This page has been validated.
THE FAITHFUL WIFE.
115

since the days of the first man and woman. Why do you wish to seek after new things, and for new food grown in the spirit land whither the sun goes down?” But Eda was determined to proceed with the adventure which he had been instructed to attempt, so, loading up his vessel with pottery, he sailed away to the westward.

Weeks passed away; months passed away; still, Eda did not return. The men who had gone with him had left wives behind, promising them that the vessel would not long be absent. Slowly the idea grew and became permanent that Eda and his followers would never be seen again. The wives gave up hope and believed themselves to be widows; then being wooed afresh by suitors they married again; only the wife and daughter-in-law of Eda remained faithful to their absent husbands. After long suspense the faith and constancy of the wife of Eda were rewarded by a vivid dream, in which she saw him setting sail from a land of strangers and steering for the rising sun. She cheered her daughter-in-law by relating her dream, and the pair made it their occupation to go every day to the summit of the highest hill near their village and thence to scan the horizon for the returning sails. Their patience was at last rewarded by beholding a speck to the west-