[Paddlewise] A story

On the western coast of Ungava Bay the dwarf shrubs, ancient and gnarled
like old men, grow huddled in the hollows between the rocks.  Here the great
western wind rules with an iron hand striking down anything with the
audacity to rise too high. The plants have learned the lesson and are not
deceived by a calm.  For days the wind will rest over an oily sea and then,
with a smell of distant shores, a whisper of breath, and it begins to swell
with power.  Sweeping the sea birds in its path, crashing upon the mud flats
turning the sea to a dull, silt  brown  and tossing great rotting rows of
seaweed over the rocks and into the cracks where they bake in the long
summer days, the western wind rules over all in its path.

I am told this is a true story by the men who live there.


The people of Ungava live a harsh life always on the edge of starvation. No
man knows where the seals go when they leave or why and so, the hunters must
follow in their kayaks. Sometimes they travel great distances. From
childhood the men learn to paddle. All of the hunters of  Ungava were
skilled paddlers and all could roll their kayaks when an accident befell
them. All, that is, except Tuktosook. Tuktosook could not abide his head
under water and all attempts to teach him to roll failed. He was a great
amusement to the other hunters. Sometimes his friends would sneak up behind
him and capsize his kayak but Tuktosook would bail out and hold on to the
boat until rescued cold and shivering. Always he had a great smile on his
face as if he enjoyed the game but never would he try to roll. As he grew
older and stronger he tired of the game and would simply stay far enough
away to avoid being dumped. His father ridiculed him for not learning to
roll but that did no good for Tuktosook just went about his business.
Eventually his father gave up.

"Someday you will drown Tuktosook. Then you will wish you had learned to
roll". his father said.

Even though Tuktosook  could not roll he was a strong and wise paddler.
Better than his friends he could read the sky and smell the  western wind
long before anyone else knew of the coming danger.  When Tuktosook smelled
the wind he stayed ashore and when other hunters came back from the hunt
with tales of narrow escapes Tuktosook would have nothing to say. Many
considered him a dull man and the girls laughed behind his back because he
had no tales to tell and would sometimes stay ashore with the women when the
other men went hunting.  They said he lacked courage. Sometimes not all the
men would return and those who did told tales of capsizes and daring rescues
and the women would weep over lost husbands and marvel over the skills and
bravery of those who survived.

One day Tuktosook smelled something in the wind and warned his father and
brothers not to go hunting. But the sea was glassy smooth and they laughed
at him and called him "old woman". Tuktosook ran from hunter to hunter
urging them not to go telling them that the western wind was coming and that
he carried great power. "Tuktosook, you are a coward. We must hunt. Our
children cry out for food."

Tuktosook told them to wait that they could always hunt another day but to
no avail. The men paddled out upon the smooth, innocent rolling sea in
search of seals.

When the storm came it showed no mercy and many days passed and the rocks
were coated with rotting sea weed far up from the water's edge. Everyday the
women scanned the horizon and wept searching for even the smallest dot or a
single flash of a paddle. None appeared.

When the storm abated Tuktosook went hunting. He returned with a fat seal
and the starving people ate  but no other hunter ever returned.


Cheers,

John Winters
Redwing Designs
Web site address, http://home.ican.net/~735769

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