14

Inuit legend song, sung by Martha Taliruq.

u-n-a-i-ja-ja-i-jaa kiamamma umingmaali a-ji-ja-ajaa-u-ming-maa-l-i-am-naa-immaa amnaimna qimmaqtuvaqlugpa unaijajajijaa a-ijaaijaa ajaaijaijajija jijaa ijaa una ilumaliijaijaa unaijaa aja. Aijaa illumali naliatalii umingmaaijajijaa ajijaa umingmaliamnaa amnaima qimmaqtugvaqluqpaa unaijajija ajaija aijajija jaija unaija ajijaa unaijajijaa. Qiamanna tagalii ajijaijaaja atagaliamna imna amnaima sivituvaglugpa unaiji a-ji-ja-ajaa-u-ming-maa-l-i-am-naa-immaa amnaimna qimmaqtuvaqlugpa unaijajajijaa a-ijaaijaa. Illumali naliatalii ataga ajija ijaa ." He just looked back and never gave the man a drink. There were a lot of other people just lying on the bed. He left without getting a drink because his request was not granted. If he had taken a drink he might have died like all those that were lying on the bed. After he left he was still thirsty so he decided to go back to where he had fought with the caribou and started to look for his rifle. His rifle was very far from the place where he was fighting the caribou. He started to sing what he had heard the man in the iglu sing. "u-n-i-ja-ja-i-jaa kiamamma umingmaali a-ji-ja-ajaa-u-ming-maa-l-i-am-naa-immaa amnaimna qimmaqtuvaqlugpa unaijajajijaa a-ijaaijaa ajaaijaijajija jijaa ijaa una ilumaliijaijaa unaijaa aja. Aijaa illumali naliatalii umingmaaijajijaa ajijaa umingmaliamnaa amnaima qimmaqtugvaqluqpaa unaijajija ajaija aijajija jaija unaija ajijaa unaijajijaa. Qiamanna tagalii ajijaijaaja atagaliamna imna amnaima sivituvaglugpa unaiji a-ji-ja-ajaa-u-ming-maa-l-i-am-naa-immaa amnaimna qimmaqtuvaqlugpa unaijajajijaa a-ijaaijaa. Illumali naliatalii ataga ajija ijaa.

Recorded by Winnie Owingayak 2000.
Transcribed and translated by Sarah Silou for the Inuit Heritage Centre in 2005.

15

Three Keewatin Inuit women at the Hudson's Bay Co building
1926
Ukpiktujuq 'Big Hips Island', Baker Lake, Nunavut

Credits:
Burwash, L.T. Major
# PA099419 National Archives of Canada

16

Legend told by Martha Taliruq

Long ago people use to hunt muskoxen. They would hunt for days at a time and would even bring women who would sew and repair their boots. People use to walk when they hunted. Most people use to just have one or two dogs so they would pool them together and hunt together. Their igluit had store-rooms. The women stayed at the igluit to sew. The men would go out looking for musk-oxen tracks to hunt musk-ox.
One day a woman was alone while the men went hunting. She was in the iglu which had a store-room and she could also see the doorway. She could hear somebody in the porch ready to come in. She quickly went to hide in the store-room which was just adjacent to the main room where she had been sitting. When the igluit are new the snow is easy to break so she broke through the snow wall of the store-room and started after the hunters. The thing that had entered the iglu stayed in the iglu. Meanwhile she had quickly put on her pocket stockings which are like long leggings but with pockets on the outside of each legging. She reached the hunters following their tracks and the hunters started back to the iglu. There was a shaman amongst the hunters who went into the iglu alone. He struggled with whatever was in the iglu and there was a lot of blood on the walls. The monster that had gone into the iglu was an amautalik which had an amauti (woman's coat with a pouch on its back to carry a baby) for carrying somebody away. So it was up to the Shaman to defeat the amautalik because the others did not want to fight it.

