During the long, dark hours of the winter Kesshoo found many pleasant
things to do at home. He was always busy. He carved a doll for Monnie
out of the ivory tusk of a walrus.
Monnie named the doll Annadore, and she loved it dearly. Koolee dressed
Annadore in fur, with tiny kamiks of sealskin, and Monnie carried her
doll in her hood, just the way Koko's mother carried her baby.
For Menie, his father made dog harnesses out of walrus hide. He made
them just the right size for Nip and Tup.
Menie harnessed the little dogs to his sled. Then he and Monnie would
play sledge journeys. Annadore would sit on the sled all wrapped in
furs, while Menie drove the dogs, and Monnie followed after.
Nip and Tup did not like this play very well, and they didn't always go
where they were told to. Once they dashed right over the igloo and
spilled Annadore off.
Annadore rolled down one side of the igloo, while Nip and Tup galloped
down the other. Annadore was buried in the snow and had to be dug out,
so it was quite a serious accident, you see, but Nip and Tup did not
seem to feel at all responsible about it.
Kesshoo made knives and queer spoons out of bone or ivory for Koolee,
and for himself he made new barbs for his bladder-dart, new bone hooks
for fishlines, and all sorts of things for hunting.
He made salmon spears, and bird darts, and fishlines, and he ornamented
his weapons with little pictures or patterns. He carved two frogs on
the handle of his snow knife, and scratched the picture of a walrus on
the blade.
Sometimes Koolee carved things, too, but most of the time she was busy
making coats or kamiks, or chewing skins to make them soft and fine for
use in the igloo; or to cover the kyaks, or to make their summer tent.
Once during the winter the whole family went thirty miles up the coast
by moonlight to visit Koolee's brother in another village. They went
with the dog sledge, and it took them two days.
They had meat and blubber with them and plenty of warm skins, and when
they got tired, Kesshoo made a snow house for them to rest in. The
twins thought this was the best fun of all.