Haakon Arnorsson wears "...sealskin shoon..." (p. 163), calls the Inuit "'...Skraelings...'" (p. 164) and "'...can steer by stars and sunstone...'" (p. 167) to a merfolk colony on an island in the vast sea between Greenland and Markland. His daughter and son-in-law had "'...a carl to help with the work...'" (p. 168) but she now lives with the Skraelings, "'...the nithings who defiled her...'" (p. 169)
The Skraelings have sent a tupilak:
"'A tupilak is a sea monster made by witchcraft. The warlock builds a frame, stretches a walrus hide across, stuffs the whole with hay and sews it up, adds fangs and claws and - and sings over it. Then it moves, seeks the water, preys on his enemies. This tupilak attacks white men. It staves in a skiff, or capsizes it, or crawls over the side. Spears, arrows, axes, nothing avails against a thing that has no blood, that is not really alive. It eats the crew... What few escaped bear witness.'" (p. 170)
It sounds like a hostile marine Gump.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
The tupilak was an interesting example of Poul Anderson using a monster taken from a little known mythology most English speaking readers would know little of.
Sean
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