Sanaaq (11 page)

Sanaaq slipped her baby into her
amauti
and told her daughter, “Qumaq! You must not come with me now!”

Sanaaq followed Ningiukuluk. She crossed the threshold and walked down the front step. Qumaq could not keep herself from following her mother, crying all the while, “
A a a!
” She fell and hit her face after stumbling over a ridge of snow. Sanaaq said, “Ningiukuluk! I'd like to give you some explanations... We've been told not to believe at all in such things. They're not really things to believe in
ai!
”

Ningiukuluk simply agreed with her

Daylight had now come and the two sled travellers, Qalingu and Ilaijja, would at last find each other. Qalingu was walking towards their old igloo. As he walked he said, “
Aa
!
” Still anxious, he caught sight of the dogs. “Thank goodness!” When he reached his companion, he said, “You came back here?”

“Yes! I was dragged here against my will by their sense of smell... That's how I managed to end up here!”

“The dogs are truly to be thanked! Let's go! Let's get on our way!”

“Yes!” said Ilaijja
.

They got their dogs going, without even a going-away meal, because they had almost nothing left to eat. They both had empty stomachs.

At the camp, Sanaaq was carrying her son in her
amauti.
He was getting a bit big to be carried about in this manner. He was starting to crawl on his belly. She went out... Soon after, she began cutting and sewing some material to make boots with. She gazed at the horizon, far off in the distance, straight ahead of her, looking for travellers on a sled. She then said, “Those things over there, wouldn't they be people coming on a dogsled? They look like little dark spots...” She went back in and said, “Arnatuinnaq! Go look! Seems to be people coming on a dogsled… Look at them through the telescope.”

“Yes!” said Arnatuinnaq. “Qumaq! Quick, get me the telescope up there in the
kilu!
”

Qumaq fetched it from the
kilu
and brought it to her. Arnatuinnaq went out and looked through the telescope.

“You're right,” she said. “There are people with a sled, over there. Looks like they're having their daily meal!”

Qumaq and her little brother were overjoyed as Sanaaq in turn took a look.

The two travellers were indeed having their daily meal. They barely managed to get the stove lit and hardly had any provisions left. They drank a very weak tea and, between them, their only food was a small piece of meat. It clearly was not enough and Qalingu was glad to let his companion have it. He pretended that he did not want to eat, even a little bit, in order to leave him his share. He took care of his companion, out of love for him. The two of them got their dog team going again. The wind was blowing in their backs but, as they came closer to home, it dusted them with powder snow from the ground.

Arnatuinnaq prepared a meal for the travellers. She melted some snow for tea and chopped off a piece of frozen
ujjuk,
which she had received as her share of the game caught by another person. She cut it into small pieces, to make boiled meat. Then she went out again, for they were about to arrive. Everyone in the igloo stayed out for a long time as the boiled meat cooked over the oil lamp, whose flame was getting too high.

Sanaaq said to Arnatuinnaq, “Isn't there an oil lamp smoking in our home?”

“No, not at all!”

Sanaaq went in and shouted, “
Ii!
Our oil lamp is smoking! It's full of smoke... Quick, give the vent hole up there a few blows with the axe! Make it wider! Hurry!”

Arnatuinnaq went in after giving the vent hole several blows with the axe.

“
Autualu!
Ii!
” she said, on seeing Sanaaq's nostrils and face black with soot, from inhaling the smoke. “Your face is all covered with soot and so are your nostrils!”

“No wonder,” said Sanaaq. “It was full of smoke!”

Qumaq was told by her folks to stay outside, so as not to breathe the soot. The travellers had now arrived and were bringing their baggage inside and unharnessing the dogs...

With spring arriving, Qalingu and Ilaijja went hunting on the
sinaa.
Ilaijja harnessed the dogs and said, “
Autualu!
” on noticing that a dog was missing.

One of their dogs was nosing around in an abandoned igloo. Qalingu, meanwhile, was coating the undersides of the runners with wet snow, using a
nanuirvik.
When the undersides were completely frozen, he planed them smooth and iced them again. Once they were properly iced, he stood the sled upright and attached a
naqitarvik
and also a
kalirtisaikkut.
He lashed his
qajaq
to the top of the sled. After tying it down, he went inside to put on his dehaired sealskin boots, which were impermeable to seawater. From among his mittens, he took the ones made of black dehaired skin. Finally, he put on sealskin overpants.

They now took off downhill to the shore and the land-fast ice. Some of the dogs saw their tuglines slip under the runners. Others were almost hit by the sled. Some, finally, were simply dragged along. Qalingu shouted, “
Uai!
Pack of bums that let themselves be dragged and do nothing but eat! Shame on you!”

