into a deep sleep.
37 I rose up out of my body and flew high
into the
sky like a bird on the wing. I followed the caravan route south, and
went all the way to the desert without finding my father. I turned
north again, searching the side roads, and on one of them I found his
encampment. The men lay in their tents. Many were sick. My father, the
leader of the caravan, and a Healer, sat by a fire.
38 'I am sure, now,' The Healer
was saying, 'It
is not plague or the Black Death. It is louse fever. Almost all the
furs we bought are full of them! We need sulfur pots to fill the tents
with smoke, and sulfur powder to drive them off our bodies. Even our
dogs
are sick. We dare not send a rider to any village until we are sure the
camp is cleansed, or we will Spread the disease from village to
village, city to city.''
39 'We will wait a day or so more,' instructed my father. 'If no one
comes upon us by then, I will take the strongest animal and ride to the
nearest village. I will not enter it, but I will summon help and
return.'
40 'I will find help, father!'
I cried. 'I will Find help for you!'
41 My father looked up. 'Strange!' he muttered, 'The fever plays tricks
on my mind! I thought I heard my son saying he would find help!'
42 I rose quickly into the sky and to the east I saw men surveying
a·new road. I flew quickly to them. 'My father and his friends,' I
cried, "are just over that ridge. They are sick, and need help. You
must go to them!'
43 One man straightened up from his
sighting Stick and looked towards the west, then walked over