Sedna of the Sea
Retold by Brenda Sutton
[Image: "Sedna Chilled" and "Sedna Transformed" © Susan Seddon-Boulet]

Once there was a beautiful and extraordinary young woman named Sedna. She lived in the icy lands of the Arctic with her mother and father. Hers was a happy home where songs were sung at the end and beginning of every day. Her father was a talented hunter, skilled with harpoon and knife. Sedna's family always had food in their bellies and skins to keep them warm.

Sedna had no reason to ever want to leave her parent's home. Many Inuit men desired Sedna, but she refused every offer of marriage. Even when her parents felt that she should marry and make a home of her own, Sedna refused to follow their counsel.

And then one day a strong Inuit hunter strode across the ice. His hair and eyes were black as night. He sang and the winds stilled. This young hunter took one look at Sedna and swore that he would have her as his wife. He vowed that he would provide for Sedna as her father had provided for his family, with an unending supply of food. Sedna looked into his eyes and believed this promise. She agreed to marry him.

After their wedding, he took her far away to his island in the west. Standing on that rocky soil, he confessed to Sedna that he was no man. Flesh became feathers, black and sleek. Raven launched himself into the skies and wheeled in the heavens. Then he set out to hunt fish for his bride.

Sedna raged, but there was no recourse. She had vowed to be a faithful wife to a good hunter. Unfortunately, though Raven was a mighty hunter, his prey consisted only of fish. Herring, and mackerel, and tuna, and salmon. Fish. Every day. Fish. But fish provided no hides, so Sedna's clothing became ragged and tattered.

One day Sedna's father traveled the many miles across the sea by kayak to visit the newlyweds. He found his daughter crying all alone at the base of a rocky cliff, her dress patched and torn. His only child suffered in this deplorable marriage. "Mighty hunter, bah! How dare this miserable son-in-law leave my Sedna in rags, scrounging in low tide for sea weeds to weave a robe!" The father took Sedna, seated her in his kayak, and began to stroke for home.

As the sun began to set, Raven flapped his wings and headed homeward. Landing on the rocky cliffs, he called out for his wife, "Sedna! I am home! Bring me food and drink!" No answer came. He called out again, "Wife! I have returned from my hunting with fish. Attend me!" And no answer returned. Raven searched the island, finding no trace of his wife.

A seal in the harbor barked a laugh. "She is gone, Raven. Her father came and found her crying on the beach. He has taken her away."

Raven shrieked to the skies, and flew eastward. Every stroke of his wings churned the waves below. The flapping of his wings created a maelstrom. Massive waves thundered around the tiny kayak.

Sedna's father worried that the fierce storm would swamp the kayak and send them both into the frigid waters. Fearing for his life, he wrestled with Sedna. "I'm sorry, daughter, " he cried, "but your mother and your mother's people need me." So he cast his daughter overboard into the icy water. He hoped that, by this action, Raven would cease his pursuit, calming the waters.

Raven called out to Sedna, "Hang onto the kayak! I will carry you to safety!" He beat his fearsome wings harder and faste, racing to save his drowning bride, but the wind carried his cries away.

Poor Sedna swam back to her father's kayak, and clutched the side of the boat with her frozen hands. Fearing that she would tip the kayak over, her father took the paddle and smashed it down upon her fingers. Smash! And again — smash! Over and over, until Sedna's fingers severed from her hands and she fell away, back into the cold dark sea.

From her little finger sprang a crab. From her second finger, a salmon. From her third, a seal. From her fourth finger, a walrus. From her thumb...a mighty whale.

Sedna's body sank to the ocean floor. There she settled. There she slept. After many days, she opened her eyes...and screamed.

Sedna's scream resounded over the ocean to the islands of the Arctic. Shamans heard her cries and went seeking the source of this anguish. They found an angry goddess whose pain threatened to destroy the world. The shamans drew her form, having the head and torso of a woman and the tail of a fish. They sang to her and danced a dance of contrition for the pain caused by Raven and her father. They picked the crabs from Sedna's hair, and cleansed the filth from her body with fine sand. They prayed the prayers of the people, offering their promises to change their life stories. Thus comforted, they asked the Creator to forgive them for their lack of balance.

Now Sedna commands all of the inhabitants of the sea. The Inuit who depend upon these animals know that they must maintain a good relationship with Sedna. Appeasing her, when a seal is killed it must be given a drink of fresh water, not salt water. If the hunters fail, a shaman transforms into a fish and swims down to the bottom of the ocean to placate the Goddess of the Sea. The shaman combs out Sedna's tangled hair, braiding it and adorning it with combs of coral and shell. Sedna's anger soothed, she allows the nets and traps to fill. The animals willingly offer themselves up in her honor to provide food, clothes, and shelter for the Inuit.

And Raven flies alone.

Brenda Sutton is the publisher of Mythic Passages, Operations Director, Corporate Secretary, and Office Administrator for Mythic Imagination Institute. She is an award-winning singer/songwriter with the internationally reknown band Three Weird Sisters. She works in a support and consultant capacity for the non-profit music organization Interfilk, and maintains their website. She is freelance writer whose work has appeared in newspapers and magazines. She is also the mother of five, grandmother of two.

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