An Eskimo hunter adopted a starving Adlit girl named Ivaranax after finding her alone. One day, her request for reindeer fat angered him, leading her to seek it from the Adlit. She returned with reindeer fat, but the Adlit followed her and attacked the village, killing most inhabitants. Seeking revenge, the men hunted and killed the Adlit, sparing Ivaranax only to punish her before her eventual death.
Source:
The Labrador Eskimo
by E.W. Hawkes
[Canada, Department of Mines]
Geological Survey, Memoir 91
Anthropological Series no. 14
Ottawa, 1916
► Themes of the story
Trickster: Ivaranax deceives her foster father by seeking reindeer fat from the Adlit, leading to dire consequences.
Revenge and Justice: The men avenge the attack on their village by hunting down the Adlit and punishing Ivaranax.
Trials and Tribulations:– The villagers face significant challenges in dealing with the betrayal and the resulting attack.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about Inuit peoples
Once an Eskimo found an Adlit girl by the side of a river when he was out hunting. She was starving. All her relatives were dead. So he took her home and adopted her as his daughter. Her name was Ivaranax.
One day she asked her foster-father for some reindeer fat. She said she was tired of seal meat, and wanted something nice to eat. That made her foster-father angry. So he told her to go to the Adlit and get some reindeer fat. She went out. He could not find her that evening. The next morning she returned, dressed in a reindeer-skin coat and eating reindeer fat.
► Continue reading…
The same day all the men went hunting. Then the Adlit, who had followed her, attacked the village. They killed all the women and children but three, who hid under a pile of skins. When the men returned, they found their women and children kilted. So they made many arrows and followed the trail of the Adlit. When they came up to their tents, they looked in. The Adlit were eating and laughing. The girl was among them. Then they killed them all but the girl. Her they kept for punishment. They led her out and cut off both her arms. She ran off with the blood streaming from her arms. She had not gone far before she fell dead.
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