A woman with an iron tail killed sleeping guests by piercing them, but one man outsmarted her. Feigning sleep, he dodged her attack, breaking her tail on a stone. Fleeing to his kayak, their exchange of words revealed magical power. His words caused her to fall, ending her menace. With her tail destroyed, she could no longer harm anyone.
Source:
Eskimo Folk-Tales
collected by Knud Rasmussen
[Copenhagen, Christiania], 1921
► Themes of the story
Supernatural Beings: The story features a woman with an iron tail who possesses magical abilities, such as killing guests by piercing them and influencing reality with her words.
Cunning and Deception: The protagonist outsmarts the woman by feigning sleep and dodging her attack, leading to the breaking of her iron tail and ultimately her defeat.
Divine Punishment: The woman’s malevolent actions are thwarted, and she is rendered powerless after her tail is broken, suggesting a form of retribution for her evil deeds.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about Inuit peoples
There was once a woman who had an iron tail. And more than this, she was also an eater of men. When a stranger came to visit her, she would wait until her guest had fallen asleep, and then she would jump up in the air, and fall down upon the sleeping one, who was thus pierced through by her tail. Once there came a man to her house. And he lay down to sleep. And when she thought he had fallen asleep, she jumped up, and coming over the place where he lay, dropped down upon him. But the man was not asleep at all, and he moved aside so that she fell down on a stone and broke her tail.
► Continue reading…
The man fled out to his kayak. And she ran after.
When she reached him, she cried: “Oh, if I could only thrust my knife into him.” And as she cried, the man nearly upset — for even her words had power.
“Oh, if only I could send my harpoon through her,” cried the man in return. And so great was the power of his words that she fell down on the spot.
And then the man rowed away, and the woman never killed anyone after that, for her tail was broken.
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 