By another account, written down in Tarbagatai, I find, "The ancestor of the Uaks was called Erqokchu"—(Kirghis of the Akmolinsk province.)
13. The Wood-pecker.
The wood-pecker (in Kirghis, Tokuldauk) was formerly a servant of Pëigambar Musa (prophet Moses). He stole much, and hid it, not knowing that Musa knew all about it. At last Musa determines to punish him, so he clothed him with stripes on the back, and forbade him to eat either herb or meat; he was to eat dry wood; he tried to cry out "Tamaguim djok tuk djok"—that is, "There is not a morsel of food!" but there only came out the sound Kē-ēk, and no one could understand him.—(Siēr Bai, a Kirghis of the Chubaraigir clan of Tarbagatai.)
N days of yore, when Brahmadatta reigned at Benares, the Bodhisat was reborn as a sea-sprite. It happened that a certain water-crow, passing over the sea, went about forbidding the shoals of fish and flocks of birds to
- ↑ Jâtaka Book, vol. ii. No. 296, p. 441.
