Introduction-E

Oh. Another wife...
Pauloosie: No, I would like another wife, but I’ll probably die before then. I was told to
marry a qallunaaq, a qallunaaq in Pangniqtuuq. I’d been told to marry a nurse, a qallunaaq.
She was not able to work with skins. I never used to give in to the ministers, the police,
and the government workers. When we had Tulugaq (Keith Crowe) as the area
administrator, these people used to tell me to marry a qallunaaq. Since she was not able
to work with skins, and since I thought I was going to be hunting all my life, although
it turns out it wasn’t so, I wouldn’t give in. A woman who had been originally from
Qivittuuq was brought for me, even though I had not iqqullik [asked for a wife]. I ended
up being thankful afterwards.
Where was she from?
Pauloosie: She used to be from Qivittuuq. She’s now from Qikiqtarjuaq.
Who was she?
Pauloosie: Miali.
You didn’t have children with her, did you?
Pauloosie: Yes, [but] it turned out it wasn’t me. Even though she was able to bear
children, I had become no longer able to have children. While she was out in the hospital
in Toronto, she got pregnant. She came back quite pregnant. She must have thought that
she was not able to bear children, but she was impregnated while over there.
She had committed adultery?
Pauloosie: Yes. We did have a child, but it also didn’t live very long. He was a little boy.
He didn’t have a name?
Pauloosie: Yes, he was not yet able to get a name.
Had you ever adopted any children? Do you have any adopted children?
Pauloosie: Today, there is Jaipiti Ammalik, you know him?
Yes. He was yours and Miali’s adopted child?
Pauloosie: Yes, he was our adopted child. And a girl also, Aapia. She would be from
Kangiqtugaapik (Clyde River) now. She was originally from Kangiqtugaapik, but she
96 Introduction to the Oral Traditions