 
Pushing the Stranded Half-fish off the Rock Davidialuk himself has told the story of this piece: A man was out hunting on foot looking for driftwood along the shore. Over in the distance, while still far off, he saw a creature half-fish and half-human on the shore waving to him. As it kept waving, he went over to it. And so when he arrived, "Don't come close. Don't come close; just stay nearby," said the half-fish. "Then how can I get you into the water without touching you?" said the man. "You are looking for wood. Find some wood and try to push me out into the water. If you push me out, I will reward you," it said. So then, looking for wood, he got some to try to push it out into the water. As it was really stuck fast in the rocks and as the half-fish was very heavy, he worked a long time. When at last he pushed it out in the water, the half-fish said to him, "At dawn I will place here a gramophone, a gun, and a sewing machine." And so the half-fish went off, far away out there in the water. The man simply went home. Then when dawn came, the man returned to the shore to the spot where he had pushed the creature out to sea. And there on the shore the half-fish had put a gramophone, a gun, and a sewing machine. But it was nowhere to be seen. The gramophone, the sewing machine, and the gun, just these were found. And so all the white men are learning [to do as the half-fish did] we people are thinking. That's the way the story goes; I stop because it's finished. (La Fédération des coopératives du Nouveau-Québec, Davidialuk)    |