Week 11 Story: Return from Death

"Wolf Pair (D3A_0902)" by swh is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

    There once was a man who loved his wife very much. He had been deeply in love with her since childhood, and was overjoyed when they welcomed their own child into the world. One day, the man's wife fell very ill. He did everything he could to nurse her back to health, but she continued to decline until she passed away. The man, overwhelmed with his grief, spent many days in morning for her. One night, after finally falling asleep, he had a dream of his wife. She was in the camp of ghosts, calling out to him to come find her. When he woke up the next morning, he determined to set out and discover where this camp of ghosts was and do all in his power to bring her back to him. He brought his son, who had not stopped crying since the death of his mother, to his relatives. They agreed to take care of the child while the man searched for his wife. 

    The man set out, not knowing where he was going or how he would know he got there. After several weeks, while sleeping, the man had a dream. An old woman appeared and told him that, while she could not help him, she could direct him to one who could. In the meantime, she fed and comforted him. The next night, in his dreams, he was approached by another woman. She invited him into his cabin and sat him down in front of the fire.

    "You seek the camp of the ghosts?" said the woman.

    "Yes." said the man. "My wife is there and I must bring her back."

    "I have the power to show you the way, but you must listen carefully."

    The woman gave the man several instructions on how to reach the camp of the dead and what to do when he arrived. The next morning, he set off, along with some medicines from her that she said would help him. 

    When he reached the camp of the dead, he found all as the woman had described. It was an entire civilization of those who had passed on. When they saw the living man, they brought him to the leader. the leader listened to the man's story, and said that he could have his wife, but first, he must spend four nights in the camp of the dead. The man happily agreed. After the fourth night, the man and his wife were ready to leave. The leader again gave them very careful instructions. Speaking to the husband, he said, "You must travel for four days back to your camp. Keep your eyes closed the entire time. If you open them and look upon your wife, you will both be immediately brought back here. When you return to your camp, do not let the villagers approach you. You must have them build you a sweat house. Remain in the sweat house for a full day to purify yourself from our camp. After that, you may continue life as it was before your wife joined us. However, remember this: you must never hurt your wife. If you beat or injure her, she will immediately return to us and our camp, and you will never see her again until it is your time to join us."

    With this grave warning in mind, the husband and his wife set off back to their camp. They followed all the leader's instructions. When they reached the village, they kept the villagers away and asked for a sweat house to be built. They purified themselves and then sought out their son from their relatives. For several years, the husband and wife enjoyed life together. Everything was peaceful and happy as it had been before. The husband loved his wife dearly and would never hurt her. They raised their son together, and lived out the rest of their days. As their time in their village came to a close, they both made the journey back to the camp of the dead. But this time, they went together.

Author's note: I kept a lot to the original telling of this story, but I made the primary changes at the end. It seems a classic tragedy for a man to bring his lover back from the dead, only to mess it up. But I really felt that the world needs a happy ending right now, which is why I had the two end up together. In the original story, the man gets angry at his wife, and picks up and object to hit her with. Even though he doesn't hit her, he has still violated the terms of her return to the land of the living, so she disappears. I really wanted a happy ending. I also shortened the story a bit, diminishing the roles of the two women. They are important, but I decided to keep the focus on the man and his wife.

Bibliography: "The Camp of Ghosts" from Blackfoot Indian Stories by George Bird Grinnel (1915).