Literature Network » Rudyard Kipling » The Second Jungle Book » Ch. 12: 'Angutivaun Taina'

Ch. 12: 'Angutivaun Taina'

[This is a very free translation of the Song of the Returning
Hunter, as the men used to sing it after seal-spearing.
The Inuit always repeat things over and over again.]
   Our gloves are stiff with the frozen blood,
     Our furs with the drifted snow,
   As we come in with the seal--the seal!
     In from the edge of the floe.
   Au jana! Aua! Oha! Haq!
     And the yelping dog-teams go,
   And the long whips crack, and the men come back,
     Back from the edge of the floe !
   We tracked our seal to his secret place,
     We heard him scratch below,
   We made our mark, and we watched beside,
     Out on the edge of the floe.
   We raised our lance when he rose to breathe,
     We drove it downward--so!
   And we played him thus, and we killed him thus,
     Out on the edge of the floe.
   Our gloves are glued with the frozen blood,
     Our eyes with the drifting snow;
   But we come back to our wives again,
     Back from the edge of the floe!
   Au jana! Aua! Oha! Haq!
     And the loaded dog-teams go,
   And the wives can hear their men come back.
     Back from the edge of the floe!

Literature Network » Rudyard Kipling » The Second Jungle Book » Ch. 12: 'Angutivaun Taina'