Eskimo (1933)
Mala: Mala, aka Kripik
Photos
Quotes
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Mala, aka Kripik : My mother looks younger and fatter every day.
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Aba, Mala's wife : Our little seal cried because he could not go with you.
Mala, aka Kripik : A few more summers and the salmon will not mistake him for a frog.
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Mala, aka Kripik : People are glad to have a man and his wives join their village.
Stranger with Two Wives : A poor hunter is glad to remain.
Mala, aka Kripik : Unfold your tent. Our food is your food.
Stranger with Two Wives : One will some day show his thanks to the great hunter.
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Mala, aka Kripik : It seems one has been to the White Men.
Numaka : Yes. One was allowed to live on their floating house.
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Aba, Mala's wife : One could be even a greater hunter with a gun.
Mala, aka Kripik : Gods - with white skins...
Mala's mother : They are men with black hearts - - *I know*!
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Mala, aka Kripik : And how did one's wife meet death?
Urajak : One met a bear with an empty belly. My arrows were late.
Mala, aka Kripik : One has been wifeless long?
Urajak : Perhaps twenty sleepings...
Mala, aka Kripik : [Mala looks at Aba, his wife, and she nods her head yes] One surely needs a woman now...
Urajak : Yes. One desires to laugh again...
[Mala begins to stand up to leave]
Urajak : One leaves a woman in his igloo?
Mala, aka Kripik : A husband suddenly wishes to go hunting.
[Mala leaves and returns the next morning, Aba crawls out of the igloo]
Mala, aka Kripik : One thinks a certain man has laughed long enough.
[both Mala and Aba laugh]
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Mala, aka Kripik : [after Captain tells Mala to leave his wife onboard the boat] But he is a stranger. We just met!
Eskimo Interpreter : White man always right.
Mala, aka Kripik : But he didn't even ask me first!
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Mala, aka Kripik : A wife stays in my igloo?
Aba, Mala's wife : Somebody waits only for Mala.
[rub noses]
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Mala, aka Kripik : Somebody is not here?
Mala's Oldest Son : Somebody Sleeps.
Mala, aka Kripik : How is it possible?
Mala's Oldest Son : The White Men took her. Their gun put Sleep in her head.
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Mala, aka Kripik : A mother does not come to greet her son?
Numaka : Before the snow left, we built her The Last Igloo.
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Mala, aka Kripik : What use is a female who cannot sew skins?
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Stranger with Two Wives : Mala, one offers a woman to sew.
Mala, aka Kripik : One is pleased to accept.
Stranger with Two Wives : Iva is not fat but her needle is fastest.
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Mala, aka Kripik : Ravens! A caribou herd moves with the sun!
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Wise Old One : The hunter is troubled?
Mala, aka Kripik : A caribou became a man! Can a Wise Old One tell one what to do?
Wise Old One : Go ask the Spirits for a new name. Then he cannot follow you.
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Mala, aka Kripik : Kripik? Kripik. Kripik!
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Iva : Why should the great Mala need help from the Spirits?
Mala, aka Kripik : I am not Mala now. I am Kripik.
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Mala, aka Kripik : One wishes his wives in his own Kramat?
Stranger with Two Wives : No. One decides to leave them with Mala forever.
Mala, aka Kripik : What?
Stranger with Two Wives : Mala is the Great Hunter, he needs women, his children need women.
[rubs noses with both wives]
Stranger with Two Wives : One leaves to rejoin his tribe. One is happiest in making his friend happy...
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Iva : Always I shall work for you.
Mala, aka Kripik : Somebody has surely made a man happy again.
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Iva : Empty bellies do not matter - now that our hearts are filled again...
Mala, aka Kripik : One is tired from a little trip - like an old woman. But tomorrow one will become a hunter again...
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Iva : The White Men come to take Mala?
Mala, aka Kripik : They want me to swallow Sleep...
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Mala, aka Kripik : One must leave again. One will meet Sleep only as a hunter meets it.
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Mala, aka Kripik : The ice is going out. Soon there will be walrus to feed you.
Mala's Oldest Son : One will try to keep his harpoon swift.
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Mala, aka Kripik : But even if your bellies are torn by the Last Hunger - - never go to the White Men!
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Mala, aka Kripik : [to Iva] Always one shall remember the warmth of your breast.
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Mala, aka Kripik : Go back. The White Man's stain is not on you.
Iva : But Iva must follow. Even in the Long Sleep she wants Mala's arms around her.