--- title: Bluejay Visits the Ghosts — The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian S… · full text with trees description: Bluejay Visits the Ghosts, «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bird Grinnell: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: In a certain village there lived Ioí and her younger brother, Bluejay. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/6/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Punishment of the Stingy, and Othe…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/) / Bluejay Visits the Ghosts # Bluejay Visits the Ghosts Bluejay Visits the Ghosts of «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bird Grinnell: the whole text, 171 sentences and 2257 words. The small number after every sentence leads to its own page with its syntax tree and pragmatics, parsed by Mova itself. In a certain village there lived Ioí and her younger brother, Bluejay.[1](1/ "tree and pragmatics") One night the ghosts went out to buy a wife.[2](2/ "tree and pragmatics") They bought Ioí.[3](3/ "tree and pragmatics") The presents they gave for her were not sent back; they were kept.[4](4/ "tree and pragmatics") So at night she was married, and when day came Ioí was gone from her father’s house.[5](5/ "tree and pragmatics") For a long time Bluejay did nothing; but at length he felt lonely, and after a year had passed he said, “I am going to look for my elder sister.”[6](6/ "tree and pragmatics") He started for the country of the ghosts, and on his way he began to ask every one whom he saw, “Where does a person go when he dies?”[7](7/ "tree and pragmatics") He asked all the trees, but they could not tell him.[8](8/ "tree and pragmatics") He asked all the birds, but they could not tell him.[9](9/ "tree and pragmatics") At last he asked a Wedge, and the Wedge said, “If you will pay me, I will carry you there.”[10](10/ "tree and pragmatics") He paid, and the Wedge carried him to the country of the ghosts.[11](11/ "tree and pragmatics") They came to a large village, but no smoke rose from the houses; only from the last house—a big one—they saw smoke rising.[12](12/ "tree and pragmatics") Bluejay went into this house, and there he saw his elder sister.[13](13/ "tree and pragmatics") She said to him: “Ah, my younger brother, where do you come from?[14](14/ "tree and pragmatics") Are you dead?”[15](15/ "tree and pragmatics") He answered, “No, I am not dead; the Wedge brought me here on its back.”[16](16/ "tree and pragmatics") After a little Bluejay went out and walked through the village, and began to open the doors of the houses and to look into them; and when he looked into them he did not find people in any of the houses, but only bones.[17](17/ "tree and pragmatics") Then he came back to where his elder sister was.[18](18/ "tree and pragmatics") On the bed near where his sister was sitting lay a skull and some bones.[19](19/ "tree and pragmatics") He asked her, “What are you going to do with that skull and those bones?”[20](20/ "tree and pragmatics") She said to him, “That is my husband, your brother-in-law.”[21](21/ "tree and pragmatics") Bluejay did not believe her; he said to himself: “Ioí is telling lies.[22](22/ "tree and pragmatics") She says a skull and bones is my brother-in-law!”[23](23/ "tree and pragmatics") When it got dark people began to appear, and soon the house was full.[24](24/ "tree and pragmatics") It was a large house, but there were many people in it.[25](25/ "tree and pragmatics") Bluejay said to his elder sister, “Where have all these people come from?”[26](26/ "tree and pragmatics") She answered him: “Do you think that they are people?[27](27/ "tree and pragmatics") They are ghosts.[28](28/ "tree and pragmatics") They are ghosts.”[29](29/ "tree and pragmatics") Now these people always spoke in whispers, and Bluejay could not hear what they said, and did not understand them.[30](30/ "tree and pragmatics") He stayed a long time with his elder sister.[31](31/ "tree and pragmatics") One day she said to him: “Why do you not do as they do?[32](32/ "tree and pragmatics") Go fishing with them, with your dip-net.”[33](33/ "tree and pragmatics") He said, “I will do so.”[34](34/ "tree and pragmatics") When it got dark he made ready to go, and a boy also made ready.[35](35/ "tree and pragmatics") His sister said: “This is your brother-in-law’s relation.[36](36/ "tree and pragmatics") You two had better go together.