The Beothuk Saga Read online

  17

  As soon as the sun returned they ate a hasty meal and broke camp. They packed everything into small parcels, so that the weight could be evenly distributed in the tapatooks. Then they carried it down to the shore. The tide was at its highest, and so the portage was shorter. They stood about while Anin arranged the packing and determined who would travel in each tapatook. Two new paddles, finished the previous sun and made of birch, would also serve as poles. Anin placed himself in the new tapatook, which was bigger and able to carry more weight, along with the two mothers and their infants. He fastened the children’s carrying boards to the central thwart, back to back. Gudruide took her position in the middle and Woasut climbed into the bow. The larger portion of the baggage was also stowed in this tapatook. The three remaining clan members and the rest of the parcels occupied the smaller tapatook, with Della at the stern, Robb in the bow, and Gwenid balancing them in the middle.

  Both tapatooks set out together, entering the sea from the small brook and rounding several small, rocky islands at its mouth. As soon as they were in open water they felt the force of the wind against the tapatooks, and before they could get their sterns lined up with the wind the smaller of the two craft nearly capsized three times, largely due to the inexperience of its paddlers and to Gwenid’s nervousness at the centre. But once the wind was behind them the tapatooks picked up speed. The shoreline on this windy side of the land was made up of ever higher cliffs. Anin began to recognize some of them as places where his people sometimes came to catch halibut. He knew from this that they were no more than five or six suns from Baétha, and the knowledge made his heart sing with joy as he entered this final stage of his long journey.

  The coast was dangerous, with numerous foaming rocks and offshore reefs to negotiate. Despite the heavy load it carried, Anin’s tapatook was of lighter construction, and he was able to keep the lead. He often turned to see how his three companions were faring, and slowed his rhythm several times to allow them to catch up. When the sun was near its highest, he looked ashore and saw Gashu-Uwith, his head pointing straight up, sniffing the air. This made him feel that something was about to happen, and he decided to turn into a small, rock-strewn bay that was close by. When he twisted to look behind him, he saw that the second tapatook was well back. He shouted to them to hurry, but the wind was blowing towards him and his companions heard nothing. But they had seen Anin’s tapatook turn towards the land, and they knew enough to follow him, despite the risk of being swept onto one of the sharp rocks that filled the bay like so many miniature islands. By the time they saw the huge, dark clouds rolling in above the cliffs, it was too late. The storm broke, the wind whipped at them from all directions, and it became almost impossible for them to control the tapatook. Despite their mightiest efforts, their lack of skill was pushing them directly towards the cluster of jagged rocks.

  Anin, meanwhile, had already entered the small bay and seen a sandy beach at the end of it. He and Woasut doubled their paddle rhythm in order to reach it as quickly as possible. They had just managed to land when the storm broke. They swiftly untied the two children from the thwart, unloaded the packs, and, leaving Gudruide to set up a shelter, relaunched the tapatook and paddled out to help their companions. As soon as they left the shelter of the bay they were hit by a gale that nearly overturned them. By paddling as hard as they could on the leeward side, however, they managed to turn the tapatook into the wind. They could see their three companions clinging to a large rock and trying to keep their heads above water. Their tapatook was still upright, riding on the crest of a huge wave, but it was being pushed by the wind towards the cliffs. Anin and Woasut paddled after the tapatook, intending to save it and return it to the three castaways. Barely managing to avoid the rocks, they finally reached the tapatook, and Woasut held on to it long enough for Anin to attach a cord to its bow. Then they towed it towards their companions, who did not see them until they were almost upon them. At the sight of the great tapatook coming to their rescue, however, they let out great shouts of joy.

