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The Fate
of Caribou
Story told by Deline Elder, William Sewi
Here’s
a good story. Long ago, when the wildlife were new.
Caribou and Wolf met out on the barrengrounds, north
of Aklavik. The leaders of both groups were old.
The
old wolf leader said, “caribou should be wiped
off the face of the earth.” They were all sitting
face to face, and no one said anything for awhile. Finally,
the old Caribou asked, “What’s the misunderstanding?
Why don’t you simply tell us what you don’t
like about us?”
Then
the Wolf said, “The purpose of this meeting is
to wipe you from the face of the earth.”
The
Caribou asked, “What wrong are we accused of?
All we look for is food for our survival. And the humans
are surviving from us. In the future, people will depend
on us for their food.
You,
Wolf, are not like that. You are a conniving animal,
and we predict that in the future you will kill humans.
There will be packs of you attacking and killing humans.
And you will also be killing us. This is how you will
survive. You’ll kill moose, and every other animal.
“You
are a sly animal. When human kills game for his survival
and covers it for safekeeping, you will steal his food.
And when he’s out trapping, you’ll go along
his trapline and take out the bait. That is how you
will be spending your time. Yes, this is how you will
be in the future.
“We
the caribou, we are the good wildlife. We are on the
earth only to look for our food. We can never disrupt
anything in nature. This is our destiny until the end
of the world.
“Whatever
people eat, it becomes their flesh and blood. This can
never be taken away from man.
“Yes,
in the future people will be surviving on us for food,
and you will also.
And
then Wolf got up and said, “Yes, Caribou speaks
the truth. What he says of the future is true. And I
believe him.”
And
so the Caribou won, and the old Wolf was over-ruled.
The
old Caribou said, “Henceforth until the end of
the world you will survive off of us. There’ll
be no need to bring this matter up ever again. And so,
this meeting is over.”
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