Eskimo String Figures 



63 b 



At the sound of p-r-r-r-r in the chant release the thumb loops, 

 'two men" facing each other. 



You have 



Fig. 69 



Hold the left hand out, the right hand in, and say: 

 e-e piUktayyada uma Uyyia I'm going to shoot that bird, Tmade it fly. 



Now hold the right hand out and the left hand in and say: 



uvatjaptauq miluktayyacia I'm going to hit it with a stone too, even 



hyytn if you did make it fly. 



Again hold the left hand out and say: 



qa dtatin cowilaq Your grandfather has no knife 



(sneeringly). 

 Right hand out : 



qa ataUn cowiqa-toq coqa-mik Your grandfather has a knife made of 



whalebone. 



Your grandfather has no boat. 



Your grandfather's boat is made of 

 rotten boot-soles. 



Well, let's fight it out. 



Left hand out: 



qa ataUn umiayilaq 



Right hand out: 



qa dtahn umidqa-toq netikamun 



Left hand out: 



ki tiuluyukjnluk 



Then "the two men" begin to fight. 



Push the index loops through each other three times; this indicates the 

 men fighting. 



Now hold the index loops up high, drawing all the strings very tight. Pass 

 the right thumb into the middle of the figure just below the tangled strings, 

 and drop the index- loops. "The two men" have become "two sticks," one on 

 each side of the thumb, running down to the little fingers {navayiayautak) . 



(I am not sure from my notes of the exact position of the thumb, conse- 

 quently the figure for the two sticks is uncertain). 



Dropping the little finger loops, pull out the two lower transverse strings 

 with the left thumb in one direction and the right thumb in the other. The 

 figure breaks up — a spirit has carried off the men. {tunyay neydkik.) 



