Sacred-Texts Native American Inuit
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149. KATIGAGSE2 had no faith in the angakut, and sometimes, when attending their conjurations, he tore p. 472 away the window-curtain, and thereby dispelled all their doings. But once when an angakok had begun his conjuration, and announced his tornak to be approaching in the shape of a fire, Katigagse tore away the curtain which covered the entrance, and ran outside. Suddenly he discovered a great flame rushing through the air, which struck him with terror, and made him re-enter the house, and trembling from head to foot cling to the rafters of the hut, from whence fatigue soon made him fall to the ground. When the conjuration had been finished, and the fire kept off, Katigagse was missed. At length they brought him forth from underneath the ledge, all covered with filth, in which state he left the house, never to attend angakok service any more.
2 This and the following tale are only interesting as showing the deeply-seated fear of, and belief in, the angakut.