I

After the Third Disaster

Time passed. Kauwerak people used the hunting grounds, the summer camps, and the winter camps same as always. New generations were coming. People spread out more. They made new villages sometimes. These villages were not like the old sandbar village called Kauwerak. The people always built a kazghi and families shared things, but most of the Kauwerak people did not, again, live all in the same place.

During those times, when the new generations were coming, the people still lived like their forefathers. Before the white men came in the 1800’s, living did not change very much after the Third Disaster.

II

Eskimo Weatherman

In every Eskimo village there was a weatherman. This was a man who had studied the weather ever since he was ten or twelve years old. From generation to generation the weathermen had taught their sons. A father or grandfather would awake early in the morning, wake the boy, and they would go out and watch the weather. The old ones would teach the young boys so they could learn to tell weather.

They looked into the sky to study the stars. They looked at what the white people call the Big Dipper. The Eskimos call it Tuttu. This means caribou. The horn of the caribou (the handle of the dipper) moves around the sky as the time passes. It points to the North Star, it points to the North, East, South, and West. When the horn points to the East, it shows daybreak will begin. When it points to the North it means it is midnight.

The weatherman watched for the first quarter of the moon. When it appeared, he could tell what the weather would be all through the month. If the face of the first quarter moon leaned toward the earth, there would be wet weather in the summertime. If it was winter, there would be snow. If the moon stood straight up, it meant it would be good weather half the month and bad weather half the month. If the quarter moon leaned backward, it meant it would be dry weather until the full moon.

When it was full moon, the weatherman did the same thing again. He looked once more when it was the last quarter. By watching the moon, he could tell what weather was coming.

The weatherman looked into the clouds. He watched to see what way they were sailing. If the cloud sailed from the East, the weatherman knew it would be snow or rain. If the cloud sailed from the South, it would be warm weather. When the clouds sailed from the North, the weatherman knew it would be very low overcast, then the clouds would break soon and the sun would appear. If the clouds sailed from the West, it would be windy and blowing strong, but it would be mostly dry weather.

The weatherman knew about spring, summer, and winter weather. If the spring season was wet and raining most of the springtime, the middle summer would be good weather. If the middle summer weather was wet, it meant an early fall was coming. If the spring weather was cold, that meant there would be a late spring.

The weatherman watched the stars when the sky was clear. When there were no clouds in the sky, he could find out if wind was coming when there was not a breath of wind on the earth. He looked up to the stars. If the stars were blinking and not sitting still, this meant the strong wind would come sooner or later.

Whenever someone wanted to go out from the village, they went to the weatherman to ask him about the weather report. The weatherman was always ready to tell what the weather would be to anyone. The weatherman had to be right. He had to make the right report all the time. If he made mistakes, no one would believe him anymore. He had to be a good weatherman.

When the weatherman said the coming spring season would be good to hunt seals, he told people they had better go out to the coast before it was too late for good hunting. He told the people it was going to be a late spring. Most of the people nearby would hear what the weatherman said. They knew what he said was true. They would get ready to go along to the coast. They had the oogruk rawhide skins ready for the bottom inside of the walrus-hide skin boat, new walrus-hide covers for the boat and the ropes oiled for water use. The women got ready for the spring season by picking leaves and green plants. They picked all kinds of green leaves to cook and to put in the pokes with oil for winter use.

Other times the weatherman knew the weather would be good to go out and look for a herd of caribou. The people would need new fawn skins. The weatherman knew when to hunt squirrels for the light parkas to wear in the warm summer weather.

The Eskimo weatherman also could tell about weather from the sun dogs and moon dogs. That is when the sun or the moon has a shiny ring around it. A moon dog means a big storm is coming. A sun dog means the weather is going to change. In the early springtime in 1964 a funny thing happened with sun dogs. On the first day the sun seemed small. There was one sun dog all the way around it. There was a second sun dog around that, only it was not round. It started on the bottom sides of the first sun dog and then stretched out to make a second ring around the first like a parka hood up. Above and below the double sun dog a little ways away, were half sun dogs pointing away from the sun like big arcs. There were lines coming out on each side of the second sun dog ring. The second day the sun was big. It reached all the way out to the edge of the first sun dog. Everything else was the same. I don’t know what that meant. Nobody had ever seen anything like that before.*

Because the weatherman could tell them, people knew they could go out and hunt for the things they needed. It was no matter what it was they needed, between the spring season and the fall season or in mid-winter time.

