Nunani: The likeness of a big person (Part two)

RACHEL QITSUALIK

The hunter was sure that he had never been here before, and he was hoping that his exploration would pay off.

Having had no luck in his usual hunting areas, he was wondering if there were animals to find here. With little other than a backward glance at his kayak, he began to wander inland.

Soon he found himself cresting oddly scalloped hills spattered with the dazzling hues of numerous lichens and berry patches. Winding around boulders of enormous size, he at last came to a stream, where there stood a single bull caribou. It was a massive beast, much larger than he was used to, and it seemed healthy enough for eating.

With a couple of well-placed arrows, the caribou was downed, and the hunter eagerly ran over to it, brandishing his knife.

But he paused when he neared the carcass. There was an odd thing: water was forming around the caribou. As he watched, hair rising on his neck, the water spread outward. In less than a minute, it formed a clear pool with the beast at its centre. It stopped spreading.

The hunter eventually overcame his fear and stooped to examine the water. He dipped a finger in it, tasted it, and found it remarkably pleasant. He sat staring at it and wondering for a moment, then muttered,

“Why not?”

He drank his fill.

After his drink, he found that the water had heightened his alertness. He felt crisp, refreshed. This was why he so quickly noticed the odd sounds. Pausing to listen, he became aware that he was hearing something like pounding noises, as of heavy objects being dropped.

They had begun as the faintest of noises, but they were getting louder with every passing second. The hunter waited, wondering if they would relent, but they only increased in intensity, until the stone under the hunter’s knees began to subtly vibrate. It was then that the hunter realized that the sounds had not been getting louder – they had been getting nearer.

The hunter began to rise, backing away from the water, but it was too late. Looking up, he could see the heads of two inukpasugjuuk (giants) cresting a nearby hill. More of their massive forms became visible as they approached, two great pairs of eyes set in two great skulls glaring balefully at the hunter. As they strode, they covered as much distance as a fast man might cover at a full-out run.

The hunter screamed at the sight of them, and fled toward his kayak. He had never moved faster in his entire life, but still he could hear those great feet pounding the earth as they pursued him. Luck was with him, and he actually reached his kayak before the giants were upon him. He paddled away from the shore, and was just beginning to feel some sense of relief, when he turned to look back.

The water had not slowed the giants. Instead, they had merely waded out, and now loomed over the little man in his kayak. Monstrous hands reached down and seized the kayak’s stern, pulling it back, turning it around.

In a moment, a giant held each end of the kayak, and lifted it — hunter and all — out of the water. Like two men carrying a kill between them, they strode back inland. Petrified with fear, the hunter shook silently as the inukpasugjuuk took him away.

The hunter was in a daze, and noticed very little as the giants carried him over a long distance, into strange lands. They spoke not at all, and the hunter was unsure of just how much time had elapsed when they finally placed him upon a great boulder, so that he sat at the level of a single giant’s chest.

For the first time, he noticed his surroundings. About him were similarly large boulders, and low-lying, grey hills. He could see little, for the distance was foggy and indistinct.

The giants turned then, and one of them whistled. After moments of silence, there at last came the sounds of many inukpasugjuit feet. Soon, the owners of those feet appeared. Several inukpasugjuit stood up and walked out from behind some of the tallest boulders, while many others lumbered out of the mist.

The hunter was surrounded by entire families of giants.

(Continued in part three.)