The woman and Otter-Man

They also remarked that her pack-sack was always particularly well lashed. One night they happened to hear talking. It was not their mother talking in her sleep, for there were two voices. The next night they watched. After the fire had gone out, their mother brought in her pack and unlashed it. Then they heard whispering and talking. In the morning she lashed the pack again and hung it up outside. Now the boys went hunting, and purposely killed caribou a long way off. They cut up only about half of the carcass, leaving considerable work for their mother to do. Then they covered the meat to a great depth in the snow. This was done to delay her in bringing home the first load of meat. In the morning they said, “Mother, go and bring in a load of the caribou-meat. We are tired today and want to rest.” When she had gone, they took down the pack, and found Otter-Man inside. They killed him, and put his flesh before the fire to cook. They stuffed their mother’s pack-bag, lashed it, and hung it up in the same place as before. When their mother arrived, they said to her, “Mother, you must be hungry. We killed a big bear and a little cub, but we took home only the cub. We have cooked it for you, and now it is ready to eat.” The woman was hungry, and at once began to eat. The men put on their snowshoes, saying, “There was a crust on the snow this morning, which makes walking noisy. We are going to hunt this evening, as the snow is better.” When they were outside, they shouted, “We know of a woman who is eating her husband!” The woman ran to her pack, and found it stuffed. She became angry, and changed into an otter. She ran fast and slid as otters do. She nearly caught up with her sons, who threw part of the inside of a caribou behind them. It became a canyon, which she had to cross. This retarded her. She caught up again; and they threw another part of the inside of the caribou, which became a mountain. Still she followed them. Again they threw another part, and it became water. They threw the fourth part, and it became fire. She ran into it and was burned. [Some people say that the otter could not run fast enough; and gave up the chase.] Because the otter was burned, he now has short brown hair; and because the otter had connection with the woman, otter spirits now enter women and make them very sick.

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