Adlet
ADLET ( Inuit ) – Five blood-drinking MONSTERS that were born to a woman who married a DOG. The young woman had turned down many suitors, until finally her father lost patience and told her that if no man was good enough for her, she might as well marry a dog. The next day a new suitor arrived, wearing an amulet of dog claws. She agreed to go with him, and they went to live on a nearby island.
She soon began to suspect that her husband was actually a dog that could take human form. Her suspicions about him were realized when she gave birth to a litter of five puppies and five human babies. In one version of the tale, the human babies later became the Adlet. The woman set the puppies adrift in a boat, and they became the ancestors of white people.
In a second version of this tale, the DOG HUSBAND swam to the home of his wife’s father every day to be given food, since in his dog form he was unable to hunt. After a while, the father grew tired of feeding his daughter’s family, so he put boulders in the bag with the meat he gave the dog. Weighted down, the dog sank into the sea and drowned.
The next time her father came to visit, the woman set her dog children on him, and they killed him. Left with no means of support and 10 children to feed, she decided to send her children off to fend for themselves. She transformed her boots into boats and sent all 10 children out to sea. They became the ancestors of both Native Americans and white people.
Taken from : Native American Mythology A to Z – ( first edition ) – Written by Patricia Ann Lynch – Copyright © 2004 by Patricia Ann Lynch
