7. The Old Man’s Grandson and the Chief of the Deserted Village
A certain grandfather and his grandson lived together. They were the only people of their tribe left. All the others had been killed by sorcerers.
When the boy became old enough he had bows and arrows given him by his grandfather, and he would go out hunting. As he grew older he hunted larger game, until he was old enough to kill deer. Each time the grandson brought home game the old man danced and rejoiced and told the youth the name of the game which he had brought in.
One day the grandfather said: “Now, you are old enough to marry a wife. I should like to have a woman here to cook. You must go south and find a wife. The people there are good and healthy. None of them have been killed off. For an ordinary man to reach their village it is a journey of six years, but you will go much more quickly.” The grandfather gave the young man, among other things, a pair of moccasins and sent him off.
About noon of the first day the youth came to an opening in the woods. There he found a large village in the opening. He went to one lodge and then to another, but he found that they were all vacant. Then he went to the Long Lodge,[16] and he looked in; there he saw the dead body of a young woman, well-dressed, with beautiful ornaments, lying on a bench in the middle of the room. As he looked in, he thought, “I will go in and take those things. They will be good presents for my wife when I find one.” So he went in, took off the bracelets and neck ornaments and then went out. After he was outside of the Long Lodge he said to himself, “I think I will go home now and look for a wife another day.”
So he started northward, as he thought, running along quickly. After a while he came to a clearing, which, to his surprise, he found was the one he had just left; he saw the same village and Long Lodge, and he thought, “Well, I must have made some mistake in the direction.” He took his bearings again and hurried on toward home. Again he came out in the same village. “It must be that this woman brings me back because I have taken her ornaments. I will give them back to her.” So he went into the Long Lodge and put all the ornaments back on the dead body and hurried homeward. On the way he killed a bear. Skinning it and taking some of the best meat, he [[96]]put it into the skin and carried it with him, running as fast as he could, hoping to reach home that night. Once more he came out at the same Long Lodge in the opening at the time it began to be dark. “Well, this is wonderful,” thought he.
He made up his mind to spend the night in the Long Lodge, so he kindled a fire, spread out the skin, cooked his meat, and sat down to supper. As he ate he threw the bones behind him. Soon he heard back of him a noise which sounded like the gnawing of bones by a dog. “Perhaps it is a hungry ghost that does this,” thought the young man. “Well, I will give it some meat.” So he threw it pieces of meat and heard the sounds made as they were being eaten. After he had eaten his supper he got under the bearskin to sleep. But he soon felt something begin to pull the skin at his feet. When the fire began to die out he arose quickly and stirred up the embers, putting on more wood. All was quiet, however, and he lay down again. After a while, as the fire began to go down again, something crawled over his body and came up to his breast. He threw his arms around it, wrapping it in the bearskin covering, and sprang to his feet. A terrible struggle now began between the man and his unknown antagonist. They wrestled from that place to the other end of the Long Lodge and then down along the other side of the room. When they had almost reached the place where they started the gray of the dawn came; instantly the body in his arms dropped to the floor and lay still. He lashed the bearskin around it closely; then, leaving it on the floor, he cooked his breakfast.
After breakfast he was curious to know what was under the bearskin, for he thought it must be something connected with the woman. Opening the bearskin carefully he found nothing but a blood-clot about the size of his fist. First, he made a wooden ladle with his flint knife. Then, heating water, he dissolved in it some of the blood. Forcing open the skeleton woman’s jaws, he poured down her throat some of the blood. Again he did the same thing.
At length her breast began to heave. When he had given her half the blood she breathed, and when she had taken all the blood she said, “I am very hungry.” The young man pounded corn and made thin gruel, with which he fed her; soon she was able to sit up, and in a short time she was well again. Then she said: “This village was inhabited a short time ago. My father was the chief of it. He and all his people have gone south and they live now not far from here. Many men from the north wanted to marry me, and when I was unwilling to marry them they enchanted me in this place, so that my father and all his people had to leave, and I was left here for dead.” “Come! I will go with you to him,” said the young man.