The thunder and the lightning were children of the same parents, two poor orphans, who had no relatives at all. They once lived on Netsilik land, but when the people crossed a river in search of caribou, these two were left behind to die of hunger. No one felt kindness towards them. They were only a burden.
Then why did they go up to the sky? Well, it has been said that evil actions populate the sky, but that does not mean that those who go up into the sky are the evil ones. It may be that others make life impossible and intolerable for those who should live on earth. Revenge often comes in a strange and inconceivable manner.
The two poor orphans who were to die of hunger went to a garbage heap to see if they could find something that had been forgotten by the people who had abandoned them. One of them found a firestone and the other a stump of caribou skin, and with these things in their hands they cried to each other:
“What shall we be?” “Thunder and lightning!”
At that time neither of them knew what thunder and lightning were; but suddenly they rose into the sky and one struck sparks with the firestone, while the other drummed on the dried caribou skin until the heavens roared. For the first time it thundered and lightning shot over the earth. The two hovered over the village where the people were that had wanted them to starve to death. They killed them, people and dogs, simply by rushing across the sky over their tents.
Those who found them later wondered how they had died, for they were not changed at all and had no wounds; only their eyes were bloodshot with terror. But when people touched them they fell into ashes.
In the very first times there was no light on earth. Everything was in darkness, the lands could not be seen, the animals could not be seen. And still, both people and animals lived on the earth, but there was no difference between them. They lived promiscuously: a person could become an animal, and an animal could become a human being. There were wolves, bears, and foxes but as soon as they turned into humans they were all the same. They may have had different habits, but all spoke the same tongue, lived in the same kind of house, and spoke and hunted in the same way.
That is the way they lived here on earth in the very earliest times, times that no one can understand now. That was the time when magic words were made. A word spoken by chance would suddenly become powerful, and what people wanted to happen could happen, and nobody could explain how it was.
The greatest peril of life lies in the fact that human food consists entirely of souls. All the creatures that we have to kill and eat, all those that we have to strike down and destroy to make clothes for ourselves, have souls, like we have, souls that do not perish with the body, and which must therefore be propitiated lest they should revenge themselves on us for taking away their bodies.
There was, once upon a time, a man whose name was Papik; he used to go seal-catching with his brother-in-law, Ailaq. But it happened with these two that Ailaq always brought home seals, while Papik always returned empty-handed. Each day Papik’s envy grew.
Then one day Ailaq did not come back and Papik had no explanation for Ailaq’s whereabouts when he returned home.
At last, late in the evening, Ailaq’s mother rose and spoke. “You have killed Ailaq!”
“No! I did not kill him,” replied Papik.
“You have killed Ailaq!” she repeated, with raised voice.
“No! I did not kill him.”
Then the old woman stood up and called out, “You have kept the murder secret. The day will come when I will eat you alive; for it was you who killed Ailaq!”
The old woman then prepared herself to die; for it was as a revenant that she meant to avenge Ailaq. She drew her bearskin rug over herself and sat down on the beach near the tideway and let the flood rise over her.
For a long time after that, Papik did not go hunting, for he was afraid of the old woman’s threat; but eventually he forgot about it and went seal hunting as usual.
One morning, two men stood on the ice by the side of a seal’s breathing hole; a little way off, Papik had selected a place by himself. And then it happened: they heard a crackling in the snow, in Papik’s direction, and a fog fell over the ice. Soon they heard the shrieks of a terrified man. A monster had attacked Papik.
The evil spirit then came into view on the ice; they could only see its ears over the hummocks of ice as it crept along the bottom of the ice-hill. The spirit had taken the form of a bear. When it got up to the houses, not a single dog barked and not one dared to attack the spirit, for it was not a real bear.
But an old woman of the village spoke to the dogs, “See, your cousin has come; bark at him!” This released the dogs from their enchantment and they surrounded the bear. The men harpooned it.
But when they came to flay and cut up the bear, they recognized the old woman’s rug in its skin; its bones were human bones.
