"Yea, him know we well!" replied the gods. "Of our sacred breath
breathed his father and his mother when days were new and of us shall
be numbered they, when time is full. Lo! therefore because changed
violently of his grief and sore hardships whilst yet but _k‘yaíyuna_,
he hath become _‘hlímna_, and yet unchanging, since finished so; yea,
and unceasing, as one of ourselves, thus shall he remain. True also is
this, of his brother and sister who dwell with their uncouth offspring
in the mountain hard by. Go upward, now, and with thy tinkling shells
entice these children to the lake shore. Loudly will they talk of
the marvel as in their wilder moments they ever talk of anything new
to hap. And they will give no peace to the old ones until these come
down also to see thee! Thou wearest the sacred shells and strands of
K‘yäk´lu wherewith he was ever wont to count his talks in other days
when days were new to men. When these they see, lo! instant grave will
become they and listen to thy words, for they will know the things they
watched him wear and coveted when they were still little, all in the
days that were new to men. Bid them make forthwith of poles and reeds,
a litter, and bear it away, the father of them all with his children
(nay not the sister-mother, to sore hurt the love of a brother eldest
for a sister youngest, wherefore so pitiably he mourneth even now) to
where, in the far plain, K‘yäk´lu sits so mourning. Bid them greet him,
and bring him hence. They may not enter, but they may point the way and
tell him how, fearlessly, to win into our presence, for as one even
of ourselves is he become; yea, and they also, save that they stayed
themselves for the ages, midway betwixt the living and the dead, by
their own rash acts did they stay themselves so, wherefore it is become
their office to point the way of the again living to the newly dead,
for aye. Tell the grandchild, thy father withal, K‘yäk´lu, to mourn not
any longer, neither tarry, but to get him straightway hither, that he
may learn from us of his people of the meanings of past times, and of
how it shall be in times to come."
HOW BY BEHEST OF THE DUCK THE K´YEMÄSHI SOUGHT K‘YÄK´LU TO CONVEY HIM
TO THE LAKE OF THE DEAD.
Even so did the Duck, as bidden, even so did the Kâ´yemäshi, one and
all, as it had been said they would do as the Duck bade them, and
ere the morning came, they with a litter went, singing a quaint and
pleasant song, adown the northern plain, bearing their litter. And
when they found the K‘yäk´lu, lo! he looked upon them in the starlight
and wept; but their father, he who had been the glorious Síweluhsiwa,
his youngest brother, stood over him and chanted the soothing yet sad
dirge-rite, and he, too, wept and bowed his head; but presently he
lifted his face and, as a gleeful child, his children joining, cajoled
the silent K‘yäk´lu to sit him down in the great soft litter they did
bear for him.