The returned from Spirit Land

A grieving young man, mourning his recently deceased wife, embarks on a mystical journey to the afterlife. There, he reunites with her and resists the temptations of the spirit realm. Together, they return to the living world, but she exists only as a shadow. Their happiness ends when a jealous relative disrupts their bond, causing their spirits to reunite permanently in Ghost Land.

Source:
Tlingit Myths and Texts
by John R. Swanton
[Smithsonian Institution]
Bureau of American Ethnology
Bulletin 39
Washington, 1909

► Themes of the story

Underworld Journey: The protagonist ventures into the afterlife to reunite with his deceased wife, embodying a journey into a realm beyond the living.

Love and Betrayal: The deep bond between the young man and his wife is central to the narrative, and their reunion is ultimately disrupted by a jealous relative’s actions.

Resurrection: The wife’s return to the living world, albeit as a shadow, symbolizes a form of resurrection, highlighting themes of life, death, and the possibility of return.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Tlingit Lore

Learn more about the Tlingit people

Myth recorded in English at Wrangell, Alaska, in January-April 1904

The wife of a young man, who had recently married, died, and he was very sad. His father was a chief, and both he and the parents of the girl were still living. The young couple had been married for so short a time that they had no children.

The night that his wife died the young man remained awake all night unable to sleep, and the second night it was the same. Next morning he thought that he would walk out, but finally concluded to wait until after his wife’s body had been buried. The body was taken away late that afternoon, and early next morning he put on his leggings and his other fine clothes and started off. He walked all day and all night. Daylight dawned upon him still walking. After going through the woods for a long distance he came to a very large valley.

► Continue reading…

There had been a creek there which was now dried up. Then he heard voices, which sounded as though they were a long way off. Where he was traveling the trees were very thick.

Finally the youth saw light through the trees and presently came out on a wide, flat stone lying on the edge of a lake. All this time he had been walking in the death road. On the other side of this lake there were houses and people were moving around there. So he shouted out to them, “Come over and get me,” but they did not seem to hear him. Upon the lake a little canoe was going about with one man in it, and all about it was grassy. It looked very nice.

After the man had shouted for a long time without receiving any response and had become tired, he finally whispered to himself, “Why is it that they do not hear me?” Immediately a person on the opposite side of the lake said, “Somebody is shouting.” When he whispered, they heard him. “A person has come up (daq a’wagut) from dreamland,” the voice continued. “Let some one go out and bring him over.” They carried him across, and, as soon as he got there, he saw his wife. He saw that she had been crying, and he raised his hands and looked at her. He was very happy to see her once again. Finally the people asked him to sit down in the house, and, when he did so, they began to give him something to eat. He felt hungry, but his wife said, “Don’t eat that. If you eat that you will never get back.” So he did not eat it.

After that his wife said to him, “You better not stay here long. Let us go right away.” So they were taken back in the same canoe. It is called Ghost’s-canoe (Si’gi-qa’wu-ya’gu), and is the only one on that lake. And they landed on the flat rock where he had first stood calling. It is called Ghost’s-rock (Si’gi-qa’wu-te’yi), and is at the very end of the trail. Then they started down the road in which he had gone up. It took them the same length of time to descend it, and the second night they reached the youth’s house.

Then the young man made his wife stay outside and he went in and said to his father, “I have brought my wife back.” “Well,” said his father, “why don’t you bring her in?” they laid down a nice mat with fur robes on top of it at the place where they were to sit. Then the young man went out to get his wife. When the door opened to let them in, however, the people in the house saw him only. But finally, when he came close, they saw a deep shadow following him. He told his wife to sit down, and, when she did so, they put a marten-skin robe upon her, which hung about the shadow just as though it were a person sitting there. When she ate they saw only her arms and the spoon moving up and down but not the shadow of her hands. It looked strange to the people.

After that the young couple always went about together. Wherever the young man went the shadow could be seen following him. He would not go into the bedroom at the rear of the house, but ordered them to prepare a bed just where they were sitting. Then they did so, for they were very glad to have him back.

During the day the woman was very quiet, but all night long the two could be heard playing. At that time the people could hear her voice very plainly. The young man’s father at first felt strange in his son’s presence, but after a while he would joke with his daughter-in-law, saying, “You better get up now after having kept people awake all night playing.” Then they could hear the shadow laugh, and recognized that it was the dead woman’s voice. To what the chief said the woman’s brothers-in-law would add, “Yes, get her out, for she has kept us awake.”

