A grieving woman sought refuge with bears disguised as humans. One bear warned her not to reveal their secret to protect its cubs. Returning home, she betrayed them, prompting men to attack. To spare its cubs from capture, the bear killed them, then sought revenge, killing the woman. The bear and attacking dogs ascended to the sky, forming the constellation Qilugtussat, symbolizing caution towards bears.
Source:
Eskimo Folk-Tales
collected by Knud Rasmussen
[Copenhagen, Christiania], 1921
► Themes of the story
Transformation: The bears in the story possess the ability to take on human form, highlighting themes of physical transformation and the fluidity between human and animal identities.
Prophecy and Fate: The woman’s betrayal and the subsequent celestial transformation suggest an inevitable sequence of events shaped by destiny.
Supernatural Beings: The narrative features bears with human characteristics and the celestial transformation into the constellation Qilugtussat, emphasizing the presence of supernatural elements and the connection between earthly events and the cosmos.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about Inuit peoples
A woman ran away from her home because her child had died. On her way she came to a house. In the passage way there lay skins of bears. And she went in. And now it was revealed that the people who lived in there were bears in human form.
Yet for all that she stayed with them. One big bear used to go out hunting to find food for them. It would put on its skin, and go out, and stay away for a long time, and always return with some catch or other. But one day the woman who had run away began to feel homesick, and greatly desired to see her kin.
► Continue reading…
And then the bear spoke to her thus: “Do not speak of us when you return to men,” it said. For it was afraid lest its two cubs should be killed by the men.
Then the woman went home, and there she felt a great desire to tell what she had seen. And one day, as she sat with her husband in the house, she said to him: “I have seen bears.”
And now many sledges drove out, and when the bear saw them coming towards its house, it felt so sorry for its cubs that it bit them to death, that they might not fall into the hands of men.
But then it dashed out to find the woman who had betrayed it, and broke into her house and bit her to death. But when it came out, the dogs closed round it and fell upon it. The bear struck out at them, but suddenly all of them became wonderfully bright, and rose up to the sky in the form of stars.
And it is these which we call Qilugtussat, the stars which look like barking dogs about a bear.
Since then, men have learned to beware of bears, for they hear what men say.
Running and expanding this site requires resources: from maintaining our digital platform to sourcing and curating new content. With your help, we can grow our collection, improve accessibility, and bring these incredible narratives to an even wider audience. Your sponsorship enables us to keep the world’s stories alive and thriving. ♦ Visit our Support page
Dreamtime Whispers 