This session focuses on the most important theological concepts in Christianity–the crucifixion and the resurrection, For almost 2,000 years people have struggled to understand their significance. The most common interpretation of the crucifixion and resurrection is that Jesus died on the cross as a sacrifice for the sins of humanity, so that individuals might experience the saving grace of God and his living presence in their midst. This is a very difficult concept for first and second graders, and it may not represent the views of their parents or their Unitarian Universalist congregation. The story in this session is condensed in narrative form without seeking to interpret the meaning of the events.

Though our children have heard the story of Jesus’ birth and some of his teachings, this may be the first time the death of Jesus and the miracle of his victory over death have been addressed with them directly. It is a rich and meaningful story on many levels, and children will need time to talk about it and ask their own questions.

Although death has been addressed before in this program (All Souls’ Day), the focus on death is more intense in this session. It is Jesus who is being put to death, and the children may recognize that this is a very important story about an important person.

As children listen to today’s story, it is possible that some personal sorrow may be evoked, such as the death of a significant person in a child’s life. Reassure children that sad feelings are an important part of our lives–that no one goes through life without some sorrow. Reassure them also that there are adults who care about them and who can help them through the painful times. If any child seems to need special attention, be sure to alert a parent, your minister, or your religious educator, so that additional help may be offered if necessary.

Many Unitarian Universalists depart from Christian tradition in their beliefs about the events that make up the Easter story, such as the bodily resurrection of Jesus. The word "resurrection" means coming back to life after death. Most Christians believe that Jesus was resurrected and that he came back to life after he died. Most Unitarian Universalists believe that Jesus died and his body did not come back to life. Even so, all of us can find deep meaning in the idea that those we love live on in our memories and that renewal or rebirth is available to us during our lifetime.

The date for the annual celebration of Easter is tied to both the historical event of the stories of Jesus’ death and resurrection, according to Christian theology, and to factors associated with the spring equinox and spring festivals. In Western Christianity, Easter is on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. In Eastern Christianity, Easter is on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox or after the end of Passover, whichever is later.

The biblical references for the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus are: Matthew 27-28, Mark 15-16, Luke 23-24, John 18-20, and I Corinthians 15.

People don’t die in a vacuum, but rather within the context of cultural patterns and expectations. As such, the events, and even the feelings associated with death can be influenced by the social preferences, beliefs, and behaviors of the primary social group. For example, rituals of mourning often reflect a culture’s belief (or lack thereof) in an afterlife and its understandings of the causes of death.

However, in most cases, while rituals may emerge from different belief systems,and the actual behaviors that make up these rituals can look very different, these behaviors usually share common functions and outcomes. We will focus on identifying and understanding these functions and outcomes during Week 2. Then we will examine the ways in which they signify the same underlying motivations.

First, we will look at the different ways in which cultures respond to death and dying. As you review this material, remember that rituals reflect both cultural expectations and mores, as well as the preferences and personalities of the family or individual. As a result, mourning rituals vary greatly throughout the world. None are better or worse than others as long as they comfort the bereaved.

The information presented in this section provides a basic introduction, and in no way covers all aspects of cross-cultural mourning traditions. If your students ask you something you don’t know, don’t be afraid to say so. If there is sufficient interest, you and your students can investigate the issue together. using the resources listed throughout this lesson, and in the "Teacher Orientation" materials.

BELIEF IN AFTERLIFE

Cultures vary in their beliefs about the permanence of death and the existence of an afterlife. These differences are reflected in the ways they respond to death, and, perhaps, develop cultural/religious traditions.

For example, the ancient Egyptians believed that those who had lived worthy lives spent eternity in "the fields of Yam," a land of peace and plenty. This belief underwent revision in later years, when worthy individuals were thought to join Osiris in the Underworld. To ease their journey, pharaohs, their families, and other nobles were buried with the Book of the Dead (to help them answer questions they would be asked before being admitted to the afterlife) and all the objects they would need to carry on their lives. Ordinary Egyptians were not permitted entrance to the afterlife, and were buried in simple, shallow graves.

The Aztecs of Mexico believed there were three separate afterworlds and that the nature of the death determined the soul’s destination. While most people were condemned to Mictlan, a fairly dreary underworld home, those who drowned, died of illness, or were killed by lightning went to the much more pleasant Tlalocan. Women who died in childbirth or were sacrificed, and warriors killed in battle lived in an even more wonderful home after death.