The weatherman knew all these things because he learned from his father or grandfather. He learned the things that were passed down from his ancestors, and he studied himself, too.

III

Harvest Times

In midsummer, the Eskimos caught salmon and dried them for winter use. In the mornings, the womenfolk usually took care of whatever work there was to be done, like skinning a seal if some had been caught. Then they cooked some meat to put in seal pokes. They looked for green leaves and plants starting in the springtime. Some of them they cooked. Others were put in the pokes without cooking. They put oil in the poke with the greens. They would keep a long time for winter use. Later on the women picked berries. They put them in pokes, too. Those berries sure had a good flavor when they were put in sealskin containers.

After salmon season was over, the people moved along the river to wait for the berries to get ripe. They picked salmonberries, blackberries, blueberries, and cranberries. Menfolk took their families where there were lots of berries. Then they set their nets out in the rivers. The big boys would take care of the nets. The fish that came out of the nets were taken to grandma. She cut them and hung them up to dry.

The menfolk went out to hunt caribou. If they saw a herd, they would not go near them. They would build a corral. The corral was made out of willows bound together with rawhide ropes. The people of Kauwerak had a special ceremony for this time. They had an ugly mask carved of wood. An aungutguhk would carry the mask to the corral to a pile of stones that looked something like a man. He would stick the mask in the stones. The people could see if the mask shed some blood through its mouth. If the mouth shed lots of blood, that meant they would get lots of caribou. If it did not shed much blood, they would not get many animals.

The men would chase the caribou to the corral. They usually chose two men to guide the herd from each side so they would go into the opening of the corral. The ones that went inside they would kill with spears and knives. Every hunter got the same amount as any other man. They skinned them all until all the animals were skinned out. This is how they butchered them. Two men cut open the bellies and took everything out — the stomach, lungs, heart, bladder, intestines, and blood. The next two men skinned the legs. Then two other men skinned out the carcass. Sometimes there were more men working at one time than at other times.

Those men worked fast. The cleaned and skinned out all the caribou before they could spoil. Next they spread all the skins out to dry. They took the sinew out from the back and also the legs to use for sewing thread. They used this for skin-sewing mukluks, parka pants, parkas, and other things made of skins and hides.

Those men saved all the fat. They used this for ahghutuk (Eskimo ice cream) and to use in the lamps.

Next the men cut the meat in real thin strips. They hung it on willow poles to dry. They hung every bit of meat so it would be light to pack back to their families.

When the hunters had good luck, after all the meat and skins were taken care of, they sent two men with a pack of meat to the families. Two or three men stayed with the meat and skins. Those men stayed with the meat almost one month until it was all dried through each strip.

After everything was taken care of at the corral, the hunters built a fire. Each one of them threw a piece of the meat into the fire. They did this to thank whatever it was that looked after all living things. They also did it so each caribou could come into life again and the hunter could have them next time when they needed them.

The hunters went home, then. They had a feast with meat and berries. By this time, the womenfolk had filled up every poke with berries. Grandma and grandfather had lots of dried fish of every kind.

The menfolk, then, took everybody up the river where they had already built their houses. Every family put their pokes in the same boat, and they went up to their winter homes. The people worked together that way. By helping each other they felt like they were all in one big family. They put the pokes, dried meat, and dried fish to store for winter use.

Soon they moved to fish camps again. They caught herring, smelts, tomcod and dried them or put them in pokes. Mostly they dried tomcod for wintertime. People in those days tried to gather all they could to be ready for cold weather and a long winter. They dried meat and fish in the summertime. In the fall season, when it was getting cold, they put up frozen fish. They wove a container out of long grass to hold fresh fish. It was about two feet wide and three feet long. They put them in the bag of grass before they froze. That way they put up lots of good, frozen fish. It kept a good flavor.

