Sanaaq (20 page)

And so, among those close to her, Arnatuinnaq gave birth to a little girl. Sanaaq was the midwife. Ningiukuluk, who wished to acquire a
sauniq,
made a request: “I wish to have a
sauniq
so that I may walk all the time and accompany those who go travelling anywhere!”

Ningiukuluk was overjoyed, having acquired a
sauniq.
And the baby with no father was now called Ningiukuluk.

After Arnatuinnaq had given birth, the chief factor wanted to marry her straightaway, out of affection for his little daughter. The problem was that he could be transferred anytime to a place among the
Qallunaat.
Arnatuinnaq was an Inuk and did not understand the
Qallunaat
language. A
Qallunaaq,
however, had fathered her baby. Arnatuinnaq wanted her first child to be baptized by the Catholic missionary.

“Tomorrow she'll be baptized!” she said.

Sanaaq and Qalingu both loved the baby. And Ningiukuluk, who had acquired a
sauniq,
gave away some of the felt she had bought for a pair of stockings, which Sanaaq made. The child's father gave her a shawl to cloak her body, flannel for her shirts, and material for her clothes. To the mother, he gave felt and material for an
amauti
so that she could carry the child on her back. Sanaaq made it, stitching it together after cutting it out, using her own
amauti
as a pattern. She very much wanted to carry the little baby in her own coat pouch. Arnatuinnaq, for her part, passionately loved her first child. And Irsutuq, Sanaaq's little boy, was always kissing her. He had grown and often accompanied Qalingu on hunting trips.

Maatiusi was not at all happy. His betrothed, Arnatuinnaq, had a baby that was not his. He wavered, however, between a desire to marry her and the opposite...

With the coming of summer, the
ajuqirtuiji
and his assistants arrived and attended to the Inuit. He questioned Qalingu and Sanaaq.

“But this baby, who is her father?”

“Her father is a
Qallunaaq!
” answered Qalingu.

“Her baptism has no value,” said the minister, “for she is the fruit of sin. Her mother and you are truly lacking in common sense!”

“You are right,” replied Qalingu
.
“If we're not acceptable to you, it doesn't matter. We can't always act perfectly. We must be humble, but this little baby will be baptized by the Catholic missionary!”

“How is that possible when neither you nor the baby's mother are Catholics? I'm the one who will baptize her!”

“No! I love this baby too much. You've just said she's not worthy of baptism, so we want her to be baptized by the Catholic missionary, whom we'll now follow. You may have worthy disciples, who'll always do good. But we aren't worthy of you, so we'll be confessing at the Catholic mission.”

“I'm the one who'll baptize the child because you follow the Anglicans!”

Arnatuinnaq left and went to the Catholic mission, where she said, “This one, I want her to be baptized by you!”

The Catholic missionary agreed. “I'll baptize her in a few moments!”

And everyone, including Qalingu and Sanaaq, came in, because the baby was going to be baptized.

“I am going to baptize your child. She will be the first one among you to be baptized! Though she is only a little baby, she will now be washed of all uncleanliness. She shall be named Ningiukuluk Maria!”

As the first to be baptized, this baby became a source of great joy for the whole family.

Qumaq had gone far away. The airplane brought her news from her family. This is what was written to her:

“To Qumaq, from her mother,
Ai!
Qumaq. Right now we're doing fine. We have a newborn child, a little girl-cousin for you. She's been baptized and is called Maria!
Ai!
Qumaq! Be patient, because you'll be coming back! I send you my greetings, you and Aanikallak too! My cousin Aqiarulaaq is doing fine. Always be thoroughly obedient, the two of you. You'll come back when you've recovered. Qumaq!
Ai!
You're sent greetings from your little brother and from Arnatuinnaq, as well as from your stepfather!”

Qumaq received her mother's letter with the news about her folks while in hospital. The news of the baby gave her a start. She thought, “Had I been more diligent, I'd already be baptized… How I envy her! My little cousin is already baptized... When I go home, I'll carry her on my back often. But I don't know when I'm going home!”

Qumaq
told
Aanikallak, “Aanikallak! We got a letter! We've been asked to obey at all times. Our folks are fine, so they say. How delightful it is that we got a letter, Aanikallak! Read it and then give it back to me.”

“
Aa!
Thanks!” said Aanikallak. “But I want to go home!”

“How true! Let's both cry, Aanikallak!”

“Let's!”

They both began to cry and people thought that they were angry with each other, when they were just homesick. Some people also thought that they were in pain. Their families back home very much longed for their return. Sanaaq could not help but think about Qumaq often.

“Qumaq may arrive anytime! I must not get discouraged. She's going to come back soon… When she's back, she'll probably have grown and her clothing will be too small for her, that's for sure!”

Maatiusi was out walking alone in late summer. He was feeling down. All kinds of thoughts were turning over and over in his mind, even bad ones. He had been warned, in keeping with Inuit customs, that it was not good to dwell too much on something, but he ignored these warnings and let his despondency run free. He became used to mulling over his thoughts, in which Arnatuinnaq was first and foremost. He found her very desirable, thought much about her and, suddenly, while walking, caught sight of someone who looked like her. He believed it was Arnatuinnaq. Maatiusi saw a woman with the edge of her hood folded back and he really thought it was Arnatuinnaq. Being alone, he took her as a companion and talked and made love with her. He felt euphoric...

Members of his family began to be wary. No one understood why Maatiusi was often away at night and yet did not seem to be out hunting. Qalingu now usually went hunting alone, with only his little boy for company.

