Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 26, 1915.djvu/95

 Collectanea. 8 5

him, and took his head, which she hung on a tree outside the village, because it is tabu to bring the head of a slain enemy within the village walls.

[Mr. T. C. Hodson {The Naga Tribes of Mariipur, 191 1, p. 115) writes: "The first interesting fact that I learnt was that, in this village, it was customary not to keep the heads of enemies inside the village, but to place them on a tree outside."]

XXV. The Dream Sione.

At Khonoma there is a place called Viyakirieha, " the place of the Dream Stone." People first take omens from chickens, and if they are favourable, go and sleep there. If the dream is a good one, they send word, and are fetched back by their friends. Once upon a time the people of Marhoma heard that the Khonoma folk were going to the Dream Stone, and laying an ambush for them slew a large number of them, the result being a serious feud between the two villages.

[" Khullakpas [village headmen] are entitled, perhaps required, to wear special clothes, the use of which is forbidden to all others except those who erect a stone monument. . . . The man then cuts a wedge from the stone and dreams on it." During this time he must fast and observe continence (T. C. Hodson, The Naga Tribes of Alanipur, 191 1, p. 181). With this may be compared the practice of sleeping (eyKot/xjycrts) at Greek shrines (Sir J. Frazer, Pa7(sa?iias, 1S98, vols, ii., 476 sq., 'in., 243, where numerous parallels are given ; J. C. Lawson, Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion, 1910, p. 6i sqq.).'\

XXVI. The Echo.

Echo is called Muza-muza, and this is also the name of the wood-spirit. He steals men when he catches them in the jungle, and when people go in search of him they cannot find him because he makes himself invisible. When a man is lost in this way, Muza-muza sometimes brings him back if his relations sacrifice chickens and make other offerings. At first the lost man becomes dumb and crazed. He gradually recovers speech and sense, but he never lives long.