It is possible that India rather than Egypt may have been the first home of puppets. The people of India believed that puppets lived with the gods long before they came down to this world. There is a story of Parvati, wife of the god Siva, that tells of a puppet which she made, that was so beautiful that she was afraid to let her husband see it, she carried it away secretly, to the Malaya Mountains. But Siva suspected his wife and followed her. When Siva saw the beauty of the puppet that she was trying to hide from him, he fell in love with it, and brought it to life. Another story is told in India about a basket of wonderful wooden dolls that was given to a little princess. These dolls were made in such a way that when the princess touched a small wooden peg one would run and bring her a cool drink, another would fly through the air and return with a wreath of flowers, still another could dance and one could even talk. Sometimes, when puppets were made to represent the gods, they were made of pure gold and birds that could talk were placed in their mouths. The fame of these wonderful Indian puppets reached Persia and Turkey, China and Burma, Siam and Java, in each of which countries the puppets were different and different kinds of temples and theaters were made for them. Even the elephants carved for them to ride upon were different in each country. In many eastern countries there were two kinds of marionettes: the round kind that we know and another thin, flat kind called “Shadows.” No one seems to know just when the first shadow figures were made. An old legend says they came from the time when all that the people saw of the religious ceremonies was the shadow of the priest on the walls of the sacred tent. CHINA We do not know just when the earliest travelers brought puppets from India to China and Japan. There is a legend that an old Chinese ruler who lived more than three thousand years ago invited a famous showman to bring his marionettes to the royal palace. This invitation delighted the showman whose name was Yen Sze. In fact, he was so anxious to please the king and his wives that he made his puppet courtiers smile at the royal ladies, which so stirred the old king’s jealousy that he ordered Yen Sze’s head cut off. Poor Yen Sze had to tear his puppets to pieces to make the angry old ruler believe they were not real people.