When he said that, and a bunch of moss fell out of the sleeve instead of a nice tasty baby, Mi-e-rak-puk flew into a rage, and stormed about the place and stamped his foot until the earth shook and the seismographs recorded an earthquake. Ask your parents what a seismograph is.
Well, then the angry giant tore at the coat, and the moss fell out and got into his hair and eyes, it blew about so; when suddenly out tumbled the frightened little girl from the end of the sleeve. Mi-e-rak-puk picked her up by the back of her dress, and held her out with her legs and arms waving in the air, just as a person sometimes holds a kitten by the back of its neck.
“Ha ha!” roared the giant. “Now I’ve got you! But there’s so little of you, I couldn’t even make one good bite out of you.”
The little girl squirmed and kicked, and then she said, “O please, Mr. Giant, if you only won’t eat me, I will be good and work for you all my life, and keep your house clean, and do the cooking.”
So the giant carried her in and put her down on the floor.
“If you dare to try to run away, I will throw you into the soup,” he said, pointing to a huge stone pot.
Then he made her take off her little parka and put on one of his, which dragged about her feet so that she could hardly move at all without falling down. After that he tied her by a long rope made of walrus hide, which is very strong, so that she could go out of doors but could not possibly get away.
While the giant was off hunting one day, the little girl’s parents came looking for her, and wanted to take her home at once; but she told them that the giant would surely come after her and destroy the whole village, if they did that; so the parents planned a trick to fool the giant.
The father and mother hid behind some bushes, and when the giant came home with a seal on his back, the child began to cry pitifully.
“What is the matter with you?” said the giant. “You squeak like a mouse!”
“Oh, some of my old friends, the little children I used to play with, passed by picking berries, and they made fun of these clothes.” Then she cried some more.
“Well,” said the giant, “stop that silly squalling, and put on your own parka. You can’t get away from me anyway, for I keep you tied all the time. But give me my dinner first. I am hungry, and would eat you, if you were fat enough.”