A man and his wife lived together. Now at night the husband was a man, but in the day he turned into a hairy caterpillar. His wife did not know this. One night before she went to sleep she said, “To-morrow I am going to gather some leaves to eat.” Early in the morning her husband left the house first and turned into a caterpillar and nipped off the leaves and waited at the place. Then the woman came and at the sight of the leaves exclaimed, “Strange, a caterpillar has nipped off the leaves. I will take them and go.” So saying she took the leaves and went. But that night when they were in bed she said to her husband, “To-day I found that a caterpillar had nipped off the leaves I went to gather.” Then her husband said, “It was I.” At these words she was greatly troubled, and when he was asleep she gently pushed and pushed her husband till he fell off the bed into the fire and was burnt. After that the woman swallowed caterpillar hairs with her food, whenever she ate, and coughed and coughed till she died. Therefore nowadays if anyone coughs much people say, “You should not burn a caterpillar.” The forces of Nature form the subjects of several folk-tales, as the two following stories show. The Sun and the Moon. At the beginning of time what is now the sun was the moon, and what is now the moon was the sun. In those days when what is now the moon was the sun it was very hot, so that all the leaves and the trees in the jungle shrivelled up and died, and men suffered torments from the heat. Then what is now the sun said to the moon (which was the sun in those days), “Why do you shine so fiercely that you make all the leaves and trees in the jungle shrivel up and die, and cause men to suffer torments from the heat? You by being the sun are making men and leaves to die from heat and the world will be destroyed. Therefore from to-day I will not let you be the sun.” With these words he smeared the face of what is now the moon with cow-dung, and what is now the sun become the sun. Therefore men say that the dark marks on the moon are where the sun smeared cow-dung on its face. [217] The Wagtail and the Owlet. Long, long ago, about the time that the Great Darkness came upon the earth, all the birds—for in those days the kinds were not as different as they are now—met in council to decide how night should follow day. With one voice they called on the owlet to give his opinion. Then the owlet said, “Let there be nine days’ darkness and nine days’ light.” “No, no,” said all the birds, and smacked him on this side of his head and on that. That is why nowadays the owlet has a flat head. Then all the birds said, “Who will speak now?” And the wagtail said, “Listen to me, then; I will speak. Let us make darkness and light alternately, day by day.” “Yes, yes,” said all the birds, and stroked the wagtail [218] all over. He used to be as big as a village cock, but because all the birds stroked him so much he is now very small.