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Updated: May 12, 2025
Then he shuts his eyes tight until the Kalopaling is dead, otherwise the hunter's boat would be capsized and he be drowned. They dare not eat the flesh of the creatures, for it is poisonous; but the dogs eat it. One time an old woman and her grandson were living alone in a small hut. They had no men to hunt for them and they were very poor.
Every day the boy used to rise out of the water and sit alongside the cracks, playing, and watching the fish swim down below. Kalopaling was afraid someone might carry the boy away, so he fastened him to a string of seaweed, the other end of which he kept in his hand. The hunter and his wife watched for the boy to come out, and when they saw him they went toward him.
Once in a while, but not often, some of the Inuit took pity on them and brought them seal's meat, and blubber for their lamp. One day the boy was so hungry that he cried aloud. His grandmother told him to be quiet, but he cried the harder. She became vexed with him and cried out, "Ho, Kalopaling, come and take this fretful boy away!"
But before they could lay hold of him the lad sang out: "Two men are coming." And again Kalopaling pulled the string and the boy slipped into the water. However, the hunter and his wife did not give up trying. They went near the crack and hid behind the big blocks of ice which the tide had piled up.
At once the door opened and Kalopaling came hobbling in on his clumsy feet, which were made for swimming and not for walking. The woman put the boy into the large hood, in which he was completely hidden. Then the Kalopaling disappeared as suddenly as he had come. By and by the Inuit caught more seals than usual and gave her plenty of meat.
Then she was sorry that she had given her grandson away, and was more than ever sorry that it was to Kalopaling she had given him. She thought how much of the time he must have to stay in the water with that strange man-like animal. She wept about it, and begged the Inuit to help her get him back.
In summer they like to come out and bask on the rocks, but in winter they sit along the edge of the ice or else stay under water. They often chase the hunters, so the most courageous of the men try to kill them whenever they can get near enough. When the Kalopaling sits sleeping, the hunter comes up very cautiously and throws a walrus harpoon into him.
But the boy did not want to go back to live with his grandmother, and as they came near he called out: "Two men are coming; one with a double jacket, the other with a foxskin jacket." Then Kalopaling pulled on the string and the boy disappeared into the water. Some time after this the hunter and his wife saw the boy again.
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