Many of the Hindus who believe in reincarnation do not grieve at the time of death, but rather see death as a transition to another form of life. Because Hindus believe that Benares is a holy city, a "doorway to Eternity," many believers try to bathe in the Ganges River running through the city before dying to seek liberation from the death-rebirth cycle. Buddhists share the believe that death is a passage of the soul to another–and one would hope, better–life.

Muslims believe in the Last Judgment, when visiting angels will question the deceased about their beliefs. The souls of the damned are separated from God and condemned to eternal torture and torment. The souls of the righteous, however, exist at the right hand of Adam for eternity.

The Baganda of Uganda believe that the soul becomes an invisible ghost who retains many of the characteristics of the deceased, and remains with the family. If these ghosts are not pleased, they can make life unpleasant for the living by bringing illness or death. The Baganda believe that two years after a death, the ghost will enter the body of a newborn within the same family.

The Hopi Indians believe in a different kind of ghost, a friendly Kachina who visits the village and brings good luck or rain.

In contrast, a few cultures, such as the Kanuri of Nigeria and the Navaho do not conceive of an afterlife, but believe that all life ends with death. (Many Jews and UUs share this belief as well.) However, the Navajo hold~that all but the very young and the old generate evil spirits, a belief reflected in their burial rituals. For example, people avoid contact with the dead body, which often is buried in a distant, unmarked location.

RITUALS OF MOURNING

Rituals of mourning reflect a culture’s belief (or lack thereof) in an afterlife and its understandings of the causes of death. In other words, cultures that hold differing beliefs about the cause of death and/or the existence of an afterlife will develop different rituals of mourning.

Nevertheless, most mourning rituals share common elements, and generally prescribe how people should:

• mark the occasion of death
• handle the body prior to burial
• "feel the feelings" of loss or guide the expression of grief
• answer the question of "why" or otherwise fit the loss into a wider context
• maintain a connection to the dead and strengthen relationships with the living
• mark changes over time

While rituals of mourning may look completely different from culture to culture, they usually help individuals determine how to address one or more of these needs.

Handling the body prior to burial or cremation

Some cultures have rigid rules about the way in which a body should be disposed (burial, cremation, being left for scavengers); and might even specify the depth at which a body should be buried. In cultures with such rules, burial depth depends upon the family’s social and financial status. Other cultures, such as the Ik of East Africa, stipulate that the grave should be located in a favorite place of the deceased, who should be buried facing the rising sun folded into a fetal position to mark his or her celestial rebirth.

Muslims are never embalmed, and sometimes are not even placed in coffins so that the body returns to the earth as soon as possible. Bodies are buried facing Mecca.

Hindus aspire to "moksha," or release from the long cycle of rebirths. When Hindus suspect that they are close to death, they try to travel to Benares, the gateway to liberation, to be purified in the holy waters of the Ganges. Those who have led very holy lives, and who hope to be reunited with God, are carried to the river after death, weighted with stones, and lowered into the water. Their loved ones blow into conch shells and sing to mark the joyous occasion of the deceased person’s reunification with God.

"Ordinary" people are cremated, and proceed to heaven or hell. They will be returned to life in another form; the quality of this reincarnation depends upon the quality of the choices they made during their previous lives.

Because the Navaho fear the dead, those who prepare the body quickly bury it in a distant, unmarked location. To avoid being contaminated with the evil spirits of the dead, anyone who comes in contact with the body goes through various purification rituals, including bathing, destroying any clothes worn during preparation, and isolating themselves for a period of time.

A few cultures, including some Aborigine tribes of Australia, Leave dead bodies in tree platforms until they decompose.

"Feeling the feelings" or guide the feelings of loss

Practices vary considerably. Some cultures, such as the mains Indians, sanction the open expression of grief. The bereaved lacerate their heads, legs, or hands, and wail loudly. Others, including some American sub-groups and the Modjokuto of Central Java, encourage self-control. Modjokuto mourners strive to achieve "iklas," a detached state of not caring. Still others, such as the Abkhasians, permit bursts of emotion only during the funeral.

