Sanaaq Read online

  He headed to one of his stone caches and tried to open it, but the stones were completely stuck together by the cold. He had to pry them apart before he could open the cache. In this way, he came across a food bag that had once contained oil and gamy meat, but it had not been full for a long while... It had been eaten into by voles and no longer contained any liquid at all. There was not even a drop of misiraq anymore, for the bag had been pierced by many holes. With a leather strap, Qalingu tied a slipknot around the end of the bag and tried to draw it towards himself by pulling with all his might.

  “Uuppaa! Uuppaa!” he said while pulling. “It no longer contains any liquid at all. Yet it had been prepared for oil storage!”

  He then began loading his sled for the trip home. He tied his load down and untangled the tuglines while shouting at the dogs, “Au! Au!” When he was done, he counted the tugline loops as he slipped each one over the nuvviti, to make sure none were missed... All were accounted for. “Uit! Uit!” he shouted to the dog team, to urge them forward and up the slope. He himself pulled on the nuvviti, for he had a heavy load of dog food — a load of gamy meat.

  The people minding the igloo had almost no flame left. Qumaq remained on the sleeping platform with her boots off because it was so cold. Sanaaq was sewing. She was making boot socks. Ningiukuluk came to visit Sanaaq, who told her, “Ai! Ningiukuluk ai! Sit down!”

  “Yes!” said the other, complying. “I can no longer do anything because I’m an old woman. My feet are cold.” She talked non-stop, also speaking to Qumaq. “Umm!” but not as an mmm... of affection. “Umm! My little girl ai! Let me tell you a story.”

  “First have some tea,” said Sanaaq.

  Ningiukuluk agreed and said, “Arnatuinnaq! Cool it off with some ice. It’s very hot!”

  Ningiukuluk drank abundantly and began telling a story from the old times.

  “A very long time ago, it’s said, there once was a man, an Inlander, who was alone, without even a dog, in a tiny snow house whose floor was covered with large trout he had caught with a hook and fishing line. During the time of the long winter nights, he was awakened one night by sounds of footsteps on the snow. Right away, his snow house seemed to be surrounded by a galloping noise, by creatures that had come without warning. The man began to think to himself, and to talk to himself, for he knew full well that they were wolves, and that there was no way for him to escape. ‘Let it be! Let them enter like humans! Let them eat some trout!’ And then, so it is told, they entered. The she-wolf had taken human form and pushed inward the snow block that plugged the doorway. She said, ‘Let’s enter like humans! Let’s eat some trout!’ During the night, the pack of human-looking wolves — the old male, who was with them and also his many offspring — ate trout. The she-wolf munched on trout all night long and told stories. This is what the she-wolf told the man, who had no fire. She often chased caribou, so she said, while her folks trailed far behind and only caught up after she had killed the animals whose tracks she had been following. She said she was the fastest one. When the wolves caught up to her and began to eat, the old male left her offspring with very little to eat. For that reason, she said, she was very angry with him, describing him — the one always last to arrive — as a selfish brute.... They ate trout during the night. They crunched away in the darkness. The Inuk began thinking once again, ‘Given that the wolves haven’t stopped eating, they’ll probably use up my supply of trout during the night.’ The she-wolf further recounted that, as soon as she had caught a caribou, she took out its tongue, which was delicious. The female that had taken human form and was a very good person again told her host, ‘Tomorrow you’ll follow our tracks!’ At that point, all the wolves left and no sooner had they gone out than they began to race away. When the Inuk awoke, at daybreak, the trout that had been eaten overnight were intact. He then remembered the she-wolf’s advice and followed the wolf pack. He walked a very long time, following the tracks until he saw before him two cadavers, one of a wolf and one of a caribou, lying side by side. They were the gifts of the she-wolf. The dead wolf was her old male, gnashed to death by his own female. She hated him because he left their offspring with so little to eat. The man felt grateful for the caribou and for the wolf...”

  Ningiukuluk’s story was over. But Qumaq wanted more. “Aalaalaala!” she hummed. “Grandmother ai! More!”

  “It’s over for now because I’ll be going home!” answered Ningiukuluk.

