et did I know that I had surely died.

"And Okiakuta, my mother, laid beside me my squirrel-skin parka. Also
she laid beside me my parka of caribou hide, and my rain coat of seal
gut, and my wet-weather muclucs, that my soul should be warm and dry
on its long journey. Further, there was mention made of a steep hill,
thick with briers and devil's-club, and she fetched heavy moccasins to
make the way easy for my feet.

"And when the elders spoke of the great beasts I should have to slay,
the young men laid beside me my strongest bow and straightest arrows,
my throwing-stick, my spear and knife. And when the elders spoke of
the darkness and silence of the great spaces my soul must wander
through, my mother wailed yet more loudly and flung yet more ashes
upon her head.

"And the girl, Kasaan, crept in, very timid and quiet, and dropped a
little bag upon the things for my journey. And in the little bag, I
knew, were the flint and steel and the well-dried tinder for the fires
my soul must build. And the blankets were chosen which were to be
wrapped around me. Also were the slaves selected that were to be
killed that my soul might have company. There were seven of these
slaves, for my father was rich and powerful, and it was fit that I,
his son, should have proper burial. These slaves we had got in war
from the Mukumuks, who live down the Yukon. On the morrow, Skolka, the
shaman, would kill them, one by one, so that their souls should go
questing with mine through the Unknown. Among other things, they would
carry my canoe till we came to the big river, rapid with bad water.
And there being no room, and their work being done, they would come no
farther, but remain and howl forever in the dark and endless forest.

"And as I looked on my fine warm clothes, and my blankets and weapons
of war, and as I thought of the seven slaves to be slain, I felt proud
of my burial and knew that I must be the envy of many men. And all the
while my father, the Otter, sat silent and black. And all that day and
night the people sang my death-song and beat the drums, till it seemed
that I had surely died a thousand times.

"But in the morning my father arose and made talk. He had been a
fighting man all his days, he said, as the people knew. Also the
people knew that it were a greater honor to die fighting in battle
than on the soft skins by the fire. And since I was to die anyway, it
were well that I should go against the Mukumuks and be slain