17

Dog sledges at Hudson's Bay Co's flagpole
1926
Ukpiktujuq 'Big Hips Island', Baker Lake, Nunavut

Credits:
Burwash, L.T. Major
# PA099428 National Archives of Canada

18

There was once a man who took the form of a musk-ox. Long ago when Inuit hunted they would take dogs on leases with them to use them to hunt. So this person who had turned himself into a musk-ox saw two people coming with each one holding a lease with a dog on each end. The muskoxen thought that the two people looked small and were bringing with them two little dogs whereas the muskoxen were big and figured that they could easily outrun these small objects so the muskoxen decided to wait for these approaching small objects. One person had a harness on his dog and he removed the dog harness so that the leases would not get stuck on anything. The other person who had his dog on a collar and lease removed both collar and lease so that nothing will be in the way of the dog. This one dog had two eyes one above each other so the musk-ox got really frightened and lost his voice. The dog had two markings above his eyes that made it look like it had four eyes. The musk-ox got so frightened that he could not move and kept staring at the dog with four eyes.
Bessie Iquginnaq Scottie is one of the daughters of Ijjugaarjuk, shaman leader of the people of Hikuligjuaq, Keewatin. Maisie Tukaksuk was her sister who was married to Angutirataq of Baker Lake, Nunavut, Canada.

19

Two boys
1930
Aberdeen Lake, Keewatin, Nunavut, Canada

Credits:
Porsild, A.E.
# PA101052 National Archives of Canada

20

Big Fish told by Janet Nipi Ikuutaq.
There was once a woman who was working on caribou intestines on the shore or beach. While she was working on the shore a big fish swallowed her. Using her ulu she immediately cut open the fish's stomach and came out of the fish before the fish had a chance to swim away. The woman lost all her hair from the experience. When here husband saw his wife with no hair he really wanted to take vengeance for his wife. He kept sharpening his big knife and made it very sharp. So holding his big knife very tightly he started to wait on the shore on the beach for the fish. It wasn't long before the big fish came back. As soon as the fish started to swallow him he started to stab at it as fast as he could and killed the big fish that way. The husband also lost some of his hair but not as much as his wife did because he also had some supernatural powers from animals.

21

Cooking bread
1946
Baker Lake, Nunavut, Canada

Credits:
Hunter, George
# PA141736 National Archives of Canada
National Film Board of Canada

22

Martha Taliruq is singing a song taken from a legend.
A hunter during the winter, went to stab a wounded caribou he had shot. He went to the caribou and was going to stab it to kill it. But the caribou was fighting back and would not be killed. The man was down for a long time to the point that he even melted the snow on which his head rested. He thought he had stood up but actually he was dead. He felt thirsty so when he stood up he saw the water and went to it to drink the yellow liquid. But each time he bent down to drink from it the yellow liquid receded so he did not get to drink. He also saw the iglu above them on a hill which was lit. He was so thirsty that he started going to it. He was so thirsty. When he went in he said that he was thirsty. In the iglu there was only one person sitting up facing the back wall and he was really singing Inuit songs. He sang,

"u-n-a-i-ja-ja-i-jaa kiamamma umingmaali a-ji-ja-ajaa-u-ming-maa-l-i-am-naa-immaa amnaimna qimmaqtuvaqlugpa unaijajajijaa a-ijaaijaa ajaaijaijajija jijaa ijaa una ilumaliijaijaa unaijaa aja. Aijaa illumali naliatalii umingmaaijajijaa ajijaa umingmaliamnaa amnaima qimmaqtugvaqluqpaa unaijajija ajaija aijajija jaija unaija ajijaa unaijajijaa. Qiamanna tagalii ajijaijaaja atagaliamna imna amnaima sivituvaglugpa unaiji a-ji-ja-ajaa-u-ming-maa-l-i-am-naa-immaa amnaimna qimmaqtuvaqlugpa unaijajajijaa a-ijaaijaa. Illumali naliatalii ataga ajija ijaa ."

He just looked back and never gave the man a drink. There were a lot of other people just lying on the bed. He left without getting a drink because his request was not granted. If he had taken a drink he might have died like all those that were lying on the bed. After he left he was still thirsty so he decided to go back to where he had fought with the caribou and started to look for his rifle. His rifle was very far from the place where he was fighting the caribou. He started to sing what he had heard the man in the iglu sing.

