tly desired to see her kin. And then the bear spoke to
her thus:

"Do not speak of us when you return to men," it said. For it was
afraid lest its two cubs should be killed by the men.

Then the woman went home, and there she felt a great desire to tell
what she had seen. And one day, as she sat with her husband in the
house, she said to him:

"I have seen bears."

And now many sledges drove out, and when the bear saw them coming
towards its house, it felt so sorry for its cubs that it bit them to
death, that they might not fall into the hands of men.

But then it dashed out to find the woman who had betrayed it, and
broke into her house and bit her to death. But when it came out, the
dogs closed round it and fell upon it. The bear struck out at them,
but suddenly all of them became wonderfully bright, and rose up to the
sky in the form of stars. And it is these which we call Qilugtussat,
the stars which look like barking dogs about a bear.

Since then, men have learned to beware of bears, for they hear what
men say.

THE MAN WHO BECAME A STAR

There was once an old man who stood out on the ice waiting for the
seal to come up to their breathing holes to breathe. But on the shore,
just opposite where he was, a crowd of children were playing in a
ravine, and time after time they frightened away a seal just as he
was about to harpoon it.

At last the old man grew angry with them for thus spoiling his catch,
and cried out:

"Close up, Ravine, over those who are spoiling my hunting."

And at once the hillside closed over those children at play. One of
them, who was carrying a little brother, had her fur coat torn.

Then they all fell to screaming inside the hill, for they could not
come out. And none could bring them food, only water that they were
able to pour down a crack, and this they licked up from the sides.

At last they all died of hunger.

And now the neighbours fell upon that old man who had shut up the
children by magic in the hill. He took to flight, and the others ran
after him.

But all at once he became bright, and rose up to heaven as a great
star. We can see it now, in the west, when the lights begin to return
after the great darkness. But it is low down, and never climbs high
in the sky. And we call it Nalaussartoq: he who stands and listens. [9]

THE WOMAN WITH THE IRON TAIL

There was once a woman who had an iron tail. And more than this,
she was also an eate