I Asked Him Why Those Slain In Battle Were Allowed To Remain Unburied.
He Said It Had Always Been The Custom, But That He Could Not Explain It.
"But," I replied, "why should you disturb the bones of those whom you
have already buried, and expose them on the outskirts of the town?"
"It was the custom of our forefathers," he answered, "therefore we
continue to observe it."
"Have you no belief in a future existence after death? Is not some idea
expressed in the act of exhuming the bones after the flesh is decayed ?"
Commoro (loq.). - "Existence AFTER death! How can that be? Can a dead
man get out of his grave, unless we dig him out?"
"Do you think man is like a beast, that dies and is ended?"
Commoro. - "Certainly. An ox is stronger than a man, but he dies, and
his bones last longer; they are bigger. A man's bones break quickly; he
is weak."
"Is not a man superior in sense to an ox? Has he not a mind to direct
his actions?"
Commoro - "Some men are not so clever as an ox. Men must sow corn to
obtain food, but the ox and wild animals can procure it without sowing."
"Do you not know that there is a spirit within you different from flesh?
Do you not dream and wander in thought to distant places in your sleep?
Nevertheless your body rests in one spot. How do you account for this?"
Commoro (laughing) - "Well, how do YOU account for it?
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