Death Comes Into the World

It was fall. Koomookumpts was living by himself along the Sprague River. The wind was whirling and the cold days were coming on, and Koomookumpts was thinking, "When winter comes around it's going to get pretty lonely around here. No one but me to tell the old stories. No one to share the winter with."

Koomookumpts walked all over the world letting animals know they ought to come to his place for the winter. By mid fall, the animals showed up at Koomookumpts' house.

Koomookumpts gathered everyone together and announced that they should build a village here so everyone could live together.

But Deer said, "You mean right here? Oh, no, I don't think so. Just look at this grass. Have you ever seen such rotten grass? Have you ever tried to eat stubby grass like this? And feel the wind, it gets too cold here. I don't want to spend the winter here. Too cold, too cold."

Bear spoke up, "I like the cold. That's the best time of the year, the time I can sleep all winter. No work to be done, just sleeping and dreaming, sleeping and dreaming," and Bear started nodding off just thinking about it.

The animals talked it over. They were orderly at first, but then they started arguing, and then they started bickering, and about the time they were thinking about getting their teeth and their fists involved as well, Koomookumpts yelled, "Enough! Listen to me! I called this meeting. I'm the one in charge. This is what we'll do. We'll have two villages. In the summer we will live up near Yainax. Summers are real nice there, plenty of good food. Then in the winter we'll live here along the Sprague River. That way everyone will be happy."

Bear, who had woke up with all the yelling, said, "But how long is the summer and how long is the winter? We haven't figured that out yet, have we?"

"Sure we have. You just don't pay much attention. You sleep through most of it. Years ago, we split the years in half, six moons for the summer and six for the winter, and some of those moons for times between, what we call fall and spring."

But Deer said, "What about the thirteenth moon? What are we going to do with that?"

"That's easy enough, said Koomookumpts. "We'll split it in half. We'll need some time to move back and forth from village to village. We'll use that extra time for moving, part of the moon in the spring and part in the fall."

The animals thought that was a great idea, all except for Bear who said, "Sounds pretty complicated to me. It would be a lot simpler if people just slept through the cold and stayed awake when it was warm."

But in the end Bear was convinced that somebody had to stay awake and keep an eye on things, so they went to work building the winter village along the Sprague River. Some of the animals gathered food and got it ready to store. Others split and hauled planks, building the winter houses. By the time the first hard storms blew in, everyone was snug in a house.

That winter there were many stories told, some lasting through the long nights for weeks on end, though some of the animals, like Bear, slept through most of them. But their dreams were as rich as the stories themselves.

* * * * *

When the days warmed up they packed their things and went to Yainax and built their summer village.

They moved back and forth between their two villages for many years. There was plenty of food, plenty of stories, plenty of dreaming, and no one got lonesome.

The villages grew. Many babies were born. Even Koomookumpts had a daughter. The animals were so happy, so well-stuffed with good food, with few worries, that after a few years, the villages were getting crowded. One day, in the fall, not long after they'd moved into their winter village along the Sprague River, Bear decided to take matters into his own hands. He went to talk with Koomookumpts about the problem.

"Say, Koomookumpts. Have you noticed how many people there are around here these days? People never leave this place when they die. They just stay around and clutter up the place. Pretty soon, if this keeps up, we'll start running low on food. But I've got an idea. I've heard that in other places people go to the Land of the Dead when they die. That's a big place far to the west, and a fine place, too. The old man in charge is a good man. Now why can't our people go there when they die? They'd be happy and we wouldn't have such a mess of people around here. Maybe we could still visit them in our dreams. What do you say?"

Koomookumpts thought about that for a long time. Finally he said, "I think you are right. People should leave here forever when they die. The Land of the Dead would be a good place to send them. I know that old man. He's a good man. They'd be happy there."

Bear said, "Then it's done. I'm glad you see it that way," and he lumbered off to his house for a nap.

* * * * *

Five days later Koomookumpts came back from fishing downriver. He walked through the village toward his house. As he got near, he heard the sound of crying coming from inside. He threw down his fish, scrambled to the door in the roof of the house, climbed down the smoke hole ... and there, lying on the floor near the fire, was his only daughter. People stood all around, many of them crying, shaking their heads, weeping and looking sad.

