Editing Adlet (section)

==Origin==
[[Franz Boas]], an ethnologist who recorded many [[Inuit]] stories, gives an account of the origin of the Adlet; he had heard the story in [[Baffin Land]], specifically in [[Cumberland Sound]] from an Inuk named Pakaq. His transcription, a translation by H. Rink, and an explanation (by Boas) were published in ''[[The Journal of American Folklore]]'' in 1889.<ref>Boas and Rink, "Eskimo Tales and Songs."</ref>  The Inuit of [[Greenland]], according to Rink, tell the same story as those in Baffin Land.<ref>Rink, "Tales and traditions of the Eskimo" 471; Boas and Rink, "Eskimo Tales and Songs" 123.</ref> The story is often referred to as "The Girl and the Dogs" on the west coast of Greenland; on the east coast of Greenland it is known as "The Origin of the Qavdlunait and Irqigdlit" (that is, Scandinavians or Nordic people and Indians).<ref name="RinkThe" />

A woman, Niviarsiang ("the girl"), lives with her father, Savirqong, but will not marry, and hence is also called Uinigumissuitung ("she who wouldn't take a husband"). After rejecting all her suitors, she marries a dog, Ijirqang, with white and red spots. Of their ten children, five are dogs and the others are Adlet, with dog's bodies for their lower half and man's bodies for their upper half. Since Ijirqang does not go hunting and the children are very hungry, it falls to Savirqong to provide for the noisy household. At last he puts them into a boat and carries them off to a small island, telling Ijirqang to come and get meat daily. Niviarsiang hangs a pair of boots around his neck and he swims ashore, but Savirqong, instead of giving him meat, puts stones in the boots and Ijirqang drowns. In revenge, Niviarsiang sends the young dogs over to gnaw off her father's feet and hands. He, in return kicks her overboard when she happens to be in his boat, and when she hangs on the gunwale he cuts off her fingers, which, when they fall in the ocean, turn into [[whale]]s and [[Pinniped|seals]].<ref>Boas, "The Central Eskimo" 637. This aspect of the Adlet myth is similar to an element in the mythology of [[Sedna (mythology)|Sedna]], the Inuk goddess of marine animals. See Newell Wardle, "The Sedna Cycle: A Study in Myth Evolution."</ref>

Since Niviarsiang is scared her father might kill the Adlet, she sends them inland, and from them a numerous people springs. The young dogs she sends across the ocean in a makeshift boat, and arriving beyond the sea they became the Scandinavian ancestors.<ref>Boas, "The Central Eskimo" 637.</ref>