Eskimo Folk Tales E-Book

W. J. Alexander Worster

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 211

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

These stories were collected in various parts of Greenland, taken down from the lips of the Eskimo story tellers themselves, by Knud Rasmussen, the Danish explorer. No man is better qualified to tell the story of Greenland, or the stories of its people. Knud Rasmussen is himself partly of Eskimo origin; his childhood was spent in Greenland, and to Greenland he returned again and again, studying, exploring, crossing the desert of the inland ice, making unique collections of material, tangible and otherwise, from all parts of that vast and little known land, and his achievements on these various expeditions have gained for him much honour and the appreciation of many learned societies.

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Published by BoD - Books on Demand, NorderstedtISBN: 9783748111771

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Table of contents

Introduction

The Two Friends Who Set Off to Travel Round the World

The Coming of Men, A Long, Long While Ago

Nukúnguasik, Who Escaped from the Tupilak1

Qujâvârssuk

The Woman Who Had a Bear As a Foster-Son

Ímarasugssuaq, Who Ate His Wives

Qalagánguasê, Who Passed to the Land of Ghosts

Isigâligârssik

The Insects that Wooed a Wifeless Man

The Very Obstinate Man

The Dwarfs

The Boy from the Bottom of the Sea, Who Frightened the People of the House to Death

