Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 20, 1909.djvu/457

Rh must first give us your virtue and then take ours from us." The man was delighted beyond measure, and gave his virtue gladly, whereupon the Sun and Moon ran off. The deluded saint ordered his dog to catch the thieves, and the dog brought a long pole and climbed up it to chase the culprits in the sky, followed by his master. The journey took many years; the dog outstripped the man, and reached the sky, where he is still chasing the fugitives, but the white ants ate up the pole before the pious man had completed the ascent, so that he fell and was killed. The dog sometimes catches and devours one of the thieves, and thus causes an eclipse.

Some tribes say that lightning is the glitter of God's raiment, and that the rainbow is the lip of God as he drinks, being parched with thirst. Such poetic ideas from a people apparently so devoid of any higher feelings come as a surprise, and teach us not to judge hastily. Other clans say that a large lizard climbs a high tree and shouts defiance at the god of the sky, who hurls his axe at the impudent animal. Earthquakes are explained in several ways. There is another world beneath the earth, and the people of this nether world shake the upper earth to know if the people of it are alive, and therefore, on an earthquake occurring, every one cries out,—"Alive! alive!" Another version says that worms from human excrement go down and tell the god of this lower world that men have died off the upper world, so he shakes it to find out if they have told the truth. Still another version is that a worm called Yangmal went to visit the king of this lower region, and took a piece of earth as a present. The earth became changed into gold and silver, and the chief was much pleased and sent the worm back for more. But Yangmal, for some reason of his own, returned, saying the world had been destroyed, and the chief of the lower world now shakes the upper one to test the truth of Yangmal's statement. A Lushai legend attributes the Flood to the king of the water demons falling