[8] This incident in a very similar form occurs in the Sema story of Iki and the Tiger (The Sema Nagas, Part VI.).—J. H. H. [↑]
[9] The vat was very heavy, being hollowed out of a solid log of wood, and would soon be swamped if put rim upwards in the water. [↑]
[10] This incident in a slightly different setting is found in the Assamese story of the Monkey and the Jackal, the Kachari story of the Monkey and the Hare, in an Angami story and also in an Ao story. In the latter version it is the bear who is thus victimized. For the Kachari story see J. D. Anderson, Kachari Folk-tales and Rhymes, p. 27 (Shillong, 1895); for the Assamese story see J. Borooah, Folk-tales of Assam, p. 8 [shial = “jackal” not “fox”] (Howrah, 1915), and for the Angami story, The Angami Nagas, Part IV.—J. H. H.
The Shans, too, relate a similar story in which the Hare induces the Tiger to believe that a swarm of bees is a gong. Milne and Cochrane, The Shans at Home, p. 244. An almost verbally identical episode occurs in the Sea Dyak story of the Mouse-deer and the Deer. Gomes, Seventeen Years among the Sea Dyaks of Borneo, p. 260. [↑]
[11] Cf. the old fairy tale of Big and Little Klaus.—J. H. H. [↑]
[12] In the Angami version the man sends a messenger to the wild dog who had run away. The messenger, instead of asking for a leg of every head of game the dog ran down, asked for the whole body. At this the wild dog, quite prepared to give a leg, lost his temper and said, “Bah! I’ll give him the hair and leave it on the path for him to find.” Hence the dung of wild dogs containing large quantities of hair is found everywhere on paths.—J. H. H. [↑]
[13] A very old village, once big, but now shrunk to eight houses. [↑]
[14] Such is said to be the meaning of the obsolete Lhota word tiloran. [↑]
[15] Rhizomys prunosus, the flesh of which Nagas regard as a great delicacy. [↑]
[16] Stones are ordinarily put up by Lhotas to commemorate a sacrifice, but forked wooden posts are occasionally substituted if a suitable stone is not available. One kindred in Yekhum always puts up posts instead of stones. [↑]