Sanaaq Read online

  Akutsiak slipped her arms out from under her atigi and slid them into her sleeves. She grabbed an ulu and began to eat some of the gamy meat. As might be expected, she devoured the food, wolfing it down. She started to cough and choke — “U u uaq!” — almost throwing up as she choked. When she finished eating, she said, “Hand towel!”

  She wiped her hands and mouth and then began to play with Qumaq. While chattering together, they played who-can-make-the-highest-mark-possible-on-the-ice-window. Qumaq called out, “We’ll make our marks while standing with arms stretched up. Then we’ll make our marks standing on tiptoe. Akutsiak! Because you’re much taller we’ll make our marks while jumping!”

  “Sure! Here I go,” answered Akutsiak, who had started jumping. “Go ahead, Qumaq! Match my record!”

  “Since I can’t match you,” replied Qumaq, “let me make a mark with a piece of wood!”

  “No! Only with our hands!”

  Both of them stopped playing. Akutsiak went home to her family. She crawled in and told them how happy she was to have been so well treated.

  “I had tea and ate some gamy meat!”

  “Good for you!” replied Ningiukuluk. “Since you got some, it’s as if I got some!”

  Sanaaq’s baby was beginning to get plump. He started to cry, “Ungaa! Ungaa!” Sanaaq wanted to change his diaper and said to her sister, “Housemate! Turn the flame up. The baby has no more dry diapers!”

  She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and, because he continued to cry, she stood him up on his little feet.

  “Oh! He’s smiling for the first time! Qumaq, look! Your little brother is smiling!”

  “Yes! Let me see!” replied her daughter, feeling very affectionate. “Let me take him and have fun with him!” Qumaq was eager to devour her brother with affection. She even ground her teeth and started to act more and more recklessly.

  Sanaaq said, “Give me the baby. He could easily get hurt!”

  “Not at all. He won’t get hurt!”

  “Give him to me. He could bump his head!”

  “In a moment! I’ll hold him right!”

  As could have been predicted, at that very moment she bumped the baby’s head against the baseboard of the sleeping platform. “Ungaa! Ungaa!” he cried, apparently inconsolable because the bump had been a hard one.

  Sanaaq acted as if she felt her child’s pain. She seemed to lose all self-control out of affection for her baby.

  Qumaq was frightened by her mother and began to ponder things a bit. She had again hurt her little brother while believing herself to be right and her mother wrong. She said to herself, “A while ago, I too bumped myself because I’d do only what I wanted to do, despite being warned by my mother to pay attention... And now here I’ve hurt my little brother, because once again I thought I knew better... Clearly I don’t know more than my mother does. So the next time I’m told to pay attention, I will...”

  19

  HUNTERS CAUGHT IN A BLIZZARD

  Qalingu and his hunting companion were travelling, with spring drawing nearer. It was the day of their departure and they now stopped for their daily meal. The wind was blowing about the powder snow that covered the ground and the sky was somewhat hazy on the side from which the wind was blowing. Qalingu’s companion built a windbreak with his snow knife. He dug a hole in the snow, cutting out snow blocks that he laid in a row to break the wind. He then plugged the cracks. Next he untied the case that contained the camp stove and which, placed at the front of the sled, had been his seat for driving the dog team. He set the camp stove behind the windbreak, lit it, and on it placed the teapot, which he filled with snow to get water. He stirred the water constantly, to keep it from getting a burnt taste. Once all the snow had melted, he added a little more snow and then some tea. He and Qalingu got ready then to have their daily meal.

  While his companion was busy making tea, Qalingu took a walk and saw two migrating willow ptarmigans in a little willow grove, apparently resting there after having eaten. Qalingu ran back the way he had come as fast as he could. He shouted to Ilaijja, “Bring me my rifle and ammunition! Get them out of the satchel!”

  His companion darted off to the sled and then ran back to him, bringing the rifle and ammunition. Qalingu told him, “I just saw some ptarmigans but wasn’t able to shoot at them.”

  “Ai! Will you run out of ammo?” asked his companion.

  “No, that should be enough. There are only two of them.”

