Story: [[Qalagánguasê, The Ghost]]

"They tied me to the post, to go to a silly singing competition! Oh, what truly vile creatures they are!"

I stood there looking at my lifeless body, with arms crossed my chest. My lame leg as evident in my death as in my life. The lameness causing my body to curve towards the right. I tilted my head to left as I looked at the lifeless figure before me.

"Well… that looks awkward. I wonder if anyone will find me.”

The Thieving Woman-TheDiscoverBlog

As if on cue a woman that I have never laid eyes on rushed into the barn and right through my body, causing a gasp of cold air to be released on the back of her neck. Stopping dead in her tracks she shivered, but only briefly as she bent down and rummaged through my coat pockets. Pulling out what little money I had, she backed away slightly. Undoubtedly trying to figure out what to do with my body.

Frustrated that she had walked through me as if I DIDN’T EXIST (I obviously had not registered fully the fact I was no longer living). I reached out and slowly touched her shoulder. She jumped as high as a fish in the great ocean and let out a blood curdling scream when she realized she was “in the room alone”.

“Hahahaha!”, my voice echoed through the barn.

As I watched her face turn as white as an arctic fox, she dropped the items she was attempting to steal and ran out screaming.

Rubbing my ghostly hands together and letting out a low snicker I spoke out loud to no one, but myself.

“The fun I will have with this is endless… Now those men who did harm to me, will now give me endless laughter in my afterlife and one of them will get his dues.”

The Stage-Pinterest

With my leg no longer lame in death, I rose up ten feet and floated off to the stage. A good six miles away. It took me only a few minutes to get to the stage. Each man was lined up before steps to ascend the stage. Each waiting their turn at winning the singing competition that will make them not only wealthy, but famous men.

The freedom of being a spirit led me to get on stage when “not allowed” and I waited patiently as one (of 3) the men came on stage and preceded to walk towards the mike. He leaned towards the mike and opened his mouth and at that moment, I walked forward and entered his body. I looked out at the crowd before and was amazed that this body I was in was so nervous, because he was so confident when he left me in the barn.

Suddenly, I spoke into the microphone, or better yet the man spoke in the microphone…wait…WE spoke in the microphone…Yes, that’s better.

“Twinkle, Twinkle little star… I killed a man in the barn…I tied him to the post and called him a dope. Now, I hold out hope that you will make me pope.”

A man with a long, bushy beard from the audience yelled out of the audience. “We don’t have a pope doofus!”

Loud laughs echoed throughout the audience and with that I stepped out of the man as he stood their shocked. I’m sure he knew what happened to him, but luckily for me I was stronger as a spirit then he was a human man.

Running off the stage he lived out his life in his hut, mumbling about popes and singing competitions.

The Three Men-McCordMuseum

The second man, whom I would have described as “short stature”, with gangly arms.

I knew this one would be easy, because all he was, was a sidekick. Walking forward yet again. I gripped his arm with my ghostly hand and curved it like a ballerina and the second arm, I curved on his hip. Then I spun him around. Making it look like he was a ballerina from a jewelry box.

No longer in control of his movements, he spun off stage, the crowd unsure about what was happening stepped back as the man fell to the ground. The audience eyes wide, they stepped around him, ignoring him there eyes focused on the next person to get on stage.

Don’t worry though, the guy wasn’t injured…physically, but his pride was definitely gone. From then on out he was known as the dancing ballerina and lived out his live in ridicule.

The last man, was the leader of the pack. He was 6 ft tall, broad shouldered and as he came on stage the women swooned and the men puffed out their chest in defense.

The ringleader would get the worst embarrassment.

Reaching my hand in his throat, his head falls back with his mouth open. His head moving back down slowly, I moved his mouth life a puppet.

“This morning…me and my friends...the two before me. Killed a man in the barn. We tied him to a post...we made him lose all hope and as he pleaded for his life we left the room in laughter and came to this stage. I’m guilty of this…"

Qalagánguasê, The Ghost-EENADuIndia

If the stage was inside you could hear a pen drop, but seeing as the stage was outside, all you heard was audible gasps. Sure, the audience could laugh off the others, but this man of 6 ft was not known as being exactly dishonest. Brute yes, ladies’ man yes, but a liar? No, definitely not.

Taking my hand out of his body. He stood there in shocked silence.

It would only take a few short minutes for the man to get pulled off stage and the barn to be raided. My body found, the man was to be sentenced to death that day. As far as his comrades? They figured that living out their life with the ridicule and an unsteady mind was punishment enough.

Author's Note: The story is based off the Eskimo Folktale "Qalagánguasê, Who Passed to the Land of Ghosts." In the story Qalagánguasê was a man who had a lame leg, who was often weak. He was given the gift of strength if he did not tell anyone how he came about it. Well, he made the mistake of doing so to some men. These men tied him to a post and preceded to go to a singing competition. In the story Qalagánguasê basically begs for death and eventually dies and goes to the afterlife. It was one of my favorite stories of the Eskimo Folk Tales, but it was also one of the saddest. Which, is why I attempted to draw humor out of the really dark situation. Then I felt like Qalagánguasê deserved some sort of justice. So, I made it where he dishes the justice out. In the story nothing happens to the men and you don't know what happens at the singing competition, which gave me a prime opportunity to do something. Also, in the story Qalagánguasê did not become a ghost, but I decided to make him into a ghost to give him some power because he seems to have none in the story. There is no real ending to the original and I know that was the main reason why I wanted it to have one. The reason why I never gave one to Qalagánguasê is because it is told at the beginning of my story he is to live out his days "haunting" the men.

Eskimo Folk-Tales  by Knud Rasmussen with illustrations by native Eskimo artists (1921).
Qalagánguasê, Who Passed to the Land of Ghosts