In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 140, a man who was carrying some pots of oil for two annas, thought he would buy chickens with one anna and gradually obtain cattle and land, and get married. When his children told him to wash quickly on his return from work, he would shake his head, and say, “Not yet.” As he said this he shook his head, and the pots on it fell and were smashed.
In Folk-Tales from Tibet, p. 31, a foolish young Mussalman who was promised a hen in return for carrying a jar of oil, thought he would become rich in the same way, and get married. When his child was naughty he would stamp his foot; he stamped as he thought it, and the pot fell and was broken.
Page 311. In Sagas from the Far East, p. 92, in a Kalmuk tale, the wife of a person who usually had the form of a white bird, burned his feathers, cage, and perch while he was absent in his human form at a festival. On his return he informed her that his soul was in the cage, and that he would be taken away by the gods and demons.
At p. 221, also in a Kalmuk tale, a man received from the Serpent-King a red dog which laid aside its form and became a beautiful maiden whom he married. Every morning she became a dog, until one day when she went to bathe he burned her form,—apparently the skin.
At p. 244, in a Mongolian account of Vikramāditya it is stated that Indra gave his father the form of an ass, which he left outside the door when he visited his wife. She burned it, and he remained a man.
In Reynard the Fox in Southern Africa, p. 52, a lion who had eaten a woman preserved her skin whole, and wore it and her ornaments, “so that he looked quite like a woman.” He went to her kraal, and at last was detected through part of the lion’s hair being visible. The hut was removed and a grass fire made over the sleeping lion.
In Kaffir Folk-Lore (Theal), p. 38, when a girl who had married a crocodile licked its face at its request, it cast off its skin, and became a powerful man.
Page 315. In China it is believed that only wicked persons are struck by lightning. Doolittle’s Social Life of the Chinese (Paxton Hood), p. 557. In The Kathākoça, p. 159, three persons who expressed evil thoughts were struck by lightning. In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues, vol. i, p. 104, a Queen who caused the Bōdhisatta, in the form of an elephant, to be destroyed in order that she might have his tusks, was killed by a thunderbolt when she looked at them. In vol. iii, p. 125, a man who was about to kill his mother was similarly destroyed.
Page 318. In the Arabian Nights, vol. 4, p. 383, a girl in Baghdad pretended that while drawing water for a man her finger-ring fell into the well; when he threw off his upper clothes and descended she left him there. As the owner’s groom was drawing water afterwards the man came up in the bucket, the groom thought him a demon, dropped the cord, and the man fell down again. The well-owner got him exorcised, but he came up again when the bucket was raised, and sprang out amid shouts of “Ifrit!”
Page 319, last line. For greul read gruel.