622 THE CENTRAL ESKIMO. 



they cauglit in snares. When the boy would come out of the liut 

 and join his playfellows, the men would laugh at him and tear his 

 onter garment. Only one man. whose name was Kiviung, was kind 

 to (lie yonni^ hoy; but he Cduhl not protect him from the others. 

 ( )ttrii I 111' I. 'Ill came to his graiuliiidtln'r crying and weeping, and she 

 always cdiisuled him and each time made him a new garment. She 

 entreated the men to stop teasing the boy and tearing his clothing, 

 but they would not listen to her prayer. At last she got angry and 

 swore she would take revenge upon his abusers, and she could easily 

 do so, as she was a great angakoq. 



She commanded her grandson to step into a puddle which was on 

 the floor of the hut, telling him what would happen and how he 

 should behave. As soon as he stood in the water the earth opened 

 and he sank out of sight, but the next moment he rose near the beach 

 as a yearling seal with a beautiful skin and swam about lustily. 



The men had barely seen the seal when they took to their kayaks, 

 eager to secure the pretty animal. But the transformed boy quickly 

 swam away, as his grandmother had told him, and the men continued 

 in pursuit. Whenever he rose to breathe he took care to come up 

 behind the kayaks, where the men could not get at him with their 

 harpoons; there, however, he splashed and dabbled in order to at- 

 tract their attention and h\re them on. Biit before any one could 

 turn his kayak he had dived again and swam away. The men were 

 so interested in the pursiiit that they did not observe that they were 

 being led far from the coast and that the land was now altogether 

 invisible. 



Suddenly a gall' arose; the sea foamed ami rnarnl and tlic waves 

 destroyed or U]isc1 Ihcii- frail vessels. After all scriiifil tu Ih' di-dwiicd 

 the seal was again tiansfurmed into the lad, wlm went linnii' witlinut 

 wetting his feet. There was nobody now to tear his clothing, all his 

 abusers being dead. 



Only Kiviung, who was a great angakoq and had never abused the 

 boy, had escaped the wind and waves. Bravely he sfi-nM' against 

 the wild sea, but the storm did not abate. After he had dritted for 

 many days on the wide sea, a dark mass loomed up through the mist. 

 His hope revived and he worked hard to reach the supposed land. 

 The nearer he came, however, the more agitated did the sea become, 

 and he saw that he had mistaken a wild, black sea, with raging whirl- 

 pools, for land. Barely escaping he drifted again for many days, but 

 the storm did not abate and he did not see any land. Again he saw 

 a dark mass looming up through the mist, but he was once more 

 deceived, for it was another whirlpool which made the sea rise in 

 gigantic waves. 



At last the storm moderated, the sea subsided, and at a great dis- 

 tance he saw the land. Gradually he came nearer and following the 



