The Story-tree
A Chaga story tells of a girl who one day went out with her friends to cut grass.
She saw a place where it was growing luxuriantly, but when she put her foot there she sank at once into the mud.
Her friends tried to catch hold of her hands but she sink deeper into the mud and disappeared, singing out that the ghosts had taken her and her parents should be told.
The girls ran home and called all the people to the quagmire. Here a diviner advised that a cow and a sheep must be sacrificed. When this was done the girl's voice was heard again, but eventually it faded away and was silent.
However on the spot where the girl had sunk a tree began to grow, which got taller and taller till it reached the sky.
It was a useful tree under which boys would drive their cattle in the heat of the day.
One day two boys climbed up into the tree, calling to their companions that they were going to the world above.
They never returned.
The tree has since been called the Story-tree.
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