The one who didn't want to get married

Our story takes place a very long time ago, in a white country swept by snow and wind: the Roof of the World.

Along the ice floe, a small village of igloos has been built for the winter. And at the very end of this village, in the smallest igloo, a hunter lives alone, with his daughter, Sanna. Lit by the oil lamp, they share a seal fin.

“Look at me, Sanna. I'm old and I always come back empty-handed from hunting. This evening we are eating our last provisions. You have to get married. Many good hunters would dream of marrying you and who could bring you a new seal every day to skin. Why don't you want to get married? » But, once again, his daughter only responded with an awkward silence.

One day, tired of seeing her refuse all the men who presented themselves, her father ended up saying to her: “Marry our dog and go together far from the village to that island that we see over there!” » The young woman resigned and went into exile on the island with her dog husband. Very quickly, food ran out. The dog had been a valuable asset to his master, but now that he was alone, he was unable to bring in the game.

The days passed like this. Sanna tried as best she could to eat some fish she had caught, but that did not satisfy her stomach which cried out for hunger more and more often. Things got worse when she became pregnant and then gave birth to a litter of small dogs. Sanna was no longer able to catch enough fish to feed the whole family.
One morning, she asked her husband to go to her father's house to get some food. She hung her little sealskin purse around his neck and told him to swim to the village. The dog arrived very weak on the shore, where he found Sanna's father, busy cutting up a seal: “Hello master. Your daughter sent me. She has two important things to tell you. The first is that you became a grandfather. The second is that your daughter and your grandchildren are very hungry. I came to ask for your help. » The father filled the pouch with seal meat and invited the dog to come back every day for food.
So, every morning, the dog husband left the island for his father's camp and every evening, he returned with some food: seal, caribou, fish, and sometimes even bear meat.

One day, the father decided to go visit his grandchildren. He had never seen them and was eager to meet them. As soon as he landed on the island, the puppies ran to meet him, to celebrate his arrival. They welcomed him as dogs often do with their master: by nibbling his calves and giving him great licks. But Sanna's father did not appreciate this welcome at all. He realized he didn't want to have puppies as grandchildren. He would have preferred a thousand times to be greeted by children who would have jumped on his neck and who would have showered him with real kisses. Then he found his daughter in a deplorable state. Since her dog husband couldn't hunt, she rarely had enough to eat and she didn't have animal skins to sew warm clothes. Sanna's father put down the food he had brought and set sail again. As he rowed, he thought of a way to end this intolerable situation.

The next day, when the dog husband came again to look for food, the father filled the small pouch hanging around his neck by introducing not meat but heavy stones. The dog swam again, but, weighed down by the weight of the purse, he quickly became exhausted and drowned.
The father now had to supply his daughter and grandchildren himself every day. But Sanna feared he would kill her babies too. She wanted to dissuade him from coming back to see them and advised her children: “The next time your grandfather arrives, go meet him on the shore, lick and nibble his kayak then give him little bites more and more. more fierce. » His plan worked wonderfully: frightened by the welcome of the puppies, Sanna's father turned around and never returned to the island. But as soon as this danger was over, another immediately arose: the specter of famine came back to haunt the little family. By giving up their main source of food, Sanna and her puppies once again faced hunger. So, to save her dog's children, Sanna decided to send them far away. She divided them into three groups and gave each group specific instructions. She first sent a group, equipped with bows and arrows, towards the boreal forest, telling them: “Go south and stay in the forest, you will always find something to eat there!” » This is how these baby dogs became the ancestors of the Native Americans.
Sanna then took a sole of her boots and uttered words so powerful that the sole transformed into an umiaq, a very large sealskin craft. She placed the puppies of the second group there, telling them: “Go east, beyond this great sea, and only return on large ships! » They set out on the waves and became the ancestors of Europeans.
As for the puppies from the third group, she ultimately preferred to keep them close to her, on Inuit territory. They therefore remained there and transformed themselves into ijiqqat, the invisible spirits of the interior of the land.

SAnna returned to live in the family camp, under her father's igloo. She remained a widow for a very long time, once again refusing men who asked her to marry her until the day a handsome stranger came to the village to seduce her...