Friends in Life and in Death
There was once two men who were such good friends that they swore to each other that they would never be separated, neither in life nor in death. One of them did not grow old before he died. After a time, the other wooed a farmer’s daughter and succeeded in having her agree to marry him. Before the wedding, he went to the churchyard where his friend was burried, knocked on the tomb and called for him. His friend did not come. He knocked again and called out again, but nobody came. The third time, he knocked harder and called louder that he should come so that they could talk. Finally, he heard slow footsteps, and his dead friend came out of his grave.
“It was good of you to come,” said the bridegroom, “I have stood here and knocked and called for you.”
“I was too far away,” said the dead man, “so I didn’t hear you before your third knock.”
“Yes, yes, today I shall be married,” said the young man, “and you remember that we talked about this before, that we shall come and attend each other’s wedding.”
“Yes, I remember that,” said the dead man, “but you must wait a little, so that I can tidy up and groom myself a bit; I cannot go and attend a wedding the way the way I am now.
The young man did not have much time because he should first go home to the farm where they would held the wedding feast, and it is almost time to go to the church. But he he had to give some time to let his dead friend have a room to himself, which he had asked for, so that he can dress up like the others before he would join them in church.
So, the the dead man went to the church and from the church, he also joined the wedding party. The wedding party had gone on for some time and the dead man said had to go, even if the bride’s crown had not been taken off yet. For old time’s sake and for their friendship, the bridegroom accompanied his dead friend to the grave. As they walked to the churchyard, the bridegroom asked his friend if he had noticed something strange, or something that would be nice to know.
“Yes, I have,” replied the dead man, “so much I have seen,” he said.
“That would be something special to see,” said the bridegroom, “I would very much want to join you and see it too,” he said.
“Yes, you can do that,” said the dead man, “but that could take a while and you would be away for a long time.”
That would be so, ageed the bridegroom, and followed his friend down into the grave. But before they went down, the dead man broke off a piece of turf and placed it on the head of his friend. It was a long way along the thick darkness and they threaded their way through a lot of shrubbery and moss before they came to a great portal. It opened when the dead man touched it. Inside, it was almost light; at first came moonlight, but the farther they went the lighter it became. After a time they came to a place where there were green fields and rich grass where farm animals grazed, but no matter how much they ate, they still looked ugly, empty and worn out.
“What does this mean?” asked the young man. “they are big and yet look so poorly, eating as if they were being paid just to do that.”
“That is the likeness of those who can never feel they have enough, so even as they struggle to get more and more, they never get as much as they want,” said the dead man.
So they walked on farther and farther until they came to a mountain with pastures that was bare and rocky with little patches of grass here and there. Here was a great gathering of animals that were so beautiful and fat, and so white that they shone.
”What?” aksed the bridegroom, ”are these that have so little but look so beautiful; what does this mean?
That is the likeness of those who are content with the little they have,” said the dead man.
So they went on farther and farther again until they came to a great sea. It was so light and bright that the bridegroom could not bear to look at it.
“Now you will have to sit here until I come back,” said the dead man, “I would be gone for quite a time.”
As soon as his friend had left, the bridegroom sat down and as he sat, sleep came over him, and it was like everything disappeared in his nice and deep sleep.
After a while, the dead man came bck.
“It is good that you remained seated so that I found you here again,” he said. But when the bridegroom got up, he was overgrown with moss and twigs, so that he looked like a bird’s nest. When he had removed the “nest”, they began the journey back, and the dead man walked his friend back to the ground over his grave. When the bridegroom was above ground again, he walked back to the farm where the marriage feast was being held. But when he went to where he thought the place should be, he could no longer recognize the place. He looked at every corner and asked everybody he met, but he did not get any answers to his questions about his bride or her parents and relatives. He could not ask any person that he knew. Everybody wondered about this man who went about looking like a scarecrow. When he couldn’t find anyone he knew, he went to the priest and told him about his kinfolks and what had happened since his wedding day. The priest knew nothing about it, but when he looked through his old church records, he found that the wedding had taken place a long time ago, and the people that the man was talking about had lived four hundred years ago.
Since that time, a great oak tree had grown in the priest’s farm. When he saw the oak tree, he climbed up the tree and wanted to look about, but the old man who had sat in heaven and slept for 400 years and came back home, could not go down the oak tree. He was stiff and sore, as could be excpected; and so, when he tried to climb down again, he stumbled and fell, and he broke his neck and died.