The official period of mourning also varies. The Magars of Nepal mourn for 13 days, while the Kanuri of Nigeria sanction a 40-day mourning period. The Barabaig in Tanzania hold funeral activities for eight or nine months after the death, and mark the end of mourning by suffocating a black ox near the grave site. On the Trobriand Islands, widows are expected to grieve openly for months, or even years. Jews in this country have developed a three-stage period of mourning. Shiva, which is held for the seven days following the funeral, marks the time of intense mourning when family members do not leave the house but instead receive visitors who come to pay their respects. (This ceremony is called "sitting Shiva.3 A 30-day period of mourning follows, during which mourners wear black and maintain an attitude of solemnity. About a year after the death, the family holds an unveiling ceremony (during which the gravestone is placed) to mark the official end of mourning. However, the family continues to light the Yahrzeit candle for the entire 24 hour anniversary of the death each year.

Commemorations

Cultures also develop different ways to remember and maintain relationships with the deceased. Such customs vary from the relatively simple anniversary mass celebrated in many Catholic churches; to the Jewish unveiling; to the elaborate and festive "Days of the Dead" in Mexico, during which time the spirits of deceased loved ones are invited back for a visit. Students will learn more about this ceremony this week, as well as during the final week of this curriculum.

– This festive centuries-old celebration is a blend of Aztec and Catholic beliefs.
– It is celebrated in Mexico and Central America.
– It is held from the evening of October 31 through November 2 of each year.
– Its purpose is to invite the dead to visit the living.
– Mexicans traditionally believe that if the dead are ignored or uncared for, they may take revenge on the living.
– October 31 is All Hallows Eve, when the spirits of dead children are invited back.
– Children make altars to invite the spirits of dead children to return; these altars include food, toys, photographs, small "Pan.de Los Muertos" (bread of the dead) and candles to light the way for the visiting spirits.
– Often children place tiny toy skeletons or sugar skulls marked with the names of the dead on the altar as well.
– November 1 is All Saints Day, which honors a family’s ancestors; during this day, adult spirits come to visit.
– The traditional meal for this celebration includes tamales and tortillas.
– Larger altars for adult spirits are constructed and include crucifixes, incense, food, flowers, photographs, a candle for each deceased relative, and some favorite foods of the deceased.
– Fireworks signify the official beginning of the visit of the spirits; at this time, the church bells start tolling and will continue to for 24 hours.
– The day is spent eating and visiting relatives, taking some of the food from the altar to share with others.
– November 2 is All Souls Day, when people attend church and then visit the cemetery to decorate the graves of their loved ones.
– In the afternoon, the church bells stop ringing, and another round of fireworks officially ends the visit of the dead.
– The afternoon ends with a huge picnic in the cemetery.
– As night falls, families light candles at the graveside and reflect on those who have died.
– Often people tell ghost stories or dance "the dance of the skeletons" (el baile de los esqueletos).
– These traditions vary from village to village.

Unitarian Universalist beliefs and theology

It also is helpful to review the beliefs that derive from our seven UU principles, and to examine how they inform our thinking about death and dying. Students may bring some of these ideas to bear on their reflections this week and next.

• No one holds the ultimate truth about life, death, and the existence of the soul.
• We have the right to change our minds.
• We have the right to our individual opinions and beliefs.
• We believe that a deed reserve of strength exists within each of us.
• Every person has the courage and ability to contemplate the unknowable.
• Life is hard and loss is inevitable. However, hard as it is, life is good and worth living. Our job is to live on earth with truth, beauty, and goodness.
• God (however defined) is characterized by love, not ultimate power.
• We can and do draw inspiration and strength from a wide variety of sources, including nature, individual fortitude, and other faiths.
• There are no "chosen" people: UUs are no more deserving of salvation or preference than people of other faiths (or of no faith).
• Because UUs tend to accept scientific explanations for occurrences, most members of our faith hold to an evolutionary view of the creation of the universe, and do not readily endorse the existence of heaven, hell, or purgatory.
• As expressed by James Freeman Clarke in the 19th century, many of us believe in "salvation by character," in which UUs place greatest emphasis on the way we live our lives today here on earth.

UUs can help each other during times of loss by:

• Sharing our emotions, both pleasant and painful.
• Recognizing the wrenching pain of loss.
• Acknowledging differences of opinion in an atmosphere of respect and acceptance.
• "Walking through the nettles" with each other.
• Offering support through our caring communities.

Many UUs do not know if there is an afterlife, but respect an individual’s right to hold his or her own beliefs. Many people believe we realize the outcome of our actions while living here on earth.

