The Beothuk Saga Read online

  Everyone ate their fill in order to build up strength for the final stretch of the voyage. After they had eaten, Anin asked Della to sing her Scottish songs while he honoured Woasut with his caresses, his tenderness, showing her the friendship that every member of the clan should show to every other member. When the chief entered the first mother of the Bear Clan, he did so facing her so that she could see him. And when his body shuddered with the fulfilment of his pleasure, Woasut’s face lit up with acknowledgement and pride. There was no need for Anin to continue rocking after he had spent himself, for the Beothuk woman he had encountered on his journey around the world was already satisfied. Happy to have given pleasure, content with the decisions that he had communicated to the other members of the clan, Anin slid under the caribou blanket, but not before he noticed that Robb and Gwenid were coupling in imitation of himself and Woasut, and that Gudruide and Della were lying in each other’s arms, a sign of their friendship and of their clan solidarity. Seeing that the women were no longer jealous warmed the heart of the very first chief of the Bear Clan.

  That night he slept as soundly as a hibernating bear, and his dreams were full of joy and optimism. He dreamed of bounty and peace. He dreamed of expanding the clan, of the creation of new villages in order to take better advantage of the resources of the island. He saw people living again on the coast of the rising sun, where there was plenty of game and berries. He imagined whole villages of happy people living a life of great ease. He saw many children playing with bear cubs. And women and men living together everywhere in harmony and solidarity.

  Gwenid no longer found it humiliating to couple with a former slave. She even took a certain amount of pride in it. She was glad to have assuaged this desire that had been mounting within her for so long: to have satisfied her appetite for pleasure that her senses created in her. She had seen too many women left alone when their husbands travelled to distant lands, who were obliged to seek out slaves when the fire that burned within them threatened to consume them. She was happy not to be among such women. She thought of the bitter conflicts that took place when their wayfaring husbands returned, of the possessiveness to which the women were forced to submit by their egotistical partners. Never again would she live through such scenes. The respect Robb showed her increased her pleasure. She was satisfied with this taste of a different world, a world she could never have imagined before meeting him. A world in which she had to make her own way, but where there was no jealousy, no rights of possession. She thought of the conflicts this new religion would create in her old country, and she was glad she would never have to witness it. And Robb had been so attentive to her needs, so gentle in his caresses. He had learned quickly how to live like a free man, by watching and imitating Anin. She liked him very much in this new role.

  Her arms around Woasut, Gudruide whispered in her ear: “I envy you, yes, but I am not jealous. You are truly the clan mother. But I long for the day when I will couple again.”

  Della was sad. She kissed Woasut, and then began to tell her of her sadness. She did not feel as much of a woman as she would like. She wielded the axe and the spear like a man, she did men’s jobs, and as a result she felt she was less desired by the men.

  “No, I am not jealous of you and Gwenid,” she said. “It is simply that I am sad to find that I am not desired. Only once has Anin looked upon me as a woman. Robb used to treat me like a woman often, but now he no longer looks at me at all. Perhaps I am more man than woman.”

  Woasut held Della in her arms to console her, and Della sobbed like a child, crying softly to herself while the Beothuk gently stroked her strange, red hair. Then she slept.

  20

  Now that they had embarked upon the final phase of his voyage, Anin was no longer trying to discover what the world was like. The very fact that he knew this coast so well proved that he had been travelling around an island. In fact, he had known this since the day he saved Woasut from the Ashwans, but he would have known it by now anyway by the familiarity of these bays and inlets; he had set off towards the region of warmth, and now he was approaching his own village from the region of cold. Being close to Baétha again made him want to paddle faster, but he knew it was dangerous to hurry. He could hardly wait to see his father, his mother, and the other members of his former clan, the clan of Edruh the Otter, so anxious was he to tell them that he was now the chief of the clan of Gashu-Uwith the Bear, his spirit protector. As he paddled, he looked forward to the evening when he would introduce the members of his new clan, his new family, to all his old friends. He would tell the village children about his adventures, and hold his son up to show his father. He would tell them how he had discovered that their world was an island, and he would present his wife to his mother. “This is Woasut, a Beothuk woman from the outside world but who is nonetheless kin to the Addaboutik.” He could already see the curious stares the newcomers would attract, with their pale skin and hair the colour of dried grass.

  For several moons now he had been the centre of his clan, and he had enjoyed the attention. Circling the world in three season-cycles was no small accomplishment, and he knew the status it would give him in the eyes of the Addaboutik community. Thinking of it made his paddle slide ever more smoothly through the cold water.

  Woasut knew that Anin’s people would want to know how her people had lived before they were killed, that they would question her, watch her every movement, and that some of them would not like her as much as they would like the other members of the Bear Clan. She had seen this happen in her own village. She dreaded the moment when she would meet Anin’s parents. She did not know how Anin’s mother would like losing their son. Gudruide wondered how these black-haired, dark-skinned people would respond to someone with her milk-white complexion. How welcome would she and the Scottish slaves be? Perhaps they wouldn’t be welcome at all? Gwenid hoped that there would be young men in the village who would be interested in her body, and that she would be able to feel better about herself. Robb hoped there would be new territories to discover, and new friends who would teach him about this world that he was beginning to like so much.

