When left alone in the cold without any clothes on, the little fellow started to run quickly around and around on the floor to keep warm.
Now in that village lived a man and wife who were very sad because they had no children of their own. These two people loved the little ones very dearly, and were good to all the children in the village; and the children were very fond of them in return for all their kindness.
Long after the chief had gone away from the kasga, and the little boy had run about until he was too tired to run any more, and could no longer keep warm, that kind man who loved little children came on top of the hut, put his head through the window hole, and called, “Hello,” and the little boy answered, “Hello.”
The man said, “You are alive yet?” Then he put his head through the window hole and handed a bundle of things to the boy.
“I have brought you some food and some water in a bag, a little oil and a good warm sleeping-bag. Put the sleeping-bag under the floor, and get into it and keep warm.”
When the kind man had gone away, the boy put the sleeping-bag through the hole which is in the middle of the floor of every kasga, then, after eating some of the food and drinking some of the water, he fell fast asleep inside the nice, warm bag.
Early in the morning the boy crept out of the hole on to the floor, like a little rat without any fur, and began to run around and around again, to keep warm. It was still dark because the sun is lazy, way up there in Alaska, and gets up very late. It was cold, too, icy cold.
With the first rays of daylight came the uncle’s footsteps on top of the kasga; then the surprised and angry face peering down at the boy through the window hole.
Now the chief had come up there expecting to find his nephew frozen stiff, and was not at all pleased to see him skipping about all bare and so lively. It made him more angry than ever, and he called down in a big, fierce voice, “You are alive yet?” as though he could not believe his own eyes.
The boy looked up without a word, and kept on running; then the uncle called him all kinds of names, and said, “You try to keep alive as hard as you can. This is the last day for you. I’ll fix you.” Then he went away.