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There was once a man who was very fond of his wife. After they had been married for some time they had a little boy. After that the woman fell sick and did not get well.
The young man loved his wife so dearly that he did not wish to take a second wife. She grew worse and worse. Doctoring did not seem to do her any good, and at last she died.
The man used to take his baby on his back and travel out from the camp, walking over the hills crying. He kept away from the village. After some time he said to his child, "My little boy, you will have to go and live with your grandmother. I am going to try to find your mother and bring her back."
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He took the baby to
his mother's lodge and asked her to take care of
him, and
left it with her. Then he started off to look for his
wife, not knowing where he was going nor what he was
going to do.
He traveled toward the
land of the dead; and after long journeying, by the
assistance of helpers who had spiritual power, he reached
it. The old woman who helped him to get there told him
how hard it was to penetrate to the ghosts' country, and
made him understand that the shadows would try to scare
him by making fearful noises and showing him strange and
terrible things. At last he reached the ghosts' camp, and
as he passed through it the ghosts tried to scare him by
all kinds of fearful sights and sounds, but he kept up a
brave heart.
He reached a lodge,
and the man who owned it came out and asked him where he
was going. He said, "I am looking for my dead wife.
I mourn for her so much that I cannot rest. My little boy,
too, keeps crying for his mother. They have offered to
give me other wives, but I do not want them. I want only
the one for whom I am searching."
The ghost said to him:
"It is a fearful thing that you have come here. It
is very likely that you will never get away. There never
was a person here before." But the ghost asked him
to come into the lodge, and he entered.
Then this chief ghost
said to him: "You shall stay here for four nights,
and you shall see your wife; but you must be very careful
or you will never go back. You will die right here."
Then the chief went
outside and called for a feast, inviting this man's
father-in-law and other relations who were in the camp,
saying, "Your son-in-law invites you to a
feast," as if to say that their son-in-law was dead,
and had become a ghost, and had arrived at the ghosts'
camp. Now when these invited people, the relations and
some of the principal men of the camp, had reached the
lodge, they did not like to go in. They called out,
"There is a person here!"
It seemed that there
was something about him that they could not bear the
smell of. The ghost chief burned sweet pine in the fire,
which took away this smell, and the people came in and
sat down.
Then the host said to
them: "Now pity this son-in-law of yours. He is
seeking his wife. Neither the great distance nor the
fearful sights that he has seen here have weakened his
heart. You can see for yourselves he is tender-hearted.
He not only mourns for his wife, but mourns also because
his little boy is now alone, with no mother; so pity him
and give him back his wife."
After consultation the
ghosts determined that they would give him back his wife,
who should become alive again. They also gave him a
sacred pipe. And at last, after many difficulties, the
man and his wife reached their home.
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American Myth and Legend contents page
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