And Arnatuinnaq always stayed home. In fact, Maatiusi was possessed by a
nuliarsaq.
He no longer seemed to find any pleasure in going home. And his
nuliarsaq,
who was a very pretty girl, had great powers. She could make herself invisible. With her, he was happy, being himself a handsome Inuk. It was like having a real wife. He did not even notice her missing navel…

Maatiusi was unaware that he had changed, but those close to him, his camp mates, could see he was not doing well at all, even though they did not know why. His way of life was not the same as before. He seldom talked anymore, had become closed-minded, and avoided the company of other Inuit while still eating and working with them. He sometimes went hunting but no longer took care of his clothes. He dressed shabbily. Sometimes, his behaviour puzzled his camp mates. They would hear him talking aloud while alone and even making eyes at someone. At times, it looked as if someone was calling him. At other times, he would suddenly take off without warning. At still other times, it looked as if he was fainting... All this was the effect of his
nuliarsaq
,
who was making love to him... People noticed too that his skin was damp. Those who lived with him found that Maatiusi often had a very foul odour...

Qalingu asked Maatiusi, “Are you sick?”

“No, I'm not sick!”

“What's wrong with you? You're living a life that's not like the one you lived before!”

“Not at all. I haven't changed!”

Clearly, he was not going to say anything. Qalingu no longer enjoyed him as a hunting companion and began to think, “Maatiusi must be possessed by a
nuliarsaq
because sometimes he converses with nobody and he smells very bad.”

For her part, Aqiarulaaq was thinking, “All the Inuit feel that Maatiusi is in a bad way. It's probably because he doesn't want to say anything while having bad thoughts due to personal problems. If he doesn't talk, his condition will get even worse. We're his life companions and we should talk to him.”

She decided to approach him.

“Maatiusi, what's with you? Maybe you have a relationship with a
nuliarsaq
.
Could that be it?”

“No, not at all!”

Because he did not want to talk, the questioning led nowhere, and his condition only got worse.

Aqiarulaaq went to speak to Sanaaq. “
Qatannguuk!
Maatiusi clearly isn't saying a thing. Please, would you like to try and question him some time?”

“Maybe if I were alone with him,” answered Sanaaq, “I could get him to talk. Couldn't I, cousin?”

So Sanaaq questioned him.

“Maatiusi, I'm going to talk to you because your condition is getting worse. You no longer appear to be the same person. You've got a
nuliarsaq!
You sometimes give off a
nuliarsaq
odour. If you stay that way, you'll go to
kappianartuvik!
”

Maatiusi was overcome with sorrow on hearing this from Sanaaq, but his
nuliarsaq
forbade him to talk and continually reminded him of this. Yet he very much wanted to talk to Sanaaq. Because his
nuliarsaq
feared he would, she tried to frighten him with a large knife and lashed him with a whip.

“I'll kill you!” she repeated again and again. “As soon as you talk, I'll kill you. I'll no longer have you as a husband!”

So, he did not say anything, fearing that he would be killed if he did so. Although he almost confessed to Sanaaq, he stopped himself, believing his
nuliarsaq.
She had worked hard to make him fear greatly the consequences of a confession. He had several reasons for saying nothing: the fear of punishment and also his deep fondness for his
nuliarsaq
.

“He hasn't talked yet,
qatannguuk!
” reported Sanaaq
to her cousin. “He seems to fear the consequences of confessing. He's probably under someone's influence!”

His
nuliarsaq
was very grateful to him for not talking. She visited him more and more and Maatiusi became even more possessed. His sense of reason was almost gone and, whenever he left for the night, people were afraid he would lose his way. His camp mates were increasingly worried.

Arnatuinnaq's baby was growing and Qumaq and Aanikallak were back.

“It's really nice to have them back, our two absent girls!” said Aqiarulaaq.

Qumaq loved the baby as soon as she saw her.

“Little cousin
Ai
!
You're so tiny. I'm going to take good care of you!”

And she recounted to her mother everything that had happened since her departure.

“
Anaanak!
I saw big houses for the first time. They were very beautiful. And cars, many of them too. And lights that often lit themselves. And stores, statues, plenty of things… Ships too. There are very many
Qallunaat.
Even at night, they don't stop. And there are animals that produce milk, and many other things. Over there we learned a lot at school. We were treated well all the time. We never went out. Sometimes it wasn't nice. It was very tiring. All the time we were made to sleep during the day so that we would get cured. Finally, because we were both cured, I and Aanikallak, we came back by plane. What happiness! The nurses loved us a lot!”

“Thank you so much, Qumaq,
for being cured! The chief factor will be leaving very soon, even though he's liked so much by Arnatuinnaq and by all of the Inuit. He'll be leaving next week. Ever since she found out, Arnatuinnaq has been distraught because her lover will be going. Another person will surely take his place, but that one, the chief factor who'll be leaving, is the one she loves the most.”

Maatiusi was often home and made only short visits with no real thought of working. He was very absent-minded, talked rarely, and disliked being with the Inuit.

Sanaaq loved her
nuakuluk,
who was at the stage of beginning to chew. She gave her fish to eat. And Qalingu often went fishing.

On the day that the chief factor departed on a big boat, his replacement arrived. Everyone was sad. Arnatuinnaq cried. The chief factor left a few little things behind for everyone, but his baby and Arnatuinnaq received more than the others. Arnatuinnaq was sad and thought again and again, “My handsome lover is going away. There'll never be a man as kind as him, and I no longer even enjoy staying home. I always feel like crying! He'll probably never come back!”

The new chief factor was often engaged in trade and the Inuit felt intimidated by him. He too found Arnatuinnaq to his liking and tried to seduce her, but Arnatuinnaq detested the man. She could not love her friend's replacement. She thought constantly about the first one.

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