The two women who found freedom

ACTIVITY 1:

Read the story by the writer Angela Carter and do the following activities: 
 
The two women who found freedom 
Innuit 
Once there lived a man who had two wives. His name was Eqqorsaq. And he was so jealous of these wives that he would keep them locked up in his hut. He would thrash them if they did not behave themselves. Or he would thrash anyone who happened to lay eyes on them. He killed a man named Angaguaq because rumour had it that Angaguaq had slept with one of the wives. Which he hadn’t done. Eqqorsuaq was a somewhat mean-spirited person.  

Finally, the two women got a bit tired of their husband. They left him and fled along the coast until they were all worn out and hungry. When they could go no further, they saw the huge carcass of a whale washed up on a beach. They crawled in through the mouth and hid inside this carcass. The smell was foul, but better a foul smell than another thrashing. 

Now Eqqorsuaq was in a furor. He searched high and low for his wives. He questioned everyone in the village and threatened not a few. But no one seemed to know about the missing women. At last, the man paid a visit to the local witch doctor, who told him: 

‘You must look for the body of a big whale which is on the Skerry of the Heart-Shaped Mountain’ 

And so Eqqorsuaq set out for the Skerry of the Hear-Shaed Mountain. He sang old drum-songs all along the way, for he looked forward to the pleasure of thrashing his wives. At last, he arrived at his destination and saw the dead whale. But the stench was so awful that he could get nowhere near it. He called out again and again for the women, yet there came no answer. Perhaps they were no longer here. Eqqorsuaq camped on the beach for three days and then went home, determined to thrash the witch door.  

Meanwhile the two wives lived on inside the whale. They had grown so accustomed to the stench that it did not bother them. They had plenty of food to eat, however rotten, and a warm place to sleep. It is said that they were very happy in their new home. 

thrash: assotar

fled: passat de flee 'fugir de'

foul: repugnant

threaten: amenaçar

stench: pudor

crawl: gatejar

- Exercise 1: Match the phrasal verbs underlined in the text with their definition: 

• To make someone extremely tired __________ 
• To start a journey _________ 
• To make a building or room safe by locking the door and fastening the windows _________ 

• To appear on land because the ocean or a river or lake left it there _____________ 
• To feel pleased and excited about something that is going to happen _____________ 
• An occasion when someone is asked to come to a person’s home or to a particular place in order to do a job, help someone, etc. __________ 

- Exercise 2: Answer the following questions: 

1. Why did the women flee their home? 
2. Why did they decide to stay inside the whale? 
3. Who told the husband where his wives were? 
4. Why didn’t the husband find the women? 
5. How many days did the husband wait at the beach? 

- Exercise 3: Write a summary of the story in 5-10 lines.