“She eats nothing but limpets,” said the son.
Now North’s house was floored with ice, but it was warm. In front of his house it was sandy, and there were broad ebb-tide flats. After Southeast’s daughter had been there a while, she went out of the house for a short walk. As she went, she pulled off an icicle hanging from the wall of the house. Then North groaned. When she went in, she ate it. After a while she went out again, and pulled off another icicle. North groaned again.
North’s son said, “Stop doing that. Those are my father’s fingers.” She was eating North’s fingers.
When the tide was out, North’s son said, “Let us go down now and get limpets.” While they were there, a noise was heard from North’s house. He was angry because his daughter-in-law had pulled off some of his fingers.
So North began to blow. North’s son called at once to his wife, but she said, “Wait!” Even while she said so, the place where she stood became icy. Then the tide began to come in. When it reached her knees, the snow fell. Then North’s son left her. The ice formed all around her. Where North’s house stood the snow fell so thickly that it looked like smoke.
Then the woman cried to her father. She was not disturbed because she thought her father would save her. She sang, “Father, I am cold! Father, I am cold! I want to go to my father!”
Even at once came the Southeast wind, “Hi-hi-hi-hi-hi-hi,” making it rough right up to the shore. She began to sing another song. “The wind blew upon me! The wind blew upon me! The wind blew upon me from Cape St. James!”
Haida House
The design, which covers the end of the house, shows the thunder bird and the killer whale
From “Report of U. S. National Museum,” 1895
Now she had waited two days. Then she felt of the water. It was slightly warm. Her father had heard her voice. He had dressed himself up and set out to see her. His daughter was still singing. While she sang, North stopped blowing.