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

Overview

When two sisters refuse to marry, their brothers mockingly propose an eagle and a whale as husbands. Both animals then carry off the women. The eagle keeps its wife on a high rock ledge and brings enormous catches: a walrus and a narwhal, and later two walruses, in its claws. She works secretly on a sinew line, lengthening it until she can descend to her brothers.

Her brothers prepare crossbows and call from below the cliff for her to descend. The eagle later discovers her absence and flies toward their house. Their shots miss until a homeless boy, whose bow must be drawn for him, strikes it. The others then fill the falling bird with arrows and kill it. The episode belongs to a paired rescue narrative, followed by the other sister’s flight from the whale. The eagle’s hunting provision does not make the wife’s confinement voluntary.

Cliff dwellingCarries large sea mammals in its clawsCaptive wife makes a descent line
01

Origins & earliest records

The volume’s final source list assigns this narrative to West Greenland. Knud Rasmussen collected the material; W. Worster edited and translated the 1921 English selection. No individual storyteller is named here. Worster states that he selected and edited versions, including omissions; this is not an unabridged performance transcript.

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Records & interpretation

The complete The Eagle and the Whale narrative and its final source-list attribution were inspected. The episode begins on printed p. 130.

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

    The Eagle and the Whale, begins printed p. 130. Complete narrative and source-list entry.

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/Worster 1921: The Eagle and the WhaleResearch 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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