ell his story, 'I was waiting for you,
wherefore you have come I know. It is but a short while since she whom
you seek was here. Rest in my hut, as she also rested, and I will tell
you what you ask, and whither you should go.'

On hearing these words, the young man entered the hut, but his heart was
too eager within him to suffer him to rest, and when he arose, the old
man rose too, and stood with him at the door. 'Look,' he said, 'at the
water which lies far out yonder, and the plains which stretch beyond.
That is the Land of Souls, but no man enters it without leaving his body
behind him. So, lay down your body here; your bow and arrows, your skin
and your dog. They shall be kept for you safely.'

Then he turned away, and the young chief, light as air, seemed hardly to
touch the ground; and as he flew along the scents grew sweeter and the
flowers more beautiful, while the animals rubbed their noses against
him, instead of hiding as he approached, and birds circled round him,
and fishes lifted up their heads and looked as he went by. Very soon he
noticed with wonder, that neither rocks nor trees barred his path. He
passed through them without knowing it, for indeed, they were not rocks
and trees at all, but only the souls of them; for this was the Land of
Shadows.

So he went on with winged feet till he came to the shores of a great
lake, with a lovely island in the middle of it; while on the bank of the
lake was a canoe of glittering stone, and in the canoe were two shining
paddles.

The chief jumped straight into the canoe, and seizing the paddles pushed
off from the shore, when to his joy and wonder he saw following him in
another canoe exactly like his own the maiden for whose sake he had made
this long journey. But they could not touch each other, for between them
rolled great waves, which looked as if they would sink the boats, yet
never did. And the young man and the maiden shrank with fear, for down
in the depths of the water they saw the bones of those who had died
before, and in the waves themselves men and women were struggling, and
but few passed over. Only the children had no fear, and reached the
other side in safety. Still, though the chief and the young girl quailed
in terror at these horrible sights and sounds, no harm came to them,
for their lives had been free from evil, and the Master of Life had said
that no evil should happen unto them. So they reached unhurt the shore
of the Happy Island, and