Adlet (mythology)

The adlet are half-dog, half-human creatures from Inuit mythology said to have been born from the unnatural union of a woman and a dog. The creatures are described as having the upper features of a human and the lower features of a dog. In some versions of the legend, the woman tried to protect her offspring by sending them over the ocean where they became the ancestors of the white European race. In other tales, the adlet are cannibals who are in constant conflict with humans. The creatures were said to be taller than humans with some descriptions also giving them snouts, pointed ears, and yellow eyes. While stories of the adlet are common among many indigenous peoples in Greenland and near the Hudson Bay, the Inuit west of the bay refer to them as erqigdlit.

Background

Inuit is a wide-ranging term used to refer to the indigenous peoples who reside in the far northern regions of Alaska, Canada, and Greenland. The term Inuit itself is mainly used in Canada, while the people of Alaska and Greenland prefer to use other names to describe themselves. Although they are spread out over a large geographic area, they speak different dialects of the same language family and share a similar culture. According to various census figures, about 65,000 Inuit were in Canada in 2016, 57,700 were in Greenland in 2018, and about 25,000 were in Alaska in 2017.

Like most cultures, stories from Inuit mythology typically try to explain religious or spiritual mysteries of the natural world. Inuit myths were traditionally passed down orally and portrayed the world as being inhabited by both good and evil deities and spirits. A prime Inuit belief was that animals possessed spirits, or souls. Animals could understand human speech and often exhibited human characteristics. Many Inuit myths also include stories of evil supernatural beings similar to demons. Some of these creatures were said to be able to change shape but could always be identified by their red eyes; others could drag children to their deaths beneath the waves, while still others were giants who hunted humans.

Overview

Tales of the adlet were first recorded by the anthropologist Franz Boas in the late nineteenth century and published in the 1889 book The Journal of American Folklore. Boas heard the tale while studying the Inuit cultures on Baffin Island, a large island north of Hudson Bay and west of Greenland. Boas noted that the story was also told in Greenland where it was known on the eastern coast as the tale of the “Girl and the Dogs” and in western regions and as the “Origin of the Qavdlunait and Irqigdlit.” In the regional Inuit language, Qavdlunait refers to Europeans and the Irqigdlit are Native Americans. The term adlet itself may come from a word meaning “below” and was meant to refer to “those below.” It may also have originated from the word agdlak, which means “striped” or “streaked.”

According to the story, a girl named Niviarsiang angers her father by refusing to get married. After rejecting all offers of marriage from humans, the girl instead marries a spotted dog named Ijirqang. Eventually, Niviarsiang gives birth to ten children fathered by Ijirqang. Five of the children are dogs and the other five are adlet, humans with the lower bodies of dogs. The children are voracious eaters and always hungry, but Ijirqang refuses to hunt, leaving Niviarsiang’s father to get food for the family. The father takes the children to an island and tells Ijirqang to swim to the island to bring meat to his family. Niviarsiang hangs two boots around her husband’s neck to carry the meat back to the island, but instead of meat, the father puts rocks in the boots. Weighted down by the rocks, Ijirqang drowns as he attempts to swim to the island. In revenge, the children attack their grandfather and chew off his hands and feet.

Realizing that her father intends to harm her children, Niviarsiang sends half of them inland and the other five away over the sea. Eventually, the children sent overseas find land and settle, becoming the ancestors of the white Europeans. The children sent inland become Native Americans, or First Nations people as they are called in Canada. In some versions of the story, the dog that mates with the woman is possessed by a demon. The woman, recognizing the evil creatures her children will become, sets the adlet adrift in the ocean, where they eventually land on a far shore, giving birth to the European races. After a time, the adlet return home to kill all the surviving descendants of their mother’s family.

Although stories of the adlet are more common among the Inuit of Greenland, Labrador, and on the shores of Hudson Bay, they can be found in the folklore of indigenous peoples across the far north. To the west of Hudson Bay, some people refer to them as erqigdlit. The adlet are taller than both the Inuit and the Europeans. They are physically very fast and are said to attack humans. Although the conflicts between the two species are often violent, according to the myths, humans always end up as the victors in the battles.

Some variations of the myth portray the adlet that were not sent over the ocean as spawning a race of cannibal warriors. Other versions depict the adlet as being similar to werewolves, although they are not considered to be shape-changers. These adlet are said to resemble wolves covered in red fur with snouts, pointed ears, and bright yellow eyes. The creatures are said to hunt in packs and attack any creature they find in the wild.

Bibliography

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