The Savage Innocents

Missionary:
The Lord be with you.

Inuk:
No, just Asiak, Powtee and me. We do not know Lord.

Missionary:
A very short sleep ago, you both offended Him.

Inuk:
Oh, we did not know. One must apologize.

Missionary:
If you will listen to my words and believe in me,the Lord will come and stay with you and follow you in all your travels.

Asiak:
[whispers to Inuk] We do not want another with us.

Inuk:
Maybe he good hunter. [to Missionary] We will be pleased if your friend comes with us.

Asiak:
He must bring his own sled. Will this Lord bring everything He needs?

Missionary:
He will bring you faith.

Inuk:
[Puzzled look on face] Faith?

Missionary:
That wonderful light that drives back the shadows of sin.

Inuk:
[after a moment's thought] OH, light, LIGHT, ahhh...

Asiak:
It is good, Inuk,if it is the kind at the trading post, we could save it up for the winter, and our eyes will not get tired anymore...

Inuk:
[Offering missionary a bowl of food with live worms wriggling in it] Here is something you will like...

Missionary:
[Pushing bowl away] I come to give, not to receive.

Asiak:
It is old marrow, it is much better, it is old and full of worms...

Missionary:
Maybe another time, not right now.

Inuk:
[whispers to Asiak] Has this white man come to insult us?

Missionary:
Men don't live by bread alone.

Asiak:
[to Inuk] Maybe he wants to laugh with a woman.

Asiak:
[Showing Inuk their newborn baby] It came to pass that a woman brought forth a child.

Inuk:
[Not comprehending at first] How so? [Holds up baby] Someone has seen bear cubs that were better looking

Asiak:
He will improve as he grows, but he has everything he needs.Even a name. His name is Papik.

Inuk:
How do you know his name is Papik?

Asiak:
Because this useless woman likes that name.

Inuk:
[laughs and plays with infant and touches its mouth, then suddenly freezes mid-air] Asiak, he has no teeth, You must have broken some taboo!

Asiak:
Not to my knowledge!

Inuk:
Did we see land animals together with sea animals?

Asiak:
[Emphatically] Of course not!How about you breaking some taboo?Perhaps it goes to the white man? [In reference to missionary that Inuk accidentally killed previously]

Inuk:
[after prolonged silence] Maybe

First Trooper:
Inuk. listen. No judge in the world will understand you offering another man your wife.

Inuk:
But it is our custom, we must be polite. White men don't borrow other men's wives?

First Trooper:
Never mind that. You don't lend your wife as if she were a sled.

Inuk:
Oh ho ho, someone would rather lend his wife than his sled. You lend your sled, it comes back cracked. You lend your knife, it comes back dull. You lend your dogs, they come back tired and crawling. But if you love your wife, no matter how often you lend her, she always comes back like new.

Inuk:
[embraces Asiak]

Inuk:
Man, man, you don't understand?

Inuk:
I understand. But the other men live by the book, and there you are a murderer

Inuk:
But we must make them understand, otherwise Papik, Asiak and me cannot go into other men's igloos, that is OUR law.

Inuk:
We change the book, huh?

[to Asiak as he prepares to go out]

Inuk:
You bring the food

[Exits]

First Trooper:
[to Asiak] They'll never understand.

Asiak:
[as she exits the doorway of igloo] When you come to a strange land, you should bring your wives, and not your laws.