The Eskimos hunted in wintertime, too. The ptarmigan is an Arctic bird (grouse) that stays all year round when the seasons come and go. They stay in the northern part of Alaska. They live way north in the spring of the year and during the fall season. They go to the East in the summertime. They stay all through the winter. Then they have feathers on the bottom of their feet. In the springtime they do not have feathers on the bottom of their feet. At that time, the male is all brown, but the female has a few white specks here and there. In the winter, they were all white. In midwinter the menfolk hunted the ptarmigans with snares. They hunted rabbits, too. There was fishing with nets under the ice. Also, holes were cut through the ice and fish were caught with hooks.

All through the year there was something for the people to live by on the land. When the birds came, they caught them with long snares. It was a special spear with big prongs sticking out on the sides so it caught the bird even if it did not kill it. They threw the spears from their kayak. Birds were pretty tame then. There were no guns banging to scare them. When the white whale, black whale, walrus and seals came, they were caught with special kinds of harpoons that work for each animal. There were special spears made to use for bears and the bigger animals. They used jade on the blades for hunting bear. It did not break easy like rock or ivory.

The people had dogs. Some men had five dogs. Most owners had only three. Those dogs were descended from wolves. They learned how to live with people. Those dogs were called malemuits. They are mean-looking dogs. The parents always warned the children not to play with them. The people used the dogs for hauling wood. In the spring, out on the ice, they used them for hunting oogruk. In the summertime they used the dogs for packing things. They are very large dogs and strong. They can pack a good-sized load.

Men had to take good care of their dogs. Whenever they ate, they shared some of their meal with their dogs. That way those animals were some of their best friends out in the country. They used those dogs in teams for sleds in the wintertime.

The Eskimo people used snowshoes whenever they walked on soft snow. They had strips of ivory or bone with little sharp pieces of rocks stuck in them and rawhide tying strings so they would fasten under their mukluks. They went under the foot. These were to keep someone from slipping when they went on the smooth ice. The dogs used little skin mukluks to keep their feet safe from ice.

The Kauwerak village people had big enough skin boats to carry many tons. They could also carry three to five families at the same time as a load. Only two or three men could use a kayak — one in back inside, one in front inside, and one man to paddle. The kayak used only one paddle — sometimes it had a blade on each end.

Not everybody had a boat, but each family had someone to go with. They used paddles or long ropes for tugging the boat while they walked along the shore. When people traveled sometimes they had to wait many days for the weather to be calm. This was when they did not have sails. They used sails when there was a good breeze, not too much wind. Along the coast they used sea animal skins for sails. Inland they used yearling caribou skins without any hair on them. They sewed them together. When they had sails they moved by sailing or by tugging the boat along from the shore.

IV

Equipment

The womenfolk knew how to make very good storage containers from seals. They used their oolu knife for the job. When the hunters brought home the seals the women went to work. First, they took the head off the seal. Then they cut the animal out of the skin by cutting between the hide and the meat, so they did not make any holes. They took the meat out with all the bones. Then they scraped all the meat and oil from the skin. When they turned the skin inside out, they worked on the flipper. They skinned it out until they reached the toenails. They would leave the nails on the skin so the container would not have holes. The container could not have any holes. This would keep the flavor of anything that was stored in it all through the year.

When the women had cleaned all the blubber off the skin so there was no oil in it, they soaked the hide in fresh water for several days. They took it out of the water and cleaned it inside and out. When it dried outside, they turned the hair side out. They blew up the skin until they could not blow it up any more. They tied it with a rawhide string around the neck and let it dry out. When the container was dry, it was ready to use.

There were lots of tools in those days. There were axes made out of stones. Some were sharp like hatchets and some were like hammers. They made ice picks out of walrus ivory. Ivory was used for digging in the ground and stones, too. The men knew how to break or crack the stones to the right shapes. They could carve and shape the ivory because it was softer.