After making their way downhill, they continued across the ice sheets of the foreshore, the tuglines often catching on snags and spurs. Qalingu would go to release the lines. Once freed, the dogs would start trotting, some pulling hard, others less so. The bad pullers waddled as they walked. The good pullers had arched backs, their bodies tightly drawn by the effort. They were heading out to sea now, the two hunters continually darting from one side of the sled to the other, throwing a piece of wood at any dogs that failed to obey their orders. Before arriving at the
sinaa,
they crossed an area of fresh ice, parts of which were coated with frost crystals. Their progress slowed down considerably.

In the open water, they spotted a
puiji
.
Qalingu saw the top half of the seal emerge and fired. He hit it and it squirmed wildly... Qalingu had killed it. After hauling it onto the ice, he decided to skin it. He cut the animal open lengthwise, skinned it down to the blubber, cleaned the blood-spattered skin with seawater, and divided the seal into many parts to be distributed later. The two of them ate the meat attached to the lumbar vertebrae and prepared the small intestines and liver by setting them out to freeze. They divided up the entire kill to provide all their camp mates with a share. When the liver was frozen solid, Qalingu laid it on top of the
qajaq.
They would now go home, so they untangled the tuglines. Ilaijja went about this quickly, for the ice was starting to crack and drift.

Back at the camp, their loved ones often climbed the
nasivvik
in order to look off into the distance. Taqriasuk had a telescope with him. He also had a pipe that he wished to smoke, but no matches for the already filled pipe. He proceeded to chew the pipe's contents energetically and almost choked. No wonder... Just then he spotted the hunters arriving and, although he had believed they would return empty-handed, he could see them bringing back a heavy catch.

Qumaq was beginning to grow up and had fun cutting out blocks of snow. She was trying to build a snow house. Snow covered her all over and frost coated her
manu.
From time to time, she would call out, “Oh! I'm having fun building a house with the snow knife!”

Aanikallak, a bit further away, was doing the same. While she and Qumaq amused themselves, each of them building an igloo, they suddenly heard a large plane and were very frightened by the noise it made... They scampered off to their homes. Qumaq tripped and fell several times, so overcome with fright was she. Her mother asked, “What's with you?
Ii!
Aalummi!
” and she ran out to see. “Look at the big plane!
Qatannguuk!
”

The plane disappeared. The children were still very frightened.

Sanaaq, Arnatuinnaq, Qalingu, and Aqiarulaaq were going fishing for mussels under the
qulluniit.
Qumaq wanted to come along. Qalingu filed the cutting edge of his ice chisel and then honed it with a stone. Sanaaq prepared to go fishing by putting on her
alirtiit
and boots. Qumaq was aware that they were preparing to leave. She kept going in and out, following the others. She said, “Mother! I want to go mussel fishing with you!”

“You're not going down under the ice. We're the ones going down… You might bang into something… You're going to stay home with your maternal grandmother!”

“I want to go with you! And I won't go under the ice!”

“Go then!” answered her mother. “But eat before you leave so you won't get hungry there... I'm going to breastfeed your little brother!” Sanaaq also changed the baby's diaper.

Once Qalingu was ready, they set off, taking a bag, the ice chisel, and a bucket. Qumaq followed not far behind. With the sea retreating under the ice, they hurried to the point underneath which the ebbing waters met the shore. Qalingu began bashing away with the ice chisel to open up a tunnel down into a large
qulluniq.
With his hands he removed the shards of ice. He looked really tired. When the opening was wide enough, he knocked the last shards out and, with the water level no longer falling, everyone rushed to climb down under the ice.

“Let's go! Let's go down,” said Arnatuinnaq very happily... And they went down.

“There are a lot of mussels,” said Sanaaq
.
“Over there on the side of the big rock.”

“There's another one!” shouted Arnatuinnaq
,
“
Ii!
But I can see big crabs! They're repulsive!”

“Oh no, not at all!” said Sanaaq. “They're not at all repulsive! I'll tear their legs off and eat some crab.”

“I'll taste a piece,” conceded Arnatuinnaq
,
“but now I'm disgusted by these
kinguit!
I want to go back up to the surface.”

“Before you've filled the bucket?” asked Sanaaq, teasing her.

Arnatuinnaq tasted some of the crab and wanted to eat some more... She found it good — she who had been so disgusted. She even went looking for other crustaceans... Meanwhile, Qalingu had half-filled the bag with mussels. He had also gathered seaweed,
qiqruat,
kuanniit,
and
aliqatsaujait.

