The boys lay quietly for a long time, looking up at the sky full of stars. Then Niigaanii spoke, _The stars are too many to count. And the sky so big it goes on forever. That is why we call it the Forever Sky._ Niigaanii told Bineshiinh more of what he had learned. How the stars form shapes of different spirits, animals and things that live in the sky during each of the seasons. A moose. A panther. A fisher. A loon and crane. A sweat lodge, a bather and sweating stones. The spirit of Wintermaker. The hole in the sky. Waynabozho, who was the great teacher of the Ojibwe. _Do you see the path of stars across the sky? That is the Path of Souls, the Milky Way. That is the path Nooko followed to the spirit world._ _The path leads to the Land of Souls. That is where Nooko_s spirit is. _Everyone who has passed is there._ _All who are there are happy._ For many nights the boys returned to the meadow. And one special night they stayed very late. That night a beautiful show of lights filled the sky. _The northern lights,_ began Niigaanii, _are the spirits of all of our relatives who have passed on._ _Do you see them?_ he asked. _Yes, I do,_ said Bineshiinh. _And what are they doing?_ asked Niigaanii. _I think they are dancing,_ said Bineshiinh. And that is what they were doing. Excerpted from The Forever Sky by Thomas Peacock All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
