Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 24, 1913.djvu/518

 480 Collecta7iea.

man. They decide to die together, for, according to Gilyak belief, such a simultaneous death will bind them together for ever in the other world. Sometimes it happens that the girl falls in love with a man of her own clan ; if her relatives find it out they avenge this awful crime by compelling the girl to commit suicide.

I. The Suicide^ s Song.

" With two boats tied together I float down the river. The water foams in the shallows, and I float past. By the Upper Mask I will pause to rest and smoke three pipes. I will get into the boat again. Tears fall from my left eye on to the toe of my left shoe ; they sound like raindrops falling. My right-hand plait swings in the wind, as I float on the heaving surface of the water, with my two ricketty boats broken at the rudder. By the Lower Mask brook I will rest and smoke two pipes. My right knee gives way and will not bear me. "Ah, I am unhappy; how shall I live? I shall kill myself; for I am guilty of a great sin. I must kill myself; and yet I have no strength to do it. I will float down as far as the storehouse of the Orok tribe, and there I will land. When I have rested a little while, I will float down to my home. Where shall I hide my face ? I must turn my back on everyone. I shall feed only on my tears, and strangle myself with a three- stranded rope." "

Such songs are favourites amongst the Gilyaks, who, as a people, are very prone to suicide.

In other songs the poet describes a journey to his beloved one, giving many vivid descriptions of nature. Another popular subject is the longing of a girl for her beloved, who does not come for a long time, or who passes near without coming to greet her. In yet other songs a woman prays to be taken away by a young man who pleased her while staying in her village.

The poet compares his beloved to the iris, which the Gilyaks consider to be the most beautiful flower of their country. Her cheeks are likened to the bark of the birch, as everything which is white and shiny is considered beautiful. The beloved "bends her head on one side " (the Gilyak idea of grace). " Her plait is