[209] Broad, shiny leaves, only too common in the jungles of the Naga Hills. The writer has suffered from them more than once. The slightest touch causes intense irritation, which often does not totally subside for ten days. [210] In an Ao folk-tale a man is chased with dogs and escapes in a similar way. [211] Nagas regard an oath sworn on broken iron as binding. [212] Up to this point the story opens in the same terms as the Sema version of the story of Hunchibili, the maiden who is transformed into an orange, a bamboo shoot, etc. (vide The Angami Nagas, Part V., and The Sema Nagas, Part VI). The motif of the transformation of the heroine to and from some form of fruit or vegetable is a favourite one in Assamese folk-lore. Vide J. Borooah, Folk-tales of Assam. There are also Khasi stories of the same kind.—J. H. H. [213] Probably the hero must be regarded by now as working off the marriage price by service in his father-in-law’s house according to Lhota custom.—J. H. H. [214] As the woman would probably take the opportunity of bathing and washing her own clothes, it would have been contrary to Lhota etiquette for her husband to have gone with her. [215] Cf. Perry, Megalithic Culture of Indonesia, chap. xii. The Vuite clan of Kukis are also sprung from Dongel and his sister, and the Kukis, like the Lhotas, have a legend of a period of great darkness and floods over the earth and fires (The Thimzing), during which the greater part of mankind was drowned.—J. H. H. [216] The version of the story given here is that current among the Northern Lhotas. In the Southern Lhota account Lankongrhoni escapes into a porcupine’s hole, from which she is afterwards dug out and killed. [217] In the Sema version a man throws cow-dung at the sun and turns it into the moon. In another Assam version ashes are thrown. In a Mexican version a hare or rabbit is thrown. In all the effect is the same. The hotter orb is turned into the cooler one. I have not met the story among Angamis, who describe the marks on the moon’s face as a tree or as nettles.—J. H. H. [218] In one version the sun-bird is substituted for the wagtail. [219] The Kabuis have a similar story of a cure for leprosy being revealed by a snake; cf. T. C. Hodson, Naga Tribes of Manipur, p. 129. [220] One is reminded of the reported use of “tortoise” by the Chinese as a term of mild opprobrium.—J. H. H. [221] I.e. the Deputy Commissioner of the Naga Hills and the Subdivisional Officer of Mokokchung. [222] Linguistic Survey of India, Vol. III., Part II., pp. 284 sqq. [223] The name of an Ao-Konyak village. [224] A Sema name for the Sangtams. [225] A similar tradition is to be found in many Naga tribes as well as among the Padam Abors and possibly other tribes on the north bank of the Brahmaputra.—J. H. H. [226] Dr. Witter gives -katola as the suffix of the apodosis. I am myself inclined to think that the word tsokatola is the ordinary future form tsoka, plus a suffix -tola.