“It’s true that it’s a real story.”
— from the movie, No Country for Old Men
This story comes from an excellent book, Shamanism in North America, by Norman Bancroft Hunt. Make of it what you will:
“In a Haida [tribal] tale, a young boy dreamed he had visited the Ghost World. He had vivid memories of the journey and of meeting people who told him they were his deceased relatives and invited the boy to join them.
“A matronly woman, his dead aunt, showed special affection for him, and a girl his own age invited him to play.
“He recalled how kindly everyone was, and that if they had not told him they were dead people he would never have known they were ghosts.
“The chief, however, forbade the boy to touch any of the food they offered and asked if his mother knew he was there. When the boy said she did not, the chief told him he was not yet ready to die and should go back to his mother.
“On waking, the boy was told that he had been in a death-like coma for four days, and that it was only the intercession of a powerful shaman which had persuaded the Chief of the Ghosts to send the boy back, thus saving his life.”
So does this story have any reality? Of course it does—it’s a story.
© 2010, Michael R. Patton
myth steps
Michael Patton
Dream Steps : a bloneironic 