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 voices. 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 listened 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 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."