Long ago, in a village in the Far North, there lived a young man named
Ivango. He was the oldest of the family and had four brothers and a
little sister, eleven or twelve years old.
One clear spring evening, the little girl was playing out on the sand
pit with some other children. They were playing “house,” and on the
beach near them was the huge skull of a whale.
When they had finished making a toy house out of pieces of driftwood,
Ivango’s sister climbed to the top of the whale skull to rest.
No sooner had she sat down, than suddenly the skull began to roll
quickly toward the sea. It moved so fast and the child was so frightened
that she just held on tight and screamed.
All the little ones ran after her, adding their cries to hers, until the
skull plunged into the waves, turned into a whale and, with the little
girl still clinging to his back, swam away out of sight on the gray
ocean.
The children ran out into the water as far as they could, calling to
their little playmate, but soon she was gone from sight. A sad troop of
weeping children ran to Ivango’s igloo, to tell him what had happened.
Ivango and his brothers were in despair, for they loved their sister
very dearly, as indeed did every one in the village.
That very night in the kasga they held a council as how best to find the
little girl and bring her home again.
Ivango called all the shamans or witch-doctors to his house and bade
them sing, hoping that they would sing something about his lost sister,
and where she had been taken; but each one told him a different tale, so
that he soon saw that they knew nothing at all about it. So he sent them
all away again.
Now there was one woman among his neighbors, who was very wise, although
not a sorceress. This woman could sing about many things that no one
else knew, so Ivango sent for her and told her to sing.
After a while she began. She told Ivango and his brothers that the whale
had taken their sister to a far off country. This country, she said, was
guarded by two great cliffs of solid rock, which could open wide apart
and then come together again with a crash like thunder, crushing to
death any living creature daring to venture between.
Ivango asked her what they must do to rescue their sister. She answered,
“You must make a skin boat so swift that it will go faster than the
swiftest bird can fly. When the boat is finished, kill a young seal and
take it with you. When all is ready, I will go with you to tell you what
to do.”
They thanked the woman very much and went to work to make the boat as
soon as it was daylight. They worked as quickly as they could, for they
were very anxious to rescue their sister. When they had finished, they
took the boat down to the shore, and waited for a bird to come along.
Presently they saw a beautiful gray gull with a white breast, sailing
gracefully through the sky. They got into the boat and paddled along as
fast as they could, but the gull was soon far ahead of them and they
could not catch up with it at all. This was a dreadful disappointment,
for it meant a long delay. They came back to land very much discouraged,
but Ivango said, “We must not lose heart so easily. Let us go to work at
once and take more care this time that we are doing our very best. It
does not pay to be in too much of a hurry.”
So they started making another boat, and this time they worked very
carefully, for they must not fail a second time. They made the frame out
of the lightest driftwood and covered it with white whale skin. First
they wet the skin to make it soft, then stretched it over the frame and
tied it in place with rawhide. When the skin dried it became tight over
the frame and was quite water-proof. Ivango, who was a very strong man,
made a paddle for himself from the shoulder-bone of a whale. When they
had finished the second boat, it looked fine and they all felt happy
again; but it had taken many precious days to make.
When all was ready they got into the boat and raced with the first gull
that came along. This time they beat it easily, so they came back to
shore to get their provisions and to kill a baby seal to take with them.
The woman, who was waiting to go along too, told them that they must
watch for a flock of eider ducks and follow them closely. Pretty soon a
flock of eider ducks flew over. The brothers and the woman got quickly
into the boat and paddled off as fast as they could. When the birds sank
to rest, the men would stop paddling and rest, also, or eat. When the
ducks flew, the boat traveled along as swiftly as though it too had
wings. When the ducks slept, the men stopped paddling and also slept,
while the woman kept watch. When the birds rose again to fly, the woman
would awaken the men and take her turn at sleeping.
They traveled this way for many days and nights, until at last they
could hear a faint, rumbling noise like distant thunder. The sound lent
renewed strength to Ivango’s mighty paddle. So powerfully did he wield
it that they went faster than the ducks, who were leading them straight
to their sister.
Nearer and nearer they came to the strange sound, and louder and louder
it grew, until it seemed as though mountains of rock were being hurled
together by the hands of some mighty giant.
Soon they could see two great cliffs drawing swiftly together through
the ocean. They met with a mighty crash that seemed to shake the sea and
sky. Ivango had trouble in keeping the boat upright, so high were the
waves made by the rocks when they came together.
As the boat came nearer, the cliffs slowly drew apart, and some sea
parrots and seals tried to pass through the opening, but the rocks
rushed together and the birds and seals were caught and crushed to
death.
Ivango felt his heart fail within him. Could they ever pass through
alive, or must they all be crushed like the animals and birds? It did
not seem possible that they could ever reach the other side of the
cliffs. Oh! if they only might fly over in the sky like the ducks were
doing! Then they would be safe.
Ivango, however, had not time to think about it. He must act quickly, or
the ducks soon would be out of sight and then they would have no one to
show them the way to their sister. So when the cliffs parted again,
Ivango wielded his mighty paddle and the little boat shot into the
foaming pass. It seemed as though they must be drawn down into the
whirling waters and be drowned, but Ivango gathered his strength into
one mighty effort just as the towering walls started to come together,
and when they met with a deafening roar, Ivango and his little boat were
safe in the quiet waters beyond.
At last they had reached their journey’s end and passed safely through
the great danger. How happy and thankful they were to leave the menacing
rocks behind!
