by Yuri Rytkheu
In his mind’s eye, John drew the picture of Pyl’mau, Yako, Bill-Toko and little Sophie-Ankanau entering the house on the shore of Lake Ontario, promenading on the manicured little paths of the municipal park, and, grinning, said:
“Now, Mom, you’re a sensible woman . . .”
“Oh, John!” the old woman sobbed.
“Don’t, Mom, don’t . . .”
John wrapped his arms around his mother and helped her up.
They walked down to the shore, where the White Carolina’s little sloop danced in the waves.
“So this is it then, John,” his mother said, brushing away her tears. “Farewell.”
John helped her into the boat. He did everything quite mechanically, and it even seemed to him that it was some internal mechanism that drove him. Inside him, everything had hardened, set to stone. Only when the boat was a few feet from the shore did he realize that he hadn’t even kissed his mother good-bye.
“Mom!” he shouted in desperation. “Good-bye, Mom!”
The mother turned to face her son.
“Oh, John! My boy! It would have been easier for me to see you dead than like this!”
1 Chottagin – the cold, outer part of the yaranga.
2 Kamleika – a cloth overall, worn over fur-lined clothing.
3 Invisible Land – Wrangel Island
4 Fast ice – sea ice that forms and fastens to the coastline: its edge is dynamic – sea-ice cracks form and enlarge while ice floes may break off. It can extend for only a few meters or for several hundred kilometers from its point of attachment. Fast ice usually ends where the water reaches a depth of 25 m.
5 Yarar – a drum made from a stretched walrus stomach.
6 Kymgyt – a roll-up of walrus meat.
7 This is not merely a question of mispronunciation. In Russian, the word sson means “sleep” or “dream.” (TN)
8 Lakhtak – bearded seal, sometimes known as sea hare (Erignathus Barbatus). (TN)
9 Ostol – a metal-capped stick used for braking the dogsled.
10 Kamuss – The skin from a deer’s thigh.
11 Polog – the sleeping chamber inside a yaranga.
12 Baran – a handlebar in the shape of an arch over the sled.
13 Karamkyt – Evven deer herders.
14 Enenyl’yn – shamans (literally – those who can fly).
15 Kerker – a female’s one-piece fur suit.
16 Eplykytet – a device for hunting birds, consisting of a bone or lead weight on a long string.
17 Lylekeli – a drake.
18 Lygirev – a Greenland whale.
19 Keral’gin – a northeasterly wind.
20 Pekul’ – a woman’s knife.
21 Aivanalin – Eskimos.
22 Kemyget – high waterproof torbasses.
23 The Vaigach was a Russian icebreaker steamship that was constructed in 1909 and served, together with the Taimyr, as the operations base for a 1910 – 1915 hydrographic expedition to the north Arctic Ocean. (TN)
24 Yettyk – a greeting (literally: You’ve arrived.)
25 Luoravetlan – a true human being.
26 Repal’gyt – walrus hides.
27 Kakomei – an exclamation of surprise.
28 Belukha – Russian for white whale, a much smaller species. (TN)
29 Ritliu – gift of the sea.
30 Itgil’gyn – whale skin with blubber. Considered a delicacy.
31 Napo – a white coating on the whalebone.
32 Ee-ee! – response to a greeting (literally: Yes, we’ve arrived.)
33 Ateh – father.
34 Pykirtyk! – You’ve come.
35 Menin – Who.
36 Ghym – I, me.
37 Kyke vyne vai – a woman’s exclamation of surprise.
38 Narginen – the external forces that guide all life.
39 Polynya – an air hole in the ice cover, usually formed in places with rapid current. (TN)
40 Vilhjalmur Stefansson (1879 – 1962) – Canadian explorer and ethnologist. In 1913 he headed the Canadian Arctic Expedition, which ran into difficulties when the ship Karluk was crushed byice floes as it lay adrift, waiting for Stefansson and his small team to return from a coastal foray. The Karluk’s sailors were later rescued, but despite the wealth of geographical and ethnographic data collected, the expedition was not considered a success by the Canadian government. The Adventure of Wrangel Island is Stefansson’s account of the expedition. (TN)
41 Ankalin – coastal dweller.
42 Epekei – grandmother.
43 Volost’ – Smallest administrative division of csarist Russia. (TN)
Copyright © 2005 Archipelago Books
English Translation copyright © 2005 Ilona Yazhbin Chavasse
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A Dream in Polar Fog
Copyright © 1968 by Yuri Rytkheu
All rights reserved.
This publication was made possible with the support of Lannan Foundation
and the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.