Parallel Myths

by J. F. Bierlein

  Ioi decided that it was high time for Blue Jay to quit his playful life of trickery and settle down with a wife. She told him that he must select a wife from the people of the land of the dead, who were called the “Supernatural People.” Ioi recommended that Blue Jay choose an old woman for a wife and suggested the recently deceased wife of a chief. But Blue Jay balked; he wanted a young and attractive woman. He found the corpse of a beautiful young girl and took it to Ioi, who advised him to take the body to the land of the dead to be revived.

  Blue Jay set out on this journey and arrived at the first village of the Supernatural People. They asked him, “How long has she been dead?” “Only a day,” he answered. The Supernatural People of the first village then informed him that there was nothing they could do to help him; he must go on to the village where people who were dead for exactly one day were revived.

  Blue Jay arrived at the second village the next day and asked the people to revive his wife. The people here too asked him how long she had been dead. “Two days now,” he replied. “There is nothing we can do; we only revive those who were dead exactly one day.” So Blue Jay went on.

  He reached the third village on the day after that and asked the people to revive this wife. “How long has she been dead?” they asked. “Exactly three days now.” “Most unfortunate,” they replied. “We can only revive those who have been dead exactly two days.” And so it went on from village to village until Blue Jay finally came to the fifth village, where the people could at last help him. The people of the fifth village liked Blue Jay and made him a chief. But the trickster tired of the Underworld and wanted to take his newly revived wife back to the land of the living.

  When Blue Jay arrived at home with his wife, her brother saw she was alive once more and ran to tell their father, an old chief, who demanded that Blue Jay cut off all of his hair as a gift to his new in-laws. When there was no response from Blue Jay, the chief became angry and led a party of male relatives to find him. Just as they nearly caught him, Blue Jay assumed the form of a bird and flew off again to the land of the dead.

  At this, his wife’s body fell to the ground, lifeless. She went to meet her husband in the land where he was now an exile.

  IOI AND THE GHOST HUSBAND

  The ghosts went in search of a wife and one of them fell in love with Blue Jay’s sister Ioi. They brought animal teeth as gifts and the night after the wedding feast they disappeared, taking Ioi with them.

  Blue Jay did not hear from Ioi for an entire year. He then decided to visit the land of ghosts in order to see her again. He went about the villages and among the animals asking for directions, but none would answer him. Finally, he found someone who would guide him there in return for payment.

  In the land of ghosts, he found Ioi standing amid piles of bones that were introduced to him as Ioi’s in-laws. At times the bones would leap into normal human form, but they would return to piles of bones when a loud noise was made.

  Ioi asked Blue Jay to take her young brother-in-law fishing. The boats of the ghost people looked terrible; they were full of holes and covered with moss. Finding that a shout would turn his fishing companion into a pile of bones, Blue Jay had great fun. Among his many pranks, Blue Jay took the bones and mixed them up, placing the skull of a child on an adult torso, then laughing when the strange thing came to life.

  The next time Blue Jay went fishing with Ioi’s young brother-in-law, they kept what they caught, which looked to Blue Jay like branches but which were actually fine salmon in the ghost world. Another time the ghost people became very excited: A “whale” had been found beached. But to Blue Jay’s eyes it did not look like a whale, but rather like a large log. The ghost people began stripping the bark off the log, praising it as the richest whale blubber they had ever had. Knowing that by shouting he could reduce them all to bones, he did so, and then took the blubber for himself—but in his hands it still looked like tree bark.

  The ghost people tired of Blue Jay’s pranks at their expense, and Ioi’s husband begged her to send the trickster home. So Ioi sent her brother up to the world of the living to put out five prairie fires. She gave him five pots of water, but—as usual—he ignored his sister’s instructions, claiming, “Ioi always tells lies.” So he poured the water on the fires without taking care to see how much was needed for the job. By the time Blue Jay reached the fifth fire, there was no water left. The fire consumed him and he died. But the dead don’t know that they are dead right away.

