D. 
NOW THIS IS THE STORY OF WHAT IT SEEMS THE PEOPLE 
DID A LONG TIME AGO WHEN ANY ONE DIED. 
It seems that long ago a person fell ill. He was very ill. And 
soon he died. When he died those of the same gens as he sang. 
They sang all night long at the place. The next day one man whose 
nephew (sister’s son) the dead had been, took charcoal and painted 
his face. He used one song when he fasted several days at a time. 
He fasted the entire winter as he desired to know how his nephew 
had died. Soon while sleeping one time, he was blessed. Soon he 
was addressed by one (person) whoever it may have been. ‘‘Now,”’ 
he was told, ‘‘no one will live forever,”’ is what, it seems, he was told. 
“Now this is what you are to do,” he was told. ‘As you feel too badly 
over your relative who is dead, you shall take (some one) in place 
of (the one dead) to whom you will be related as you were to (the 
one dead),’’ he was told. ‘That is what you are to do. And that 
also is the only way your corpse will reach the place where you (dead 
people) go,” the man was told. ‘That is why it happened to your 
relative,’ he was told. Then, it is said, he was told, ‘‘If you do not 
perform this (ceremony), he will become an owl. When any one 
dies, when he is not attended to, he becomes an owl,” he was told. 
“Your nephews (sister’s sons), Wisa‘ki‘“* (and Aiyapa‘ti‘") have 
instructed you fully,’ ? he was told. ‘In summer,” he was told. 
That is how he was instructed. ‘You are to dress one person in 
finery,” he was told. The man was given instruction in all details. 
And, it seems, when it was summer, he began continuously to 
hunt. He killed much game, such as deer. 
And they used only new finery. That is the only kind they used. 
When they used old clothing over there they would take it from 
each other. ‘This is my property,’ they would say to each other 
when they used the corpse’s clothing. It was as if they would use 
the clothing of a person still alive. Now truly, it is said, when they 
used each other’s clothing of that sort they would take it away from 
each other. That is what they relate. 
In summer he (the uncle) got ready for an adoption feast. ‘‘To- 
morrow I shall let my dead go,” he said to them (the people). At 
night a man was summoned to be adopted. One day (before the 
1 It is difficult to render the sentence quite literally in English. 
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