52 A Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-18 



should die if I did, and should never reach the top, so I kept on and on, and at 

 last I reached it." Now at last his wife believed him. Her old mother said to her : 

 "Perhaps your husband is hungry and would like something to eat." So his 

 wife went outside and brought in some food — berries and a few small fish, for, 

 being ducks, they had no seal or caribou meat. Her husband was not used to 

 this kind of food and ate but little, but when his wife's mother asked him if he 

 had finished he said, "Yes, I have eaten plenty." Then they settled down to talk 

 and his wife's father said to him: "You know, in your country there is an 

 abundance of everything; plenty of caribou, plenty of seals, plenty of white 

 fish, plenty of white ducks, plenty of willows, plenty of wind; sometimes it is 

 very hot, sometimes very cold; everything is in abundance." The young man 

 said, "Yes, that is so." And the old man continued, "Well, how long do you 

 expect to stay here?" "I don't know," answered the young man. The old man 

 went on talking and said, "Sometimes strange people come here to attack us, so 

 we have to keep watch." 



The young man settled down with his wife and her people. One day a 

 villager went outside, and, looking around as usual, saw a dark cloud like smoke 

 coming down from the mountain. He watched it come nearer and nearer until 

 at last he could distinguish what it was — a host of duck Eskimos. The vil- 

 lagers turned out to oppose them, and a great battle ensued. The young man 

 — the only real man amongst them all — looked round for a weapon with which 

 to help his wife's people. He found a stick and laid about him mightily, slaying 

 the enemy by hundreds. All day he pursued them ruthlessly, and ceased at 

 night only because he was tired out. Some of the slain he took home with him, 

 and said to his old mother-in-law: "Cook some of these ducks for me. I've, 

 been hungry for ever so long." But the old woman said: "No, no, we don't 

 eat that kind of meat; I don't want to cook them." "Well, but I like them," 

 he rejoined. "Well then, I'll cook them outside away from the house," said 

 the old woman. So she cooked them outside, and the young man went outside 

 and ate them. "They were fine," he said when he came in again, "I had an 

 excellent meal from them and am not hungry any more." 



He stayed in that place for some time longer, and his wife bore him another 

 son. Then he said, "I shall return to my home again. My wife and her baby, 

 they shall come with me, but the boy and the girl shall stay here." His pareUts- 

 in-law asked: "When will you be coming back again?" "I don't know," he 

 said; "Perhaps we shall never come back at all. It is a very long way." So 

 he departed with his wife and baby. 



Cf. No. 64. 



24. The Loon's Brides 

 (Told by Fred, an Eskimo of Nome, Alaska) 



Long ago there lived at Tapqaq a man, his wife, and their one daughter, a 

 girl of marriageable years. Her parents often urged her to take a husband, 

 and there were indeed many youths who sought her hand; but always she 

 declined, saying that she did not want a husband, but was well content to live 

 as she was. One day there came to the village two young men dressed in fine fur 

 clothes. The girl was outside at the time playing ball with the other women. 

 The young men approached her and said "Hallo" {tiayayat/a). The girl ans- 

 wered, "Hallo. Will you go inside?" They entered the house and greeted her 

 parents. The mother brought out some seal meat and whitefish and began to 

 prepare a meal for them, while her husband questioned them as to whence 

 they came. But they merely answered "O, our country is a long way from 

 here; we do not know how you would name it." They ate a hearty meal, 

 although one of them could not take his eyes off the girl, so greatly did he admire 

 her. A little later he said to his companion, "I'm going to have her for my wife." 

 But the other said, "No, I am," and a dispute arose between them. At last 



