"This is your child; name him after some dead one."[1]
"Let him be named after him who died of hunger in the north, at Amerdloq."
This the old one said. And then he said:
"His name shall be Qujâvârssuk!"
And in this way the old one gave him that name.
Now Qujâvârssuk grew up, and when he was grown big enough, the strong man said to the old one:
"Make a kayak for him."
Now the old one made him a kayak, and the kayak was finished. And when it was finished, he took it by the nose and thrust him out into the water to try it, but without loosing his hold. And when he did this, there came one little seal up out of the water, and others also. This was a sign that he should be a strong man, a chief, when the seals came to him so. When he drew him out of the water, they all went down again, and not a seal remained.
Now the old one began to make hunting things. When they were finished, and there was nothing more to be done in making them, and he thought the boy was of a good age to begin going out to hunt seal, he said to the strong one:
"Now row out with him, for he must go seal hunting."
Then he rowed out with him, and when they had come so far out that they could not see the bottom, he said:
"Take the harpoon point with its line, and fix it on the shaft."
They had just made things ready for their hunting and rowed on farther, when they came to a flock of black seal.
The strong one said to him:
"Now row straight at them."
And then he rowed straight at them, and he lifted his harpoon and he threw it and he struck. And this he did every day in the same manner, and made a catch each time he went out in his kayak.
Then some people who had made a wintering place in the south heard, in a time of hunger, of Qujâvârssuk, the strong man who never suffered want. And when they heard this, they began to come and visit the place where he had land. In this way there came once a man who was called Tugto, and his wife. And while they were there—they
- ↑ According to custom. It is believed that the qualities of the dead are thus transferred to the living namesake.
23
