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Kuuttaaq River

This is a story about how the Kuuttaaq River got its name.

A long time ago an Inuk hunter was hunting north of Inukjuak. He was hunting where the Kuuttaaq River flows today.

As he was walking along, he saw a giant coming towards him. The man was sure that if the giant saw him, he would be killed. So he decided to pretend that he was frozen stiff and dead.

Soon, the giant found the man who was pretending to be dead. He thought it very strange to find a dead man, lying on the tundra. The giant put his ear close to the man’s mouth to listen and feel for his breath. The giant watched as the man lay there, looking to see his tummy rise as he breathed. Finally, the giant realized that the sun had moved much higher in the sky, so he decided that the man was dead.

The giant picked up the man who was pretending to be dead, and started to carry him home. It was a long way home, and the man grew tired of being carried. The giant trudged along steadily, and the man started to pull at the willow branches to slow the giant down. The added resistance made it harder for the giant, and he grew very tired.

The man, meanwhile, was getting tired of pretending he was frozen stiff and dead. But he did the best he could to stay rigid, so the giant would believe he was dead.

When they arrived at the giant’s cave, the giant leaned the man against the stove to thaw. The giant had two children and a wife. The children were very excited to learn of the family’s good fortune. They could hardly wait to eat the man for dinner. They chanted,

“I want to eat his eyes!
I want to eat his fingertips!”

The giant was tired after carrying home the man who was pretending to be dead. The giant went to have a nap. His wife went to get wood to light the fire, so she could cook the supper.

And so it was that the man leaned, stiff and rigid, against the stove. The giant napped. The children played. The wife searched for wood.

The man wanted to escape. Carefully and slowly, he opened one eye.

Right away, the children shouted, “Ataatak, Ataatak! The man is alive!”

Artist: Thomassie Echalook To which the giant answered, “The man is dead. I watched him so long that while I watched, the sun moved high in the sky. Leave me alone.”

And so everyone returned to what they had been doing. The man leaned against the stove. The giant napped. The children played. The wife searched for wood.

And so the man tried again to check things out. This time he opened his other eye.

Right away, the children shouted, “Ataatak, Ataatak! The man is alive!”

To which the giant answered, “The man is surely dead. I watched so long, that while I watched the sun moved high in the sky. Leave me alone!”

And so everyone returned to what they had been doing. The man leaned against the stove. The giant napped. The children played. The wife searched for wood.

The next time the man opened his eye, he spotted an axe – the very axe that was supposed to be used to chop him up for dinner. The man grabbed the axe, and chopped off the giant’s head.

Instantly, the great doors of the giant’s cave began to shut. Fortunately, the man was able to slip through the great doors in time, and escape.

The man ran and ran until he noticed that the giant’s wife was chasing after him. The man kept running and running, still holding the axe. The giant’s wife kept running, too. She was getting closer and closer.

The giant’s wife had almost caught up with the man who had pretended to be frozen and dead. So the man lifted the axe and hurled it at the ground, shouting, “Kuuttaalaurlit!” [Let there be a new river.]

Suddenly, water began to flow out of the ground where the axe had hit. Soon, the river had grown wide. The giant’s wife was on the other side. She shouted across the water, “How did you cross the river?” The man said, “I drank its water.”

So the giant’s wife started to drink the river water. She drank and drank. She became bigger and bigger. She kept on drinking until she burst like a balloon. The water that the woman had drunk turned to mist, and then to fog.

The man escaped to safety. But his story will be remembered as long as the Kuuttaaq River flows.

Excerpt from: Unikkaangualaurtaa (Let's Tell a Story)