  He went back, keeping his head down to avoid being seen. Then he began to fire: Tikkuu! Too far to the right... He tried again. This time too far to the left. He tried again: Tikkuu! He had hit short of the target and missed the birds... Tikkuu! He had hit beyond the target. All of his ammunition was used up. He could no longer do anything, although he had said there would be enough bullets... He returned to get some more ammunition and said, “They got away on me. I couldn’t get them with the gun!”

  He went back to where the ptarmigans had been, but they were no longer there.

  “Autualu!” he said, disheartened.

  His disappointment was understandable. He quickened his pace and again saw ptarmigan tracks. He followed them but found nothing, except the birds’ still fresh droppings... Qalingu was beginning to feel his empty stomach. Not seeing any more prey, he thought, “I’m going to turn back. I probably won’t see them any more.”

  He was about to head back when suddenly he shouted, “Aa! That gave me a start! What’s that thing that scampered away?”

  It was an Arctic hare that he had seen and scared off. He called out to the animal, “Itingit, itingit!”

  The hare stopped and sat down, as if ashamed to be seen with its many anuses. It is said to have seven. While it sat, Qalingu aimed his rifle, cradling it on a stone for fear of missing his target. The sound of the bullet hitting home could be readily heard. The hare had been struck but was only wounded. Qalingu fired once more and hit again. He ran to the animal and grabbed it. But Qalingu jumped with fright. “Ii!” The Arctic hare had begun to cry like a baby, “Ungaa! Ungaa! Ungaa!” He smothered it by standing on it... The hare died. Qalingu returned to his companion for the daily meal. Everything was ready when he arrived and he recounted what had happened.

  “I killed the hare on my way back. I was lucky to run into it because the two ptarmigans had flown off... That hare was probably what made them fly away!”

  “Ai! What a nice stroke of luck! It will fetch a good price.”

  “I’m not going to sell it!”

  They set off with their dog team, up a slope.

  “Uit!” shouted Qalingu. The dogs stretched their tuglines and he unravelled the tangled harnesses. He then ordered a change in direction: “Hra! Hra!” Qalingu was walking ahead and yelling, “Hau! Hau!” while dragging a piece of gamy meat at the end of a leather strap. His dogs, pulling with all their strength, suddenly bolted up the hill.

  Taken off-guard, and about to climb onto the sled, Ilaijja clung to it with one hand and was dragged in the snow for some distance. “Aatataa! Aa! Pack of big stomachs!” he yelled at the dogs. He was hurting badly, for the snow had scraped his face.

  Once the sled had reached the top of the slope, Qalingu joined his companion and hopped aboard… The sled was advancing slowly because it was going over powder snow that squealed under the runners. Just then they came across fox tracks. Qalingu, who was behind the sled, noticed and shouted, “These tracks are very fresh!”

  “Ii! There it is, up there! It’s sitting on top of the hill!” said Ilaijja.

  “Whereabouts? Is it an Arctic fox?”

  “Yes! There it is, up there!”

  “Ai!” said Qalingu. “I see it clearly! I’ll try to get nearer ai!”

  “Yes!” agreed Ilaijja.

  “Get my ammo,” continued Qalingu, speaking softly. “Take it out of the satchel in the stove case!�
��

  He crawled towards the animal, concealing himself behind a big rock. He called “psst! psst!” to the fox, which came running to the source of the noise. This is how one usually attracts foxes, by imitating the sound of a lemming. Qalingu aimed his gun, Tikkuu!

  “I could hear the sound of it hitting the fox!” said Qalingu.

  The fox writhed spasmodically before dying. The hunter grabbed it with satisfaction.

  “Ii! Thanks,” he said before firmly pressing his foot onto the animal and suffocating it.

  With night falling, they pitched camp by a lake. Ilaijja untied the baggage from the sled and unharnessed the dogs while Qalingu built an igloo for shelter overnight. At this site, however, the snow was not very thick.

  “I won’t be able to finish the dome from the inside because there’s not enough snow,” said Qalingu.

  “Ai!” said Ilaijja.

