feeling fond of him in his heart, fell asleep. Ohonamochi then took hold of the hair of the Great Deity and tied it to the rafters of the chamber. Blocking up the door with a five-hundred-pull rock, he took his wife Suseri-hime on his back and made his escape, carrying with him the Great Deity's live-sword, live bow and arrows, and speaking lute of Heaven. The speaking lute of Heaven brushed against a tree and the earth resounded. The Great Deity was startled out of his sleep by the sound and pulled down the chamber. But while he was unloosing his hair from the rafters Ohonamochi fled a long way off. The Great Deity pursued him to the Even Pass of Yomi, and looking at him from afar, called to him and said, 'With the live sword and live bow and arrows which thou bearest, pursue thy half-brethren till they lie down on the lower slopes of the passes, pursue them till they are swept into the river rapids. Be thou the deity Oho-kuni-nushi (great-land-master) and the deity Utsushi-kuni-dama (real-land-spirit). Make my daughter Suseri-hime thy consort, and basing thy stout palace-pillars on the bottom rock at the foot of Mount Uka, and exalting thy crossbeams to the Plain of High Heaven, dwell there, thou rogue.' When Ohonamochi had driven away and dispersed the eighty deities, he pursued them till they lay down on the lower slopes of every pass, and pursued them till they were swept into the rapids of every river. Then did he begin to make the land._" He was assisted in doing so by a dwarf deity called Sukuna-bikona, who wore garments of bird skins and came over the sea in a tiny boat. There is probably some echo of real history in the myths of Susa no wo, Ohonamochi, and Sukuna-bikona. Idzumo, the scene of their doings, was one of the earliest centres of civilization and religion in Japan, and its position over against Korea is significant in view of the legends which connect Susa no wo with that country. The incident of Sukuna-bikona's arrival by sea, clothed in bird skins, seems to indicate an acquaintance with some northern tribes, who, like the Kurile islanders at this day, wore garments of this material. This Ohonamochi myth belongs to a class of stories the main features of which have been thus outlined by Mr. A. Lang: "A young man is brought to the home of a hostile animal, a giant, cannibal, wizard, or malevolent king. He is put by his unfriendly host to various severe trials, in which it is hoped that he will perish. In each trial he is assisted by the daughter of his host. After achieving the adventures, he elopes with the girl and is pursued by the father." Mr. Lang goes on to speak of the articles thrown down by the runaways in their flight. This part of the story belongs in Japanese myth to the history of Izanagi and Izanami.[81]