SWANTON] TLINGIT MYTHS AND TEXTS 249 



87. THE RETURNED FROM SPIRIT LAND 



The wife of a young man who had recently married, died, and he was 

 very sad. His father was a chief, and both he and the parents of the 

 girl were still living. The young couple had been married for so 

 short a time that they had no children. 



The night that his wife died the young man remained awake all 

 night unable to sleep, and the second night it was the same. Next 

 morning he thought that he would walk out, but finally concluded to 

 wait until after his wife's body had been buried. The body was 

 taken away late that afternoon, and early next morning he put on his 

 leggings and his other fine clothes and started off. He walked all 

 day and all night. Daylight dawned upon him still walking. After 

 going through the woods for a long distance he came to a very large 

 valley. There had been a creek there which was now dried up. 

 Then he heard voices, which sounded as though they were a long way 

 off. Where he was traveling the trees were very thick. 



Finally the youth saw light through the trees and presently came 

 out on a wide, flat stone lying on the edge of a lake. All this time he 

 had been walking in the death road. On the other side of this lake 

 there were houses and people were moving around there. So he 

 shouted out to them, "Come over and get me," but they did not seem 

 to hear him. Upon the lake a little canoe was going about with one 

 man in it, and all about it was grassy. It looked very nice. 



After the man had shouted for a long time without receiving any 

 response and had become tired, he finally whispered to himself, " Wliy 

 is it that they do not hear me?" Immediately a person on the op- 

 posite side of the lake said, "Somebody is shouting." When he 

 whispered, they heard him. "A person has come up (daq a'wagut) 

 from dreamland," the voice continued. "Let someone go out and 

 bring him over." They carried him across, and, as soon as he got 

 there, he saw liis wife. He saw that she had been crying, and he 

 raised his hands and looked at her. He was very happy to see her 

 once again. Finally the people asked him to sit down in the house, 

 and, when he did so, they began to give him something to eat. He 

 felt hungry, but his wife said, "Don't eat that. If you eat that j^ou 

 will never get back." So he did not eat it. 



After that his wife said to him, "You better not stay here long. 

 Let us go right away." So they were taken back in the same canoe. 

 It is called Ghost's-canoe (Sli'gi-qfi'wu-ya'gu), and is the only one on 

 that lake. And they landed on the flat rock where he had first stood 

 calling. It is called Ghost' s-rock (S!i'gi-qa'wu-te'yi), and is at the 

 very end of the trail. Then they started down the road in which he 

 had gone up. It took them the same length of time to descend it, and 

 the second night they reached the youth's house. 