During today’s lesson, students also will learn about UU memorial practices that offer support to the bereaved, including:

• Memorial services
– Focus is on remembering and honoring the deceased
– Personal life history of deceased is at center of service, with some discussion of the meaning of his or her life
– Readings, music, prayers often reflect the preferences or personality of the deceased
– Offers chance for bereaved to remember unique qualities of deceased
– Provides community of caring in which bereaved can comfort each other
– Usually burial or cremation precedes service, which is arranged to be convenient for family and friends
– Major purposes of memorial service are to appreciate our relationship with the deceased and to minister to each other in an acknowledgment of our shared humanity
• Candles of Joy and Concern
– Offers chance for church members to rememorialize their UU and non-UU loved ones
– Many congregations include this ritual during worship service on a monthly or quarterly basis
• Other practices
– Memorial plaques in hymnals
– Memorial benches, rooms, wings of church
– Memorial gardens

Regardless of the specific types of beliefs and rituals that cultures develop around the death experience, these rituals represent approaches to meeting certain needs.

Death, like birth, is an event which brings us up against the edges of our knowledge, up against one of life’s most profound mysteries. We wonder why people must die at all; we wonder what happens after we die. Is death a total ending or are we transformed in some way into another life? Death is the most ultimate experience we face and, as such, it is intimately connected to God or whatever it is that we call ultimate reality. Awareness of death causes people to turn back to face life with a totally different perspective. Concerns about death are an important factor in the development of religions.

The earliest humans buried their dead, often with something which might indicate that they believed the spirits of the dead would live on in some way. Cultures, such as ancient Egypt, placed a large amount of the energy and skills of their people into preparations for life after death, at least for royalty and the wealthy. In Christianity and Islam life is lived with the expectation of a lift after death. What kind of life that will be, whether a paradise or a hell, is determined by the quality of one’s life on earth. Eastern religions assume that one will have many lives though this is not necessarily positive. The goal of Eastern religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism, is to eventually end the chain of reincarnations and ultimately unite with God in something like Nirvana or union with Brahman. All religions have ceremonies in connection with burial or cremation in which beliefs about life and death are expressed and the dead are memorialized.

Unitarian Universalists hold diverse views about what happens after death, from reincarnation, to some other form of transformation, to a belief that death is the end of any form of consciousness. But we generally have similar attitudes about the nature of death, as we can know it during life, and its rites. We have been in the forefront in changing society’s views about death toward a more natural acceptance, toward sensitive care for those who are dying, and toward simpler ceremonies which focus on the value of the life of the person who died.

Children have as intense an interest in death as they do in birth. Often their first experience is the death of a pet. Sometimes it is an older person, such as a grandparent or other relative, who is at at the end of a long life who dies. Occasionally their first experience with death is with other tragedies which are harder to explain.

Very young children may play "bang bang-you’re dead" or other such games without really knowing what it means, but true awareness of what death actually is can be a traumatic experience for young children. One primary age child, on learning what death really meant could hardly eat for several days. Some children deal with such concerns about death by role-playing dying; others make jokes. It is helpful for children to have adults who will openly and comfortably help them to talk about their concerns and who will answer them honestly and reassuringly. The story in this session aims to give the children a gentle introduction to death by placing it in the context of a person’s long and happy life. It also aims to connect death to the mystery and wonder that is God.

Connecting death with God is supported by our Unitarian Universalist principles which urge us to affirm the worth and dignity of every person, the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part, and by the source of our own experience of transcending mystery and wonder.

Charles! What have you brought home THIS timer 18-year-old Caroline asked. Charles, who was ten, showed her a cocoon, two pebbles, a piece of fern, and a dead beetle. He was a great collector. He loved to be out In woods and fields. His sharp eyes found butterflies, plants, stones, and other things.

When Charles was nine, he was sent to Dr.Butler’s boarding school. But the school was only about a mile away, so he ran home and back easily.At school, he was taught Latin, Creek, and mathematics, none of which he liked. He worked hard at school, but he didn’t get good marks and often disappointed his father. Dr. Darwin thought Charles needed to know Latin and Creek and mathematics to be successful. He didn’t think Charles’s interest in nature would amount to anything.

When Charles was 16, his father decided that he should go to Edinburgh to study medicine. But after two years the sight of blood made Charles sick, so Dr. Darwin sent him to Cambridge University to become a minister. Charles didn’t much want to be a minister either, but he did want to please his father, so off he went.

