The story of Lumaaq
The myths are a part of the traditional Inuit culture and were orally passed on by generation in generations. Today, the elders tell these stories to the youngest, inherit from their parents and their grand-parents. Some stories are very popular in the Arctic thus, inspiring the contemporary artists in sculpture as in graphic arts.
The story of Lumaaq, the blind-boy cared by loons is well known. These is different versions of this story, depending the families and areas ; all talk about a young blind-boy living with his sister and his mother (or grand-mother) who mistreated them. We see here how the boy magilcally gets his sight back, in this excerpt of the myth of Lumaaq.
This story was described by Abraham Nastapoka (Aipajaqaa Nastapuuka) in Inukjuaq in Nunavik (Northern Quebec), in 1967.
In the month of June, when people were living in tents, all kinds of birds migrated north. Some loons, heading to the lakes from the sea, flew by the family’s tent, calling. The blind-boy heard the loon’s calls, and thought they could probably cure his blindness. So the blind-boy asked his sister if there was a lake nearby.
The man spent all day long all alone in the tent. He started thinking that his sister could take him to the lake where the loons went. One day, their mean, adoptive mother was away, he told his sister, “Sister, guide me to the nearest lake. After you take me there, head back home, but make some rock piles close to one another so I can use them as markers to lead me home.” And so they headed for the nearest lake.
They reached the lake. His sister went home, and the blind boy stayed at the lake, waiting for the loons that he had heard calling. The same loons flew to the lake and landed on the water, calling loudly. The boy shouted, “hey, loons, make me able to see ! Make me able to see !” The loons came close to the shore and responded, “Okay, if you want to get rid of your blindness, come to the shore and strip off your clothing.”
The boy did as he was instructed, and stripped off his clothes. He went into the water while the loons held his hands. He stood in the water up to his neck, and the loons licked his eyes. Afterwards, they made him dive under the water, telling him, ” Give us a signal when you need to come up for air. Then we’ll pull you up.” When he was under water, the boy felt nervous, so he signalled the loons even though he knew he could stay under a bit longer. To his astonishment, the loons pull him to the surface as soon as he gave the signal. When he surfaced, they asked him, “Can you see now ? ” He replied, “Yes, I can see you two.”
Again, they licked his eyes, and he has to do the same thing as before, giving a signal when he needed to breathe. On the second dive, he was less nervous, so he staid underwater a bit longer, then signalled for air. When he surfaced, the loons asked him, “Can you see the distant beach-rye grass way out by the foothills ?” He answered, “No”.
So, for the third time, they licked his eyes and made him dive underwater. He was brave enough to stay under much longer than he had before. After he signalled for air, the loons pulled him up again. When he surfaced, they asked him again, “Now, can you see the distant beach-rye grass by the foothills ?” He answered, “Now, I can see the beautiful beach-rye grass.”
The loons said, ” We have cured your blindness.” The boy, able to see, went back to the shore and put on his clothes. After that, the loons flew away.
[transcribed by Jacob Oweetaluktuk and translated by Johnny Nowra]
Source :
Abraham Nastapoka, 1995, «How the tuulliik cured the blind man » in Tumivut, atuagait inuit nunavimmiut iluqqusinginnuangajut/ Tumivut, the cultural magazine of the Nunavik Inuit/ Tumivut, la revue culturelle des Inuit du Nunavik, n◦6, p 21-22.