The nephew of the father of this girl had been in love with her before she died, although she did not care for him, and he was jealous when he found that her husband had brought her back. One night she was telling her husband that she was going to show herself as she used to be and not like a shadow and that she was going to remain so permanently. Her father’s nephew had covered himself up at the head of the bed and heard everything. Her husband was very glad to hear this, but, while they were playing together afterward, the man who was listening to them thought that he would lift the curtain they had around them. The moment that he did so, however, the people in the house heard a rattling of bones. That instant the woman’s husband died, and the ghosts of both of them went back to Ghost Land.

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

Gamna’tcki

Gamna’tcki’s wife is abducted by killer whales while washing seal meat. Grieving, he ventures underwater, seeking help from aquatic villages, including red cod, halibut, and shark people. Aided by a shark chief and a slave, he rescues his wife by creating a diversion. The sharks defend him from pursuing killer whales, ensuring his safe return home, marking his journey with clever strategy and alliances.

Source:
Tlingit Myths and Texts
by John R. Swanton
[Smithsonian Institution]
Bureau of American Ethnology
Bulletin 39
Washington, 1909

► Themes of the story

Underworld Journey: Gamna’tcki ventures beneath the sea, entering the realms of various aquatic beings, to rescue his abducted wife.

Quest: His journey is a determined pursuit to retrieve his wife, involving challenges and the assistance of underwater communities.

Cunning and Deception: The rescue plan involves a clever ruse with the killer whale chief’s slave, creating a diversion to facilitate the escape.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Tlingit Lore

Learn more about the Tlingit people

Myth recorded in English at Wrangell, Alaska, in January-April 1904

Gamna’tcki killed a seal, skinned it, and threw the skin and meat to his wife to wash. While she was washing them in the sea she saw some killer whales coming landward. By and by the meat she was washing drifted out from her and she waded after it. She went out until the water reached her hips. Then she suddenly felt some one pull her and she disappeared under water. It was the killer-whale people who thus took her into their canoe. After that Gamna’tcki felt very badly and thought to himself, “How can I get my wife back? How can I look for her under the water?” He could not sleep all night, and early in the morning he thought, “I wonder if I couldn’t raise this water so as to go under it.” In the morning, therefore, before he had eaten he took his red and black paints, went down to the water, raised the edge of it just as if he were raising a blanket, and walked under. He walked on farther and farther. It was just like walking on land.

► Continue reading…

By and by he came to a village full of very pale people who went about with their heads down. He found out that they were the red cod people. He wanted to make friends of them, so, thinking that they looked very white, he painted them all red — men, women, and children. That is how these fishes got their color. After that he asked them if they had seen his wife, but they said that they had seen no one, so he went on. Presently he came to another village and asked the people there the same question to which he received the very same answer. Those were the halibut people. In each village they gave him something to eat.

After he had left the halibut people Gamna’tcki traveled for several days before he came to another town. By and by, however, he perceived smoke far ahead of him, and, going toward it, he saw that it was from a fort. Inside of this fort was a large house which he immediately entered, but the people there did not seem to care to see strangers and would not talk to him. These were also very pale people, so to please them he took out his black paint and painted all of them with it. Then they felt well disposed toward him and were willing to talk. “Can you tell me what clan has my wife?” he said. At first they said that they did not know, but afterward one replied, “There is a strange woman in that town across there.” Then this person pointed the village out, and Gamna’tcki felt pleased to know where his wife was. The people he had come among were the sharks, and those whose village they showed him were the killer whales.

Then the shark chief said, “Every time we have had a fight we have beaten them.” The shark people also said to him, “The killer-whale chief has a slave. Every morning the slave goes out after water. Go to the creek and tell him what to do when he comes in. Tell him to bring the water in and hand it to the chief over the fire. As he does so he must drop it, and, while the house is full of steam, pick up your wife and run out with her. The chief has married her. Then come over here with her. They will run after you, but, if you can get away, come right across.” The shark people had always been jealous of the killer whales because they had this woman.

While the shark people were telling him what to do, a strange, bony-looking person kept jumping up from behind the boxes. He wondered what made him act so queerly and began to feel uneasy about it, but, when the bony person saw him looking at him in a strange manner, he said, “Why! don’t you know me? I am that halibut hook (naxu) that the sharks once took away from you. My name is Lgudji’ (the name of an island).”

Just after that the man started for the killer-whale town and sat down by the creek. When the slave came out after water, he asked him to help him, saying, “I hear that my wife is with this chief.” “Yes,” the slave answered, “if she were a man, they would have kept her for a slave like myself. Since she is a woman, the chief has married her, and she is living very well. I will help you as much as I can. She wants to return to you. Now watch and I will do what you tell me to do. I will spill this water on the fire.”

After that he took Gamna’tcki to the door and showed him where his wife sat. Then the slave walked in with the water while he stood outside watching. He watched his wife through a crack and saw that she appeared very much cast down. As soon as the fire was put out and the house filled with steam he ran in, seized his wife, and started off with her.