Charles didn’t study very hard, though he passed his exams. Instead he became a very enthusiastic beetle collector and was always looking for rare and new kinds. Once when he tore off some old bark from a tree, he found two very special beetles which he instantly grabbed, one in each hand. Then much to his excitement, he saw a third. How to catch it too? He popped the beetle from his right hand in his mouth, and then had to quickly spit it out, for it ejected some really awful tasting liquid which burned his tongue. He lost it, and the other one disappeared.

At that time, the British government was sending Captain Robert Fitzroy around the world to make some new maps of coastlines. A naturalist was needed on the Beagle to gather specimens of plants and animals. Charles Darwin was recommended and was very excited, but his father thought it would be a waste of time. He said, "If you can find any man of common sense who advises you to go, I will give my consent." Josiah Wedgwood II, Charles’s uncle, thought it a splendid opportunity and convinced Dr. Darwin.

Charles sailed from England on December 26,1831, on a five-year adventure that changed his ideas and those of many people In the world.

When Charles set sail, almost everyone in the Christian world believed, as it says in the Bible, that everything looked as it had in the very beginning . . . dogs, cats, worms, butterflies, people, everything. Charles thought so too, but what he saw in the places where the Beagle landed gradually changed his mind.

In Argentina, he found the fossil bones of giant prehistoric beasts that looked like animals he knew, only much larger. One was a giant ground sloth that looked very much like the sloths he saw hanging head down from the branches of trees. Had the giant sloths all died out, or could they be the ancestors of the smaller ones he was seeing?

He spent five weeks on the Galapagos Islands and could hardly believe what he saw: lizards looked like dragons; tortoises required six men to lift them; plants, insects, and birds were like none he’d ever seen. Darwin studied everything. He noticed that the tortoises were different on each island. He saw that the beaks of the finches, which were not the same on each island, seemed to depend on what they found to eat. Those that ate berries had different beaks from those that caught insects. He thought a lot about this. Why was it so, when they were all finches? Was it possible that living things changed in some way when their surroundings changed?

Charles Darwin thought about this through-out his journey. He collected plants and animals and sent them to England. When he returned home, he studied them, performed experiments,and wrote and rewrote what: he discovered. After many years, he published a book, The Origin of the Species. He said living things — like flowers, dogs, butterflies, and all other kinds — have been on earth for thousands and thousands of years, and that they have gradually changed through the generations to be able to live in different kinds of places. The clergy disagreed because what he said didn’t agree with the Bible; some called him the most dangerous man in England! Some scientists disagreed with him, because they believed that whatever they discovered had to fit with the Bible.A few clergy and scientists thought he had made important discoveries, though, and they persuaded others. Later, Charles Darwin was given the Copley medal of the Royal Society of London, the most important science award in England.

Seven years after he was given the medal, Darwin’s book about the origin and evolution of people was published. It was called The Descent of Man People were outraged; "Mr. Darwin suggests we’ve descended from monkeys!" they said. But Charles didn’t say that. He said that thousands and thousands of years ago, there was another creature. Both people and monkeys evolved from that animal, like two different branches growing from the same tree.

Charles Darwin was a very kind and loving man. He and his wife Emma had ten children with whom Charles spent a lot of time playing and talking. In one way this was easy because Charles had inherited money and didn’t have to go to work to earn a living. But it was also hard, for he was often ill.

The Darwins lived in the country in a big house with lots of rooms, a garden, and a greenhouse. Two hours a day were "holy time" when Charles worked on his experiments and writings; no one interrupted him. The rest of his time he shared with his family and friends if he was well enough.

Charles was a collector all of his life and the house was full of all kinds of specimens. On the Beagle, he had begun to collect and study barnacles and he kept this up for many years. Once when one of his children was visiting a friend, he asked, "Where does your father keep his barnacles?" He thought all fathers collected them.

There was a Unitarian Church in Shrewsbury that Charles sometimes attended with his Uncle Erasmus. Not all Unitarians agreed with Charles’s ideas about evolution when the books were published, for most of them, too, thought the Bible was literally true. But the search for truth has always been important to Unitarians and Universalists,and new scientific discoveries changed people’s minds. Darwin’s theories were accepted. Some of his theories have been changed over the years, but that would have been all right with him, for he was always willing to change his opinions if he were proven wrong. He sought the truth, and believed it could be found only with love. He said that prejudice and hate "hinder and blind [people] to truth. A scientist must only love."

This is a story about a boy named Hal. Hal is a prince. His parents, the King and the Queen, wanted him to be handsome, very, very smart, and very, very special. They were disappointed though, because he was just like other boys and girls. He wanted to play with the other children who lived outside the castle, but his parents wouldn’t let him.