The people used themselves to measure things. They used the length of their arms, from hand to hand, to measure ropes. They used their feet, too. For small things they used their fingers for measuring spaces. There were Eskimo words for each unit of measurement. They measured long distances by taking long steps and counting how many steps it took. They also measured from place to place by the time it took going a certain way in certain kinds of weather.

Before the white people came, the Eskimos lived by the land. They made their tools and other things from the rocks and ground around them and from the parts of the plants and animals. There is a place called Birch Hill near Mary’s Igloo where people would get stones for blades and arrow heads. They would go up in the Sawtooth Mountains to get slate already sharp to make knives and other tools. This was a dangerous place to climb and the menfolk only went there when they really needed that stone. They found lots of the right kinds of stones for net sinkers in Graphite Bay on Salt Lake. They only had to put a little groove around them to hold the rawhide ropes. They found the things to make living easy and hunting successful right in their own lands. When they had plenty of furs, fish, special stones, and things they made on hand, they took the extra to the trading places at Pt. Spencer and old Kotzebue village. The people came from all over every year. Some came from Siberia to Pt. Spencer. Later, when trouble started with the Siberians, most of the trading happened at Kotzebue village. Then the Eskimo people traded more with the Indians from up the Kobuk. Everyone always liked to go to the trading places.

V

Trading

The Eskimos used to go trading amongst themselves. They would gather at what is called Point Spencer now. They would come from all over with their things. This happened every year in Naloseivick (August). They stayed until the trading was over.

They traded all kinds of things. They had fur, oil, rawhide, seal-skin, and walrus hide for boats. They did not come just for trading. They had fun, too.

Women looked for a good strong man, and men looked to find a real good looking woman or girl. This manner of loving is an Eskimo way, too. They looked for people to make new babies so the coming generation would be strong. When someone found the kind of person they wanted, they could make strong babies with different breeding than their own village. That way, our forefathers knew they would continually have strong people and healthy ones too. The man and woman would become husband and wife for making a new generation during the trading time.

There were races and games at the trading times. Some people would put up a wolf or wolverine skin. Others would put up things like caribou parka skins or a bundle of dry fish. These were prizes for different performances. The people would choose five old men to be judges. The old men would divide up the prizes for each of the races or contests. Each village entered people into the different performances.

One race was with boats or kayaks. For the boat race each boat had ten paddlers. Each boat carried a prize and there was a special prize for the winners. The paddlers divided up the prize. All of the ones who raced had a chance to win a prize. Their families shared in the prizes. There was good entertainment for everyone.

Trading went on all the time. The inland people gave to the islanders caribou meat, fish, and dry fish. These were things they did not have. The island people gave walrus dry meat and cooked walrus meat in pokes with oil. They gave each other these things to make good friendships.

The Eskimo aungutguhks demonstrated to each other. Some of the aungutguhks were real good. Some of them were not so good. They all had wooden masks of black and red colors. Shamishes did not use masks or paint. Sometimes the aungutguhks painted their faces when they wore their masks, other times they just used the paint in special designs. Each aungutguhk had his own designs for masks and other things he used. They used to have contests and demonstrations to see whose spirits were more powerful. People liked to watch them.

Eskimos danced for many reasons. The aungutguhks had special dances and songs for using their spirits. Some people would make songs and dances to tell stories or to let other people have enjoyment. Sometimes people danced because they were happy and felt like it. A man or a woman would sing and maybe someone else would dance for that song. Then other people would try that dance. The Eagle-Wolf Dance was the first time a special dance happened when certain masks and other things were used that always stayed the same every time the dance was done. That was because this dance was to help the eagle’s spirit to return to his mother. The spirits told the Forefathers the Eagle-Wolf Dance had to be done in a certain way. The white people call this the Messenger Feast because messengers were sent to all the other villages when the dance was going to happen. Then they could dance, too, if they wanted to come. The Eagle-Wolf Dance did not happen during trading time. People danced lots then, whenever they felt like it. There was always a big dancing time when everybody was ready to go home. This was lots of fun and people saw different kinds of dances. Sometimes they learned dances and songs from other people. They sometimes used these later when they visited other places. The Siberians danced, too, but they sure liked to watch those Eskimo men.