  As for Della, ever since Woasut had taken her into her arms and comforted her, she had thought of nothing but the warmth of Woasut’s body and the smell of her hair. She longed to have Woasut as a close friend, and wanted nothing more than that the young Beothuk woman would hold her again and bring comfort and solace to her, so that she would no longer feel a neglected woman. Neither Anin nor Robb had shown the slightest interest in her since that first and only time with Anin. But her friendship with Woasut had grown, as had her relationship with Gudruide. She would do anything to preserve these bonds, which had perhaps already gone beyond friendship. She was not concerned about her reception among the people of Baétha. She had encountered many different people, and they had always treated her like a slave, a servant, or an amusement. She was happy now in her new position as a free woman, although the men’s lack of interest in her saddened her greatly. She thought she was pretty enough. Perhaps Woasut or Gudruide would find her attractive some day?

  When the tapatooks rounded a rocky promontory, Anin saw three vessels much like their own in the choppy water. He called out to the occupants, who appeared to be fishing. One of the new tapatooks came towards Anin’s, and its paddlers recognized him immediately. They called out joyfully and waved to the members of the new Bear Clan.

  “There are four paddlers in our tapatook,” the bowman called to Anin. “We will go on ahead and tell the others you have arrived. You are only one sun away from Baétha.”

  Anin raised his hand to stop them.

  “I do not wish to arrive until tomorrow. I need to prepare myself first. Is there a good spot near here where we can set up our last camp before returning to the village?”

  The fishermen told him that there was an island halfway to the village with a mamateek on it. “It is big enough for all of you, and you will be comfortable there this night. There is firewood and dried
fish as well. We will see you tomorrow.”

  The Addaboutik fishermen turned their tapatook about and paddled back to join their companions. A short while later all three tapatooks disappeared from the Bear Clan’s view. The island with the mamateek was where they had said it would be, and the eight members of the Bear Clan landed and prepared to spend a comfortable night in the birchbark dwelling. There were no birch trees on the island, so Anin guessed that the men had brought the bark over from the mainland. He could see the shoreline of the mainland; it was less precipitous, and there were many birch trees, the tree of life to the Addaboutik, growing there.

  The mamateek was easily big enough for twelve people. The floor was covered with evergreen branches and sealskins. A few steps from the entrance there were drying racks, and many halibut were spread out to dry in the sun. Anin told the others that he needed to be alone in order to give thanks to the Creator for protecting the clan and its new chief during his long voyage. He took a caribou blanket and walked to the far end of the small island. The other clan members decided to rest, having nothing else to do but feed the young ones and themselves. They would sleep soundly until sunrise. Robb and Gwenid drifted off “to explore the area,” they said, in the opposite direction from the one Anin had taken. Gudruide sat down with her child in her lap, gazing peacefully at the mainland opposite.

  Inside the mamateek, Woasut had finished nursing Buh-Bosha-Yesh and the child was already sound asleep on his wooden board. He would eat some mashed fish later. Della had been watching Woasut closely the whole time. When Woasut lowered the board so that the child would sleep more comfortably, Della asked her if she could lie down in her arms. Woasut smiled, and the Scotswoman slid over to join her. She removed her upper garment and nestled against Woasut, who was also naked from the waist up. Body against body, the two women lay quietly in each other’s arms for a long while. Then Della looked into Woasut’s eyes.

  “I want you,” she said.

  Woasut, though taken aback by this abrupt approach, did not respond negatively. The young slave raised her face towards Woasut’s and touched Woasut’s lips with her own. Softly, she kissed her chin, her cheeks, her forehead, and the dark skin of her neck and shoulders. Woasut felt a tingling spread through her body. Taking the initiative, she kissed the young Scotswoman fully on the lips and rubbed herself against her chest. Then, clasped in a fiery embrace, the two women rolled together on the soft floor of the mamateek. For the first time in Beothuk and Addaboutik memory, two women loved each other passionately and yet tenderly. Let it be recorded that on the last night of Anin the Initiate’s voyage around the world, two women of the Bear Clan expressed their feelings for one another without reserve, convinced that they were but strengthening the bonds of the clan. When Gudruide entered the mamateek she found them sleeping on the sealskin blankets, still clasped in each other’s arms. She smiled, certain now that the clan was united, and that its members had learned to live together without the smallest cloud of jealousy to darken its future.

  21

  The clan was awake by sunrise the next morning. Anin had already performed his duties as chief by preparing all the members for their meeting with the villagers of Baétha. He advised the four pale-skinned members to speak as little as possible for the first few days, and not to show impatience with the villagers who would certainly want to touch them.

  “It may be irritating to you,” he told them, “but that is what happens to people who are different.”

