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Chapter Twenty-four. The World Beyond |
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visit by soothsayer to the Land of the Dead |
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visit by soothsayer to the land of the dead |
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The following night Limnia goes to the Land of the Dead, to bring back the soul of the man. Presumably Limnia is clever enough not to try to persuade men in good health that their souls are already on the way to Yimbu, but looks for ready believers among those that are ill and in the grip of high fever, whose consciousness is already dimmed. |
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Small children who die when not yet able to walk lie crying on the path to Yimbu until Limnia carries them to the Land of the Dead and hands them over to those of their relations already there. For this service too she receives payment from the parents |
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The life in Yimbu resembles the life on this earth. The Dead ?work on their fields, celebrate the Spring Festival, marry, have children, and eventually die once more. Then they go to another Yimbu, where Limnia cannot follow. Good and bad alike live in one village, but those who die an unnatural death arrive by a different path. |
