Why the Wolf Never Hurts the Raven
By Grace
Hush little one, don’t say a word, I believe you have the wings of a bird…….. dream of silver, dream of gold. Hush little one. Sleep, yes, please sleep.
Anooka sat on the floor cradling her new baby girl, Ravenwing. Ravenwing was four hours old. Her two small brown eyes watched her mother with a sense of wonder and confusion.
Eight Years Later
Ahooo! Alkasa had finally caught a fish. He hoisted it in and threw it in his fish sack and walked home. He greeted his mother Anooka and his two sisters, Tara and Ravenwing. "Hello Mother. Hello sisters, how was the day? See the fish I caught?"
"Aay, son! You must catch more fish! You know what the Qallupilluit will do to your little brother and sisters! Young man, go back out there this instant!"
"But mother" said the poor helpless boy, "I can’t, all the other fish are gone."
Anooka looked at her son with a frown on her face. "Go back out there" she said, "or I shall never let you in this igloo again!"
On his way out, he thought to himself, "I wish Father had not married this insulting woman. She was not even his own mother. His own mother had died after his father had to move where the caribou were having their summer home. Afterwards, when he returned home he said, "Look, I’ve brought you a new mother. Isn’t that great?" Inooka shivered at the thought of it.
Meanwhile, back at the igloo, Inooka’s two sisters, Tara and Ravenwing were having some troubled thoughts of their own. Ravenwing gazed sadly at the hill through her ice window pane. She was not allowed to leave the igloo unless it was to collect herbs and roots. Ravenwing sighed for she missed going out and playing in the snow. She walked over to a fur blanket. It was not just made of polar bear fur, it was made by her mother. Sadly, she turned away. No, her real mother could never pop out of a rug.
Tara, Ravenwing’s older sister lay on her musk-ox bed wondering when Inooka would return. But it was not hunger that made her wish she was with him. No, it was her wish to know that he was safe and sound.Then she heard it, "Noshoo girl, Noshoo girl, where is our food? Where is our water?" Anooka let them in. It was a horrid sight.
"Hello sisters Qallupilluit. How was the fish?" Anooka asked the Qallupilluit.
They looked at her with nasty grins on their faces. "What fish, noshoo girl?"
"Why, the fish I sent you!" said Anooka.
"Oh," said the oldest, "you mean those three quarter eaten nibbles of arctic char we found floating on the surface of the water?"
"Boy!" said Anooka. Inooka poked his head out of the doorway. Annoka frowned, "Where’s the fish?"
"On the table,Mother."
Qallapilluit looked at the table. There sat a pile of delicious looking fish. The Qallupilluit said "So, Noshoo girl, what’s for us and what’s for you?"
"Well, sisters," said Anooka, "I’d say we are equal. How about sixteen out of thirty two for me and sixteen out of thirty two for you?"
"Sounds good," said the Qallupilluit.
Anooka gave a pile of sixteen of the largest Arctic char in a pile for her and a pile of sixteen of the smallest for the Qallupilluit. The Qallupilluit looked at the pile and frowned. Then they began to whisper like crazy. The oldest one picked the largest from Anooka’s pile and whispered something like dish of fish, dish of fish will with bed, will with bed, bed stay there, bed stay there. Then the eldest one said, "Let us feed your children?"
"Alright," said Anooka.
Then they whispered, "Sleep, sleep." Then they waved their finger tips. Instantly, Anooka fell asleep. Instantly, they went to work. First, they tried to catch Ravenwing, but she was too quick and ran. Second, they tried to catch Inooka. But he was too smart and hid under a polar bear skin. Third, they tried to catch Tara, but Tara was not very fast and not very smart. Oh no, they caught her! She struggled to get away. They held her fast, then shoved four bites of fish in her mouth, then they left. Ravenwing ran back in and Inooka peeked out from his hiding place. There, in the middle of the floor lay Tara, motionless as a piece of ice. Ravenwing dashed to her sister’s side then felt her pulse. She was half alive. Tara opened her eyes one slit, then Tara’s eyelids fell over her eyes again. Ravenwing gazed in wonder. She knew Tara was alive but somehow dead.
"Yoshoo girl! We understand." It was the Qallupilluit.
"But they are all gone," said Anooka.
Tara had catlala. A disease that people got from eating lead. Many Inuit die from it. There was one cure, eating mokaw, fish found only in summer. Ravenwing heard them talking and asked, "Why can’t we go south and get them?"
"Foolish child," said the Qallupilluit, "We have no canoe or dog sled. You want to walk south?"
"No." said Ravenwing. Then she said she would never see her sister after this cold time. Then she decided to go for a walk. Three sunrises passed. She did not go back to the igloo. She grew hungry but she still did not go home. Then one day a black bird said "Caw, caw. Why do you not go home?"
Ravenwing said, "Because there is no cure for a disease my sister has."
Then the bird said, "There is a way but you must make a great sacrifice."
"How?" said Ravenwing. "Please tell me."
"Very well," said the bird. "I shall fetch you a cure. In return you must choose an animal. Any animal, but this animal is what you shall be for the rest of your life."
Ravenwing thought very hard. "Very well," she said, "I would rather have wings or paws than a dying sister. Let me be a wolf in the day and a raven in night and I promise that as a wolf I shall never hurt you.
"Thank you," said the Raven.
To this day, the wolf never brings harm to the raven.