Imarasugssuaq

Overview

Imarasugssuaq fattens his wives on salmon while denying them drink, then eats them. His new wife Misana regains her ability to move by secretly licking snow while he is away. She arranges her stuffed clothing to answer him and cry out when struck. He attacks the substitute with a bird-spear, discovers there is no blood and goes searching for her, giving her time to leave her hiding place.

When he begins overtaking her, she recalls her wooden amulet and becomes a piece of wood. His knife causes only a sting; when he goes for an axe, she becomes human and escapes to her brothers. There she exposes him as they mock his reputation. They restrain him so that she can strike, but her fingers repeatedly fail her. The tale ends with the discovery that he is already dead, without assigning the death to a successful knife stroke. Misana is the escaping wife, not an alternative name for the cannibal.

A comparable Canadian narrative in Boas’s 1888 collection calls its cannibal Igimarasugdjuqdjuaq. Here the immediate victim is the wife’s visiting sister, whom he orders her to cook. The wife escapes after stuffing her jacket with heather and leaving it on the bed. He mistakes it for a visitor and stabs it; this substitute is not said to speak. A village conceals the fugitive from him. Later its people approach him on the ice, ask to inspect his bear-hunting spear and use it to kill him before cutting up his body. This ending differs from Misana’s wooden transformation and her brothers’ discovery that their captive is already dead. The two printed witnesses are compared here without assigning the Canadian episodes to the southeastern Greenland teller or asserting that every detail describes one invariant being.

Origins & earliest records

The volume’s final source list assigns this narrative to South-East 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.

Records & interpretation

The complete Imarasugssuaq, who ate his wives narrative and its final source-list attribution were inspected. The episode begins on printed p. 44. Complete Boas Canadian comparison, pp.633–634, also read; distinct substitutions and endings retained.

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

   Imarasugssuaq, who ate his wives, begins printed p. 44. Complete narrative and source-list entry.

2. 02

   The Central Eskimo

   Franz Boas, collector · 1888

   Igimarasugdjuqdjuaq the Cannibal, pp.633–634; complete episode. No individual teller named in this passage.

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: Imarasugssuaq, who ate his wivesResearch access: 2026-10-05
2. Primary textBoas 1888: Igimarasugdjuqdjuaq the CannibalResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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