The Eskimo Hunt

Published and thought up by Josh Filter

One day, on Saint Lawrence Island, there were Siberian Yupik Eskimos. They were very hungry. They wondered what they would do, so they thought and thought. "What should we do?" So they all built some umiaks and set off sailing for Point Hope. At the same time other Yupik Eskimos were building umiaks to set off to Point Hope from Russia. Then both groups of Yupik Eskimos set off to find food.

It was a really long, long ride and five foot waves were crashing over the umiaks. It was really hard to keep them up! Wave after wave rolled over the umiaks and then, CRACK! The Russian's umiak split in half. They knew that their souls were gone! The others kept paddling and did not get rolled over by the waves. By the morning they had reached their destination. Then they set up their camp and set off to go hunting. On the way they saw a caribou herd. The strongest hunter raised his bow and arrow. Then he pulled back the string and fired and hit the caribou.

Then he ran up to it and thanked it for its soul. He brought it to his camp and cut it up. Then they had a big potlatch to honor the caribou. They did a ceremonial dance. In the morning they all got in their umiaks and set off for Saint Lawrence Island.