Excerpts from
The Cold Virgin and Other Tall Stories
By Jørn Riel
Being alone. Being totally alone on a coast inhabited by hardly anybody else, cut off from the rest of the world. To be dependent on one´s own ability, one´s own determination, to be one´s own master and one´s own servant. Most likely, Anton Pedersen had not anticipated all of that before he signed up as a trapper at the Company. Anton was only nineteen years old, and entirely different thoughts occupied his mind. Polar heroes inhabited his arctic world, indomitable men dressed in impressive furs. Men who risked their lives to explore the many blank areas on the map. His Greenland meant long trips with barking, panting dogs pulling the sled, dangerous hunts for bear and walrus, wonderful experiences with Eskimos, who were still untouched by modern society, and the type of friendship that made the participants in the expedition stick together until they entered the land of death. That was the type of man Anton had a burning desire to become.
Greenland was big, and unexplored areas still existed. But Anton thought time was scarce, and the blank areas were shrinking fast, so he was in a desperate rush to get there. However, as Anton only had a newly earned high school diploma and two silver medals from an academic rifle club, he soon discovered that in his case there were only two ways of getting to the Arctic. He could either go to the western part of Greenland to work for the Royal Trade, or he could go to the eastern part to work as a trapper. The western part did not sound too appealing to him. He could only get a position as a salesman there, and the chance of adventure would be negligible. The work would most likely be as boring as the title and, thought Anton, almost humiliating for a man with philosophical aspirations. So he chose the Company. As a trapper he would definitely get to live the life of a hero. He would go on long trips on dog sleds in a desert landscape of snow, and as far as he had gathered from the president of the Company, his life would approximately resemble that of the old explorers. Anton Pedersen became a trapper. He was enthusiastic about life, had a quick mind, and was ready for new impressions.
The beginning of his arctic adventure was indeed promising. Crossing the Atlantic Ocean aboard the Veslemari, a ship made for sealing, matched Anton´s grand dreams. The crew consisted of men from the West Ice who were old hands at the arctic lifestyle, and Olsen, the captain, told stories every night in the mess hall when the youngest shipmate had announced that the watch was over. Olsen had an enormous repertoire of stories. He had sailed in ice since he was twelve years old and was said to have the ability to look at a piece of ice and tell where it was from: the Arctic Ocean, the Kara Sea, the Greenland Basin or any other place. Olsen could also smell open sea, and wherever they were he could determine the ship´s whereabouts simply by tasting the sea - Olsen said.
Translated by Erna Maj
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