One day Hal waved out the window to a girl he saw playing, and she waved back. Later she found her way into the castle past the guards, and she brought a book with her. It was an old book, but Hal was happy to trade one of his new books for it. It was a book about the old days and about monsters. The monsters once lived in the kingdom now ruled by Hal’s parents. In the old days, the man who was king drove the monster people out of their homes. The monsters had to run away to save their lives, and they escaped to live inside of Black Rock Mountain. When the monsters escaped, the King was so angry that he ordered the people never to talk about the monster people or write stories about them. In time few people in the land remembered the monsters who lived inside the mountain.

Hal was very sad and lonely inside the castle because he had no one to play with. So he read the book about the monsters over and over. He gave names to the monsters who were pictured in the book, and he felt that they were his friends. They were strange looking, but they seemed more sad than ugly.

One day Hal’s mother, the Queen, came to his room and found the book about monsters. She was very angry. She threw the book into the fireplace Hal tried to save it from the flames, but it caught fire and burned. That night and for many nights afterwards, Hal dreamed of monsters and fire. He always woke up feeling sad. Time went by, and Hal began to grow thin and pale. The Queen told the King that Hal was not well, and a doctor was called. The doctor said Hal was very unhappy, that he should go somewhere else to live for a while. Hal said he wanted to go live with his Aunt Ivy, and his parents agreed. Ivy lived near the mountains. In fact, she lived near Black Rock Mountain, where the book said the monster people lived.

One cleat spring day, Prince Hal went to the mountains. He rode In a coach drawn by six horses, with six guards riding other horses all around the coach. They rode all day and toward evening came to a white house among the trees. Aunt Ivy came out to meet Hal. She showed him through the house and took him to see what would be his room. Hal asked if Cousin Archer, Aunt Ivy’s son, would play with him. Aunt Ivy replied, "Cousin Archer is a grown man, not a boy, and he has no time to play."

Hal looked out the window of his room and saw something rising up behind the trees. It was Black Rock Mountain. He told his Aunt Ivy about something he had read in the book: that there was a black square on the mountain wall where a door used to be. "It was made by magic," Hal said. "It was the door used by the monsters to get into the mountain.

Aunt Ivy said that she had once heard a song about strange people who lived underground, but that she didn’t know anything else about it. However, she remembered, once she had heard a man say he had caught a little monster.

The next day Cousin Archer came home from hunting. He was a big, rough-looking man. He had two big dogs and carried a bag in which there was a bird he had captured. He ignored Hal and said nothing even when Hal said, "Good day, Cousin Archer." When Hal followed Archer outside, they came to many cages placed along the garden path, cages full of pigeons and peacocks, monkeys and rabbits, and many other forest animals. Cousin Archer banged some of the animals on the nose to make them shriek. "Stop!" Hal cried when Archer hit the first animal. "You’re hurting it." But Archer just laughed and kept at it. He said that he liked to hear them scream.

Hal felt very badly. "These animals are not happy," he told Cousin Archer. "You should set them free." But Cousin Archer said he could do whatever he wanted to. Then he became very angry at Hal and chased him from the garden with a stick. "Get out of here," Archer screamed at Hal. "Get out, and don’t come back!"

Hal was excited and a little afraid. He ran along the road up the hill and down and then into the woods. He decided to head for Black Rock Mountain to see if he could find the magic door.

After a while Hal felt strange being all alone in the dark woods. He stopped for a drink of water at a stream. As he finished drinking, he discovered some clothes under a bush: a pair of boots, pants, a coat, and a hat with two holes in it, one on each side. The clothes were made of a strange material.He wondered whose they were. He looked at them very carefully but left them under the bush.

He hadn’t gone far when he heard steps behind him. Hal turned. A boy was running after him, wearing the clothes Hal had found in the bush. The boy was a monster! He had great round eyes and a flat nose. His teeth were tusks. His hair was like a lion’s mane. His skin was green. A pair of pink horns stretched through the holes in his cap.

"Give it back!" the boy shouted at Hal.

"Give what back?" Hal replied.

"The twig, the twig. You took my twig, and now I can’t go home," the monster boy answered and started to cry.

Hal said, "I didn’t take your twig, and I wish you’d stop crying. And why can’t you go home?"

The monster boy explained that the twig was part of the magic that opened the mountain to let him in. It was gone, and he couldn’t go home.

"I’ll help you find it," Hal offered.

