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uati, just across from my place!”
    Arnatuinnaq hurried away with the line. When she got to him, she asked, “Did you catch a puttajiaq? I’m late because it took us a while to figure out what you were calling for... Your mother was the first to understand what you were shouting.”
    â€œ Ai! ” replied Jiimialuk. “I’m going to try and get a hold on it. Ai! ”
    â€œYes!” said Arnatuinnaq.
    He was trying to throw the line around the animal. “Ii! ”
    With each throw, the stone at the end hit the surface and threw up a spray of water. Sarvaq! was the sound it made.
    â€œ Ii! I can’t get hold of it! Let’s try one more time... Ii! Got it, it’s mine!” Jiimialukhad lassoed the line around the seal. “It’s a lot fatter than the last one I caught... Let’s go! We’ll haul it away... Or rather I’ll carry it off on my back, ai! I don’t want to scrape its fur off!”
    Back at his tent, Jiimialuk began skinning the animal. He removed its small intestines and cleaned them out to make nikku. Then he strung them out to dry, forming a hose stretching from one side of the tent top to the other. While skinning the animal, he avidly licked the blood that dripped from his fingers. “ Am! Am! ” he said. He cut off a lumbar vertebra and ate all the meat while continuing with his work. “ U! Uu! Is it ever good! Is it ever good! Uu! ”
    He stopped. He had finished eating and his mouth was smeared with blood. He went to rinse the sealskin in the water and also rinsed his hands and mouth. By now the qajaq skins were ready.
    Sanaaq and Aqiarulaaq had completed their work. With night falling, Sanaaq shouted, “Come and help us. We’re done! The skins need to be carried away to the tent with someone on each side.”
    So Sanaaq, Qalingu, Aqiarulaaq, and Jiimialuk started to carry them off, with two people on each side. They were straining.
    â€œ Uuppaa! Uuppaa! Not heavy at all!” said Jiimialuk . “Let’s go that way!”
    They now stopped. They had come to their tent.
    â€œMother ai! ” said Qumaq. “Let’s drink some tea!”
    â€œLet’s have tea!” replied Sanaaq.“Arnatuinnaq! Has any tea been put in the teapot?”
    â€œYes, I put some tea in. Help yourself!”
    â€œGo ahead. Let’s have tea! Where’s my daughter’s cup? There it is down there, on the other side of the trunk... Qumaq! Drink your tea without spilling!”
    â€œOK!”
    â€œ Iii! ”
    â€œShe’s spilled all her tea down the front of her shirt… Is the teapot empty? She’s spilled all her tea!”
    â€œWill we be double-stitching everything tomorrow?” asked Arnatuinnaq . “I’m going out for a short visit.”
    She went to visit Aqiarulaaq, who told her, “ Ai! Arnatuinnaq ai ! Take home some of the meat. Here, take this shoulder.”
    â€œSure!” said Arnatuinnaq. “The sea is very calm. Once we start sewing, we should work as fast as possible, to get it all done in a single day.”
    â€œYou’re right! We’ll try to get up early and do it all in one shot.”
    Arnatuinnaq now went home. She undressed for bed because it was nighttime. Everyone went to bed and drifted off to sleep. Qalingu was snoring loud and hard.
    â€œ Qaa! Qaa! ” This was the sound of his snoring.

7
JIIMIALUK LOSES AN EYE
    They had all planned to wake up early that morning. Around five o’clock, Aqiarulaaq entered the home of her camp mates and said, “My kinfolk! Wake up, it’s high time you got up!”
    â€œYes!” answered Sanaaq. “We’re up!”
    Arnatuinnaq awoke too and dressed after having some tea. They were going to cover Qalingu’s qajaq. For this, Qalingu started cutting the skins to fit the frame. He stretched the utjuk skins over the qajaq with Jiimialuk’s help while the others — the