Week 9 Storytelling: The Vengeance of a Mother

In an Eskimo village a long time ago, there lived a man named Papik. Now he was happy as a single man, but the day he met Akna all that changed. Papik knew he wanted to her to be his wife and after a few months of wooing, he won her heart. The two lovebirds were married. They were so happy it was as if they were living in a dream; little did they know a true nightmare was about to come.

Akna received word from her family that her mother was ill and asked if they could come and stay. Papik had never met Akna’s family, but of course he was there to support his wife so the next day they were off to travel to the village where Akna’s mother lived. When the couple arrived, they were warmly welcomed by Akna’s mother, Anna, and her brother, Ailaq, and shown to the room Anna had made up for them. Much to her children’s delight, Anna’s health had taken a turn for the better and she had almost made a full recovery.

Ailaq went out to hunt and gather food for the family’s meals. He was widely known for his hunting prowess all throughout his village and the surrounding villages. Papik soon realized that there seemed to be nothing that Ailaq could not do. He would flaunt his talents while taunting Papik and nagging him on why he was so inferior. At first Papik saw this as a joke and played along, but as time went on his resentment grew and his anger simmered. One can only take being degraded for so long before it becomes too much. It didn’t help that Akna decided that they should spend the winter with her mother and Papik didn’t want to disappoint her so he silently endured his merciless brother-in-law.

(Ailaq)

One afternoon on one of their hunting excursions, Ailaq was setting up a trap when it misfired and stabbed him through the chest and left him pinned to the ground. He cried out in pain and urged Papik to help save him. Papik rushed to help him, but just before he reached Ailaq he lurched to a stop. All the harsh abuses and torment that Ailaq had inflicted upon him these past months ran through his mind and his feet seemed to be frozen to the snowy ground. He slowly backed away and plugged his ears while he ran away so he didn’t hear Ailaq’s curses and cries as he bled to death. Papik returned a few minutes later to find Ailaq’s body. He could not believe what he had done and immediately regretted his actions, but he knew he would be too ashamed to ever tell anyone what happened.

Late that night Papik returned home. Alone. He told Akna and Anna that he had gotten separated from Ailaq and despite searching everywhere he could not find him. Anna started shrieking hysterically that she could sense his guilt and his lies. She then vowed to come back to haunt him and avenge her son’s death before collapsing herself on the floor.

Akna did not know how to comprehend the death of her brother and her mother all in the same day. She could not forget his mother’s words especially when she saw the strange way Papik had been acting since he had returned. She knew her mother’s ancestors possessed dark magic and she feared for her husband’s life. She went in search of Papik to warn him that they should leave and return to their village, but as she was searching she came across the words “vengeance” written in blood in the snow. Her heart was racing, but she kept walking. She came across a foot, then a few yards an ear, then a couple more feet what appeared to be a leg. Akna fell down where she stood, for she knew she was looking upon pieces of her husband.

Author's Note:

In the original story, Papik killed Ailaq because he was envious, but I wanted to build on that more and give a backstory. Also in the original story, the mother turns into a monster that comes back to kill Papik. I still made the mother the one who avenged her son's death, but I left it more up to interpretation as to how she did it. I also made the death more of an accident where Papik failed to act to save Ailaq rather than straight cold blooded murder. In my story I gave the wife more of a role as well.

Bibliography:

Papik, Who Killed His Wife's Brother by Knud Rasmussen