Copper Eskimo Traditions 85 A 



to drive away all the deer and kill off the people." Then her husband was 

 afraid of her and transformed himself into a bearded seal; but the woman 

 transformed herself into a white fish (qdd'luyaq) and pursued him. She fought 

 him under the water and obliged him to take refuge out on the beach. Before 

 leaving the water, he took off his bearded seal coat and left it in the water, 

 going up on to the land naked. The woman white fish seized the coat and made 

 it sink so that the man was unable to resume it, but had to remain naked and 

 helpless on the land until finally he starved to death. The woman went away 

 to another country and brought many musk-oxen to Kilusiktok to take the place 

 of the caribou which the man had driven away. Now she lives in the water 

 and makes the weather fine and sometimes helps the Eskimos with their sealing.' 

 Thereafter the natives of Kilusiktok lived on musk-oxen, but at the present 

 time these are becoming scarcer. However, the caribou are returning to the 

 country in great numbers, so that the Eskimos can still procure plenty of food. 



1 The narrator had forgotten her name. 



85. The Contest of the Shamans 

 (Told by Uloqsaq) 



A Netsilik man named Pannaq and an Utkusiksalik man named Naniligag 

 once met out on the ice. One said to the other, "You are no shaman;" so they 

 agreed to have a trial of strength. Pannaq changed himself into a polar bear, 

 and the other man into a musk-ox. The musk-ox strove to pierce the bear with 

 his horns, but his adversary jumped about, snapping with his teeth and striking 

 out with his paws. Once he succeeded in biting the musk-ox, but the latter 

 turned and ripped open his fiank with his horn. Then the musk-ox said, "You 

 will never be able to get the better of me, so we had better change into human 

 beings again." They did so, but the Netsilik man retained the wound in the 

 side which he had received during the fight, and died shortly afterwards. His 

 people wanted to kill Naniligaq in revenge, but they were afraid to attack him. 

 Soon afterwards he returned to his home, where he still lives. 



86. The Girl's Bbaid 

 (Told by Ikpakhuaq) 

 A shaman, desiring to bewitch a girl, said: 

 qauciapa'lum pd'nia oyaja'yoX-e oyaja'yoX-e 

 "Qausiapaluk's daughter, turn into a stone, turn into a stone." 

 One of the girl's braids forthwith turned to stone. She said to her father : 

 tu-yXi'rjma mai'ya I'y'kua oyaya't/ulialune'-ktoq 

 "One of my two braids has turned to stone." 

 So the father took a knife and cut it off 



87. Kimaktun 

 (Told by Uloqsaq) 



There is a lake which is called Kimaktun, after a man who was killed beside 

 it. He camped beside this lake one summer with his wife and child and one or 

 two other families. His father, Natkulisaq, a great shaman, had gone to another 

 land, but one day with a number of other people he flew through the air to his 

 son's camp. There he and some of his party made a great fire, using their 

 companions and some of the party of Kimaktun for fuel. Arnangnaq, a com- 

 panion of Kimaktun, attempted to shoot some of the aggressors through his 

 tent door, but his tent caught fire and burned him up before he could launch 

 his shafts. Kimaktun then rushed out, knife in hand, and killed some of his 

 assailants, but he too was burned in the flames.^ Natkulisaq and his allies then 



1 According to Higilaq^ it was fire from heaven that came down and burned up Kimaktun a^d his party. It left 

 a large hole in the ground. 