[37](37/ "tree and pragmatics") Do not speak much to him.[38](38/ "tree and pragmatics") Keep silent.”[39](39/ "tree and pragmatics") They put their canoe in the water and started, and as they were paddling down the river they saw ahead of them some people, also going down the river in a canoe and singing.[40](40/ "tree and pragmatics") When they had almost overtaken them Bluejay began to sing too, joining in their song, and at once the people were silent.[41](41/ "tree and pragmatics") He looked back at the boy in the stern of the canoe, but now there was no boy there, only a pile of bones.[42](42/ "tree and pragmatics") The noise Bluejay made caused the boy to disappear, and only bones were left.[43](43/ "tree and pragmatics") Now, as they floated down the stream, Bluejay sat silent, and was wondering what all this meant, and pretty soon when he looked back at the stern of the canoe the boy was sitting there again.[44](44/ "tree and pragmatics") Bluejay said to him, speaking slowly and in a low voice, “Where is your fishing-fence?”[45](45/ "tree and pragmatics") The boy answered, “It is beyond here, down the stream.”[46](46/ "tree and pragmatics") They went on farther; then Bluejay said out loud and suddenly, “Where is your fishing-fence?”[47](47/ "tree and pragmatics") Only bones were in the stern of the canoe.[48](48/ "tree and pragmatics") Again Bluejay was silent, and when he next looked back the boy was again in the canoe.[49](49/ "tree and pragmatics") Bluejay again spoke to him in low tones, and said, “Where is your fishing-fence?”[50](50/ "tree and pragmatics") The boy answered, “Here.”[51](51/ "tree and pragmatics") Now they began to fish, Bluejay using the dip-net, while the boy held the canoe.[52](52/ "tree and pragmatics") Soon Bluejay felt something in his net and raised it, but only two dead branches were in it.[53](53/ "tree and pragmatics") He threw them out, and again put his net into the water.[54](54/ "tree and pragmatics") Again he felt something in it and raised it, and it was full of leaves.[55](55/ "tree and pragmatics") He threw them out, but a part of the leaves fell in the canoe, and the boy gathered them up.[56](56/ "tree and pragmatics") Again he caught a branch and threw it out into the water; again he caught some leaves and threw them out, but a part of them fell in the canoe.[57](57/ "tree and pragmatics") The boy gathered them up.[58](58/ "tree and pragmatics") Again he caught two branches—both large ones.[59](59/ "tree and pragmatics") He was pleased with these branches, and said to himself, “I will take these back to Ioí; she can use them to build her fire.”[60](60/ "tree and pragmatics") At length they turned back and went homeward and reached the village.[61](61/ "tree and pragmatics") Bluejay was angry because he had caught nothing.[62](62/ "tree and pragmatics") When they went up from the beach to the houses the boy was carrying a mat full of trout.[63](63/ "tree and pragmatics") After the trout were roasted and the people were eating them, the boy talked a great deal, saying: “He threw out of the canoe all that he had caught.[64](64/ "tree and pragmatics") If he had not thrown it away, our canoe would have been almost full.”[65](65/ "tree and pragmatics") His elder sister said to Bluejay, “Why did you throw away what you had caught?”[66](66/ "tree and pragmatics") “I threw away what I caught because they were branches,” said Bluejay.[67](67/ "tree and pragmatics") His sister said: “Do you think they were branches?[68](68/ "tree and pragmatics") That is our food.[69](69/ "tree and pragmatics") When you caught leaves, those were trout.[70](70/ "tree and pragmatics") When you caught branches, those were fall salmon.”[71](71/ "tree and pragmatics") Bluejay did not believe this.[72](72/ "tree and pragmatics") He said to her: “I brought home to you two branches.[73](73/ "tree and pragmatics") You can use them to make your fire.”[74](74/ "tree and pragmatics") His sister went to the beach and found two fall salmon in the canoe.[75](75/ "tree and pragmatics") She took them up to the house and went in, carrying them in her hand.[76](76/ "tree and pragmatics") Blue jay said to her, “Where did you steal those fall salmon, Ioí?”[77](77/ "tree and pragmatics") She answered, “These are what you caught.”[78](78/ "tree and pragmatics") Bluejay said to himself, “Ioí keeps telling lies to me all the time.”[79](79/ "tree and pragmatics") When day came Bluejay went down to the water’s edge, to the beach.