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05 - The Camp Of The Ghosts · Blackfeet Native American Stories

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  Speaker 1: Section five of Blackfeet Indian Stories. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please go to LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Reading by Mary Roadie Blackfeet Indian Stories by George Bird Grinnell.
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  Speaker 1: The Camp of the Ghosts. There was once a man
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  Speaker 1: who loved his wife dearly. After they had been married
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  Speaker 1: for a time, they had a little boy. Some time
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  Speaker 1: after that, the woman grew sick and did not get well.
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  Speaker 1: She was sick for a long time. The young man
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  Speaker 1: loved his wife so much that he did not wish
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  Speaker 1: to take a second woman. The woman grew worse and worse.
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  Speaker 1: Doctoring did not seem to do her any good. At last,
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  Speaker 1: she died. For a few days after this, the man
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  Speaker 1: used to take his baby on his back and travel
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  Speaker 1: out away from the camp, walking over the hills, crying
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  Speaker 1: and mourning. He felt badly, and he did not know
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  Speaker 1: what to do. After a time, he said to the
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  Speaker 1: little child, my little boy, you will have to go
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  Speaker 1: and live with your grandmother. I shall go away and
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  Speaker 1: try to find your mother and bring her back. He
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  Speaker 1: took the baby to his mother's lodge and asked her
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  Speaker 1: to take care of it and left it with her.
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  Speaker 1: Then he started away, not knowing where he was going
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  Speaker 1: nor what he should do. When he left the camp,
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  Speaker 1: he traveled toward the sand hills. On the fourth night
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  Speaker 1: of his journeying, he had a dream. He dreamed that
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  Speaker 1: he went into a little lodge in which was an
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  Speaker 1: old woman. This old woman said to him, why are
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  Speaker 1: you here, my son? The young man replied, I am
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  Speaker 1: mourning and night crying all the while. My little son,
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  Speaker 1: who is the only one left me, also mourns well.
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  Speaker 1: Asked the old woman for whom are you mourning. The
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  Speaker 1: young man answered, I am mourning for my wife. She
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  Speaker 1: died some time ago. I am looking for her. Oh
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  Speaker 1: I saw her, said the old woman. She passed this way.
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  Speaker 1: I myself have no great power to help you. But
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  Speaker 1: over by that far butte beyond lives another old woman.
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  Speaker 1: Go to her, and she will give you power to
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  Speaker 1: continue your journey. You could not reach the place you
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  Speaker 1: are seeking without help. Beyond the next butte, from her
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  Speaker 1: lodge you will find the camp of the ghosts. The
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  Speaker 1: next morning, the young man awoke and went on toward
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  Speaker 1: the next butte. It took him a long summer's day
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  Speaker 1: to get there, but he found there no lodge, so
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  Speaker 1: he lay down and slept again. He dreamed. In his
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  Speaker 1: dream he saw a little lodge and saw an old
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  Speaker 1: woman come to the door, and heard her call to him.
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  Speaker 1: He went into the lodge, and she spoke to him,
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  Speaker 1: My son, you are very unhappy. I know why you
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  Speaker 1: have come this way. You are looking for your wife,
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  Speaker 1: who is now in the ghost country. It is a
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  Speaker 1: very hard thing for you to get there. You may
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  Speaker 1: not be able to get your wife back. But I
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  Speaker 1: have great power and I will do for you all
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  Speaker 1: that I can. If you act as I advise, you
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  Speaker 1: may succeed. Otherwise words she spoke to him, telling him
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  Speaker 1: what he should do. Also, she gave him a bundle
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  Speaker 1: of mysterious things which would help him on his journey.
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  Speaker 1: She went on to say, you stay here for a time,
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  Speaker 1: and I will go over there to the ghost's camp
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  Speaker 1: and try to bring back some of your relations who
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  Speaker 1: are there. If it is possible for me to bring
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  Speaker 1: them back, you may return there with them. But on
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  Speaker 1: the way you must shut your eyes. If you should
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  Speaker 1: open them and look about you, you would die. Then
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  Speaker 1: you would never come back. When you come to the camp.
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  Speaker 1: You will pass by a big lodge and they will
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  Speaker 1: ask you where are you going and who told you
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  Speaker 1: to come here? You must answer, my grandmother, who is
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  Speaker 1: standing out here with me, told me to come. They
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  Speaker 1: will try to scare you. They will make fearful noises,
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  Speaker 1: and you will see strange and terrible things, but do
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  Speaker 1: not be afraid. The old woman went away and after
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  Speaker 1: a time came back with one of the man's relations.
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  Speaker 1: He went with this relation to the ghost's camp. When
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  Speaker 1: they came to the large lodge, someone called out and
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  Speaker 1: asked a man what he was doing there, and he
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  Speaker 1: answered as the old woman had told him. As he
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  Speaker 1: passed on through the camp, ghosts tried to frighten him
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  Speaker 1: with many fearful sights and sounds, but he kept up
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  Speaker 1: a strong heart. Presently he came to another lodge, and
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  Speaker 1: the man who owned it came out and spoke to him,
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  Speaker 1: asking where he was going. The young man said, I
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  Speaker 1: am looking for my dead wife. I mourn for her
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  Speaker 1: so much that I cannot rest. My little boy too,
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  Speaker 1: keeps crying for his mother. They have offered to give
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  Speaker 1: me other wives, but I do not want them. I
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  Speaker 1: want the one for whom I am searching. The ghost said,
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  Speaker 1: it is a fearful thing that you have come here.
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  Speaker 1: It is very likely that you will never go away.
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  Speaker 1: Never before has there been a person here. The ghost
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  Speaker 1: asked him to come into his lodge, and he entered.
