Read Online Ice Whale by Jean Craighead George - Free Book Online

afternoon he found a massive fishnet on the beach by the camp.
    â€œAapa‚”
he said to his father. “I’ve heard that whales get tangled in these Yankee nets.”
    Together‚ they walked to the beach and gazed at the yards and yards of net and ropes. Toozak III held his son’s hand as the boy leaned out as far as he could and grabbed the net. Together they pulled it high onto the beach.
    Before them a stream of mist shot into the air and a whale breached. On his chin was the image of an Eskimo dancer!
    â€œSiku!” father and son gasped. The whale looked at them and they at him. A spark ignited between them‚ and then the great whale rolled on his side and slid gracefully back into the water. When he was out of sight‚ Toozak III and Toozak IV looked at each other in great surprise.
    â€œThat is the great Siku‚” said Toozak III. He is still alive. It is a good thing we pulled the net from the water. Nets like that are dangerous to him and all whales.”
    That winter the flu came to the Eskimos in the village near Wainwright. Many died. Among them was Lilaaq‚ Toozak IV’s wife.
    Toozak IV laid her coffin‚ along with hundreds of others‚ on the frozen ground in the cemetery. She and the other dead could not easily be buried until the June thaw.
    â€œI have no life here without Lilaaq. I know what I must do‚” Toozak IV said. “I must find the old whaling captain who lives in Barrow. He is a generous man‚ and knows many things. He can teach me about whales and the old ways. They say he is called Ernest‚ and he knows more about ice whales than anyone. My life is now Siku’s.”
    They walked slowly home from the cemetery‚ gathered food‚ weapons‚ and a stack of furs as well as pots and pans.
    â€œI must go with you‚” Toozak III said to Toozak IV. “We must protect Siku together. There are new threats to him. We will learn to find whales and how to think like them from one of the great whaling captains. One who knows them in the old ways. Our life here is over.”
    He counted on his fingers and said‚ “Siku is seventy years old. He is very old and we must continue to protect him.”
    It did not take the family long to gather their possessions. Harnessing the dog team to a sled‚ Toozak IV stood beside his father at the rear of the graceful carrier. His son‚ Charlie‚ was nestled in the sled basket among caribou furs.
    Toozak IV raised his voice.
“Kiita!”
he shouted. The dogs bolted out of the village. Charlie giggled.
    Three days later‚ they rode into prosperous Barrow with its trading post‚ community house‚ grammar school‚ and restaurant.
    Wooden houses clustered on wide streets. Caribou antlers were scattered aomng them and hides hung on stretchers before them. Snowdrifts were still unmelted against many houses and old whale bones marked the community house.
    Toozak III and IV were pleased. They could be happy here. That afternoon they rode to the western end of town and unpacked.
    Days later‚ Toozak IV started building a sod hut with whale bones that he had found on the beach for supports. He next got a job at the store and he and the small family settled in with help from the women in the village.
    When the eiders were flying over Barrow in black threads five miles long‚ Toozak IV knew that it was time to approach Ernest‚ the famous Eskimo whaling captain.
    He came upon him standing beside his sealskin
umiaq
at the edge of the land-fast ice looking out to sea. He had his back to the village and was smiling at a cloud with a dark gray bottom on the horizon.
    â€œWater sky‚” he said as Toozak IV came up beside him.
    â€œWater throws dark shadows on the bottom of clouds. Snow and ice throw white ones. So the dark bottom of clouds say ‘open water.’ It’s called
uiñiq
[UN-yik] a ‘lead.’