Sedna with Seal

Sedna is known as Niviaqsiaq, Talilajuq, Nuliajuk and by many
other names. She is the Sea Goddess who drives the walrus and seal
to the Inuit and ensures a bountiful hunt.
Sedna's story is one of the most popular Inuit Legends.

The Sedna Tales tell of a willfull, strong young woman and a great storm.
Long, long ago, when Sedna was a young girl she refused suitors from her
own clan, instead Sedna chose a mysterious lover who turned out to be a
sea bird in disguise. On hearing what had really happened, her father
set out to rescue his rebellious daughter.

Finding Sedna in the nest of the Sea Bird, he spirited her away. Father
and daughter began the long journey home in a skin boat.
The angry and abandoned seabird made a great storm to stop them.
Fearing the great power of the Sea Bird, the father decided to rid himself of his daughter.
Sedna was thrown into the sea by her fearful father. Trying to save
herself, she grasped the sides of the boat, pleading with her father to
pull her back into the boat. The selfish father, fearing for his own life,
swung his knife chopping off her fingers.

When Sedna's fingers fell into the water, the fingers became whales,
seals and polar bears, her nails became whalebone.
As the young woman sank into the sea she was transformed into the mystical
being known as Sedna, Mother of Oceans and ruler over all life in the Sea. 
The blessings of Sedna are still sought by the people of the North
who know it is She who sustains them.