[80](80/ "tree and pragmatics") There on the beach were the canoes of the ghosts.[81](81/ "tree and pragmatics") They were old and full of holes, and partly grown over with moss.[82](82/ "tree and pragmatics") He went up to the house and said to his sister, “How bad your husband’s canoes are, Ioí.”[83](83/ "tree and pragmatics") She answered, “After this keep quiet, or the people will get tired of you.”[84](84/ "tree and pragmatics") But he repeated, “The canoes of these people are full of holes.”[85](85/ "tree and pragmatics") She said to him, angrily: “People? people?[86](86/ "tree and pragmatics") They are ghosts.”[87](87/ "tree and pragmatics") When it again grew dark Blue jay again made himself ready, and the boy got ready, and they went fishing.[88](88/ "tree and pragmatics") Now Bluejay teased that boy.[89](89/ "tree and pragmatics") As they were going along he shouted, and only bones were in the canoe.[90](90/ "tree and pragmatics") He did this several times, but at last they reached the fishing-place, and began to fish with the dip-net.[91](91/ "tree and pragmatics") Now Bluejay took into the canoe all the branches that he caught, and all the leaves, and when the tide began to fall their canoe was full, and they started homeward.[92](92/ "tree and pragmatics") Now he began to tease the ghosts, and when they met one he shouted, and only bones were in the canoe.[93](93/ "tree and pragmatics") At last they reached home, and he carried up to his sister’s house part of what he had caught.[94](94/ "tree and pragmatics") She also carried up a part—salmon of two kinds.[95](95/ "tree and pragmatics") The next morning when it became day he went through the village again, and he found many bones in those houses.[96](96/ "tree and pragmatics") It got dark, and some one said, “A whale has been found.”[97](97/ "tree and pragmatics") His elder sister gave him a knife, and said to him, “Quick, run! a whale has been found.”[98](98/ "tree and pragmatics") Then Bluejay ran fast, and when he reached the beach he met some of those people.[99](99/ "tree and pragmatics") He called out to them in a loud voice, asking them, “Where is this whale?”[100](100/ "tree and pragmatics") Only bones lay where the people had stood.[101](101/ "tree and pragmatics") He kicked the skulls out of the way and ran on a long distance, and met some other people.[102](102/ "tree and pragmatics") Again he called out loudly to them; only bones lay there.[103](103/ "tree and pragmatics") He did this several times.[104](104/ "tree and pragmatics") At last he came to a big log, thrown up on the beach—a big log with thick bark—and many people were at work peeling off that bark.[105](105/ "tree and pragmatics") Bluejay shouted.[106](106/ "tree and pragmatics") Only bones lay there.[107](107/ "tree and pragmatics") That bark was full of pitch.[108](108/ "tree and pragmatics") Bluejay began to peel it off.[109](109/ "tree and pragmatics") He peeled off two pieces and put them on his shoulder and went home.[110](110/ "tree and pragmatics") As he was going along he said to himself, “I thought it was really a whale, but it is only a fir-tree.”[111](111/ "tree and pragmatics") He kept on, and at last he reached the house.[112](112/ "tree and pragmatics") Outside the door he threw down the bark and went in.[113](113/ "tree and pragmatics") He said to his elder sister, “I thought it was really a whale, but you see it is only bark.”[114](114/ "tree and pragmatics") His elder sister said to him: “It is whale, it is whale.[115](115/ "tree and pragmatics") Do you think it is bark?”[116](116/ "tree and pragmatics") She went outside, and there two cuts of whale meat lay on the ground.[117](117/ "tree and pragmatics") Ioí said, “It is a good whale; its blubber is very thick.”[118](118/ "tree and pragmatics") Bluejay looked at it.[119](119/ "tree and pragmatics") Now he believed that a whale lay on the beach.[120](120/ "tree and pragmatics") He turned back and met a person who was carrying bark on his back.[121](121/ "tree and pragmatics") Blue jay shouted, and only bones lay there.[122](122/ "tree and pragmatics") He took the piece of bark and put it on his shoulder and carried it home.[123](123/ "tree and pragmatics") In this way he treated all these ghosts, and after a while he had a great deal of whale meat.[124](124/ "tree and pragmatics") Bluejay continued to live there.[125](125/ "tree and pragmatics") One day he went into a house in the village and took a child’s skull and put it on the bones of a grown-up person.