When the winter was coming near, the old man said one day to Qujâvârssuk:
“Now that time will soon be here when the whales come in to the coast.”
One night Qujâvârssuk had gone out of the house, when he heard a sound of deep breathing from the west, and this came nearer. And because this was the first time he had heard so mighty a breathing, he went in and told the matter in a little voice to his wife. And he had hardly told her this, when the old man, whom he had thought asleep, said:
“What is that you are saying?”
“Mighty breathings which I have heard, and did not know them, and they do not move from that side where the sun is.” This said Qujâvârssuk.
The old one put on his boots, and went out, and came in again, and said:
“It is the breathing of a whale.”
In the morning, before it was yet light, there came a sound of running, and then one came and called through the window:
“Qujâvârssuk! I was the first who heard the whales breathing.”
It was the strong man, who wished to surpass him in this. Qujâvârssuk said nothing, as was his custom, but the old man said: