The Gonds have a similar tradition that the tortoise saved their ancestor Lingo from the clutches of the alligator. The tortoise is also a helper in one of the German tales.[159] In one of Somadeva’s stories, the tortoise is sacrificed by a Brâhman to the Manes of his father.[160]
The Frog.
The frog, again, is invested with mystical powers. The monstrous toad of Berkeley Castle is said to be really a seal.[161]
In English folk-lore it is associated with witches, and wears a precious jewel in its head. Hindus believe that the female frog is the spirit of Mandodarî, the wife of Râvana. It is a common belief that the fat of the frog forms a magic ointment which enables witches to fly through the air.[162] According to a Scotch Saga, the middle piece of a white snake roasted by the fire gives a knowledge of supernatural things to anyone who shall put his finger in the fat which drops from it. According to one of the Indian legends, Agni, the fire god, took refuge in the water to escape the gods, but the frogs, suffering from the heat, informed the gods, and the angry deity cursed them that their speech should henceforth be inarticulate. The frog by his voice announces the coming of rain; hence when rain holds off it is a common charm to pour water over a frog, another instance of sympathetic magic.
Insects.
Even insects are in some cases regarded with veneration. In Cornwall, the ants are “the small people” in their state of decay from off the earth; it is deemed most unlucky to destroy a colony of ants.[163]
The ant-hill is, as we have seen, used as an altar by some of the Drâvidian tribes, and on it they take their oaths. Hence ants are carefully fed on certain days by both Hindus and Jainas, and are regarded as in some way connected with the souls of the sainted dead. We have in many of the folk-tales the ant as a helper.
So, in many parts of the Panjâb, the many-coloured grasshopper, which feeds on the leaves of the Madâr or great swallow wort, is called Râmjî-kî-gâê or “Râma’s cow,” which reminds us of the respect paid by English children to the ladybird insect.[164] So, the Greeks and Romans called the Cicada Mantis or “the soothsayer,” and it is often delineated on their tombs as a charm against evil. Mystic powers of the same kind are attributed to the spider, and to Daddy Longlegs in our nurseries.