Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk - Sanaaq - An Inuit Novel

“ Ii! Our lamp is smoking! Wake up! The bottom of the teapot is covered with a thick layer of soot! The poker has almost completely burned up!”

It was morning, so everyone woke up. Arnatuinnaq went outside the roofed snow house and called out, “Sounds like a ptarmigan up there. It’s chattering a a a! ”

Qalingu rushed to give chase. “Get me my cartridges!” he shouted. He went after them and took aim at the ptarmigans several times, killing four.

On his return, Sanaaq and Arnatuinnaq skinned the birds for eating. Sanaaq ripped open the breast of one. She removed the heart and offered it raw to her little boy, who tore into it with his teeth. They then ate the different pieces: the keel of the breast, the back, the drumsticks, the appendix and, finally, the gizzard — after removing its internal membrane…

“Mother!” exclaimed Qumaq. “Give me the head to eat! Give me also the wings with their skin, and I’ll eat the marrow. I want to make chewing gum out of the marrow and little feathers.”

Qumaq prepared the qaunnaq. She plucked little feathers from a ptarmigan skin and began chewing on them. She then added oil residues from the lamp and some boiled blood. She was now chewing her gum.

“Give me some, little sister!” asked her little brother several times.

She gave him some, but he soon swallowed whatever he was chewing.

“Give me more!” he said.

“ Ii! ” said Qumaq. “You’ve been swallowing so much that almost none is left!” Despite the little one’s crying, she refused to waver. “I won’t give you any more because it’s almost all gone!”

Sanaaq, once again, tried to console him by diverting his attention. “Let’s go for a walk ai! I’ll carry you on my back. We’ll go up the hill and from there we’ll be able to look at everything around us and we’ll make some tea outdoors!”

Qumaq, her mother, and her family went for a walk while Aqiarulaaq prepared boiled meat outside, using driftwood as fuel.

“The pieces I’ve been boiling have become very tender. I only wanted them half-done… They’ve been in too long!”

Qalingu and his companions had stayed home. They played cards for a long time and enjoyed themselves considerably. They did not even notice that a fine powdery snow was falling outside, nor that Sanaaq and those with her had failed to come back yet. Suddenly the dogs began to bark loudly… Maatiusi went out to see what was going on and saw the dogs fleeing in all directions. He immediately came back in, saying, “A polar bear has just wandered in here!”

His card partner jumped to his feet…

“Get my rifle!” he said.

“Where’s the bear?”

“It’s over there!”

They fired several shots, but it got away.

“It’s a shame,” said Qalingu, “that we let that big male slip away because of our clumsiness! What a shame!”

Akutsiaq was trembling with fear, shivering and crying. Aqiarulaaq ran away from where she had been preparing her boiled meat, and the dogs pounced on the opportunity by wolfing down the pieces of meat… It was unfortunate because she no longer had any fuel left. She went back out to see what was happening. She said, “The pieces I was boiling are gone! They’ve been devoured by the dogs… We won’t be having any boiled meat. Not the tiniest morsel remains! My pot has rolled over down there. The dogs have eaten everything, so I won’t be cooking any more. Dirty dogs! They’re still all excited!”

It was daytime and Sanaaq was making boots. Qumaq moistened the portion to be sewn by chewing on it. Sanaaq asked, “Isn’t it moist enough for me to make a sulluniq? ”

“No, it’s not soggy enough yet. I’m going to moisten it more.”

Sanaaq made some sewing thread out of sinew. Her son often grabbed her leftover sinews (the child was a real pest!) and stuffed them into his mouth. Sanaaq sewed the sulluniq. After attaching the qalliniq, she softened and stretched the atungaksaq, which she had moistened. She then cut the piece out, notched it to mark where she would sew, and made some tacking stitches. She was making qaliruat. When she was finished, she said, “I’ve done the silalliq! ”

To make the ilulliq, she now removed the leather’s mami with the ulu.

“Mother!” exclaimed Qumaq. “I want to eat the mami! ”

“Here, take some!”

“Yes!”

“Qumaq ai! Make a little chain out of the seal’s small intestine. We’re going to make nikku. Remove it from the seal.”

Qumaq opened the animal lengthwise with a knife, dirtying her hands as she emptied the contents of the small intestine.

“ Ii! ” she said. “The stuff inside is disgusting! I don’t want to continue… Look, it’s full of qumait! ”

“ Ai! Never mind, leave it! It’s a little siiqrulik! ”

Everyone was now home and Sanaaq went about sewing soles onto the boots she was making. Her son, now awake, was a real nuisance. From a mangittaq taken from an old qajaq skin, she prepared to cut the soles out. Her pattern was the bottom of a boot. With her ulu, she cut out a piece for the heel and a piece for the soles of the feet. When the cutting was done, she softened the leather with her kiliutaq and began sewing, using braided sinews smeared with blubber.

“My son’s so tired that he’s whimpering all the time,” she said. “I’m going to put him to bed right away. And to top it off, our igloo’s getting dangerous and threatening to cave in!”

She put her child to bed and stretched out alongside him. Once he had fallen asleep, she hurried to sew the soles onto the boots.

Sanaaq’s snow house was really on the verge of collapse. She was worried and woke her son up. “Son! Wake up!”

“ Aa! ” he moaned, for he was still groggy.

Sanaaq spoke to Arnatuinnaq. “Pack our belongings. The dome of the igloo is probably going to fall on our heads!”

“Yes! I’ll get packing. Ii! It sure is caving in on us… and I haven’t finished. Ouch! I’ve been hurt! I’ve been hurt in my back! Aatataa! ”

“I’ll give you a rubdown with snow,” said Qalingu. “Bare your back!”

“ Iikikii! Is it ever cold!”

“Arnatuinnaq! Do you have anything broken?” asked Sanaaq.

“No, I don’t think so. But I ache all over!”

Qumaq was constantly going in and out. Her mother warned her. “Stop going in and out like that!”

“Yes,” she agreed, while continuing her coming and going.

“I told you to stop that! You’ll get hurt!”

“But I’m collecting my toys!”

“ Uai! ” said Qalingu. “Those dirty mutts have broken into the entranceway. Hand me a club!” He began clubbing one dog after another.

“We’ve been robbed! They’ve taken off with all the meat we had left. We’ll pitch our tent ai! Over there, where the snow has melted.”

They brought some stones to anchor the guy ropes and others to hold down the base of the tent, then raised the tent. Arnatuinnaq and her companions brought stones while Sanaaq arranged the interior.

“Qumaq! Bring me a stone to hammer with. I want to move that big stone that’s in the way.” Sanaaq hammered away at it. “It won’t budge! Let it stay put then.”

Qalingu angled the door into place.

“Qumaq!” he said. “Hold the doorframe upright for a moment. I’m going to install the door… Arnatuinnaq! Bring me some nails and a wooden bar.”