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On a dogsled, an Eskimo hunter is controlling the direction and going forward smoothly on the snow .
The sled is carrying the hunter with a beard in the white furry hat, as well as a dead seal . Some fish in different sizes are in a string, waggling by the side .
After climbing over a few snow dunes, the hunter sees a house made of ice . He pulls the rein . The sled slides on the snow for a few meters and stops steadily .
The hunter rubs off the ice crystals on his beard with his thick gloves and drags the dead seal down the sled . An adult seal can weigh 180kg, and the weight of this young seal is at least over 100kg . If he didn’t have a sled, he would have a hard time bringing the seal back after killing it .
The hunter lifts the woolen door curtain of the ice house . An Eskimo teenage girl stands up, “Dad, you catch a seal today?”
The hunter puts down the seal . Looking at his daughter Tess’s glad little face, he rubs her hair . Winter has gone and there will be enough food for them . His daughter will no longer be starved . How can he not be happy?
Tess runs out and hugs the sled dog . She comes back with the string of fish . Food is too much, so she buries the fish under the snow to keep them fresh and clean .
Tess is only ten years old but she has already started helping out her family . She skillfully butchers the seal along with her father .
“Dad, look!” While washing the seal meat, Tess finds a bead covered in blood in its stomach . She rubs the bead on the snow and finds that it is a round and shiny pearl . She holds it up and shows it to her dad .
The hunter takes the pearl and looks at it . A pearl like this is rarely seen at the North Pole . God knows what the seal has eaten .
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Since Tess likes the pearl, he gives it to her to play with .
The hunter feeds the dog with the seal’s viscera and comes back to enjoy the meat with his daughter .
It is hard to make a fire in this ice land . Thus, the Eskimos always eat raw meat for a living . Recently, with the development of society, few Eskimos still live in ice houses and eat raw meat except for those who live at the North Pole . The hunter and his daughter are two of the few people who stick to this traditional way of living .
After eating, Tess lies on the blanket and plays with the bead .
Some Eskimos live nearby, and they always help each other . The hunter sends most of the rest seal meat to his neighbors .
Tess is alone in the ice house . She is tossing the bead and enjoying the fun . The Eskimos came to the North Pole from Asia thousands of years ago, and they look like typical Mongolians: short figure, yellow skin, and black hair . Tess herself actually looks like a girl in the State of Huaxia .
The hunter is back . Seeing that Tess is still playing with the bead, he is glad that she likes it so much . Tess’s mother died while giving birth to her . All these years, he raised her with goat’s milk and went hunting to keep her stomach full . However, he really had no idea how to play with a teenage girl… Even the sled dog was able to make the little girl happier than he could .
There is no night in summer at the North Pole . It is the end of winter and the beginning of summer, and the night comes late with snowstorm .
Since they live in an ice house, they can’t make a fire at night or else the house may melt down . The hunter covers Tess with a thick blanket made of bear skin . He is so tired because of all the hunting today and he falls asleep soon at the other corner of the house .
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Out of no reason, Tess is having a hard time sleeping tonight though she is full .
She is holding the bead she found in the seal’s stomach in her hand . The bead seems to be warm, and she doesn’t want to put it away in this cold night .
Tess has heard of several fairy tales . This bead comes to her in a strange way, so she feels that a fairy must live in the bead .
Certainly, until the little girl stays up late and finally falls asleep, no fairy comes out of the bead . Water Reiki is fluctuating around the bead, which is the reason why it attracts the little girl so much .
The next day is sunny . After having seal meat for breakfast, the hunter goes to discuss things with the neighbors .
Tess stays at home and plays with the sled dog . Water Reiki around the bead continues to gather, and its affinity makes the little girl unwilling to put it away .
The hunter returns home at lunch .
The Eskimos have saved a lot of seal skins during winter . They hate to be exploited by the fur traders so they plan to go to the town and sell the skins by themselves . The hunter will be gone for a few days, and he tells Tess to stay at home and not to go out at night .
Tess promises without hesitation, but her mind is actually focused on the bead .
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After talking to his daughter, the hunter moves out all the seal skins he has saved during winter and loads them on the sled . He leaves with some food .
Tess is born lively . She stays at home for the first two days . However, she is just a teenager . She has no one to talk to in this ice land, and the sled dog is gone with her father . Listening to the sound of wind and snow hitting the door curtain, Tess is sleepless .
The sound of sobbing comes from nearby . Tess is scared and curious . She gets up and lifts the door curtain quietly .
There is a row of footprints in front of the door which are not completely covered by snow .
Is her father back already?
Every time her father comes back from the town, he brings many shiny candies . Thinking of the sweetness of the candies, Tess forgets about the sobbing sound . She assumes that her father is at the neighbor’s so she puts on a fur coat and runs out, following the footprints .
Wind is blowing along with snow . In the dark, the little girl can’t even open her eyes . She is unable to tell the directions, so she lowers her head and follows the footprints . Of course, she fails to realize that this is not the way to the neighbor’s .
Tess has no idea how long she has been walking . All she can feel is that her legs are getting numb and her body is chilled to the bone .
Tess looks up and around and finally realizes that she is lost! Getting lost on the ice land at night is deadly .
Little Tess finally remembers that her father has told her not to go out at night . Her lips are blue because of the coldness . She tries so hard to hold back her tears .
At this moment, Tess hears that something is moving . She barely opens her eyes and looks to that way . Several meters away, there is a strong figure . Father?
Tess trots forward . She covers her mouth with her hand after seeing the figure clearly — it is not her father . A polar bear is holding some meat, and the red cord on the meat was tied by her!
Father is not home yet . The polar bear is stealing the seal meat and fish Tess buried under the snow outside her house!
The polar bear smells the living human . Polar bears are not picky . They even eat rotten meat when they can’t catch fish in summer . Of course they eat human, especially little ones who are defenseless like Tess… The polar bear throws away the meat in its hand and rushes at Tess .
Tess turns around and starts running . She falls down on the ground, and the bead in her hand drops . Tess can’t see where the bead is in the dark .
With her feet stuck in the snow, ten-year-old Tess is too scared to cry . The claws of the polar bear become closer and closer . Tess curls up and calls for her father, shaking .
Suddenly, a beam of dazzling light bursts out in the direction which the bead drops to . The polar bear is scared and it takes a few steps back .
Tess’s eyes are wide open . She stares at the bead which she has been playing with for days . The bead shines and gradually floats into the sky . With a blink of an eye, a woman in dress shows up—
Against the light, Tess can’t see the woman’s face clearly . The glowing bead hangs on her wrist like a little sun which lights up the night at the North Pole .
The woman’s dress is so thin and pretty . Is the woman a fairy who comes to save her?
Tess stares at the fairy who is walking closer to her and cries .