Sanaaq (15 page)

It had rained overnight. Early in the morning, Qalingu awoke and said, “
Autualu!
We're completely flooded! Wake up! The ground's covered with water!”

They all woke up and hurriedly dressed. With his knife, Qalingu hacked out a channel to drain the water away from the tent. As before, his son was already splashing in the water and, as before, was soon soaking wet.

“
Irq!
Autualu!
My son fell flat on his stomach in the water. His clothes need to be wrung dry.”

“But what will he wear when it stops raining?” asked Sanaaq.
“I was wanting to go fishing for
iqaluk.
.. Arnatuinnaq
ai!
We'll quickly sew him some new clothes. The lake ice should now have lots of holes.”

“It does!”

When the rain stopped, Qalingu left to hunt for
uuttuq,
taking along his hunting screen. Pools dotted the sheets of land-fast ice and, further out, meltwater covered the pack ice too. He sighted an
uuttuq.
He crawled to get nearer and killed it. Plugging the wound with a cartridge case, he walked back, dragging his catch behind him. There was a long trail of blood because the seal was bleeding profusely. His family spotted him.

“He's killed a seal!” shouted Arnatuinnaq. “He's dragging it behind him. We'll get some tea ready... Let's make an arrival meal!”

When he arrived, he said, “I've killed a seal
ai
!
Its back has lost some of its fur. All that dragging has left a mark because the ice has sharp edges... It's not a good idea to drag seals over the ice.”

“Arnatuinnaq!” said Sanaaq. “Remove its small intestine and make some
nikku!
”

“Don't!” said Qalingu, cutting in. “We'll make a meat bag out of its skin. The skin has no market value, Sanaaq.”

Sanaaq said, “I feel like going
iqaluk
fishing today. I'll talk to my
qatanngut
about it!”

She went to her cousin's place and entered.

“
Qatannguuk ai!
” said Aqiarulaaq. “Have a seat!”

“No, I've only come to talk to you.”

“About what?”

“I want to go fishing for
iqaluk
today!”

“Let's go now
ai!
Will there just be the two of us?”

“No, Arnatuinnaq will come too. We'll walk, but I've got to go and prepare myself
ai!
”

“Sure! I'm coming right away.”

Sanaaq prepared a load of everything she would be carrying on her back. Aqiarulaaq prepared her load too. “Since my load is too heavy,” she said, “I'll carry my teapot in my hands. Let's go! Let's start walking.”

“But I'm not ready yet,” said Sanaaq.

“You're really slow getting yourself ready
ai!
” replied her cousin.

They set out on their way and walked for a long while. They then took a rest and cooked outside. Arnatuinnaq, the third one in the group, gathered fuel for a fire. She yanked up heather and small shrubs of black crowberries.

“
Qatannguuk!
” shouted Aqiarulaaq. “Go look for something to put the teapot on. I'm going to build a fireplace!”

They built a support out of stones. Arnatuinnaq went for water, filling the teapot by dunking it. She came back and started cooking. They lit brushwood and stoked the fire continually, in the lee of the wind. The smoke made blowing on the fire bothersome.

“My eyes are all swollen because of the smoke! The cooking's not coming along right. The water's hissing, though.”

They had their meal. Sanaaq's son ate eagerly, completely smearing his face.

“
Nuakuluk
!
” chided Arnatuinnaq. “Looks like you've bitten somebody to death!”

When she had finished eating and the water was boiling, she added some cold water to the teapot. They then started walking to their fishing ground, which soon came into view. Arnatuinnaq
said, “The sole I sewed on has come unstitched and slipped to one side. I'm going to remove it.”

Once they had arrived, they went onto the lake with their fishhooks and bait.

“Is the ice breaking up?” asked Sanaaq.

“No!” said Aqiarulaaq.

The lake had many holes. To fish in them, they jerked their lines with their hands. They were now angling for fish at the ice holes, each angler at her own.

“Listen!” said Sanaaq. “Sounds like a trout!”