They landed near a sandy cliff and walked carefully behind one another
so as to make only one track in the sand with their mukluks. Their
mukluks are their seal boots. Then they dug a hole in the ground, put
the boat in it and hid.
The next day while Ivango was peeping out of the hole, he saw a man
walking toward the cliff from the opposite direction from which they had
come. When he reached the footprints on the sand, which looked as though
only one person had walked up from the beach, he stopped and examined
them carefully for a long time, then, jumping over, so as not to step on
them, he went his way. After a while the man came back. This time he did
not stop, but jumped over the footprints and went on. On his back he was
carrying a lot of birds.
Now one of Ivango’s brothers was very brave and wanted to jump out to
kill that man and take the birds, but Ivango would not let him.
Soon another man came along, and seeing the track, stopped to examine
it, then jumped over, just as the first man had done. When he came back
with all the birds he could carry, the brave brother could wait no
longer. They were all hungry and tired and wanted the birds for food, so
he sprang out and captured the man and hid him back of the hole, then
they all had those fine birds to eat.
In the morning, being rested and refreshed, Ivango and his brothers got
into their boat and paddled in the direction from which the men had come
walking along the beach.
Soon they saw a village in the center of which stood a large igloo.
Ivango and the brothers felt sure their sister must be there, so Ivango
went to the door of the igloo and entered. Sitting on a big white bear
skin on the floor was his sister, looking very sad and lonely.
When she saw Ivango she sprang up joyously, but quickly put her finger
to her lips, which meant, “Be quiet!” and whispered to Ivango, “O
Brother, you should not have come for me. The whale man is waiting to
kill you!”
She looked terribly frightened, but Ivango comforted her, saying,
“That’s all right, Sister. We came for you and will die if we have to.”
Before long, they heard the whale man coming in. He pretended to be a
kind man and very polite, but Ivango knew better than to believe him.
The whale man could not fool Ivango.
After a little while, the whale man told Ivango to fetch his brothers to
eat supper with them, and the brothers came. The whale man gave them a
good supper with plenty to eat, but they watched carefully, for they
knew that he was just waiting for a chance to do them some harm.
When night came the whale man suggested that they play all sorts of
games. Ivango beat him every time, and he did not seem to like that at
all.
The next morning he took them out to see a big ditch that had been dug
during the night. All the men of the village were bringing logs of wood
and pokes (skin bags) of oil to the ditch.
The whale man called Ivango and told him to look down into the ditch,
and while he was looking gave him a shove. Ivango, taken by surprise,
lost his balance and fell in.
Down went Ivango into the deep dark hole. When he reached the bottom he
stood still and felt the sides of the ditch all about him, until
suddenly his hands came upon a great stone embedded in the earth on one
side of the hole. Digging quickly into the earth with his fingers, he
dragged out the huge stone and found a deep hole in the earth back of
it. Into this hole he crept, pulling the stone into place after him.
Outside, the whale man built a big fire with logs and oil and shoved it
into the pit, thinking that Ivango would be burned up; but Ivango was
safe behind the rock, and the fire never even singed his mukluks. When
the flames had died down and there was nothing left but ashes, he crept
out from his hiding-place and called for some one to let down a rope for
him to climb up by. Soon he saw the rope coming down. It was made of
walrus hide such as is used for lashing boats. Ivango took hold of the
end of the rope and his brothers pulled him out.
The whale man stood there looking much surprised to see him come out
unharmed, and Ivango, springing upon him, hurled him into the pit. Then
turning to the people, Ivango said, “If this man is unkind to you, bring
some more wood and oil and we will burn him up. If he is good to you,
let down the rope again and pull him out after we have gone away.”
“No, no!” they shouted loudly. “We do not want to pull him out. He is
not good to us at all, but very wicked and cruel. Let us burn him up!”
and they all ran to bring more wood and oil, much more than before and
made a great fire themselves and threw it into the pit before Ivango
could stop them.
Ivango and the brothers and their little sister hurried down to the sea,
where the woman was waiting for them with the boat, and started off for
home as fast as they could paddle.
This time they passed through the moving cliffs without fear or trouble,
but no sooner had the cliffs closed together behind them, than a big
white whale rose to the top of the water and pursued them.
Although they could make the boat go as fast as the swiftest bird, the
whale was faster than they and was getting very close. Just as the
monster rose beside them, the woman cut off the right flipper from the
seal they had brought with them and threw it to the whale, which stopped
to eat. This gave them time to get quite far ahead; but after the whale
had finished eating he soon caught up with them. Then the woman threw
out the left flipper. Again the whale stopped to eat, and again caught
up with them, but they were nearly home, so they threw over the rest of
the seal and paddled to shore. When they landed the whale hurried after
them so fast that he swam right up on the beach, where they killed him
and cut him up for meat.
The people of the village crowded about to welcome Ivango and his
brothers and the little lost sister, and they all had a fine feast of
the meat of the whale.
They lived happily after that and Ivango made many presents to the good
woman who had helped them to find their sister, so that she was never
allowed to want for anything all her life long.
When Nugukuk had come to the end of the story, he raised his eyes to the
face of the chief. “And so is the winter shortened,” said Nugukuk
solemnly. For that is the way they bring their story-telling to an end.
After that the father and the little boy and girl came very often to the
kasga and heard different men of the village tell their wonderful tales,
until they had heard all of the following stories. Perhaps next winter
they will go back to hear some more.