A long time ago, before new settlers came to our southern lands, there lived a tribe of our people who had a very hard winter. Every night they would pray to the spirits to help them in their hunt, but no answer came. Their people began to grow sick and die. In this tribe there was a girl named Nuliajuk. She lived with her father and was kind and sensible. Nuliajuk wished for a husband but the tribe was very small now and there were no possible men for her to marry. It would be many months before her tribe was to meet with another, so Nuliajuk remained silently unhappy.

One day her father had gone out onto the tundra for hunting and his dogs began to bark fiercely. He followed them until they found a young man lying on the ice; a large wound was seeping blood onto his skin coat. A large buck caribou lay dead beside him. He called out to the young man to see if an answer would be given.  “Please, help me,” called the young man. “If you take me back to your camp I will give you this caribou that I have killed.” Nuliajuk’s father was very hungry and he had been hunting for many days, so he agreed to take him back to the camp. The young man’s name was Kaaktuq Ukiuq.

Kaaktuq Ukiuq lived with the tribe for many weeks and his wound healed quickly. The tribe learned that he was a good hunter and they began to have very successful hunts and always had enough to eat.  Nuliajuk began to fall in love with Kaaktuq Ukiuq and was very happy the day that he asked her father if he could marry her. Her father was proud to have his daughter marry such a good hunter and allowed to her to marry him.

Kaaktuq Ukiuq told his new wife that he would like to take her to his tribe and they would live with them. She was very sad to leave her father but she was a good wife and left with her new husband. They left with a team of dogs out onto the ice. They travelled for many days and Nuliajuk was afraid that they would run out of supplies, but Kaaktuq Ukiuq was able to find many hares to feed them.

He led to her to the mouth of this very cave and told her to follow him. She hesitated, unsure. He told her that his people lived within the cave and that she should follow him. Nuliajuk became afraid, for she did not see any other tracks in the snow or hear the bark of dogs anywhere. Kaaktuq Ukiuq began to grow angry. She had never seen him angry and in fear, agreed and followed him. They travelled far beneath the ice until they came into this room. No fire burned and the walls were slick with ice. Kaaktuq Ukiuq began to laugh and lifted his arms to the sky. In a gush of icy wind, he disappeared. Nuliajuk began to cry because she was very afraid. She called out to him and he answered, his voice all around her. "I have trapped you here," he said. "I was very lonely; I saw you on the ice and knew that I had to have you. Now you will live with me as my wife and we will be together always."

Many moons passed and Nuliajuk remained trapped in the ice walls. Kaaktuq Ukiuq would bring her food and would demand that she talk to him. Nuliajuk did not say a word. He would slap her face with his icy blast and bite at her face and hands. He would scream and yell, but still she said nothing. Then one night Nuliajuk began to pray to Tuunngait, the spirits of her ancestors. She prayed that her father might find her and rescue her from this place.

Nuliajuk’s father did hear her call. He dreamed of his daughter, trapped in an icy prison, and left that day to find her. It was summertime and the ice was breaking, so he took his boat and sailed off into the water with only his dreams as a guide. He found the cave and found his daughter, trapped behind the wall of ice. He began to break it with his spear; he took her and ran back to his boat. They had only just reached the water when they heard a roar from the cave. The icy wind roared against them as they tried to row out into the water. The wind whipped at them and tipped their boat very far; Nuliajuk’s father fell into the water and disappeared into its inky blackness. She grabbed for his hand, but it was too late. Kaaktuq Ukiuq, with his icy breath, froze Nuliajuk's fingers to the side of the boat. Nuliajuk began to cry, when Kaaktuq Ukiuq called out to her and said that he would spare her life if she would come back to the cave. Nuliajuk lifted her head and breathed deeply... and then grabbed the fishing knife in the bottom of the boat and cut off her fingers. She then pushed herself out of the boat and slipped beneath the water.

Kaaktuq Ukiuq raged, angry that he had lost his wife, and his wrath could be felt throughout the land. He killed all of the herds of caribou and musk oxen. His razor sharp wind killed all of the hares, weasels, and foxes. Our people began to starve. There was no food to be found and our people began to die. They prayed to the spirits to help them. One day, their prayers were answered. Nuliajuk’s old tribe was out hunting when the ice began to crack. It spread and a light as bright as the sun began to glow beneath the water, and the hunters were afraid.

Nuliajuk’s voice came to them and told them, “Do not be afraid. I will not see my people die. Kaaktuq Ukiuq is strong but he does not have power here. Lean down with your spears.” The hunters stabbed their spears into the water and they each came back with a large fish. “Now go, and spread word throughout the land, to our brother and sisters... Tell them that they must come here and help me stop Kaaktuq Ukiuq.”

And they did. Their tale spread far across the land; to the western shore, to the forests of tallest trees, to the mountains and lakes of the east, their tale was carried. That is when the first of us came. Those of us most powerful, fourteen in all, stood proud before the spirit of Nuliajuk. With her help we were able to capture Kaaktuq Ukiuq, the Hungry Winter, and bind him to this place. The herds began to grow again and in time of need, Nuliajuk, the spirit of the Arctic Sea, still provides for her people.

Trapped within his own icy prison, he remains there still. And in the stillness of the winter’s night, you can still hear him rage, calling out for his lost wife.

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