eat men,
and their kayaks he threw down into a great ravine. The man rowed up
to this giant. And when he reached him, the man-eater said: "Come here
and look," and led him to the deep ravine. And when the man looked
down, the giant tried to thrust him backwards down into the depth.
But the man caught hold of the giant's legs and cast him down
instead. And then he went on again.
And as he was rowing on, he heard the bone of a seal calling to him:
"Take away the moss which has stopped up the hole that goes through
me." And he did so, and went on again.
Another time he heard a mussel at the bottom of the sea crying:
"Here is a mussel that wishes to see you; come down to the bottom;
row your kayak straight down through the water--this way!"
That mussel wanted to eat him. But he did not heed it.
Then at last one day he saw an old woman, and rowed towards her,
and came up to her. And she said:
"Let me dry your boots." And she took them and hung them up so high
that he could not reach them. The man would have slept, but he could
not sleep for fear.
"Give me my boots," he said. For it was now revealed that she was a
man-eater. And so he got hold of his boots and fled down to his kayak,
and the woman ran after him.
"If only I could catch him, and cut him up," she said. And as she
spoke, the kayak nearly upset.
"If only I could send a bird dart through her," said the man. And as
he spoke, the woman fell down on her back and broke her knife.
And then he rowed on his way. And on his way he met a man, and rowed
up to him.
"See what a skin I have stretched out here," said the stranger. And
he knew at once it was his son's kayak. The stranger had eaten his
son, and there was his skin stretched out. The man therefore went up
on land and trampled that man-eater to death, so that all his bones
were crushed.
And then he went home again.
ATUNGAIT, WHO WENT A-WANDERING
Atungait, that great man, had once, it is said, a fancy to go out on
a sledge trip with a strong woman.
He took a ribbon seal and had it flayed, and forbade his wife to
scrape the meat side clean, so that the skin might be as thick as
possible. And so he had it dried.
When the winter had come, he went out to visit a tribe well known
for their eagerness in playing football. He stayed among them for
some time, and watched the games, carefully marking who was strongest
among the players. And he saw that there was one among the
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