Our grandfathers say the trouble with the Siberians started at the trading times. The Siberians put their tents at one end of the camp. People from different places stayed together. Everybody visited back and forth. One day the Eskimo people woke up and the tent of Nagasuktouk, the Siberian, was gone. Then they found out one of the young girls was gone, too. They looked everywhere for her. Someone told them that Nagasuktouk had taken her to Siberia. He did not tell anyone and the girl did not want to go with him. When some of the Eskimos went to bring her home, the trouble started. There was trouble all the time until, after the last big battle at Kauwerak many years later.

There were trading times at a place near where Kotzebue is today, also. Some people from the Seward Peninsula always went there every year. After the trouble came with the Siberians, more and more people went to this place to trade. The Indians came down from Kobuk River and Koyukok River to sell furs and the things they made from other kinds of furs and skins and different kinds of food. People always had a good time at Kotzebue, too.

VI

Games and Contests

The men played all kinds of games. They did it to entertain themselves. People could watch and enjoy it. These are some of the games they played.

The high kick game used a skin ball or a roll of hide tied to a long rawhide string. This was tied up off the ground to a long wood pole or frame. Each time a man kicked it, it was raised up higher. Sometimes they kicked it with one foot. Sometimes they had to kick it with both feet. Sometimes some men could kick the ball when it was up to nine or eleven feet in the air.

Two men would test to see who was strongest. They would pull each other’s arms, or they would pull hands, or pull with their legs. Sometimes they would take a narrow rawhide string and put it around their two heads. Then they would pull against each other. Another contest was to put a stick with very sharp points on both ends between their heads above the eyebrows. Then they would push against each other. Another contest was for a man to lay on his belly on the floor. Two men would climb on across the middle of his body. The man had to stand up with the load of them on him.

There was a jumping game. A man would jump as far as he could with both feet. Next he would jump with one foot. Next he jumped again with both feet but landed on both hands without touching the ground with his feet. Then he jumped once more and landed with both feet. This was called the rabbit jump. The men also jumped up high in the air with both feet and did a summersault in the air and landed on the ground on their feet. Next they jumped up high and did two summersaults in the air before they landed on their feet. They also tried to see who could jump the longest distance.

Sometimes a rope was hung from two upright poles with a pole across high up from the ground. A man would pull himself up by using two rawhide ropes. He put the rope ends together under one folded up leg and boosted himself up to the pole. If it was too easy for him that way, a fellow would put a weight on top of his folded leg and pull himself up with the weight on his leg.

There was a lot of wrestling. The last man to stand up without someone throwing him on top of the ground was the strongest.

People had tug-of-war with the rawhide ropes. Sometimes it was just two men. Sometimes it was one village against another village. Sometimes one man for a village would test with another man from a different village. If one man beat all the others, he was the strongest. When this was a contest, there was a special way to do it. A new rawhide rope was used. The men sat on the ground. Someone measured between the two men. In the middle they put an upright stick and tied a knot in the rope. Both men had their feet the same distance from the stick. When the men pulled, everybody could see the knot move off each side of the stick. When one man’s feet came to the stick and touched it, he was the loser.

The circle race was when a rawhide rope was laid in a big loop on top of the ground. It was about one hundred and fifty feet across the loop. The men ran around the loop from a starting point. While they were running some men got tired and quit. The last man to be still running was the winner.

For the foot race, it could be from three to five miles round trip. The men lined up to start. Then they took off. Whoever came in first was the winner. In this race children, boys, girls, young women, young men, old women and old men ran, too. They only ran for fifty to one hundred feet.

These are only some of the games the people played at the trading place. Everyone had lots of fun and visited with good friends and their relatives. They always made new friends, too.

On the last day of the trading time, every family came together for a big feast and dancing. Everyone showed their friendship to all the others. This was called the Farewell Dance.

VII

Husbands and Wives

Sometimes one man had two wives. Once in a while a man might have even more than two of them. Very few men wanted to have more than one wife.

