the load and rode off. Toozak was in the leadâ laughing victoriously and looking back at his wifeâs father. Suddenly he stopped laughing. A whiskey cask was lying under a coil of line on Kakinnaaqâs sled. He halted the dogs. Walking back to his father-in-lawâs sledâ he grabbed the box and threw it off the sled.
âWhat are you doing?â Kakinnaaq shoutedâ jumping off his sled to pick up the whiskey cask.
âYou know itâs poison. You canât hunt when you drink!â Toozakâs eyes misted as he realized what heâd done. He had spoken disrespectfully to an elderâ an evil thing.
âYouâre rightââ Kakinnaaq said gruffly to Toozakâ and got back on the rear of his sled. He placed the cask on the snow.
âKiitaâ kiita.â
The dogs started off again.
Toozak wondered if the curse from his boyhood was finally catching up with him. The world was changingâthe whales becoming fewer and fewerâ the walrus disappearing. Yankees would trade whiskey to locals for furs and information about the whereabouts of whales. Then they would hunt the whalesâ taking only the baleen and leaving the rest of the animal to rot. And the hunters who drank wouldnât care. Toozak knew that alcohol must be an evil thing if it allowed people simply to stop caring about the land and the animals. Soonâ there wouldnât be any whales left at allâ and who would be around to care?
Toozak knew that he would always care. It was his missionâhis destinyâto protect Siku from harm.
F
or two generationsâ the number of bowhead whales
in the Arctic Ocean remained very small. Although Siku was spotted once by an Eskimo whaler in 1885â no one had seen him since. From time to time over the yearsâ Toozakâs grandsonâ Toozak IIIâ and his grandsonâs sonâ Toozak IVâ paddled out in the ocean to look for Siku and then paddled back unrewarded.
Toozak IV made his home in Wainwrightâ an Inupiat Eskimo village, that was a center for whaling. Like many Eskimosâ the Toozaks had begun to wonder about the powers of shamansâ but they each told their sons of the curse and the promise to protect Siku. Theirs was a history book handed down by voice. They had no written language. Toozak IV had come to Wainwright for work and because he still believed Siku was alive and that he must protect him.
When Toozak IVâs wifeâ Lilaaqâ gave birth to Charlie Toozak Vâ the market for bowhead baleen had vanishedâ and Yankee whaling abruptly ended. Yankees were no longer sailing the Arctic waters to hunt the whale. Only the fur traders remained. They had married Eskimo women and stayed on in the Arctic operating the fur trading postsâ and fishing and hunting for their families.
Then Wainwrighters reported sighting an increasing number of whales swimming by their village. They were thrilled. A whale would help feed many townsfolk all year. Gathering a whaling crew togetherâ they set up a whale camp fifteen miles out on the sea ice. It consisted of two white canvas tentsâone a sleeping tentâ the other a cooking tentâ and a sealskin boat with willow ribs. They propped the aft end of the boat on a block of ice at the waterâs edge so that they could slide it into the water at a momentâs notice. They watched and waited.
When Toozak III heard about itâ he and his son went out on the sea ice to work for the whaling crew. They cleaned pots and pans and did some cooking. They watched the black water for whales. These two searched for one whale in particularâthe one they had only heard stories ofâ with the mark of the dancing Eskimo on its chin.
Spring passed to summer. One morning Toozak IV was on foot when he saw on the ocean a smoke-belching ship. It had no sailsâ but it moved steadily along and was throwing something into the water. That
âWhat are you doing?â Kakinnaaq shoutedâ jumping off his sled to pick up the whiskey cask.
âYou know itâs poison. You canât hunt when you drink!â Toozakâs eyes misted as he realized what heâd done. He had spoken disrespectfully to an elderâ an evil thing.
âYouâre rightââ Kakinnaaq said gruffly to Toozakâ and got back on the rear of his sled. He placed the cask on the snow.
âKiitaâ kiita.â
The dogs started off again.
Toozak wondered if the curse from his boyhood was finally catching up with him. The world was changingâthe whales becoming fewer and fewerâ the walrus disappearing. Yankees would trade whiskey to locals for furs and information about the whereabouts of whales. Then they would hunt the whalesâ taking only the baleen and leaving the rest of the animal to rot. And the hunters who drank wouldnât care. Toozak knew that alcohol must be an evil thing if it allowed people simply to stop caring about the land and the animals. Soonâ there wouldnât be any whales left at allâ and who would be around to care?
Toozak knew that he would always care. It was his missionâhis destinyâto protect Siku from harm.
F
or two generationsâ the number of bowhead whales
in the Arctic Ocean remained very small. Although Siku was spotted once by an Eskimo whaler in 1885â no one had seen him since. From time to time over the yearsâ Toozakâs grandsonâ Toozak IIIâ and his grandsonâs sonâ Toozak IVâ paddled out in the ocean to look for Siku and then paddled back unrewarded.
Toozak IV made his home in Wainwrightâ an Inupiat Eskimo village, that was a center for whaling. Like many Eskimosâ the Toozaks had begun to wonder about the powers of shamansâ but they each told their sons of the curse and the promise to protect Siku. Theirs was a history book handed down by voice. They had no written language. Toozak IV had come to Wainwright for work and because he still believed Siku was alive and that he must protect him.
When Toozak IVâs wifeâ Lilaaqâ gave birth to Charlie Toozak Vâ the market for bowhead baleen had vanishedâ and Yankee whaling abruptly ended. Yankees were no longer sailing the Arctic waters to hunt the whale. Only the fur traders remained. They had married Eskimo women and stayed on in the Arctic operating the fur trading postsâ and fishing and hunting for their families.
Then Wainwrighters reported sighting an increasing number of whales swimming by their village. They were thrilled. A whale would help feed many townsfolk all year. Gathering a whaling crew togetherâ they set up a whale camp fifteen miles out on the sea ice. It consisted of two white canvas tentsâone a sleeping tentâ the other a cooking tentâ and a sealskin boat with willow ribs. They propped the aft end of the boat on a block of ice at the waterâs edge so that they could slide it into the water at a momentâs notice. They watched and waited.
When Toozak III heard about itâ he and his son went out on the sea ice to work for the whaling crew. They cleaned pots and pans and did some cooking. They watched the black water for whales. These two searched for one whale in particularâthe one they had only heard stories ofâ with the mark of the dancing Eskimo on its chin.
Spring passed to summer. One morning Toozak IV was on foot when he saw on the ocean a smoke-belching ship. It had no sailsâ but it moved steadily along and was throwing something into the water. That
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