The Raven and the Goose

When the Ravens Could Speak

Makíte

Asalôq

Ukaleq

Íkardlítuarssuk

The Raven Who Wanted a Wife

The Man Who Took a Vixen to Wife

The Great Bear

The Man Who Became a Star

The Woman with the Iron Tail

How the Fog Came

The Man Who Avenged the Widows

The Man Who Went Out to Search for His Son

Atungait, Who Went A-Wandering

Kumagdlak and the Living Arrows

The Giant Dog

The Inland-Dwellers of Etah

The Man Who Stabbed His Wife in the Leg

The Soul that Lived in the Bodies of All Beasts

Papik, Who Killed His Wife’s Brother

Pâtussorssuaq, Who Killed His Uncle

The Men Who Changed Wives

Artuk, Who Did All Forbidden Things

The Thunder Spirits

Nerrivik

The Wife Who Lied

Kâgssagssuk, The Homeless Boy Who Became a Strong Man

Qasiagssaq, The Great Liar

The Eagle and the Whale

The Two Little Outcasts

Atdlarneq, The Great Glutton

Ángángŭjuk

Âtârssuaq

Puagssuaq

Tungujuluk and Saunikoq

Anarteq

The Guillemot that Could Talk

Kánagssuaq

Introduction

These stories were collected in various parts of Greenland, taken down from the lips of the Eskimo story tellers themselves, by Knud Rasmussen, the Danish explorer.No man is better qualified to tell the story of Greenland, or the stories of its people. Knud Rasmussen is himself partly of Eskimo origin; his childhood was spent in Greenland, and to Greenland he returned again and again, studying, exploring, crossing the desert of the inland ice, making unique collections of material, tangible and otherwise, from all parts of that vast and little known land, and his achievements on these various expeditions have gained for him much honour and the appreciation of many learned societies.But it is as an interpreter of native life, of the ways and customs of the Eskimos, that he has done his greatest work. “Kunúnguaq”—that is his native name—is known throughout the country and possesses the confidence of the natives to a superlative degree, forming himself, as it were, a link between them and the rest of the world. Such work, as regards its hither side, must naturally consist to a great extent of scientific treatises, collections of facts and specimens, all requiring previous knowledge of the subject for their proper comprehension. These have their great value as additions to the sum of human knowledge, but they remain unknown to the majority of men. The present volume is designed to be essentially a popular, as distinct from a scientific work.The original collection of stories and legends made by Knud Rasmussen under the auspices of the Carlsberg Foundation has never yet been published. In making the present selection, I have endeavoured to choose those which are most characteristic and best calculated to give an idea of the life and thought of the people. The clearest variants have been chosen, and vague or doubtful passages omitted, so as to render the narratives easily understandable for the ordinary reader. In many cases also, the extreme outspokenness of the primitive people concerned has necessitated further editing, in respect of which, I can confidently refer any inclined to protest, to the unabridged English version, lodged with the Trustees of the Carlsberg Foundation in Copenhagen, for my defence. For the rest, I have endeavoured to keep as closely as possible to the spirit and tone of the originals, working from the Eskimo text and Knud Rasmussen’s Danish version side by side.The illustrations are by native Eskimo artists. They are not drawn to illustrate the particular stories, but represent typical scenes and incidents such as are there described. In the selection of these, preference has been given to those of unusual character, as for instance those dealing with the “tupilak” theme, and matters of wizardry or superstition generally, which the reader would find more difficult to visualize for himself than ordinary scenes of daily life.As regards their contents, the stories bring before us, more clearly, perhaps, than any objective study, the daily life of the Eskimos, their habit of thought, their conception of the universe, and the curious “spirit world” which forms their primitive religion or mythology.In point of form they are unique. The aim of the Eskimo story-teller is to pass the time during the long hours of darkness; if he can send his hearers to sleep, he achieves a triumph. Not infrequently a story-teller will introduce his chef-d’œuvre with the proud declaration that “no one has ever heard this story to the end.” The telling of the story thus becomes a kind of contest between his power of sustained invention and detailed embroidery on the one hand and his hearers’ power of endurance on the other. Nevertheless, the stories are not as interminable as might be expected; we find also long and short variants of the same theme. In the present selection, versions of reasonable length have been preferred. The themes themselves are, of course, capable of almost infinite expansion.In the technique of an ordinary novel there is a certain balance, or just proportion, between the amount of space devoted to the various items, scenes and episodes. The ordinary reader does not notice it as a rule, for the simple reason that it is always there. The Eskimo stories are magnificently heedless of such proportion. Any detail, whether of fact or fancy, can be expanded at will; a journey of many hundred miles may be summarized in a dozen words: “Then he went away to the Northward, and came to a place.” Thus with the little story of the Man who went out to search for his Son; the version here employed covers no more than a few pages, yet it is a record of six distinct adventures, threaded on to the main theme of the search. It is thus a parallel in brief to the “Wandering” stories popular in Europe in the Middle Ages, when any kind of journey served as the string on which to gather all sorts of anecdote and adventure. The story of Atungait, who goes on a journey and meets with lame people, left-handed people, and the like, is an example of another well-known classical and mediæval type.The mythical stories present some interesting features when compared with the beliefs and folk-lore of other peoples. The legend of the Men who travelled round the World is based on a conception of the world as round. There is the tradition of a deluge, but here supported by geological evidence which is appreciated by the natives themselves: i.e. the finding of mussel shells on the hills far inland. The principle of the tides is recognized in what is otherwise a fairy tale; “There will be no more ebb-tide or flood if you strangle me,” says the Moon Man to the Obstinate One.The constellation of the Great Bear is explained in one story, the origin of Venus in another. The spirits of the departed are “stellified” as seen in “The Coming