According to the legend, a powerful Inuit woman, sometimes remembered as Sedna or as an ancestral spirit of creation, looked upon the empty tundra and felt concern for the future of her people. From the frozen earth itself, she dug deep into the ground and called forth a new life. From that opening emerged the first caribou, strong and heavy, with rich meat, thick fur for warmth, and sturdy bones that could be shaped into tools. These animals were created to sustain human life, and at first, they feared nothing. They moved slowly across the land, unaware of danger.
This abundance soon led to imbalance. Because the caribou were too large and too easy to hunt, people took more than they needed. At the same time, the animals consumed vast amounts of moss and tundra plants, threatening to exhaust their own food supply. The caribou herds weakened, and the land itself began to suffer. Seeing this, the woman realized that generosity without limits could destroy both humans and animals. Creation needed restraint, not just abundance.
She turned her prayers to Kaila, the Sky Spirit, asking how balance could be restored. Kaila answered that life must be refined through challenge. From his sacred bundle, he released the first wolves, known as Amarok, into the world. Their purpose was clear. The wolves would hunt the slow, the sick, and the weak, leaving only the strongest caribou to survive and reproduce. Over time, the herds became faster, more alert, and healthier. The tundra recovered, and the caribou once again became a reliable source of food and clothing for the people.
From this relationship emerged a lasting Inuit teaching. “The wolf feeds the caribou, and the caribou feeds the wolf.” The Inuit did not hate the wolf, even though it competed with them for prey. Instead, they respected it as a teacher that preserved the future of the herd. The story reminds listeners that every creature has a role, and that survival depends on balance rather than domination. In the frozen North, life endures not through excess, but through harmony between hunter, hunted, and the land they share.