Then, when the slave thought that he had gotten a long distance away, he shouted, “Some one has taken the woman away.” The chief looked around, and sure enough his wife was gone. Going outside, they saw that this man had almost reached the shark fort, and they saw him enter it.

As soon as he got there, the shark people began to dress themselves for war. They were noisy and acted as though they were very hungry, so that Gamna’tcki became frightened. The halibut hook came to him, however, and told him not to be frightened, because the killer whales were coming over. All at once the fort began moving up and down. Whenever the killer whales tried to enter, the fort killed them by moving up and down and cutting off their heads. The slaughter was so great that the few survivors were frightened and went back. Two or three days later the killer whales came again with like result.

After this the shark people said to Gamna’tcki, “You better not start out right away. Stay here a while with us. They might be lying in wait for you. Since we have fought for you so much, it is better that you should get to your home safely.” Gamna’tcki did so, and some time later they said, “Go straight along by the way you came, and you will find your way out easily.” He did this and reached his home in safety.

The land-otters’ captive

A man from the Kiksa’di survived a canoe accident and was captured by land otters, who took him on a journey around the Queen Charlotte Islands, eventually reaching Rainy-village. There, he reunited with his drowned aunt, now married to land otters. After being returned near Sitka, he became a disruptive land-otter-man until captured and partially restored to humanity using dog bones. Ultimately, he died after consuming cooked halibut.

Source:
Tlingit Myths and Texts
by John R. Swanton
[Smithsonian Institution]
Bureau of American Ethnology
Bulletin 39
Washington, 1909

► Themes of the story

Transformation: The protagonist undergoes significant changes, both physically and mentally, during his captivity with the land otters, reflecting the theme of transformation.

Supernatural Beings: The land otters in the story possess supernatural qualities, capturing humans and influencing their destinies, which aligns with this theme.

Underworld Journey: The man’s voyage with the land otters to various mystical places, including Rainy-village, symbolizes a journey into unknown or otherworldly realms, fitting this theme.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Tlingit Lore

Learn more about the Tlingit people

Myth recorded in English at Wrangell, Alaska, in January-April 1904

Several persons once went out from Sitka together, when their canoe upset and all were drowned except a man of the Kiksa’di. A canoe came to this man, and he thought that it contained his friends, but they were really land otters. They started southward with him and kept going farther and farther, until they had passed clear round the Queen Charlotte islands. At every place where they stopped they took in a female land otter. All this time they kept a mat made out of the broad part of a piece of kelp over the man they had captured until they arrived at a place they called Rainy-village (Si’wu-a’ni). At this place the man met an aunt who had drowned years before and had become the wife of two land otters. She was dressed in a ground-hog robe. She said to him, “Your aunt’s husbands will save you. You must come to see me this evening.” When he came, his aunt said, “I can’t leave these people, for I have learned to think a great deal of them.”

► Continue reading…

Afterward his aunt’s husbands started back with him. They did not camp until midnight. Their canoe was a skate, and, as soon as they came ashore, they would turn it over on top of him so that, no matter how hard he tried to get out, he could not. In making the passage across to Cape Ommaney they worked very hard, and shortly after they landed they heard the raven. [Supernatural beings who heard the raven call before they came to land, died.] They could go only a short distance for food.

When they first started back the woman had said to her husbands, “Don’t leave him where he can be captured again. Take him to a good place.” So they left him close to Sitka. Then he walked around in the neighborhood of the town and made the people suffer so much every night that they could not sleep, and determined to capture him. They fixed a rope in such a way as to ensnare him, but at first they were unsuccessful. Finally, however, they placed dog bones in the rope so that they would stick into his hands, dog bones being the greatest enemies of the land otters.

Late that night the land-otter-man tore his hands so with these bones that he sat down and began to scream, and, while he was doing this, they got the rope around him and captured him. When they got him home he was at first very wild, but they restored his reason by cutting his head with dog bones. He was probably not so far gone as most victims. Then they learned what had happened to him.

After this time, however, he would always eat his meat and fish raw. Once, when he was among the halibut fishers, they wanted very much to have him eat some cooked halibut. He was a good halibut fisher, probably having learned the art from the land otters, though he did not say so. For a long time the man refused to take any, but at last consented and the food killed him.

The halibut people

In a coastal village, the chief’s daughter slips on halibut slime and curses it, sparking a chain of events. She is taken by halibut people and killed. Her brothers devise a daring plan to avenge her, leading to an undersea adventure where one impersonates her and slays the halibut chief. Later, an encounter with a magical duck ends tragically, transforming them into eternally crying ducks.

