Kas amka, kostako või hoopis keegi muu?

Abstract

The main character of the Chukotka travelling diary, Jelo, this time gets to hunt a polar bear after it is seen moving about near the camp of the reindeer-herders. The hunt is unsuccessful and the wounded animal runs away. Unlike in the European tradition, the Chuckts refuse to follow a wounded animal, claming that if their spirits did not let them catch the animal at once, it has the right to stay alive. Several discussions spring up, whether it really was a polar bear (amka), or a kosatko, i.e. a mythical very dangerous beast of prey, called a fox polar bear, or the completely mythical being, the spirit rekken, whose favourite prey is shaman and whose catcher is very lucky.