an arose in the morning, the old men
appeared very sorrowful.

Then he said, "Give me one of the robes that you and your friends cut
off and brought back. I, too, have no robe at all."

His father said, "Why! We went there, but we did not get anything at
all. We were attacked. We came very near being killed."

To this the son replied, "Why! I was unwilling for this to happen, so
I said, 'Do not go,' but you paid no attention to me, and went. But
now you think differently and you weep."

When it was night, the young man said, "Go again and make another
attempt. Bring back a piece for me, as I have no robe at all."

The old men were unwilling to go again, and they lost their patience,
as he teased them so often.

THE FORKED ROADS

_Omaha_

Long ago, in the days of the grandfathers, a man died and was buried
by his village. For four nights his ghost had to walk a very dark
trail. Then he reached the Milky Way and there was plenty of light.
For this reason, people ought to keep the funeral fires lighted for
four nights, so the spirit will not walk in the dark trail.

The spirit walked along the Milky Way. At last he came to a point
where the trail forked. There sat an old man. He was dressed in a
buffalo robe, with the hair on the outside. He pointed to each ghost
the road he was to take. One was short and led to the land of good
ghosts. The other was very long; along it the ghosts went wailing.

The spirits of suicides cannot travel either road. They must hover
over their graves. For them there is no future life.

A murderer is never happy after he dies. Ghosts surround him and keep
up a constant whistling. He is always hungry, though he eat much food.
He is never allowed to go where he pleases, lest high winds arise and
sweep down upon the others.

TATTOOED GHOSTS

_Dakota_

If a ghost wishes to walk the Ghost Road safely, then during living
the person must tattoo himself either in the forehead or on the
wrists. An old woman sits in the Ghost Road and she examines each
ghost who passes. If she finds the tattoo marks, then the ghost
travels on at once to Many Lodges. If the tattoo marks are not there,
the old woman pushes the ghost from a cloud and he falls to this world
again. Then he wanders all over the world. He is never quiet. He goes
about whistling, with no lodge, and people are afraid of him.

When these ghosts visit the sick, they are driven away by smoke from
the sacred cedar,