The souls of the dead are believed to enter into flies and bees. Hence in parts of Great Britain news of a death in a family is whispered into the beehive.[165] In one of Somadeva’s tales we find the monkeys trying to warm themselves over a firefly, which is gifted with various miraculous powers.[166] A fly falling into an inkstand is a lucky omen. In the Râmâyana Hanumân metamorphoses himself into a fly to reach Sîtâ, and there are many instances of this in the tales.
Lastly, comes the Tassar silkworm. In Mirzapur, when the seed of the silkworm is brought to the house, the Kol or Bhuiyâr puts it in a place which has been carefully plastered with cowdung to bring good luck. From that time the owner must be careful to avoid ceremonial impurity; he must give up cohabitation with his wife, he must not sleep on a bed, he must not shave nor have his nails cut, nor anoint himself with oil, nor eat food cooked with butter, nor tell lies, nor do anything opposed to his simple code of morality. He vows to Singârmatî Devî that if the worms are duly born he will make her an offering. When the cocoons open and the worms appear, he collects the women of his house and they sing the usual song as at the birth of a baby into the family, and some red lead is smeared on the parting of the hair of all the married women of the neighbourhood. He feeds his clansmen, and duly makes the promised offering to Singârmatî Devî. When the worms pair, the rejoicings are made as at a marriage.
In Bengal, in addition to these precautions, the women, apparently through fear of sexual pollution, are carefully excluded from the silkworm shed.[167] We have the same idea in the Western Isles of Scotland, where they send a man very early on the morning of the first of May to prevent any woman from crossing, for that, they say, would prevent the salmon from coming into the river all the year round.[168]
[1] Tawney, “Katha Sarit Sâgara,” i. 342; ii. 135, 230, 302, 363; “North Indian Notes and Queries,” iii. 13; Clouston, “Popular Tales,” i. 448.
[2] Lâl Bihâri Dê, “Folk-tales,” 139.
[3] Tawney, loc. cit., i. 499; ii. 276; Grimm, “Household Tales,” No. 33; i. 357; Knowles, “Folk-tales of Kashmîr,” 432; Campbell, “Santâl Folk-tales,” 22; Miss Cox, “Cinderella,” 496; Campbell, “Popular Tales,” i. 283.
[4] Temple, “Wideawake Stories,” 74, 412; Lâl Bihâri Dê, loc. cit., 40, 106, 134, 138, 155, 210, 223; “Cinderella,” 526; “North Indian Notes and Queries,” iii. 13; Clouston, loc. cit., i. 223.
[5] Campbell, “Notes,” 259.
[6] “Rig Veda,” iv. 33; Datt, “History of Civilization,” i. 72 sq., 79; Monier-Williams, “Brâhmanism and Hinduism,” 329.