the males next to the water, the females further inside the cave. My father’s grandfather—we did say that he was Grandpa Selim—didn’t make a peep. Not, that is, until he gently raised the fur coat that the female sleeping next to him had left by her side. Taking it to his corner, he hid it beneath the sand. With the first light, the seals woke up and,donning their furs, plunged into the water by ones and twos. But what about the maiden whose fur Grandpa had stolen? She searched high and low, and when she couldn’t find it she cried out to the other seals to take her with them. But they paid no attention, and the maiden fell to sobbing piteously. She was very beautiful, with flaming red hair, eyes like two placid blue lakes and legs like a pair of gushing springs. Winning her confidence by whispering sweet nothings, Gramps brought her back to the village (Dangir) in his boat and made her his wife. She bore him two lovely children. As for the maiden’s coat, Grandpa Selim hid it under the floorboards of the house. But being old, they cracked, and when the maiden caught sight of her coat, she snatched it up and ran to the shore where she donned her fur and plunged into the water...”