The skeleton woman

An inuit folktale

Text : proofreading by Marisa, thanks a lot.

Film by Edith Pieperhoff, June 1963, Duisburg, Germany.

No one remembered what she was supposed to have done to so offend her father,
but no one could forget what he did to her.
Down, down, into the icy depths she fell,
where the sea creatures feasted on her flesh.

A legend grew up that the bay was haunted and none of the local
fishermen would go near it.
But one day, a young man came in search of food.
He didn’t know what lay beneath the surface.
He thought he’d caught a great fish, but what he raised was something that terrified him.
Tangled in his line, she had no choice but to follow him.

Her claw caught a frozen fish ; hunger had returned.
She stumbled, trying to keep up.
His heart sank when he saw the safety of his igloo at last.
He wiped his tears and gave thanks to the spirits.
But the light and warmth of his home had drawn her in.

Slowly he realized that she’d be just a pitiful jumble of bones.
In spite of his kindness, she was afraid to trust him.
From his lonely dreams came a tear, and an old, burning thirst rose deep inside her.
The beat of his heart met her cold hand.
It became a drum to bring back the pulse into her life.
She sang, and called back the flesh onto her bones
and her body began to dance again.
Once she was whole, she gave him back his precious heart.

Heart to heart these two, skeleton woman and fisherman, became one, and lived out the rest of their lives together.

FROM DARKNESS

Nora Twomey

In French with raconte-moi

and with Carmen Samayoa.