The scene opens on a sheet of ice. The sky is a frosty winter-day blue.
Dwarf 1: Boy, do you smell that?
Nakasuk: Smell what?
Dwarf 2: Smell the stench of bear. The air is alive with its salty, sweaty odour, it tingles my nostrils like frosty air. Ah.
Dwarf 1: We are downwind from him. He doesn’t know we’re here, we have the element of surprise. Boy, look around for his paw prints.
Nakasuk looks around the snowy ground.
Narrator: Dwarves have an amazing sense of smell, but very poor eyesight. They rely on the orphans they adopt as seers, to help them hunt. The dwarves, in return, treat the human children like their own, and raise them with love through the harsh, dark winters.
Nakasuk: It looks like he is heading further out, following the breathing holes with the East wind.
[Subtitles: Breathing holes are made by seals clawing through the thin ice in late autumn and early winter.]
Dwarf 1: He is close enough to hunt. Come, Nakasuk, see your first bear kill. We will eat fresh tonight.
Nakasuk: Is it not too late to hunt a bear? Will it not be all skin and bones?
Dwarf 2: Nonsense, Boy. Now is the time the bears are at their fattest, their primest. They are preparing themselves for a long winter burrowed into the snow, they have feasted all summer and autumn. And as the cycle goes, now it is our turn to feast.
Dwarf 1: Let the dogs go. They will find the bear, and keep him at bay until we arrive.
The sound of dogs barking and running.
Narrator: Not only are dwarves the caretakers of orphans, but they raise puppies who might otherwise be drowned when the litter is too large. The dwarves make no distinction between them, dogs are raised with the same love and respect as their human fosters, and when their breath freezes, they all sleep together around the same fire.
Scene 2:
Dwarves and Nakasuk come upon a frightened lemming, encircled by barking and growling dogs.
[Subtitles: Lemmings are small arctic dwelling animals]
Nakasuk: That is no big bear, that is a lemming! There is not enough meat on it for even my own supper, we will not be eating fresh tonight. You have misled me!
Dwarf 1: We have done no such thing, Nakasuk. For the many years you have lived with us, we have never lied to you, and we never will. That, I can assure you.
Dwarf 2: What you see in front of you is a bear, if I squint, I can make out its strong, muscley back and it's beautiful snowy coat. I knew from the smell of it that it was a big bear, if there is one thing I can rely on in my life, it is my nose.
Nakasuk: But I tell you, that is not bear! That is a lemming.
Dwarf 1: Listen to what we say, Boy. Go on, make your first bear kill. We will wait patiently.
Nakasuk: I will not kill the lemming, it’s pointless, we don’t need the meat.
Dwarf 2: But you have no idea what you talk about. Hear what we say – make your first bear kill.
Resigned, Nakasuk walks forward and steps on the lemming’s neck. It cracks under his boot.
Nakasuk: There, are you satisfied with what I have done?
He holds up the lemming and shakes it.
Dwarf 2: Very well, Boy, very well.
The dwarf smiles.
Dwarf 1: Now go home while we clean up the bear. We will return before nightfall with meat for all, tell the dwarves at camp to prepare for a feast.
Narrator: It is a dwarf tradition to have a feast with every kill, especially a boy’s first big kill. The dwarves, with their poor eyesight, are people that love to sing and tell stories late into the night.
Nakasuk, grumbling: And what a feast a lemming will be.
He walked off scene.
Dwarf 1: Nakasuk is a silly boy. Despite his good vision, he sometimes fails to see what is right in front of him.
Dwarf 2: It’s not exclusive to him. It seems all humans lack some of the sense that us dwarves have
Dwarf 1: It’s for the better, I believe. If they were to sense everything that we could sense, they would go mad. [They may be tall, but I do sometimes wonder if their heads are smaller]
Dwarf 2: I don’t think that is the case. They simply have different heads than us, which is what causes their funky smells.
Dwarf 1: They do smell odd, don’t they? I prefer the smell of dogs to humans, in all honesty. The stench of humans is tart, like unripe blackberries.
Their conversation fades into the background as they cut the lemming.
Scene 3:
The lights open on Nakasuk, sitting on a fur rug. The dwarves enter, carrying pieces of a big polar bear.
Dwarf 1 + 2, sing-songily: The bears, the bears, they’re fit to hide, they’re fit to eat, it’s the gift of the Creator for a late fall feast.
They drop the meat in front of Nakasuk
Nakasuk: Where did you find the bear?
Dwarf 1: Silly boy, the bear was there all along. You killed it!
Nakasuk: No, I killed a lemming! You lied to me, and saved the bear for yourselves to kill. It was probably on the other side of the bay the whole time.
Dwarf 2: Child, despite living with us for your whole life, you still have a closed human mind.
Dwarf 1: We know what we hunt, and while you might not always see it, the rest of us do.
Dwarf 2: There are no tricks here – it is just the way of the dwarves to really see what the Creator places in front of us
Nakasuk: I don’t believe your lies.
Dwarf 2 to Dwarf 1: See, I told you the boy wouldn’t believe us. He only sees with his eyes and not with the rest of his senses.
Dwarf 1: Sometimes I wonder if there’s any hope for him at all.
Dwarf 2: I ask myself the same thing.
Dwarf 1: Do you think we can convince him to believe the truth?
Dwarf 2: I do, Nakasuk is a smart boy. With enough proof, he will see the right way.
Nakasuk: And what proof might you two have?
Dwarf 1 looks at Dwarf 2:
Dwarf 1: How did you kill the bear?
Nakasuk: I killed the lemming by cracking its neck.
Dwarf 2: So we will show you the bear’s neck.
He pulls out a spine with a broken vertebrae from his packsack.
Dwarf 2: See, do you notice the cracks along here.
Nakasuk: Yes.
Dwarf 1: How do you think they happened?
Nakasuk: By using a lot of force… but this doesn’t prove anything. You could have just stabbed the bear and clubbed its neck to trick me.
The dwarves pull out their spears and clubs
Dwarf 1: Look, do you see any blood?
Nakasuk: No.
Dwarf 2: But our knives are bloody from cutting up the bear. Do you believe us now?
Nakasuk ponders the evidence for a moment.
Dwarf 1 to Dwarf 2: I think we’ve convinced him.
Dwarf 2: Do you? Nakasuk is a stubborn boy.
Nakasuk: You’ve convinced me. I killed the bear, but when I killed it, it was a lemming. And I don’t know how that works, if it was by the magic of dwarves, or by the power of the Creator, but it happened and that’s all I can say for sure.
Dwarf 2: You’re starting to see, my boy. Maybe all you see is all humans will ever see, maybe with age, you will be blessed with some Dwarvish knowings.
Dwarf 1: Now, I believe that is a reason to feast. A boy’s first bear kill, and the first time he opens his eyes. Let’s eat.
The End.
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