e water, and finding a pair of boots
gone they were alarmed, and quickly forming into two long lines with
their leader at the point where the lines met, they flew away crying,
"_Honk! Honk! Honk!_"

But one of the flock remained behind crying, "I want my boots! I want
my boots!"

Itajung came forth from his hiding-place and said, "I will give you
your boots if you will become my wife."

"That I will not do," she replied.

"Very well," he said, and turned around to go away.

"I don't want to, but I will be your wife if you will bring back my
boots," she called.

He came back and gave her the boots, and when she put them on she was
changed into a woman.

They walked away together, and wandered down to the seaside and, as
she liked to live near the water, they settled in a large village by
the sea. Here they lived for several years and had a son. Itajung
became a highly respected man, for he was by far the best whaler in
all the Inuit tribe.

One day they killed a whale and were busy cutting it up and carrying
the meat and blubber to their homes. Many of the women were helping,
but though Itajung was working very hard, his wife stood lazily
looking on.

"Come and help us," he called to her.

"My food is not from the sea," she replied. "My food is from the land.
I will not eat the meat of a whale; neither will I help."

"You must eat it; it will fill your stomach," said he.

She began to cry, and said, "I will not eat it. I will not soil my
nice white clothing."

She went to the beach and searched for feathers. When she found some,
she put them between her fingers and the fingers of her child. They
were both turned into geese and flew away. When the Inuit saw this
they cried, "Itajung, your wife is flying away."

Itajung became very sad. He no longer cared for the meat and blubber,
nor for the whales spouting near the shore. He followed in the
direction his wife had taken, and went over all the land in search of
her.

After traveling for many weary months, he came to a river where a man
with a large axe was chopping chips from a piece of wood, and as fast
as he chopped them they were turned into salmon and slipped out of the
man's hands into the river and swam down to a large lake near by. The
name of the man was Small Salmon.

As Itajung looked at the man he was frightened almost to death; for
the back of the man was entirely hollow, and Itajung could see right
through him and out at the other side.