The Grey Seal's Eye
The Grey Seal is a wondrous creature of playful nature and curious demeanor. It makes its living on small fish that school under the perpetually frozen northern reaches of the seas, the odd sleeping bird, and the slops and leaving from humans preparing their unnecessarily (to the seal's mind) complicated dinner. The enjoy sand and conger eels, as well as flatfish, but will pass skates and rays right on by unless desperate.
Thelittle bastards dog-sized marine mammals have hollow fur to help them float as well as further insulate their bodies from the cold of their northern oceanic homes. Grey Seals are true seals, in that they sport short flippers with which they move around like a caterpillar on land. Their coloring ranges from a mottled brown and gray to an almost charcoal black. Albino specimens have been seen, albeit rarely, among the Great Northwestern Population. They are fast, and sharp-eyed hunters whose well honed other senses are also always on the lookout for anything, food or foe.
Anything else is a toy!
To the farthest northern tribes of humans, those who make their homes on the year-round ice and hunt the glaciers for their family and tribes, the Grey Seal is a delicacy. Chock full of omega fatty acids, lean protein, and a well-balanced amino acid composition, the animal's meat is stored in a variety of tasty ways, but to the hunter goes the prize.
With a deft pluck-and-twist, the seals eyes come free, one after the other. Then, reverently using their ulu knives in an almost ceremonial gesture of thanks, the eyes are sliced open by the hosts (or by their spouse) with one quick slash of the curved blade. All pomp and circumstance finally satisfied, the hunter and the eldest host will gleefully suck and squeeze the tasty jelly out of the flexible orb, and nibble slowly at the bulk of the eye as they talk into the firelit night.
Until a hunter has 'been given the first eye', he is said to still be a little too wet behind the ears to rank with the elders. Until they harpoon and run down a Grey Seal on their own, the prospective hunter can not lead a hunt for the tribe, or village. When that honor is achieved, the young hunter's chest swells with pride and self confidence.
The
Anything else is a toy!
To the farthest northern tribes of humans, those who make their homes on the year-round ice and hunt the glaciers for their family and tribes, the Grey Seal is a delicacy. Chock full of omega fatty acids, lean protein, and a well-balanced amino acid composition, the animal's meat is stored in a variety of tasty ways, but to the hunter goes the prize.
With a deft pluck-and-twist, the seals eyes come free, one after the other. Then, reverently using their ulu knives in an almost ceremonial gesture of thanks, the eyes are sliced open by the hosts (or by their spouse) with one quick slash of the curved blade. All pomp and circumstance finally satisfied, the hunter and the eldest host will gleefully suck and squeeze the tasty jelly out of the flexible orb, and nibble slowly at the bulk of the eye as they talk into the firelit night.
Until a hunter has 'been given the first eye', he is said to still be a little too wet behind the ears to rank with the elders. Until they harpoon and run down a Grey Seal on their own, the prospective hunter can not lead a hunt for the tribe, or village. When that honor is achieved, the young hunter's chest swells with pride and self confidence.
History
A ritual and honor that was bred out of necessity so long ago nobody has been able to remember the first time someone honored the hunter this way for time out of mind.
Execution
Hunting a grey seal can be tedious and frustrating, but when you finally get a harpoon and a javelin or two into it, you get to chase it for another mile or so. Carrying a Coracle upon one's back in case the seal makes a break for the open sea, the hunter sets off to run down his prey.
Components and tools
The correct cold-weather clothing is absolutely essential for survival up here in the tundra, and nowhere is that more on display than when a hunter becomes trapped in a blizzard or other storm while tracking a kill. They will never stop running down their quarry, unless they lose the trail altogether.
Participants
The coming of age of any hunter, boy, girl, or walker on two paths, is a real moment in a young hunter's life. Receiving the first eye, from the hand of the host of the home, is a the greatest honor anyone could bestow upon another.
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