A wealthy man’s daughter elopes with a ghost who appears as a handsome man. She becomes the wife of two ghosts in Ghost-land, an underground realm. When visiting her family, the girl perceives her husbands as men, while her family sees only skulls. Her father persuades the ghosts to leave by offering goods. Later, the girl dies and permanently joins her husbands in Ghost-land.
Source:
Tahltan Tales
by James A. Teit
The American Folklore Society
Journal of American Folklore
Vol.32, No.124, pp.198-250
April-June, 1917
Vol.34, No.133, pp.223-253
July-September, 1921
Vol.34, No.134, pp.335-356
October-December, 1921
► Themes of the story
Love and Betrayal: The story explores unconventional romantic bonds between a mortal woman and her ghostly husbands, highlighting the complexities of love that transcends the mortal realm.
Underworld Journey: The protagonist’s venture into Ghost-land, depicted as an underground domain, represents a journey into the realm of the dead.
Eternal Life and Mortality: The tale delves into themes of life, death, and the afterlife, particularly through the woman’s transition from the mortal world to Ghost-land and her eventual death to permanently join her ghostly spouses.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about Tahltan people
Once an adolescent girl was living apart from the people. She was the daughter of a wealthy man who had much property and many slaves. One night a ghost asked her to elope with him. She consented to be his wife, as he appeared to her as a good-looking man. He took her to Ghost-land, which was underground, and not far away. As the girl did not appear in the morning, the people thought she was asleep, and her father sent some one to waken her. They found her place empty, and thought she must have eloped with some man. Her father sent slaves to search in all the houses, and he counted all the men. She could not be found anywhere. When the girl arrived in Ghost-land, she became the wife of two men. She had plenty to eat, as the Ghosts were good hunters. After a while her husbands said, “Let us go and see your people! Probably you would like to visit your father.” They went to her father’s house and stood outside.
► Continue reading…
The people said to her father, “Your daughter has come.” He told them to tell her to come in, and, if she had any husband, to invite him in also. They made places for them in the house, and the girl entered with two skulls rolling behind her. She took her seat, and the skulls took places one on each side of her. Her father told the slaves to cook food for them and to give them to eat. All the people kept looking at the skulls, and could not eat. The girl could not see any skulls, but instead two good-looking men. On the other hand, the people could not see any men, but only the skulls. The ghosts ate with their wife, and conversed with her; but the people could not hear them. The girl asked her father if her husbands might go hunting in one of his canoes. He told them to use a canoe that was on the river. When night came, the ghosts left, and took the canoe. They camped over one day, [day was the same as night to us, for they travelled and hunted at night] and returned the following night. They came rolling into the house, as before. The girl was glad to see them, and told her father that there was meat in the canoe. He went to see for himself, and, finding it quite full, he ordered his slaves to carry the meat up to the house. The girl told her father that her husbands said they would leave soon, and they wished to know whether he would allow her to go with them. Her father asked if they would return some time; and she answered, “No, we shall not come back.” Her father said, “Well, you must not go with them. I will pay them with much property, and they must leave you.” He made a pile of goods, and gave it to them before they retired to sleep with their wife. On the following morning they were gone, and the goods had also disappeared. This is why nowadays, if a husband ill-treats his wife, her father takes her back, and pays the husband for releasing her. The girl staid with her father, but seemed to think much of Ghost-land. She told that it was a good land, better than here, and the people were good. They did not quarrel and fight. Her father said, “Yes, I know, but the people there are ghosts.” She would not believe this. Before leaving, her husbands had told her they would come back for her soon. They meant that she was going to die. After a while she died, and went to Ghost-land to remain there as a ghost.
The ghosts who live underground are always seen as skulls rolling along the ground. People are afraid of them; for when they are seen, many deaths will occur. Other ghosts are like shadows, and harmless.
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