Case file · Folklore / legend
The qallupilluit of the sea ice
Inuit across Nunavut warn children of the qallupilluit, green-skinned beings in amautiit who hum beneath the sea ice and carry off children who stray too close to cracks; Michael Kusugak and Robert Munsch's 'A Promise Is a Promise' (1988) brought the tradition to print.
1988 CE · 62.81, -92.09 · status: legend
The account
The tale is understood as a protective teaching about thin ice and tidal cracks. The year shown is when it reached wide publication; the oral tradition is far older.