TALES TOLD BY THE ESKIMO 63 



shore. Then the kayaks were launched, and each 

 Eskimo began to paddle furiously in the direction 

 of the young seal, which could see the cruel-looking 

 harpoons always carried by the hunter. Nearer 

 and nearer they came, then the baby seal slipped 

 gently from the ice and disappeared beneath the 

 surface of the cold green sea. Presently he came 

 up to breathe, and at the same time noticed with 

 pleasure that all the kayaks were being swiftly 

 paddled in his direction. So diving once more, he 

 headed for a most dangerous piece of water, where 

 heavy green seas were breaking, and huge pieces of 

 ice were floating about, dashing together with a 

 crunching noise. Excited by the chase, these 

 Eskimo hunters had no thought of danger, and so 

 little Kiviung, in the form of a seal, led them into 

 the perilous position from which no one escaped. 

 Once among the billows and blocks of ice, these 

 frail kayaks, made of skin stretched over a frame of 

 whalebone . were tossed about and dashed against 

 the ice until not one of them remained on the 

 surface, and the hunters, after a few feeble struggles 

 in the ice-cold water, sank down and down into the 

 regions inhabited by fierce Kalopaling. 



The agile little seal used his tail and strong 

 flappers to good advantage, and presently landed 

 safely at a point where the old witch, his grand 

 mother, was waiting to restore him to human form. 

 This severe lesson had a good effect on the remain 

 ing inhabitants of the Eskimo encampment, and 

 never again were they inclined to be cruel and 

 unkind to those who were weaker and poorer than 

 themselves. 



