“Because they were so poor the clothing of this orphan boy was made partly of rabbitskins and partly of the skins of birds.  When he was not busy helping his grandmother he, like other little boys, was pleased to go out and play with the other children of the village.  Some of the men of the village were very fond of teasing him, and some were even cruel to him, because of the poor clothing he had to wear.  Often the poor boy would return to the wigwam of his grandmother crying and weeping because the men of the village had not only teased him on account of his poor clothing but had almost torn his coat into pieces.  His grandmother entreated the men to stop teasing the poor boy, who could not help his poverty.  She would patiently mend his poor torn clothes and try to cheer him up with the hope that soon these foolish, cruel men would see how wrong it was to treat him thus.

“But they only seemed to get worse instead of better, and so the grandmother got very angry at last and determined to have it stopped.

“So she went off to Wakonda and told him all about it.  Wakonda was very busy just then, but he gave her some of his magical powers and told her what to do when she reached her home.

“When she arrived there she found her grandson almost naked from the abuse of the cruel men, who, finding that she was absent, had been more cruel than ever to him.  She then informed him that she was able now to put a stop to all their cruel actions.  So she told him to dive into a pool of water that was near at hand.  He did as she had commanded, and there he found an underground channel that led out into the great lake.

“When he came up to the top of the water in the lake he found himself transformed into a beautiful seal.  He at once begun playing about in the waves as seals are often seen doing.

“It was not long before he was seen by the people of the village, and, of course, the men were very anxious to secure this valuable seal.  Canoes were quickly launched and away the men paddled with their spears to try and capture it.  But the boy, now transformed into the seal, quickly swam away from them, as instructed by his grandmother, and so kept them busy paddling on and on farther from the shore.  When they seemed almost discouraged the seal would suddenly dive down, and then reappear in the water just behind them.  Then, before the men could turn around and spear him, he as suddenly dived under the water again.  The pursuit was so exciting that these cruel men did not notice how far out from land they had now come.  They did, however, after a time see their danger, for suddenly a fierce gale sprang up, and the waves rose in such fury that they upset the canoes and all of the wicked men were drowned.  When the old grandmother saw this she once more exerted the magical powers with which she had been intrusted by Wakonda, and calling to her grandson to return home he instantly complied with her request.  He speedily swam back to her, and she at once transformed him into his human form.