Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk - Sanaaq - An Inuit Novel

After checking the eggs, they made their daily meal by boiling eider meat and eggs… They had also collected down. After loading their qajaak, they paddled off.

“There are some places, over there towards land, where the water is darkened by the wind,” said Qalingu. “You can hear it howling… We’ll soon be caught in the wind!”

“Just our luck! That’s not reassuring. Is it getting closer?”

“Yes!” answered Qalingu.

Despite their efforts to hurry by paddling as fast as possible, the wind began to blow in strong gusts. They barely avoided capsizing several times because of the dark waves it threw up.

“I’m losing hope!” said Irsutuq. “We don’t seem to be making headway into this wind… It will probably blow us out to sea… I’d like to take shelter from the wind behind the island!”

“Let’s go then, ai! ”

Their kinfolk — Sanaaq, Arnatuinnaq, Qumaq, Akutsiak, Taqriasuk, and Aqiarulaaq — were watching from a hilltop.

“I’m very worried about them,” said Aqiarulaaq, “because we can’t see them… They said yesterday they’d come back today.”

Taqriasuk looked through the telescope and said, “I still can’t see them and yet there’s no one left on Pikiuliq Island!”

“ Ai! ” exclaimed Sanaaq. “I wonder where they could possibly be… Perhaps in the areas where the wind’s blowing very hard?”

Arnatuinnaq saw something.

“That’s probably them! The two of them appear at times in the storm, but they often vanish from sight because of the breaking waves offshore. Try looking at them through your telescope!”

“Yes, I can see them! They’re caught in the storm… They’ll probably seek shelter from the wind behind the ice floes.”

“I’m scared!” said Qumaq.

The wind was subsiding now and the women walked down to the shore while their husbands continued to watch on the hill. On their way, they picked up some brush for fuel.

“We could gather some fuel for making boiled meat,” suggested Aqiarulaaq.

Arnatuinnaq and Sanaaq pulled up large quantities of heather and black crowberry bushes.

“There’s enough to cook with ai! ” said Aqiarulaaq. “Each of us will take an armload.”

Once they had arrived home, Arnatuinnaq went for water in which to boil Aqiarulaaq’s meat. After filling the outside cooking pot, she said, “I’m done! It’s ready!”

Aqiarulaaq had just come in when she cried out suddenly, “Listen! Dogs growling at each other. Sounds like they’re eating the meat I put in to boil… Arnatuinnaq! Go quickly and see!”

“They sure are eating it! All the meat is gone!”

“What a shame!” said Aqiarulaaq. “Those were my only pieces of meat… I won’t be able to cook now… The worst thief among the dogs is going to have a paw tied to its neck!”

Arnatuinnaq tied one of the dog’s paws to its neck… It began to whimper, “ Maa maa… ”

“Serves you right!” said Arnatuinnaq.

Their lookout arrived at that very moment, saying, “The weather is clearing up. They’re both coming!”

“All the meat I cut has been eaten by the dogs! What a crying shame!” said Aqiarulaaq.

“Which one did it?” asked Taqriasuk.

“Once again it was that miserable Taqulik!”

“Too bad, but this time it’s going to die, that dyed-in-the wool thief!”

“I could try and look for something to make boiled meat with at Ningiukuluk’s place, because we’ve got nothing left…”

Taqriasuk agreed. So Aqiarulaaq went looking for a gift. She entered the tent and said, “Ningiukuluk! I’ve come begging for meat. All the pieces I’d been boiling have been eaten!”

Ningiukuluk, who disliked giving, replied, “I won’t give you any because you’re a fool and because you’re often robbed of your food. I don’t want to be short of food through the fault of others. You’re really stupid! Just go away!”

Yet she had plenty of meat. Aqiarulaaq went to Sanaaq’s place and told her, “ Qatannguuk! I’ve just been rudely sent away by Ningiukuluk after trying to get some meat… I didn’t get any, not even a little morsel. I was given a flat no!”

“ Ai! ” said Sanaaq.

The two qajaak were about to arrive.

“The qajaak are arriving, out front!” announced Arnatuinnaq. “They’re heavily loaded. Let’s go to where they’ll be landing!”

They all went. Ningiukuluk also wanted to go, despite feeling very embarrassed. She went anyway and when she arrived, she looked about furtively, saying, “Look at all the eggs they’ve got! How nice it would be to eat eggs! Aqiarulaaq ai! You’ll come and get some meat at our place!”

“I won’t go again. I already asked for some today!” answered Aqiarulaaq.

They went back and forth on the shore carrying the many things that the travellers had brought back. They got ready to boil the eggs and eider ducks. They skinned the ducks, removing the skin with the feathers.

Ningiukuluk was no longer the centre of attention. With no more gifts being brought to her, she felt envious and dearly wished to receive more… Her daughter Akutsiaq, feeling the same way, visited her neighbours for something to eat. She expected those who prepared the boiled meat to offer her some. She waited a long time in the expectation of being offered food. When her hosts began to eat boiled meat, she joined them and, finding it very good, ate eagerly, soon finishing off the eggs and the pieces of duck she was given. She even scraped the fat off the duck skins with her teeth.

“Pass me the soup pot!” she said after eating.

It was passed to her. Although its contents were very hot, it did not give off any steam. She gulped down a mouthful, unaware that it was boiling hot, and scalded herself badly. “ Aatataa! My throat has been scalded!”

“But why are you eating so greedily?” asked Aqiarulaaq.

“I’m not! I don’t eat greedily!” shot back Akutsiaq.

It was spring. Qalingu and Taqriasuk were travelling by sled to the sinaa. Qalingu saw something right away and yelled, “Belugas!”

“Whereabouts?”

“Over there out to sea! They are coming this way and will probably swim under the ice of the cove.”

The belugas did come and they all surfaced together. When the firing started, however, they immediately dove under and remained there for a long while. Not being wounded, they never reappeared.

“All the same, I got a shot at them,” said Qalingu. “ Ai! What a pity! I scared your game animals away. I was afraid I wouldn’t get another chance to shoot.”

“Couldn’t be helped. But there’s no need to let me shoot first. I’m getting old and my vision is failing… I can’t even make out the front sight on my gun anymore…”

“ Ai! How many winters have you been through?”

“ Ai! I’ve been through eighty-nine winters!”

“ Suvakkualuk! You really are very old, yet you’re not at all frail!”

“Sometimes, though, I wish I had a walking stick…”

“If you want, I’ll buy a piece of wood and make you one.”

“It would really please me if you did!”

The two of them were now hunting on the sinaa. They saw some puiji and Taqriasuk fired on them. No sooner had he fired than he hit one, and Qalingu set out to recover the body and tow it back with his qajaq. On the way back, while landing, he saw another puiji. He fired and missed. Taqriasuk in turn fired at the animal that his companion had missed, hitting it with his first shot.