66 A Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-18 



the sealskin, on the drying frame {in-itat). The people living in the house wanted 

 to open it up and look at it, but the mother, before going out, would not let 

 them, saying, "No, it is better that you should not see it." Suddenly as she was 

 cooking outside she heard a loud report and a cry ma-a mwa. She rushed inside 

 and found all the inmates cut in two; they had tried to open up the baby and 

 it had killed them. 



This made the mother more careful than ever not to unwrap her child. 

 She stayed but a short time in that place, then took the child on her back and 

 went away along the coast. She reached some people and arranged to stay with 

 them. They too wanted to see her baby, but she told them "No, it is better not 

 to look at it; it has already killed others who tried to see it." However, while 

 she was outside the house cooking, and had left it on the drying frame, they too 

 tried to unwrap it and were killed in. the same way. The mother was so alarmed 

 and distressed that she left the place without eating' at all, and wandered about 

 with the stone baby on her back until she was tired out and very hungry. She 

 saw some caribou and said to herself: "I wonder how I can get something to 

 eat — I am very hungry." She laid the baby on the ground behind her back and, 

 without looking at it, removed its wrapping; then she went off to one side. 

 After a time the caribou approached the baby and looked at it. Immediately 

 they were all cut in two and fell dead. The woman returned, recovered her 

 child and wrapped it up again without looking at it. For a long time she stayed 

 there, living on the caribou, but at last all her meat was consumed and she had 

 to move on. She went down to the sea and saw a house. No one was about, 

 so she went inside and sat down. There was plenty of food in the house, but' 

 she was afraid to touch it lest its owner might be angry and kill her. She waited 

 a long time, then at last a man appeared — a powerful shaman who had already 

 killed many people. He said to the woman, "You had better stay with me 

 and be my wife." When they rose in the morning the man wanted to see her 

 baby. "You had better not see it," the woman told him. "It has already killed 

 a great many people who tried to look at it." A few minutes later she laid it 

 on the drying frame and went outside to cook. Soon she heard a loud report 

 and the cry ma-a ma-a, then a hard crash inside the house; the earth too began 

 to rock up and down like the waves of the sea. After a moment or two it ceased, 

 and everything was still again. The woman looked all round for her baby, 

 but could not find it. At last, after searching about for a long time, she found 

 it, but the shaman had been so powerful and the struggle so tremendous that 

 the wrapping had been torn off and the woman herself was killed by the sight 

 of her own child. 



D. MISCELLANEOUS TALES 



36. The Giants 



(Told by Angotitsiaq, an Eskimo of Point Hope) 



There once hved at Point Hope {Tikiraq) an Eskimo who was very short 

 but very strong. He heard that somewhere there were three giants, two women 

 and a man, so he set out eastward to find them. One day he saw a giant down 

 below him on the sea ice; he was spearing white whales (beluga) from the top 

 of an ice keg. The Eskimo climbed on to a higher keg above him, broke off a 

 lump of ice, and threw it down on his head; but the giant merely said, without 

 looking up, "It's beginning to snow." The Eskimo broke off a larger piece and 

 let it drop. Now the giant looked up and saw him. "Hallo, my nephew," he 

 said, "Where do you come from?" "From Point Hope," he rephed. "I want 

 to see you." So the giant gathered up in one hand two whales that he had 

 speared, and took his guest home with him. There were two houses, both very 

 large, but one was larger than the other. The giant led him inside the smaller 

 house and began to cook one of the white whales, broiling it over the fire. He 