  Upon arriving in the land of the dead, Blue Jay did not believe that he was dead. When Ioi sent her canoe to greet him—a canoe that had looked before to Blue Jay as miserable and full of holes—he said, “What a fine canoe! I have never seen one this fine.” When the people brought him fine salmon—which had seemed before to Blue Jay to be mere tree branches—he said, “What excellent salmon; I have never seen any so fine.”

  The people in the land of the dead tried to convince Blue Jay that he was actually dead, but he refused to believe it, saying, “Ioi always tells lies.” Remembering his tricks with the ghost people, Blue Jay shouted. However, now the ghosts did not reduce to piles of bones; in fact, nothing happened.

  Still not convinced that he was actually dead, Blue Jay went to pester the medicine men in the land of the ghosts. They became annoyed with him and made him insane. When Ioi found him, he was dancing on his head.

  Ioi told the people, “My brother is now very dead—he has lost his mind.”

  THE GREEK AND ROMAN AFTERLIFE

  At death, the soul leaves the body and travels to the Underworld, guided by the god Hermes. At first it arrives on the banks of the River Styx (meaning “hateful”). Mourners are well advised to place a coin in the mouth of the deceased in order to pay Charon, the ferryman, to take the soul across this river. Without the proper fare, the soul may wander for a hundred years as a ghost.

  Once across the Styx, the soul is taken to the three judges of the dead—Rhadamanthus, Minos, and Aeacus. It is said that Rhadamanthus judges the Europeans, Aeacus the Asiatics, and Minos, who lived on the earth as king of Crete, takes only the hardest cases. Based on the decision of its appropriate judge, the soul may then proceed leftward to the Hades of punishment, where one is repaid one hundredfold for the misdeeds of life. A good person may be conducted toward the right, whence he or she proceeds to the Elysian Fields—a place of perpetual bliss covered with sacred purple light (purple is the color of nobility). Plato tells us that every good deed is repaid here one hundredfold. Any soul in the Elysian Fields can be reincarnated and return to the earth as many as three times. However, before leaving, the soul must drink the water of Lethe, or “forgetfulness.”

  ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE

  Orpheus was the greatest musician who ever lived. He was the child of a mortal father and the Muse Calliope, patroness of music. His aptitude for music was noticed early in his childhood and the god Apollo himself gave the child a lyre to play. As he grew into manhood, Orpheus fell in love with Eurydice and married her.

  While they were still newlyweds, Eurydice took a walk near the river. A man attempted to seize her by force and she accidentally trod on a poisonous viper while fleeing. Orpheus was so filled with grief that he begged the gods to allow him to enter the Underworld to bring her back. His songs of mourning were so moving that the gods agreed; Apollo was his patron for the journey.

  Upon arriving on the banks of the River Styx, the border between the world of the living and the Underworld, the sky went from sunshine to dark shadow. Orpheus began to play his lyre; Charon was so charmed by the music that he took Orpheus across the river, forgetting about the fare. The snarling guard of the gate to the Underworld, the three-headed dog Cerberus, stopped barking and listened to the music. The three judges of the dead paused to listen as well, and the torments of the punished souls, including Sisyphus, ceased for a few moments.

  Finally Orpheus met Hades, lord of the Underworld, and the music melted the heart of the king of the dead. He gladl
y granted Orpheus’s request on one condition: Orpheus must not turn to look at the face of Eurydice until they were both safely out of the Underworld and stood once again in the land of the living. Were Orpheus to look back but once, Eurydice would have to stay in the Underworld forever.

  Understanding this, Orpheus began his ascent to the land of the living, with Eurydice behind him. He kept his eyes fixed firmly in front of him. But as thoughts of her filled his head, he could not bear it; he turned back and lost his wife forever.

  AENEAS IN THE UNDERWORLD

  Upon his arrival in Italy, Aeneas,* ancestor of the Caesars, consulted with the Italian oracle, the Sibyl, for advice. She knew very well that Aeneas missed his late father, Anchises, and that the best advice for Aeneas could only come from his father. The Sibyl then agreed to conduct Aeneas to the Underworld to see his father.

