Atondido Stories
again flat upon the sand, and the boy could not rouse him from
his sleep.
The boy followed the little white birds as he had been told.
He went along through a land of great beauty where flowers
were blooming and countless birds were singing. Not a person
did he meet on the way. The place was deserted except for the
song-birds and the flowers. He passed through the Country of
Silence, and came to a mysterious land where no one dwelt. But
although he saw no one he heard many voices and he could not
tell whence they came. They seemed to be all around him. At last
the birds stopped at the entrance to a great garden, and flew
around his head in a circle. They would go no further and they
alighted on a tree close by, all except one, which perched on the
boy's shoulder. The lad knew that here at last was the Land of
Shadows.
When he entered the garden he heard again many low voic-
es. But he saw no one. He saw only many shadows of people on
the grass, but he could not see from what the shadows came. He
wondered greatly at the strange and unusual sight, for back in
his homeland in that time the sunlight made no shadows. He lis-
tened again to the voices and he knew now that the shadows
were speaking. He wandered about for some time marvelling
greatly at the strange place with its weird unearthly beauty. At
last he heard a voice which he knew to be his sister's. It was soft
and sweet, just as he had known it when they were together on
the earth, and it had not changed since she left him. He went to
the shadow from which the voice came, and throwing himself
on the grass beside it, he said, "I have long sought you, my sister.
I have come to take you home. Let me see you as you were when
we dwelt together." But his sister said, "You have done wisely to
keep me in your memory, and to seek to find me. But here we
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