Amautalik
An amautalik (plural: amautaliit) is an ogress or troll woman from Inuit folklore, known to kidnap children in an amauti, carrying them away to be eaten or, more commonly, act as servants.
Etymology
[edit]The word amautalik ultimately comes from a combination of the word amauti or amaut (a kind of woman’s parka with a special pouch for carrying children) and the Greenlandic suffix -lik (“owning” or “provided with”). Amautalik is thus roughly translated as “one who owns an amauti”.
Descriptions and appearance
[edit]Many sources agree that the amautaliit are huge, ugly land spirits, akin to the Nordic trolls and the Sámi stállo. An amautalik’s amauti is said to be made of walrus skin, and lined with rancid seaweed, which is home to oversized, biting insects and lice. These beings are also known to have superhuman stealth and running speed, and are big enough to overpower humans with ease.[1] In art, amautaliit are often shown with traditional tattoos.
Behaviour
[edit]When an amautalik comes upon a child—especially one who has wandered away from home—she will sneak up on them, grab them, and stuff them in her amauti. They will then be carried back to her domain (usually a cave or iglu), where they will be either eaten or put to work picking dog-sized lice out of the creature’s hair. This will cause them to be covered in giant louse-bites.[2] Those who escape from an amautalik’s home reek of decayed seaweed and are covered in oversized lice. Survivors are said to be scarred from the experience, the horrors of the monster’s lair eating away at their sanity. [1]
Powerful angakkuit, or shamans, can trap and employ amautaliit into their services, but this is obviously a dangerous task. [1]
Folktales and stories
[edit]Several tales describe these beings, such as one in which several young children were out playing on the tundra. One was an orphan, who had no one to care for him. As such, his kamiik boots fell into disrepair, to the point that his toes stuck out. Along came an amautalik, who snatched up all the children except the orphan. The inhuman amautalik had never seen toes before, so she inquired as to what was sticking out of the orphan’s shoes. The orphan replied that they were monsters who ate people. The ogress then demanded that he clutch them tight so they could not eat her. He responded that he could not, and so—as per the orphan’s request—the amautalik dropped all the children and left.[3]
In another legend, a boy is out playing on the tundra. Sneaking up behind him comes the amautalik, who lunged and swooped him up. Placing him in her amauti, she started to walk off. The boy’s family witnessed this, but only the boy’s grandmother, who was an angakkuq (shaman), thought to do something. She threw her ulu at the creature and it lodged into the amautalik, carrying a powerful curse of Strength with it. Despite this, the amautalik carried the boy home, and put him to work picking puppy-sized lice out of her matted hair. Meanwhile, the boy’s grandmother sent out a snow bunting assistant to complete her Strong curse on the amautalik. When the snow bunting reached the amautalik’s skull-adorned iglu (snow house), it waited till the amautalik was asleep, and then instructed the boy to run when it distracted the beast. The bunting entered the iglu, and started flying around the now awake amautalik. Trying to track the bird with her fish-like eyes, the Strong curse was completed, and the amautalik went mad. The boy escaped, and returned to his family.[4]
Similar entities
[edit]In Inuit tradition, amautaliit are not the only child-snatching ogresses of the Arctic. In Nunavut, Canada, there are tales of a troll woman who has a basket on her back made from bones and driftwood. Her name is Amajuqsuk, or Amajurjuq (“one who carries [children] in an amauti”), and she takes children away in her basket and makes them pick lice from her hair, like the amautalik. [1] In the South Baffin Region of Nunavut, an ogress known as the Mangittatuarjuk (“gnawer [of rocks]”) lives in caves along the gravel banks. Luring people into her cave with a trail of coloured stones, she seals the entrance to trap them inside. Once inside, she kills them and collects their heads, later eating the decomposing matter that drips out their noses.[5] The sea-dwelling equivalent of the amautalik in Nunavut and Alaska is the qalupalik (plural: qalupaliit; “one who owns a scoop/water-bucket”), who waits under the thin sea ice for unsuspecting children, making a humming or tapping sound to lure them closer. It then kidnaps them in an amauti made from eider duck feathers.[6]
See also
[edit]- Amauti—A traditional Inuit woman’s parka with a hood-like pouch for carrying children.
- Qalupalik—A strange sea-person who lives under the ice in Inuit folklore, stealing children in an amauti.
- Stállo—An ogre-like being in Sámi mythology.
- Troll—A legendary being in Scandinavian lore, sometimes known to take children.
- Grýla—A troll woman in Icelandic folklore, known to kidnap and eat naughty children around Christmas.
- Landvættir—Guardian land spirits and deities in the Icelandic sagas, shown on the Icelandic Coat of Arms.
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 Christopher, Niel (2014). The Hidden: A Compendium of Arctic Giants, Dwarves, Gnomes, Trolls, Faeries, and other Strange Beings from Inuit Oral History. Iqaluit, Nunavut: Inhabit Media. p. 77. ISBN 978-1-77227-383-0.
- ↑ Qitsualik-Tinsley, Rachel (2011). The Shadows that Rush Past: A Collection of Frightening Inuit Folktales. Iqaluit: Inhabit Media. pp. 1–10. ISBN 978-1-77227-218-5.
- ↑ Christopher, Niel (2018). The Amautalik and the Orphan: An Inuit Traditional Story. Arvaaq Press. ISBN 978-0-2287-0019-7.
- ↑ Qitsualik-Tinsley, Rachel (2011). The Shadows that Rush Past: A Collection of Frightening Inuit Folktales. Iqaluit, Nunavut: Inhabit Media. pp. 1–10. ISBN 978-1-77227-218-5.
- ↑ Flaherty, Louise (2017). The Gnawer of Rocks. Iqaluit, Nunavut: Inhabit Media. ISBN 978-1-77227-165-2.
- ↑ Kilabuk, Elisha (2011). The Qalupalik. Iqaluit, Nunavut: Inhabit Media. pp. 4–10. ISBN 978-1-77227-487-5.