M17A. Mother or grandmother deceives a blind man. .40.

The mother or grandmother of a blind man or boy secretly eats meat or fish (obtained by him), pretending that there is no food in the house.

Central Yupik, Bering Strait and northern Alaska Inupiat, Copper, Caribou, Netzilik, Igloolik, Polar, Baffin Island, Labrador Eskimo, West Greenland, Angmassalik(?).

Arctic. Central Yupik (Nelson Island) [typical Eskimo version; woman {apparently mother} lies that husband missed, he kills her)]: Charlie 1997: 25 in Mishler 2003: 53; Bering Strait Inupiat : Garber 1940 [man killed in war, son Suluk left as breadwinner; lazy mother hates him, forbids his sister to mend his clothes, casts a spell, he goes blind; she feeds him willow branches, hides his supply of meat; tells daughter to aim his arrow at polar bear, lie that he missed; loon calls to him, dives three times with him, he regains his sight; comes home disguised as blind, thrusts roots down mother's throat that she was going to feed him, she chokes; he wants to kill his sister too, but she explains that her mother made her do it; the brother and sister live happily]: 33-38; Keithahn 1958 [son brings caribou skins, mother does not want to process them; when son sleeps, mother sprinkles ashes in his eyes, he goes blind; shoots polar bear, mother does not give him meat, lies that there is no more, feeds him seal fat; mixes berries with beetles and worms; loon calls him, dives with him four times, restoring his sight; he ties mother to the back of beluga whale, releases her into the sea]: 76-79; Inupiat of northern Alaska : Frost 1971 (exact location not given in publication) [woman gets tired of her son killing so many animals; she asks evil spirits to blind him; aims his arrow at a polar bear, lies that he missed, eats the meat herself; her daughter (the blind man's younger sister) puts aside pieces for him, gives them to him when her mother takes her away to hunt caribou; Loon dives with him five times, he regains his sight; mother returns, he rides with her in a boat, throws her into the water; she grabs the side of the boat, he cuts off her fingers, she tries to cling with her hair, he cuts them off; she turns into a black whale, her cut hair is whalebone in the whale's mouth]: 62-67; Hall 1975, #PM56 ( Noatak ) [woman tired of processing meat, skins, etc., that her son brings back from hunting; mixes urine with his food, he goes blind; she aims his arrow, he kills a polar bear, she lies that he missed, eats the meat herself; he comes to the lake, the loon dives with him four times, restoring his sight; tells what his mother did; he kills his mother]: 245-247; Lucier 1958, no. 11 ( noatagmiut) [a brother and sister live with their mother; a young man brings back a lot of game, which his mother does not have time to process; she smears his eyes with her menstrual blood while he is sleeping, and he goes blind; she aims his bow at a polar bear, and lies that he missed; his sister secretly feeds him meat; a loon calls him to the lake, restores his sight by rinsing his eyes with water; he puts his mother in a boat, and sends her out to sea; the brother and sister turn into wolves]: 96-98; Lynch 1995 [a blind young man lives with his grandmother; she teaches him how to trap a loon; the loon asks him to let her go because she has chicks; he lets her go, and the grandmother gets angry; she tells him to shoot a polar bear, and lies that her grandson missed; she tells him to eat berries and mushrooms; the loon submerges his kayak twice, and the young man regains his sight; throws the old woman into the water, she turns into a whale, her hair into whalebone; in gratitude, the young man puts a necklace of bone arrowheads on the Loon's neck; now they are white feathers]: 21-26; Spencer, Carter 1954 (Cape Barrow): 65-68 [the young man with his younger sister and grandmother live alone; the old woman hangs her grandson's snow goggles over a fat lamp; he puts them on, goes blind; one day he shoots at a bear that came to the house, the old woman lies that he missed, eats the meat herself; he smells the meat; she gives him dirty water to drink; he follows the Loon's voice, she dives with him four times, he regains his sight; offers the old woman to drink the water with worms herself; harpoons a beluga whale, the tench drags the old woman, the beluga whale dives, the old woman disappears; the young man marries, his sister gets married], 68 [1) the blind boy's mother