At first the cold mornings became warm days but soon Anung felt the cold deep into the day. The stone from his sling flew behind the grouse. And he caught only the smallest ground squirrels in his snares. So he was glad to have been given such good food by the Odawa.
But after days passed and the night’s bitter cold held tight to the day, the food he had been given was gone.
Now the stone from his sling was deflected away by the branch of a tree. Now his snares were empty. Before he could get close enough to a deer for a killing shot with his bow, the deer heard him and vanished in the forest.
Four days passed when Anung had no food but a few dried berries. He was growing very hungry and very weak. That was when he spied Squirrel sitting on a branch scratching his ear with his hind foot. Squirrel nodded to Anung then turned and disappeared into his hole in the tree. Anung climbed the tree to try to catch Squirrel in his tree hole. When he looked inside the hole he saw Squirrel sitting next to a great pile of nuts. Squirrel was scratching his side with his hind foot. Anung could feel the hunger pains in his stomach growing sharper.
Anung removed Turtle from his pouch so Turtle could tell Squirrel of Anung’s deep fierce hunger. Squirrel scratched his belly then offered to share his nuts with Anung and Turtle. Anung was so weak he could not crack open the nuts so Squirrel cracked them open with his teeth and gave the best parts to Anung and Turtle to eat.
After they had been well fed Anung repaid Squirrel by playing his father’s drum for him and singing the songs of his journey to find the greatest chief.
Then it was time to sleep. Squirrel scratched his chest with his hind leg. He chewed the base of his tail with his teeth. He scratched so much that Anung could not sleep lying next to Squirrel so he moved away to the far side of the hole.
In the morning Squirrel gave Anung some nuts to take on his journey.
As the sun rose to fill the forest, Anung began scratching his arms and his legs. Something was burning his skin and making it itch. He did not know what it was. As he walked on, first he scratched behind his ear, then under his arm, then he scratched his scalp, and with every step he scratched and scratched.
First Anung could smell the smoke and then, ahead, rising above the trees, still at some distance, Anung could see smoke. He scratched his neck and his stomach and walked in the direction of the smoke, hoping to find a village. As he drew closer he could hear strange voices. It seemed there were many voices singing many different songs but he could not understand the songs for he could not understand their words.
On the trails leading through the forest towards where the smoke rose, Anung saw people walking together. Then he could see they were carrying many bundles. When he came closer he was surprised to see what was wrapped in the bundles for each one carried the body of a dead family member. Some had been dead for a long time. He could see some had recently died.
Turtle told Anung this was a village of Wyandot and that they speak a different language. Then he explained to Anung that some Wyandot bury their dead first in the ground near the dead person’s favorite place so their spirit can say goodbye to that place. And some Wyandot build small shelters for their dead on the tops of scaffolds that sit along a path the dead one’s family will follow, so the family can say goodbye to the spirit.
Then every ten years the Wyandot collect all these dead parents and children and return with them to their village. The songs they were singing as they passed by were the songs the living sang to the spirits of their dead.
Anung came out of the forest to the widest path to the village. Many on this path were carrying bundles. Others carried the pots or the war clubs or the medicine bags or the blankets that had been left with their family members to use in the next world.
When the men of this village saw how Anung was scratching himself they stopped him from entering their village with them. Then they called for the elders.
Turtle told Anung that the Wyandot asked him why he was scratching himself like Squirrel. Anung told of being fed by Squirrel, and of sleeping with Squirrel in his tree to stay warm.
The elders told him he must take off all of his clothes. They threw the buckskin coat with the warm beaver vest on a fire and burned it. They burned the buffalo robe next.
One of the elders told the young men to bring water so Anung could bathe. They told him that the squirrels in these trees were stricken with fleas. Some of their people were bitten by these fleas and became very sick, and some of them died and were among the dead present.
After he bathed they gave Anung some clothes to wear. Then they invited him to come into their village for the Feast for the Dead.
All day the Wyandot villagers told stories about their deceased family members and Turtle translated for Anung. And they sang songs to their spirits. They lit many fires to warm the spirits as they gathered to listen to their brothers or wives sing of their lives.
They all sat together on the ground, the living and the dead.
They sang songs for the spirits of their children who died too soon.
They sang songs for their wives who died during a terribly harsh winter and for husbands who left wives all alone in old age, and for brothers and fathers who were killed in a battle for hunting grounds.
They sat on the ground together and sang these songs while they washed the bodies they had gathered. Then they wrapped each body in clean furs and hides.
Anung watched as one Wyandot took the arm of his dead brother and wrapped it with the body of his brother’s first daughter and sang of her beauty to him and told her that her father’s strength would always protect her.
Another man mixed the bones of his father with his father’s trusted hunting companion and sang of their great moose hunts in this world and of the hunts they will enjoy in the next world.
Anung beat his father’s drum and sang of his village to the people around him. When Turtle translated for them, the Wyandot told him they would remember his song and would forever consider the Anishinaabe to be their brothers.
Then it was time for the Wyandot to leave their village with their beloved dead, and with the tools and blankets and other treasures their souls would need in the next world.
Turtle explained to Anung that the Wyandot would travel to the Land of the Night. This is where Wyandot from all of the villages gather once every ten years to bury their dead villagers in a common burial ceremony. Together they prepare them for their journey along the Path of Souls. Turtle told him that the Wyandot believe that this unity in the next world creates harmony in this one. It is hard to fight with someone whose mother is buried alongside your own.
The Wyandot left Anung alone in the village as they traveled to the West of Ninggabi’ anong. When they were gone Anung left the village on his true path East to find the greatest chief and tell him of all the wonderful creations of the Great Spirit he had found on his journey.