Angakorsiak was very proud of his angakok wisdom

Angakorsiak, an arrogant angakok, sought to outdo others in displays of shamanic prowess, often mocking his rivals. After performing daring feats, he was bested by a northern angakok in both skill and a kayak-race. Overwhelmed by shame after his failure, he transformed into a reindeer, later reverting to human form. This humbling experience led him to abandon his competitive ways.

Source:
Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo
by Henry Rink
[William Blackwood and Sons]
Edinburgh and London, 1875

► Themes of the story

Transformation: Angakorsiak’s shame leads him to transform into a reindeer, symbolizing a profound change in identity and self-perception.

Tragic Flaw: His arrogance and competitive nature serve as his downfall, highlighting how personal weaknesses can lead to one’s undoing.

Moral Lessons: The story imparts a lesson on the perils of pride and the value of humility, encouraging self-reflection and personal growth.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Arctic Region
  - Inuit/Eskimo Lore

Learn more about the Inuit peoples

Abridged version of the story.

Angakorsiak was very proud of his angakok wisdom, and always roamed about seeking opportunities of emulating other angakut. When he happened to surpass them, he used to mock and ridicule them in a most overbearing manner. Once he visited an angakok far up north, and challenged him to a match, at which, in broad daylight, they were to contend in working the wonders of their art before an assembly.

Angakorsiak began his performance by cutting off his arm near the shoulder, inserting it again and drinking the blood from the wound; after which he swallowed an arrow-point and made it appear again, opened his stomach with a knife, and so on.

► Continue reading…

When he had finished, the other angakok repeated the same feats with the utmost perfection, and then remarked, “Well, what we have yet done amounts to nothing; but I should now like to try a kayak-race with thee.” They went down in their kayaks, and the angakok of the place, taking his way to an island, threw his harpoon at a rock with such force as to make it enter the stone and blood to spring from it. Angakorsiak on trying this entirely failed, his harpoon being broken and lost. On their way back to the shore he bent down his head from shame, capsized his kayak, and sank. But directly afterwards a reindeer emerged from the water, and ran up on the beach. Shame having thus transformed him into a reindeer, he afterwards turned a man again, and hastened away, resolved to give up all kind of emulation in future.

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

Kakortuliak

Kakortuliak, during a reindeer hunt, pursued a deer into a lake and secured it, but later encountered strange events. He saw raven-like beings with human features, lost the deer tallow mysteriously, and was carried through the air. Using a small tallow piece, he descended but returned home senseless and near lifeless. Afterward, he abandoned hunting, becoming a clairvoyant whose soul roamed and recounted distant lands and people.

Source:
Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo
by Henry Rink
[William Blackwood and Sons]
Edinburgh and London, 1875

► Themes of the story

Transformation: Kakortuliak’s journey from a hunter to a clairvoyant signifies a profound personal metamorphosis, highlighting themes of change and adaptation.

Supernatural Beings: His encounters with raven-like entities possessing human features introduce elements of the supernatural, emphasizing the mystical aspects of the narrative.

Underworld Journey: Kakortuliak’s experience of being lifted into the air and returning home in a near-lifeless state parallels a metaphorical journey to the underworld, symbolizing a venture into realms beyond the ordinary.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Arctic Region
  - Inuit/Eskimo Lore

Learn more about the Inuit peoples

Abridged version of the story.

Kakortuliak was at a reindeer-hunt, when they only succeeded in hitting one large deer, which made its escape by jumping into a lake. Kakortuliak, however, pursued it by swimming, and fastened a line to its antlers, by which it was hauled on land. He got a large piece of the tallow, and leaving the party, went off by himself in search of further game. He saw two ravens pursuing one another; but on viewing them more closely they had the features of man.

At the same moment a reindeer suddenly bounded forth, apparently from his own bag; and he found the tallow at the same time had disappeared, a little morsel only remaining.

► Continue reading…

He then felt himself lifted off his feet and carried away through the air; but by rubbing his skin with the bit of tallow he again quickly descended towards the earth; yet without touching it he gained his home. On arriving, however, he had lost the use of his senses, and lay down almost lifeless, though unable to die. Such was, as has been told, the condition of the heathen when the ruler of the moon had taken the souls out of their body. From this time Kakortuliak gave up hunting, and turned a clairvoyant. His soul used to leave the body and roam about the inland and along the east coast; and on returning he related what he had seen, and how he had lived with the inlanders.

The cousins

Giviok, mourning his wife’s death, struggles to leave his young son but eventually flees. Facing perilous sea challenges, he survives encounters with sea creatures, icebergs, and malevolent beings. After aiding kind strangers, memories of his son draw him back. Overcoming the same dangers, he returns to find his child transformed into a skilled hunter, symbolizing resilience and growth despite tragedy and separation.

