View source for The Blind Man and the Loon

{{short description|Folk tale}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
'''The Blind Man (or Boy) and the Loon''', also commonly known as '''the Lumaaq Story''' (also spelled '''Lumiuk''' or '''Lumak'''), among other names, is a folktale told all over [[Greenland]], Canada, and down into parts of the United States, though most heavily [[Inuit]] and [[Athabaskan]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Craig |last=Mishler |date=2013 |title=The Blind Man and the Loon: The Story of a Tale |location=Lincoln |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=9780803239821 |url=https://archive.org/details/blindmanloonstor00crai/ |url-access=registration |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>
==Story==
A blind boy lives with an abusive female guardian, either a mother, grandmother, or stepmother. He also has a sister. One day a [[polar bear]] arrives in their camp. Through the window of their house, the blind boy shoots the bear. His guardian lies, telling him he missed and then keeps the bear's meat for herself and the sister. The sister brings meat to the boy in secret.
[[File:Common loon drake, stony brook harbor entrance (33738327770).jpg|thumb|A common loon]]
The boy goes to a lake, where he is brought underwater by a [[loon]]. The loon brings him underwater and surfaces several times. Each time they surface the boy can see a little more. By the end his sight is entirely restored.
Now that he can see, the boy takes part in a [[beluga whale]] hunt at the beach. His guardian comes hunting too, serving as the anchor for the harpoon line. A rope is tied around her waist, and her job is to pull back and brace against the whale. She is pulled out to sea by the whale, either because the boy did not help her pull back, or because he deliberately harpooned a whale that was too large. The large whale pulls her into the water, and she is lost. In some versions she becomes a [[narwhal]], her hair becoming the horn.
==Variants==
* [[Sun and Moon (Inuit myth)]] is an extended Inuit version of the story, where there's a couple more events after that and it ends with the brother and sister becoming the Sun and Moon.
==Visual art==
The story is a popular subject in [[Inuit art]].
===Prints===
<gallery mode=packed widths=200px>
File:Legend of the Blind Man and the Bear by Josephie Pootoogook.jpg|{{cite AV media |people=Josephie Pootoogook with [[Kananginak Pootoogook]] |date=1959 |title=Legend of the Blind Man and the Bear |location=[[Cape Dorset]]}}
File:The Legend of Lumiuk by Kiakshuk.jpg|{{cite AV media |people=[[Kiakshuk]] |date=1960 |title=The Legend of Lumiuk |location=[[Cape Dorset]]}}
File:Lumiuk and the Whales by Kiakshuk.jpg|{{cite AV media |people=[[Kiakshuk]] |date=1961 |title=Lumiuk and the Whales |location=[[Cape Dorset]]}}
</gallery>
* {{cite AV media |people=Davidialuk Alasua Amittu |date=1962 |title=Lumak |type=stonecut |location=[[Puvirnituq]] |publisher= |id= |url=https://www.mbam.qc.ca/en/works/20334/}}
* {{cite AV media |people=Davidialuk Alasua Amittu |date=1963 |title=Legend of Lumak |type=stonecut |location=[[Puvirnituq]] |publisher= |id= |url=https://www.mbam.qc.ca/en/works/20337/}}
* {{cite AV media |people=Pitseolak Ashoona |date=1968 |title=Legend of the Narwhal |type=stonecut |location=[[Cape Dorset]] |publisher= |id= |url=https://americanindian.si.edu/collections-search/object/NMAI_276499}}
* {{cite AV media |people=[[Agnes Nanogak]] |date=1975 |title=Blind Boy |type=stonecut |location=[[Holman Island]] |publisher= |id= |url=https://firstarts.ca/content/feature/238/artworks-1212-agnes-nanogak-goose-1925-2001-ulukhaktok-holman-blind-boy-1975-1975-6-29/}}
===Figurines===
* In the 1960s, [[Puvirnituq]] artist Aisa Qupiqrualuk carved a collection of 5 soapstone figurines depicting various scenes in the story.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Zebedee|last1=Nungak |first2=Eugene|last2=Arima |date=1969 |title=Eskimo Stories: Unikkaatuat |publisher=National Museums of Canada |location=Ottawa |contribution=Lumaaq |pages=49–50 |contributor-first=Aisa |contributor-last=Qupiqrualuk |contribution-url=https://archive.org/details/unikkaatuatsanau0000nung/page/48/mode/2up |contribution-url-access=registration |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>
==Screen adaptations==
* ''[[The Loon's Necklace]]'' is a 1948 Canadian film, drawing from a [[Tsimshian]] version of the story.
* ''Lumaaq'' is a 1975 animated short film by [[Co Hoedeman]], drawing from a [[Povungnituk]] version of the tale.
* ''Lumaajuuq: The Blind Boy and the Loon'' is a 2009 animated, short film by [[Alethea Arnaquq-Baril]].
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blind Man and the Loon, The}}
[[Category:Canadian folklore]]
[[Category:Birds in culture]]
[[Category:Mythologies of the indigenous peoples of North America]]
[[Category:Inuit mythology]]