  He also suggested that they not remove their clothes when bathing, since the hair around their sexual organs would be sure to cause much laughter and derision, which would be even more difficult to tolerate. Robb, in particular, whose chest was completely covered with red hair, should keep his upper garment on at all times, at least until he was better known to the village. “When our stories have been told and accepted,” said Anin, “the time for ridicule and joking will pass. Then my people will show nothing more than genuine curiosity towards you, a healthy desire simply to get to know you better.” He counselled Gwenid to exercise a certain amount of restraint when among the villagers, especially the men. She could smile at them in a friendly manner, but she must keep her true nature hidden, because the young men of the village were not prepared for someone of her impetuous temperament. Gwenid must be careful not to provoke them. In a village, he said, the first impression the villagers form of someone quickly becomes the truth about that person. A bad reputation could cost a life. The Addaboutik do not tolerate dishonour. One of Anin’s uncles had taken his own life when he had been caught telling a lie. Gudruide, he added, must tell the truth about her past. That was the only way that her fatherless child would be accepted. If the father was dead, the daughter would be received even though she was different from the others. Then he turned to Della.

  “You will have no trouble being accepted,” he told her, “since you are good at daily tasks and you adapt easily to new situations. You need only remain who you are.”

  To Woasut he suggested covering her skin with red ochre for her arrival, and washing it off later. It would be well, he told her, if at first she was thought to be an Addaboutik. He also recommended placing an ochre mark on Buh-Bosha-Yesh’s forehead, to show the villagers that he was a chief’s son. They would then show him the respect that was his due.

  Anin also covered himself with red ochre, his whole body except for his face. He made an ochre mark on his own forehead to designate that the child was of his lineage. When the grooming was complete and everyone looked fresh and clean, Anin declared them ready to meet the people of Baétha. The tapatooks were placed in the water, but this time Woasut and Buh-Bosha-Yesh took their places in the large tapatook, with Gudruide in the bow and Anin in the stern. Della and Gwenid climbed into the second, with Robb paddling in the stern. Then they pushed off from the island. They were still within sight of it when they were met by a dozen tapatooks coming their way, filled with young men and women who had come from the village to greet them and escort them back. The young villagers called out to them, sang songs of welcome, laughed and paddled in circles around the returning voyagers. They looked in astonishment at the foreigners, but no sarcastic remarks or hurtful taunts came from their lips. There was politeness and respect from the start, and Anin was proud of them. Gwenid allowed herself several discreet smiles to those who took an interest in her, showing her white teeth.

  Robb and Della contented themselves with smiling, but kept their eyes on where they were going. Gudruide seemed overwhelmed by all the attention. Woasut looked nervous. Her stomach was tight with anxiety. She felt like a small girl who had been caught doing something wrong and was waiting to be scolded by the clan elder. Her throat was dry and she found it hard to swallow. She wanted to cry, without really knowing why. She was afraid of how Anin’s parents would receive her.

  A large bay opened between two high hills, and the small armada turned into it. When they were between the hills, Gudruide was joyful. “Oh, how this reminds me of my homeland,” she exclaimed. “We call this a fjord. You have a magnificent country, Anin!”

  The passage between the high cliffs narrowed briefly, and then widened out again to form a kind of lake fed at the far end by a river that dropped down to a deep, rich beach. The beaches on either side of this river were crowded with people, and Anin signalled to Robb to leave off paddling before they beached the tapatooks.

  “I am Anin, formerly of the clan of Edruh the Otter,” he called, addressing the people on the shore. “I left here three season-cycles ago to journey around the land, and I have fulfilled my promise not to return until I had done so. On my journey, I met several people from other lands, and I am bringing them back with me to prove that what I have to tell you is the truth. I have returned here to Baétha, my home, to be welcomed by two clans, each on its own side of the river. I am an Addaboutik, and I have formed a third clan: the Clan of the Bear. If I were still of the Edruh Clan, I would land on the right bank of the river. If my mother were
on the left bank and were claiming that for her own clan, that of Appawet the Seal, I would honour her clan and land on the left bank. But I am Anin, chief of the Clan of Gashu-Uwith, and I have no connection with any other clan. I therefore do not know where to land so that I may not offend one clan or the other. I and the other members of my clan will stay in our tapatooks until the village has resolved this dilemma.”

  Anin waited. A whispering arose among the people who had come to welcome him. He had posed the question formerly asked only by the Innu, who came down from the region of cold. On what side of the river should they land so as not to offend the other side? The village of Baétha was formed of two distinct clans, and so it did not have a single chief. The question of diplomacy was raised and had to be debated each time a visitor arrived. If the visitor disembarked on one side of the river and brought difficulties with him, then the other side would withdraw, saying, “He’s your visitor, not ours.” Now the question was posed again, and the visitor this time was a member of the village whose father and mother, each belonging to a different clan, refused to settle the debate.

  While they discussed the issue, several of the escort tapatooks landed on either side of the river. However, three remained in the water with the new arrivals, awaiting the village’s decision before accompanying the members of the Bear Clan to shore. The Addaboutik were well known for their formality, and everyone understood the situation. But never before had one of their own members forced them to resolve this difficulty once and for all. Suddenly a murmur arose from those on the right bank, and a man well advanced in years walked out into the water until it reached his knees.