“Oh, some of my old friends, the little children I used to play with, passed by picking berries, and they made fun of these clothes.” Then she cried some more.
“Well,” said the giant, “stop that silly squalling, and put on your own parka. You can’t get away from me anyway, for I keep you tied all the time. But give me my dinner first. I am hungry, and would eat you, if you were fat enough.”
The little girl placed a whole cooked seal before him, which he devoured as though it were a dainty lamb chop, then she sang a little song, and he went to sleep. He snored so loud that the people thought it was thunder, which is very seldom heard so far north.
Softly slipping into his hand a tiny seal-skin pouch containing some “sleep charms” the witch-doctor had given her father, the little girl slipped out of the giant’s clumsy parka into her own small one. Taking a last look at the giant, to make sure that he was fast asleep, she ran out to her father, who cut the rope with his hunting knife. Lifting the little girl to his back, he started for the village as fast as he could go. The mother trotted along behind, keeping a sharp lookout over her shoulder to see if they were being followed.
Before they got out of sight, the giant snored so loud that the bag shook out of his hand and he awoke. Loudly he called for the little girl. No one answered. Muttering angrily, he rushed outside, and saw them hurrying away.
With a howl of rage, he strode after them, gaining rapidly upon them at every step.
When the little girl saw that he was catching up with them, she slipped down from her father’s back and struck the ground with her little fingers, saying some magic words that just came into her mind. Immediately a deep river flowed between the giant and her. It was so deep and wide that he could not cross it.
The little girl and her parents sat on their side of the river to rest, and watched the giant, who tried in vain to get across.
After a while he called out to the little girl to tell him how to get over.
She told him to get into a mussel shell, so he looked and found a mussel shell, but as soon as he touched it, the shell sank.