great many of these
creatures, and they often sat in a row along the ice floes, like a
flock of penguins. Their numbers have become less and less, till now
there are but a few left.

Anyone standing on shore may see them swimming under water very
rapidly, and occasionally they rise to the surface as if to get air.
They make a great noise by splashing with their feet and arms as they
swim. 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. 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. 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!"

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.

Some of them said they had seen the boy sitting by a crack in the ice,
playing with a whip of seaweed, but none of them knew how to get him.
Finally one of the hunters and his wife said, "We may never succeed,
but we will see what we can do."

The water had frozen into thick ice, and the rise and fall of the tide
had broken long cracks not far from the shore. Every day the boy