Anung did not know how long he slept on the Great Sea Turtle’s shell, but when he awoke it was a new morning. Anung saw the sun rise over a distant horizon of land.
He rode on the back of the Great Sea Turtle’s shell until they got close to shore. Anung slipped from its back and stepped from the waves onto shore.
He gave thanks to the Great Sea Turtle, for with its help Anung’s journey had taken him to the land of the first sun. And as Anung rested on the shore and considered what he would do next, the Great Sea Turtle returned, with Anung’s canoe balanced across his back.
When it washed to shore Anung discovered his belongings were lost except the small bundle of his shirt tied to the mast. Inside was his father’s drum. Anung picked it up and sang a song of thanks to the Great Creator and to the Spirit of Turtle.
He pulled the canoe well up on shore, and when his clothes were dried in the sun he left the beach and headed East.
It was a strange land he discovered. He walked all day under a bright sun for there were very few trees growing at this place and none as beautiful as the trees in the forests that cover Turtle Island.
In many places the earth was as much sand as soil. In other places it was rocky.
There were strange looking birds singing the wrong songs. He was very hungry and the berries he found had the wrong taste. The winds were filled with strange smells.
On the second day Anung saw people gathered together along a hillside. Many were sitting around a cook fire. Those standing held long staffs and watched a flock of crying animals grazing on the sparse grass around them.
He had never seen animals like these on Turtle Island. They looked like milkweed seed pods just beginning to burst.
When he approached these people they looked very different from any of the people he saw during his journey across Turtle Island. They wore long robes with hoods over their heads. The men grew hair on their faces, and on some it was long.
These people had stopped for a meal when Anung found them. When they offered Anung water and food he could not understand the words they spoke but he knew their meaning.
After he ate and drank he sang a song of thanks with the drum’s beat.
When he drummed his thanks he also called for any spirits who might be looking for him, to see him in this strange land. The spirits who came to Anung showed him that he should travel with these people, so that is what he did.
When it was night the travelers camped at the edge of a small grove of trees that grew around a spring at the base of a hill. Other bands of travelers were already there and others arrived after them. Some shared their food with Anung. When he played his drum to the spirits that lived in that grove they all drew close to listen to the singing of this young man from far away who appeared no more than a boy to some of them.
The spirits of the grove heard Anung’s song and gave all these travelers the gift of understanding each other’s words as long as they were under the canopy of its trees. A member of each traveling band told Anung of their destination and its purpose.
Anung told them of his journey from Turtle Island and of the winds and storms that carried him across the great salt lake that stretches the sky. He told him he was looking for the greatest chief of all his people, for when he found him his journey would come to an end and he could return home. When he found him he would sing the song of his village and he would sing a song that would tell this great chief about all the people of Turtle Island.
One of the travelers told Anung that he had once sailed far out into these great waters. He sailed so far that land had vanished. He had heard many tales of the magical land to be found across the waters where Anung had come from, but he had never met anyone who had journeyed across.
Another traveler told Anung that they were also looking for the greatest chief of all their tribes. They travel to him to pay him honor. They had heard that the greatest chief was in a village not so very far off. They would arrive there the next day. They asked Anung if he would travel with them the rest of the way for it seemed they must be searching for the same chief.
They traveled all day. As the sun drew close to rest Anung saw the village, across a great plain, atop a low hill.
They approached the village as night settled around them. Anung saw this village was as strange as the people he was traveling with, for the shelters were all made out of clay like the pots his people made.
As they approached the village a small band of people came from the village and they spoke with great excitement but Anung could no longer understand them. Most of the travelers in Anung’s band continued on. Others seemed angry and headed back. Anung followed those who entered the village.
The clay shelters were small. They passed many of them until they came to the far side of the village where the strange animals the villagers kept were in their own clay shelters that were even smaller.
There was a gathering of people there among the animals. Some were quiet. Some were singing songs of praise. Others were dancing to the songs.
Anung followed his new friends to a small room behind the last animal shelter, where the glow of a lantern bathed all in a soft gold.
First Anung saw the mother, shining in the light, sitting in a dry corner. A new born baby was wrapped in cloth and lying in a basket on the ground in front of her. Behind her stood the father, acting like the fathers of Anung’s village. The father knew a new baby was the mother’s to care for, and it was his job to care for the mother. The time for the father to teach his son would come later.
When the travelers approached them the mother looked at Anung and he felt as if all of his mothers from his village were looking at him with their deepest affection.
The father did not appear to be a chief, nor even a warrior or medicine man. He seemed like all the other men Anung was traveling with, and Anung wondered what made this man the greatest chief. Then he saw those he had been traveling with were laying down their gifts for the baby.
Anung approached the baby in his basket laying at his mother’s feet. As he came near he turned his face to the sky above them to see the shimmering lights dancing across the Northern sky.
The lights he saw were the lights he saw in the night sky over his village. When the people of Anung’s village saw Wawasayg, the Northern Lights, they knew their ancestors were dancing and singing in the Land of Souls.
That these lights appeared at that moment, just over the baby, told Anung it was this new born child who was the greatest chief of all the people.
It was here at the end of his long journey that Anung hesitated. The others he was traveling with had gifts for this baby. He was afraid he would be dishonoring Gitche Manitou and shaming his village and all the people of Turtle Island because he had no gift to place before this baby, the greatest chief.
The people who had traveled with Anung gestured to his drum, and showed him that he should stand before the baby and play his drum for him, and sing for him. And that is what Anung did.
Under the shimmering lights he played his father’s drum for the baby. He played while he sang of the mothers of his village and he sang of the fathers. More of the people danced as Anung sang of all of the wonderful gifts of Gitche Manitou that he had seen and enjoyed during his long journey. He sang about all the people he had met from the many tribes of Turtle Island.
Then Anung asked for the greatest chief’s blessing for these people, and for his safe return home.
The mother smiled at him and though he did not understand her, Anung knew she was blessing his voyage. Then the father put his hand on Anung’s shoulder and spoke his peace.
All of the travelers found dry places to sleep, and in the morning Anung left his new friends and headed back to the shore where he had left his canoe.
Anung found his canoe and sailed and paddled through many storms to return to Turtle Island.
Once again the Great Sea Turtle came to his rescue.
When he returned to Turtle Island Anung followed a new path through the forests, visiting many new villages along the way. Everywhere he went he told his stories of his great journey and of the baby who was the greatest chief of all the tribes.
He had been gone for many years when he arrived back at his village where he was to live a long and happy life.