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.