"u-n-i-ja-ja-i-jaa kiamamma umingmaali a-ji-ja-ajaa-u-ming-maa-l-i-am-naa-immaa amnaimna qimmaqtuvaqlugpa unaijajajijaa a-ijaaijaa ajaaijaijajija jijaa ijaa una ilumaliijaijaa unaijaa aja. Aijaa illumali naliatalii umingmaaijajijaa ajijaa umingmaliamnaa amnaima qimmaqtugvaqluqpaa unaijajija ajaija aijajija jaija unaija ajijaa unaijajijaa. Qiamanna tagalii ajijaijaaja atagaliamna imna amnaima sivituvaglugpa unaiji a-ji-ja-ajaa-u-ming-maa-l-i-am-naa-immaa amnaimna qimmaqtuvaqlugpa unaijajajijaa a-ijaaijaa. Illumali naliatalii ataga ajija ijaa ."

23

Inuit tent camp taken by the Fifth Thule Expedition of 1921 to 1924
1922
Canada, North America

Credits:
Photo #1746. The Fifth Thule Expedition
National Museum of Denmark

24

Long ago animals could become people and also change back as well. There was one that had become a wolf and changed back. He said that when he became a wolf he tried to keep up with the wolves but had to use all his strength but would always only catch up after they had finished their catch. So after not being able to get there in time before the food is gone, he finally asked, "How do you run so fast?" The wolves replied, "When you run, stiffen your legs out, grab the ground with your feet, straighten out your spine." So after that he was able to get to arrive in time to eat.

Told by Bessie Scottie (Egjougaajuk's daughter), Baker Lake, Inuit Heritage Centre.

25

There's a legend about a grizzly which always dug up the caribou cache to eat them. So nobody could have any caribou to eat during the winter because the grizzly dug them up before the Inuit could come for them. It was even digging up Inuit graves. There even was a man whose wife died and he knew that the grizzly dug up graves and carries the bodies away. When his wife died and was buried he would visit her frequently at her grave. But once again the grizzlies had dug up her grave and carried her away. So the man had himself be put in the grave to wait for the grizzlies. So the grizzlies dug him up and carried him away. As he was being carried and whenever they came through willows and heather, he would grabbed the heathers and willows and the bear would pull with all his might because it thought that the body was caught on heathers or willows. When they arrived to the bear cave there were two bear cubs waiting for them. The cubs could talk. When they entered the bear's home the bear stood the man upside down on the back wall leaning the body against the wall. The bear was very tired from carrying the man and went to sleep facing the back wall. The man pretending to be dead opened his eyes a little bit to look for instruments with which he could use to kill the bear. One of the bear cubs saw him open his eyes a little and said to his father, "Ataak, Appa ijinnik uikkik."

26

Probably unbelieving the papa bear said "let him open his eyes. Today he was grabbing onto the willows trying to sway me" And continued trying to sleep. The man kept looking and finally saw an axe. Suddenly he grabbed the axe and immediately knocked out the sleeping papa bear. He tried quickly to get out of the iglu but his wife was heating up a pot of water, cooking in the porch. Long ago people use to cook in the porch. There were two pots of boil fat made from cooking people. In those days the pots were made out of caribou skin so the man quickly stabbed the pots to pour out the fat of the people. The mama bear was so busy trying to save the pots that the man quickly went past her to go out. The man started running but the mama bear started off after him. The man drew a line in the ground and a big cliff formed between the man and the bear. This slowed down the bear because she had to climb the cliff. The man drew a line again in the ground and a gushing river formed between the bear and the man. When the mama bear reached the river she asked, "How did you cross the river? How did you cross the river" "By drinking it. By drinking it until it's empty." So the bear started drinking the river, wanting to cross the river. She kept drinking and got really full. She even went into the middle of the river while drinking wanting to get to the other side. She just got really full and went back ashore. As soon as she started to shake she burst and created fog.

Told by Martha Taliruq.

27

A Inuit lady fetching water with a pot
1922
Arviat, Nunavut, Canada

Credits:
Birket-Smith, Kaj
Photo #1032. The Fifth Thule Expedition
National Museum of Denmark