their dreams, that they seek dreams as answers to questions they have when they are awake. He says the soul is the same shape as the body but of a more subtle and ethereal nature. (In this, they agree with Aristotle and the ancients. When I try to explain, Itslk hisses at me.) He tells me of the war between the ducks and the ptarmigans, summer and winter, and how his people enact this war during their festivals, tugging a sealskin rope between them to see which side wins.
One day he tells me the story of a young man who lived with his wife by the seashore. He was the best hunter in the village. Plenty of his relatives and his wifeâs relatives came to live with him, and he was happy because he was able to support them all. Presently, strange men came to their country, borne along on the largest canoe the hunter had ever seen. At first, he thought the canoe was an island with three tall trees in the centre, inhabited by bears. But the bears came ashore, and soon he realized his mistake and went to meet them.
The new men cut trees to build their settlements, wooden racks covered the beaches, roofed landing stages stretched like fingers into the sea. They sent out little boats each day (at first they seemed to him like children of the larger ship), and each night the boats returned brimming with cod. They gutted, split and salted the fish and left them on the racks to dry. The hunterwatched from a distance for a while but soon was helping in return for food, bits of metal and trinkets for his wife. The men made free with his wife when she visited, but the hunter did not mind because there was a custom in his land about sharing wives. Though the visitors seemed not to understand the custom and laughed at him and abused his wife.
Soon the hunter wanted to leave, but he found that he and his wife had grown attached to the new way of living. His old tools and weapons were broken or lost. When he needed to replace the new ones, he had to return to the fishing station where the strange men returned every summer. The animals he was used to hunting now failed to show themselves in his dreams. He no longer killed enough to feed his relatives, who began to move away to other villages and hunting grounds.
At last he consulted his cousin, who was a wizard of their people. The cousin said he would have to instruct the young hunter in wizardry so he could rid his country of the bad people. The hunter paid in seal meat, iron nails and a bronze drinking cup he stole from the visitors. The wizard made him stay away from the fishing station one long summer, filling the days with instruction, storytelling and dreaming. Then he bade the young hunter leave the village and spend a period apart, seeking through abstinence and dreams a vision of some tutelary spirit who would guide him further into the mystery of life.
The hunter gathered his belongings, said goodbye to his wife and set out, heading west toward the bare-topped mountains inland. He passed like a ghost among the frozen swamps and snow-choked forests, stalking animals with his bow bent but with no thought of killing, for his purpose was to find wisdom. He went without food, waiting for his vision. Then one nighthe dreamed a white bear, bigger than any bear he had ever seen, walked right past his sleeping place, pausing only to sniff, taking his scent before it moved on. Once the bear glanced back as if to see if he would follow. When the hunter awoke, he found bear tracks next to his bed.
He travelled far beyond his usual hunting grounds, trailing the white bear, which indeed acted like no other bear in his experience, which, like himself, seemed less interested in food than in getting somewhere, as if it had a purpose. Starving, it loped down from the mountains toward the sea and then west again along the endless boreal beaches. Day and night it ran, pausing only now and then to look back and see that the hunter was still following. Keep up now, the bear seemed to say.
One day he tells me the story of a young man who lived with his wife by the seashore. He was the best hunter in the village. Plenty of his relatives and his wifeâs relatives came to live with him, and he was happy because he was able to support them all. Presently, strange men came to their country, borne along on the largest canoe the hunter had ever seen. At first, he thought the canoe was an island with three tall trees in the centre, inhabited by bears. But the bears came ashore, and soon he realized his mistake and went to meet them.
The new men cut trees to build their settlements, wooden racks covered the beaches, roofed landing stages stretched like fingers into the sea. They sent out little boats each day (at first they seemed to him like children of the larger ship), and each night the boats returned brimming with cod. They gutted, split and salted the fish and left them on the racks to dry. The hunterwatched from a distance for a while but soon was helping in return for food, bits of metal and trinkets for his wife. The men made free with his wife when she visited, but the hunter did not mind because there was a custom in his land about sharing wives. Though the visitors seemed not to understand the custom and laughed at him and abused his wife.
Soon the hunter wanted to leave, but he found that he and his wife had grown attached to the new way of living. His old tools and weapons were broken or lost. When he needed to replace the new ones, he had to return to the fishing station where the strange men returned every summer. The animals he was used to hunting now failed to show themselves in his dreams. He no longer killed enough to feed his relatives, who began to move away to other villages and hunting grounds.
At last he consulted his cousin, who was a wizard of their people. The cousin said he would have to instruct the young hunter in wizardry so he could rid his country of the bad people. The hunter paid in seal meat, iron nails and a bronze drinking cup he stole from the visitors. The wizard made him stay away from the fishing station one long summer, filling the days with instruction, storytelling and dreaming. Then he bade the young hunter leave the village and spend a period apart, seeking through abstinence and dreams a vision of some tutelary spirit who would guide him further into the mystery of life.
The hunter gathered his belongings, said goodbye to his wife and set out, heading west toward the bare-topped mountains inland. He passed like a ghost among the frozen swamps and snow-choked forests, stalking animals with his bow bent but with no thought of killing, for his purpose was to find wisdom. He went without food, waiting for his vision. Then one nighthe dreamed a white bear, bigger than any bear he had ever seen, walked right past his sleeping place, pausing only to sniff, taking his scent before it moved on. Once the bear glanced back as if to see if he would follow. When the hunter awoke, he found bear tracks next to his bed.
He travelled far beyond his usual hunting grounds, trailing the white bear, which indeed acted like no other bear in his experience, which, like himself, seemed less interested in food than in getting somewhere, as if it had a purpose. Starving, it loped down from the mountains toward the sea and then west again along the endless boreal beaches. Day and night it ran, pausing only now and then to look back and see that the hunter was still following. Keep up now, the bear seemed to say.
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