It was now time to climb out. Sanaaq was eating mussels while collecting them. When Qalingu reached daylight, before his companions had climbed back up, he looked over the mussels he had gathered. To his great disappointment, some were full of sand... He had picked them up too fast. Since some of the shells he had gathered were empty and his bag was very heavy to carry, he became suspicious and began taking a closer look. When everybody had reached the surface, Qalingu said, “My kinfolk! I've gathered only empty shells. I picked them up without even looking!”

Sanaaq and Arnatuinnaq burst out laughing.

“He wanted to do it so fast,” said Sanaaq, “that he gathered only empty shells! It's because he was in the dark!”

They headed home. When Qumaq saw them, she shouted, “I want to eat mussels!”

“But the mussels I gathered are just empty shells,” answered Qalingu. “They're full of sand... I'm ashamed. Eat some kelp instead.”

And they went home. Qalingu pulled his load on a little sled. Sanaaq was very thirsty because of the salty taste of the mussels. When they arrived home, Arnatuinnaq took the mussels as a gift to Ningiukuluk, who said, “Thank you so much! There are really a lot of mussels!”

Qalingu ate some mussels with oil. He also opened some for Qumaq. He then went with Qumaq to barter mussels for tea at the store. Qumaq
said, “Father! Some sweets too!”

After bartering with the
Qallunaat
for tea and candy, Qalingu told his family, “This is what I got in exchange!”

The time of the
ullutusiit
was beginning and soon it would be spring. Qalingu announced that he would go hunting the next day for
uuttuq
and that some of the things he had just bartered for would be provisions for the trip. He made some wooden stakes for use as upright supports for his seal-hunting screen. Sanaaq also made him a hunting cap out of Arctic hare skin. She cut it out and sewed an inner band to it. At daybreak the hunters prepared to leave. The warming air was causing the snow to shrink and dwindle away. They took their hunting caps. Sanaaq stayed outside a long time with her baby in the
amauti.

“We'll probably lose our snow house today,” she said, “because the air is getting warmer... Arnatuinnaq! Make a sunshade out of some bedcovers. Also put anything wet out to dry... I'm going to stay indoors for a while.”

Qalingu was hunting
uuttuq.
He prepared his hunting screen while his companion, Maatiusi, stayed with the dogs to keep them in place. Qalingu bent over double and advanced unnoticed to an
uuttuq.
It suspected nothing. He aimed carefully and fired. He made a hit and ran to the animal. When he got there, he smelled a strong odour and said, “It stinks like a male seal in rut! It's really a male seal in rut!”

The odour was very strong. Maatiusi heard the gunshot and set out at full speed by dog team. When he arrived, he said, “Thank goodness, you've caught a seal! Its blubber will provide our dogs with something to eat!”

“It's a male seal in rut! Skin it, Maatiusi!”

His companion opened it up lengthwise and the two of them tried to eat it. Even though it was not to their liking, they ate it, for want of other food. Maatiusi said jokingly, “What a nice-tasting seal! It really has a very strong taste.”

Because they had eaten so much meat all day long, their belches stank of it. After they finished eating, they went back to watching the ice from atop a hill. While they were busy looking, their dogs, now hungry, began plundering the load of meat on the sled. Qalingu heard the noise they were making as they tussled with each other. He said, “Maatiusi! Sounds like they're after the load on our sled! Go quickly because they're stripping us of everything.”

* * *

Spring had arrived. It was the season of the belugas. Maatiusi and Qalingu prepared to go hunting again on the
sinaa
.
Qalingu said, “Maatiusi! Get ready! I'm going to take a look from the lookout... Put paw protectors on the dogs! Palungattak won't be coming with us.”

He climbed the inuksuk and scanned the
sinaa
with a telescope. He spotted something in a patch of open water, between the ice floes.

“Look at that!” he said.

He hurried off because he had just seen some
qilalukkaanaq
carried on the backs of their mothers. He scrambled down the hill, sinking into the snow with every step. Meanwhile, Maatiusi had harnessed the dogs and put paw protectors on them, one after another. There were five dogs. He then had his going-away meal and quickly gulped down his tea in one long swig. Qalingu, who had just come down the hill, said, “Hurry up! I saw a large number of belugas in a patch of open water, between the ice floes, a whole pod of belugas!”

They got their dog team going and quickly headed to the
sinaa.
On arriving, they took up position behind an ice hummock, after taking care to avoid making any noise while walking. They were now in a good position to fire. When the belugas surfaced, all at once, they made a big noise with their blowholes. Qalingu raised his rifle, aimed, and fired. He hit a beluga and shouted, “
Ii!
Autualu!
It's sinking straight down!”

