A sister forbidden to marry by her brothers became pregnant, secretly miscarried, and birthed an anghiak, a vengeful spirit. The creature, using makeshift tools, caused her brothers’ deaths but later repented, retreating north. Discovered by a shaman, it terrified villagers before returning to its mother’s home. When she confessed her actions during a ritual, the anghiak succumbed to pain and died, ending its tragic tale.
Source:
Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo
by Henry Rink
[William Blackwood and Sons]
Edinburgh and London, 1875
► Themes of the story
Forbidden Knowledge: The sister’s secret miscarriage and the creation of the anghiak involve hidden actions and their dire consequences.
Divine Punishment: The anghiak’s vengeance upon the brothers and its eventual death following the mother’s confession suggest a form of supernatural retribution.
Family Dynamics: The complex relationships between the sister and her brothers, including their control over her marital prospects and the ensuing tragedy, are central to the narrative.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about the Inuit peoples
For this tale, only the principal parts have been selected, and are given here in a very fragmentary form.
A company of brothers had a single sister, and would not allow her to marry. Nevertheless, having many suitors, she finally came to be with child; and because of her brothers’ reproaches, she secretly had a miscarriage; but the child got intellect, and became an anghiak. It picked up the skull of a dog, using it as a kayak, and the bone of a man’s arm for a paddle. Every night it used to creep into the house and lie down to suckle its mother’s breasts, but during the day-time it was about pursuing her brothers when they were kayaking, and made them capsize and perish one after another. Having accomplished its revenge, it repented its deeds, and fled to the north, where it slipped down in the doorway of a house in which a conjuration was going on. The angakok (by means of his second-sight) at once observed its approach; and when the people of the house had got a light, and went to look for it, they were all frightened to death.
► Continue reading…
It then became still more powerful, but went back again to its mother’s abode, and found a refuge in a heap of rubbish. It now happened that the angakok of the place was about to perform a conjuration for the purpose of finding out what had caused the brothers’ destruction. The sister, on being examined, first denied, but finally she confessed her sin, saying, “What I brought forth was no real child.” No sooner had she pronounced these words than the anghiak felt a pain in its head, and while she continued her tale, it lost its senses and died.
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Dreamtime Whispers 