"No, you won’t help me, " the boy said. "You’re a Small Eyes. Small Eyes are our enemy."

"I’m not your enemy," said Hal.

"Yes, you are. You hate us," the boy said.

"No, I don’t hate you," Hal said, "and I’ll help you look for your twig." They went back to the bush by the stream and looked for the twig, but they couldn’t find it. Then Hal had a good idea. "Must it be just the twig you lost?" he asked.

"It must be a twig from a black fir tree," the monster boy explained.

"I have a black fir at home," said Hal. "You wait here, and I’ll go home and get you a new twig. By the way, what is your name?"

"My name is Humbert," the monster said.

"And my name is Hal," said Hal.

Hal hurried back to Aunt Ivy’s house. He sneaked behind the house and broke a twig from the black fit tree. He was about to run off to the woods when he heard a commotion on the other side of the house. When he walked around and peeked into the garden, he saw that Cousin Archer had Humbert locked in a cage. Archer had found Humbert waiting in the woods. He had captured Humbert and brought him back to the house."What a fine monster I have caught," Archer was boasting. And a crowd of people from the village had gathered around the cage to stare at the monster boy.

Hal ran to the edge of the crowd unseen by his cousin and then wormed his way to the front ."Humbert," Hal whispered.

The boy in the cage was startled. "Hal," he said.

"I have the twig," Hal told him softly. "Be ready."

While Cousin Archer was driving the villagers out of the garden, Hal climbed a tree and hid in the thick branches. He waited there for hours until it was night. Then he climbed down from the tree and quickly went from cage to cage, opening each one as he passed by. A monkey jumped from its cage and began to shriek. Soon the other monkeys had joined in, as did all of the other animals. The monkeys screamed and chattered. The birds squawked. The dogs barked. As the guards came running, Hal opened Humbert’s cage, and the two boys raced away from the garden.

Humbert and Hal ran through the woods all the way to Black Rock Mountain. When they reached the mountain, Humbert took the twig and said the magic words. There was a deep rumble, and a door opened in the side of the mountain. They ran through, and the door closed after them. Now they were safe.

First they walked through a place called The Land of In-Between where thousands of glow worms gave them light. Then they walked under a waterfall and came to the land where Humbert and his people lived. It was a land where the people kept coal fires burning all of the time so they could have light and heat.

The boys came to Humbert’s house, but only Humbert went in at first. "I have to ask my mother about your staying," Humbert explained.

Hal couldn’t see anyone in the house, but he heard Humbert’s mother talking. "He is a Small Eyes. Why have you brought him here? He can’t stay here. He is our enemy," she said.

"He is not our enemy," Humbert replied. "He is my friend." Hal couldn’t hear what was said after that, but soon Humbert returned and brought Hal into his house. Despite what she had said, Humbert’s mother was very kind to Hal. She gave the boys dinner and a bath, and then she put them to sleep.

In the morning Hal was awoken by the sound of voices. Humbert and his mother were talking in the next room. "You are only a monster to this Small Eyes," Humbert’s mother said. "Do you think he would ever say of you, ‘This is my friend, the monster?"

Humbert replied, "No matter what you say, he is my friend."

Though Hal stayed in Humbert’s house another day, both Hal and Humbert knew that Hal had to leave. Humbert’s mother was uneasy. And the boys couldn’t even go out and play, because the other monster people would see Hal as the enemy and put him in a cage, or worse. Very early the next morning, Hal and Humbert raced away from the house and on into The Land of In-Between. There Humbert gave Hal the twig and taught him the magic words for the door. The boys said goodbye but promised to meet again.

Hal raced through The Land of In-Between, through the magic door, and on through the woods. When he came to the house, his parents were there as well as Aunt Ivy. Everyone was so happy to see him. They had heard that Cousin Archer had chased him from the garden, and the King had sent Archer away for a year as punishment for this.

The King and Queen could see that Hal was well again, and they were very happy. They decided to let Hal play with other children. Often Hal would go to visit his Aunt Ivy. And each time he’d go out to Black Rock Mountain to visit his friend, Humbert. The boys usually played together in The Land of In-Between. There, Humbert was safe from the "Small Eyes" and Hal was safe from the "Monsters."Hal wanted to tell Humbert that someday he wouldbe the king. When he was, Humbert and all of his people could come out from inside the mountain, and no one would harm them. Hal would order it.Then they would all live together in peace. And that’s the end of the story.