This lady is from Bethel. Years ago in the 1990’s, she and her younger sister were traveling by snowmachine to Bethel from one of the tundra villages. The sister was driving the snowmachine and she was riding in the back in the sled.
It was nighttime and the moon was full and bright, illuminating the frozen tundra. Stars shone in the sky and there was not a cloud in sight. One could see a long way on a night like this.
The lady riding in the sled had been wearing glasses but took them off because they kept fogging up so she tucked them away. The two women were about halfway to Bethel when suddenly her sister stopped the snowmachine and said to her, “Look!” Her sister was looking at something.
She looked in the same direction and saw a person, or someone, yaqiurluni, (waving its arms) from a distance away. Thinking it was their brother, the lady in the sled said to her sister that they should go to him. She didn’t say why she thought it was their brother.
But no, never, the sister said. She told her to put on her glasses and take another look. “And I saw a yugpall’er!” (A very large, tall, person-like creature.)
Aakegka, her heart flooded with the pain of fright and shock. She yelled to her sister, “Ayii!” (Go!) And off they went, fast.
