Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk - Sanaaq - An Inuit Novel

Sanaaq spoke to her. “Arnatuinnaq, don’t get thinking too much about this new Qallunaaq. He could leave!”

But she was not thinking at all about the new Qallunaaq. Then one evening, while on a visit to Aqiarulaaq’s place, all alone and still grieving, she spotted a man on her path who looked like the chief factor who had left.

“ Ii! Ii! ” shrieked Arnatuinnaq, overwhelmed by fright.

Feeling faint, she ran into Aqiarulaaq’s home and began talking to Taqriasuk and Aqiarulaaq.

“I was terrified when I saw someone who wasn’t a human being, our former chief factor. I was almost possessed by an uirsaq. .. And he even tried to seize me, just now, when I was already here!”

“ Ii! ” said Aqiarulaaq. “What an experience! It’s because you’re still hurting, because you’re lamenting too much, that you’ve almost been possessed by an uirsaq! ”

Arnatuinnaq no longer wanted to go home alone, for fear of meeting such a being again. So Aqiarulaaq accompanied her to her home, to Sanaaq’s place. She said, “Because she saw someone who wasn’t human, Arnatuinnaq too almost got possessed by an uirsaq, qatannguuk! ”

“It’s a good thing, Arnatuinaaq, that you immediately confessed!” said Sanaaq. “You’ll probably never see it again. It must be quite ashamed that you confessed right away. If you hadn’t, it would’ve appeared to you again and again, even briefly. It’s said that that’s how non-human beings appear, by taking on the appearance of the person one loves!”

Arnatuinnaq spoke again. “I never thought I’d see a creature like that, on account of my being too attached to my friend, the former chief factor. It still hurts when I think that no one else will be as kind and nice as he was…!”

“It’s fortunate you spoke right away,” added Sanaaq.

Arnatuinnaq felt well. She forbade herself to think about him because she feared encountering another non-human being. She behaved honourably, for she wanted to be baptized like her child, and often went to pray. With Qumaq, little Irsutuq, and Aanikallak, she became a member of the Catholic Church.

Meanwhile, Maatiusi had still not confessed to having a nuliarsaq, despite having previously been engaged to Arnatuinnaq. It was as if he no longer cared for the real Arnatuinnaq. And so Arnatuinnaq was afraid of Maatiusi and his nuliarsaq. Maatiusi, however, knew he would never want to have the invisible woman as a wife, so he began to think, “There are two Arnatuinnaq. How can that be?”

Qalingu, Maatiusi, and Angutsiaq went fishing at the saputi for iqaluit that were swimming upstream. They felt happy as they fished. But Maatiusi could not be really happy. His two companions were caught up in the fishing — now and again running, often falling into the water, and standing back up each time… But Maatiusi was not really with them… He was fatherless, motherless, and without family. He lived at Aqiarulaaq’s home, having taken the place of the man’s deceased son Jiimialuk. Everyone took good care of him. While preparing the midday meal, Maatiusi thought, “ Uuu! Am I ever tired! In the past, I was always really happy to be an Inuk, but now I’m tired of having a nuliarsaq. I hope Qalingu will come because I’m going to tell him everything… So what if I get killed by my nuliarsaq, who tells me again and again she’ll kill me the moment I talk… Maybe it’s not true and she just wants to keep me from talking.”

Qalingu arrived just then. When he got his meal, he said, “Maatiusi ai! I fell several times into the water… Is it cooked? There’s a good smell of tea and boiled fish!”

Maatiusi did not say a word. He did not even try to look at Qalingu. He wanted to talk but because he hesitated too long he could not.

Qalingu asked, “Maatiusi, are you feeling down? I’m really happy to be fishing!”

“Yes! All summer I’ve found nothing to make me happy!”

“But now you could be happy! All the Inuit and the Qallunaat too know you’ve got a nuliarsaq. If you confess, you won’t be in that situation anymore. Who does your nuliarsaq look like?”

“Like Arnatuinnaq!”

“But Arnatuinnaq is still among us!”

“I thought I’d have Arnatuinnaq as my wife. Then, while walking far away, when I was sad because of her, I saw it for the first time… The edge of its hood was turned back and… it forbade me to talk. If I did, it said it would cut my head off with a knife… Yet I still felt attached to it. That’s why I took so long to talk!”

“Maatiusi! From now on you’ll be truly happy and you’ll never see it again. It said it’d kill you just to keep you from talking…”

As soon as he had talked, Maatiusi truly felt much better. He had rid himself of his nuliarsaq thanks to his travelling companion and for this he was really happy. From then on he would no longer have such torments. As for the others, who had still been fishing, they decided to head home with the start of a heavy downpour…

END

Abbreviations: dual (dl.), plural (pl.), vocative (voc.)

Aa! Aaah!interjection to express pain

Aakut-tuasiold children’s rhyme

Aalalaalaalahumming of a tune

Aalummi!exclamation to express tenderness toward children

Aanaqatakperson’s name

Aanikallakperson’s name, literally “little Annie”

aanniasiurtiphysician or nurse; from aanniaq pain, painful illness

Aappuu!child talk; interjection to express wish to be consoled

Aaq!interjection to express disgust

Aatataa!onomatopoeia: interjection to express pain (Ow-ow-ow!)

Ai!interjection to address someone, to question, to express resignation, or to ask for agreement

Aiguuq!interjection used by spouses to address each other

Aikulukreciprocal kinship term, used by in-laws, of the opposite sex and the same generation, e.g., the wife of a man’s brother or the sister of a man’s wife

Aippa, voc. Aippaa!kinship term used by spouses to address or refer to each other: Husband! Wife!

airait, pl. of airaqedible root of field locoweed Oxytropis hyperborea

airaqsee airait

airqavaq,pl. airqavat,dl. airqavaaklong-sleeved winter glove, used when building an igloo

ajuqirtuiji,pl. ajuqirtuijiitAnglican minister, literally “the one who teaches”

Ajurnamat!“Can’t be helped!” “Nothing can be done!” Condolences after bereavement

akipart of the home (tent or igloo) left and right of the entrance, used as a kitchen or larder

akitsirait, pl. of akitsiraqseal spare ribs with their vertebrae

aksunaajjatuqhunting companion who gets an aksunaaksakas his share

aksunaaksaq,pl. aksunaaksatcylinder of skin cut from around the trunk of a bearded seal to make leather straps

akuit, pl. of akuqseal femur

Akutsiaqperson’s name, literally “pretty rear end of a woman’s garment”

aliktuutiritual quartering of first bird killed by a child

aliqatsaujaq,pl. aliqatsaujaitalgae ( Laminaria )