Source:
Tlingit Myths and Texts
by John R. Swanton
[Smithsonian Institution]
Bureau of American Ethnology
Bulletin 39
Washington, 1909

► Themes of the story

Transformation: The chief’s daughter is taken by the halibut people and killed, leading to her brothers’ transformative journey to avenge her.

Underworld Journey: The brothers venture into the underwater realm of the halibut people to retrieve their sister and seek vengeance.

Revenge and Justice: The brothers’ quest to avenge their sister’s death by infiltrating the halibut people’s domain and killing their chief highlights themes of retribution and the restoration of familial honor.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Tlingit Lore

Learn more about the Tlingit people

Myth recorded in English at Sitka, Alaska
January-April 1904

There was a very long town where people were fishing for halibut. One evening the daughter of the chief, whose house was in the middle of the place, went down on the beach to cut up halibut, and slipped on some halibut slime. She used bad words to it.

A few days afterward many canoe-loads of people came to get this girl in marriage, and she started off with them. But, although they appeared to her like human beings, they were really the halibut people. As soon as they had left the village they went around a point, landed, and went up into the woods after spruce gum and pitch. They brought down a great quantity of this, heated a rock in the fire and spread pitch all over it. When it was melted they seated the woman upon it. The two brothers of this girl searched along shore for her continually, and finally they discovered where she was; but she was dead.

► Continue reading…

Then they felt very sad on her account and asked each other, “What shall we do about her?” They thought of all kinds of schemes, and at last hit upon a plan. Then they went home, filled a bladder full of blood, and went out to the halibut fishing ground. The elder brother let his younger brother down on a line, but before he got far he lost his breath and had to be pulled up. So the elder brother prepared himself. He put on his sister’s dress, took his knife and the bladder full of blood, and got safely to the bottom. When he arrived there he found himself in front of a house. Some one came out to look and then said to the chief inside, “Has your wife come out to see you?” They thought it was the dead woman. So the halibut chief said, “Tell her to come in,” and he married her.

At this time the friends of the young man were vainly endeavoring to catch halibut, and he could see their hooks. Instead of coming into the houses these would fall around on the outside. They tried all kinds of hooks of native manufacture, but the only one that succeeded was Raven-backbone-hook (Yel-tu’daqe), which came right in through the smoke hole.

After a while the halibut chief said, “Let us go and take a sweat bath.” [Frater autem puellae mortuae semper secum portabat vesicam cruore plenam, quo ungebat extrema vestem qua indutus erat, ut rhombum deciperet, dicens, “Mensibus affectus sum; noli mihi appropinquare.”] [But the brother of the dead girl always carried with him a bladder full of blood, with which he anointed the hem of his garment, in order to deceive the heron, saying, “I have been afflicted for months; do not come near me.]

That night, as soon as the halibut chief was asleep, the man took his knife, cut the chief’s head off and ran outside with it. Everybody in the town was asleep. Then he jerked on his brother’s line, and his brother pulled him up along with the head.

After that they paddled along shore for some time, and on the way the elder brother kept shooting at ducks with his arrows. Finally he hit one and took it into the canoe. It was shivering, and his brother said, “Look at this little duck. It is dying of cold. I wish you were by my father’s camp fire.” On account of these bad words the canoe went straight down into the ocean.

Arrived at the bottom, they saw a long town, and some one said, “Get out of the canoe and come up.” Then the duck led them up into the house of his grandfather, the killer whale — for the killer whale is grandfather to the duck — and a big fire was built for them. Then they seated the brothers close to this and said, “Do you think it is only your father who has a big fire?” After they were so badly burned that their heads were made to turn backward with the heat, they were thrown outside. There they became the ducks called Always-crying-around-[the-bay] (Yikaga’xe). You can hear them crying almost anytime when you are in camp. They never got back to their friends.

Kaka’

Kaka’s story intertwines with the supernatural as land otters rescue him and reveal his transformation caused by a sinew through his ear. Taken on a journey in their skate-like canoe, he disobeys warnings and later becomes entangled in mystical events. Abandoned by the otters but imbued with their spirits, Kaka’ is rescued, emerging as a powerful shaman connected to these spiritual beings.

Source:
Tlingit Myths and Texts
by John R. Swanton
[Smithsonian Institution]
Bureau of American Ethnology
Bulletin 39
Washington, 1909

► Themes of the story

Transformation: Kaka’ undergoes a profound change, becoming a land otter due to a sinew placed through his ear by his wife. This physical transformation is central to the narrative.

Supernatural Beings: The land otters play a significant role, rescuing Kaka’ and guiding him through mystical experiences. Their interactions highlight the influence of supernatural entities in the tale.

