U MYTHOLOGY U
INUIT MYTHOLOGY Evelyn Wolfson
I thank Dorothy Tweer and Dacia Callen Wolfson for their advice, criticism, and comments.
Copyright © 2001 by Evelyn Wolfson All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means without the written permission of the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wolfson, Evelyn. Inuit mythology / Evelyn Wolfson. p. cm. – (Mythology) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7660-1559-9 1. Inuit mythology—Juvenile literature. [1. Inuit—Folklore. 2. Eskimos— Folklore. 3. Folklore—Arctic regions.] I. Title. II. Series: Mythology (Berkeley Heights, N.J.) E99.E7 W78 2001 398.2’089’9712—dc21 00-055146 Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 To Our Readers: We have done our best to make sure all Internet addresses in this book were active and appropriate when we went to press. However, the author and the publisher have no control over and assume no liability for the material available on those Internet sites or on other Web sites they may link to. Any comments or suggestions can be sent by e-mail to
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Cover and Illustrations by William Sauts Bock
CONTENTS Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1
The Woman Who Adopted a Bear Polar Inuit of Northern Greenland . . . . . 21
2
The Girl Who Married a Gnome Inuit of West and East Greenland . . . . . . 42
3
The Adventures of Kivioq Netsilik of Nunavut, Canada . . . . . . . . . . 55
4
Sedna, Goddess of the Sea Baffinland Inuit of Nunavut, Canada . . . 67
5
Oogoon’s Adventures on the Kobuk River The Inuit of Kotzebue Sound, Alaska . . . 78
6
The Hill Giant Bering Strait Inuit of Alaska . . . . . . . . . . . 94
7
Ol-an-uk the Orphan Aleuts, or Unangan, of Alaska . . . . . . . . .106 Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119 Chapter Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121 Further Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125 Internet Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127
PREFACE The homeland of the Inuit (IN-oo-aht) people is a broad region of frozen land and sea that stretches from Alaska in the west to Greenland in the east. It is a land where trees are unable to grow, and only the hardiest animals and people can survive. Today, people of the North American Arctic are called Inuit, a term that has replaced the word Eskimo. Few of today’s modern Inuit live where their parents or grandparents were born. Instead, they live in small cities and towns, mostly in southern regions of the Arctic. Traditional houses have been replaced by imported wooden ones, dogsleds have been replaced by snowmobiles, oil lamps have been replaced by electric lights and central heat, most foodstuffs must be imported, and television is the most important source of entertainment. The Arctic covers the northernmost part of the earth and includes three continents: North America, Asia, and Europe. Less than one third of the Arctic is land. The rest is covered by the Arctic Ocean. The Inuit have lived in the North American Arctic for thousands of years. Descended from an early Siberian people, the Inuit arrived later to the New World than Native Americans. After they crossed the Bering Strait, they settled in Arctic North America and developed their own unique culture. Earlier and different groups of emigrants who came from Siberia and China beginning twenty-five to thirty thousa