They could see straight to the bottom. Aqiarulaaq leaned over for a closer look and immediately saw something.

“An
iqaluk
!
Look at it! But it doesn't seem to be hungry.”

“
Ii!
” said Sanaaq. “I've caught an
iqaluk
ai!
”

Arnatuinnaq had not had any bites yet. It was now Aqiarulaaq's turn to catch an
iqaluk
.
When she pulled it in, she tried to remove the hook but the
iqaluk
was wriggling vigorously.

Sanaaq pulled in a second one from the same hole and said, “This is really fun! I've caught another one!”

“Mother!” said her son. “I want to eat the eye! Come on, let me eat the eye!”

Sanaaq removed the eyes. “
Ii
!
One of them has burst,” she said.

Arnatuinnaq had not caught any
iqaluk
yet. She went over to Sanaaq, saying, “I'm so envious of those who catch lots of
iqaluit
!
I haven't caught anything yet, but I'm going to fish here. Move back, let me take your place!”

“Go ahead, take it!”

Arnatuinnaq was angling. Still not getting any nibbles, she said again, “I want to go home. I won't catch any
iqaluk!
”

“Wait a little!” said Aqiarulaaq. “Let's go over there and leave the
iqaluit
we've caught here!”

Leaving their catches behind, they walked further out and began fishing again. Right away Arnatuinnaq caught a very big
iqaluk.

“Look, both of you, at the big
iqaluk
I've caught!”

Her two companions, however, were catching nothing, so they got up to return to their first fishing hole.

“What's that over there?” said Sanaaq.

“Whereabouts?” asked Arnatuinnaq.

“Those things, over there, like spots?”

“
A-ii!
” said Arnatuinnaq. “Something's moving about there... What could it possibly be?”

“What could it be,
qatannguuk?
” echoed Sanaaq. “Looks like where we left our trout... Those wouldn't be dogs, would they? Have the trout we caught been eaten? Arnatuinnaq, hurry up and run! Our trout have probably been eaten!”

As they came close, the things flew off.

“They're gulls!” said Arnatuinnaq. “They're flying off, filthy creatures! Look at that filthy creature still holding a trout in its beak!”

“Did they take everything?”

Once her companions caught up to her, Arnatuinnaq said, “The trout the two of you caught were all devoured by the gulls. Everything is gone!”

“What a shame!” said Aqiarulaaq. “Gang of gluttons! Big throats! Big throats that gulp down a whole trout without even chewing.
Suvakkualuk!
”

“Let's try fishing a little bit longer,
qatannguuk!
” said Sanaaq.

Although they did some more angling, no more fish were caught.

“Let's go home
ai!
” said Sanaaq.

They headed home.

“A pity the trout we caught were all devoured by the gulls,” said Aqiarulaaq. “Just because we went out there, to the other place.”

“But we were lucky to have gone there,” replied Arnatuinnaq. “Had we not I wouldn't have caught any trout!”

Before going home, they again cooked outside.

“Let me have the few tea leaves that are left,” said Arnatuinnaq.

“Chew them thoroughly,” said Sanaaq. “Otherwise there won't be enough to make the tea as dark as it should be… Our provisions of tea are all used up.”

She chewed and put them into the teapot, thus darkening the water a bit. They finished and set out for home. Arnatuinnaq carried on her back the trout she had caught. It felt heavy, being very big.

One of their folks at home, Qalingu, went to take a look from the hill. He came back and said, “The women who went fishing are appearing in the distance! One of them seems to be carrying a heavy load on her back... Looks like big
iqaluit
!
”

“
Ai!
” asked Taqriasuk. “Are they coming here?”

“They're coming this way!”

When the fisherwomen were almost there, Qumaq and Akutsiaq rushed to meet them.

“Mother!” said Qumaq. “Did you catch any
iqaluit?
”

“No, mine were devoured by gulls!”

