Once a long time ago a hunter went out seal hunting in the ocean. He never used to have any luck catching seal, but this time, after paddling his kayak for a very long while, all of a sudden he heard a roaring sound. The roaring kept up as he searched for where it was coming from. He got closer until he saw what looked like a kind of "Sea-Bear." He went right up next to it and be was so close to the Sea-Bear that it raised its head up out of the water and roared and roared. Only when it began to settle down did the hunter notice it was wearing a shaggy coat. As he approached it, he could see its head also had long hair that was hanging down, and it raised its hairy head up and roared loudly. The hunter was wondering whether to go back or not. He wanted to go home because he was scared of it. But he paddled over to it instead, and as he did so the Sea-Bear went up on land where it lay down on its heavy coat. He decided then to hunt this animal.

So he speared it somewhere in its heavy coat. But as he speared it the Sea-Bear suddenly ran down to the water.

As it ran down, the hunter held on to his harpoon line with all his might. Somehow it managed to get into the water though and when he tried to pull it out nothing happened. It dived again but the hunter was holding on to the line for dear life. When he came up he pulled again, but still nothing happened to the Sea-Bear. It dived again, but he held on to it again. The hunter was just blowing up a seal skin float so it wouldn't sink when it came up again. He pulled and pulled but it dived again. The hunter was holding on to it and pulling it for all he was worth when it popped up from the water once more. It was then that he could see the Sea-Bear was turning into a seal. Then it dived again. He waited and waited until at last it popped up from the water once again. And again he could see it was really turning into a seal. It dived again four times and when it appeared the fourth time on the surface of the water it had completely turned into a seal. He kept holding on to it and finally he pulled it up into his kayak. Then he hauled it on shore and cut it up.

After he cut it up, he brought it home. And from that point on every time he saw an animal he caught it. Everytime he went seal hunting he would catch whatever he saw.

By

Michael Uttereyuk Sr. as told to Michael Uttereyuk Jr.