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“They are here,” states Tuk’s grandfather, as he pauses in his work. The Inuit elder has dreamed of the arrival of a great umiak, a boat so large that it could hold many families, one that is made entirely of wood. Out in the bay, now becoming navigable with the arrival of spring, appears a boat crested by two upthrust spears, like the tusk of the narwhal, from which flap the white skins that, grandfather says, carry the boat on the wind.
Excited, Tuk runs to find alert the camp, and eagerly joins his father and grandfather on the beach to greet the Qallunaat who come ashore, despite the worried disapproval of his mother. The strangers are tall and thin and strangely dressed. They have faces covered in fur and smell bad. Though Arvik, Tuk’s father, has travelled widely and speaks many dialects, he struggles to communicate with them.
It seems to Tuk that the Qallunaat are just as nervous about his people as the Inuit hunters are about them, but grandfather has said that these strangers will need their help, and that aboard their great wooden boat they have many useful things to trade. When one of the Qallunaat notices Tuk, he smiles and offers the boy a gift, a knife with a wooden handle and a metal blade. Tuk is thrilled with the knife, though he remains apprehensive about the presence of the strangers, particularly when his friend Samik explains that his father fears they will attack the camp and take over their hunting territories.
It soon becomes clear that the Qallunaat want the Inuits’ help to hunt the bowhead whale, and that they are prepared to trade metal kettles, knifes, sewing needles and other useful items for this assistance. Whale hunting is very dangerous, since the great whale are strong and can easily sink the flimsy boats of the hunters, killing all aboard, but the chance to trade for metal objects is too good to pass up. So Tuk, his father Amrik, and two other Inuit hunters join the Qallunaat on a whale-hunting adventure that will become the stuff of legend.
Based on author Raquel Rivera’s readings about first contact between the Inuit and European whalers, Tuk and the Whale is set in the 16th century. It celebrates the strength of Inuit culture and traditions, while exploring the beginnings of what would bring great change to the people of Canada’s North. Rivera’s depiction of Inuit life is both fascinating and inspiring. Tuk, his little sister Unat, their father, Amrik, and their wise and farseeing grandfather come to life through her story.
FernFolio Editor