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  Speaker 1: This chief ghost said to him, you shall stay here
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  Speaker 1: for four nights, and you shall see your wife. But
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  Speaker 1: you must be very careful or you will never go back.
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  Speaker 1: You will die here in this very place. Then the
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  Speaker 1: chief ghost walked out of the lodge and shouted out
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  Speaker 1: for a feast, inviting the man's father in law and
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  Speaker 1: other relations who were in the camp to come and eat, saying,
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  Speaker 1: your son in law invites you to a feast, as
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  Speaker 1: if he meant that the son in law had died
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  Speaker 1: and become a ghost and arrived at the camp of ghosts. Now,
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  Speaker 1: when these invited ghosts had reached the lodge, they did
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  Speaker 1: not like to go in. They said to each other,
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  Speaker 1: there is a person here. It seemed as if they
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  Speaker 1: did not like the smell of a human being. The
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  Speaker 1: chief ghost burnt sweet pine on the fire, which took
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  Speaker 1: away the smell, and then ghosts came in and sat down.
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  Speaker 1: The chief ghost said to them, now, pity this son
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  Speaker 1: in law of yours. He is looking for his wife.
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  Speaker 1: Neither the great distance that he has come, nor the
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  Speaker 1: fearful sights that he has seen here, have weakened his heart.
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  Speaker 1: You can see how tender hearted he is. He not
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  Speaker 1: only mourns because he has lost his wife, but he
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  Speaker 1: mourns because his little boy is now alone with no mother.
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  Speaker 1: So pity him and give him back his wife. The
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  Speaker 1: ghosts talked among themselves, and one of them said to
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  Speaker 1: the man, yes, you shall stay here for four nights,
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  Speaker 1: and then we will give you a medicine pipe, the
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  Speaker 1: worm pipe, and we will give you back your wife,
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  Speaker 1: and you may return to your home. Now, after the
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  Speaker 1: third night, the chief ghost called together all the people,
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  Speaker 1: and they came, and with them came the man's wife.
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  Speaker 1: One of the ghosts was beating a drum, and following
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  Speaker 1: him was another who carried the worm pipe, which they
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  Speaker 1: gave to him. Then the chief ghost said, now be
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  Speaker 1: very careful. Tomorrow you and your wife will start on
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  Speaker 1: your journey homeward. Your wife will carry the medicine pipe,
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  Speaker 1: and for four days some of your relations will go
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  Speaker 1: along with you. During this time, you must keep your
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  Speaker 1: eyes shut, do not open them, or you will return
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  Speaker 1: here and be a ghost forever. Your wife is not
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  Speaker 1: now a person. But in the middle of the fourth
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  Speaker 1: day you will be told to look, and when you
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  Speaker 1: have opened your eyes, you will see that your wife
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  Speaker 1: has become a person, and that your ghost relations have disappeared.
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  Speaker 1: Before the man went away, his father in law spoke
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  Speaker 1: to him and said, when you get your home, you
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  Speaker 1: must not go at once into the camp. Let some
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  Speaker 1: of your relations know that you have come, and ask
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  Speaker 1: them to build a sweat house for you. Go into
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  Speaker 1: that sweat house and wash your body thoroughly, leaving no
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  Speaker 1: part of it. However, small uncleansed, if you fail in this,
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  Speaker 1: you will die. There is something about the ghosts that
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  Speaker 1: it is difficult to remove. It can only be removed
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  Speaker 1: by a thorough sweat. Take care now that you do
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  Speaker 1: what I tell you. Do not whip your wife, nor
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  Speaker 1: strike her with a knife, nor hit her with fire.
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  Speaker 1: If you do, she will vanish before your eyes and
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  Speaker 1: return here. They left the ghost country to go home,
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  Speaker 1: and on the fourth day the wife said to her husband,
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  Speaker 1: open your eyes. He looked about him and saw that
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  Speaker 1: those who had been with them had disappeared, and he
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  Speaker 1: found that they were standing in front of the old
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  Speaker 1: woman's lodge by the butte. She came out of her
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  Speaker 1: lodge and said to them stop, give me back those
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  Speaker 1: mysterious medicines of mine, whose power helped you to do
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  Speaker 1: what you wished. The man returned them to her, and
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  Speaker 1: then once more became really a living person. When they
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  Speaker 1: drew near to the camp, the woman went on ahead
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  Speaker 1: and sat down on a butte. Then some curious persons
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  Speaker 1: came out to see who this might be. As they approached,
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  Speaker 1: the woman called out to them, do not come any nearer,
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  Speaker 1: Go and tell my mother and my relations to put
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  Speaker 1: up a lodge for us a little way from the camp,
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  Speaker 1: and near by it build a sweat house. When this
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  Speaker 1: had been done, the man and his wife went in
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  Speaker 1: and took a thorough sweat, And then they went into
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  Speaker 1: the lodge and burnt sweet grass and purified their clothing
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  Speaker 1: and the worm pipe. Then their relations and friends came
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  Speaker 1: in to see them. The man told them where he
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  Speaker 1: had been and how he had managed to get his
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  Speaker 1: wife back, and that the pipe hanging over the doorway
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  Speaker 1: was a medicine pipe. The worm pipe presented to him
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  Speaker 1: by his ghost father in law. That is how the
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  Speaker 1: people came to possess the worm pipe. That pipe belongs
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  Speaker 1: to the band of piagons known as the worm People.
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  Speaker 1: Not long after this, once in the night, this man
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  Speaker 1: told his wife to do something, and when she did
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  Speaker 1: not begin at once, he picked up a brand from
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  Speaker 1: the fire and raised it. Not that he intended to
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  Speaker 1: strike her with it, but he made as if he would,
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  Speaker 1: when all at once she vanished and was never seen again.
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  Speaker 1: End of the Camp of the Ghosts.