Page:The Netsilik Eskimos (1931).djvu/288

through many strange adventures. But when at last they fell in love with each other they ceased to be humans and passed up to the sky.

Strangely enough, among these children of the cold the sun is not worshipped in any way. I often inquired why the good warm sun, which always brought spring and summer, was not deified. They always answered my question with an uncomprehending shake of the head, saying that no one need worship the good. It was there, and they were glad of it, and it required nothing of mankind than merely to be there. Nothing is known of the sun having done other than good. On the other hand it is certain that the moon is a big, strong and bad-tempered man who has often been seen to be angry. For that reason it is considered to be dangerous. It may fail to give hunting luck, and even before a man has to die it may carry him away from earth and take him up to the land of the dead; consequently people are afraid of it: consequently it is a power.

Below are the tales that have been told to me about the sun and the moon and the people who have been abducted by the moon spirit. The incarnation of the moon spirit is often seen very distinctly at full moon, right in the middle of the round disk.

The eater of entrails, who was so well-known to the Iglulingmiut and especially plays so important a part in the Greenland tales, among the Netsilingmiut is merely mentioned as a dangerous spirit who frequents the house of the moon. They believe she is identical with a star that is called Agjúk.

Agtulg-rârnân had two children, Aningâ and Aleqâ, a boy and a girl. The boy Aningâ was blind. The family lived alone in a house. One day a bear came to where they lived and pushed his head in at the window. Agtulg-rârnân seized a bow and aimed for her blind son while he bent the bow and shot the arrow.

"nᴇrʃut sɔ'rʟo ikisitlᴀrame: It was as if that sound came from a wounded animal", Aningâ said.

"na'ta, na'ta, ik'a pitip'ät: No, no, you hit the edge of the window," answered his mother.

After that Agtulg-rârnân built a side room on to the entrance passage and let Aningâ live there so that he might starve to death. But his sister Aleqâ was sorry for her brother, and every time they had bear meat to eat she let a part of her share slide down into her boots and took it to her brother.

"Eat your food yourself, never mind about me," Aningâ said; but his sister took food to him just the same.