go far and came in quite early. And while he was still a long way off
he saw a woman going into the house with wood on her shoulders. So he
made haste and opened the door quickly, and instead of the wooden doll
his wife sat in front of the fire. Then she spoke to him and said:

"The Great Spirit felt sorry for you because you would not be
comforted, so he let me come back to you, but you must not stretch out
your hand to touch me till we have seen the rest of our people. If you
do I shall die."

So the man listened to her words, and the woman dwelt there and brought
the wood and kindled the fire, till one day her husband said to her:

"It is now two years since you died. Let us now go back to our tribe.
Then you will be well and I can touch you."

And with that he prepared food for the journey, a string of deer's
flesh for her to carry and one for himself; and so they started. Now,
the camp of the tribe was distant six days' journey, and when they were
yet one day's journey off it began to snow, and they felt weary and
longed for rest. Therefore they made a fire, cooked some food, and
spread out their skins to sleep.

Then the heart of the man was greatly stirred and he stretched out his
arms to his wife, but she waved her hands and said:

"We have seen no one yet. It is too soon."

But he would not listen to her and caught her to him, and behold! he
was clasping the wooden doll. And when he saw it was the doll he