Before a man wanted another wife, he asked his first wife if she would like another woman to be a wife of his. Then he would ask the other woman the same question. If both women agreed, then he took the second woman home. The first wife had to know everything they needed at home. The second wife would take care of cooking, cleaning, and many other different things. All of them had their own beds. Each wife had her own bed next to a wall. The husband had his bed in the middle of the room away from his wives’ beds.

There were very few women who had two husbands. When that happened, the men had their beds next to the walls and hers was in the middle of the room. The woman would choose the second man to be her husband, not her first husband. If a woman really loved a man, she could ask him to be her husband. If she found another man, she asked her husband if he could be a second husband to her. If her husband agreed, and the second man agreed, then she took the other man home to her first husband. When the wife brought the second man to the house, she told her husband, “I have been with you for some years, but you and I have not made any child yet. That is one reason why I have chosen another man because I love him the same that I do you. I chose home to be my second husband because I would like to have children. Now you both know why I have chosen both of you. If I make a baby it will belong to both of you. I do not want any trouble between you because I am the one who chose you both because I love you both very much. We must not have trouble and we must live together peacefully.”

If they could not bear a child, some women would be very lonely. Life would be empty and the house would feel poor. Then a woman might make up her mind to try one way or another to choose another man to help her make a child so she could be happy. That is why the Eskimos had a custom for some women to have two husbands.

VIII

Ingnukhunuk

The people of Kauwerak village hunted all over the land from the headwaters of Agiapuk River to upper American River, clear up to all the headwaters of the Kaugarok River, from there to all the headwaters of the Kuzitrin River. These hunting grounds belonged to the people of the sandbar village.

At the sandbar village, Kauwerak, there was a young woman. She had a mother, father, and two brothers. They all lived together and were happy. They were always hunting caribou. One day, the father said to them, “It is time to go out and hunt caribou.”

They started out in the morning from Kauwerak with a skin boat. They went to a big lake called Omiaktalik and up Kaviruk River to a place now called Davidson’s Landing. This family always hunted for caribou there. They started off from the lake on foot and walked up around Coco Creek. In the mountains there were always a lot of caribou all year round.

The young woman had a name that means “very beautiful” in Eskimo, Ingnukhunuk. The young woman was beautiful and she was very strong and healthy. She did not show off her strength. Lots of young men asked her to be a wife, but she refused them. She went along with her two brothers and her father to hunt caribou. Two other men, a young girl about ten years old, and another young woman about sixteen or eighteen years old also went along. The young woman told the story about Ingnukhunuk and the things she did and saw many years after it happened.

The hunting party stayed out many days. While the menfolk were hunting caribou, the girl and the young women hunted for squirrels. Whenever the men got caribou the women helped them cut and dry the meat. They also took out the sinews and dried them. When they had enough meat and skins, everything was put together and they packed it back to the skin boat at the landing. They hauled the meat by carrying it on their backs in skin packs. It took several trips. On the last trip, Ingnukhunuk’s brothers helped her to stand up with her heavy pack by holding it up off the ground so she could stand up and carry it.

After they got all the meat and skins to the boat they ate a good meal. Then they pushed the boat to the water and started loading the boat with meat. Ingnukhunuk’s pack was the last one to put on. The father said to his sons, “Put Sister’s pack into the boat.” Her two brothers tried to lift it. They could not do it. Ingnukhunuk sat and watched them try to lift it. Finally, she stood up and went to them and got hold of her pack. She lifted it and put it inside the boat without any trouble. Her two brothers looked at her while she did it. Then she turned and looked at them. She said, “You two need more exercise in order to get strength.” Then she laughed at them.

A few days later they were back at Kauwerak. Ingnukhunuk took off from the village to pick berries not too far from her house. By then most of the people were back in the village from hunting. Inghukhunuk went to pick nice fresh berries for supper.

While she was picking the berries, one of the young men came up to her. He was one of the many men who had asked her to be his wife. He loved her very much. She too loved him, because he was handsome and quiet, and a good hunter. Everyone liked him.

Ingnukhunuk’s wooden bucket was halfway full of berries. The man said, “Can you give some of your berries to me so I can eat them? Just put some in my hand.”

