Native American Legends
The boy with enormous nostrils
An American Indian Legend - Nation Unknown
One day a young boy, Kautyayuq, went out with his older sister
to carry home a seal that had been killed. While they were searching,
the ice they were walking on broke up, and they floated farther
and farther away from their home. Days later, the ice brought them
to a settlement. The people there took them in, but only grudgingly,
and they were treated with cruelty.
Kautyayuq's sister was allowed to sit inside the ice-house, but
was forced to braid rope constantly, until all the flesh was worn
off her fingers and only bones remained. (She disappears from the
story at this point; in some versions, she never exists).
Kautyayuq himself was never allowed inside: he had to sit in the
entryway, where it was very cold, and sleep outside with the dogs.
Whenever the people decided to give him food, two big women would
stick their fingers in his nostrils and drag him through the entryway
until his head was just inside the house. Then they would only feed
him walrus skin. In time, his nostrils grew enormous because of
this treatment, and sometimes the people would drag him around in
this way, just for amusement.
One evening when Kautyayuq was shivering inside the entryway, the
people heard three polar bears prowling around the settlement. "This
is our chance to get rid of this nuisance forever," they said
to each other. They forced Kautyayuq outside where the bears were,
certain that he would be devoured.
But when Kautyayuq was outside, the Moon Man came down from the
sky and began to beat him. The Moon Man was beating all of the weakness
out of Kautyayuq, and when he was done, Kautyayuq started to grow
larger and larger. He grew so huge that he killed all three bears
with his hands alone.
Then he killed all of the people in the settlement except two.
These were the big women who had dragged him into the house when
he was fed. He kept them alive so that he could mistreat them as
they had mistreated him.
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