Atondido Stories
cannot appear to the people of earth except as shadows. I cannot
go back with you, for it is now too late. I have eaten of the food
of this land; if you had come before I had eaten, perhaps you
could have taken me away. Who knows? But my heart and my
voice are unchanged, and I still remember my dear ones, and
with unaltered love I still watch my old home. And although I
cannot go to you, you can some day come to me. First you must
finish your work on earth. Go back to your home in the Earth
Country. You will become a great Chief among your people.
Rule wisely and justly and well, and give freely of your food to
the poor among the Indians who have not as much as you have.
And when your work on earth is done you shall come to me in
this Land of Shadows beyond the Country of Silence, and we
shall be together again and our youth and strength and beauty
will never leave us."
And the boy, wondering greatly and in deep sorrow, said,
"Let me stay with you now." But his sister said, "That cannot be."
Then she said, "I will give you a Shadow, which you must keep
with you as your guardian spirit. And while you have it with
you, no harm can come to you, for it will be present only in the
Light, and where there is Light there can be no wickedness. But
when it disappears you must be on your guard against doing
evil, for then there will be darkness, and darkness may lead you
to wrong."
So the boy took the Shadow, and said good-bye for a season
and set out on his homeward journey. The little white birds,
which had waited for him in the trees, guided him back to the
beach. His canoe was still there, but the skeleton-man had gone
and there was not a trace of him to be found upon the sand. And
the Island of the Blest was silent except for the songs of the birds
and the ripple of the little streams. The boy embarked in his
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