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Updated: May 19, 2025
Ootah called away the dogs, and raised his gun, one which Olafaksoah, in payment for the five sledloads of walrus blubber which he confiscated after Ootah's flight to the mountains, had left with a generous supply of ammunition with a companion. Ootah now realized the value of the payment which he had scorned. There was a yellow flash in the moonlight a mighty roar went up.
Lo, she whispers into the ears of Olafaksoah: 'Thou art strong, Olafaksoah; Ootah hath the heart of a woman. Thou hurtest me, Olafaksoah; thy arms bruise me, thy hands make me ache; but thou art strong, thou art great, Olafaksoah; the heart of Annadoah trembles for joy of thee. Thus saith Annadoah!" And in the winds Ootah heard Olafaksoah's coarse laughter. "Ioh ioh-h-h!" Ootah moaned.
As if to convince the spirit of this, she compared Olafaksoah with Ootah; she knew now that he had used her to rob her people, that his heart was as stone. Ootah, she had once said, had the heart of a woman; but now she realized the difference between them. She knew the arms of Ootah were strong, that the words of Ootah were true, that the heart of Ootah was kind.
Still he could not be persuaded to part with the precious meat. Olafaksoah swore and shook his fists. Fearful of offending the stranger, the women joined in and shrieked at Arnaluk, urging him to consent. Unprotesting, he let them draw away his sled of blubber and tusks. He had a tin cup, matches and cartridges which he could not eat.
Annadoah finally entered and threw herself upon the rocky floor of her dwelling. As the furies were loosed outside her voice rose and fell with the wailing grief and wrath of the wind. "Olafaksoah! Olafaksoah!" But only the hoarse evil call of the black bird answered during lulls in the storm. And Annadoah heard it, with a sinking of her cold heart, as the voice of fate.
He might win her yes, perhaps some day, but he could not forget that, whenever she had touched him with tenderness, she thought of Olafaksoah. Standing before his igloo, musing upon these things, Ootah espied in the semi-light a dark speck moving on the ice. "Nannook! Without pausing to get his gun Ootah ran down to the ice-sheeted shore.
In the winds Ootah heard the whisper of Olafaksoah in the dim tent. He heard Annadoah's rapturously murmurous replies. "Olafaksoah shareth the igloo of Annadoah," whispered the winds suggestively. And Ootah knew the Eskimo custom. Annadoah, by sharing her simple habitation with him, had by choice formally become the wife of Olafaksoah.
Then she rose defiantly and did what few Eskimo women ever dared. She smote the man's leering face and, sobbing, sank on her knees before Olafaksoah. He roared out things the Eskimos do not understand. "Goddlmighty!" and more awful words. His fist descended. In the winds Ootah heard Annadoah scream and call his name. That day he descended from the mountains.
Ootah recognized "Olafaksoah" Olaf, the great white trader whom he had seen two seasons before at a southern village. He was noted for his brutality and hard bargaining. "What's all the noise about?" he growled. His voice was deep and gruff. Ootah staggered back. "Annadoah, Annadoah," he moaned softly, supporting himself on the upstander of his loaded sled.
Sometimes they shook her roughly. To the native women the brutality and virility of the men from the south exert a potent appeal; and the fact that Olafaksoah had chosen Annadoah many moons since still made their mouth taste bitter. This jealousy rankling within them, they now with angry exultation took occasion to mock and abuse her. The girl lay still and did not reply.
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