drowned. This couple took refuge in a high tree which stood near a large pond, the water of which was as clear as the eye of a crow. They spent an anxious night among the branches, and at daybreak they were surprised to find that they had been changed into a tiger and tigress. Pathian, the creator, seeing the sorrowful state of the world, sent a man and a woman from a cave to repopulate the earth; but this couple was afraid of the two tigers, and besought Pathian to grant them power to slay the beasts, which he granted, and they lived happily ever afterwards."
The Thados (a very numerous clan subdivided into many families, and now scattered over a very wide area) have the following legend, which I extract from Colonel M'Culloch's book on Manipur, written in 1859[1]:—
"One day their king's brother was hunting hedgehogs, (in the subterranean world in which they then lived), when his dog, in pursuit of one of them, entered a cavern, and he, waiting its return, remained at the mouth. After the lapse of some time, the dog not having returned, its master determined to go in and see what had come of it. The dog he did not find, but, observing its tracks and following them, he found himself suddenly on the surface of the earth. The scene presented to his view both pleased and astonished him. Returning to his brother, he related his adventure, and counselled him to ascend with his village to the new country. To this the king agreed, and, having made their arrangements, they started on their journey. They had arrived near the surface when they perceived a large serpent in the way, which stopped their further progress, and they also saw that the orifice by which they were to emerge had over it a great stone, kept up merely by the support a bird gave to it with its legs. On seeing this the people of the village began to abuse the king's brother, accusing him of having deceived
- ↑ M'Culloch, Account of Munnipore and its Hill Tribes, p. 55. The book is not in the British Museum Library.
