Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 4 1886.djvu/260

 252 did the same. From that time he knew in what manner to please Old Metros, and thereby save his sheep. If any are travelling along the roads in that part with horses; and if at different places one of the horses stops short, and pricks up his ears; if the rider calls out, "Hail to thee, Old Metros," Old Metros immediately leaves the horse's head, and goes away, and the travellers can proceed unmolested.

A STORY OF THE KOH-I-NÛR.

THE following story of the Koh-i-Nûr, which was told by an old Sikh to a person highly placed in the Punjab (from whom I have it), has not, so far as I know, hitherto appeared in print. It should be premised that an idea has always prevailed that the Koh-i-Nûr originally formed one of a pair of exceptionally large diamonds. The legends relating to this are numerous; but the other diamond has never been satisfactorily identified. Many stones have been proposed; among others, the Darga-i-Nûr or Ocean of Light, and the Jehan-Ghir-Shah. Another tradition points to the Koh-i-Tûr or Mountain of Sinai as the stone which figured as companion to the Koh-i-Nûr in the two eyes of the jewelled peacock which ornamented the throne of Aurungzeb, son of Shah Jehan. Unfortunately, the Koh-i-Tûr has a set of legends of its own which do not agree with this supposition. It is said that it formed one of the eyes, not of the peacock, but of Sri-Ranga, a famous idol, whose home was in a temple in Mysore. What became of Sri-Ranga's other eye no one knows; but Mr. Streeter, the great authority on diamonds, believes that the Koh-i-Tûr is the same as the Orloff, which is now in the Russian Imperial regalia. Others,