Al'PEXDIX A. 487 



the fire. "Wlicn it got lif;lit, lio peeped out, aucl saw tlie spirit in tlin form of a man, 

 ■wearing a red puho, aud a red turban, working at the dha. 80 the Khyeu called out, 

 ' Oh, my Lord ! liave you not finished my dim yet ? Let me have it (juickly, I ])ray 

 you.' But the Xat being enraged at being discovered at liis labours by a prying 

 khyen, took the dha m\t of the fire, red hot as it was, and casting it at him, hit him 

 <m the cheek ; aud the Khyeu in great fear fled from the spot ; and so great was his 

 tear, that he never stopped to examine his wound, nor ever felt it, till ho had run 

 about a dein^ and a half; aud then he stopped a litUe, and rubljed his check with 

 liis hand, whence that .<;pot was called I'a-liicnot {cheek rub), and is so called to this 

 day. Hut the Khycn was too terrified to stop, so ho ran on for about a mile further, 

 aud there sitting down, was seized with a violent fit of trembling, hence that spot 

 was called Toon (Treiiibk) even unto this day. And when the trembling was over, 

 the Khyen got up, and though his fear urged him to fly, the fatigue he had under- 

 gone and the pain of liis wound rendered his steps slow and uncertain ; hut he 

 struggled ou for about a deiii further, and then he was obliged to stop ; and the 

 blister on his check burst, and his cheek swelled up and became one great sore, and 

 he was unable to move for many days: so he remained in that place, and hence it 

 was called Pouh-Foo-Oa {hurst-hut-swoUen). 



"After this the Xat never again would labour for the villagers ; but still his fin,' 

 bums near las old home, and once in every year every fire in the village is ex- 

 tinguishe<l and rekindled from the Spirit-Fire ; for there is an old tradition handed 

 down from time immemorial, that whosoever of the villagers neglects this tribute of 

 respect to the Spirit of the Fire, his house and all that he has will inevitably perish 

 in flames ere a year goes by." 



The above myth is not only curious, but offers some valuable materials for reflec- 

 tion. It is often objected, to those who would challenge the historical claim of 

 similar legends, that the authors of them must have been very dishonest peoide to 

 invent mere faljlcs and palm them off as history, and that, as there are sti-ong grounds 

 of presumption that the early recorders of these myths were not dishonest men, 

 therefore the myths are historically true. But we are too apt to forget an inherent 

 prop(msity of the human mind to self-deception, whereby the floating records of 

 marvellous events, originating no one knows how or where, come to assume an 

 historical consistency, aud it is only to a few logical minds that the task is not only 

 ungrateful, but to a certain extent painful, of relinquishing any tradition of the past 

 whereon they have been wont to rely. 



Now the most philosophical way for treating myths like the above of the Sjiirit- 

 Firc, is neither to refer them to wilful attempts to deceive, on the part of their authors, 

 nor attach historical importance to them, as the necessary alternative of our favourable 

 judgment of those who first circulated them in all singleness of mind. They often, 

 no doubt, originated among simple, credulous, loving, and imaginative people, in early 

 times, much as dreams do with ourselves. The physiology of dreams is pretty well 

 understood. An impression is made on a particular set of nerves, which acting on the 

 brain, produces a dream. For example, a man in his sleep pulls the clothes over his 

 face, and soon, under the impulse of impeded respiration, wakes in the midst of a deadly 

 struggle, as he supposes, with a robber, who is endeavouring to suffocate him. Or 

 again, it is not improbable that some who read these pages may have themselves ex- 

 perienced the instance described by Lucretius in the following rough but effective lines : 



" Flumen item, sitiens, aut fontcm pi'opter amcenum 

 Adsidot, et totum prope faucibus obciipat amnem. 

 Pueri sa;p(!, lacum ])ropter, sen dolia curta, 

 Somno dcvincti, credunt se extollcre vestcm : 

 Totius humorem saccatum corporis fundunt: 

 Quum Babylonica, magnifico splcndore, rigantur." 



De rerura natura. Lib. iv. 1022. 



' About three miles. 



