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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Afrodyte" data-source="post: 2178437" data-attributes="member: 8713">the in-between peopleFrom the journals of a reputable scholar*While collecting myths and stories of the frontier peoples, I have discovered a strange phenomenon.  Every village on the outskirts of the wilderness has at least one story about the In-Between People: a child of the union of a mortal and a spirit.  Dozens of storytellers across hundreds of miles and in many different languages all share a story with remarkably similar elements."The story always takes place at the dawn of civilization.  It always involves a village of folk living on the edge of the wilderness.  One day, a young man or a young woman wanders deep into the forest and disappears for three days (One story I had heard has a young woman disappear for three days and comes back nine months pregnant!).  A search party is put together during his or her absence, but no one finds the missing son or daughter.  When the missing person inevitably comes back, he or she speaks about having a strange dream in which they meet a strange and wondrous animal that turns into a human.  The spirit and the mortal live in timeless bliss in the spirit's home, but then circumstances force the mortal to return.  In the case of a woman, it is because she is pregnant, and the baby would not be able to survive in the spirit world.  Some time later, the woman gives birth or a baby is found abandoned near the village."The babies always have unusual traits and powers inherited from their spirit parents.  Most are very beautiful, and they share the timelessness of their spirit half.  They live several times longer than the oldest mortal can be, and often do not die of old age at all.  They have greater powers of perception than most mortals, and they have a remarkable affinity for the creatures or elements reminiscent of their spiritual parents.  Whatever other abilities these offspring of man and spirit have depends upon the story being told.  In almost every other sense they are quite human, though the seem more prone to extremes of emotion and behavior.  Many of these tales portray them as ideal humans: courageous, skillful, wise, good-looking, etc.  A good number of them also have them ostracized as soon as they show differences from their peers.  I recall one story where an In-Between boy is tormented by the other boys of the village because he does not speak."One would think that these creatures get the best of both worlds: eternal youth, magical powers, social status.  Yet the stories always end with a sad parting of the In-Between People and the place they once called home.  This is the part of the tale where there is the most variation.  The basic trend is that the In-Between People do something to frighten and anger the village.  In one story, the child of a wolf spirit and a mortal woman summons a pack of wolves to tear her enemies to pieces.  Fearful of invoking the wrath of the spirit parent, the villagers do not kill the In-Between People, but banish them."What happens to the In-Between People after the banishment is something usually not answered in the tales.  What is particularly interesting is that there are more recent tales which feature a village's interactions with a people from deep in the wilderness.  They are often very well-versed in the old stories of the village and speak in an archaic manner.  Though the stories never explicitly state such, it is made clear that they are many times older than they are described to be in the stories.  They are generally described as good-looking, and they have uncanny abilities regarding seeing and interacting with the spirit world.  Could these be the In-Between People of earlier tales, or possibly their descendants?*The name has been omitted to protect this person's status amongst his peers.  [Note: Just to make it clear, I made all this stuff up.]</blockquote>

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