Ingnukhunuk looked up with her smiling face and said, “Young man, there are lots of berries on the ground. All you have to do is pick them yourself because I want to fill my bucket for supper. You may come with me if you are really hungry for berries. I will make ahghutuk (ice cream) and put berries in it. I do not want you to bother me while I am picking berries. Leave me alone. If I fill my bucket, I will invite you to come with me so you can eat berries with me.”

The young man kept bothering Ingnukhunuk. One more time she told him not to bother her. Finally she got tired of him. When the bucket was full she put it down on the ground. The young woman who went caribou hunting with Ingnukhunuk’s family was nearby. When she heard those two talking, she hid behind some willows where she could see it all.

After Ingnukhunuk put her full bucket on the ground, she turned to the young man. “I have asked and told you not to bother me and yet you do not stop. Why do you do that? You say how much you love me, but you still bother me.”

Ingnukhunuk got hold of the young man. She tore all the clothes off of him until he was naked. There were no clothes left on him at all. He did not try to get away from her. Suddenly he found himself with no clothes on. He saw she was so strong he was no match for her.

Ingnukhunuk looked at the man. “Now, see what I have done to you. You did not even defend yourself. I have told you many times to leave me alone but you just got worse. I hated to do it this way. I was thinking it over first. I decided to do it. I hope this teaches you not to bother me anymore.”

The young man did not talk back to her. He did not say a word. Ingnukhunuk picked up her bucket and went home.

Ingnukhunuk prepared to make ahghutuk. She whipped the soft caribou fat with her hands until it was light and fluffy. Then she added the fresh berries. All the time, she could not take her mind off what she had done to the young man. She had torn all his clothes off from him. She began to be ashamed of herself. She decided the only way out of it was to go to him later at the kazghi (dance hall).

After Ingnukhunuk went home, the young man was shamed by himself. He could not go home in daylight. He had to wait until dark, so he hid in the willows where no one could see him. Finally, it got real dark. He started for home watching close so no one would see him. He stopped nearby the village and waited until the people went to eat supper. He went up to one of the caches. There were some new clothes. He put them on. He was thinking. “I do not want to go home because my parents will see these clothes and I will have to tell them what happened. I am too ashamed to see them.” He wandered around for a while. Pretty soon he went to the kazghi. There were many people there. The young man sat down.

A little later there was a hand coming up from the hole in the floor that was the entrance to the kazghi. The hand held a wooden bowl. Then a little wooden bucket came up in another hand. He saw it was the same woman that he bothered that afternoon. She came up on the floor and looked around the hall until she found where the young man sat. She took the bowl and the bucket over to him. She gave him some water from the bucket. Then she gave him the bowl. She told him, “I am sorry for what I did to you this afternoon. I bring you berries with my special ahghutuk. Please forgive me.”

The young man did not say anything. He was getting bashful. He began to think she might tell everybody about him in front of him. Ingnukhunuk waited a long time for him to finish eating. Finally the young man said, “I thank you for the water and the berries. I do not know what this is all about after I made you act like you did.”

Ingnukhunuk did not say a word to him. She turned to face all the people in the kazghi. She said, “I want to tell you people what I have done to this young man. This afternoon while I was picking berries, he came over to me and wanted to eat berries from my bucket while there were lots of berries around. I told him he could come along with me after I filled my bucket so I could make ahghutuk. He could have berries with me then. Instead he got worse. He put his arms around my neck and he kissed me. I did not want him to kiss me, but he disobeyed me. You all know I love him because he is not like others. He just said. ‘I am sorry.’ I made my mind up to test him. I did not let him kiss me. If only he would behave right, like he did now, I would let him kiss me.

“My plan has come true. He did not talk about his clothes which I tore off his body. He did not even fight back or talk mean to me. That shows he has a big heart. Instead of getting mad at me, he has peace in him.

“Just look at him, every one of you people. He cannot even look at me. I have known him and we were raised together. Once he asked me to be a wife. I refused him. Now I have found out what kind of man he is. Now, I am going to ask him to come along with me to be my dear husband. I will be a good wife, too.”