  The path to the Underworld was a gloomy one, shrouded in darkness. They passed the foul-smelling Lake Avernus until they encountered the black poplar trees that mark the border between the land of the living and the Underworld. The Sibyl suggested that Aeneas sacrifice four black bulls to Hecate, the goddess of the night. As the smoke from the sacrifice rose high, thunder sounded and the earth quaked. The Sibyl then pointed to a tree with a golden bough, advising Aeneas to break off the bough for his journey.

  Then the Sibyl faced Aeneas squarely and said, “Now you will need all your courage.” The two entered the mouth of the Underworld, walking past the horrible spirits of Discord, Disease, Hunger, and War, onto a field occupied by the hapless souls who had not been properly buried and must wander that shore for a century before entering the Underworld. The Sibyl and Aeneas came to the banks of the River Styx, where Charon, the ferryman, told them gruffly that the dead—and not the living—were his passengers. However, Aeneas showed Charon the golden bough; the ferryman then conducted them across the river.

  The boat passed the field of mourning where tragic young lovers who had committed suicide wandered. They passed the seats of the three judges of the dead.

  They now came to a fork in the river. From the left they heard the screams of the punished souls. To the right they saw the purple rays emanating from the Elysian Fields where the good and the great dwell in everlasting bliss. The Sibyl instructed Aeneas to place the golden bough in the rock wall opposite the fork in the river. Then Charon veered sharply to the right, toward the Elysian Fields. There Aeneas saw the great heroes, poets, sages, and others, including—at last—Anchises, his father.

  Aeneas wept with joy at the sight of his father. When the ferry landed, father and son embraced. Anchises said that his son would be the founder of the greatest empire the world had ever known. As they parted, Anchises took Aeneas to the well of Lethe to drink of the waters of forgetfulness.

  Then the Sibyl conducted Aeneas back to the land above the ground, where he fulfilled his fate.

  PERUVIAN DEATH MYTHS

  There are two human souls, the Athun Ajayo and the Jukkui Ajayo. The Athun Ajayo is created by Pachamama [Mother Earth] and is the soul that provides consciousness, movement, and other signs of life. The Athun Ajayo survives after the death of the body.

  The Jukkui Ajayo is the soul that provides the body with immunity from diseases as it maintains the proper equilibrium among the mind, the body, and the Athun Ajayo. It is the Jukkui Ajayo that wanders about during sleep, transmitting its impressions in the form of dreams. If the Jukkui Ajayo leaves the living body, there is no protection against disease. When a body dies, the Jukkui Ajayo leaves permanently within the first week of death.

  Both Ajayos hover about the body of the deceased for three days. Bachelors and spinsters are well-advised to stay away from the corpse during this time, as the Athun may take a soul with it to be a spouse in the afterlife.

  The Athun Ajayos return to earth to visit the living, especially during the Christian feast of All Saints’ Day on the first of November. At that time one may speak with the Athuns of dead relatives and give them gifts.

  SOCRATES ON THE GRECO-ROMAN AFTERLIFE

  From Socrates’s “Speech on His Condemnation to Death”:*

  Moreover, we may hence conclude that there is great hope that death is a blessing. For to die is one of two things: for either the dead may be annihilated and have no sensation of anything whatever; or, as it is said, there is a certain change and passage of the soul from one place to another. And if it is a privation of all sensation, as it were, a sleep in which the sleeper has no dream, death would be wonderful gain. For I think that if anyone, having selected a night in which he slept so soundly as not to have had a dream, and having compared this night with all the other nights and days of his life, should be required on consideration to say how many nights he had passed better and more pleasantly than this night throughout his life, I think that not only a private person, but even a great king himself would find them easy to number in comparison with other days and nights. If, therefore, death is a thing of this kind, I say it is a gain; for thus all futurity appears to be nothing more than one night.

