THE LAY OF SAINT LINGO. 



191 



Pondered deeply in his bosom 

 O'er a circumstance so curious ; 

 Pondered much, and then be 



fasted, 

 Devotee-like prayed and fasted 

 For the coming of the Goud Gods 

 From the Glens of Seven Valleys 

 To the councils of the Godhead. 

 Pondered thus till on his left hand 

 Rose a most Portentous Tumour, 

 Tumour boil-like, red^ and grow- 

 ing _ 

 Bigger daily, daily bigger, 

 Till it burst, and from its centre 

 Came the Koitor,* came they 



trooping. 

 Sixteen threshing-floors they num- 

 bered. 

 Came and spread them o'er the 



country. 

 On the hills, and in the valleys, 

 In the arches of the forest, 

 Every where they filled the country; 

 Killing, eating, every creature ; 

 Nothing knowing of distinction ; 

 Eating clean and eating unclean ; 

 Eating raw and eating rotten ; 

 Eating squirrels, eating jackals, 

 Eating antelope and sambar, 

 Eating quails and eating pigeons. 

 Eating crows and kites and vul- 

 tures. 

 Eating Dokuma the Adjutant, 

 Eating lizards, frogs, and beetles. 

 Eating cows and eating calves, 

 Eating male and female buffaloes, 

 Eating rats, and mice, and bandi- 

 coots ; 

 So the Gonds made no distinction. 

 For half a year they bathed not, 

 And their faces nicely washed not 



When they fell upon the dung- 

 hills— 

 Thus at first were born the Koitor 

 From the hand of Karto Subal. 

 Soon a stench began to issue 

 From the forests and the moun- 

 tains — 

 Stench of Gonds that lived so 



foully. 

 Rose the stench to M;ih;ideva, 

 To his mountain Dewalgiri.f 

 Wrathful then became the Great 



God, 

 Called his messenger Nardyan, 

 Said he, " Bring these Gonds be- 

 fore me — 

 Outcast wretches ! How their 



stink has 

 Spread o'er all my Dewalgiri," 

 Then the messenger Narayan 

 Called the Koitor all together, 

 Called them up to Dewalgiri 

 To the Great God Mahadeva, 

 Ranged them all in rows before 



him 

 In the courtyard of the Great God. 

 Then the Great God washed his 



body, 

 Washed a little of the dirt oS ; 

 Fashioned it into the likeness 

 Of the King of Squirrels — 



Warclie ; 

 Breathed the breath of life into it ; 

 Down before the Koitor threw it. 

 Straight the Squirrel then his tail 



made. 

 Seeking passage to escape them, 

 Jerking in and out among them ; 

 And the Gonds began to chase it. 

 Crying, "Catch it l" crying, " Kill 

 it!" 



* Koitor is the national name for all the Gonds of difi'erent tribes. 

 It signifies properly " men." 



t Dewalgiri is one of the highest peaks of the Himalaya range ; 

 and is here used as identical with Kaihis, the mythic heaven of Siva. 