Source:
Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo
by Henry Rink
[William Blackwood and Sons]
Edinburgh and London, 1875

► Themes of the story

Transformation: The protagonist’s journey leads to personal growth and change, reflecting the theme of transformation.

Underworld Journey: The perilous sea challenges and encounters with malevolent beings symbolize a metaphorical journey into the underworld.

Family Dynamics: The narrative centers on the relationship between Giviok and his son, highlighting the complexities of familial bonds.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Arctic Region
  - Inuit/Eskimo Lore

Learn more about the Inuit peoples

Abridged version of the story.

This tale is somewhat similar to Giviok, but in the present version the revenge is brought on by an angakok, who assisted the cousins on a flight, and while staying with them invoked his tornak, the toolik, who carried a red-hot weapon, and destroyed the house and all its inhabitants by fire, while the angakok flew homewards. After his return to his house, while narrating the deed to his people, a laughing voice was heard from without, recognised as that of his erkungasok (the ingenious and cunning adviser, but rather powerless and boasting dweller among the tornaks), who came to give notice of his having also assisted at the destruction of his enemies.

► Continue reading…

Singajuk and his descendants

Mangilak, born frail and swaddled in an eider-duck skin, overcame early struggles to become a legendary Greenlandic figure. A skilled hunter and kayaker, he learned a calming spell from a gull and married twice, losing his first wife but gaining wisdom from her spirit. Though baptized, Mangilak retained his angakok powers. His lineage included Akajarok, whose descendants shared his remarkable story.

Source:
Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo
by Henry Rink
[William Blackwood and Sons]
Edinburgh and London, 1875

► Themes of the story

Transformation: Mangilak’s journey from a frail infant to a powerful hunter and angakok (shaman) embodies significant physical and spiritual transformation.

Supernatural Beings: His interactions with his deceased first wife, who provides him with wisdom from beyond the grave, highlight encounters with the supernatural.

Ancestral Spirits: The narrative emphasizes the influence of ancestors and the continuation of spiritual wisdom through generations, as seen in Mangilak’s lineage and the transmission of his story.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Arctic Region
  - Inuit/Eskimo Lore

Learn more about the Inuit peoples

Abridged version of the story.

Singajuk was a celebrated hunter living in Kangek (near Godthaab). His wife miscarried, and brought forth a poor little wretch of a child, that was swaddled in the skin of an eider-duck, and had to be fostered with the utmost care to keep it alive. This child was called Mangilak, and became one of the most powerful of men. His first deed was killing an ingnersuak. Afterwards he was once caught in a gale of wind at sea, but espying a solitary spot of smooth water and a gull swimming in it, by dint of listening to its voice he learned a spell for procuring a calm; and from that time he was not to be equalled in kayaking. His mother then persuaded him to marry, and he took a wife, who, however, shortly afterwards died.

► Continue reading…

Being almost an angakok, he used to visit her grave and talk with the deceased, and on one occasion she gave him a mussel-shell containing a drink to endow him with angakok wisdom. Mangilak married a second wife, and got a son, called Akajarok, whose daughter became the grandmother of the man who related this story. Akajarok died a Christian. Mangilak also was baptised, but was too full of angakok wisdom to become more than a nominal Christian.

An angakok on Kekertarsuak

An angakok on Kekertarsuak encountered a terrifying scene when visiting his sister: lifeless villagers with staring eyes and his sister creeping toward him with a devouring expression. Fleeing, he escaped with his dogs and later performed a conjuration. His vision revealed the villagers had been scared to death by a kayak skin used in a funeral—a chilling tale blending supernatural and cultural beliefs.

Source:
Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo
by Henry Rink
[William Blackwood and Sons]
Edinburgh and London, 1875

► Themes of the story

Supernatural Beings: The angakok’s conjuration and the eerie, lifeless villagers suggest interactions with supernatural elements.

Forbidden Knowledge: The revelation that a funeral object caused the villagers’ deaths implies the existence of hidden or dangerous knowledge.

Transformation: The villagers’ sudden shift from life to death, possibly due to supernatural fear, indicates a profound change.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Arctic Region
  - Inuit/Eskimo Lore

Learn more about the Inuit peoples

Abridged version of the story.