of Men.” There seems to be a considerable intermingling of Christian culture and modern science in the general attitude towards life, but these foreign elements are coated over, as it were, like the speck of grit in an oyster, till they appear as concentrations of the native poetic spirit that forms their environment.We find, too, constant evidence of derivation from the earliest, common sources of all folk-lore and myth; parallels to the fairy tales and legends of other lands and other ages. There is a version of the Bluebeard theme in Ímarasugssuaq, “who, it is said, was wont to eat his wives.” Instances of friendship and affection between human beings and animals are found, as in the tale of the Foster-mother and the Bear. Various resemblances to well-known fairy tales are discernible in such stories as that of the Eagle and the Whale, where the brothers set out to rescue their sisters from the husbands who hold them captive. Here too, we encounter that ancient and classical expedient of fugitives; throwing out objects behind to check pursuit.The conception of the under-world, as shown in the story of Kúnigseq and others, is a striking example of this kinship with ancient and well-known legends. Kúnigseq comes to the land of shades, and meets there his mother, who is dead. But she must not kiss him, for “he is only here on a visit.” Or again: “If you eat of those berries, you will never return.” The under-world is partly an Elysium of existence without cares; partly Dantesque: “Bring ice when you come again, for we thirst for cold water down here.” And the traveller who has been away from earth for what seems an hour, finds that years of earthly time have passed when he returns.Spirits of the departed appearing to their kin upon earth do so with an injunction “not to tell.” (In England we write to the newspapers about them.) Magic powers or gifts are lost by telling others how they came. Spirit gifts are made subject to some condition of restraint: “Choose only one and no more.” “If you kill more than one seal to-day, you will never kill seal again hereafter.”The technique of the fairy tale is frequently apparent. One test fulfilled is followed by the demand for fulfilment of another. Qujâvârssuk, having found the skeleton as instructed, is then sent off to search for a lamb stone. This, of course, apart from its æsthetic value as retardation, is particularly useful to the story-teller aiming principally at length. We also find the common progression from one great or splendid thing to other greater or more splendid; a woman appears “even more finely dressed than on the day before.” English children will perhaps remember Hans Andersen’s dog with “eyes as big as saucers ... eyes as big as Rundetaarn.”The use of “magic power” is of very frequent occurrence; it seems, indeed, to be the generally accepted way of solving any difficulty. As soon as the hero has been brought into a situation from which no ordinary way of escape appears, it then transpires—as an afterthought—that he is possessed of magic powers, when the rest, of course, is easy. A delightful instance of the extent to which this useful faculty can be watered down and yet remain effective is seen in the case of the village where no wizard can be found to help in time of famine, until it is “revealed” that Íkardlítuarssuk “had formerly sat on the knee of one of those present when the wizards called up their helping spirits.” In virtue of which very distant connection he proceeds to magic away the ice.There is a general tendency towards anthropomorphic conception of supernatural beings. The Moon Man has his stock of harpoons like any mortal hunter; the Mountain Spirit has a wife and children. The life and domestic arrangements of “spirits” are mostly represented as very similar to those with which the story-teller and his hearers are familiar, much as we find, in early Italian paintings, Scriptural personages represented in the costume and environment of the artist’s own place and period.The style of narrative is peculiar. The stories open, as a rule, with some traditionally accepted gambit. “There was once a man ...” or “A fatherless boy lived in the house of the many brothers.” The ending may occasionally point a sort of moral, as in the case of Ukaleq, who after having escaped from a Magic Bear, “never went out hunting bear again.” But the usual form is either a sort of equivalent to “lived happily ever after,” or a frank and direct intimation: “Here ends this story,” or “That is all I know of so-and-so.” Some such hint is not infrequently necessary, since the “end” of a story often leaves considerable scope for further development.It is a characteristic feature of these stories that one never knows what is going to happen. Poetic justice is often satisfied, but by no means always (Kâgssagssuk). One or two of them are naïvely weak and lacking in incident; we are constantly expecting something to happen, but nothing happens ... still nothing happens ... and the story ends (Puagssuaq). It is sometimes difficult to follow the exact course of a conversation or action between two personages, owing to the inadequate “he” which is used for both.The story-teller, while observing the traditional form, does not always do so uncritically. Occasionally he will throw in a little interpolation of his own, as if in apology: “There was once a wifeless man—that is the way a story always begins.” Or the entertainer starts off in a cheerfully familiar style: “Well, it was the usual thing; there was a Strong Man, and he had a wife. And, of course, he used to beat her....”Here and there, too, a touch of explanation may be inserted. “This happened in the old days,” or “So men thought in the olden time.” There is a general recognition of the difference between old times and new. And the manner in which this difference is viewed reveals two characteristic attitudes of mind, the blending of which is apparent throughout the Eskimo culture of to-day. There is the attitude of condescension, the arrogant tolerance of the proselyte and the parvenu: “So our forefathers used to do, for they were ignorant folk.” At times, however, it is with precisely opposite view, mourning the present degeneration from earlier days, “when men were yet skilful rowers in ’kayaks,’ or when this or that might still be done ’by magic power.’”And it is here, perhaps, that the stories reach their highest poetic level. This regret for the passing of “the former age,” whether as an age of greater strength and virtue, greater courage and skill, or as the Golden Age of Romance, is a touching and most human trait. It gives to these poor Eskimo hunters, far removed from the leisure and security that normally precede the growth of art, a place among the poets of the world.W. W. Worster.

