Next came the creation of animals. Hèmphū and Mukràng were the leaders, but they were helped by Pīthē and Pōthē (“great mother” and “great father”). The elephant was first created to be a servant to man. Then the tiger was made, and bidden to eat the wicked; any one killed by a tiger is still thought to have committed some great crime.
Then a great council was held, and it was decided to create a being called ārlèng (man). The first man’s name was Bāmon-pō, and he had created for him two wives, one a Mikir and the other an Assamese. But no offspring was born to the man for a long time. At last the Assamese wife sent her husband to her elder brother, who understood the secrets of nature. He sent Bāmonpō into his garden, and bade him pick an orange for each of his wives, and give it to her to eat, when all would be well. Bāmonpō did so, and went homewards with his two oranges. On the way, becoming hot, he stopped at a river to bathe. While he was in the water, a crow came and carried away one of the oranges. Bāmonpō sadly returned to his home, and gave the one orange left to his Assamese wife, who ate it. But the Mikir wife picked up a piece of the peel and ate it, and in process of time she had a son, whom she named Rām. The Assamese wife also had a son, whom she called Chāputi. He, however, was weak and puny, while Rām was strong and valiant. Rām could pull up trees by the roots, and break them down as he pleased. He could fight and conquer any demon who attacked him, and any man whom he met. But he had no wife. One day while out hunting he became thirsty, and climbed a tree to look for water. He saw a pool, at which he quenched his thirst. As he did so, he noticed in the grass a white thing, which he put in his basket and carried home. It was a large egg. For some days he forgot to look at it, and later on, when he went to see it, he found that the egg was broken, and a beautiful woman had come forth from it. The demons tried to seize her and carry her off, but Rām vanquished them all, and made her his wife. She was very fruitful, and her children multiplied until they were numbered by thousands. Rām’s fame spread throughout the world, till at last he disappeared, and was deified by a race of his descendants, called Hindus. They were a mighty race of men, and in the course of time, becoming dissatisfied with the mastery of the earth, they determined to conquer heaven, and began to build a tower to reach up to the skies. Higher and higher rose the building, till at last the gods and demons feared lest these giants should become the masters of heaven, as they already were of earth. So they confounded their speech, and scattered them to the four corners of the earth. Hence arose all the various tongues of men.
Additional note to p. 45.—A very exact parallel to the story of Harata Kunwar will be found in Mr. S. J. Hickson’s book entitled A Naturalist in North Celebes (London, 1889), pp. 264–6. It is a story current among the Minahassa people of that region, of heavenly nymphs in whose clothes resided their power to fly, and one of whom was captured by a man who made her his wife; other details agree closely with those of the Mikir story.
[1] “Gourd”: the word hànthār in the original is explained by Mr. Stack as the name of “a creeper, with a fruit as big as a small pumpkin, with a hard kernel in soft rind; the kernel is the size of a mango-stone; the marrow inside is in two slices; when washed, it loses its bitter taste, and can be fried, oil exuding. It is a favourite dish with the Mikirs.” It is, therefore, not really a gourd, but I am unable to identify the species. [↑]
[2] “Sparrow”: vo-ār-bipi, explained as a small bird, the size of a sparrow. In the Aimol version the corresponding word is rendered “bat”; but a bat in Mikir is vo-ārplàk, and a bat has no nest (tār) as the bird has here. [↑]
[3] “Stinging-nettle”: tārmē-làngbòng; this is probably not a nettle (urtica), but some other kind of blistering plant found in the Assam jungles; tārmē means a creeper, làngbòng a vessel made of bamboo to hold water. [↑]
[4] Fish-trap, rū: a bamboo cage placed in an opening in a weir or dam built of stones or constructed of wattled boughs, so that the fish entering cannot get out. The same word is used later (see note p. 53) for the iron cage (ingchin āru) in which the orphan is confined. [↑]
[5] “May a tiger eat you, you wicked boy!” Tekē nàng kòrdutpī ā-osṓ, literally, “You tiger-bitten boy!” pī is a syllable used in abuse, as pō (“father”) is used in the opposite sense, e.g. pō-ārnàm-pō, “My good sir!” literally, “father-god-father;” lower down, addressing a girl, pē (“mother”) is similarly used: “pē-ārnàm-pī,” “dear girl!” [↑]
[6] Cloth-full, mànthung: a cloth or wrapper (pē) folded cylindrically into a bag, and tied at the top and bottom with slit bamboo (jingtàk). [↑]