Elder Share, Thomas Pungalik

This is part of a series of stories shared by Elders from the NANA region. These are excerpts from their conversations with Hilda Narvauġauraq Haas, translated from Iñupiaq. My name is Thomas Pungalik. I am 82 now. I have lived in Noorvik all my life. My dad (aapa) was Jack Pungalik. My mom (aaka) was Cora Kaummuaq Coffin Pungalik. She grew up in Kobuk. My aapa was an orphan and when he small, he moved from family to family. He and my aaka had 18 children. I am number 16. People settled in Noorvik because the fish and wood were plentiful. I was born here in this house (#4), the fourth house in town, built in 1914. The stories I am about to tell are true. There was a boy whose shoulders were hoary marmot and his bottom half was beaver. He lived on a mountain where he could watch for other shaman (aŋatkuq). Two young men from the Upper Kobuk went looking for aŋatkuq. First they traveled by kayak, then they climbed the mountain where the hoary marmot lived. At the top, the men ate and fell asleep. One of them woke and saw that the other had been eaten by the hoary marmot and beaver. The man ran to the water, got in his kayak and traveled swiftly down the river. He stopped at an old lady’s cabin and told her he had been followed by the shaman’s watchdogs. She told him not to be afraid and to sleep. After he rested, she told him to not stop until he got home. The man told his friends about what had happened. He tried and tried, but he could not sleep. After two nights, the man died. This is a true story. I will tell another story. An old lady lived here (in Noorvik). She told us stories. She told us, shamans ruled, before anyone had heard God’s word. This was years ago. When she was young, her best friend (uumaa) took a young man as her husband. When the berries were ripe, they went out picking. The young wife vanished. Her husband looked and looked for her. When he finally found her, a year later, she told him she had been living in heaven where there was no suffering. She wanted to go back. So she died again and went back to heaven. Her name was Kadesh. I will tell you another story. This one is very short. A long time ago, five men went caribou hunting on the Upper Kobuk. They climbed a hill where, there had once been an avalanche. Only two had survived. The men put on snowshoes and climbed uphill, where the snow slides. When the snow started to go, the men went with it. When the snow takes you, you are supposed to shout out loud. You can stop moving snow by shouting. When one of the men yelled, the avalanche stopped. This is what I want people to know. This is what I heard.