Hadjanek: The Snow That Comes

Before the snows, before the sea was white, old Hadjanek came out of his house, and he was hungry. He saw the dourad seal on the ledge before him.
He said, "Why do you come here?"
But this dourad seal said to him, "I take fish to eat, come and eat with me."
But Hadjanek was too proud for that.
He went down and began to fish for himself. He sat on the ledge and fished like a great white bear.

The dourad went into the water and he took the fish where he swam. And before the sun had moved he was filled with fish. But Hadjanek had taken only four.
The dourad came out of the water, and he was a man.
Hadjanek sat on the ledge by himself and he was hungry.
He said, "Maknanda, I can't live here in this cold, nor can I fish. Get some fish for me, I'm hungry."

The dourad was still, and the sun moved.
He said, "I don't want to get fish for you. I think you are always hungry."
"Then go and get the woman, Jiro, maybe she will fish for me."
The dourad went into the water and the sun moved again.
The waves came. Hadjanek was up in the field, looking for food. The waves went away again.

Then Hadjanek heard the calling of the seal and he went down to the water. The dourad came out of the water and he was a man.
He said, "I've brought Jiro, tell her what you want."
Hadjanek looked out on the land, but he saw no Jiro. So he called to her.
"Oh, Jiro is kind, they say. Jiro is beautiful too, but I don't see her."
And that was true, he couldn't see her.

He looked out on the land and out on the water, and still he saw no Jiro. All he could see was the head of a seal in the third wave, watching.
So he called again, "Oh, Jiro is kind, they say. And Jiro is beautiful too, but I don't see her. All I do see in the wave before me, is a little seal with a grey head, watching me. Why do I see no woman coming?"

The seal stayed between waves, but she sang to him:
"Kay roo yala, oh, yibadee gedanna. All I do see, walking before me. And then shall be, sorrow and weeping. Why do I need romance with you?"
Hadjanek heard her then, but he didn't understand.
So he called again, "Oh, Jiro, grey grows the east wind, blowing. Snow comes, and wind to fill my door. Cold is my house now, and poor. And fish nor a friend have I to keep me."

The seal stayed between waves and the sun moved behind her. But then she sang to him:
"Kay roo yala, oh, yibadee gedanna. Red grows the east wind, blowing. Snow comes and wind to fill your door. Would I stay in snow and wind when all the seas are warm?

Then Hadjanek knew that it was the Jiro seal and he was sad. But still he called to her:
"Oh Maknanda, listen to me. Before this land, before this water, another land, another water. Houses I see, like ships on end, with gold and silver, warm and shining. A ship I see, it comes to take me. Comes to take you too. Come with me."

And Jiro listened to him then. And the sun moved above her. She came into the next wave and she sang to him:
"Kay roo yala, oh, yibadee gedanna. After this water, after this land, another land, maybe water. I have seen a ship on end. There he be, the whale beside it. Nothing warm there, nothing shining. The ship with a window, sleeps in the sea.

Hadjanek knew then that his ship was gone, and he was afraid. And he got angry. He went out on the ledge and he said to her:
"Oh Maknanda, hunger and cold, these are cruel things. But I did ask for beauty and was given only mucker. When I ask for kindness, sorrow and drowning. There's no kindness in this land, no beauty. All I see now in the wave before me is an ugly seal with a grey head, laughing."

Jiro listened to him then and the sun moved before her. And she came into the last wave and she sang to him:
"Kay roo yala, oh, yibadee gedanna. I did not ask for beauty, nor was it given me. Sorrow I cannot give you, for it is sunk in the sea. I was not taught that kind of sorrow, only of hunger. I did not ask for a master, nor fish will I feed one.

When Hadjanek heard that, he was filled with anger. Then he took a great rock from the sea ledge and he threw it at the Jiro seal. And the rock did kill her. And then he sat down on the sea rock and wept. And the sun went away and it was cold.

The snow that comes, blowing down the bay, makes the islands blind. Man is born with snow in his eyes. The white bear fishes from the ledge, the seal beside him. The seal is blind, but the white bear is born without eyes. The seal will go wherever seas are turning, but the white bear will die in the North.