Excerpt of The Land of the Midnight Sun: Mother

An eighteen-part series of loose historical fiction based on the Native Americans in Alaska. There is not much resource on their way of life and traditions but what I could find, I turned to something that all should hope to enjoy. The beauty of Alaska and any other country is their people. This book is specifically the fourteenth book but the book that was my original plan. Here's an excerpt. Enjoy!!

CHAPTER 1 : THE LAST TIME

“Tell me about it just one last time, Grandfather? Please?” I asked.

“Have you finished your housework?”

“Yes, Grandfather,” I said, bowing and going to wake up the dozing little sun.

“Alright, my child,” Grandfather Toklo said, heading toward the door. He whistled for my younger sister as I sat down.

“Kirima, come in and listen to the story as well,” Grandfather shouted and then came to sit down on the grass floor across from me. “But after, Atiqtalaaq, you must rest. For tomorrow is an important day for you.

Kirima came in from the Sky’s cold sting and sat down, forming an arrow-like formation on the floor around the now-burning little sun.

Today would be my last day of being a woman with no mate. That would all change tomorrow. I was to be married to Aput, a strong and nice man of 20 winters nearby. I would soon take on the role of a wife, housekeeper and a mother. I would be responsible for the kudlik* of our sprouting family. There would be no more sitting around the little sun, listening to Grandfather’s exciting stories or exploring our land with my siblings.

I knew it was coming. My marriage had been arranged and talked about since the moment I was born and my older brother, Amaqiuaq, got married two summers ago.

I now have lived for sixteen summers— prime for my new life. I have become the butterfly.

“I was only twelve springs old…” started Grandfather.

CHAPTER 2: BEAR LANGUAGE

“I was only twelve springs old when the pale faces came into our territory,” Grandfather said with a little sadness in his voice and eyes. “Everything used to be beautiful and in harmony. Now, they are ruining it. However, Mother Nature fights for herself.”

“I was out spearing for salmon with the other men. I was getting better day by day at catching them. We were heading back to the village and saw other men in the distance. The group wondered who they were and why they were in our territory. The men agreed for me to approach them so I ran over.

‘Who are you and why have you come here?’

“They spoke back, sounding like bears reprising their cubs. I listened to understand their language in a mix of awe and concern but I could not figure out what they were saying. I assumed it was another language of ancestors but then I saw their faces- a frightening pale. I thought innocently, ‘They must surely be sick. We must take them to the chief to see what needs to be done.” I ran back to my men and told them of the pale-faced men speaking strangely. Tulok*, a warrior, came with me to escort them to the chief.

“We entered the chief’s home and waited there for him to tell us how they were. Chief Panuk* checked them, picking through their hair— as light as the sun, as white as the blinding snow, as red as the sunsweet Kikminnaq* and as dark as the bark of the mighty Sitka spruce— and their forest bush and deep ocean eyes. He motioned for them to speak many times and soon, they understood his motions and spoke. We still heard the language of the bears among them. Chief Panuk’s eyes widened with horror.

‘What have you done?’ his voice boomed. ‘You have brought a great curse upon us told long ago. These men you have welcomed will drive you out of your homes and will cause great harm to us and our land.’

“I became afraid and cowered behind the kind yet stone-still warrior. Little did I know that he was also fearful of our fate. Are Tulok and I cursed as well for bringing these men here?"

FOOTNOTES

*Kudlik— a lamp or hearth that was the property and responsibility of the Alaskan natives; symbolic meaning of family

*Tulok-- meaning warrior

*Panuk-- meaning island

*Kikminnaq– the low cranberry