girls played football on the beach, and the two youths 

 joined them. During the game one of the youths took a fancy to another girl 

 who was playing, and said to her, "Come here." "What do you want?" she 

 replied. "I want to talk to you. Come over here." "Well, what is it you 

 want?" "Tell me, where is your father's house?" "There it is up on the hill." 

 "Well, I'm going up there by and by." "All right," replied the girl. So for 

 the remainder of the time that they stayed in the village, one youth lived in 

 one house and one in the other. One night one of the girls woke up and fancied 

 that she saw something like a black-throated loon (qaqayuayuk) , but, as it 

 disappeared almost immediately, she thought she must have been mistaken 

 and went to sleep again. After a few days the youths decided to return home, 

 so after breakfast one morning they set out, taking their brides with them. 

 They walked all the morning without stopping, but in the afternoon the girls 

 became very tired. Their husbands said, "Sit on our backs and close your eyes; 

 mind you don't look, but hold on tight." So the girls mounted on their husbands' 

 backs, closed their eyes, and gripped tight. Immediately they heard a noise like 

 the steady flapping of wings and felt themselves rising into the air. Soon they 

 were told to alight, and, opening their eyes, they found themselves outside a 

 small house; but when they went inside they were surprised to find nothing 

 there. "Our husbands are no good," they said to each other. "Here we are 

 with nothing to eat, no skins to lie on, nothing at all." All that night they were 

 cold and hungry, and unable to sleep. In the morning the young men went out 

 to hunt seals, as they said, and their wives had to stay at home with nothing 

 to do except weep. They went outside to see if there was any place to which 

 they could flee, but on three sides they wei^e surrounded by the sea and on the 

 fourth a steep mountain rendered escape impossible; so they went inside again 

 and wept. At dark their husbands returned. "Here is some seal meat," said 

 one, throwing down some dung. 'Cook that and eat." The other threw down 

 some rotten pieces of skin and told his wife that was for her to eat. The poor 

 girls burst into tears, and said, "We can't eat that. We are not used to that 

 kind of food;" and again they had to go to bed hungry. The next day the 

 youths went away again, leaving their wives at home. The girls heard a noise 

 in the afternoon. Presently an old woman entered the house; her teeth, they 

 noticed, were like a fox's. "It's a wicked shame," she said, "For your husbands 

 to treat you like this; they are not men, they are loons." The poor girls began 

 to cry bitterly. "How shall we escape? How can we get back to Tapqaq? 

 There is no way out of here; we shall just die." The old woman left them still 

 weeping, and a few minutes later they saw a red fox running up the side of the 

 mountain. At dark their husbands returned, bringing the same kind of food as 

 before, which the girls again refused to eat. Escape was impossible; they died 

 of starvation, and their husbands ate their bodies. 



25. The Black Bear's Foster-child 

 (Told by Jennie Thomsen, an Eskimo of Cape Prince of Wales) 



In the neighbourhood of Teller there once lived a man and his four daughters, 

 the eldest of whom was married and shortly expecting a child. It was summer, 

 and the man told his daughters to go out and gather berries. They had gone 

 some distance when heavy rain began to fall. The married woman said to her 

 sisters, "Here is a bear's cave; let us take shelter icside. If a bear comes we 



