Island of the Blue Dolphins

by Scott O'Dell

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Chapter 5 Summary

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In the history of Ghalas-at, this night is the worst. At the beginning of the day, the tribe had forty-two men; now they have only fifteen, seven of whom are old. Every woman on the island has lost someone. The storm blows for two days; on the third day they bury their dead on the south side of the island. They burn the fallen Aleuts.

Ghalas-at is quiet for many days, the villagers leaving only to gather food and come back to eat in silence. Some in the tribe want to leave and go to an island called Santa Catalina, far off to the east, but others say there is little fresh water there. A council is held, and the villagers decide to stay. They also select a new chief, Kimki. He is very old, but he was a good man and hunter in his youth. That night he calls everyone together. He tells them the strong men who had snared food, found fish in the deep waters, and built canoes are now gone, and it is the women—who have never been asked to do such things—who will have to take the place of the men. There will be danger and there will be complaining in the village because of this. There will even be “shirkers” who refuse to work; these will be punished, for everyone must work or everyone will perish.

Kimki assigns work to everyone in the tribe. Ulape and Karana are to gather abalones, which grow plentifully on the rocks. At low tide, the girls gather them in their baskets and carry them to the mesa where they cut the red flesh from the shell, placing it on flat rocks to dry in the sun. It is Romo’s job to keep the abalone meat safe from the gulls and wild dogs. Dozens of the dogs once kept as pets left the village after their owners died and have now become part of the wild pack that roams the island. Soon the pets grow fierce and came back to the village only to steal food. At the end of each day, the girls and Ramos pack the food in baskets and take it to the village for safekeeping.

Other women are gathering apples (called tunas) from the cactus bushes, fishing, or netting birds. The women work so hard that the village is soon better provided for than when the men were doing those duties. Life should have been peaceful in the village, but the men begin complaining about the women taking over their jobs. Now that the women have become hunters, the men scorn them; so Kimki once again assigns jobs to each villager. Now only the men hunt and the women only harvest, and there is already plenty of food set aside for the winter. The real reason for the unrest in Ghalas-at is that the dead are still with them. There is too much remembering.

Karana remembers her tall father, a kind and strong man. After their mother died several years ago, she and Ulape tried to do their mother’s work. Now, without either parent, it is difficult for them—especially since Ramo is such a mischievous boy. It is a similar story for every family, and the memories of lost loved ones permeate the island. Once the food gathering has been done and the stores set aside, there is even more time to think and remember. Now a “sort of sickness” has come over the village. People sit and neither speak nor laugh.

Kimki calls the tribe together in the spring and tells him of the plan he has been thinking about all winter. He will take a canoe and travel to a country many days away, a country he had once been to as a boy. He will go and prepare a place for them, and he must go alone, for none of the men can be spared. Kimki will return for them. He leaves on a calm day, baskets of water and food for many days with him in the canoe. The entire village watches as Kimki paddles the canoe out of the cove, through the kelp beds, and out to sea. He waves one last time, and the villagers wave back before he disappears into the east. That night they sit around the fire and wonder many things.

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