Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 20, 1909.djvu/453

Rh them, and having brought them from their burrow to deliver them to the serpent. Stung by the reproaches of the people, the king's brother attacked and killed the snake, and he and the greater portion of the village emerged into the light. Meanwhile the king, having discovered that a wooden dish or bowl which had the magical property of always being full of meat, and some other articles of a similar magical description, were not among his effects, returned to fetch them. Before he got back the bird, having got tired of supporting the stone, had let it fall, and, unable to raise it, he and his wife remained below. Attributing the closing of the orifice to the ambition of her brother-in-law to become king, Nemnik, the king's wife, cursed him and those who had gone up with him, to suffer diseases hitherto unknown to them. This curse, they say, is on them still, and when disease presses them sorely they offer a mithan (gyal) to Nemnik, in mitigation of her wrath. Continuing the tale of the proceedings of their progenitors, they relate that the party which had reached the surface began to feel the cravings of mortals, and, not knowing where to find water, were much distressed, till they noticed a bird hovering over a spot close by, and on going there they found a spring, by the side of which they cooked and ate, and began to clear a spot for their houses. Whilst doing this the new king accidentally killed a child which had been playing in the jungle unknown to him. He choked and felt very ill ; his dog came and licked his hands and face, but this only enraged him, and he struck the animal with his dao, and some of its blood spurted out on to his throat; he was at once relieved of the pain and recovered. Since then they say that pains of the throat have been cured by sacrificing dogs and applying the blood to the part."

The Lushais account for eclipses by ascribing them to the efforts of the mythical monster, the awk, to swallow the sun and moon, and they beat gongs and make noises to