  “Do you have tea at home?” asked Sanaaq.

  Ningiukuluk indicated a “No” by grimacing and raising her nostrils. She said, “We get by, thanks to gifts. Just this morning we breakfasted on food from others.”

  “Suvakkualuk!” said Sanaaq.

  She then prepared some tea leaves to offer her, wrapped in a small piece of cloth. She tied them up with a leftover bit of sinew and said, “Take this! Here’s something to make tea with!”

  Ningiukuluk stood up and said, “Yes! My back really aches. Where are my mittens?”

  “Grandmother! There they are, up there, on the drying rack!” said Qumaq.

  Ningiukuluk left.

  As night fell, Arnatuinnaq played a guessing game on the ice window, as Qumaq looked on. If enough marks were made, it meant that visitors would arrive... She played aakut-tuasi by scratching the frost on the ice window, with the aim of making the right number of marks. She said, “Aakut-tuasi nikut-tuasi the big wolf that I meet says ai! Yes!”

  This is what the marks looked like:

  / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

  It was now the height of winter. Qalingu had come back and was busy putting away the harnesses, his load, and his sled. He had removed the harnesses from the dogs and was starting to coil up their tuglines. His dogs were very warm but covered with frost. They were nosing around in the refuse heap by scraping the ground with their feet. Arnatuinnaq went out just then and said, “Ai! Pack of no-good mutts!”

  She coiled up the tuglines, after Qalingu had unravelled them. He then took the dog food in by rolling the meat bag and the blubber into the igloo. Qalingu cautioned, “Uuppaa! Uuppaa! Irq! Qumaq! Make sure you don’t get clobbered by the meat bag!”

  “I won’t! I’m in no danger,” replied Qumaq.

  “Step aside a bit,” said Qalingu. “This big thing might hurt you!”

  “Really, I’m in no danger!” she asserted.

  But, always wanting to have the last word, she was hit by the bag. She wailed, “A! Aataata!” Feeling greatly distressed, she began to cry, because she had really been clobbered.

  Qalingu said, “Listen! Sounds like she was bowled over.”

  Sanaaq heard something and said, “Listen! But what’s with her?”

  She seemed to lose all self-control because her child had been hurt. She was panic-stricken because her daughter’s feet had been run over — her daughter who had been thinking, just a short while ago, that there was no danger. Sanaaq cried out, “Qumaq will probably die. She’s just been hit by Qalingu!”

  She seemed to share her wounded child’s pain, even though it had not been caused on purpose. But there was nothing wrong with Qumaq’s feet. Sanaaq removed her footwear and examined them.

  “Let me see! Qumaq! Let me take your boots off!”

  Qalingu looked and said, “Didn’t I tell her to make sure she didn’t get clobbered?”

  Sanaaq began thinking to herself, “She’ll probably want to be spoiled more and more. I’m clearly wrong in coming to her defence... I’ll be very careful not to come to her defence the next time. If she gets used to being defended too frequently, she may often start crying, even for no reason...”

  Qalingu crawled into his home. He said that after his arrival meal he would feed his dogs. He had five dogs that were named Kajualuk (the same one and now very old), Sinarnaaluk, Kuutsiq (his dog with the longest tugline, his lead dog), Nuilaq, and Itigaittualuk. These were his dogs. Because night was f
alling, he went to feed them, saying, “My sealskin mittens! I’ll use them because I’m afraid my hands will get cold.”

  He took the snow knife to cut the gamy meat into pieces while Arnatuinnaq prevented the dogs from coming in. Arnatuinnaq went out, holding the snow stick to keep the dogs back. Qalingu said, “Go ahead! Let one of them in!”

  “OK! Kajualuk! Kajualuk! Ii! Uit! Bunch of good-for-nothings!”

  With all of them rushing forward, she whacked Kuutsiq, who began to whimper, “Maa! Maa!” Qalingu fed the first dog and called out to his wife, “Sanaaq! Get me some blubber rinds, ai! Let me give them a taste of blubber!”

  “Here are some that have hardened in the sun. They’re leftovers we can no longer pound any more oil out of.”

  After feeding all of them, he used a kiliutaq to scrape away the bits of gamy meat on the ground in the two entranceways.