Ingnukhunuk and the young man went out. They became wife and husband for all time after. Today their generation is still living. They are Frankie Keelick’s family and Jimmy Eyuk’s family.

IX

Ahgosalik

Ingnukhunuk and her husband that she loved so much made a baby son. They both sure loved their little son. Soon the boy became a heavyset young man. He was also very quiet. His father talked to him many times. He told him to be kind to people no matter who they are or where they come from.

Ingnukhunuk and her husband taught their little son all of the rules of the Eskimos:

Obey your parents
Help whoever needs help.
Never harm anyone.
Do not kill.
Do not lie.
Be true.
Do not use another’s wife or husband.
Do not steal.
Ask first before you take anything.
Be kind to all living creatures.
Be kind to your children.
Do not play with any kind of animals or birds.
Kill and eat the living things, never leave them or waste them.
Help whatever animals need help.
Remember all the rules your parents give you and the lessons of your ancestors.

The boy saw that his mother had strength in her. She used to take him along to get a load of wood with a sled. They went up the river. Ingnukhunuk would take hold of alder and pull it out by the roots. She never used an ax. Her mother told her, “Cutting is too slow. It is better to pull them out with bare hands.” Sometimes Ingnukhunuk’s son helped her pull the sled. Soon he could do as well as his mother, too.

Ingnukhunuk’s son became a hard worker. Pretty soon he went out alone to get a load of wood. People in the village began to see his strength was turning into that of a most powerful man. Yet, the boy never told anyone of his power. He was well behaved and had good manners toward people. He became a good hunter. He helped whoever needed help. He gave what he had when someone needed it, no matter what it was, as long as someone else needed it.

Ingnukhunuk’s son became a man. He was called Ahgosalik (ripe salmonberries). He chose a girl without any parents. She was raised by her poor grandma. He took her to become his wife.

One day the young man went up to Koumuit to hunt squirrels in the late fall. There was a pass people could climb through that came out into Salmon Lake behind the mountain. Today the place is called Grand Central Pass in the Kigluaik Mountains.

The couple went up around there to put squirrel snares here and there. They came to a very sharp bend where no one could see what was on the other side. As they came around the bend, at the same moment, a she bear was coming around the other way with her two cubs. They all came around at the same time. They looked at each other real close. In no time, the she bear was ready to charge. The man had no time to string his bow. There was only time to pull out his knife from his belt. The man commanded his wife to stay behind him, not to run away.

When the bear came toward him, he said, “Now, go! Run away from behind me.”

The wife ran up the hill instead of downhill. She stopped and looked down where her husband and the bear were fighting. The man was holding on to the bear with one arm around her neck. His legs were in between the bear’s arms. The bear was standing up, but the man still held on. The bear tried to paw the man off, but her paws could not reach him. The man stabbed the knife through the bear’s windpipe and worked the knife in to try to cut across the bear’s throat. Soon there was much blood flowing out of the bear. She was getting weak. She could not suck air in and lots and lots of blood was coming out. Pretty soon the bear was ready to fall. The man jumped away from the bear, and the bear fell down and died.

The man and his wife skinned the bear. After the skin was dry, they went over the pass to the other side to hunt for more squirrels. They came to the bottom of the divide and then they came to a white rock. It was kind of round in shape. They stopped and took the packs off so they could rest.

Ahgosalik kept looking at that white rock. He turned to his wife. “You see this big rock? You know what I think? I think I should take that rock and carry it to the top of the mountain and leave it there. Our grandchildren and their children can see it and remember me by that rock.”

He lifted the rock. “It is heavy, but I think I can carry it.”

When they were ready, he lifted the rock and raised it high to his shoulders, and started to climb up. His wife followed him. When they got about halfway to the top, Ahgosalik stopped and knelt with one leg on the ground. His wife said, “You have carried this rock half way, why not carry it to the top?”

The rock was still on his shoulders. The man started off with it again. He did not stop until he reached the top.

That rock is still there right to this day. Everyone who ever went to that place put a small rock beside the big rock. There are small rocks piled up all around the big one today.