Long Ago, There were no seals or walruses for Inuits to hunt.There were reindeer and birds, bears and wolves, but there were no animals in the sea. There was, at that time, an Inuit girl called Sedna who lived with her Father in an igloo by the seashore. Sedna was beautiful, and she was courted by men from her own village, and by others who came from faraway lands. But none of these men pleased her and she refused to marry.

One day, a handsome young hunter from a strange far-off country paddled his kayak across the shining sea toward the shores of Sedna's home. He wore beautiful clothes and carried an ivory spear.

He paused at the shore's edge, and called to Sedna, "Come with me! Come to the land of the birds, where there is never hunger and where my tent is made of the most beautiful skins. You will rest on soft bearskins, your lamp will always be filled with oil, and you will always have meat."

Sedna at first refused. Again he told her of the home in which they would live, the rich furs and ivory necklaces that he would give her. Sedna could no longer resist. She left father's home and joined the young hunter.

When they were out at sea, the young man dropped his paddle into the water. Sedna started with fright as he raised his hands toward the sky, and, before her eyes they were transformed into huge wings-- the wings of a loon. He was no man at all, but a spirit bird, with the power to become a human being.

Sedna sat on the Loon's back and they flew toward his home. When they landed on an island in the sea,Sedna discovered that the Loon had lied to her. Her new home was cold and windy, and she had to eat fish brought to her by the Loon and by the other birds that shared their island.

Soon she was lonesome and afraid, and she cried sadly, "Oh father, if you knew how sad I am, you would come to me and carry me away in your kayak. I am a stranger here. I am cold and miserable. Please come, and take me back."

When a year had passed and the sea was calm, Sedna's father set out to visit her in far-off land. She greeted him joyfully and begged him to take her back. He lifted her into his boat, and raced across the sea toward home.

When the Loon spirit returned, he found his wife gone. The other birds on the island told him that she had fled with her father. He immediately took the shape of a man, and followed in his kayak.
When Sedna's father saw him coming, he covered his daughter with the furs he kept in his boat.

Swiftly the Loon spirit rushed alongside in his kayak.

"Let me see my wife," he cried.

Sedna's father refused.

"Sedna," he called out, "come back with me! No man could love you as much as I do."

But Sedna's kayak flashed across the water. The Loon-man stopped paddling. Sadly, slowly, he raised his hands toward the sky and once again they became wings. He flew over the kayak that carried his Sedna away from him. He hovered over the boat, crying the strange, and sad call of the Loon. Then he plunged down into the sea.
The moment the Loon spirit disappeared, the sea waves began to swell up in fury. The sea gods were angry that Sedna had betrayed her husband.

The kayak rose and fell as huge waves lashed against it.Sedna's father was terrified, and to save himself he pushed Sedna overbaord.
Sedna rose to the surface and her fingers gripped the edge of the kayak. But her father, frenzied with fear that he would be killed by the vengeful spirits, pulled out a knife and stabbed her hands.

Then, it was said, an astonishing thing happened, perhaps because the Loon spirit or the sea spirits had willed it: the blood that flowed from Sedna's hands congealed in the water, taking different shapes, until suddenly two seals emerged from it. Sedna fell back into the sea, and coming back again, gripped the boat even more tightly. Again her father stabbed her hands and the blood flowed, and this time walruses emerged from the blood-red sea.
In desperate fear for his life, he stabbed her hands a third time, and the blood flowed through the water, congealed, and the whales grew out of it.

At last the storm ended. Sedna sank to the bottom of the sea, and all the sea animals that were born from her blood followed her.

Sedna's father, exhausted and bitter, at last arrived home. He entered his igloo and fell into a deep sleep. Outside, Sedna's dog, who had been her friend since childhood, howled as the wind blew across the land.

That night, Sedna commanded the creatures of the sea that emerged from her blood to bring her father and her dog to her. The sea animals swam furiously in front of her father's igloo. The tides ran higher and higher. They washed up the beach until they demolished the igloo, and they carried Sedna's father and her dog down to the depths of the sea. There they joined Sedna, and all three have lived ever since in the land of the waters.

To this day, Inuit hunters pray to Sedna, goddess of the seas, who commands all the sea animals. She is vengeful and bitter, and men beg her to release the animals that were born of her so that they might eat. by her whim, a man successfully harpoons seals and walruses or is swept away from land by the stormy seas. The spirits of the great Medicine Men swim down to her home and comb her hair because her hand still hurts. And if they comb her hair well, she releases a seal, a walrus, or a whale.