Little Seal

My brothers and sisters are strong. I am told we traversed the plains, even beyond the horizon where pink converges blue and expands into the great white heavens. I have no memory of this journey, but Grandfather says I have strength in my bones and that bones carry memories, so I am strong too. Most days, Grandmother boils willow bark and qulliq, which heal my lungs. My brother Nanook is growing the fastest; he is getting muscles and often pummels us younger ones to the ground to wrestle and Grandmother yells “get off Little Seal!” I laugh so hard I can’t breathe. That’s what grandmother calls me, Little Seal.

As far back as I can remember, Grandfather sits with me in the warm wood room sipping Grandmother’s tea. He tells me of our journey through the Great Beyond and I see the secrets in the caverns of Grandfather’s face. The wind spins and twirls outside releasing plumes of white dancers into the sky. As he tells me about how the Great Spirit led us here, I dream of summer when the ground awakens and blades of grass shoot triumphantly through the frozen ground. Nanook and my eldest sister Pitsiark took the younger ones fishing by the river. Grandmother never allows me to accompany them because of my lungs – she said the journey here stole my mother’s last breath and almost stole mine as well. I ask Grandfather what drove us from sea. He says this is our journey, that we are here to learn and that Great Spirit will teach us what we need to know. I can hear Pitsiark and Nanook arguing outside as he sees me growing impatient and continues “Great Spirit became lonely so he gave birth to Man and provided him with a home to live in and instructions to help Man thrive on Earth. For many Moons there was harmony on Earth but Man became careless and forgot the laws, so Great Spirit created spirit guides or animals and sent them to Earth to help Man.” But, I say, that doesn’t explain why we left the sea. Grandfather told me he was running out of energy and could not finish the story tonight. He said “visit the river and ask it why we left the sea.”

The next morning when I awoke, I urged Grandmother to let me visit the river. She agreed, as long as Nanook and Pitsiark accompanied me. I sat on my knees by the river bank and closed my eyes and asked the Great River what brought us here? Why did we leave our home by the sea? After a few moments, I looked up to see Nanook and Pitsiark giggling. “Did the River answer you?” Nanook asked. Then Grandfather walked up shaking his head disappointedly, “The River is busy today, you’ll have to find an otter to ask, he’ll have more information.” So I walked along the river bank searching for an otter. Nanook and Pitsiark grew impatient and headed back home without me. I had to find out why we left our home and crossed the tundra, so I continued walking down the river bank until I saw a large otter’s den. When I approached the otter’s den, he looked at me, dove into the frigid water and swam away. I turned around and saw Grandfather standing behind me. Once again, he shook his head disappointedly and said “well, the otter looks busy too, maybe you can come back another day.” I agreed with Grandfather and knew I had to get home before Grandmother grew worried. As I walked home, Grandfather appeared beside me. Then he turned and faced me, with the snow-capped peaks reaching into the sky behind him and the white dancers blowing his hair up high up into the wind, he looked at me kindly but sternly and said “you must tell the story of our people.” Confused, I returned home and told Grandmother, Nanook and Pitsiark of my disappointing venture and that Grandfather told me to go home without him, he would be home later. Pitsiark and Nanook looked at each other puzzled. I laid down on the floor next to the chair where Grandfather sits and awaited his return. When I awoke, Pitsiark told me I’d been sleeping for two days. When I looked over at my Grandfather’s chair, a white fox ran through the room and out the front door. The fox stopped outside, paused to look back at me and ran off into the tundra with the white dancers.