Pistes d'exploration

Discuss the qualities of a legend. List examples of the words, phrases or actions that contribute to making this story a legend.

List the ways Quannguaviniq was able to outsmart the tuurngaq family. 

The authors end the story with the word Taima which means “That’s all,” yet the tuurngaq’s son is left sleeping. Write a sequel about the son.

Predict what will happen to Quannguaviniq after he arrives at the tuurngaq’s dwelling.

Construct a timeline for this legend.

Consider the objects mentioned in the story. What objects would we use in our reality?

Identify the structures and features of a legend, based on this one. Compare it with other legends to confirm your understanding.

The Legend of Lightning & Thunder, The Giant Bear: An Inuit Folktale, Magic Words: From the Ancient Oral Tradition of the Inuit, I Is for Inuksuk: An Arctic Celebration

Mots-clés

Folklore , folktales , Indigenous peoples , Inuit , legends , oral history , pourquoi tales

Commentaire descriptif

When spring arrives in the far north, Quannguaviniq walks out onto the tundra where he meets an evil spirit—a powerful tuurngaq. He pretends to be dead, and the tuurngaq carries him home to eat. Using fine detail, this fairly dense story gives readers a good sense of the land, as well as the false corpse’s delay tactics on the journey to the tuurngaq’s family. “Dangling toward the ground, he grabbed every twig and plant along the way, causing endless snags and delays.” Evocative illustrations use watercolour and paint techniques—going from bright to dark—as Quannguaviniq finds himself trapped in the tuurngaq’s cave. A luminescent moon hangs over his nighttime escape; its cool blue light dwarfs the distant glow of the tuurngaq’s wife’s cooking fire. Paint flecks represent both the stars and the stones scattering under the hunter’s feet. When he makes a river to stop the wife from catching him, Quannguaviniq tricks her into drinking it. The tuurngaq’s wife bursts in a great shower of pale paint. The steam rising from her body is the world’s first fog. “Somewhere in the distance a raven cawed. Slowly, slowly, he made his way home.”