Qalingu cut the
iqaluk
into pieces. “Let's invite the others to come and eat!” he said.

Qumaq went to tell the others about the invitation. “I was asked to tell you to come and eat some
iqaluk!
”

And everyone came together for a community feast.

The next day, Qalingu was sitting on a rock and getting ready to strip the skin off a seal with a knife. He now had ample stores of meat, having killed many seals. When he finished removing the skin, he said, “Arnatuinnaq! Come and pull!”

She began pulling the seal carcass out of its skin. He then inflated the skin, now turned inside out, by blowing into it, in order to scrape the blubber off. When the scraping was done, he took the skin to Sanaaq for her to sew a patch over the anus to cover it.

“I'll need a small piece of sealskin with the fur removed,” said Sanaaq
.

She sewed a patch over the anus and, when she had finished, Qalingu filled the bag, stuffing it with pieces of meat and blubber. Then he wiped it with vegetation and carried it to a stone cache. With a leather strap, he tied slipknots around the rear flippers, that is, around its knees, and also around a front flipper. It would be carried on each side by Arnatuinnaq, the young Maatiusi, and Sanaaq. Maatiusi
cried out, “Wait a bit! You've got to stop a moment because my hand is being squeezed by the leather strap!”

They halted and advanced a little further, but, just as they had almost put the meat bag into place, it began to rip...

“It's been torn by a sharp stone,” explained Qalingu.
“But it's only a little tear.”

He closed up the stone cache and erected an inuksuk over it. Once he had finished, he went home.

Night was now falling. Arnatuinnaq called out, “An
uuttuq
down there!”

“I'll go
ai!
” said Maatiusi. “I'll use the seal-hunting screen... I've got to hurry!”

“Are you really up to it?” asked Sanaaq.

* * *

Sanaaq was scraping the inside of a sealskin. It had fur and was that of an adult seal, not a young one. As she started to remove the flesh, she said, “The skin has become really thin. It's a seal that's been moulting... Look, Arnatuinnaq! Its
mami
is all black. The fur is falling off all by itself!”

“Let me eat some of its
mami!
” said Arnatuinnaq. “It's really good
mami!
”

When Sanaaq had finished, she washed the skin because it was shedding. It could not be scraped with a
kiliutaq.
She laid it out to dry on a rock, with the furry side on top. She then went inside, saying, “Someone should go outside and keep an eye on the skin I laid out to dry. It could lose its fur because of the heat. It's really sunny!”

“The dogs ate a piece of our skin!” exclaimed Arnatuinnaq.

“A big piece?” asked Sanaaq.

“No, one of its rear flippers.”

“Never mind! I'll mend it and hang it on a drying rack.”

She went about her mending. Once the operation was done, she asked, “But where are the leather straps to hang it with?”

“On the edge of the
kilu
,
” answered Arnatuinnaq.

After making eyelets all along the edge of the skin, she hung it on the drying rack.

Qumaq had grown up a little and was now trying for the first time to make boots by herself. She cut out what was needed to make the
qalliniq
and also to make the
atungaq.
She then began to sew. She stitched very badly, making holes in the skin and sewing asymmetrically, without really noticing how poor her work was. When she was done, her mother, Sanaaq, took a look and said, “Qumaq
ai!
It's the first time you've made boots. We'll offer them to your
sanaji!
”

Ningiukuluk, her maternal grandmother, had also delivered her. As a
qillaqut,
they would offer a plate, some tobacco, a sealskin, and the boots that the little girl had just sewn.

“Your
arnaliaq
has made her first boots!” said Sanaaq
as she brought the gifts.

“What? These things are for me?” said Ningiukuluk
.
“That girl, my
arnaliaq,
I made her skilful! And now I'm being given boots... They are truly beautiful boots!”

Ningiukuluk found the boots to be very beautiful because they were the work of her
arnaliaq
,
even though they were not at all well made... She even tried them on as a way of honouring her
arnaliaq,
and because she had received them as a
qillaqut
gift.