How the Whale Became Land An Inupiat Story The Inupiat tell a story about the origin of the village Tikigaq, also called Point Hope, Alaska. It was there, in the beginning, that Raven Man lived. Raven Man was talking with his friends about an animal they all had seen in the ocean. No one could catch it. The next day—determined to try again—Raven Man got in his kayak, taking along his harpoon, and paddled north into the darkness. After a while Raven Man stopped paddling. He could hear an animal breathing—the ocean animal had surfaced from the water. Raven Man went closer, and he waited. And when the whale rose its head again to breathe, Raven Man struck it with his harpoon. The whale dived down into the water, but Raven Man sang to make it rise again. The whale float on Raven Man’s harpoon line went round and round as he sang, and the mask on the float sang back to Raven Man. Finally the animal surfaced, but it was no longer a whale. Instead, it came up dry—it was land. Raven Man had harpooned Tikigaq, the village, and the line between Raven Man and the whale became the spit of land connecting the mainland and Tikigaq. Where Raven Man’s harpoon struck the whale on the head the first sod house was created, made of whale ribs and earth. Larry Ulaaq Anvakana, Inupiat This sculpture illustrates the story of the origin of the village Tikigaq, the ancestral village of artist Larry Ahvakana, and the oldest village of the Inupiat. Raven Man is shown with his harpoon. Raven Man’s harpoon struck a mythical whale, which became Tikigaq, the land. Because the land was created from the whale, the land is considered a living being.