HAWT
This myth of Hawt is very curious and subtle; it is one of the best told tales that I have found anywhere. There is a largeness about it, and, at the same time, a perfectly firm grasp on the part of Waida Dikit, the master of the assembly, that produce a grand effect.
Though the story is long, it needs, I think, no explanation beyond what is stated in the introduction and in preceding notes, except some remarks touching the character of Hawt.
Hawt, the great musician, is identified with water; he is, as it were, the spirit of water made visible.
In this myth, only the musical powers of Hawt are exhibited; but in the Yana Tirukala, which means the same thing as Hawt (lamprey eel), we see the active side of the same personage, we see him as a worker. Original is Hawt indeed,—a living flute fingering his own body as he would an instrument; inhaling air and blowing it out through the apertures in his sides.
The present lamprey eel has marks, as it were, of holes in his sides.