Inuit Goddess Sedna

Sedna named for the Inuit goddess of the deep seas. Becomes “Skeleton Women,” thrown from a cliff by her father, whom she had displeased. She sinks to the bottom of the sea, preserved as a skeleton, until a fisherman catches her and brings her up to the surface. In his attempt to flee from this frightening apparition, he only drags her along. Back at his home, he overcomes his fear of her. Feeling stirrings of compassion, he carefully untangles her bones and long hair, and then falls asleep. While sleeping, he cries a single tear. Skeleton women crawls toward this tear and eagerly drinks it up. She reaches into the fisherman’s chest, takes out his heart and beats upon it like a drum, calling out “Flesh! Flesh! Flesh!” As she sings, the flesh returns to her bones; life returns to her. She sings the clothes off the fisherman, replaces his heart in his body, and lies down next to him, “skin to skin.” They awaken the next morning, wrapped around each other tightly