[Illustration]
At home he could not get the incident out of his mind. These wild
mountaineers had become like his own flesh and blood--what happened to
them was his experience also.
It was midnight, but he could not sleep from excitement. Reaching for
his reed, he started to play--and soon the yurta was filled with music
that spoke of sadness and at the same time of quiet rejoicing. The
melodies were new to him. They had seemingly sprung out of the air in
order to celebrate the afternoon’s wonderful adventure.
At last he lay down to rest. With all his heart he desired this night
to see a fine dream. What kind of a dream he did not know, but he felt
that he must communicate the day’s fortune to the good spirit of the
yurta. For had not a good spirit come to drive out the evil spirit when
he made himself the protector of the rams? Turgen believed that it
had. For his faith in God--the Great Spirit who ruled the world--did
not exclude the possibility that there were other spirits known to his
forefathers who acted as messengers for God and Satan and had more time
to concern themselves with the affairs of a poor Lamut.
His wish was granted him. In his sleep he saw a joyous dream.
His wife and son entered the yurta, looking just as he remembered them.
He wanted to welcome them, to say a thousand things he had in his mind
to tell them, but no words came. He could only gaze at their dear faces
in silent astonishment.
His wife came near, took him by the hand, smiled and said: “Turgen, get
up and come with us. The Great Spirit is happy that you are taking care
of the wild rams and wants to thank you personally.”
Turgen rose as he was directed and went with them. But his wife and
son seemed to float through the air rather than walk and he had great
difficulty keeping up. Up hills, over vertical cliffs he followed after
them, gasping from exhaustion and fearful that they would abandon him.
Finally he called out in despair: “Help me. I cannot keep up with you.
If you do not help me, I shall never see the Great Spirit.”
Encouragingly his wife answered: “Yes, Turgen, you are tired. But don’t
be afraid. We will help you.”
With that she took him by one hand, the son by the other, and all three
rose into the air. Higher and higher they flew, to dizzy heights where
it was hard to breathe, and came at last to a mountain whose top was
lost in the clouds. When they had landed in a small field Turgen looked
around him amazed.
“What an immense place!” he exclaimed. “If the Great Spirit lives this
far away it is no wonder that we never see him.”
The place was remarkable for more than its size. The mountains familiar
to Turgen were also high, but bleak and bare. Here were fields with
trees and flowers growing in abundance and giving off odors that
tickled the nostrils. And in the midst of the wonders he saw lambs
browsing under the guardianship of wolves.
“What is this?” he asked his wife. “How can such young things be
entrusted to killer-beasts?”
Smilingly she said: “There are no killers here, Turgen. Here
everyone--birds, animals, people--live in love and harmony.”
“Wonderful!” Turgen exclaimed. “I should like to live here myself for a
while.”
“You will in due time,” the woman assured him. “But come now--the Great
Spirit is expecting you.”
Turgen looked around, expecting to see a large yurta in which the Great
Spirit lived, but instead he saw only a great larch tree and under it
a bench very like his own. An aged man dressed in white was sitting
there, a man who bore striking resemblance to his long-dead grandfather.
“Who is this?” Turgen asked himself. “Is it possible that he is the
Great Spirit? I did not picture him so. This man is lean and not very
tall and there is nothing of grandeur about him. No doubt he is a
servant.”
But meeting the old man’s eyes, which held a kind of fire, he was
seized with fear and reverence. Humbly he fell on his knees and
whispered: “Forgive me, Almighty! I, a sinner, failed to recognize you.
How could I recognize you, since I have never seen you?”
A gentle voice replied: “Rise, my son. Do not be afraid. If you have
not seen me, yet you heard me when I said to you, ‘Turgen, go feed the
starving rams. They are my children too, just as you are.’ Your heart
is open to goodness. You have given me much joy. Now rise and sit here
beside me.”
Eagerly, Turgen leaped to his feet--and woke up.