The 13-year-old boy Kish lives with the mother Aikiga on the Polar Sea. Kish has no brothers and sisters, and his father Bok died in a fight with a polar bear, which he entered, saving people from starvation. Over time, people forgot about the feat of a brave man, as well as about a mother with a boy living in the poorest igloo.

Council is gathering in the needle of the leader Klosh-Kwan. Kish gets up and says that he and his mother get the required share of meat, but often it is old and tough. With his speech, the boy overwhelms everyone, the hunters are amazed that the young man speaks just like an adult and throws such impudent words into their faces. Council members are outraged, they send Kish to sleep with the words that he cannot teach adult men. Then the boy says his last word - he will be silent at the council until he is asked to speak. From now on, he will hunt and share meat, and his sharing will be fair.

The next day, Kish goes hunting alone. It takes several days, but it's still gone. His fellow tribesmen already consider him dead, and his mother even smears his face with soot as a sign of grief, but he is declared one morning, carrying on his shoulder a part of the carcass of the killed bear. He sends men in his wake, and they find a lot of meat on ice.A bear with cubs was not only killed, but also refreshed according to all the rules. Kish has a secret.

He goes hunting several more times, taking no one with him, and returns with constant success. Its sharing is invariably fair. Kish asks people who eat the meat brought to them to build a new needle for him, more simply, which his fellow tribesmen do.

Superstitious people begin to talk about witchcraft. Kish is sent to follow two young hunters - Bima and Bone. They come back five days later and tell a story about how Kish met a bear, angered him, attracting attention, but when an angry predator rushed to him, he began to flee and drop small balls on the ice that the bear had eaten. After some time, the bear forgot about Kish, as these balls did, according to Bone, a lot of trouble. Because of the pain, the bear began to tear itself with its claws until it became weak, after which Kish finished off the exhausted predator with a spear.

Upon Kish's return, a messenger is sent for him, inviting him to the council, but he replies that his needle is spacious enough to accommodate everyone. The curiosity of men is so great that everyone goes to the house of the young hunter, headed by the leader Klosh-Kwan.

Kish explains that he came up with a simple way of hunting. He takes a whalebone, pointed from both sides like a needle, twists it and wraps it in balls of seal fat, which exposes it to frost, where they freeze. On the hunt, Kish throws these balls to bears. Bears swallow them, the fat in the stomach melts, and the mustache straightens, causing a terrible pain to the beast and exhausting it.

Thus ends the story of Kish. Later, he becomes the leader of the tribe, and under his rule everyone has enough meat.