Underworld Journey: Kaka’s voyage with the land otters, including his experiences among kelp stems and his eventual return, symbolizes a journey into and out of an otherworldly realm, akin to an underworld journey.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Sub-Arctic Region
  - Tlingit Lore

Learn more about the Tlingit people

Myth recorded in English at Sitka, Alaska
January-April 1904

When Kaka’ was taken south, either to Cape Ommaney or farther, a woman came to him and said, “I am in the same fix as you. We are both saved by the land otters.” [So interpreters persist in speaking of the capture of a human being by anthropomorphic animals or other supernatural beings.] That is how he found out what had happened to him. The woman also said, “I am your friend, and I have two land-otter husbands who will take you to your home.” Then she called him to her and began to look over his hair. Finally she said, “Your wife has put the sinew from a land-otter’s tail through your ear. That is what has caused you to become a land otter.”

Then they took down what looked to him like a canoe, but really it was a skate. The skate is the land-otter’s canoe.

► Continue reading…

When they set out, they put him into the canoe, laid a woven mat over him and said, “You must not look up again.” He did look up, however, after a time and found himself tangled among the kelp stems. These land otters were going to become his spirits.

On their journey they started to cross a bay called Ken to an island called Telnu’, and, as daylight was coming on, they began to be afraid that the raven would call and kill them before they reached the other side. It was almost daylight when they came to land, so they ran off at once among the bushes and rocks, leaving Kaka’ to pull up the canoe. This was hard work, and while he was at it the skin was all worn from his lower arm, so he knew that it was a skate.

Some people traveling in a canoe saw his shadow there and tried hard to make him out clearly, but in vain. They did not want to have him turn into a land otter, so they said, “Kaka’, you have already turned into a ground hog.”

By and by one of his friends heard him singing in the midst of a thick fog at a place near the southern end of Baranoff island on the outside. Each time he ended his song with the words, “Let the log drift landward with me.” Then it would drift shoreward with him. Meanwhile he was lying on the log head down with blood running out of his nose and mouth and all kinds of sea birds were feeding on him. It was his spirits that made him that way. The real land otters had left him, but they had come to him again as spirits.

Now the people sang a song on shore that could be heard where Kaka was floating, but, although they heard the noise of a shaman’s beating sticks, they could not get at him. Then the friend who had first found him went ashore and fasted two days, after which he went out and saw Kaka’ lying on his back on the log. He was as well as when he had left Sitka. Then his friend brought him ashore, but the land-otter spirits remained with him, and he became a great shaman.

The Land of the Dead

A young woman from a Yukon village dies and journeys to the land of shades, guided by her deceased grandfather. She witnesses surreal scenes, including punishments for earthly actions, a river of tears, and a village of shades. After attending a ceremonial feast for the dead, she mysteriously returns to life but frail. Her namesake sacrifices herself, allowing the young woman to recover and live on.

Source:
The Eskimo about Bering Strait
by Edward William Nelson
[Smithsonian Institution]
Bureau of American Ethnology
Eighteenth Annual Report
Washington, 1900

► Themes of the story

Underworld Journey: The protagonist’s journey to the land of shades, guided by her deceased grandfather, exemplifies a venture into a realm of the dead.

Transformation: The young woman’s experience of death, her journey through the afterlife, and subsequent return to life highlight themes of physical and spiritual transformation.

Sacrifice: The self-sacrifice of the young woman’s namesake, who gives her life to allow the protagonist to recover and live on, underscores the theme of giving up something valuable for a greater cause.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Arctic Region
  - Inuit/Eskimo Lore

Learn more about Inuit peoples

from Andreivsky, on the Lower Yukon

The following tale is known all along the Lower Yukon, and was related by an old shaman who said that it occurred several generations ago. It is believed by the Eskimo to have been an actual occurrence, and it gives a fair idea of their belief of the condition of the shade after death.

A young woman living at a village on the Lower Yukon became ill and died. When death came to her she lost consciousness for a time; then she was awakened by some one shaking her, saying, “Get up, do not sleep; you are dead.” When she opened her eyes she saw that she was lying in her grave box, and her dead grandfather’s shade was standing beside her. He put out his hand to help her rise from the box and told her to look about.

► Continue reading…

She did so, and saw many people whom she knew moving about in the village. The old man then turned her with her back to the village and she saw that the country she knew so well had disappeared and in its place was a strange village, extending as far as the eye could reach. They went to the village, and the old man told her to go into one of the houses. So soon as she entered the house a woman sitting there picked up a piece of wood and raised it to strike her, saying, angrily, “What do you want here?” She ran out crying and told the old man about the woman. He said, “This is the village of the dog shades, and from that you can see how the living dogs feel when beaten by people.”

