Author’s Note: The story of Atungait left the biggest impression on me. Not because it was profound or especially beautiful in some way, but because this guy just ran into a village of disabled people and stole their toy for apparently no reason. No explanation was given. He did nothing with the toy in the story. I’m so confused. So I decided to attempt to write from the perspective of one of the villagers. For your reference, here is the explanation provided for ajangat: "a game played with rings and a stick; the 'ring and pin game.'"
(Inuit artwork from Wikimedia Commons)
We were surprised to get a visit from Atungait and his wife. Happy, even! Not many people would choose to spend time with a village of disabled folk. We are seen as the lesser people in society, so it’s rare to have able-bodied visitors. What we thought was a blessing turned out to be a disaster.
Atungait and his wife generally kept to themselves. They would come out of their tent for a bit when we all played ajangat. Atungait would stare at our ajangat with hunger in his eyes. Strange that he would be so obsessed with our toy, but I suppose it was very beautiful. As we’re all disabled, there is nothing we can do all day but play ajangat. Our ajangat means everything to us, and the copper one we have now is the village treasure. We have plenty of food and plenty of fur to keep us warm, yes. But without amusement life is dull, so although it is just a toy our ajangat means a lot to us.
One day while we were playing, Atungait stood to the side watching again with that look in his eyes. It made me uncomfortable. I told one of my friends about the way he looked at it. Instead of being worried, my friend became excited. He was proud that such a fine, able-bodied warrior would admire our treasure. I tried to tell others but they all had the same reaction. And so I gave up on my warnings and the game carried on.
We were all outside playing ajangat (as ususal) when we heard loud cracking sounds. We went off in a hurry to find the source of the noise, leaving the copper ajangat on the ground. Atungait was standing surrounded by the remains of our broken sledges with a hammer in his hand. He had destroyed our sledges! Upon seeing us, he immediately ran in the direction we had just come from. We followed and saw him snatch up our copper ajangat before jumping on to his own sledge and riding off into the distance. Many tried to follow, but to no avail. Our treasure, our only form of entertainment, was taken away from us.
One day while we were playing, Atungait stood to the side watching again with that look in his eyes. It made me uncomfortable. I told one of my friends about the way he looked at it. Instead of being worried, my friend became excited. He was proud that such a fine, able-bodied warrior would admire our treasure. I tried to tell others but they all had the same reaction. And so I gave up on my warnings and the game carried on.
We were all outside playing ajangat (as ususal) when we heard loud cracking sounds. We went off in a hurry to find the source of the noise, leaving the copper ajangat on the ground. Atungait was standing surrounded by the remains of our broken sledges with a hammer in his hand. He had destroyed our sledges! Upon seeing us, he immediately ran in the direction we had just come from. We followed and saw him snatch up our copper ajangat before jumping on to his own sledge and riding off into the distance. Many tried to follow, but to no avail. Our treasure, our only form of entertainment, was taken away from us.
Hey Lily! Your storytelling post for this week was so much fun to read! It is awful that someone would steal from defenseless other! I thought that your remake of the story using the view point of one of the villagers was very well written and entertaining to read! Great job transforming the story in a creative way and have a wonderful weekend!
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ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your retelling this week! I cannot believe that Atungait would steal from the disabled villages, granted he could have probably found a better toy elsewhere, but I like how you added details that were missing from the original tale. It also frustrates me when I read a story and an event occurs with no explanation. Good job this week!
I really liked your story! It was well written and had an unusual plot. I’m glad that you added the author’s note at the beginning, because I think I would have been really confused as to why Atungait was doing what he was doing and what ajangat was. And it really is so strange that the able-bodied person just randomly decides to rob a bunch of disabled people. Talk about cruel! It’s too bad that the narrator wasn’t able to prevent it from happening, even though he tried to warn everyone.
ReplyDeleteI've never read the original but I'm very glad you changed it. How selfish of him to destroy the one thing that makes them happy. It goes to show that despite them viewing him as "better" than them. In reality he is far below them. I like how you told the story in the villager’s point of view. Good job!
ReplyDeleteHi Lily. Although I did not read the original story I can see what you mean by the story being confusing. How cruel of someone to go to a village of disabled people and steal someone precious to them. I think you did a great job of retelling the story even though this story seemed challenging!
ReplyDeleteAtungait is a bully! Who does that to a village of disabled people?! And why?! I enjoyed your retelling of this story and I really like how you told it from a villager's point of view to try and give some perspective to this odd story. I also really liked your reasoning for retelling this story haha. Overall, good job!
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate that you took your confusion and frustration with this story, and turned it into one of your storytelling posts! I think that is a great idea! I might even use it myself someday! I read that unit too and this was actually one of my least favorite stories because of this part. I couldn't figure out why they he had to be so awful! I also like how you put your author's note at the very beginning. Like in the un-textbook! It sets us up for what we are about to read, which I like.
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