Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 18, 1907.djvu/92

 64 The Powers of Evil in Jerusalem.

looked into the barley-store, they found had indeed been the case. All this was a lesson to them. Henceforth they touched nothing without mention of the name of God, and they soon returned to their former prosperity.

The jinn were created before man, and even before the earth was made, and were brought forth out of fire ; as good and pure beings, who should rule and inhabit the earth. But when the angels rebelled against God, some of them joined in the revolt, and as a punishment were sent down into hell, while the newly created human race occupied their place on earth, among the good spirits who still remained. Unlike the angels, the spirits, good and bad, are subject to passion and suffering ; they eat and drink and bring forth children. The evil spirits here, as elsewhere, are of several kinds, and are mainly occupied in bringing evil and misfortune among the human race. They correspond to the same beings among other nations ; giants and monsters, spirits of the wood and of the desert, satyrs, vampires, and Poltergeistern. Of the good spirits one hears little. They are harmless and do not need to be propitiated. They are even helpful and do not need to be " dodged."

One great duty of the women is to gather the day's supply of wood. The carrob tree, also called S. John's bread, must never be the first from which twigs are collected, though it is a common and convenient source of supply. If this precaution is neglected, either the hand or the tool employed are certain to receive injury. Possibly the hardness of the wood has actually led to many accidents, or perhaps its red colour and suggestion of blood may have suggested the superstition.

The jinn love to sit in the shadows of the moonlight, just as men in those of the sunshine.

There are indications of a belief, both am.ong Moslems and Christians, that the Powers have to be propitiated even by human life. When a death is announced to a father or