says he missed, she eats bear meat; he follows the loon's voice, she dives with him four times, he regains his sight; blames his mother in front of other people; 2) (=Spencer 1959: 396-397); the blind boy's grandmother aims his arrow; lies that he did not kill the bear; feeds him only rotten meat; the loon puts him on her back, dives with him four times; he regains his sight; harpoons a beluga whale; ties a line to the grandmother's hand, she carries it out to sea; the killer whale devours the beluga whale; the hump on the killer whale's back is an evil grandmother]; copper [the blind boy's mother eats trout herself; she gives him liver, mixing it with excrement; The loon puts him on its back, dives with him, he regains his sight; harpoons a salmon, asks his mother to hold the line, the salmon drags her into the water]: Rasmussen 1932: 204-205; caribou [there lived a mother, a blind eldest son, a younger daughter; the mother aims her son's arrow at an approaching bear, lies that he missed; but the sister gives her brother meat; the brother asks his sister to take him to the lake, asks the loon to restore his sight; the loon dives with him, he regains his sight; having harpooned a beluga whale, uses his mother as a float for the harpoon; the beluga drags her into the sea]: Rasmussen 1930b: 108-110; netsilik [ Aninga is blind; his mother Agtulg-rarnan aims his arrow, lies that he missed the bear; eats meat herself; his sister Alekasecretly feeds him; he asks to be taken to the sea; two loons in human form lick his eyes, making them sharp-sighted; he harpoons a walrus, tying a line to his mother, the walrus drags her into the sea; the brother and sister leave; the spirit of the mother in the form of a fiery strip, a moving belt blocks the way; they jump over these obstacles; the sister goes to ask the spirits with claws on their hands for water; they want to kill her, the brother kills them, heals the sister; they come to people without anuses; to satisfy their hunger, they suck meat; the brother marries, the sister remarries; those women do not have vaginas, pregnant women have their bellies ripped open; the sister gives birth normally; her mother-in-law pierces her vagina with a meat fork, dies; the sister smears the face of an unknown lover with black, in the morning she recognizes her brother; they decide to turn into something; sister suggests, brother rejects options (in wolves: their teeth are too sharp; bears: clubfoot; musk oxen: sharp horns; seals: sharp claws; etc.; in the sun and the moon); they light torches of moss, run, rise into the air; sister puts out brother's torch, therefore the moon is cold]: Rasmussen 1931: 232-236; igloolik: Kroeber 1899, No. 6 (Smith Sound) [a blind youth lived with his mother and sister; the mother aimed her son's bow at a bear, the arrow hit the animal, the mother said the youth had missed; he smelled bear meat, the mother denies it, the sister secretly feeds her brother; a loon tells the youth to sit on her, brings him to a rock, dives with him several times, he regains his sight; the mother asks her son to harpoon a small narwhal; the first time he does so, she pulls the narwhal ashore by a line; the second time he harpoons a large one, the narwhal drags the woman into the sea, she asks him to throw her a knife, the son does not throw it; she herself turns into a narwhal, her twisted hair into his tusk; the brother and sister are wandering, they are thirsty; the sister enters the house, it adlit, they eat her; brother killed them with a bone club (tusk), revived sister from bones; they came to people, sister married, brother married]: 169-170; Rasmussen 1930a [grandmother; beluga whale drags her into the sea; brother and sister come to people who have no anuses and genitals; brother marries, cuts holes in wife; she becomes pregnant, her mother is going to cut her belly open; she gives birth normally; all women make holes in themselves with meat forks; some die]: 77-80; Spalding 1979 (Repulse Bay) [Aningaat is blind; mother aims his arrow at polar bear, says A. hit a dog; feeds him dog meat, eats bear meat with her daughter; sister secretly gives it to brother; takes him to lake; The loon dives with him, rubs his eyes three times, he regains his sight; ties a line to his mother's belt, harpoons a large beluga whale, which carries the mother out to sea; a brother and sister come to people with long nails; the sister goes into the house to ask for water; the