Sanaaq Read online

  “Sure!”

  Aqiarulaaq spoke again. “Ningiukuluk! I wish to talk to you. I’ve come on this visit to adopt one of your daughters, Aanikallak, because I really want to have her... I don’t have a daughter of my own.”

  “Ai! On the one hand, I’d rather not give her away. On the other, I’m not so fond of her because she often wets her bed and I’m ashamed of her.”

  “I truly wish to have her. Some time ago you sort of promised her to me. So now I’m insisting. I want her to help me out, Ningiukuluk!”

  “I no longer really care for her, but the other ones, her two sisters, I certainly can’t give them away... Go ahead! Take her!”

  Aqiarulaaq started recounting the latest news. “We saw some Big Eyebrows arrive. They’ve even begun to build a home for themselves on our land... That’s all I have to say for now. We’re going back this very day... Aanikallak! I’ve adopted you, so you’ll be following us!”

  “No! No! Aaa!” The poor little girl began to cry.

  Qumaq looked her straight in the eyes and even tried to offer her some mattaq, hoping to console her. She kissed her again and again.

  “Don’t cry, little girl!” She added, “Look! There’s a little willow ptarmigan on the ground... Let’s play, just the two of us. Let’s have fun looking around outside!”

  “No! No!” Aanikallak was still weeping.

  Her new mother nonetheless prepared for the trip home.

  “Qumaq, come here!” said Arnatuinnaq. “I’ll carry you on my back. Iirq! My skirt has been ripped apart on this side... I’ll have to sew it together first. Hand me a needle and some sinew. There we are, all done! Here’s your needle.”

  “Thanks!” said Ningiukuluk.

  They were now ready to leave. Aqiarulaaq took her new daughter by the hand but could not make her budge. The little girl stood her ground and stamped her feet while weeping and wailing. Her new family finally set off on the walk home, yet she still resisted despite efforts to console her. At long last, after many efforts, she calmed down.

  They all arrived at their destination and Aqiarulaaq was questioned by Taqriasuk.

  “Did you get a new daughter? She’ll try to go to sleep. Get her undressed for bed... She can have a place under my bedspread... And give her some tea.”

  “Here you are. Aanikallak, drink some tea. Put a shirt on and try to sleep.”

  She undressed her and slipped another shirt on.

  “Ii! Autualu! It’s infested with fleas! Oh, it’s just crawling with those dirty fleas... Just look! Ii! This filthy shirt should be thrown away!”

  It was tossed outside. The dogs came running and even started to fight over it. Kajualuk sank its teeth into the old shirt, making a popping sound as it crunched one flea after another.

  Aqiarulaaq was now outside the tent.

  “Uai! Dirty no-good mutt! It’ll probably have blocked intestines after eating that old rag.”

  Everyone now tried to fall asleep. It was late autumn. A frosty slush was spreading over the shoreline and the calm ocean surface had a thin layer of frazil.

  11

  AN UNSUCCESSFUL HUNT IN THE QAJAQ

  When they awoke early the next morning, it seemed impossible to go out in the qajaq because a thin layer of ice covered the sea near the shore. Qalingu, however, had found a small channel of open water, having been up and about very early. He took the qajaq down to the water’s edge with Jiimialuk’s help, also taking along a float and a harpoon. But he had forgotten something and yelled from the shore, “Bring me the harpoon line!”

  Arnatuinnaq came running but fell headlong into the soft ice and sank into it. Trying to pull herself out, she said, “It’d be nice to have something I could grab hold of because I’m really stuck in this soft ice!”

  Qalingu was now leaving in his qajaq across the thin ice. He saw a puiji and fired his rifle.

  “Ii! Didn’t get it! I shot too far to the right and missed! Just like the last time!”

  He then paddled away in his qajaq and thought about how to get home.

  “Maybe I could go ashore on this point of land... Seems to be the best place.”

  The women in his family were becoming very anxious. They watched from a hilltop.

  “He probably won’t be able to land now,” said Sanaaq, “because there’s thin ice everywhere... But where’s the qajaq?”

  “There it is! Over there,” said Arnatuinnaq. “Just off the small point, looks like a qajaq coming... And the water over there doesn’t have any of that icy slush.”

