In Fond Remembrance of Me Read Online Free PDF Page A

ARK IS TOO LOUD
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    One day at the beginning of winter, a big wooden boat was caught in the ice. The same day, a feared shaman showed up. This shaman walked directly into the village. “Did you invite that boat here?” he said.
    â€œNo,” the villagers said. “We don’t know why it’s here.”
    â€œI like to sleep on the ice,” the shaman said. “I like to sleep near seal breathing-holes.”
    â€œWe know that.”
    â€œThere’s loud noises—animal barks, grunts, snores, shouts, yelps—coming from that boat. The boat is keeping me awake. Seals have the same complaint—they like to sleep on the ice, too.”
    In a short while winter arrived. The sea was covered with ice.
    â€œYou go out and stop the noise,” the shaman said. “Go out there and stop it. Or else I’ll cram your village—everybody, everything—down a seal breathing-hole. I can’t sleep.”
    With this, some village men walked out over the ice to the boat. They shouted up, “Whose boat is this?”
    â€œIt’s mine—my name is Noah,” a man shouted down. “This is my wife—this is my son—this is my daughter.” His family stood there now.
    â€œWhat’s this boat called in your language?”
    â€œAn ark,” this Noah said.

    â€œWhy does it make so much noise?”
    â€œIt’s full of animals,” Noah said.
    â€œWe can smell them all the way into our village—are they tasty, what do they taste like, are they good to eat, will you share some with us?” a man said.
    â€œNo-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no!” said Noah.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œNo!” said Noah.
    â€œWhy are you here?”
    â€œI got lost.”
    â€œCan you sleep with all that noise nearby?”
    â€œNo,” said Noah. “No,” said Noah’s wife. “No,” said Noah’s daughter. “No,” said Noah’s son.
    â€œLook out there on the ice,” a villager said. “What do you see?”
    â€œA man asleep on the ice. Now he’s woken up,” Noah said.
    â€œWell, that man has big powers—and he’s angry at your ark. He can’t sleep. The ark is too loud. That man—if the ark stays loud—will cram our village through a seal breathing-hole. If the ark stays loud, that man will probably turn all of your animals inside out.”
    â€œNobody can do such things,” Noah said.
    â€œYou are wrong,” a village man said.
    â€œHere’s what you should do,” another man said to Noah. “Give us a few animals to eat. Give us a few planks of wood to make a fire with. Then give all the rest of the animals to that man—the shaman—and he’ll cram them all through a seal breathing-hole. Then he’ll be able to sleep. Then he won’t turn the animals inside out, and he won’t kill you, either.”

    Noah said, “No.”
    The villagers walked over to the shaman. “I can’t sleep,” he said.
    The villagers sat next to him. When they sat down, the ark began making a lot of loud noises! “The man named Noah, there on the boat, won’t make the noise stop,” a village man said.
    With this, the shaman flew to the top of the ark. “Your boat is too loud,” he said. He took up Noah’s wife and flew her around. They traveled. They came back. “Give up those animals,” the shaman said.
    â€œNo!” said Noah.
    The shaman took Noah’s daughter and slipped with her through a seal’s ice breathing-hole. They were gone for a few days. When they came back, Noah’s daughter said, “Father, I don’t want to do that again. Give up the animals.”
    â€œNo,” Noah said.
    The shaman climbed onto the ark. He turned Noah’s son inside out—some seagulls flew and plucked up the guts and insides, and flew off. Then the shaman turned each of the animals below deck on the ark