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Page 6
"May Ootah lose his _pungo_ (dogs); may they all die!"
Maisanguaq, caught by the evil contagion, began to sway his body in
rhythm to the weird dance.
"May Ootah become a cripple! May he break his bones! May he lie
helpless for years! May his shadow leave him! May he suffer with the
greatest of all pains!"
As he uttered this terrible curse, desiring that Ootah's shadow,
wherein exists the soul, might depart from his still-living body, and
thus cause the most excruciating bodily anguish, Sipsu sank exhausted
to the ground. He writhed in a paroxysm.
"May Ootah die slowly; may his legs die, may his hands die--yea, may
the spirits of his body be severed from one another as ice fields in
the breaking; may the spirit of his hands, the spirit of his feet, the
spirit of his lungs, the spirit of his head, the spirit of his heart
wander apart--may they be torn asunder as the clouds in a storm! May
they wander apart forever seeking and may they never find themselves!
May Ootah suffer as never suffered the unhappy dead!"
And Maisanguaq's deep voice growled hatefully:
"May Ootah's body lie unburied! May he rot upon the earth! May the
ravens peck out his eyes! May a murderer drink his blood! May the
wolves eat his heart! May the spirit of the fog grow fat upon his
entrails! And may the spirits of his body scatter--as the clouds in
the wild _anore_ (winds) scatter! May his soul forever seek to find
its kindred spirits unavailingly and suffer in _Sila_, (throughout the
universe) forever!"
From under a pile of skins Sipsu, his chant subsiding, brought forth a
bundle. Opening it, he revealed a collection of old bones; there were
the bones of musk oxen, seals, walrus and smaller animals.
"Yah-hah-hah! I shall create a _tupilak_!" he crooned vindictively.
"I shall create a _tupilak_! And from the depths of the waters the
_tupilak_ shall see Ootah. Yah-hah-hah! I shall create a _tupilak_,
and from the hands of Sipsu it shall carry destruction to Ootah on the
sea. Yah-hah-hah!" He laughed crazily. Continuing his chant he
constructed of the bones a crude likeness to an animal skeleton. Over
this he sprinkled a handful of dried turf. Then, from beneath the
cover of his bed he brought a stone pot and from it poured a sluggish
red liquid over the strange object of his creation. This was a mixture
of clotted animal blood and water kept for such purposes of
conjuration. This done, he threw over the bones an aged sealskin.
Then he rose to his feet, and in a low voice uttered the secret
formulas whereby, in the depths of the sea, the result of his labor
should take the form of an artificial walrus.
Maisanguaq stood by, silent, evil exultation shining in his eyes.
While the Sipsu was moaning his spell over the pile of bones,
Maisanguaq turned and left the tent. Out on the sea he saw the kayaks
of his departing companions.
"Good luck, Maisanguaq, have courage in the chase! Remember Annadoah
awaits you all!" Annadoah called blithely and coquettishly after him.
Maisanguaq's lips tightened, his heart leaped, but well he knew that he
meant nothing to the maiden, well he knew what little chance he had,
and envy filled him, and bitter doubt, for he knew Ootah's prowess, his
strength of limb, and braveness of heart. However, he put out with
quick powerful strokes, and with a sense of anticipated triumph, for he
was confident that the magician by his necromancy had created in the
depths of the sea a _tupilak_, or artificial walrus, which should
attack Ootah. He knew it might upset Ootah's kayak and cause him to be
drowned. The probabilities were, however, that it would permit itself
to be harpooned, in which case its blighting curse would fall upon
Ootah, who would lose all power and strength of limb, whose body would
become bent and crippled and racked with the _kangerdlugpoq_, and who
would die slowly, inch by inch. Thus, Ootah would be helpless the rest
of his days and as he died all the dreadful horrors of the curses would
come upon him. Thus would Maisanguaq be revenged.
As the midnight sun dipped below the horizon, the sea became more
deeply golden. To the women watching along the shore, the multitude of
kayaks became mere black specks. They disappeared now and then behind
the crests of leaping waves, and reappearing moved with the swiftness
of birds along the horizon.
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