38 THE LIFE OF E. j. PECK 



' The inhuman father then took up a hatchet and 

 chopped off the tips of his daughter's fingers up to the 

 first joints. These finger ends dropped into the sea 

 and turned into seals. 



" Again the girl gripped the gunwale of the boat, 

 and again her father brought down the hatchet 

 upon her fingers and severed the second joints. 

 These mutilated fragments also dropped into 

 the sea and became bearded seals. 



" Once more, in despair, the wretched Sedna seized 

 the boat, and for the third time the unnatural 

 father let his weapon fall and cut through the last 

 joints. The stumps of the fingers in a similar manner 

 were turned into whales. 



"The fulmers, supposing that Sedna was now 

 drowned and settled with, caused the wind to cease ; 

 and when the storm was thus suddenly stilled the 

 father took his maimed child back into the boat. 



" But Sedna's soul was now filled with hate of 

 her father, and she nursed her purpose of revenge 

 for all his diabolic cruelty. After they returned 

 to their own land, she took an opportunity, when 

 her father was asleep, to set a pack of hungry dogs 

 upon him, who devoured the soles of his feet. 



" In a fierce wrath the father cursed Sedna, him- 

 self, and the dogs, whereupon the earth opened and 

 swallowed up Sedna, her father, and the dogs, and 

 ever since they have lived in the lower parts of the 

 earth." 



