20-t 



THE HIGHLANDS OF CEXTEAL INDIA. 



Washed a little of his hody, 

 Washed a little of the dirt ofif : 

 Took and made of it an image; 

 Breathed the breath of life into it; 

 Made Kagesur, Lord of Ravens. 

 Amrit* sprinkled he upon it. 

 From hishand released it, saying — 

 " Search the forests, search the 



mountains, 

 Search the valleys, search the 



rivers, 

 For the body of my Lingo." 

 Then Kagesur, Lord of Kavens, 

 He the very black and cunning, 

 S wif tly sped him on his errand ; 

 Searched he first the Upper 



Regions, 

 Thence descended to the Lower ; 

 Searched their hills and glens and 



forests, 

 Till he reached the Iron Valley, 

 In the Red Hills, Lahiigada. 

 Peered among the forest thickets, 

 Saw the twigs that covered Lingo, 

 Looked below them, found our 



Lingo, 

 Looking horrid, with his eyes out, 

 Split his skull, and pierced his 



liver. 

 Hied him l)ack to great Bhag- 



wantal, 

 Told the doleful tale of Lingo. 

 Then the God said, " Ha ! I see it. 

 By his birth-place has he fallen, 

 By the flowering tree Pahindi." 



Then he sent for Karto Subal, 

 Gave a flask of heavenly Amrit 

 (Bade him well to .shake the 



bottle). 

 For external application 

 To the .skull and neck and liver 

 Of the gouged and butchered 



Lingo ; 



And despatched hiniAvith Kagesur 

 To the valley Kachikopa, 

 To the P.ed Hills, Lahiigada. 

 Flew the Raven straight before 



him ; 

 Reached the place ; then Karto 



Subal 

 Took the flask of heavenly Amrit, 

 Poured it o'er his wounds and 



bruises, 

 Stitching up the chiefest openings 

 In his head and his abdomen. 

 Soon his eyes began to open,t 

 And he saw the Lord of Ravens ; 

 Thought he'd slept a little soundly ; 

 Asked them, " Had they seen his 



Brothers 1 " 

 And was very much astounded 

 When they told him how they 



found him 

 Gouged and butchered by his 



Brothers. 

 Then he thought perhaps 'twere 



better 

 Now to leave this lot of Brothers, 

 And their seven nice young 



Avomen ; 

 And go seek those other Sixteen, 

 Sixteen threshing-floors of Koitor. 

 So the Strong God and the 



Raven 

 Hied them back and told Bhag- 



wantal 

 ()f their surgery successful. 

 Anil our Lingo lledivivux 

 Wandered sadly through the forest, 

 AVandered on across the mountains 

 Till the darkening of the evening, 

 Wandered on until the night fell. 

 Screamed the panther in the 



forest, 

 Growled the bear upon the moiur- 



tain. 



* The water of immortality. 



t It is not related how these organs were restored to him. 