Maatiusi in turn fired and struck dead on, fatally hitting a pregnant female that rose back to the surface. His face flushed red with emotion, for it was the first beluga he had killed. His whole body was shaking. Qalingu
said, “
Suvakkualuk!
Just look at that!”

Qalingu nervously grasped the shaft of his harpoon, attaching the head and the harpoon line. He then threw it at the wounded animal... The harpoon head hit the animal hard but slipped on a bone... Qalingu thought his prey was going to sink. But it soon resurfaced and he immediately reattached the head to the harpoon and threw a second time. The harpoon struck home. He said, “Maatiusi
ai!
It's your first beluga!”

Maatiusi smiled slightly in response. A profound quivering ran through his entire body, probably out of gratitude or satisfaction. With the assistance of the dogs, they tried to haul the animal out of the water and onto the ice. Maatiusi stood in front of the dogs to urge them on. “
Hau!
Hau!
” he called to them.

But suddenly the leather rope snapped, lashing Qalingu in the face. He screamed, “
Aatataa!
My face!” His cheek was bleeding profusely, and he saw many flashes of light.

Maatiusi was very afraid, and thought, “Had I not killed the beluga, he wouldn't have hurt himself...” He was full of remorse.

When Qalingu's pain began to subside, the two men started hauling the beluga again. With the ice chisel, they bashed away at the bumps in the ice that stood in the animal's way and managed to haul it up and onto the sled, then set out for home. The load being a heavy one, they advanced very slowly and had to walk beside the sled, pushing it continually. They could not keep it from rolling over whenever it crossed an ice ridge, and could set it right again only with great effort... They finally crossed the land-fast ice and were almost home when their folks saw them and said, “
Aa!
They've killed a beluga!”

“We're going to have
mattaq
to eat!” shouted Arnatuinnaq
joyfully.

Qalingu called to Ningiukuluk, the midwife who had delivered Maatiusi, “Your
angusiaq
deserves our gratitude. Today he killed his first beluga... As for me, I lost mine and it sank! And when the
nuvviti
snapped in two, I was almost killed right then and there. I saw many flashes of light and was hurt in the face!”

Ningiukuluk was delighted by the feat of her
angusiaq
who had killed a beluga. Though old, she began to jump for joy and, suddenly feeling full of fervour, called out to everyone present, “But what do all these men do who stay home and do nothing? Haven't you just been delivered from starvation?”

They now cut the animal up into portions while putting the sinewy meat aside. Ningiukuluk, meanwhile, continued to extol her
angusiaq.
When the cutting was done, gifts would be distributed to one and all by throwing them out to the crowd. In the meantime, Ningiukuluk would apportion the four sinewy pieces of meat among the women, after cutting them with her ulu. Sanaaq exclaimed, “I'm going to remove the sinews from my share of the meat!”

Arnatuinnaq, Akutsiak, and Qumaq munched on raw cartilage — pieces of the beluga's larynx. They also ate the
qalluviaq
of the heart, and pieces from the rear flipper. Sanaaq removed the sinews by ripping them out with her ulu. She cleaned them off, using her teeth to remove the remaining meat, and set them out to dry. Aqiarulaaq did likewise. She then called out to the others, “Come and eat the beluga's tail!”

Everyone came to the feast. They were very cheerful, holding their ulu or knife for a piece of the meat. Qumaq had a piece of
mattaq
cut out by her mother. Arnatuinnaq too removed the sinews from her share of the meat, using a small piece of cloth, but she had trouble removing them. The sinews were fresh and still a bit alive.

“It's really very difficult,” she said. “I can't quite yank this one out!” The cause of her anger was a little sinew with meat attached. “I'll try again
ai!
” She began again, trying with all her might... but to no avail. “That's alright! I don't want to try anymore. I'm afraid it would just make me angry!”

“You're really stupid, Arnatuinnaq!” said Sanaaq, insulting her younger sister. “What a display of intelligence!”

They now brought together all the little gifts to be thrown out to the crowd. Ningiukuluk, who had delivered Maatiusi, was full of enthusiasm.

“
Aa
!
Look at all the stuff!” said Sanaaq. “There are even bars of soap. How nice! Toss some over here, to my side.”

After catching what had been thrown to the crowd, everyone went home, their arms loaded with the meat that had been divided up and the gifts that had been distributed. Tobacco... Matches...

“Qumaq! Show me what you caught,” said Arnatuinnaq
.

“Here it is. All of that!”

“Look at all of what she collected in the give-away! She has sinews and matches!”