From this they passed on and came to another village, in which stood a large kashim. Close to this village she saw a man lying on the ground with grass growing up through all his joints, and, though he could move, he could not arise. Her grandfather told her that this shade was punished thus for pulling up and chewing grass stems when he was on the earth. Looking curiously at his shade for a time, she turned to speak to her grandfather, but he had disappeared. Extending onward before her was a path leading to a distant village, so she followed it. She soon came to a swift river, which seemed to bar her way. This river was made up of the tears of the people who weep on earth for the dead. When the girl saw that she could not cross, she sat on the bank and began to weep. When she wiped her eyes she saw a mass of straw and other stuff like refuse thrown from houses, floating down the stream, and it stopped in front of her. Upon this she crossed the river as over a bridge. When she reached the farther side the refuse vanished and she went on her way. Before she reached the village the shades had smelled her and cried out, “Someone is coming.” When she reached them they crowded about her, saying, “Who is she? Whence does she come?” They examined her clothing, finding the totem marks, which showed where she belonged, for in ancient days people always had their totem marks on their clothing and other articles, so that members of every village and family were thus known.

Just then someone said, “Where is she? Where is she?” and she saw her grandfather’s shade coming toward her. Taking her by the hand, he led her into a house near by. On the farther side of the room she saw an old woman, who gave several grunts and then said, “Come and sit by me.” This old woman was her grandmother, and she asked the girl if she wanted a drink, at the same time beginning to weep. When the. girl became thirsty she looked about and saw some strange looking tubs of water, among which only one, nearly empty, was made like those in her own village.

Her grandmother told her to drink water from this tub only, as that was their own Yukon water, while the other tubs were all full of water from the village of the shades. When she became hungry her grand mother gave her a piece of deer fat, telling her that it had been given them by her son, the girl’s father, at one of the festivals of the dead, and at the same time he had given them the tub of water from which she had just drunk.

The old woman told the girl that the reason her grandfather had become her guide was because when she was dying she had thought of him. When a dying person thinks of his relatives who are dead the thought is heard in the land of shades, and the person thought of by the dying one hurries off to show the new shade the road. When the season came for the feast of the dead to be given at the dead girl’s village, two messengers were sent out, as usual, to invite the neighboring villagers to the festival. The messengers traveled a long time toward one of the villages, and it became dark before they reached it, but at last they heard the drums beat and the sound of the dancers feet in the kashim. Going in, they delivered to the people their invitation to the feast of the dead.

Sitting invisible on a bench among these people, with the girl between them, were the shades of the grandfather and grandmother, and when the messengers went back to their own village the next day the three shades followed them, but were still invisible. When the festival had nearly been completed, the mother of the dead girl was given water, which she drank. Then the shades went outside of the kashim to wait for their names to be called for the ceremony of the putting of clothing upon namesakes of the dead.

As the shades of the girl and her grandparents went out of the kashim the old man gave the girl a push, which caused her to fall and lose her senses in the passageway. When she recovered she looked about and found herself alone. She arose and stood in the corner of the entrance way under a lamp burning there, and waited for the other shades to come out that she might join her companions. There she waited until all of the living people came out dressed in fine new clothing, but she saw none of her companion shades.

Soon after this an old man with a stick came hobbling into the entrance, and as he looked up he saw the shade standing in the corner with her feet raised more than a span above the floor. He asked her if she was a live person or a shade, but she did not reply, and he went hurriedly into the kashim. There he told the men to hasten out and look at the strange being standing in the passageway, whose feet did not rest on the earth and who did not belong to their village. All the men hurried out, and, seeing her, some of them took down the lamp and by its light she was recognized and hurried into the house of her parents.

When the men first saw her she appeared in form and color exactly as when alive, but the moment she sat down in her father’s house her color faded and she shrank away until she became nothing but skin and bone, and was too weak to speak. Early the next morning her namesake, a woman in the same village, died, and her shade went away to the land of the dead in the girl’s place, and the latter gradually became strong again and lived for many years.

Irdlirvirisissong

Irdlirvirisissong, a celestial figure, lives in the sky and visits her cousin Aningan. Known for her upturned nose and a plate for her dogs, she awaits the deceased to feed her dogs their entrails. She spares those who don’t laugh at her eerie dance and song. Aningan warns visitors not to laugh, as laughter signals their demise, ensuring their intestines become dog food.

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

Supernatural Beings: Irdlirvirisissong is a celestial entity residing in the sky, interacting with humans and otherworldly figures like her cousin Aningan.

Divine Punishment: She enforces a strict code, punishing those who laugh during her eerie dance by feeding their entrails to her dogs, highlighting the consequences of disrespecting sacred rituals.

