Kalápi Kéemu: view article

The first two gods were Sky and Sea. The Sea had grown tired of always swimming, and the Sky had grown tired of always flying, so they had come together and made a place to rest, and this was the first boat. Sea built the hull out of ice, and Sky lined it with warm, soft, summer clouds, that they could sit in it comfortably.

As they sat in the great umiak between the sky and the sea, they began to argue over which of them was stronger. The Sky boasted: "I can stir up the surface of the ocean into waves and spray, and whip the spray into mist, and whisk it away. I can even turn it into rain, hail, and snow, and send it back down again. What can you do? You only sit there and take it."

But the Sea was not impressed.

"Yes, you can stir up my surface," agreed the Sea. "You can make waves and storms and pelt me with rain. But that is only my skin. I am deep and dark and cold and filled with secrets."

For a moment Sky was chilled by this pronouncement, but they decided to pretend that they were not. "Pah!" they said. "What could you possibly be hiding from me?"

The Sea reached out into the water and pulled something out of it. The Sky was astounded by the small silver shape wriggling in Sea's hand.

"What is this?" asked the Sky.

"This is a fish," answered the Sea.

"I'm Capelin!" said the first capelin. It let the gods admire it for a moment, and then slipped out of Sea's hand and back into the ocean.

"So you see? I have created things which live and breathe within me."

The Sky was very impressed by this, but didn't want to admit it. So instead Sky reached up and pulled down a handful of cloud. They pressed the cloud between their fingers, pressing and pressing and squishing and pinching, until finally the cloud became solid and a tiny black shape flitted out.

"What is this?" asked the Sea.

"This is a fly," answered the Sky.

"I'm Blackfly!" said the first blackfly, and then flew off.

"Very impressive," admitted the Sea. But just then Capelin jumped up out of the water and snapped Blackfly out of the air.

Sea laughed. "It is a pity that Blackfly was so small!"

Sky grew angry at this. Grabbing more cloud, Sky fashioned something larger. This creature was mostly grey, with white and black, and a bit of bright orange on its bill.

"What is this?" asked the Sea.

"This is a bird," answered the Sky.

"I'm Tern!" said the first tern, and perched on the edge of the umiak. Within a few seconds, Tern spotted Capelin in the water, and plunged headfirst into the water, grabbed Capelin in its beak, swam back up to the surface, and swallowed it in two gulps.

The Sky laughed in triumph. "It's a pity that capelin was so small!" said the Sky.

Sea nodded, and then smiled. "Oh, yes. Capelin is very small. But there are bigger fish."

Having said this, Sea reached into the water again and pulled out a larger animal.

"What is this?" asked the Sky.

"This is another fish. Can't you tell?"

"I'm Bass!" said the first bass.

Bass leapt at Tern, but the Tern beat it back with its wings, and tried to get its beak around Bass instead. But then Tern started to choke. Sky scowled and reached out, pulling the bird off of the fish. Bass sank back into the water, and Tern took off into the sky.

"I guess they are matched, then."

But Sky didn't want to accept defeat, or a truce. Reaching up, they grabbed a dark and heavy raincloud and shaped it into a larger animal.

"What is this?"

"This is another bird. Can't you tell?"

"I'm Cormorant!" said the first cormorant, and flew up high, and then plunged into the water. Even though Bass had already started to swim back down into the ocean, Cormorant had no trouble catching it in its beak and came back up to let the gods see it swallow it whole.

Sky grinned once more. "See? Your fish are still too small."

But Sea still merely smiled. "Yes, I see. Capelin and Bass were very small. But there are still bigger fish."

Sea reached into the water again, this time with both hands, and started pulling up something much bigger, half as tall as the gods with a powerful silver body.

"What is this?" asked Sky.

"This is another fish, of course!"

"I'm Salmon!" said the first salmon, and after a moment it slid out of Sea's hands and into the water.

Sky could tell, of course, that Cormorant would never fit such a creature down its gullet. So they reached out to collect a larger raincloud. They made of it a larger bird, with shiny brown feathers, a curved beak, and huge talons. When it took to flight the gods could see its wingspan was almost as tall as they were. It didn't wait a second before it snatched the salmon out of the water with its huge talons and began to tear it apart and eat it.

"What is this?" asked Sea.

"This is another bird, of course!"

"I'm Eagle," said the first eagle.

