The Road to Olelpanti
A Story from North America

In the far-off beginning before there were any Indians living. there was another and very different race of men on the earth. For thousands of years this first race of men had been living together peacefully and happily. But as their numbers multiplied and the earth became crowded, these first people began to quarrel and fight. And Olelbis-The-Great-0ne-Who-Sits-Above-the Sky--decided something must be done.

This is what he did. He turned the people one by one into other kinds of living creatures. Some he turned into trees and follow others he turned into birds and insects, and still others into land animals and fish. You might say only a handful of people were left. And all of these were old people who would soon die. Among them was Sedit, the Coyote man. The earth in time grew very beautiful with green grassy plains and wooded hills and rivers, where animals of all kinds and birds and fish lived without fear of human hunters.

But Olelbis The-Great-One-Who-Sits-Above-the-Sky-was lonely without human beings on his world. So he thought out a new plan. He would create a new race of men. He would make the first man and woman come out of the first tree he had made. This time he wanted people to learn to live together happily and peacefully. How could he help them? Perhaps if he made them immortal they would be happy, he thought. "I will make them so that they will never have to die."

So Olelbis called the two Brothers Hus who lived with him in his beautiful Sky Land of Olelpanti and said to them: "Brothers Hus, I have a great work for you to do. Fly down to the world below where the first tree is growing. Soon I shall cause men and women to come forth out of that tree to live on the earth. But before this happens, you must build a road leading from the earth to Olelpanti. Gather great stones from the hillside and pile them one upon the other like steps leading up to the sky."

"For what purpose do you wish so great a work done, Olelbis?" asked the Brothers Hus.

"It is because I wish that the new race of men, whom I am about to bring forth from the ground, should never have to die. I desire that when they grow old they may be able to renew their youth. I shall, therefore, place two springs at the top of the road that you build, so that when a man grows old, he may climb up this road; and when he reaches the top, he may drink out of one spring and bathe in the other spring. Then his white hair will become dark again and his bent and crippled body will become strong and straight. If an old woman climbs up the road and drinks of the one spring and bathes in the other, she will come out a beautiful young girl. When these people grow old a second time, they may climb they road again and return young and strong to live anew. So shall the men of the earth live on and on forever."

When Olelbis finished speaking, the Brothers Hus said, "We will do as you have commanded us." So they gathered their tools, and spreading their wings they flew down to the earth to begin the work of building the road of stones.

By the end of the first day, they had piled the stones as high as a house. By the end of the second day, the road was as high as a tall tree. By the end of the third day, it was very high indeed. By the end of the sixth day, the road was touching the clouds. Yet it was still a long way from Olelpanti, and there was much more work to do.

A little before noon on the sixth day, as the Brothers Hus were working, they saw someone walking toward the beginning of the long road. He finally reached the place and sat down beside the road to watch the Brothers as they worked. They knew it was Sedit, the Coyote man, but they said nothing.

"What are you doing here?" Sedit finally asked. "Why are you building this road? It is a great deal of work, and does not seem to be leading anywhere. Can you tell me what it is that you are doing?"

"Olelbis has commanded us to build this road," said one of the Brothers. "Olelbis is planning to make a new race of men come out of the earth. Before he does, he wishes to have a road built reaching from the world to Olelpanti. At the top of the road Olelbis will place two springs."

"That seems strange," objected Sedit, the Coyote man. "There are springs enough on the earth. Why should there be more'!"

The other Brother went on with the story. "Olelbis has plans for these springs. As men live on earth they grow old. When men grow old, they become weak and bent and unable to do their work. Olelbis does not wish them to grow old and die. So he plans that when men grow old, they can climb this road, and bathe in one spring and drink from the other. Then they will have their youth Once more."

Sedit sat quietly for a time, thinking of what the Brothers had said. "Do you believe all this?" he asked at last.

The Brothers Hus were surprised. They had not thought of questioning the plan of Olelbis. But they were interested to know what Sedit meant. So they asked, "Why is it not a good plan?"

"What will people eat if nothing dies?" asked Sedit. "Deer will not die. Fish will not die. Men will not be able to kill anything. What will be left to eat? Nothing but acorns. How uninteresting it will be to live without hunting!"

The Brothers Hus began to be troubled. But Sedit had much more to say.

"I think it is better that men and women should marry and that new children should be born, than that old people should be made young. If they marry, the men will work for the women and the women will work for the men, and so they will help each other. If a man has a wife, he will catch fish and kill deer and bring them home and give them to his wife to cook. And if the woman has a child, her neighbors will say, 'There is a nice baby over there, and they will go to see it. And so they may be glad together."

"But if someone dies, everyone will mourn and be sad," said the Brothers Hus. "That surely cannot be good."

"When a man grows old, let him die," said Sedit. "When a woman grows old let her die. When they die, the neighbors will come and say, 'A man has died,' or 'A woman has died.' Then they will make ready to help the relatives of the dead. I think this is better."

"Suppose," continued Sedit, "an old man goes up that road alone and comes back young. He is still alone just as before. They will have nothing to be glad about. They will never make friends. They will never have children. They will never have any fun in the world nor anything to do but to grow old and to go up that road and come back again young. It is not good."

The Brothers Hus had not thought of these things before. Yet the longer they thought, the more true Sedit's words seemed.

"Let us destroy the road that we have built," one Brother finally said to the other. "Let us fly back to tell Olelbis these things. Perhaps he may change his plans for men."

Then Sedit, the Coyote man, turned and walked away, satisfied that he had spoken truly. And the Brothers Hus prepared to fly back to Olelpanti. They pulled several large stones out from the bottom of the pile and the whole road fell, the stones scattering far and wide.

Then just as they were ready to take flight up to Olelpanti, one of the Brothers called back to Sedit.

"Of course, you know that this means that you too will die-- just as every other living thing upon the earth will die."

"Come back! Come back!" screamed Sedit. "We must talk some more."

But the two Brothers flew off. Higher and higher they rose, circling above Sedit, until at last he could see them no more.

"What am I to do now? I wish I had not said so much," thought Sedit. "I wish I had not said anything. I do not want to die. What can I do?"

For some time Sedit stood looking around helplessly--till he saw some sunflower plants growing nearby.

"If everything on earth is going to die," said Sedit, "then I am not going to remain on earth. I will make wings for myself, and I will fly to Olelpanti where all living things last forever."

So Sedit picked the leaves off the sunflower plant. He fastened them together in the shape of two wings, and tied the wings to his shoulders. Then he lifted himself as a bird into the air. He flew a short way without any trouble, but the hot noonday sun began to dry the leaves, and one by one they wilted and dropped off. He tried to fly faster in order to reach Olelpanti before the leaves were all gone. But the leaves fell faster than he could fly, Then he felt himself falling. He landed on the pile of rocks which was to have been the road to Olelpanti and was crushed to death.

Olelbis, looking down from Olelpanti, saw all that had happened.

"It is his own fault," he said to the Brothers Hus who had just arrived at Olelpanti. "Sedit is the first of all living things to die. He has been killed by his own words. From this time on, all men will die. They will know the gladness of birth. They will know the sorrow of death. And through these two things together men will come to know love."