A Time of Hunger

as told by
Miska Deaphon

Many years ago, somewhere up by Telida, there lived a man and his wife. They had a little baby. They were really starving. They would not have made it through the rest of the winter without food. The man hunted but he never got anything. He even looked along the lakes for blackfish. As he was going along he found an otter hole in a lake. Even though the otter kept coming up, he only had a knife with which to kill it.

While he was trying to get the otter his clothes got wet and began to freeze. He kept on trying, however, to kill the otter. Finally he tired it out and was able to kill it with his knife. He was too weak to carry it all, so he cut off the otter's tail. This was all he was able to carry. He started to return to his home but finally got so tired he gave up.

His wife at home became worried about him. She kept going out looking and listening for him. Finally it got dark. She went back out again and heard him calling. But because she had a little one to take care of she did not attempt to follow her husband's voice in the dark.

The night passed slowly and finally it was morning. She set off in the direction from which she had heard her husband calling. But before she left she bundled up her baby in lots of things so he would not get cold while she was gone. As she went along she came across a lake. This was where she found her husband. He was all frozen. When she moved him she found he was still warm under the armpits. She searched him carefully and found the otter tail. She went back to her baby and found him just the way she had left him.

The next morning she followed the tracks left by her husband to see if she could find the otter. She finally came to the place where the otter was. It was under the snow where her husband had buried it.

She could not do anything with her husband because the snow had drifted over him. She and her baby, however, were able to live on the otter until spring arrived.