inhabitants begin to skin her flesh; the brother bursts in, kills everyone with an ice pick; rubs his sister's back with snow and urine, the flesh is restored; they come to those playing cup-and-ball; A. takes one of the utensils, runs away; they come to people without anuses; A. tells his sister to take a husband there; she gives birth; the local headman says that now they have a man with an anus and a penis; pierces his anus; another pierced, missed, died; A. began to secretly visit his sister; she smeared her nose with soot; both came to the meeting house, there is a holiday there; everyone laughs at A., seeing his black nose; sister dips moss torch in fat, runs away; A. runs after her, but does not dip torch in fat, so it quickly goes out; sister becomes sun, A. becomes moon]: 48-50; Baffin Island [woman has adopted son and daughter; young man is blind; she tells him to shoot bear, lies that he missed, eats meat alone; sister brings him pieces; Loon dives with him, making him see; he calls mother to hunt beluga whales, tells her to hold tench, carries her out to sea, she screams, I swaddled you; turns into a narwhal; brother and sister are traveling; sister goes into a house to ask for water; inhabitants scratch her with claws; brother kills them; brother and sister come to people without anuses; they chew food, spit it out; sister marries one of them; pregnant women have their stomachs cut open, removing the child; brother explains that sister will give birth herself; her son has an anus; people sit on stakes, piercing themselves; some die, most successfully make their own anuses]: Boas 1888: 625-627 (=1901, no. 4: 168-171); Arctic Eskimos [an old woman with a small grandson and granddaughter are abandoned alone; a boy shoots at a bear; the grandmother tells her granddaughter to tell him that he missed, she eats the meat herself; his sister secretly feeds him; he asks to be taken to the lake; The loon dives with him four times, he regains his sight; the young man harpoons a beluga whale, the tench drags the grandmother into the water, she turns into a narwhal, a tuft of her hair becomes his horn; the sister enters the house of cannibals, is eaten; the brother kills them, revives the sister; the brother and sister come to people without anuses; their excrement is reindeer fat, they spit it out through their mouths; they urinate through a hole in their palms; the sister gets married here, is pregnant; the shaman wants to give her a Caesarean section as is usual with these people; she normally gives birth to a girl who has an anus; her grandmother sits on a sharp stick to pierce her anus; dies]: Holtved 1951, no. 37: 152-165 (translated in Menovshchikov 1985, no. 230: 445-449); Labrador Eskimo : Hawkes 1916 [a young man blinded by the glare of the snow lives with his mother and sister; the mother aims his bow at a bear, lies that he has missed, eats the meat herself, gives it to her daughter; she tells her brother the truth; in the spring he regains his sight; he harpoons a beluga whale, ties the line to his mother's belt, the beluga drags it under water; she lives with the beluga whales, keeps crying, My son did this ]: 157-158; Nungak, Arima 1969 [a stingy mother; sister secretly feeds her brother; the mother turns into a beluga whale, her hood into a tail; in the beluga whale's cry the words, My son did this ]: 51; Labrador Eskimo , Greenland (text compiled from 8 similar versions, 2 from Labrador, 6 from various parts of Greenland, 3 recorded before 1828) [a widow has a son and a daughter; the son kills a bearded seal, the mother wants it for her own use, the son does not give it to her; the mother tells the sinews to spring when the son makes a line out of them; the youth goes blind from a blow to the face; the mother tells him to shoot at an approaching bear, lies that the son missed; his sister secretly feeds him bear meat; one day he takes him to a lake; there geese drop their excrement in his eyes, he regains his sight; he asks his mother to hold a line while hunting beluga whales; he harpoons the biggest one, the mother carries it into the water, it turns into a narwhal, a lock of her hair turns into a horn; the brother and sister move inland, live alone; old man brother visits people, then leaves forever]: Rink 1875, no. 2: 99-105; Angmassalik[Geese beat a blind man's face with their wings, he regains his sight]: Holm 1988 {check}, Thalbitzer 1923 {find} in Spencer, Carter 1954: 69.