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CHAPTER 1
Babook knelt in the fresh snow that had fallen in April. He was carefully cleaning the gun his family had given him. It was an 1891 Russian Mosin-Nagant rifle. His family got it from the Russians when there was a large fur trade.
Babook was very proud of the gun because it helped feed his family for fifty years. He would pass it down to Nanook when he was older. This way the gun would stay in the family.
Nanook was born in the winter of 1934, when hunting and fishing we re required for survival. There was no other way for his family to get food.
Nanook was twelve years old now, and he was a happy and helpful son. He had big rosy red cheeks that brightened his smile and held his father's love. Nanook loved to help his father gather firewood and do jobs around the village.
The coming days would test Nanook. They would make sure that he was ready to provide for his family and village. Nanook was a good fisherman, but he didn't like to wait. He loved to fish when they were biting, but he was bored when they weren't
A cold wind mixed with snowflakes howled across the Alaskan tundra. Nanook stared out of the igloo window at the rising sun that promised a beautiful day for fishing.
Nanook and his father had been coming to the hunting and fishing camp in April for three years. Their village was less than two miles away, so they could easily reach it to get more bait and supplies.
Nanook had been dreaming of this trip for days because he knew he would get to leave the igloo. He also knew the salmon would be swimming in the river near camp.
The smaller salmon did not make the trip to the sea until they were larger. These smaller ones were what he liked to catch because they tasted better and were the perfect size for eating. Babook took him to Bear Mountain to fish before and Nanook caught many nice salmon there. Looking out his window, Nanook saw his father preparing for his trip to the village. Nanook was happy. He knew he was going fishing.
Nanook ran to his father's side to ask if he could go fishing. He was pleased because his father promised to let him go alone if he did all of his chores. He had to fish at Big Bend on the Canning River because it was safer.
"Father! Father! May I go fishing today like you promised?"
"Yes, son, as long as you go to Big Bend where the polar bears do not go."
Babook knew the polar bears liked to fish in the rapids near Bear Mountain. He banned Nanook from going there because that was where Old One Ear fished. He was the biggest, meanest polar bear in the tundra.
Babook shot Old One Ear's ear off at Bear Mountain when the bear was trying to steal the fish he caught a few years before. Babook hoped he would never see him again ..... EVER!
After promising his dad that he would only go to Big Bend to fish, Nanook began walking. His dad returned to the village to get supplies. Nanook walked fast across the fresh fallen snow. He left tracks as he went.
Nannook was at Big Bend in thirty minutes and started to fish in the slow moving water.
He fished for an hour without a single bite. He grew bored.
The sun felt so warm shining on Nanook's back that it made him sleepy.
His thoughts wandered to Bear Mountain. Nanook forgot Babook's warning. Thoughts of catching fish filled his head.
Nanook knew he shouldn't go, but he thought he could be home before his father returned.
He could just walk up river and be there in less than an hour, so he set out walking as fast as he could. All he thought about was fish.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Nanook"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Larry Hulsey & Austin Hulsey.
Excerpted by permission of Morgan James Publishing.
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