  Arnatuinnaq came in, saying, “Aa! Are my feet ever cold! There are a lot of northern lights outside and it’s starting to blow really hard.”

  When she had finished speaking, Qalingu said, “Listen! Sounds like dogs yelping in the distance and pulling on their tuglines.”

  “Aaa!” said Qumaq. “That’s great!”

  She was happy, the little one, to hear the travellers arrive. Qalingu went out and could clearly recognize the yelping of dogs pulling on their tuglines and parked on the land-fast ice. There were four dog teams out there despite the biting cold and wind. Arnatuinnaq also went out to look and immediately came back in, saying, “But who could be on those four sleds?”

  “Hurry up and fill the teapot with water!” said Sanaaq. “They must be completely frozen!”

  A lot of people had arrived with many children. On each sled was a child all bundled up and tied down. Two women were each carrying a baby in the back pouch of her coat: a boy and a girl. One of the children tied to a sled was let free by untying the leather strap. His name was Irsutuguluk. He exclaimed, “Aaa! Am I ever cold!” and he began to cry.

  Qalingu lifted him up and brought him into the igloo. The child was shivering with cold. The women who had just arrived came into Sanaaq’s home one after another.

  “Ai!” said Sanaaq. “Are you arriving? You’re travelling in very cold weather! Be our guests! Arnatuinnaq! Is the tea ready?”

  “Yes!”

  The arrivals were warmed up with a hot drink.

  “But who is this?” asked someone.

  “It’s Aanaqatak!” answered one of the arrivals.

  The others brought their belongings in. They put some of their things in the entranceway and the bags and fur bedspreads in the snow house. Arnatuinnaq tried to scrape the snow off their belongings with the snow stick and said, “I can’t manage to get this snow off. It’s sticking really hard... The blizzard has glued it on!”

  The others in turn entered and knocked the snow off their clothes with the snow stick. They undressed, beat their mittens, and put them on the drying rack. They were then offered tea by Arnatuinnaq.

  “Here’s some tea!”

  “Sure! Thank you so much!”

  “Here’s some bannock,” added Arnatuinnaq.

  Qumaq hid behind her mother’s back. She felt very shy, she who had previously shown so much joy on hearing them arrive.

  The man of the group of travellers, Ittusaq, finally entered and talked non-stop while having tea. He said, “I’m so thankful to have arrived among people who have tea! We came here because we’re completely out of tea… Several times we even had to drink decoctions of kakillanaquti and kallaquti!”

  “Ai! Suvakkualuk!” replied Qalingu. “I’m getting ready to go inland tomorrow, before we completely run out of dog food.”

  “Good thing,” said Ittusaq. “Let’s hope you won’t get bogged down in the soft snow. It’s starting to snow and the wind is shifting to the east. As for me, I’m going to build a snow house tomorrow, even though the days are getting longer.”

  17

  SANAAQ GIVES BIRTH TO A SON

  It was evening and Sanaaq was sewing. She was making mittens out of sealskin that still had its fur. With her ulu she cut out the two pieces for the back of the hands, the pieces for the upper part of the palms and, finally, the pieces for the lower part of the palms. She then chewed on a piece of sinew, softening it and removing the remaining bits of meat. She pulled out a fibre, which she smeared with blubber and threaded through the eye of a glover’s needle. She could now pierce the leather and sew the pieces together.

  Having sewn all day, she said, “Aa! Am I ever tired! I no longer have any strength at all in my back. My back is really sore. I’m going to undress for bed. Arnatuinnaq! You’ll finish the job.”

  “Sure!” answered her younger sister.

  The time had come for Sanaaq to give birth. Aqiarulaaq acted as the midwife, with Qalingu’s assistance... It was soon over. Aqiarulaaq had helped bring into the world her angusiaq. She said his name would be Qalliutuq, the name of Sanaaq’s dead brother.

  Aqiarulaaq called for Qumaq to come and see the baby. She said, “Qumaq! Look! You’ve got a little brother!”

  But Qumaq still knew little about these things and did not understand very well. She said, “Let me see! Yes! That little one, give him to me!”