  He was still taking a long time to land. His folks, Sanaaq, Jiimialuk, and Arnatuinnaq, walked down to the stretch of shoreline where he would land and waited. When he came near them, Sanaaq shouted to her husband, “Do you think it might be impossible to land?”

  “It’s this awful thin ice!” answered Qalingu. “All the same, as hard as it may be, I should be able to get ashore.”

  And so he landed, with the rising tide, on a small point jutting out from the foot of the hill. They now all walked up to the camp, dragging the qajaq behind them.

  “We should drag the qajaq with the paddle underneath,” said Qalingu. “Let’s go! Pull on each side by the taqrait. I’ll pull the usuujaq!”

  They began jerking the qajaq forward.

  “It’s really heavy!” groaned Arnatuinnaq. “Is it heavy because it’s soaked up a lot of water? Uuppaa! Uuppaa! Just a moment! Let’s rest a little. I’m very tired!”

  “Off in the distance, that patch of still water looks like it’s icing over,” said Sanaaq. “Or is it already a sheet of thin ice? Let’s go! We need to get pulling again. We’re almost there.”

  They were now on dry land.

  “I barely managed to get ashore!” confessed Qalingu. “I really thought I’d not make it, being so tired from paddling and so cold. The cold made the outside of my upper lip all swollen and my hands completely numb... I certainly won’t be going kayaking any more! Tomorrow I’ll build a snow house.”

  They went to their tents.

  “Let’s go! Let’s get moving!” said Sanaaq. “Tonight I’ll look for the brushwood I stashed away for fuel. It’s starting to get really cold at our place... Let’s go!”

  They were now on their way. They walked along the qainnguq because it was becoming quite hard. After a while they arrived. Qalingu was carrying the equipment from his qajaq: the float, the harpoon line with the ipiraq, the guns, and the ammunition. Once inside, he placed them in the tent’s uati. He sat down. His clothes were soaked through and through with seawater. He took them off, his boots too. Qumaq was playing once more on the sleeping platform. She frolicked back and forth, snuggling under the bedspread several times. That evening, she asked her mother, “Mother, make me a doll!”

  “Get undressed for bed,” answered her mother. “It’s late and we’re probably going to move to a new place.”

  “I will!” agreed Qumaq.

  When they were in bed, Sanaaq turned the wick of the oil lamp down and said, “It’s probably going to smoke during the night. I haven’t turned the wick down far enough.”

  They tried to go to sleep. As feared, the oil lamp began to smoke as they slept. The remainder of the wick and the blubber started to burn for lack of oil... Qalingu awoke with a start and shouted, “The one over there is smoking!”

  “Autualu! Ii!” shouted back Sanaaq. “We’re completely engulfed in smoke!”

  She added some oil, which started to crackle loudly. Qiiii… That was the sound of it crackling. Once she had finished adding oil, she went back to sleep because morning was still far off.

  12

  SANAAQ MEETS A POLAR BEAR

  Dawn roused the people at the camp from their slumber. Arnatuinnaq stood up, shivering with cold as frost crystals fell from the tent ceiling. A coating of hoarfrost had formed overnight on the tent’s
inner surface. The girl was so cold that her teeth were chattering.

  “I can barely get my boots on!” she said. “They’re frozen rock-hard.”

  She hurried to light some brushwood in the small stove cut out from a barrel. The water pail had frozen to the bottom and offered only a trickle of water. No one felt like sleeping anymore and they all got dressed. Qalingu went out for some good snow. In his hand was a snow knife and on his arms airqavaak. As for Sanaaq, she had been too busy yesterday to do all she had wanted to do.

  “I’ll go fetch the brushwood I stored away,” she announced. “We’ll need it because we probably won’t be able to move today.”

  She left, taking with her the skin of a young utjuk to use as a sled, a leather strap to tow her load, and a stick to knock the snow off the wood.

  Arnatuinnaq told her, “I’m going to stop up the cracks on the outside of the igloo. Qumaq will stay at someone else’s place while I plug the holes because I’m afraid she’ll get cold.”

  Qalingu dug a hole in the snow, but it was not good snow. He said, “It isn’t any good, so I’ll make the igloo out of packed snow... We’ll trample it today to pack it together. It will harden overnight.”

