Note 69 — Legend Concerning Ban͠ggílît of Hinagán͠gan, and the Jars that He Brought from the Village of Souls68

Ban͠ggílît visited all of the towns there. He worked in the rice fields and they gave him four jars as his wages. Then his host said to him: “Return home now, for you have been here four days, which, according to the usage of the Earth World, are four years.” “Yes,” answered Ban͠ggílît, “I wish to go home now, as I am homesick for my family. You have been very good to me, for you have given me wages for my work.” And the host said: “It was a gift; not wages, but a gift, that I gave you,” and he led the way and pointed out to Ban͠ggílît a ladder. “Go down that ladder, and in a short time you will arrive at your house,” he said. Ban͠ggílît started to go down, but one of the jars struck heavily against the ladder and was broken. He went down the ladder and at last arrived in the top of a betel-nut tree. He slid down the trunk of the tree to the ground, and the chickens were crowing and it was just dawn. And he looked at his surroundings and exclaimed: “Why this is my own house!” His relatives came out and said: “Who are you?” and he replied: “This is my house.” They looked at him closely and cried: “Well now, it is Ban͠ggílît who has been gone these four years!” And they sat down and talked long together. He showed them the jars, and they asked: “Where did you get those?” And he answered: “I brought them from the Sky World,” and they were afraid and went to look for the ladder but it was no longer there.69