  She grabbed the baby and smiled broadly, her face reddening and her body quivering with joy and gratitude.

  “Take care not to hurt him!” she was told.

  “I won’t hurt him!” she replied.

  Then, once again, she acted without thinking and hit the baby on the head... He began to cry, “Ungaa! Ungaa! Ungaa!”

  Sanaaq shouted straightaway, “Give him to me! The baby’s very fragile because he’s so little!”

  Qalingu laid the baby down on the kilu, but Qumaq approached the child again. She not only refused to believe in his fragility, but also immediately lay down on top of him.

  Arnatuinnaq said, “Qumaq! Get undressed for bed. We’re both going to sleep under the same blanket.”

  They undressed for bed. The night was pitch-black, but everyone had trouble sleeping, as if something were keeping them awake. This was the case with Qumaq, who was anxious about the newborn baby.

  Sanaaq tried to breastfeed the child, but he could not suckle properly yet, having just been born. She changed his diaper and unwrapped his swaddling clothes... he was still quite skinny. She wrapped him up again and laid him on his side. He began to cry, “Ungaa! Ungaa!”

  18

  TRIP INLAND

  Day had dawned and Qalingu got dressed. He went out to coat his sled’s runners with wet snow. As he put the slushy snow on, he said, “Aa! My hands are frozen!” He was coating the sirmit of the runners with wet snow to keep them from getting worn. He was going to travel across the pack ice, over the frozen sea.

  Arnatuinnaq in turn got dressed. She put on her newly washed dress and her furskin boots whose soles had been bleached in brine. She had made the boots herself. She now pierced eyelet holes for the laces she would thread through.

  After she was dressed, she stood up on the floor of the igloo. “Aa! I’m sliding! My boots are really slippery!”

  She slid several times, falling on her rump and hurting her behind. She then went out with the chamber pot to empty it. Once outside, she was harassed by the dogs again.

  “Uai! Pack of bums!” Angry, she splashed some urine on one of the dogs and smiled...

  Qalingu was getting ready to leave. For the trip, his provisions would be flour, tea, tobacco, and salt. He was also taking some gamy meat and blubber. His travelling companion was Ilaijja, from Ningiukuluk’s family. His companion harnessed the dogs and then tied the load down, the two men helping each other from opposite sides of the sled. They then slid the loops of the dogs’ tuglines onto the nuvviti. After completing their preparations, they entered Qalingu’s igloo for their going-away meal. They ate som
e gamy meat and frozen meat, dipping it into an old tin full of oil thickened by the cold. They had some tea and were now ready to go. As Arnatuinnaq’s family looked on, they left and called out to the dogs, “Uit! Hra!”

  The dog team took off down the sloping shoreline to the pack ice. Because of the incline, the sled raced so far ahead of the dogs that one of them was dragged along after the sled’s runners passed over its tugline. The runners hit and crushed another dog, causing serious injury. It began to whimper, “Maa! Maa!” Because he was badly hurt, the dog was simply unharnessed. They were leaving on Alliriirtuni, the day when their camp mates used to greet many new arrivals, and heading inland because their families were short of food, even though a little meat remained.

  At the camp, Akutsiak paid a visit to Sanaaq’s home in the hope of being offered a bit of gamy meat to eat. She crawled into the igloo and drew her head down completely between her shoulders, after pulling her hood as far as it would go over her head. Qumaq was glad to see her.

  “Akutsiak! Let’s play together!”

  “In a moment,” she replied. “My hands are very cold!”

  Having not eaten, Akutsiak had nothing to heat her body with. She was cold, all the more so because the igloo was not at all warm. There were even frost crystals falling from the ceiling. She drew her head firmly down between her hunched shoulders.

  Sanaaq said, “Arnatuinnaq! Feed her some gamy meat from the meat bag in the entranceway... and get her something hot to drink.”

  Arnatuinnaq obeyed and went to the entranceway with an iron hook. She pulled out the pieces of meat and put them on a plate, for they were dripping with misiraq. She covered the meat bag with a piece of skin. Even in the entranceway, flecks of frost were falling from the ceiling. She said to Akutsiak, “Eat this gamy meat.”