  From the outside, he was plugging the cracks that remained between the blocks of snow. He added chunks of snow, shaping the edges with the knife. Now that the igloo dome was complete, they put their things in order, lit the camp stove, and put snow on it to be melted. Once there was water, they made tea...

  In this way they travelled for the whole week, at the end of which, as they settled in for the night in a makeshift igloo, hardly any provisions were left. Yet there still remained one more stop on the way home.

  In the igloo, Qalingu said, “Ii! The wind is howling something awful. Sounds like a blizzard coming.” Pointing to the igloo’s vent hole, he added, “We need to plug that hole up there. It should be stopped up to prevent hoarfrost from forming inside.”

  Ilaijja plugged the vent hole and the whining of the wind died down.

  They were short of kerosene and no longer using their stove, in order to save the precious fuel, but they had an oil lamp and used it to heat the igloo, for freshly built igloos are cold. Qalingu would keep the meat of the fox he had killed, to take back as a gift to his family. The wind was blowing very hard. It would undoubtedly eat away at their snow house. Night having come, they tried to doze off but were roused from their sleep by the wind blowing through a hole it had pierced through the wall. Qalingu was the first to awake in the dark dead of night and, seeing their igloo filling with snow, he called his companion.

  “Wake up! The igloo has been completely eaten away by the wind! We’re being invaded by the blizzard! Get up!”

  His companion stayed still for fear of the cold and did not move at all.

  “Get up!” said Qalingu, but Ilaijja turned a deaf ear, not wanting to budge, and burying himself deeply under his covers. Qalingu insisted.

  Ilaijja answered, “I don’t want to move. I’m staying still for fear of the cold!”

  Qalingu became more insistent. “Get up. You’re in danger of freezing to death!”

  Ilaijja tried to get up, but as he did so he said, “I’m afraid! I’m probably going to die! I’ve lost all hope.” His teeth were chattering. He was covered with snow.

  Qalingu went to plug the holes on the outside of the igloo with chunks of snow. Ilaijja in turn got dressed, walked outside, and found himself facing a wind so strong and so cold that he could hardly breathe... He was really like a child. The two of them went to work building a snow windbreak outside their igloo to protect it better. The wind, however, was blowing so hard that the blizzard continued to eat away at their snow house. Early morning was not far off, so they gave up on going back to sleep.

  When Qalingu crawled in, he said, “When it starts to be light out, we’ll get on our way. Here the wind just won’t stop eating away at our igloo... We should instead make a new igloo in a place sheltered from the wind!”

  They prepared to leave while the night was still pitch-black. Qalingu said, “Put the harnesses on the dogs. Let’s get ready to leave.”

  Ilaijja put the harnesses on the dogs, but they refused to budge. They would not move for fear of the biting cold. To harness a dog, he slipped its head through the neck of its harness, then its front paws through the neck straps and, once the harness was on, shouted, “Uit! Uit!” He then slipped all seven tugline loops onto the nuvviti one after another.

  When the two men had finished harnessing the dogs and tying down the load, they set the kalirtisaikkut and attached the main tugline to the sled. Qalingu walked ahead but, because of the raging blizzard, could see nothing and stopped, for fear of losing his companion, who was urging the dog team on, “Uit! Uit!” The dogs could not pull properly, for they feared the cold. Ilaijja advanced in this manner for a long while and should have caught up to Qalingu, who had gone ahead. But being just an adolescent and afraid of the blizzard, he began to think, “I’ll probably get lost... I’ll probably never again see my mother’s home... But if I lose my companion, how will I avoid getting frozen? I’m starting to get afraid...”

  They had completely lost sight of each other. The dog team came to a halt, as did the sled and its occupant. The dogs could go no further because of the raging blizzard. Meanwhile, Qalingu had clearly gone astray. He had lost his bearings and did not know where he was. He walked for a long time, using the wind as a compass. A strong atuarniq was blowing. He was afraid and his thoughts were on his companion.

