64 A Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-18 



too." Then the boy thought to himself, "Why did everyone over there ask me 

 if I were a shaman? I am not a shaman, but if they are going to call me a 

 shaman, I may as well act like one." So he sat down in the middle of the floor 

 and called, "My spirit, help me." Every one remained silent, watching to see 

 what would happen. Presently the floor turned into ice and a seal appeared, 

 which he speared, cut up and distributed among the people for them to eat. 

 Similarly he obtained white-fish and caribou. Thereafter all the people of his 

 village were afraid of him, for he was now a great shaman. 



34. The Woman and her Grandfather's Skull 

 (Told by Angotdsiaq, an Eskimo of Point Hope) 



Long ago a man and his wife lived on one bank of a small river, while on 

 the opposite bank were the woman's father and her four brothers with their 

 families. For a while her husband killed plenty of caribou, then he began to return 

 home empty-handed. "I have wandered all over the hills," he would tell his 

 wife, "And have found no caribou." One day when he returned home after 

 dark unsuccessful again, his wife looked into the quiver that he had left outside 

 the house. There she saw four arrows tipped with the nails from four little 

 fingers, which she immediately recognized as her brothers'. She wept over 

 them for a time, then wiped her eyes and went inside without letting her hus- 

 band know what she had discovered. In the morning, when she arose to cook 

 the breakfast as usual, she sharpened her big knife, saying to herself, "My 

 husband is sound asleep, presently I shall kill him." She went into the kitchen 

 (iya) for a while, and when she came back her husband was still sleeping, so she 

 picked up her knife and cut his throat; then she crossed the river to her brothers' 

 home and went inside. There were her brothers all stretched out dead; dead 

 too were their wives and children and the woman's father; her husband had slain 

 them every one, and taken the little finger nails from all the men. She wept, 

 then gathered up their quivers, their beads {cuyauydt), their wolverine and 

 wolf skins and everything that was of value, for they had been very prosperous. 

 She packed them all into a kayak and started off down stream. All day she 

 travelled, carried along by the swirling waters. Towards evening she heard a 

 voice calling "My grandchild, my grandchild, come and look at me;" so she 

 turned the kayak ashore and landed, drawing her boat up on to the bank. 

 Climbing the bluff, she looked all around, but saw nothing. She heard the 

 voice again, this time saying, "My grandchild, you almost stepped on me." 

 Then she noticed a small mound of turf and, kicking off the top, found a man's 

 head underneath. It said to her, "My grandchild, you see that big village down 

 stream there at the first point. Those people are very wicked; they never 

 hunt caribou or any other kind of game, but feed on men all the time. By and 

 by you will see them. But at the second point beyond them is another large 

 village and there the people are good; they eat caribou and never kill men. 

 Start out in the night, and when the first people are about to seize and kill you, 

 think of me. I have a sister at the second village living with her grandchild, 

 and she has a large dog of which these near villagers are afraid." 



So the woman set out about midnight and kept close to the bank, holding 

 on to the trees to check the speed of her kayak. The wicked people were asleep, 

 all except one man who came out of his house and saw her passing. He gave 

 the alarm, and the people rushed out and pursued her. They had almost over- 

 taken her when she thought of her grandfather — the skull which was buried in 

 the ground. Immediately she fell into a profound sleep, and when she awoke 

 she found herself lying alongside of him. "Ah, my grandchild," he said to her, 

 "You were very slow in thinking about me." "Yes," she said, "I was." "Well 

 then," he continued, "Start out again at midday. By and by when you are safe 

 you will plant a stick in the ground and fasten to it a little blubber and a deer- 

 skin and some beads. That is all that I want." So she started out at midday, 