Underworld Journey: The narrative involves encounters with the deceased, as Irdlirvirisissong awaits souls to determine their fate, reflecting themes of life after death and the journey into the unknown.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Arctic Region
  - Inuit/Eskimo Lore

Learn more about the Inuit peoples

Erdlaveersissok in Greenland;
Ululiernang in Baffin Land;
in Angmagsalik she is the sun’s mother (Jupiter)

Irdlirvirisissong has a house in the sky, and sometimes visits her cousin, Aningan. Her nose is turned up on the sides, and she carries a plate called qengmerping for her dogs, of whom she has a number. She waits for people who die, so that when they come she can feed her dogs on their intestines.

She dances about, saying, “Qimitiaka nexessaqtaqpaka” (“I look for food for my dear dogs”). If the people laugh, she cuts them open, and gives their entrails to the clogs. Otherwise they are spared. Aningan warns the people not to laugh.

When an angakok comes up to visit Aningan, he turns his head aside so that his laughter may not be seen. If he begins to laugh, Aqoq says, “Qongujukpouq” (“He laughs”). Irdlirvirisissong goes driving with her dogs.

► Continue reading…

The regions below

In Eskimo belief, a spirit lingers near its earthly home for three days after death before journeying to the land of the nu’namiut, accessed through a dark tunnel guarded by a dog. There, spirits live in shadowy villages, relying on grave offerings for sustenance. Though free from cold and sleet, the underworld is dark and somber, reflecting the spirits’ dependence on the living.

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

Underworld Journey: The spirit’s passage through a dark tunnel guarded by a dog to reach the land of the nu’namiut exemplifies a venture into the realm of the dead.

Ancestral Spirits: In the underworld, the spirit resides with relatives, reflecting the connection to and influence of forebears on the present.

Loss and Renewal: The transition from the earthly life to the underworld signifies a cycle of death and the continuation of existence in another form.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Arctic Region
  - Inuit/Eskimo Lore

Learn more about Inuit peoples

For three days after an Eskimo dies, the spirit lingers around the scenes of its earthly existence. Then people must be very careful not to offend it. After taking a last look at its native village, it sets out for the land of the nu’namiut, “those who dwell in (beneath) the earth.” The way to the world beneath lies through a long dark tunnel guarded by a big dog (?). He is always on the lookout for unwary spirits. Having arrived at the land of the nu’namiut, the spirit finds them dwelling in villages much as on the earth. He seeks out the location of his relatives and lives with them. They lead a monotonous existence depending on the offerings made at their graves for food and drink. If their relatives neglect them, they go hungry and naked. There is no cold nor sleet in the world beneath, but it is dark and gloomy.

► Continue reading…

Anarteq

Anarteq, a young man who hunted reindeer with his sisters, drowned after his kayak overturned during a hunt. Transformed into a salmon, he lived in the sea for years. When his grieving father returned to their hunting grounds, Anarteq, still a salmon, reunited with him by gripping his paddle. Pulled from the water, he regained his human form and resumed providing for his family.

Source:
Eskimo Folk-Tales
collected by Knud Rasmussen
[Copenhagen, Christiania], 1921

► Themes of the story

Transformation: Anarteq’s metamorphosis into a salmon after drowning highlights themes of change and adaptation.

Underworld Journey: His experience beneath the water’s surface parallels a journey into an unknown realm, akin to an underworld adventure.

Rebirth: Anarteq’s return to human form signifies renewal and the cyclical nature of life.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Arctic Region
  - Inuit/Eskimo Lore

Learn more about Inuit peoples

There was once an old man, and he had only one son, and that son was called Anarteq. But he had many daughters. They were very fond of going out reindeer hunting to the eastward of their own place, in a fjord. And when they came right into the base of the fjord, Anarteq would let his sisters go up the hillside to drive the reindeer, and when they drove them so, those beasts came out into a big lake, where Anarteq could row out in his kayak and kill them all. Thus in a few days they had their umiak filled with meat, and could go home again.

► Continue reading…

One day when they were out reindeer hunting, as was their custom, and the reindeer had swum out, and Anarteq was striking them down, he saw a calf, and he caught hold of it by the tail and began to play with it. But suddenly the reindeer heaved up its body above the surface of the water, and kicked at the kayak so that it turned over. He tried to get up, but could not, because the kayak was full of water. And at last he crawled out of it.

The women looked at him from the shore, but they could not get out to help him, and at last they heard him say: “Now the salmon are beginning to eat my belly.”

And very slowly he went to the bottom.

Now when Anarteq woke again to his senses, he had become a salmon.

But his father was obliged to go back alone, and from that time, having no son, he must go out hunting as if he had been a young man. And he never again rowed up to those reindeer grounds where they had hunted before.