  “Had I not gone ahead, my young companion wouldn’t be in danger of freezing… He can’t do much by himself, so he’s certainly going to freeze... If he gets lost, it’d be better if we both got lost... But if we both die, my little family, my little boy, Qumaq and her mother, will be looking everywhere in vain. They’ll have false hopes and be ever more hungry, with no provider... The others will probably abandon them... I’m helpless because of this severe blizzard... I don’t even have anything to drink to keep me warm, and although my companion has a stove with a bit of kerosene, I’m very anxious for him...”

  During this time, Ilaijja, who had halted with the sled, was abruptly and unwillingly pulled away in the direction of the wind by the dogs, which had smelled something. He was pulled away quickly and might have been thrown off at any moment as the sled hurtled over the uneven ridges of snow. He managed to hold on by hanging to the leather strap that held the load in place. The dogs’ sense of smell finally took the sled back to the abandoned igloo. His thoughts turned to Qalingu. “My companion will certainly freeze... I’ll be unable to go home alone... I’ll probably get lost on the way, poor little me who lacks intelligence and gets lost easily!”

  Qalingu, now in the thick of the blizzard, was fast losing hope. His face was encrusted with snow and he could not make out the slightest thing. Nonetheless, he plodded on into the wind. His cheeks were freezing and his entire body was feeling the cold. With night falling, he decided to take shelter on the side of the hill away from the wind, while there was still some daylight. Without even a snow knife, he began digging a hole for himself in the snow, all the while afraid of being smothered by the blizzard.

  Meanwhile, Ilaijja was waiting and doing nothing in their old igloo. He had been there all day and was starting to feel very hungry. For a long time, he chewed on a piece of beluga stomach, dipped in oil, and drank cold water, no longer having any fuel for heat. With another night coming, he tried to sleep but could not because the familiar howling of the wind was fading away.

  At the camp where they had left their family, Sanaaq and her folks were worried. Ningiukuluk made Sanaaq even more anxious by saying, “Sanaaq ai! That’s some blizzard. It’s really no weather for being exposed to the elements far from home! I had a qunujaq some time ago. You’ll have to take good care of your little boy because I dreamed of something broken!” This was an omen that someone close would die.

  “You’re probably right,” answered Sanaaq, “but I still hope they’re alive. We don’t have any news of them yet... Those beliefs of yours just aren’t true. I don’t want to believe in them!”

  Ningiukuluk became angry because her views were being dismissed. As she left, she excl
aimed, “Irq! I’m leaving because no one believes me.”

  Sanaaq slipped her baby into her amauti and told her daughter, “Qumaq! You must not come with me now!”

  Sanaaq followed Ningiukuluk. She crossed the threshold and walked down the front step. Qumaq could not keep herself from following her mother, crying all the while, “A a a!” She fell and hit her face after stumbling over a ridge of snow. Sanaaq said, “Ningiukuluk! I’d like to give you some explanations... We’ve been told not to believe at all in such things. They’re not really things to believe in ai!”

  Ningiukuluk simply agreed with her

  Daylight had now come and the two sled travellers, Qalingu and Ilaijja, would at last find each other. Qalingu was walking towards their old igloo. As he walked he said, “Aa!” Still anxious, he caught sight of the dogs. “Thank goodness!” When he reached his companion, he said, “You came back here?”

  “Yes! I was dragged here against my will by their sense of smell... That’s how I managed to end up here!”

  “The dogs are truly to be thanked! Let’s go! Let’s get on our way!”

  “Yes!” said Ilaijja.

  They got their dogs going, without even a going-away meal, because they had almost nothing left to eat. They both had empty stomachs.

  At the camp, Sanaaq was carrying her son in her amauti. He was getting a bit big to be carried about in this manner. He was starting to crawl on his belly. She went out... Soon after, she began cutting and sewing some material to make boots with. She gazed at the horizon, far off in the distance, straight ahead of her, looking for travellers on a sled. She then said, “Those things over there, wouldn’t they be people coming on a dogsled? They look like little dark spots...” She went back in and said, “Arnatuinnaq! Go look! Seems to be people coming on a dogsled… Look at them through the telescope.”

  “Yes!” said Arnatuinnaq. “Qumaq! Quick, get me the telescope up there in the kilu!”