One of the many strange Eskimo phenomena is the disappearance
ofchildren. In such inclumate conditions one can easily
understand how this can happen.
However, Eskimo mythology speaks of children being
stolen by the spirit of the weeping seal,
which is half seal and half woman,
and who, because she can have no children,
must steal any she finds unguarded.
Pop! the bladders went. Hunting season had been good
and there were manybladders to burst.
The band played gleefully,
eager to get to the next peak in the music so all could
explore the inflated bladders the creatures which had
fed and clothed the Eskimos all year.
Finally, the music ended and everyone immediately ran
toward the sea, eager to throw the burst bladders through
a hole in the ice so the souls of the animals could
return to the sea and be caught again next year.
Because of the excitement,
an important Eskimo rule has been broken.
Achild was left unattended.
Tears froze on his cheeks as he stood crying behind
an igloo. Suddenly, there was another sound in the
wind. A whistle, a bark,. a growling whine filled the
air around the terrified child, whirling him around in a flurry of ice.
The Eskimo soon returned to discover that the child
was missing, andrealized the folly of their over-excitement
at the bladder festival. The Angakok started a chant
to halt the fleeing spirit,
but he knew the chant would only delay the spirit of
the Weeping Seal's complete takeover of the child.
They would have to go to "the world beneath the world" and fight.
Several dog sleds sped away across the tundra,
whips cracking at the barking dogs.
On the lead sled the child's father and the Angakok
crouched, defending themselves against the blast of
Arctic wind. The ride was long and tiring.
As they neared their destination,
the men sang a chant and the Angakok spokea spell.
A dog which was brought before him was decapitated,
and the head, still containing the dog spirit,
was quickly taken down to the neather world,
while the other dogs, smelling the blood fo their own
kind, howled into the cold night.
The Angakok raised the god head into the air and called
forth its spirit to battlethe Weeping Seal and force
it to return the stolen child.
The two spirits met and intertwined in the air.
With the Northern Lightsthey danced and sang,
and then they disappeared slowly as the men returned
to their village in hopes that the child would be there.