NELSON] THE LAND OF THE DEAD 489 



Just then someone said, &quot;Where is she? Where is she?&quot; and she 

 saw her grandfather s shade coming toward her. Taking her by the 

 hand, he led her into a house near by. On the farther side of the room 

 she saw an old woman, who gave several grunts and then said, &quot;Come 

 and sit by me.&quot; This old woman was her grandmother, and she asked 

 the girl if she wanted a drink, at the same time beginning to weep. 

 When the. girl became thirsty she looked about and saw some strange 

 looking tubs of water, among which only one, nearly empty, was made 

 like those in her own village. 



Her grandmother told her to drink water from this tub only, as that 

 was their own Yukon water, while the other tubs were all full of water 

 from the village of the shades. When she became hungry her grand 

 mother gave her a piece of deer fat, telling her that it had been given 

 them by her sou, the girl s father, at one of the festivals of the dead, 

 and at the same time he had given them the tub of water from which 

 she had just drunk. 



The old woman told the girl that the reason her grandfather had 

 become her guide was because when she was dying she had thought 

 of him. When a dying person thinks of his relatives who are dead the 

 thought is heard in the land of shades, and the person thought of by the 

 dying one hurries off to show the new shade the road. 



When the season came for the feast of the dead to be given at the 

 dead girl s village, two messengers were sent out, as usual, to invite 

 the neighboring villagers to the festival. The messengers traveled a 

 long time toward one of the villages, and it became dark before they 

 reached it, but at last they heard the drums beat and the sound of the 

 dancers feet in the kashim. Going in, they delivered to the people 

 their invitation to the feast of the dead. 



Sitting invisible on a bench among these people, with the girl between 

 them, were the shades of the grandfather and grandmother, and when 

 the messengers went back to their own village the next day the three 

 shades followed them, but were still invisible. When the festival had 

 nearly been completed, the mother of the dead girl was given water, 

 which she drank. Then the shades went outside of the kashim to wait 

 for their names to be called for the ceremony of the putting of clothing 

 upon namesakes of the dead. 



As the shades of the girl and her grandparents went out of the kashim 

 the old man gave the girl a push, which caused her to fall and lose her 

 senses in the passageway. When she recovered she looked about and 

 found herself alone. She arose and stood in the corner of the entrance 

 way under a lamp burning there, and waited for the other shades to 

 come out that she might join her companions. There she waited until 

 all of the living people came out dressed in fine new clothing, but she 

 saw none of her companion shades. 



Soon after this an old man with a stick came hobbling into the 

 entrance, and as he looked up he saw the shade standing in the corner 



