Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk - Sanaaq - An Inuit Novel

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 falling, 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.”

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! ”

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.