Sea, however, was still smiling.

"You are very impressive, Eagle," said Sea, and Eagle and Sky beamed. "But the there are still bigger fish."

The next fish that Sea pulled from the water was so large that they struggled to get it on board. It was wide and flat and one of its eyes sat on top of its head. It was mottled brown on one side, where there were two eyes, and white on the other side, where there were no eyes. [Note 1]In some versions of the story, we have here instead a large predatory fish, such as a shark, who leaps from the water and drags Eagle down into the depths.

"What is this!?" cried Sky, surprised by its size and its asymmetry.

"I'm Halibut!" answered the first halibut. The big fish flopped about in the umiak, trying to leave, but was stuck against the gunwale. "I can't get over this edge," said Halibut. "Can you help me out?"

Sea started to help Halibut out. Eagle looked at the big fish but knew it couldn't possibly lift it out of the water, and besides, it wasn't done yet with Salmon.

Sky looked at the fish, and looked at Sea, and still felt angry and jealous. So instead of helping Sea and Halibut, they reached up and grabbed a massive thunderhead, black and roiling, and mashed it down and pulled it out and fashioned of it a massive bird that could barely fit in the umiak. Its had golden feathers and a flat face and its beak full of teeth was as long as Sky's arms, and so were its talons, and it immediately clawed through the struggling Halibut and devoured it in two separate halves.

"What is that!?" cried Sea, shocked by the great size.

"I," said the great bird, in a thunderous voice, "am the Dragon."

And the giant bird spread its massive wings, each of which was larger than the big umiak, and started to beat the air. It made such powerful currents that the ocean started frothing into waves and spray and mist. The Dragon slowly started rising out of the umiak, which too started rocking in the wind it was making.

"Amazing!" cried Sky. "I have made a creature so powerful it can do what I can! I can stir your surface and make you wave, I can turn you to mist and rain, and I can make creatures that do it for me! And none of your little fish could ever stand up to the great Dragon!"

And the Dragon's wingbeats were so powerful that it started splitting the ocean, and then it capsized the great umiak!, and the two gods fell overboard!, and the umiak started to sink!!

Sky sputtered and struggled in the water, for they had never learned to swim, while Sea rose to the surface easily, and was laughing. As the Dragon climbed higher in the sky, the wind on the surface died down and the waves smoothed out, and Sea floated, still laughing, and allowed Sky to hang on to them. Normally, of course, Sky could fly effortlessly through the air, but now they were sodden and heavy with water.

"What is so funny!?" demanded Sky. "I made a beast so powerful it sank our boat! You cannot hope to be as strong as that. How can you be laughing?"

"Yes! The Dragon is mighty!," roared Sea. "I'm impressed! What a magnificent beast! But now you are in the water with me, and you are wet and cannot fly. You have bound yourself to my ocean, and your birds have no dry place to come to rest, and if they land on the water they too will become too wet to fly. And then surely, they will die."

Sky was enraged, but they could not dispute Sea's points. For although the birds, and the bugs and the bats are creatures of Sky's essence, they are mortal and weigh heavy in the air, and must come to rest at some point.

"Besides," added Sea finally, "there are still bigger fish."

And as they said this a snare of bubbles formed, rising to the surface, and great shape loomed in the ocean below them. Sky began to panic, because the shape they saw was impossibly huge, greater than five dragons, than ten umiak, than twenty people. "What is this!?" Sky cried, thrashing at the water, trying desperately to reach the sky.

But Sea was calm and laid back in the water, and soon the shape was right underneath them, pushing them out of the water. It was grey and mottled, and soft to the touch. Sky scrambled to their feet. Sea pat its back fondly.

"I am Blue Whale," boomed the first blue whale, in a deep and shattering voice, for at that time nobody knew how to sing. The gods could feel its heavy voice through their feet. "And your little birds can ride on my back. Only for awhile, though."

▼ Option 1

▼ Option 2

---------------

AND NOW THE WIP PART:

Somehow they make land. How?
1. They continue their competition until animal corpses pile high into an island
2. Ice forms
3. Sun steams away the water
4. Dragon blows away the water
5. The umiak turns into the first island
Some kind of resolution
Or do we continue on to...?
1. First land animals
2. First people
3. First Achiyitqans (tie-in Hánaki w Unnáŋa)

---------------

▼ WIP translation

✎ Edit Article ✖ Delete Article