The Two Friends Who Set Off to Travel Round the World

Once there were two men who desired to travel round the world, that they might tell others what was the manner of it.This was in the days when men were still many on the earth, and there were people in all the lands. Now we grow fewer and fewer. Evil and sickness have come upon men. See how I, who tell this story, drag my life along, unable to stand upon my feet.The two men who were setting out had each newly taken a wife, and had as yet no children. They made themselves cups of musk-ox horn, each making a cup for himself from one side of the same beast’s head. And they set out, each going away from the other, that they might go by different ways and meet again some day. They travelled with sledges, and chose land to stay and live upon each summer.It took them a long time to get round the world; they had children, and they grew old, and then their children also grew old, until at last the parents were so old that they could not walk, but the children led them.And at last one day, they met—and of their drinking horns there was but the handle left, so many times had they drunk water by the way, scraping the horn against the ground as they filled them. “ The world is great indeed,” they said when they met.They had been young at their starting, and now they were old men, led by their children.Truly the world is great.

The Coming of Men, A Long, Long While Ago

Our forefathers have told us much of the coming of earth, and of men, and it was a long, long while ago. Those who lived long before our day, they did not know how to store their words in little black marks, as you do; they could only tell stories. And they told of many things, and therefore we are not without knowledge of these things, which we have heard told many and many a time, since we were little children. Old women do not waste their words idly, and we believe what they say. Old age does not lie.A long, long time ago, when the earth was to be made, it fell down from the sky. Earth, hills and stones, all fell down from the sky, and thus the earth was made.And then, when the earth was made, came men.It is said that they came forth out of the earth. Little children came out of the earth. They came forth from among the willow bushes, all covered with willow leaves. And there they lay among the little bushes: lay and kicked, for they could not even crawl. And they got their food from the earth.Then there is something about a man and a woman, but what of them? It is not clearly known. When did they find each other, and when had they grown up? I do not know. But the woman sewed, and made children’s clothes, and wandered forth. And she found little children, and dressed them in the clothes, and brought them home.And in this way men grew to be many.And being now so many, they desired to have dogs. So a man went out with a dog leash in his hand, and began to stamp on the ground, crying “Hok—hok—hok!” Then the dogs came hurrying out from the hummocks, and shook themselves violently, for their coats were full of sand. Thus men found dogs.But then children began to be born, and men grew to be very many on the earth. They knew nothing of death in those days, a long, long time ago, and grew to be very old. At last they could not walk, but went blind, and could not lie down.Neither did they know the sun, but lived in the dark. No day ever dawned. Only inside their houses was there ever light, and they burned water in their lamps, for in those days water would burn.But these men who did not know how to die, they grew to be too many, and crowded the earth. And then there came a mighty flood from the sea. Many were drowned, and men grew fewer. We can still see marks of that great flood, on the high hill-tops, where mussel shells may often be found.And now that men had begun to be fewer, two old women began to speak thus: “ Better to be without day, if thus we may be without death,” said the one. “ No; let us have both light and death,” said the other.And when the old woman had spoken these words, it was as she had wished. Light came, and death.It is said, that when the first man died, others covered up the body with stones. But the body came back again, not knowing rightly how to die. It stuck out its head from the bench, and tried to get up. But an old woman thrust it back, and said: “ We have much to carry, and our sledges are small.”For they were about to set out on a hunting journey. And so the dead one was forced to go back to the mound of stones.And now, after men had got light on their earth, they were able to go on journeys, and to hunt, and no longer needed to eat of the earth. And with death came also the sun, moon and stars.For when men die, they go up into the sky and become brightly shining things there.

