Long ago, in the village of Na-ki-a-ki-a-mute, there lived a strong man,
or chief, with his wife, to whom he was very devoted. They had no
children, but among their neighbors was a little girl who lived in a
tiny house with her grandmother. These two were very poor, but the chief
was rich, and the chief’s wife loved the little girl and had her often
with her. Indeed the child used to come every day to fetch water for the
chief’s wife, from the water hole through the ice in the river nearby.
One day the man went off hunting, and when he came back with a fine fat
seal for their food his wife was gone. He called and called her, but she
did not answer. Then he went to all his neighbors seeking her, but no
one had seen her, and no trace of her could he find anywhere. There was
not even a footprint to show in which direction she had gone.
The poor man was nearly crazy with grief and anger, for he felt sure
some one must have taken his wife away from him. He became fierce and
sullen, brooding over his troubles and loneliness, and would speak to no
one. In fact no one dared to come near him for fear of being killed.
All day long he would sit out in front of his house with his big bow and
quiver full of arrows, watching; and at night he did not sleep, nor
could he eat.
One day the old grandmother said to the little girl, “I am sorry for
that poor man; he is so unhappy. You go to him and ask him to come and
eat with us. His wife loved you. He will not hurt you. Try to bring him
back with you.”
Very timidly the little girl obeyed, for in her heart she was afraid to
go. When she got near the chief’s house she stopped and felt like
turning back, for he sat there looking so fierce and gloomy that she was
frightened; but when he saw the child standing there he motioned to her
to come. Then she felt no longer afraid, but went and sat beside him,
and told him what her grandmother had said. The chief answered nothing,
but when she slipped her little hand in his, he got up and went with her
to her home, where the old woman had already cooked him a fine supper of
reindeer meat.
The poor man had not eaten for so long that he was starving, and when he
had finished all the meat the old woman had, he sent the little girl to
his own house to get some more.
As soon as the little one had gone out of the room, the grandmother said
to him, “I sent for you because you have been kind to us, and I believe
I can help you to find your wife. You must make a good strong staff of
driftwood, then take this bunch of charms and tie it firmly to the
stick,” and she gave him a little bunch of charms. These charms were
ivory animals and faces and some tufts of feathers from sea birds.
Next she said that he must set the stick upright in the ground, in front
of his house, very firmly, so that the wind could not blow it over. When
he had done this he should go to bed and sleep. In the morning he must
examine the stick carefully, and go in the direction in which the stick
leaned. Wherever he stopped for the night he must set the stick up in
the same way, and in the morning the stick would point in the direction
he must follow to find his wife.
“If you obey my instructions,” said she, “the stick will lead you
straight to your wife.”
Then the little girl came in with some more reindeer meat, and the man
ate until he was satisfied, and went home.
As soon as he reached his house, he made a fine staff, tied the charms
to it and planted it firmly in the ground before the door. Then he went
in, and rolling himself up in a big bear skin, fell asleep.
He woke up in the morning feeling well rested, and more like himself
than at any time since his wife’s disappearance. It was late and the sun
had already risen. He hurried out anxiously to look at his stick. It was
bent directly toward the North, so he pulled it up and started on his
journey, with the staff moving along before him.
For two days and two nights he traveled without rest, having a hard time
to keep up with that stick, which hopped along in front of him. Then,
being tired, he stuck the staff into the ground and went to sleep.
When he woke, the stick was again pointing North. This time it leaned
over more than before.
For three days and nights he traveled, then he slept, and in the morning
his faithful staff was bending way over, still toward the North.
“Now my wife cannot be very far away,” he thought.
That night he slept again, and when he awoke, the staff had leaned so
far over that the tip almost touched the ground; so he felt sure he must
be near his journey’s end.
About noon, when the sun hung very round and very red, low down in the
sky, he came to a huge snow house, the biggest house he had ever seen.
Right by the house stood four posts close together, and on these posts
was hung the skin of an enormous bird.
Hiding himself among some willow bushes, he watched to see what would
happen.
Pretty soon a very tall man came out of the house and went to the posts.
Climbing up on them, he took the skin, put it on, and flew away over the
sea.
When the bird man was out of sight, our friend took his faithful staff
and went into the house. There he found his wife, who was very happy to
see him.
“I knew you would come and find me,” she said. “That terrible big bird
carried me away in his claws; that is why you could not find my
footprints in the snow.”
Her husband wanted her to come home with him at once, but she told him
that it would be better if she could first see the bird man, who would
come back soon again. Her plan was to send the bird man on some far
distant fight, so that they might get away during his absence. She gave
her husband some food, and he went back to his hiding-place to wait for
the bird man to come and go.
After a short time the bird came back with a walrus in one claw and a
seal in the other. Flying to the rack, he took off the bird skin, hung
it up, and went into the house.
When he came in, he found the woman crying. “What do you want?” said he.
“I want a white whale and a hump-back whale. I didn’t want any seal. I
am tired of seal and walrus meat. Boo-hoo!” and she howled and wailed
dismally.
“Only be quiet,” said the bird man, “and I will get you what you want.”
And he came out again and, putting on his bird skin, once more flew out
over the sea.
When the bird was out of sight, the woman ran from the house to her
husband, who put her on his back and started for home as fast as he
could go. He was the swiftest runner in his village, and covered the
ground pretty fast; but, after all, legs are not wings. It was not long
before they met the bird man coming back with a whale in each of his
talons. When he saw the man carrying the woman away on his back, the
bird was very angry, and circled about in the air over their heads,
calling out to them, “I shall kill you. First, however, I am going to
take these two whales home, then I shall come back and kill you.” And
away he flew.
The man ran as fast as he could, but just as they reached the banks of a
big river the bird came in sight.
The man and his wife dug a cave in the river bank, and hid in it while
the bird flew by looking for them. Nowhere could the big bird find those
two people, although he was sure they must be hiding somewhere nearby.
Suddenly he circled about, and flew down to the water. “I shall set my
great wing across the river like a dam, and the water will rise and
drown them,” cried he; so he stretched his great wing across the river
and the water rose over the wing, and crept nearer and nearer to where
the man and his wife were hidden.
The two poor people were in despair. They thought that surely they would
be drowned, when suddenly the man remembered his father, who was a witch
doctor, and some magic words came to his mind:
“Kluk-a-luk.
Muk-a-luk.
puk-a-luk.
Freeze up hard,
Or you must run dry.”
He said these words over three times aloud. At that moment the water of
the river began to freeze. It was the month called “Naz-ze-rak-sek” by
the Eskimos, which means October.
At last the river froze so hard and solid, that the bird’s wing was
frozen fast into the ice and he could not pull it out. Then the husband
killed the wicked bird, and plucking one of the long feathers from its
wing for a charm, took his wife safely home without any further trouble.
They brought the old grandmother and the little girl to live with them,
and they were all happy the whole winter long with the meat of the big
bird for food.