  Climbing back into such a slight craft is not easy. Each time they tried, the little tapatook would capsize and the three would be thrown back into the water. Finally, Della, who was more agile and less panicked than the others, managed to pull herself up on the stern of the large tapatook, and Anin gripped her clothing and pulled her aboard. Robb and Gwenid decided to hang on to the sides of the small tapatook while Anin and Woasut towed them towards the shallow bay, again with great difficulty. Once they were sheltered from the fierce wind, it was an easier matter to make it to the small beach, where Gudruide and the children awaited them. When Robb and Gwenid were able to touch bottom, Woasut and Della waded out to help them ashore while Anin secured the two tapatooks, hauling them high up on the sand. Then he, too, came to help the swimmers.

  While Woasut lit a fire to dry their clothing, Anin built a makeshift shelter by leaning the tapatooks together before a small indentation in the cliff face and covering them with caribou skins. The weapons had been tied to the ribs of the small tapatook and had not been lost, but all the small packs and much of their dried and smoked meat had gone down. Fortunately, Della’s axe was still attached to the centre thwart. Gwenid and Robb shivered before the fire, wrapped in caribou blankets, and Gudruide fed the two babies while Woasut helped Anin complete the shelter. Dazed and exhausted, but still showing her bravery and strength of will, Della had not got out of her sodden clothes. When she finally did so, she burst into tears and wept in Woasut’s arms. Woasut did not know what to say to comfort her. Della blamed herself for the accident that almost cost them their lives, including those of Woasut and Anin. They ate very little that night, and no one thought about coupling. Anin did, however, recount to them how he had decided to turn his tapatook towards dry land.

  “When I saw Gashu-Uwith the Bear,” he said, “I knew that there was a place of safety nearby. I also knew that there was a storm approaching. But because it was coming from the direction of sunrise, we could not see it behind the high mountains. We were very lucky that my spirit protector was able to warn us in time.”

  Anin told them how, in the course of his long voyage, the bear had often helped him by showing him the right way, and that once the bear had saved him and Woasut from the Ashwans. Although they might be uncomfortable this night, he said, they must thank their gods for saving their lives.

  18

  The weather had not improved by morning. It was still raining, although the bark baskets they had set out the night before to catch the water were not yet full. They had to lay out a caribou skin to catch enough rainwater to allow them all to drink. There was no spring or river emptying into this bay, and there could be no question of going in search of one. They were camped on a narrow beach at the foot of steep, cliff-like hills. It was not a very comfortable situation, but Anin decided they would stay there until the weather was safer for paddling. He stood on the shore and looked attentively out to sea. The tide was coming in, and in the distance he discerned a strange, white cloud hanging just above the surface of the water. He ran to awaken the others.

  “Get up!” he shouted to them. “The shamut are running!”

  Everyone came hurrying out to see the seasonal phenomenon repeat itself once again. The women from the North knew the season when this small fish threw itself upon the shore to lay its eggs and then die. Every summer they would gather huge quantities of them and spread them on their fields to fertilize the soil. But the season here among the Addaboutik was much earlier. It was still the moon when the seabirds finished laying their eggs. Everyone grabbed baskets and packs, anything with which to collect this new gift from the sea. Anin took his fishing net and met the first wave, and when he returned to shore he was carrying a load of fish, each no thicker than two fingers and about as long as a woman’s hand. Della, Gwenid, and Robb, completely naked, filled their containers, and Anin, Woasut, and Gudruide continued working with the net. They soon had enough fish to eat for several days;
only fresh water would be scarce, if the rain stopped. When they had caught enough caplin, the women rebuilt the fire from the previous night, placed a large, flat rock in its centre, and proceeded to cook and distribute the fish. What a delicacy these small fish were! Anin suggested they cook the rest until they were dry and crusty, so that they would have food for the next few days of their voyage.

  “There are not many more beaches like this one down this coast,” he said. “No telling how often we will be able to stop. This fish is nourishing and will allow us to keep up our paddle rhythm.”