An angakok on Kekertarsuak set off in his sledge to visit his married sister. On approaching the house his dogs suddenly stopped. After in vain trying to urge them on with his whip, he alighted and went up to the house on foot. But seeing no people about, he looked in at the window, and was horror-struck at seeing all the people lying or sitting about lifeless, their eyes open and staring. His sister alone showed signs of life, and seeing her brother, began to move her mouth as if chewing, and crept towards the entrance. At sight of this he was struck with terror, and fled to his dogs, but was again unable to make them stir. Not until the sister had come quite close, her mouth widely opened as if to devour him, did they suddenly start; and thus he escaped to his home.

► Continue reading…

Afterwards he performed a conjuration, and undertook an angakok flight to examine the place. On his return he reported that those people had been frightened to death by the sight of a skin-cover from a kayak (viz., which had been used at a funeral to carry the corpse upon).

Kuanak, an angakok in South Greenland

Kuanak, a South Greenland angakok, faced mystical and perilous adventures during his spiritual journeys. Surviving attacks by supernatural beings and near-death encounters, he escaped through the sea and earth, emerging at home. On another flight, his drum moved on its own, signaling his distress after falling unconscious outside. He later endured an undersea ordeal, aided by his grandmother’s magic, eventually returning to life with the help of chanting elders.

Source:
Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo
by Henry Rink
[William Blackwood and Sons]
Edinburgh and London, 1875

► Themes of the story

Underworld Journey: Kuanak’s ventures beneath the sea and earth, encountering supernatural beings and challenges, align with the motif of a journey into realms beyond the ordinary world.

Supernatural Beings: Throughout his adventures, Kuanak interacts with various mystical entities, including an amarsiniook and his grandmother’s spirit, highlighting the theme of engagement with supernatural beings.

Transformation: Kuanak undergoes significant physical and spiritual changes during his ordeals, especially when he is revived from a near-death state through magical means, embodying the theme of transformation.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Arctic Region
  - Inuit/Eskimo Lore

Learn more about the Inuit peoples

Abridged version of the story.

Kuanak, an angakok in South Greenland, started for a flight, having previously had his feet and his head tied together. While passing along between two high rocks, an amarsiniook rushed out from the mountain-side and wanted to take him into his hood. He made his escape by dropping into the sea, and proceeding onwards beneath the surface of the sea and the earth, finally emerged from the floor of his own house. Another time, when he had gone off on a flight, his drum, which he had left in the house, was lifted up by itself, and soared about in the room till at length it stopped and fell down. At that same moment a voice was heard from without, and hastening to look whence it came, they found him in an almost dying state lying upon the snow, an old skin-cover from a kayak having frightened him and caused his downfall.

► Continue reading…

Kuanak was once capsized by a seal he had just harpooned; but being an anghiniartok, his senses again returned, and he found himself at the bottom of the sea, in company with his grandmother. She tied his kayak-jacket close to his body, leaving no part of it uncovered, and then supplying him with a piece of skin by way of kayak, she pushed him upwards. When he emerged from the water he first betook himself far out to sea, and thence made the land again, but happened to touch at an inhabited place, where somebody was emptying out the urine-tub, which scared him away from the shore. He tried to land on another place, but here a woman, dressing her hair on the beach, scared him away. If he had a third time taken fright, he would never have returned to the land of the living. But he happened to land at Pisugfik, where a couple of old men were sitting playing at dice. They at once knew him to be an anghiniartok; and on merely touching his naked body, he dropped down senseless; but on their chanting a magic lay, he revived. They then brought him back to his homestead, where his relatives, who had already finished their days of mourning and nearly forgotten him, were gladly surprised at hearing the crew of the boat that brought him home intuning Kuanak’s song.

The bird’s cliff

A father and son kayaking encounter a menacing kayariak but escape by killing it on an ice floe. Before dying, the creature creates a fog, leaving them lost at sea. They reach land and find a mysterious house inhabited by black and white figures, later revealed to be gulls, ravens, and a falcon in a cave.

Source:
Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo
by Henry Rink
[William Blackwood and Sons]
Edinburgh and London, 1875

► Themes of the story

Supernatural Beings: The father and son encounter a kayariak, a mythical creature, during their journey.

Transformation: The mysterious house’s inhabitants are revealed to be gulls, ravens, and a falcon, indicating a transformation or disguise.

Conflict with Nature: The protagonists face challenges posed by natural elements, such as the fog created by the kayariak and their subsequent struggle to find land.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Arctic Region
  - Inuit/Eskimo Lore

Learn more about the Inuit peoples

Abridged version of the story.