  He cut out a large number of blocks that he broke up with his snow knife. Arnatuinnaq then used her feet to pack the snow. Qalingu told her, “We’re going to be very cold tonight. I probably won’t be able to start building our igloo before tomorrow.”

  “The snow is very powdery. It will take long to harden,” replied Arnatuinnaq. “There’s some wet snow a bit further away...”

  “It should harden with this cold,” said Qalingu. “It’s going to get really cold.”

  Sanaaq was walking up the hill, a snow stick in her hand. Once she arrived at her woodpile, she removed the covering of vegetation she had placed over the brush. A few dwarf willows had been left exposed, however, and were covered with icicles. She beat them with the snow stick and piled them onto the utjuk skin. She stacked her load, tied it up, slipped the snow stick under the utjuk skin, and began pulling the make-do sled home, laden with firewood.

  An idea crossed her mind. She hitched her dog to the sled and called out, “Uit! Uit!” to make it go forward. The dog jumped to its feet and started off. And so she pressed on, alone with her dog. Suddenly, however, she spotted a polar bear. She was not far from home and, though terrified, fought back the urge to scream. The polar bear being still unaware of her presence, she tried to make her way home by the other side of the hill, while abandoning the dog and the load of wood... She ran ahead, stifling the slightest cry of panic.

  Her dog came to the bear tracks and, without showing any sign of fear, bounded off in hot pursuit. The dog, Kajualuk, was barking loudly and sniffing the ground with its snout. “Muu muu!” was its muffled grunting.

  Meanwhile its master was running silently, as fast as she could, holding back her fear. A short distance from home, she yelled, “Nanualuk! A big polar bear! My kinfolk!”

  Qalingu heard.

  “Listen!” He went outside to look. “Listen! She says there’s a polar bear!”

  “Yes!” said Arnatuinnaq. “She says there’s a big polar bear. Up there, look at her run... Ii!”

  Qalingu grabbed his rifle and rushed to meet her. The “old woman” and her “old man” finally caught up to each other. Sanaaq explained what had happened. “I saw a big polar bear... The only reason it didn’t kill me is because I went by the other side of the hill... But Kajualuk ran after the bear and has probably caught up to it.”

  With his rifle in hand, Qalingu hurried to the bear and the dog. He soon saw them and drew closer. The bear was cornered, the dog nipping the back of its knees whenever it tried to move away. The bear was growling loudly but could not bite the dog, which nimbly ducked every swipe of the bear’s claws and teeth. The dog had not been hurt in the slightest.

  Qalingu stopped to take aim. Tikkuu! — the gun went off. He fired several times but failed to reach his target. He was still too far away. Tikkuu! Tikkuu! He fired repeatedly and, despite his poor aim, finally heard a bullet strike home. Though hurt, the bear was not dead. It tried to nurse its wound, nibbling on the flesh. Qalingu drew nearer and shot again, this time fatally. Sanaaq’s dog lapped the blood oozing from the wound. Once he knew the bear was dead, Qalingu went home for a sled and for help with skinning. The sun was still out when he arrived home and walked in. He said, “I killed the bear... Almost ran out of bullets because I missed it so many times... I’ve come for a sled and for help with skinning.”

  “That’s great news!” said Sanaaq. “We’re going to have plenty of bear meat! We’ve got to let our camp mates know. I’ll go myself and tell them!”

  Arnatuinnaq was rummaging around for the harness.

  “I have to hurry up and get the dogs harnessed! But where’s the nuvviti?”

  “Over there,” said Qalingu. “I’m finishing my tea!”

  Two of the dogs were missing and Arnatuinnaq called out, “Hau! Hau! Hau!” But both had gone running after Qalingu.

  Meanwhile Sanaaq was going from one tent to another. “Jiimialuk! We need your help. Qalingu has killed a polar bear!”

  “I’ll help!” answered Jiimialuk.

  “Oh! Suvakkualuk!” exclaimed Aqiarulaaq. “Qatannguuk! Were you almost devoured by the bear?”

