The ghost asked him to come into his lodge, and he entered.

This chief ghost said to him, “You shall stay here for four nights and you shall see your wife, but you must be very careful or you will never go back.  You will die here in this very place.”

Then the chief ghost walked out of the lodge and shouted out for a feast, inviting the man’s father-in-law and other relations who were in the camp to come and eat, saying, “Your son-in-law invites you to a feast,” as if he meant that the son-in-law had died and become a ghost and arrived at the camp of the ghosts.

Now when these invited ghosts had reached the lodge they did not like to go in.  They said to each other, “There is a person here”; it seemed as if they did not like the smell of a human being.  The chief ghost burned sweet pine on the fire, which took away this smell, and then the ghosts came in and sat down.

The chief ghost said to them, “Now pity this son-in-law of yours.  He is looking for his wife.  Neither the great distance that he has come nor the fearful sights that he has seen here have weakened his heart.  You can see how tender-hearted he is.  He not only mourns because he has lost his wife, but he mourns because his little boy is now alone, with no mother; so pity him and give him back his wife.”

The ghosts talked among themselves, and one of them said to the man, “Yes; you shall stay here for four nights, and then we will give you a medicine pipe—­the Worm Pipe—­and we will give you back your wife and you may return to your home.”

Now, after the third night the chief ghost called together all the people, and they came, and with them came the man’s wife.  One of the ghosts was beating a drum, and following him was another who carried the Worm Pipe, which they gave to him.

Then the chief ghost said, “Now be very careful; to-morrow you and your wife will start on your journey homeward.  Your wife will carry the medicine pipe and for four days some of your relations will go along with you.  During this time you must keep your eyes shut; do not open them, or you will return here and be a ghost forever.  Your wife is not now a person.  But in the middle of the fourth day you will be told to look, and when you have opened your eyes you will see that your wife has become a person, and that your ghost relations have disappeared.”

Before the man went away his father-in-law spoke to him and said, “When you get near home you must not go at once into the camp.  Let some of your relations know that you have come, and ask them to build a sweat-house for you.  Go into that sweat-house and wash your body thoroughly, leaving no part of it, however small, uncleansed.  If you fail in this, you will die.  There is something about the ghosts that it is difficult to remove.  It can only be removed by a thorough sweat.  Take care now that you do what I tell you.  Do not whip your wife, nor strike her with a knife, nor hit her with fire.  If you do, she will vanish before your eyes and return here.”