Nukúnguasik, Who Escaped from the Tupilak1

Nukúnguasik, it is said, had land in a place with many brothers. When the brothers made a catch, they gave him meat for the pot; he himself had no wife.One day he rowed northward in his kayak, and suddenly he took it into his head to row over to a big island which he had never visited before, and now wished to see. He landed, and went up to look at the land, and it was very beautiful there.And here he came upon the middle one of many brothers, busy with something or other down in a hollow, and whispering all the time. So he crawled stealthily towards him, and when he had come closer, he heard him whispering these words: “ You are to bite Nukúnguasik to death; you are to bite Nukúnguasik to death.”And then it was clear that he was making a Tupilak, and stood there now telling it what to do. But suddenly Nukúnguasik slapped him on the side and said: “But where is this Nukúnguasik?”And the man was so frightened at this that he fell down dead.And then Nukúnguasik saw that the man had been letting the Tupilak sniff at his body. And the Tupilak was now alive, and lay there sniffing. But Nukúnguasik, being afraid of the Tupilak, went away without trying to harm it.Now he rowed home, and there the many brothers were waiting in vain for the middle one to return. At last the day dawned, and still he had not come. And daylight came, and then as they were preparing to go out in search of him, the eldest of them said to Nukúnguasik: “ Nukúnguasik, come with us; we must search for him.”And so Nukúnguasik went with them, but as they found nothing, he said:Making a tupilak. Note the bones of various animals used. The monster is on the point of coming to life. “ Would it not be well to go and make search over on that island, where no one ever goes?”And having gone on to the island, Nukúnguasik said: “ Now you can go and look on the southern side.”When the brothers reached the place, he heard them cry out, and the eldest said: “ O wretched one! Why did you ever meddle with such a thing as this!”And they could be heard weeping all together about the dead man.And now Nukúnguasik went up to them, and there lay the Tupilak, still alive, and nibbling at the body of the dead man. But the brothers buried him there, making a mound of stones above him. And then they went home.Nukúnguasik lived there as the oldest in the place, and died at last after many years.Here I end this story: I know no more.1 Tupilak: a monster created by one having magic powers, who uses it to wreak vengeance on an enemy.

Qujâvârssuk

A strong man had land at Ikerssuaq. The only other one there was an old man, one who lived on nothing but devil-fish; when the strong man had caught more than he needed, the old man had always plenty of meat, which was given him in exchange for his fish.The strong one, men say, he who never failed to catch seal when he went out hunting, became silent as time went on, and then very silent. And this no doubt was because he could get no children.The old one was a wizard, and one day the strong one came to him and said: “ To-morrow, when my wife comes down to the shore close by where you are fishing, go to her. For this I will give you something of my catch each day.”And this no doubt was because he wanted his wife to have a child, for he wished greatly to have a child, and could not bring it about.The old man did not forget those words which were said to him.And to his wife also, the strong one said: “ To-morrow, when the old one is out fishing, go you down finely dressed, to the shore close by.”And she did it as he had said. When they had slept and again awakened, she watched to see when the old one went out. And when he rowed away, she put on her finest clothes and followed after him along the shore. When she came in sight of him, he lay out there fishing. Then eagerly she stood up on the shore, and looked out towards him. And now he looked at her, and then again out over the sea, and this went on for a long time. She stood there a long time in vain, looking out towards him, but he would not come in to where she was, and therefore she went home. As soon as she had come home, her husband rowed up to the old one, and asked: “ Did you not go to my wife to-day?”The old one said: “ No.”And again the strong one said a second time: “ Then do not fail to go to her to-morrow.”But when the old one came home, he could not forget the strong man’s words. In the evening, the strong one said that same thing again to his wife, and a second time told her to go to the old one.They slept, and awakened, and the strong man went out hunting as was his wont. Then his wife waited only until the old one had gone out, and as soon as he was gone, she put on her finest clothes and followed after. When she came in sight of the water, the old one was sitting there in his boat as on the other days, and fishing. Now the old one turned his head and saw her, and he could see that she was even more finely dressed than on the day before. And now a great desire of her came over him, and he made up his mind to row in to where she was. He came in to the land, and stepped out of his kayak and went up to her. And now he went to her this time.Then he rowed out again, but he caught scarcely any fish that day.When only a little time had gone, the strong man came rowing out to him and said: “ Now perhaps you have again failed to go to my wife?”When these words were spoken, the old one turned his head away, and said: “ To-day I have not failed to be with her.”When the strong one heard this, he took one of the seals he had caught, and gave it to the old man, and said: “ Take this; it is yours.”And in this way he acted towards him from that time. The old one came home that day dragging a seal behind him. And this he could often do thereafter.When the strong one came home, he said to his wife: “ When I go out to-morrow in my kayak, it is not to hunt seal; therefore watch carefully for my return when the sun is in the west.”