Читать книгу Native Americans: 22 Books on History, Mythology, Culture & Linguistic Studies - Льюис Спенс, James Mooney - Страница 333

Table of Contents

In days of yore, an enormous man, whose name was Inugpaqdjuqdjualung, lived in company with many other Inuit in a village on a large fjord. He was so tall that he could straddle the fjord. He used to stand thus every morning and wait for whales to pass beneath him. As soon as one came along he stooped and caught it, just as another man would scoop up some little thing that had fallen into the water, and he ate it as other men eat a small piece of meat.

One day all the natives had manned their boats to hunt a whale. Inugpaqdjuqdjualung at the time was sitting lazily near his hut, but when he saw the efforts of the men he scooped both whale and boats from the water and placed them upon the beach.

At another time, being tired from running about, he lay down on a high hill to take a nap. The Inuit told him that a couple of huge bears had been seen near the village, but he said he didn’t care, and told his friends to rouse him by throwing large stones upon him if they should see the bears coming. They did so and Inugpaqdjuqdjualung, suddenly starting up, cried: “Where are they? Where are they?” When the Inuit pointed them out he said: “What! those little things? Those are not worth the bustle; they are small foxes, not bears,” and he crushed one between his fingers, while he put the other into the eyelet of his boot and strangled it there.