Kigutikaq — spoken words

“There once was an old woman up north. She took a bear cub as a child, because she didn’t have any children herself. It was a very little bear cub. As he got older he started catching seals at their breathing holes. In this way he got food for his stepmother, he brought the catch home in his mouth. When he grew up his mother marked him with soot, because she didn’t want the hunters to kill him. She said to the hunters: “You must never kill him”. In spite of that, one of the hunters killed him. When she found out that her bear had been killed, she became very sad, and she wept ceaselessly. She kept looking for him, while she sang this song:

She who believes to have a bear as a child,
Is marked by so much seeking,
A bear, a bear, a bear

Let me continue the story: One day she didn’t return. While she was looking for the bear, she turned into a stone. You can still find her up north. Inughuit [the Thule Eskimos] used to go bear hunting there. When they passed the petrified woman, they smeared her mouth with blubber, so that they would be able to catch bears. And it always happened so, that they caught bears”


	KIGUTIKAQ:
	“There once was an old woman up north. She took a bear cub as a child, because she didn’t have any children herself. It was a very little bear cub. As he got older he started catching seals at their breathing holes. In this way he got food for his stepmother, he brought the catch home in his mouth. When he grew up his mother marked him with soot, because she didn’t want the hunters to kill him. She said to the hunters: “You must never kill him”. In spite of that, one of the hunters killed him. When she found out that her bear had been killed, she became very sad, and she wept ceaselessly. She kept looking for him, while she sang this song: She who believes to have a bear as a child, Is marked by so much seeking, A bear, a bear, a bear Let me continue the story: One day she didn’t return. While she was looking for the bear, she turned into a stone. You can still find her up north. Inughuit [the Thule Eskimos] used to go bear hunting there. When they passed the petrified woman, they smeared her mouth with blubber, so that they would be able to catch bears. And it always happened so, that they caught bears”