And now that Anarteq had thus become a salmon, he went with the others, in the spring, when the rivers break up, out into the sea to grow fat.

But his father, greatly wishing to go once more to their old hunting grounds, went there again as chief of a party, after many years had passed. His daughters rowed for him. And when they came in near to the base of the fjord, he thought of his son, and began to weep. But his son, coming up from the sea with the other salmon, saw the umiak, and his father in it, weeping. Then he swam to it, and caught hold of the paddle with which his father steered. His father was greatly frightened at this, and drew his paddle out of the water, and said: “Anarteq had nearly pulled the paddle from my hand that time.”

And for a long while he did not venture to put his paddle in the water again. When he did so at last, he saw that all his daughters were weeping. And a second time Anarteq swam quickly up to the umiak. Again the father tried to draw in his paddle when the son took hold of it, but this time he could not move it. But then at last he drew it quite slowly to the surface, in such a way that he drew his son up with it.

And then Anarteq became a man again, and hunted for many years to feed his kin.

Ikardlituarssuk

Ikardlituarssuk and his brother lived in a famine-stricken village. Seeking a reward, Ikardlituarssuk called upon his helping spirits and journeyed beneath the sea, where he met Tornarssuk’s mother. By encouraging her, she released birds and seals, ending the famine. The ice vanished, and hunters prospered, except one who defied her warning. Ikardlituarssuk earned the coveted paddle for his actions.

Source:
Eskimo Folk-Tales
collected by Knud Rasmussen
[Copenhagen, Christiania], 1921

► Themes of the story

Underworld Journey: Ikardlituarssuk’s descent beneath the sea to meet Tornarssuk’s mother represents a venture into a supernatural realm, a common motif where protagonists seek solutions or knowledge beyond the mortal world.

Divine Intervention: By encouraging Tornarssuk’s mother to release birds and seals, Ikardlituarssuk facilitates the end of the famine, showcasing how interactions with divine or supernatural beings can alter human circumstances.

Sacrifice: The tale highlights the importance of selflessness and adherence to given instructions. The villagers are warned not to overhunt, emphasizing the value of restraint for the greater good. The hunter who defies this warning faces consequences, underscoring the theme of sacrifice and obedience.

► From the same Region or People

North America
- Arctic Region
  - Inuit/Eskimo Lore

Learn more about Inuit peoples

Ikardlituarssuk, men say, had a little brother; they lived at a place where there were many other houses. One autumn the sea was frozen right out from the coast, without a speck of open water for a long way out. After this, there was great dearth and famine; at last their fellow-villagers began to offer a new kayak paddle as a reward for the one who should magic it away, but there was no wizard among the people of that village.

Then it came about that Ikardlituarssuk’s little brother began to speak to him thus: “Ikardlituarssuk, how very nice it would be to win that new paddle!”

► Continue reading…

And then it was revealed that Ikardlituarssuk had formerly sat on the knee of one of those present when the wizards called up their helping spirits.

Then it came about that Ikardlituarssuk one evening began to call upon his helping spirits. He called them up, and having called them up, went out, and having gone out, went down to the water’s edge, crept in through a crack between the land and the ice, and started off, walking along the bottom of the sea.

He walked along, and when he came to seaweed, it seemed as if there lay dogs in among the weed. But these were sharks. Then on his way he saw a little house, and went towards it. When he came up to the entrance, it was narrow as the edge of a woman’s knife. But he got in all the same, following that way which was narrow as the edge of a woman’s knife. And when he came in, there sat the mother of Tornarssuk, the spirit who lived down there; she was sitting by her lamp and weeping. And picking behind her ears, she threw down many strange things. Inside her lamp were many birds that dived down, and inside the house were many seals that bobbed up.

And now he began tickling the weeping woman as hard as he could, to encourage her; and at last she was encouraged, and after this, she freed a number of the birds, and then made a sign to many of the seals to swim out of the house. And when they swam out, there was one of the fjord seals which she liked so much that she plucked a few of the hairs from its back, that she might have it to make breeches of when it was caught.

And when all this had been done, she went home, and went to rest without saying a word.

When they awoke next morning, the sea was quite dark ahead, and all the ice had gone. But when the villagers came out, she said to them: “Do not kill more than one; if any of you should kill two, he will never kill again.”

And furthermore she said: “If any of you should catch a young fjord seal with a bare patch on its back, you must give it to me to make breeches.”

When they came back, each of the hunters had made a catch; only one of them had caught two. And the man who had caught two seals that day never after caught any seal at all when he rowed out, but all the others always made a catch when they rowed out, and some of them even caught several at a time.

Thus it came about that Ikardlituarssuk with the little brother won the new paddle as a reward.