aying out here?"

And he rowed in to land. There he found a long stone, laid it on his
kayak, and rowed out again. And when he came in sight of other kayaks
that lay waiting for seal, he stopped still, took out his two small
bladder floats made from the belly of a seal, tied the harpoon line
to the stone in his kayak, and when that was done, he rowed away as
fast as he could, while the kayaks that were waiting looked on. Then
he disappeared from sight behind an iceberg, and when he came round
on the other side, his bladder float was gone, and he himself was
rowing as fast as he could towards land. His wife, who was looking
out for him as usual, shading her eyes with her hands, said then:

"But what has happened to Qasiagssaq?"

As soon as a voice could reach the land, Qasiagssaq cried:

"Now you need not be afraid of breaking the handles of your knives;
I have struck a great walrus, and it has gone down under water with
my two small bladder floats. One or another of those who are out
after seal will be sure to find it."

He himself remained altogether idle, and having come into his house,
did not go out again. And as the kayaks began to come in, others went
down to the shore and told them the news:

"Qasiagssaq has struck a walrus."

And this they said to all the kayaks as they came home, but as usual,
there was one of them that remained out a long time, and when at
last he came back, late in the evening, they told him the same thing:
"Qasiagssaq, it is said, has struck a walrus."

"That I do not believe, for here are his bladder floats; they had
been tied to a stone, and the knot had worked loose."

Then they brought those bladder floats to Qasiagssaq and said:

"Here are your bladder floats; they were fastened to a stone, but
the knot worked loose."

"When Qasiagssaq does such things, one cannot but feel shame for him,"
said his wife as usual.

"Hrrrr!" said Qasiagssaq, to frighten her.

And after that Qasiagssaq went about as if nothing had happened.

One day he was out in his kayak as usual at a place where there was
much ice; here he caught sight of a speckled seal, which had crawled
up on to a piece of the ice. He rowed up to it, taking it unawares,
and lifted his harpoon ready to throw, but just as he was about to
throw, he looked at the point, and then he laid the harpoon down again,
saying to himself: "Would it not be a pity, now, for that skin, which
is to be used to make breeches for my wife,