140 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [Februaiy, 1907. 



tlie hare (according to some), the bat, the mouse, ' the mosquito, 

 the human louse (according to some), the gecko, the parrot, and 

 the peacock (accordincr to some).' 



The author continues: 



The Apostle of God being questioned as to the reason for 

 their metamorphosis replied: ''The elephant was once a man of 

 oppression, who took all, sparing neither gi^een nor dry. The 

 bear was a man, vicious and efEeminate, who solicited men. The 

 scorpion was a scaudal-mongei*, from whose tongue none was safe. 

 The spiny-tailed lizard was a Bedouin that used to steal from the 

 pilgrims on their way to Mecca. The spider was a woman, who 

 exercised witchcraft over her husband.^ The du^miis was a tale- 

 bearer, who caused dissension amongst friends. The eel was a 

 cuckold, a pander to his own wife. The swallow was a thief, who 

 stole ripe dates from the tree-tops of his neighbours. Pigs were 

 those Christians that asked Jesus for a table from Heaven, but 

 afterfits descent denied Him ^ all the more. Now Venus was a 

 woman named JSind^ and it was she by whom Marut and Marut^ 

 were fascinated and so sinned.^ Canopns was a publican* of 

 Yemen, Apes were those Jews that broke the Sabbath, The 

 hare is said to have been a filthy woman, who never bathed after 

 her courses — or at any other time ; but. God knows best. The bat 

 was a woman, who practised witchcraft on a rival- wife and so 

 Allah changed her into a bat. The mouse was a patriarch of 

 the Jews with whom God was wrath, and so He transformed him 

 into a mouse. The mosquito was a man who was wont to deride 

 the Prophets and revile them, making grimaces in their faces, 

 and clappincf his hands'^; so God metamorphosed him into a 

 mosquito, l^ow the story about the body-louse is that a certain 

 prophet of the Children of Israel was once standing in prayer,, 

 when one of the foolish ones of the Children of Israel came to 

 him and began to mock him, pulling faces at him and making 

 disgustinjr noises witli his mouth ^ ; so he moved not from that 

 spot before God Almighty metamorphosed him into a louse. As 



of Ahrakah with clay pellets {Quran, Chapter CV., verse 3) ; bat in Persian and 

 in Urdu the word is sinfjular and means " swallow." 



1 Far, a singalar and a collective noun includes mice and rats, 



* Presumably while she received the attentions of her paramour. 



8 Quran, Chapter V,, 112. 



♦ Sdrut and Marut^ two fallen angels, now suspended head downwards in 

 a well in Babylon. They were tempted and fell, and chose present punish- 

 ment to punishment hereafter. They are supposed to be teachers of magic. 



5 Iftatan* signifies " to be enamoured, to fall and to suffer panishmenfc 

 from the fall." 



9 'Ashshdr^ a publican or tax-gatherer in the Biblical sense. 



1 Arab children clap the hands in mockery or derision. There appears 

 to be some connection between the clapping of the hands and the beating of 

 the mosquito's wings. 



' V ^J^ colloquial and literary " Imiter le pet par un certain mouve- 



mBnt des Zet;re«." 



