Somewhere in the White Man's country there was a populous village. Two brothers belonging to this place strayed away playing, and did not return until late in the evening. Meanwhile a thunder-storm destroyed the village and killed the people. When the boys returned, they found nothing but smoking ruins. They said to each other, "Our parents and relatives have been killed. There is nobody left here. Let us go away!" After some days they arrived in a starving condition at a town situated in a hollow. The people of that place were all adult men: there were neither women nor children. The boys saw the high-house of the chief, and his kitchen near by.
In a pen were several pigs, and the chief's cook was feeding them with bread and meat. The elder brother descended and stole some of the bread and meat from the hogs, and carried it to his brother. They ate it. On the next morning the cook saw a child's tracks around the pig-pen, and reported to the chief what he had seen. The latter told him to watch and capture the child. Soon after this, he saw both the boys gathering food at the pig-pen. After chasing and catching them, he brought them before the chief, who questioned them. They told him their story. Then the chief told his cook to look well after the boys, and to feed them on the best, for he would adopt them as his sons. He said, "I have no children, and there are none in this country. I want to have children." The boys grew fast. They stayed there, and helped in the housework. They swept the floors, carried wood and water.
One day the chief let loose his eight cows. Then he called the elder boy, took his eight bay horses out of the stable, and asked him to choose one for a saddle-horse. They were all exactly alike. The boy chose the best one,-one that could run around the edge of the earth in two hours. Then he brought out eight saddles and eight bridles, and the boy chose correctly the saddle and bridle belonging to his mount. Now, the chief knew that the boy was gifted with magic. He said to him, "Mount your horse and look after my cattle. I want them grazed on that far hillside, where there is much grass. Herd them and bring them home every evening." The boy followed the tracks of the cattle until they entered a rough piece of country, hilly, and full of rocks and timber. he followed them through it; and on the other side he came to a grassy country with steep open slopes, and a wide road leading up between them. The road was as if lately mown with a mowing-machine, or like a wide smooth swath cut out of the grass. The smell of grass and flowers on it was very sweet. He turned back from here; and when he reached home, the cook scolded him for not bringing back the cows. The chief heard the cook scolding him, and asked him what had happened. Then the boy told how he had followed the tracks of the cattle all the way, and how he had discovered the road. The chief said, "Very well, go there again in the morning, and try to find the cattle." Early in the morning the boy started off. Soon he reached the road, and followed along. At last he found himself on the top of a hill, and in another country. It was beautiful, like the mountain-tops; in some places open, and covered with grass and flowers. Here, on the edge of the hill he saw great piles of clothes and of other things. This was the place where the dead people left their earthly belongings. Here, or a little farther on, just over the top of the hill, he saw a gold staff stuck into the ground. The boy halted here, and was wondering about these things, when a man appeared suddenly and addressed him. He was the chief who meets the dead, and admits them to their respective places in the spirit-land. He asked The boy who he was, and the latter told him his story. He said, "You are a living being and cannot stay here. Only people who have died can stay here. You must go back." Then, bethinking himself, he said, "However, seeing that you have come here, I will show you some things, so that on your return to earth you may tell the people what you have seen, and enlighten those who are bad as to the terrible fate awaiting them." He said, "Tie your horse to the golden staff, and come with me." The boy did as directed. On turning round, he saw two houses. The man said, "Open The door of that one to the left." The boy answered, " I have no key." The man smiled, pulled out a key, and unlocked the door. Then he asked the boy to look in. As soon as he did so, the people inside tried to spear and knife him, but they could not reach him. They were all quarrelling and fighting, and many reptiles of different kinds crawled around among them. They lived on raw reptile flesh. Their chief (the Devil), sat there with a huge frog in front of him. He was cutting up pieces of the flesh with a large knife, in the manner of butchers. The boy said that he had seen enough.
Then his guide asked him to open the door of the other house. The boy said that he had no key, so the man opened the door for him. He saw many people inside, ranging as far as the eye could see, and the country looked very pleasant and beautiful and clean. The people paid no attention to him. They were all singing and praying. Some were on their knees praising God. All of them had hair of The same length, reaching down to the shoulders. The boy said he had seen enough and would go home. Later on he would return again and join the good people. His guide said to him, "No one can enter there unless he was pure in body and mind. A person must have no sins, and must leave no thoughts of earth and earthly things." The boy mounted his horse, and soon reached the chief's house. he told the chief everything; and the latter called his people together, and told them they would go in a body to the new land that the boy had discovered. The boy said to him, "You are wealthy and well provided for here, and it is hard to go there. You have to forget everything here on earth, and think only of good and heaven." The people formed a procession, all the soldiers marching ahead. The chief and the two boys drove behind in the chief's buggy. The soldiers and others cut a wide path through the bad tract of country. At last all reached the wide road.
After marching a long time, the people, one by one, would think of what they had left behind, and at once they became transformed into crows or snakes, which flew or crawled away. They became dissatisfied, and could not fix their minds on the place to which they were going. They thought of the earth and the things they had left behind them. Thus one by one they became transformed into birds, animals, reptiles, and insects, and at last none were left to reach the end of the road, except the chief and the two boys. These three reached the other land and remained there. They are the only people with mortal bodies who live in heaven.
1 This story shows strong missionary influence. It also shows a fusion of Indian and Christian ideas. It has some analogy to Indian stories of visits to the ghost country.
