When he heard this, he was afraid, and hid himself behind the skin hangings. And he had hardly crawled in there when that master came home; Atdlarneq looked through a little hole, and saw him.
And his cheeks were made of copper.[1]
He had but just sat down, when he began to sniff, and said:
“Hum! There is a smell of people here.”
And now Atdlarneq crawled out, seeing that the other had already smelt him. He had hardly shown himself, when the other asked very eagerly:
“Has he had nothing to eat yet?”
“No, he has not yet eaten.”
“Then bring food at once.”
And then they brought in a sack full of fish, and a big piece of blubber from the half of a black seal. And then the man said violently:
“You are to eat this all up, and if you do not eat it all up, I will thrash you with my copper cheeks!”
And now Atdlarneq began eagerly chewing blubber with his fish; he chewed and chewed, and at last he had eaten it all up. Then he went to the water bucket, and lifted it to his mouth and drank, and drank it all to the last drop.
Hardly had he done this when the man said:
“And now the frozen meat.”
And they brought in the half of a black seal. And Atdlarneq ate and ate until there was no more left, save a very little piece.
When the man saw there was some not eaten, he cried out violently again:
“Give him some more to eat.”
And when Atdlarneq had eaten again for a while, he did not wish to eat more. But then they brought in a whole black seal. And the man set that also before him, and cried:
“Eat that up too.”
And so Atdlarneq was forced to stuff himself mightily once more.
- ↑ There is a fabulous being in Eskimo folklore supposed to have cheeks of copper, with which he can deliver terrible blows by a side movement of the head. Naughty children are frequently threatened with “Copper-cheeks” as a kind of bogey.
