ack now."

But his wife, who was beside him, said:

"When Qasiagssaq does such things, one cannot but feel shame for him."

"Hrrrr!" said Qasiagssaq to his wife, as if to frighten her. And
after that he went about as if nothing had happened.

One day when he was out in his kayak as usual, he said:

"What is the use of my being out here, I who never catch anything?"

And he rowed in towards land. When he reached the shore, he took off
his breeches, and sat down on the ground, laying one knee across a
stone. Then he took another stone to serve as a hammer, and with that
he hammered both his knee-caps until they were altogether smashed.

And there he lay. He lay there for a long time, but at last he got up
and went down to his kayak, and now he could only walk with little
and painful steps. And when he came down to his kayak, he hammered
and battered at that, until all the woodwork was broken to pieces.
And then, getting into it, he piled up a lot of fragments of iceberg
upon it, and even placed some inside his clothes, which were of ravens'
skin. And so he rowed home.

But all this while two women had been standing watching him.

His wife was looking out for him as usual, shading her eyes with her
hands, and when at last she caught sight of his kayak, and it came
nearer, she could see that it was Qasiagssaq, rowing very slowly.
And when then he reached the land, she said:

"What has happened to you now?"

"An iceberg calved."

And seeing her husband come home in such a case, his wife said to
the others:

"An iceberg has calved right on top of Qasiagssaq, so that he barely
escaped alive."

But when the women who had watched him came home, they said:

"We saw him to-day; he rowed in to land, and took off his breeches
and hammered at his knee-caps with a stone; then he went down to his
kayak and battered it to bits, and when that was done, he filled his
kayak with ice, and even put ice inside his clothing."

But when his wife heard this, she said to him:

"When Qasiagssaq does such things, one cannot but feel shame for him."

"Hrrrr!" said Qasiagssaq, as if to frighten her.

After that he lay still for a long while, waiting for his knees to
heal, and when at last his knees were well again, he began once more
to go out in his kayak, always without catching anything, as usual. And
when he had thus been out one day as usual, without catching anything,
he said to himself again:

"What is the use of my st