The sledges then drove out to fetch the belongings they had left on the ice. When they discovered Papik, he was torn all to pieces. His eyes, his nose, his ears, his mouth, and his vitals were all torn away, and he had been scalped.
And that is how the old woman avenged her son, Ailaq.
As our fathers used to say: When anyone kills a fellow creature without reason, a monster will attack him, frighten him to death, and not leave a limb of his corpse whole.
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thunder & lightning.
Date: 2024-01-29 07:29 pm (UTC)Then why did they go up to the sky? Well, it has been said that evil actions populate the sky, but that does not mean that those who go up into the sky are the evil ones. It may be that others make life impossible and intolerable for those who should live on earth. Revenge often comes in a strange and inconceivable manner.
The two poor orphans who were to die of hunger went to a garbage heap to see if they could find something that had been forgotten by the people who had abandoned them. One of them found a firestone and the other a stump of caribou skin, and with these things in their hands they cried to each other:
“What shall we be?”
“Thunder and lightning!”
At that time neither of them knew what thunder and lightning were; but suddenly they rose into the sky and one struck sparks with the firestone, while the other drummed on the dried caribou skin until the heavens roared. For the first time it thundered and lightning shot over the earth. The two hovered over the village where the people were that had wanted them to starve to death. They killed them, people and dogs, simply by rushing across the sky over their tents.
Those who found them later wondered how they had died, for they were not changed at all and had no wounds; only their eyes were bloodshot with terror. But when people touched them they fell into ashes.
in the beginning.
Date: 2024-01-29 07:35 pm (UTC)That is the way they lived here on earth in the very earliest times, times that no one can understand now. That was the time when magic words were made. A word spoken by chance would suddenly become powerful, and what people wanted to happen could happen, and nobody could explain how it was.
cosequences.
Date: 2024-01-29 07:39 pm (UTC)papik.
Date: 2024-01-29 07:45 pm (UTC)Then one day Ailaq did not come back and Papik had no explanation for Ailaq’s whereabouts when he returned home.
At last, late in the evening, Ailaq’s mother rose and spoke. “You have killed Ailaq!”
“No! I did not kill him,” replied Papik.
“You have killed Ailaq!” she repeated, with raised voice.
“No! I did not kill him.”
Then the old woman stood up and called out, “You have kept the murder secret. The day will come when I will eat you alive; for it was you who killed Ailaq!”
The old woman then prepared herself to die; for it was as a revenant that she meant to avenge Ailaq. She drew her bearskin rug over herself and sat down on the beach near the tideway and let the flood rise over her.
For a long time after that, Papik did not go hunting, for he was afraid of the old woman’s threat; but eventually he forgot about it and went seal hunting as usual.
One morning, two men stood on the ice by the side of a seal’s breathing hole; a little way off, Papik had selected a place by himself. And then it happened: they heard a crackling in the snow, in Papik’s direction, and a fog fell over the ice. Soon they heard the shrieks of a terrified man. A monster had attacked Papik.
The evil spirit then came into view on the ice; they could only see its ears over the hummocks of ice as it crept along the bottom of the ice-hill. The spirit had taken the form of a bear. When it got up to the houses, not a single dog barked and not one dared to attack the spirit, for it was not a real bear.
But an old woman of the village spoke to the dogs, “See, your cousin has come; bark at him!” This released the dogs from their enchantment and they surrounded the bear. The men harpooned it.
But when they came to flay and cut up the bear, they recognized the old woman’s rug in its skin; its bones were human bones.
The sledges then drove out to fetch the belongings they had left on the ice. When they
discovered Papik, he was torn all to pieces. His eyes, his nose, his ears, his mouth, and his vitals were all torn away, and he had been scalped.
And that is how the old woman avenged her son, Ailaq.
As our fathers used to say: When anyone kills a fellow creature without reason, a monster will attack him, frighten him to death, and not leave a limb of his corpse whole.