A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

Anarteq and his sisters cooperate in reindeer hunting: they drive animals toward a lake, and he strikes them from his kayak. Playing with a calf's tail leads to a kick that overturns the boat. His sisters cannot reach him, and he sinks after saying that salmon are eating him. On awakening he has become a salmon. The story follows his seasonal travel toward the sea rather than ending at the family's apparent bereavement.

After years without his son, the father revisits their former hunting place with his daughters. Anarteq recognizes him weeping in the boat and grips his steering paddle. The frightened father initially withdraws it. At the second encounter he slowly lifts the paddle and draws up his son, who becomes human again and resumes supporting his family. The transformation and return are the narrative mechanism; neither a permanent curse nor a distinct new salmon species is stated.

Human becomes salmon after sinkingRecognizes his human relativesReturns when lifted with a paddle
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Origins & earliest records

The volume's final source list assigns this narrative to Godthaab, West Greenland. Knud Rasmussen collected the material; W. Worster edited and translated the1921 English selection. No individual storyteller is named for this episode. Worster explicitly states that he selected clear versions and omitted or edited passages, so this is not an unabridged oral-performance transcript.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete selected episode read through its final outcome; regional attribution checked against the final source list. Anarteq, begins printed p.150. Modern biological assumptions are not substituted for the story's transformations.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Eskimo Folk-Tales

    Knud Rasmussen, collector; W. Worster, editor and English translator · 1921

    Anarteq, begins printed p.150. Complete episode and source-list attribution read.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Primary textRasmussen/Worster1921: Anarteq, begins printed p.150.Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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