  Cooking was women’s work, so the two men set about examining the short stretch of beach carefully, partly to pass time, partly because it was always important to know as much about their surroundings as possible. The rain increased in intensity. Anin, dressed in a caribou robe and his short dingiam, kept close to the shelter of the cliff and climbed partway up the bluff, while Robb, naked as a worm, remained out on the beach. He was heading towards a large rock when a huge, black bear came out from behind it. Robb ran back to Anin, calling out that they must fetch their weapons to defend themselves against Gashu-Uwith. Anin laughed at him.

  “Gashu-Uwith saved your life yesterday, and today you want to kill him?”

  Robb was surprised. He looked at Anin questioningly.

  “This bear is your spirit protector?” he said.

  Anin gestured to Robb to take a look at the bear. Robb turned and saw that Gashu-Uwith, too, was gathering caplin.

  “You’re certain he isn’t dangerous?” Robb asked.

  The two men returned to the camp. Gudruide was exhausted from her recent childbirth and the long paddle, and would need several suns’ rest before she could continue the journey. She was excused from most of the daily tasks in camp. Anin also suggested that Woasut set floating nets in the bay, to catch more fish.

  One morning, Anin witnessed a scene that was rare among the Addaboutik. Robb came to him.

  “As the clan chief, which woman do you prefer?”

  Anin was surprised by the question. He thought for a long time before answering. Then he looked the Scotsman straight in the eye.

  “As a member of the clan, do you have a preference?”

  Robb hesitated. He had not expected Anin to turn the question back on him. He, too, thought before answering.

  “I like them all,” he said. “They are all good to look at, and I would take any of them.”

  “Well, then,” said Anin. “Ask the one you want most. If she accepts you, you may take her. But if she refuses you, you must not take her. If she decides not to be your coupling partner, then she is a free woman.”

  There was a long period of silence between the two men. Finally it was Robb who broke it.

  “But if there is one that you prefer, I would not ask her. You are the chief, after all.”

  Anin looked at Robb, and Robb could see that he was grateful. Anin was astonished that this stranger had enough respect to know his place in the clan, and also to speak directly about it.

  “I love Woasut very much,” he said. “She is the first woman who gave herself to me, and the first woman I served. But now I am not certain if I ought to consider her mine. She is free to choose whomever she wants. It has been two moons now since she bore her child, and I am the father of that child. But sometimes I feel as though I am the father of the whole clan, and that I could be the father of all the children born to it. My father told me that the chief of the clan must above all ensure that the other members are content, satisfied, and safe. He must establish the life rules and see that harmony reigns among the people. But my father did not tell me which woman I must choose. He did not say if that woman would then belong only to the chief, or if she belonged to the community. He said nothing to me on that subject, and I do not know if a woman belongs to me as my bow and arrows, which I have made with my own hands, belong to me, or if she is like my fishing spear, or my bird net. And even if my bow and arrows belong to me, another man may use them if he has need of them. If you need my spear, I do not see how I could prevent you from using it. And my bird net is for anyone to use who needs to catch a bird so that he may eat. I do not now know if I must consider Woasut as belonging to me alone, or whether she is a free member of the clan.”

  Upon delivering himself of these reflections, Anin lay down and went to sleep, leaving Robb to ponder the meaning of his words – words that did not, to Robb’s thinking, answer the question he had asked. He was even more confused than he had been; Anin had left him free to make his own decision about whether he would couple with Woasut, Della, Gudruide, or Gwenid. He was no further ahead than before, except in his growing desire to have a wife. Finally he, too, ended his reflections by lying down and going to sleep.

  The women, meanwhile, had been holding a similar discussion, and were laughing merrily amongst themselves. They had learned to live together without rivalry. The events of the past few days had reknitted their bonds. Woasut had not hesitated to go with Anin to save Della’s and Gwenid’s lives, which at least proved that she wished them to go on living. Gwenid, who until that moment had been jealous not only of her sister, but also of Della and even Woasut, could no longer admit to that sentiment. She did not want to have Anin all to herself now; trying to entrap him would seem to her to be an act of betrayal against the other women. Gudruide, thinking about the night that Woasut gave birth to her son, was sorry that she had seduced Anin. Della could never forget what Woasut had done for her. The four women talked for a long time about their unusual situation, in which one man was wanted by all of them. As Gudruide explained, in her country men fought over the possession of a single woman, and women were capable of equally barbarous acts to secure the man they loved. She asked Woasut if she still resented what had happened on the night of her childbirth. Woasut smiled and explained that at the time she had felt pain.