  “Yes! Barely got away... I left my firewood behind while the dog I had with me went after it... I was so afraid, I didn’t utter a single word... Qumaq was all I could think about. I told myself, ‘If I am eaten by the bear, she’ll no longer be properly taken care of. Her boots will be in poor shape and, when she feels down, people will make her cry for no good reason. She’ll also be scolded often and neglected… When hungry, she’ll not be given food like the others.’ That’s what I thought, qatannguuk!”

  “Suvakkualuk! To think that you went there alone, when I should have gone with you, qatannguuk ai! Have a little tea! It’s a bit weak because we’re almost out... You’re really lucky not to have been eaten by the bear. Without you, Qalingu wouldn’t have been able to kill the bear!”

  “It’s really the first time in my life I’ve been so afraid. I thought I was done for!”

  “Uit! uit!” shouted Jiimialuk and Qalingu. They were getting their dog team going again.

  Jiimialuk was pulling on the nuvviti to help the dogs climb the hill.

  “Uuppaa! Uuppaa!” he yelled, throwing a rock at the dogs to quicken their pace. He remarked, “Ai! I got burned just a short time ago and here I am going to get some bear meat... Good thing I didn’t die back then!” he said jokingly. “I lost an eye while boiling some meat and though missing a lens I’m still alive!”

  He came to the dead bear and prepared to help with the skinning.

  “Jiimialuk ai!” said Qalingu. “Let’s start skinning!”

  While they were skinning the bear, their dogs, still tied up, grew restless. Five of the dogs harassed them as they worked. Jiimialuk had a piece of the bear’s heart snatched away. As soon as one dog bit into it, the others became even more restless. They were wild with hunger.

  “Uai!” screamed Jiimialuk. “Pack of no-good mutts! Should I feed them the viscera ai, after removing the stomach and setting it aside?”

  “Yes, do that,” answered Qalingu. “They shouldn’t eat too much, or else they won’t feel like pulling very hard!”

  “Right! Only some of the viscera then, ai?”

  “You’ve got it!”

  They skinned the bear by cutting its joints apart and dismembering it. When they were done, they loaded the pieces onto the sled. Their hands were very dirty now, so they cleaned them off in the damp, slushy snow. They then tied the load down with a strap. They were stretching the naqitarvik when it snapped. Jiimialuk, who had been stretching with all his might, was suddenly thrown to the ground and hit his tailbone on a stone.

  “
Iirq! Autualu! Aatataa! I’ve hurt my tailbone... How am I going to make this strap longer?”

  “Make a knot, after loosening it a little here!”

  Once he had knotted it together, they continued to tie down the load. Qalingu unfastened the tuglines from the sled. The dogs had been running back and forth while the bear was being skinned and had made a complete mess of their tuglines. He untangled the lines while talking to the dogs.

  “Au! Stop moving around! I can’t unravel your lines because you’ve tangled them all together!”

  Jiimialuk came to help. The dogs were keen to get going and, once untangled, raced off. Jiimialuk ran after them, shouting “Hau! Hau!” but in his haste fell head over heels into a patch of marshy ground.

  “Iikikii! I tripped and fell... My knees are soaking wet! Iikikii!”

  He stood up and began to run again. “Hau! hau!” He caught up to the dogs, pulled them back by their tuglines, and slid the loops of the lines onto the nuvviti. Then the two of them got the dog team moving. The load was heavy, forcing them to push the sled on both sides, for the snow had melted away in many places.

  They were almost home when Qumaq came running out to them. She caught her feet in the tuglines, however, and was dragged along the ground by the dogs. Jiimialuk used his feet to brake the sled with all his strength.

  Now Qalingu came running out. He was shouting. “Hau! They’re going way too fast!”

  Qumaq was crying. No wonder, she had scraped her cheeks while being dragged on the ground.

  “Aatataa! Aatataa!” She was crying in Qalingu’s arms. “Aappuu!” And screaming too. “Aatataa! Aappuu!” She wanted to be made aappuu. She wished to be consoled as one would console a child. They finally arrived home.

  “Who hurt my daughter?” shouted Sanaaq.

  “She got caught in the tuglines,” answered Qalingu. “She was dragged on the ground when those dirty dogs picked up speed!”

  “But why hasn’t anyone taken care of her?”