  But if, on the other hand, death is a removal from hence to another place, and what is said can be true, that all the dead are there, what greater blessing can there be than this, my judges? For if, on arriving at Hades, released from those who pretend to be judges, one shall find those who are true judges, and who are said to judge there, Minos and Rhadamanthus, Aeacus and Triptolemus, and such others of the demigods who were just during their own life, would this be a sad removal? At what price would you not estimate a conference with Orpheus and Musaeus, Hesiod and Homer? I indeed should be willing to die often, if this be true. For to me the soujourn there would be admirable, when I should meet with Palamedes, and Ajax, son of Telamón, and any other of the ancients who has died by an unjust sentence. The comparing my sufferings with theirs would, I think, be no unpleasant occupation.

  But the greatest pleasure would be to spend my time in questioning and examining the people there as I have done those here, and discovering who among them is wise, and who fancies himself to be so but is not. At what price, my judges, would not any one estimate the opportunity of questioning him who led that mighty army against Troy, or Ulysses, or Sisyphus, or ten thousand others, whom one might mention, both men and women? With whom to converse and associate, and to question them, would be an inconceivable happiness. Surely for that the judges there do not condemn to death; for in other respects those who live there are more happy than those that are here, and are henceforth immortal, if at least what is said be true.

  You, therefore, O my judges, ought to entertain good hopes with respect to death, and to meditate on this one truth, that to a good man nothing is evil, neither while living nor when dead, nor are his concerns neglected by the gods. And what has befallen me is not the effect of chance; but this is clear to me, that now to die, and be freed from my cares is better for me. On this account the warning in no way turned me aside; and I bear no resentment toward those who condemned me, or against my accusers, although they did not condemn and accuse me with this intention, but thinking to injure me: in this they deserve to be blamed.

  … But it is now time to depart,—for me to die, for you to live. But which of us is going to a better state is unknown to everyone but God.

  PERSIAN (ZOROASTRIAN) DEATH MYTHS

  NOTE: Zoroastrianism, the ancient religion of Persia (now Iran), is a faith founded on the teachings of the prophet Zoroaster. There are now only 100,000 Zoroastrians in the world, principally in India, Iran, and Great Britain.

  At death the soul hovers over the body for three nights. On the first night, the soul contemplates the words of its past life; on the second, it contemplates its thoughts; and on the third, it contemplates its deeds. Then the soul passes on to the three judges who are absolutely impartial and care nothing about the person’s status in life. The three judges base their decision upon the person’s deeds, which are recorded in the House of Song. The soul’s merits are weighed on a scale. If the good outwei
ghs the bad, then the soul proceeds on to heaven. If the good and bad are equal, the soul proceeds to Hamestagan, or Purgatory, where it is cleansed of its sin. If the bad outweighs the good, then the soul goes to hell.

  As the souls leave the place of judgment they are met by a guide. For the good, this guide is a beautiful young woman; for the bad it is an ugly hag. Then the guide identifies herself—“I am your own conscience.” All souls, good or bad, are conducted by their guides to the Chinvat bridge.

  At this bridge the path into heaven widens for the good; for the evil it becomes razor thin and they plunge into hell. However, hell is not permanent; once the sins are expiated the soul may return to the seat of judgment for a review of their case. If sufficiently purged, the soul may proceed into heaven.

  At the end of time, at the last judgment, all will be resurrected, and the body and soul reunited and judged as a whole.

  NACHIKETAS

  (India)

  There was once a Brahman herdsman named Vajashrava who earnestly desired to win the favor of the gods; he wanted to give them something to ensure prosperity. However, all of his cows were old and no longer gave milk. His crops were poor and lie had barely enough to feed his family. Vajashrava spoke with his son, Nachiketas, about this predicament. Nachiketas replied, “Father, you have nothing to give to the gods but me. To which god would you offer me?” Vajashrava sadly said, “To Yama, lord of the dead.”