  “But according to our tradition, a man must have more than one wife if there are more women in the clan than men.”

  She explained that the laws of her people were not well defined in these matters, and custom was a more useful guide. She also told Gudruide that the most important thing was Anin’s decision. He was chief of the clan, and the other members owed him respect.

  “The worst thing is to see your man coupling with a stranger,” she said. “But when the other woman is a member of the clan, we understand the man’s need, and no longer think only of our own.”

  “If we all wanted to couple with the same man,” said Gwenid, “would the other clan members not feel frustrated?”

  Woasut laughed along with the other two women.

  “That’s why we must not argue among ourselves,” she said. “We will ask Anin to advise us. He will know what we should do.”

  19

  It did not take the women long to repack the parcels. When all the packs were safely stowed in the tapatooks, Anin told Della that she would paddle in the bow of the large tapatook, and Woasut would take the stern of the smaller vessel with Robb in the bow. Woasut’s male child was tied to the centre thwart of the small tapatook, and Gudruide and her female child were settled in the centre of the larger one. The remaining caplin were then evenly divided between the two crews and stowed in the respective tapatooks.

  The weather was promising when they pushed off from the shore of the bay and paddled towards the warmth of Baétha. This time the two tapatooks remained close. Woasut was an experienced stern paddler, and Robb had learned how to manage the bow, and so the rhythm in the smaller craft was smoother and the tapatook went more quickly. Gwenid kept time with songs from her native country, and Robb sang Scottish songs. When it was time to eat, they paddled a short way up a shallow brook to where the water was calm, and ate without getting out of their tapatooks. Then they left the brook and continued working up the coast.

  Their drinking water ran out that evening, and so they were forced to find a freshwater stream where they could make their camp. The sun had barely begun to set when Anin signalled to the
others that he had seen the place where they would spend the night. He had noticed a small waterfall dropping into the sea, close to a strip of land long enough for there to be room to camp as well as to catch more caplin. The tapatooks turned towards it. It was a beautiful spot, and everyone was glad to step onto firm ground. The paddlers’ legs were stiff and their knees ached. It was time to rest. Woasut’s child had been crying for some time, but Woasut had been too busy to answer his repeated demands for her breast, since she did not want to risk falling too far behind Anin.

  Camp was set up quickly by those not attending to the needs of the infants. When Woasut finished nursing her child, Anin took him and held him in his arms for the first time since he had been born. How frail he felt in his tiny clothes! How handsome he will be, thought Anin; his coppery skin had the slightly pinkish tinge of the Addaboutik. He was the first to be born to the Bear Clan, Anin’s clan, the first son of the first Addaboutik to travel completely around the world, or at least around this immense island that they thought of as the world. He would name his son Buh-Bosha-Yesh, the first male. Anin announced the news to the other clan members.

  “Buh-Bosha-Yesh is the name of the first male born to the Bear Clan.”

  Woasut was happy. By bestowing a name, Anin was acknowledging the child as his own. From now on he would not simply be his mother’s child, but Buh-Bosha-Yesh, first son of the Bear Clan, the child among children who lived to protect the members of his new family.

  “Tonight, Anin will couple with Woasut to confirm that she is the first wife of the chief of the Bear Clan and the mother of the first male child born to this new family. But this does not mean that Woasut is a prize, or a possession. She remains a free woman. Anin possesses nothing but his duty to the clan to ensure its welfare. What belongs to Anin also belongs to the clan. And Anin must belong only to the clan, not to any one person.”