412 THE ORIGIN OF MEDICINE CEREMONIES OR POWER. 
that he had been fooled and was about to return, when the mysterious 
being spoke to him and said: ‘‘Keep up your courage; keep right on.” 
The young man went on. 
One dark night he thought that the ghosts were upon him and that 
they were in his way, but he kept on until he saw a bright tipi. When 
he came close to the tipi, somebody inside spoke and said: ‘‘ You must 
not come into this tipi.’”’ But the young man went in and found an old 
woman sitting on the south side of the tipi, and he saw wild sage spread 
all around. The woman asked the young man what he was there for. 
He said: ‘‘My wife died some time ago; I miss her, and I am hunting for 
her.’”’ The woman said: ‘‘The journey is hard, but I willlet yougo. From 
here to Spirit-Land all is darkness. You will come to a stream of water 
that is black, and across this stream of water is a log. If you can cross 
over this log you can enter Spirit-Land. If you fail to cross it you will 
die. I will now give you these mud balls that you must carry. When 
you enter into Spirit-Land the spirits will be dancing, and among them 
will be your wife. You must sit down and watch the dance, and when- 
ever your wife passes, you must throw one of these mud balls at her. 
The fourth ball with which you hit her will remind her of her people still 
living, and they will remind her of you. She will then know you are 
there and will come to you. When she comes to you, go to the mud 
balls and pick them up, for by means of them you will return to your 
own country.’’ The woman told the young man to start, and that on 
his way back he must visit her, for she was going to give him a certain 
dance. 
When the young man left the tipi he went on until he came to the 
log across the black stream. When he stepped on the log and found 
it was unsafe, somebody spoke to him and said: ‘‘ Keep your courage.”’ 
He walked until he came to the end of the log, then he jumped off. He 
went on until he came tothe village. There all was light. On the south 
side of the village men and women were dancing around in a circle. 
Among the dancers was his wife. Whenshe came around where he was 
sitting, he threw one of the mud ballsat her and hit her. She again came 
around and he hit her again. Again she came around and again he hit 
her. The fourthtime she came around,and he hit heragain. She looked 
at him and came to him and wanted to know what he was doing. She 
said: ‘“‘Itissad, but Ican not return with you.’’ But the man begged and 
said: ‘‘You must go with me.’’ She told him to wait, for she wanted to 
go to the village and gather some of her things. She came back and 
stayed with him for some time. Finally she made up her mind to go 
