ckly home to his house, and said to his wife's
mother:
"Go quickly now and take the dress I wore when I was little. [4]
It is in the chest there."
And when she took it out, it was so small that it did not look like a
dress at all, but it was very pretty. And he ordered her then to dip
it in the water bucket. When it was wet, he was able to put it on, and
when the lacing thong at the bottom touched the wound, it was healed.
Now when his house-fellows came out after the spirit-calling they
thought to find him lying dead outside the entrance. They followed
the blood spoor, and at last he had gone into the house. When they
came in, he had not a single wound, and all were very glad for that
he was healed again. And now he said:
"To-morrow I will go bow-shooting with him."
Then they slept, and awakened, and Isigaligarssik opened his little
chest and searched it, and took out a bow that was so small it
could hardly be seen in his hands. He strung that bow, and went out,
and said:
"Come out now and see." Then they went out, and he went down to the
wizard's house, and called through the window:
"Big man in there; come out now and let us shoot with the bow!" And
when he had said this, he went and stood by a little river. When he
turned to look round, the wizard was already by the passage of his
house, aiming with his bow.
He said: "Come here." And then Isigaligarssik drew up spittle in his
mouth and spat straight down beside his feet.
"Come here," he said then, to the great wizard. Then he went over
to him, and came nearer and nearer, and stopped just before him. Now
the wizard aimed with his bow towards him, and when he did this, the
house-fellows cried to Isigaligarssik: "Make yourself small!" And he
made himself so small that only his head could be seen moving backwards
and forwards. The wizard shot and missed. And a second time he shot
and missed.
Then Isigaligarssik stood up, and took the arrow, and broke it across
and said:
"Go home; you cannot hit." And then the wizard went off, turning many
times to look round. At last, when he bent down to get into his house
through the passage way, Isigaligarssik aimed and shot at him. And
they heard only the sound of his fall. The arrow was very little,
and yet for all that it sent him all doubled up through the entrance,
so that he fell down in the passage.
In this way Isigaligarssik won his wife again, and he lived with her
afterwards until death.
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