Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk - Sanaaq - An Inuit Novel

“ Suvakkualuk! ” said Taqriasuk. “He was taken away unexpectedly. He died very young, while really trying to tackle the risks of life!”

The little girl and her adoptive parents were now the only three left in their snow house: Aqiarulaaq, Taqriasuk, and Aanikallak. It would be the last time that their igloo would receive a seal killed by Jiimialuk.

During this time, Qalingu and his family were together in their snow house. Qumaq had awoken during the evening. She was starting to grow up now but did not have the slightest inkling that they had lost a family member. She spoke up, “Mother, let’s both go to Grandmother’s place!”

“We’ll go tomorrow. It’s getting late.”

They undressed for bed. Sanaaq exclaimed, “ Ii! Water’s dripping on the bed! It’s dripping there… Is it ever! Frost crystals will also be falling… Pass me an ulu with something to put those dripping knobs of ice in!”

Arnatuinnaq gave her an ulu and a plate for the broken icy knobs dripping with water… This was the sound they made as they fell down: Tak tak! Sanaaq added, “ Ii! It’s also dribbling on the kilu down there. That’s been happening without making the slightest sound. There’s already a small pool! Put a pad of snow here. It doesn’t seem that cutting those icy knobs off has changed much!”

She put a pad of snow under the dripping knob of ice.

Arnatuinnaq was busy drying Qalingu’s boots. They were waterproof, made of dehaired sealskin, for use at sea. She removed the boot socks and softened the soles with a kiliutaq. After softening the soles and removing the stockings and boot socks, she turned the socks inside out and hung them on the drying rack, saying, “I’m going to fill my oil lamp with oil residues because we’ll soon be short of fuel… But with oil residues, we might not get much of a flame and it will flicker without good fuel, or even go out… And we’ll no longer be able to dry any boots!”

They now tried to sleep and, as predicted, the oil lamp went out, because it had been filled with oil residues.

Sanaaq and her entire family awoke the next morning, at daybreak. As soon as Qumaq was awake, she began to tell her dream. “Mother! I dreamed I had been given a little brother, a poor little thing with no eyes who cried because he had tumbled…”

Sanaaq started to laugh, “ I i i i i i! ” She could not hold back her laughter…

Because they would be running out of oil, Akutsiaq came early that morning from the igloo next door to offer some in an old tin can. Sanaaq thanked her warmly, saying, “Akutsiaq ai! Thank you so much! Dry your hands on this gull skin.”

“Sure!” said Akutsiaq.

Sanaaq then said to her sister, “Arnatuinnaq! Pour this oil into the lamp and try to light it. If the lamp won’t light, it’s probably because it ran out of fuel and had water in it… Just a moment ai! Let me take the residues out first. Then I’ll try to light it.”

She removed the residues with a spoon, put them onto a small plate, and threw them to the dogs. But the dogs were already harnessed because Qalingu was going to look for oil in his reserve. They rushed to devour this meagre offering of food and eagerly fought amongst themselves.

“ Uai! ” exclaimed Arnatuinnaq. “Filthy creatures!”

Arnatuinnaq clubbed them one after another with a stick as they whimpered, “ A a ma a maa! ” She went back in and said, “Dirty dogs! They all went after it.”

Qalingu’s dogs had moved around a lot and their tuglines were completely tangled. He had to unravel them before leaving to go for oil. Finally, he shouted, “ Uit! ”

Sanaaq, Arnatuinnaq, Qumaq, and Akutsiaq — who was visiting — were in the igloo with frost crystals falling and the temperature becoming ever colder for want of lamp oil. Qumaq was penetrated through and through by the cold and was almost turning blue. She played on the floor and on the sleeping platform, humming, “ Siu siu siu si si siu! ” Because she was right next to the edge of the platform, her mother told her, “ Ii! Qumaq, don’t fall!”

She complied and moved a little further into the kilu. In some spots the packed snow had melted and turned into ice. So Sanaaq decided to go looking for some fresh snow and pack it with her feet. She said to her daughter, “Qumaq! Put your boots on. I’m going to pack some fresh snow!”

She chewed on Qumaq’s boots, which were on the drying rack, and turned them inside out. She began to soften them with the qauliut that she had hung there. Then she said to her daughter, “Let’s go! Come, I’ll put your boots on.”

She slipped the boots onto the child’s feet, straining, “ Uuppaa! Uuppaa! ” After Sanaaq had put the boots on and tied the bootlaces, Qumaq stood up on the floor and almost slipped and fell several times.

“ Ii! ” shouted Sanaaq. “Take care not to slide! Oh, she won’t stop sliding!”

Sanaaq packed the snow with her feet while Arnatuinnaq went for some fresh water. This is what Sanaaq did: she moved her things off to the side; she lifted the dwarf-birch mats and held them up with a snow stick that she stuck into the base of the platform; she went out and cut some blocks of soft snow, which she crushed and packed in the igloo.

Qumaq was very talkative. “Should I bring this snow block inside?”

“Wait a little!” answered her mother. “I’ll first cut it in two because it’s too big… Take that one in.”

“Sure!” answered Qumaq.

The two of them brought the snow blocks inside. When Sanaaq had finished placing the blocks on the sleeping platform, she cut them into thin slices with her knife and packed them down with her feet. She then said, “There’s still a little missing here. Qumaq, go and get me a little more snow!”

“Sure!” answered Qumaq. “Here’s some snow. Should I put it here?”

Sanaaq now put her things back into place. She unrolled the dwarf-birch mats and laid out the fur mattresses and bedspreads. When she was done, she made some tea. She adjusted the flame and wick of the oil lamp with her poker.

Meanwhile, Arnatuinnaq had gone for fresh water, taking along an axe and a bag in which to put the pieces of ice and carry them away on her back. She went to the frozen lake where people usually got ice and began to hack away at the edge of an ice crack to split pieces off, putting them in the bag one by one. When she was done, she headed home. She was tired, though, and found her load heavy. She said, “ Uu! Am I ever tired!”

But she kept on walking, intent as she was on providing her folks with fresh water. On arriving, she tried to enter and, speaking to those inside, said, “Take that in!”

“You really deserve to be thanked!” said Sanaaq, grabbing hold of the bag.

She began melting the ice in a bucket, breaking it up into small pieces with a knife, but the coldness of the ice burned her fingers. She screamed, “ Aatataa! I’ve burned myself! Ai! A mitten!”

Arnatuinnaq gave her one.

“Here ai! ”

Sanaaq pounded away again at the pieces and filled a pot with ice in order to make water. She then melted the ice by hanging the pot over the lamp.

Qalingu had gone looking for oil, as well as food for the dogs. He now arrived at his oil reserve. With his knife, he scooped congealed oil out of the wooden barrel he had kept it in and filled a large tin that he used as a jerry-can. He also added the hard blubber rinds. In doing so, however, he stained the front of his shirt and the cuffs of his sleeves. Once his can was full of misiraq, he covered the barrel again with a piece of beluga skin on which he placed stones and pieces of wood. He told himself, “Even the dogs won’t be able to undo that… So it should be safe from predators…”