Language and Folklore. 217 
nat it-ino 7 He was their equal. 
Ри tv Pon 8 (the bird's voice) 
a&”tararawun ima:nin 9 We are used to row out on the sea 
паёи:1)о 10 То measure ourselves with them (?) 
a tarara nol 11 We are used to go out there, one says. 
NOTES. — 1. gorcuk ог qorcoq (= ipersior, cf. no. 21 В 1.2) is, according 
to Kuannia, = WGr. kus'åt ak ‘wheat-ear’. — 6. What is meant by this, ac- 
cording to Kuannia, is a sort of Inorustsit, who are sometimes the angakok’s 
assistant spirits. Cf. egiyawog, WGr. equyawog ‘has a wry mouth or a wry 
neck.’ — 9-11. According to Kuannia the meaning is that “we and those wry- 
mouth-trolls rowed out on the sea simultaneously, to catch seals.” — 7. and 
10. nåtitino. The meaning is that the son’s efficiency is comparable with that 
of the wry-mouthed ones, and that they are of about equal strength. 
No. 20. The Ptarmigan. 
Qiwinaraaq (DD and Phon.). 
It is spring, the ptarmigan struts in the snow on a small plain in front 
of the winter hut, with red eyelids (as they are in pairing time), with up- 
turned beak, with crop and intestines filled with vegetable food, and there- 
fore juicy and fat (the Greenlanders set a special value on this delicacy). 
Look at it! Look at the small hole in its posterior, the entrance and exit for 
the soul of the human being or animal. The ptarmigan has got a soul, like a 
human being. 
This poem, which in the East Greenland form is purely recitative with 
regular pitch and rhythm, is of very old origin, as variants of it are also 
found in the northern parts of the west coast. In 1901 I recorded three 
similar poems from different places in North Greenland and published them 
among my contributions to the Eskimos’ folk-lore.! Later I found a variant 
from South Greenland in a manuscript in the Royal Library, dating from 
Hans Egede’s time (cf. p.207). A comparison of all these variants makes it 
quite clear? that the ‘human being’ which the East Greenland version, and 
this one alone, mentions at the beginning of the song is to be understood 
as being a ptarmigan in human transformation. 
al”na eon 1 Look, there’s a human being 
pisit:on 
nersa‘ita: kin 
ND 
Who's walking 
3 Over the dear little plain, 
apuka:ta:kin 4 Through the new fallen snow! 
sike ne macala'ca:n&æn 5 With his snout about to scale off all over 
| (or: bent right upwards?) 
akiwartidc: iaq 6 He has a rather large stomach, 
e-aliwartidc: iaq 7 He has rather heavy intestines, 
akiwa, e:aliwa 
0.0) 
His stomach, his entrails — 
1 Phon Study, p. 289. 
2 Cf. Festschrift Vilhelm Thomsen (1912), pp. 111, (117)—120. 
