Word: nukashook
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Although she was but 45 years old, Nukashook had about reached the end of her days. In the tiny village of Eelounaling on Boothia Peninsula, one of Canada's northernmost Eskimo settlements, children regarded her as a cross and ugly old hag. The "spitting sickness" (tuberculosis) had long plagued her and her teeth were gone. One day last summer, while she lay coughing in her tepee, Nukashook called to Eeriykoot, her 21-year-old son. "I am suffering too much," she said. "Put up the rope so I may kill myself...
Eeriykoot, though he knew all about his people's custom of mercy killings, protested. "This is against the white man's wish," he said. Replied Nukashook:"Then I must do it myself." Faced with this resolution, Eeriykoot gave in. He persuaded his friend Ishakak to help. They tied the ends of a rope to the ridge pole of the tepee, then sat Nukashook close to the rope. The old woman placed her head in the loop, and her son pushed down on her neck until she was dead...
...over Ice. Last winter a white trapper who heard the story reported it to Mounties at Cambridge Bay. By plane and dog sled, two policemen went up to investigate. They found the guileless Eskimos-including Eeriykoot and Ishakak -perfectly willing to talk. The police arrested the two friends, exhumed Nukashook's body for an inquest...
...account of the trial. It took place in a Quonset hut normally used for recreation. To the black-robed judge (who sat under a movie screen), the black-robed lawyers (who sat at a ping-pong table) and the parka-clad jury, Eeriykoot and Ishakak again explained how Nukashook had died. The defense argued that assisted suicide was merely part of the Eskimo's way of trying to "match his harsh environment." But the judge said the excuse was unacceptable. Eeriykoot was found guilty; Ishakak was acquitted...
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