Two brothers embarked on a journey across the sea, encountering a mythical black bear-like creature, the agli. After a tense battle in its lair, they killed the beast but fled from its fierce offspring. The brothers then parted ways, with one getting lost while hunting. The other returned home, astonishing his mother so greatly that she reacted with an involuntary outburst of disbelief.
Source:
Tales of the Smith Sound Eskimo
by Alfred L. Kroeber
[The American Folklore Society]
Journal of American Folklore
Vol.12, No.46, pp.166-182
July-September, 1899
► Themes of the story
Quest: The brothers embark on a journey across the sea, encountering challenges along the way.
Mythical Creatures: They confront the agli, a fabulous black bear-like creature from Inuit lore.
Family Dynamics: The tale concludes with the surviving brother’s return home, eliciting a profound reaction from his mother.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about the Inuit peoples
Two brothers left their home, going far away over the sea. Finally they reached land again. Here they saw an agli (black bear) [a fabulous animal also in Baffin Land, where it is called agdlaq], a large animal living in a hole in the ground, and having no claws from digging, but possessing large teeth. They threw stones at him but missed him, and he retreated into his cavern. The brothers entered the cavern, and one of them thrust his spear down the agli’s throat into his vitals. His young ones jumped at the men and bit at them like dogs, and they came out again, leaving the spear in the agli, from which wound he soon died. The two brothers now separated. One went ptarmigan-hunting, and was lost, but the other finally reached his home again. When his mother saw him return (whom she believed dead), she defecated from amazement and surprise.
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