Koomookumpts shouted, "What has happened? What's the matter with my daughter?"

Bear ambled forward. "Oh, Koomookumpts. She has left us. She's gone traveling to the Land of the Dead."

Koomookumpts went down on his knees next to his daughter. He stroked her long hair. "No! No! This can't happen. Not to my daughter. Nooooo! Daughter, come back. Come back to me. Come back and live with us in our villages. Come back!!"

Koomookumpts called for the most powerful medicine woman in the village. The woman prayed and chanted and sang over his daughter's body, but nothing she could do would bring her back.

Koomookumpts jumped to his feet. "You! Bear! This is your fault! You're the one who talked me into sending people away! Now you tell me a way to bring her back!"

Bear said, "Koomookumpts, we agreed that sending people to the Land of the Dead was the best thing. You made the decision yourself. Now you must suffer for it like everyone else."

There was fire in Koomookumpts' eyes. "No! Bear, you know more than you are saying. Tell me a way to bring my daughter back!"

Bear hesitated. Then he said, "All right. There is one way, but it is not an easy thing to do. You yourself must go to the Land of the Dead and ask the old man, your friend, to give your daughter back. That is the only way. But it is hard. No one has ever done it. If you succeed, people will be able to bring the dead back when they want to. But if you fail, there will be death in the world forever, Koomookumpts. This I know."

Koomookumpts nodded his head and went to one corner of his house. He lay down on his back, slowed his breathing and closed his eyes. He sent his spirit out of his body, away through the smoke hole, away down the river to the west, over the high mountain, beyond the sunset, away and away to the Land of the Dead, that place where everyone is a skeleton.

* * * * *

An old, creaky skeleton greeted Koomookumpts. "Well, Koomookumpts. What brings you to my village? Have you come to see your daughter, Koomookumpts? Would you like to see her?"

He called out and the skeleton of Koomookumpts' daughter appeared on the roof of one of the houses.

"Look there, Koomookumpts. Doesn't she make a nice looking skeleton, so young? And that's my house, Koomookumpts. She's my daughter now."

"I've come to take my daughter home," said Koomookumpts.

"Oh, come now, Koomookumpts. Do you think you would want her back in your village like she is now? Do you think she would be happy there after living here?"

"I don't care how she is. She is my daughter and I want her back with me."

"Oh, Koomookumpts. No one has ever come here and said that. If I give her back to you, and you take her back into the Land of the Living, you must do exactly what I tell you. Listen. Take her hand in your hand, and lead her behind you. Walk as straight as you can to your own village. Five times you may stop and squeeze your daughter's hand, and each time her hand will be warmer and firmer. And by the fifth time, as you are reaching your village, she will be herself again. But Koomookumpts, I warn you. Do not look back at her until you are in your own village. Do not look back, or she will come back to me, Koomookumpts, forever."

Koomookumpts turned and faced east. His daughter came down from the roof of the house and stood behind him. He reached out and felt his daughter's finger bones take his hand. Then he started walking, over the mountain, upriver toward his village.

He stopped once and squeezed his daughter's hand. He could feel a little flesh on the bones, and his heart was glad.

They walked on, Koomookumpts leading the way, toward their village. Koomookumpts stopped three more times and squeezed his daughter's hand, and each time it grew warmer and firmer, nearly her own hand again.

They were getting close. Koomookumpts could see the sun rising over their village. He stopped just outside and squeezed her hand for the fifth time, and it was warm, so warm.

He walked on, leading the way. And when they were close, so close he thought it was safe, Koomookumpts looked back.

There was a pile of bones on the ground for an instant, and then it was gone ... gone ... gone....

* * * * *

Koomookumpts opened his eyes back in his own house. Bear was with him.

"Oh, Koomookumpts," said Bear. "Look what you have done. Now there will be death in the world forever. Forever, Koomookumpts. Forever."

Outside, the fall wind whirled into winter. And Koomookumpts wept, like the wind.