[126](126/ "tree and pragmatics") He took the large skull and put it on the child’s bones.[127](127/ "tree and pragmatics") Thus he did to all these people.[128](128/ "tree and pragmatics") When night came the child sat up, intending to rise to its feet, but it fell over.[129](129/ "tree and pragmatics") Its head was so heavy that it threw it down.[130](130/ "tree and pragmatics") The old man got up.[131](131/ "tree and pragmatics") His head was light.[132](132/ "tree and pragmatics") The next morning when it became day he changed these heads back again.[133](133/ "tree and pragmatics") Sometimes he changed the legs of the ghosts, so that he gave small legs to an old man and large legs to a child.[134](134/ "tree and pragmatics") Sometimes he gave a man’s legs to a woman, and a woman’s legs to a man.[135](135/ "tree and pragmatics") After a time the ghosts began to dislike him.[136](136/ "tree and pragmatics") Ioí’s husband said to her: “These people dislike Bluejay because he treats them in this way.[137](137/ "tree and pragmatics") It will be good for you to tell him to go away to his home, for now people do not like him.”[138](138/ "tree and pragmatics") Ioí tried to stop her younger brother, but he would not listen to her.[139](139/ "tree and pragmatics") Now again when it became day Bluejay arose early.[140](140/ "tree and pragmatics") Ioí had in her arms a skull.[141](141/ "tree and pragmatics") Bluejay threw it away, saying, “Why does she hold that skull in her arms?”[142](142/ "tree and pragmatics") She said to him, “Ah! you have broken your brother-in-law’s neck.”[143](143/ "tree and pragmatics") It became night, and his brother-in-law was sick.[144](144/ "tree and pragmatics") His relations tried to cure him, and pretty soon the brother-in-law got well.[145](145/ "tree and pragmatics") Now Bluejay started to go to his home.[146](146/ "tree and pragmatics") But as he was going home he got caught in a fire, and was burned and died.[147](147/ "tree and pragmatics") Then he started back for the country of the ghosts.[148](148/ "tree and pragmatics") When he came to the river he called out to his elder sister, and she said, “Ah, my brother is dead.”[149](149/ "tree and pragmatics") She put her canoe into the water and went across the river to fetch him.[150](150/ "tree and pragmatics") When she reached him he said to her, “Your canoe is pretty, Ioí.”[151](151/ "tree and pragmatics") She said to him, “You used to say that canoe was grown over with moss.”[152](152/ "tree and pragmatics") Bluejay thought: “Ioí is always telling lies to me.[153](153/ "tree and pragmatics") The other canoes had holes and were moss-covered.”[154](154/ "tree and pragmatics") She said to him, “You are dead now; that makes the difference.”[155](155/ "tree and pragmatics") Bluejay thought, “Ioí keeps telling lies to me.”[156](156/ "tree and pragmatics") Soon she carried him to the other side of the river, and he saw the people.[157](157/ "tree and pragmatics") They were playing games—dice and the ring game—and dancing—tum, tum, tum, tum—and singing.[158](158/ "tree and pragmatics") Bluejay wanted to go to these singers.[159](159/ "tree and pragmatics") He tried to sing and to call out loud, but they laughed at him.[160](160/ "tree and pragmatics") Then he went into his brother-in-law’s house.[161](161/ "tree and pragmatics") There sat a chief, a good-looking man; it was Ioí’s husband.[162](162/ "tree and pragmatics") Ioí said, “And you broke his neck.”[163](163/ "tree and pragmatics") Bluejay thought, “Ioí keeps telling me lies.”[164](164/ "tree and pragmatics") “Where did these canoes come from?[165](165/ "tree and pragmatics") They are pretty.”[166](166/ "tree and pragmatics") Ioí answered, “And you said they were moss-grown.”[167](167/ "tree and pragmatics") Bluejay thought: “Ioí is always telling lies.[168](168/ "tree and pragmatics") The others were full of holes, and were partly overgrown with moss.”[169](169/ "tree and pragmatics") “You are dead now,” said his sister; “that makes the difference.”[170](170/ "tree and pragmatics") Then Bluejay gave it up and became quiet.[171](171/ "tree and pragmatics") - ← previous: [Bluejay, the Imitator](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/5/) - next →: [The Girl Who Was the Ring \[1\]](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/7/) - ↑ back to [The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/)