Reading Notes: Eskimo Folk Tales (Part A)

Last semester, I had a homework assignment for my Phonology class over Greenlandic Eskimo.  While doing this assignment, I had to do a little research for background information on the language, including some facts about the speakers.  During this research, I found that these people have a beautiful culture and I really wanted to learn more, but never really got the chance.  That's why I decided to check out the Eskimo Folk Tales unit.  The little background information at the top of the unit page explained where these stories came from and the dialect that the recorder spoke, Kalaallisut, was the one my previous assignment was over.  Reading these stories helped me feel like I was experiencing and understanding another huge part of their culture.  I only with that I had studied enough of the Greenlandic Eskimo language last semester so that I could experience these stories in their original language.  

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My favorite story from the first half of this unit was definitely Atungait, Who Went A-Wandering. This story is from Eskimo Folk-Tales by Knud Rasmussen with illustrations by native Eskimo artists (1921). In the story, Atungait sets off on a journey wandering about the lands with a strong woman from his home village.  They encounter other villages that all have strange qualities about them.  After a while, he begins to miss home and ends up finding his wife with another man.  His wife lies to him about kissing another, so he kills her.  The man she was with tells the truth about kissing Atungait's wife, so he is spared.  Then, Atungait makes the strong woman his new wife and the story just ends.  It was such an odd tale that had me saying, "Wait, what?" the entire time.  I love how some folklore seems to make very little sense when you read it now and you are left questioning whether this is because of translation problems or if it is because of the cultural differences.  Either way, this story was an odd one, but I loved it.