Under the snow bench there was a little boy who had seen the young man of Eχaluqdjuaq coming. When everybody was sleeping he heard somebody calling and soon recognized the spirits of the murdered men, who told him what had happened and asked him to kill the young man in revenge. The boy crept from his place under the bed, took a knife, and put it into the young man’s breast. As he was a small boy and very weak, the knife glided from the ribs and entered deep into the heart, thus killing the young man.

Then he roused the other inhabitants of the hut and told them that the spirits of the dead men had come to him, that they had told him of their murder, and had ordered him to kill the young man. The women and children got very much frightened and did not know what to do. At last they resolved to follow the advice of an old woman and to flee from their cruel neighbors. As their dogs were killed, the sledges were of no use, but by chance a bitch with pups was in the hut and the old woman, who was a great angakoq, ordered them to go and whip the young dogs, which would thus grow up quickly. They did so and in a short time the pups were large and strong. They harnessed them and set off as quickly as possible. In order to deceive their neighbors they left everything behind and did not even extinguish their lamps, that they might not excite suspicion.

The next morning the men of Eχaluqdjuaq wondered why their companion had not returned and went to the hut in Qernirtung. They peeped through the spy hole in the window and saw the lamps burning, but nobody inside. At last they discovered the body of the young man, and, finding the tracks of the sledges, they hurriedly put their sledges in order and pursued the fugitives.

Though the latter had journeyed rapidly their pursuers followed still more rapidly and seemed likely to overtake them in a short time. They therefore became very much frightened, fearing the revenge of their pursuers.

When the sledge of the men drew near and the women saw that they were unable to escape, a young woman asked the old angakoq: “Don’t you know how to cut the ice?” The matron answered in the affirmative and slowly drew a line over the ice with her first finger across the path of their pursuers. The ice gave a loud crack. Once more she drew the line, when a crack opened and quickly widened as she passed on. The floe began moving and when the men arrived they could not cross over the wide space of water. Thus the party were saved by the art of their angakoq.

For many days they drifted to and fro, but finally they landed on the island of Sagdlirn, where they took up their abode and became the mothers of the Sagdlirmiut.

[KALOPALING.]

Kalopaling is a fabulous being that lives in the sea. His body is like that of a human being and he wears clothing made of eider ducks’ skins. Therefore he is sometimes called Mitiling (with eider ducks). As these birds have a black back and a white belly, his gown looked speckled all over. His jacket has an enormous hood, which is an object of fear to the Inuit. If a kayak capsizes and the boatman is drowned Kalopaling puts him into this hood. He cannot speak, but can only cry, “Be, be! Be, be!” His feet are very large and look like inflated sealskin floats.

The Inuit believe that in olden times there were a great number of Kalopalit, but gradually their number diminished and there are now very few left. They may be seen from the land swimming very rapidly under the water and sometimes rising to the surface. While swimming they make a great noise by splashing with arms and legs. In summer they like to bask on rocks and in winter they sometimes sit on the ice near cracks or at the edge of drifting floes. As they pursue the hunters the most daring men try to kill them whenever they can get near them. Cautiously they approach the sleeping Kalopaling, and as soon as they come near enough they throw the walrus harpoon at him. They must shut their eyes immediately until the Kalopaling is dead, else he will capsize the boat and kill the hunters. The flesh of the Kalopaling is said to be poisonous, but good enough for dog’s food.

An old tradition is handed down which refers to a Kalopaling: