Goose Wife

The Goose Wife is a figure from the myths of Inuit and other Arctic peoples. In the core story, a flock of geese lands, sheds its skins to become women, and bathes in a lake. A human hunter spies on them and steals one woman's goose-skin, forcing her to become his wife. Scholars often compare her to the Eurasian swan maiden, as both characters shift between human and bird forms.

Researchers have noted that the bird wife in Inuit tales is almost always a goose or a duck. In Greenland, she is specifically a wild goose or merganser. The plot typically follows a pattern: a man spies on bathing bird-women, steals a feather garment or skin to force a marriage, and later the bird-woman recovers her feathers and returns to the bird realm.

In many versions, the human husband searches for his lost wife. On his journey, he meets a giant called the Fishmaker (or Salmon Maker), who chops wood; each chip that falls into a lake becomes a salmon or other fish. The husband must approach this giant from the correct angle to gain help crossing to the Land of Birds. This giant appears in bird-wife stories across the Arctic, from southern Alaska to west Greenland, among the Chukchi, Koniag, Polar, Netsilik, and peoples of Baffin Island and both west and east Greenland.

The tale of the Man who Married Sea Fowl has been traced across many regions: Greenland, Labrador, Baffin, Iglulik, Netsilik, Copper, North Alaska, Northwest Alaska, Bering Strait, Mainland Southwest Alaska, Koniag, Siberian Yupik, and Chukchi.

One version, collected by A. L. Kroeber from Smith Sound, is titled *The Man who married a Goose*. A hunter steals a goose woman's garment, marries her, and they have two children. Years later, she gathers feathers for herself and her children, they become geese, and fly away. The hunter meets a man named Qayungayung, who carves boats and creates sea animals from wood splinters, and agrees to take the hunter across the water to his wife.

The goose wife also appears in tales of the Inuk hero Kiviuq. He marries a woman whose goose skin he has hidden. She bears children but eventually makes wings to return to the sky. In one version, Kiviuq finds three bathing maidens who have shed the skins of a sandhill crane, a loon, and a Canada goose. In another, he marries a goose maiden as a second wife; she cannot eat human food and flies away, and Kiviuq follows. On his journey,