him with bleared eyes, she begged him to gather her a little firewood,
which he did. And then she prayed him to free her from the _wah
gook_(M.), or vermin, with which she was covered, and which were
maddening her with their bites. These were all devils in disguise, the
spirits of foul poison, such as she deemed must kill even the Master.
Now Glooskap, foreseeing all this, had taken with him, as he came, from
a bog many cranberries. And bidding Pook-jin-skwess bend over, he began
to take from her hair the hideous vermin, and each, as he took it,
became a horrid porcupine or toad. [Footnote: In the Eskimo mythology,
_Arnarkuagsak_, the old woman of the sea, is tormented by vermin
about her head. These are really the souls of still-born or murdered
infants, who have become imps. The first thing which the _angakok_
or sorcerer, who visits her must do is to free her from these pests.
The descent of the sorcerer to this mother of all the monsters of the
sea, who are at the same time _giants_, when they choose to assume
the human form, recalls that of Odin to Hela. Both make this journey to
hell, not for themselves, but in the interests of mankind.] Then the
hag asked, "Have you found one?" "I have," replied the Master.
"_Basp_!" (M.) "Crush it!" was her answer, and Glooskap crushed a
cranberry; and she, hearing the noise, thought that he had done as she
bid, and that the poison on his fingers would penetrate to his life.
But he put the imps, one by one, under the wooden platter, which lay
before him. As this went on he put the witch to sleep. When she awoke
he was gone. The foul porcupines and toads were swarming all over the
ground, having upset their hive. And filled with fury at being made a
jest of, since it was a great despite that he had not even found it
worth while to kill her when asleep, she burst out into her own form,
which was beautiful as sin, wild as the devil, and gathering up all her
imps, and making herself far more magical by fiercer will, went onward
to encounter him again.