A father and his son, while kayaking far off the land, fell in with a kayariak, who at once gave chase to them. They fortunately escaped by jumping out on a flake of ice, from which they struck their persecutor dead; but before sinking into the sea he spat repeatedly, turning round to all parts of the horizon, on which a dense fog arose, causing them to wander, and preventing their gaining their home. At last they reached land, and the father, being angakok, soon perceived a house and entered it. They found one side of it inhabited by black people, and the other by white ones. After staying a while and having some talk with the inmates on both sides, they left the house; but on looking behind them, they saw that the house was a cave in the rock, the inhabitants gulls and ravens, and a drollish visitor staying with them, a falcon.

► Continue reading…

Avigiatsiak

Avigiatsiak, a young woman, was taken by a whale while sharpening her knife on the beach. After living with whales, she escaped, transformed into a seal, and was caught by a man who harpooned her. Her remains, except her head, were discarded, but her spirit entered the man’s wife, leading to her rebirth as a child, again named Avigiatsiak.

Source:
Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo
by Henry Rink
[William Blackwood and Sons]
Edinburgh and London, 1875

► Themes of the story

Transformation: Avigiatsiak’s journey from human to whale captive, then to seal, and finally to reborn child illustrates significant physical and spiritual metamorphoses.

Rebirth: Her cycle of death and subsequent rebirth as a child named Avigiatsiak highlights themes of renewal and the cyclical nature of life.

Supernatural Beings: Interactions with whales and seals, which possess mystical qualities in Inuit culture, emphasize the connection between humans and the supernatural realm.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Arctic Region
  - Inuit/Eskimo Lore

Learn more about the Inuit peoples

Abridged version of the story.

Avigiatsiak was the name of a young woman who, while grinding her knife on the beach, was taken by a whale. After living for a time with the whales, she fled and was transformed into a seal, living with the seals.

As such she was caught by a man, hauled upon the ice, and cut to pieces, all excepting the head, which was thrown beneath the bench.

From thence she slipped into the womb of the man’s wife who had harpooned her, and was afterwards born anew, and called Avigiatsiak.

► Continue reading…

The visiting animals

An old man grieving his son’s death built a winter-house near the grave. One evening, three mysterious visitors—a tall man, a flat-nosed man, and a small, pale figure—arrived. They requested unusual items before departing. The old man was astonished to see them transform into a reindeer, a fox, and a hare as they left, with the hare reportedly seeking something for a new tooth.

Source:
Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo
by Henry Rink
[William Blackwood and Sons]
Edinburgh and London, 1875

► Themes of the story

Supernatural Beings: The visitors reveal their true forms as a reindeer, a fox, and a hare, indicating interactions with supernatural entities.

Transformation: The mysterious visitors undergo physical changes, shifting from human-like appearances to animal forms.

Ancestral Spirits: The old man’s grief and the subsequent visitations suggest a connection between the living and the spiritual realm, possibly representing ancestral spirits offering guidance or comfort.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Arctic Region
  - Inuit/Eskimo Lore

Learn more about the Inuit peoples

Abridged version of the story.

An old man, while staying in a firth to fish for salmon, lost his son, who died at some distance up the country. In his grief he could not persuade himself to leave his son’s grave, and he therefore put up his winter-house on the spot. In this lonely abode they were once surprised by seeing three men entering the house, one of them tall and long-nosed, the other smaller and with a flat nose, and the last of very small stature and white as snow. After passing the evening talking with the host, the short-nosed man, before starting, asked for a piece of sole-leather, and the white one wanted a piece of walrus-tooth. The old man saw the departing visitors out, but when they left him, stood dumfoundered at seeing them bounding off in the shape of a reindeer, a fox, and a hare. It is said that the hare had need of something for a new tooth.

► Continue reading…

The kidnappers

A group of brothers attempted to abduct a girl, but her mother used a magic chant to summon a sudden gale, causing their demise. Later, an angakok (shaman) reported seeing a shoal of dolphins while kayaking and, understanding their speech, identified them as the transformed brothers.

Source:
Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo
by Henry Rink
[William Blackwood and Sons]
Edinburgh and London, 1875

► Themes of the story

Transformation: The brothers are transformed into dolphins after their failed abduction attempt.

Supernatural Beings: The mother’s use of a magic chant to summon a gale demonstrates the influence of supernatural forces.

Divine Punishment: The brothers face a supernatural consequence for their wrongdoing, aligning with the concept of divine retribution.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Arctic Region
  - Inuit/Eskimo Lore

Learn more about the Inuit peoples

Abridged version of the story.

A band of brothers tried to carry off a girl by force; but her mother, by means of a magic lay, caused them all to perish in a sudden gale. Some time after, an angakok, who had been out kayaking, stated that he had seen a shoal of dolphins; and listening to their speech, he made them out to be those brothers, who had been thus transformed.

► Continue reading…