live even if I canât break the curse!
Toozak shudderedâ the shamanâs words still ringing in his ears. âNow leave our village. Take the curse with you.â
Toozak ran right to the center of the village. Thereâ thirty stones were arranged in a circle. They had been placed in this spot for the hunters to pick up every day to make them strong.
I must pick up all of themâ even the heavy one in the middle.
Toozak gritted his teeth.
Smoke was rising from the holes that had been cut into the homes of skin and driftwood much like the shamanâs. The townsfolk were preparing food. Toozak was not thinking of eating. He stepped into the ring of stones and lifted oneâ then the next. At number twenty he fell to his knees. He tried again, straining every muscle and tendon.
âI canâtââ he saidâ and walked slowly homeâ his muscles trembling with exhaustion. Once he was homeâ he told his father and mother what he had done.
âI showed Yankee whalers where some whales were feedingââ he said. âThey killed them. This was a terrible thing to doâ and because of itâ the shaman says I must leave the village and learn from an ancient hunter how to protect Siku.â
His parents held their son.
A family was leaving the island on the difficult crossing to the Siberian mainland in their skin boat. They had room for Toozakâ his dogs and gearâ all the things that he needed for his journey. His parents were distressed at his leavingâ but they agreed that the shaman must be right and so they helped Toozak get ready. They put dog packs on the two dogsâ named Woof and Lik. Toozak filled and strapped onto one pack a bowâ some arrowsâ a seal hookâ fire toolsâ a knifeâ a netâ and a sleeping fur. He also brought his harpoonâ his ice chiselâ and his lance. With these tools he could survive anywhere in the Arctic.
Then Toozak went to his fatherâs ice cellarâ which had been dug into the frozen soil. He climbed down the ladder to the bottom of the bigâ icy room and brought up some frozen fish for himselfâ his dogsâ and other travelers. He was sorry he would not be able to go fishing and replace what he had taken from his parents. His mother helped him fill the other pack with fish and dried food.
He was ready to leave. As he was tying a towline to his kayak from the back of the boatâ his sister ran out of their home. She handed him an exquisite sable that their father had gotten in a trade with Siberian Eskimos for a polar-bear skin. He had given the sable to her. Now she presented it to Toozak and hugged him closely.
âIts spirit will go with youââ she whispered. âIt will make you smart and skilled like the sable.â
Toozak hugged her long and hard. His parents stepped forward to embrace their son. They knew they might never see him again. They all broke down in tears and sobbed. Wiping the tears from his faceâ Toozak stepped into the skin boat. His journey had begun.
Once I am on the Siberian mainlandâ I will paddle north to Naukanâ staying near shore
â he thought.
The dogs will tow me when it is possible; otherwise they will run along the shore and follow me. Sometimes they will ride with me in the kayak. There I will cross to the Diomedes and on to the Inupiat nations to the east in Alaska. Iâll find a village and wait for the sea to freeze. I will make a sled of willows and driftwood to use on the ice and snow.
Eventually I will go on to
Tikigaq
[TEE-key-gak]
(
the village that would one day be called Point Hope).
If I can get there before the sea ice melts and the Yankee whalers arriveâ I will warn Siku. I will protect him as the shaman has willed
.
But how did someone warn a whale away? He would have to ask the elders and hunters.
Suddenly he smiled. Years agoâ when he was at one of the annual trade
Toozak shudderedâ the shamanâs words still ringing in his ears. âNow leave our village. Take the curse with you.â
Toozak ran right to the center of the village. Thereâ thirty stones were arranged in a circle. They had been placed in this spot for the hunters to pick up every day to make them strong.
I must pick up all of themâ even the heavy one in the middle.
Toozak gritted his teeth.
Smoke was rising from the holes that had been cut into the homes of skin and driftwood much like the shamanâs. The townsfolk were preparing food. Toozak was not thinking of eating. He stepped into the ring of stones and lifted oneâ then the next. At number twenty he fell to his knees. He tried again, straining every muscle and tendon.
âI canâtââ he saidâ and walked slowly homeâ his muscles trembling with exhaustion. Once he was homeâ he told his father and mother what he had done.
âI showed Yankee whalers where some whales were feedingââ he said. âThey killed them. This was a terrible thing to doâ and because of itâ the shaman says I must leave the village and learn from an ancient hunter how to protect Siku.â
His parents held their son.
A family was leaving the island on the difficult crossing to the Siberian mainland in their skin boat. They had room for Toozakâ his dogs and gearâ all the things that he needed for his journey. His parents were distressed at his leavingâ but they agreed that the shaman must be right and so they helped Toozak get ready. They put dog packs on the two dogsâ named Woof and Lik. Toozak filled and strapped onto one pack a bowâ some arrowsâ a seal hookâ fire toolsâ a knifeâ a netâ and a sleeping fur. He also brought his harpoonâ his ice chiselâ and his lance. With these tools he could survive anywhere in the Arctic.
Then Toozak went to his fatherâs ice cellarâ which had been dug into the frozen soil. He climbed down the ladder to the bottom of the bigâ icy room and brought up some frozen fish for himselfâ his dogsâ and other travelers. He was sorry he would not be able to go fishing and replace what he had taken from his parents. His mother helped him fill the other pack with fish and dried food.
He was ready to leave. As he was tying a towline to his kayak from the back of the boatâ his sister ran out of their home. She handed him an exquisite sable that their father had gotten in a trade with Siberian Eskimos for a polar-bear skin. He had given the sable to her. Now she presented it to Toozak and hugged him closely.
âIts spirit will go with youââ she whispered. âIt will make you smart and skilled like the sable.â
Toozak hugged her long and hard. His parents stepped forward to embrace their son. They knew they might never see him again. They all broke down in tears and sobbed. Wiping the tears from his faceâ Toozak stepped into the skin boat. His journey had begun.
Once I am on the Siberian mainlandâ I will paddle north to Naukanâ staying near shore
â he thought.
The dogs will tow me when it is possible; otherwise they will run along the shore and follow me. Sometimes they will ride with me in the kayak. There I will cross to the Diomedes and on to the Inupiat nations to the east in Alaska. Iâll find a village and wait for the sea to freeze. I will make a sled of willows and driftwood to use on the ice and snow.
Eventually I will go on to
Tikigaq
[TEE-key-gak]
(
the village that would one day be called Point Hope).
If I can get there before the sea ice melts and the Yankee whalers arriveâ I will warn Siku. I will protect him as the shaman has willed
.
But how did someone warn a whale away? He would have to ask the elders and hunters.
Suddenly he smiled. Years agoâ when he was at one of the annual trade
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