176 Religion dx. among ilie Karens. [No. 3, 



but they know that there is a God who has power over all things ; and 

 that this God existed before the creation of the heavens and the earth. 

 He was like the air, and lived in the sky, like the wind ; and like the 

 wind he went about everywhere. This he did through his inherent 

 power. 



" And God prepared himself to create the inhabitants of heaven, 

 and the inhabitants of earth ; but before he created heaven and earth, 

 he created two persons. The one a male, called the ' male Tha-lu,' 

 and the other a female, called ' the female Tha-lu.' The signification 

 of Tha-lu is to float about like the wind. They do not fall to the 

 ground like a man from a tree top, but remain in the air. 



" God put into the hands of these two persons the work of superin- 

 tending the heavens and the earth. He appointed ' the male Tha-lu' 

 to take care of heaven, and ' the female Tha-lu' to take care of the 

 earth. Then when these people saw any deficiency, they asked God 

 for what they required, and he gave them seeds and the elements of 

 things, in order that they might make the earth complete. 



" Some say that he who created all things under the direction of 

 God, was Ie-a-pai ; but the greater part say they were created by ' the 

 male Tha-lu,' and ' the female Tha-lu,' and that the person who 

 shot the sun's wife in the face was called Thye-kha. These four 

 persons are regarded by the Red Karens as working for God continu- 

 ally. They also speak of another super-human personage that they 

 call Pai-ie-pai-bya." 



All the Karen tribes have traditions of God having once dwelt 

 among them, but as having forsaken them. The tradition is varied. 

 Sometimes he is represented as dying and rising to life again ; and 

 times Bimply as departing. We have in verse the following : 

 " ST wall, about to return, commanded, commanded; 

 Ywali, about to depart, commanded, commanded ; 

 He commanded the sun to come and weep for him, 

 lie commanded the moon to come and weep for him, 

 He commanded birds to come and weep for him, 

 He commanded squirrels to come and weep for him. 

 Worldly people set themselves up; 

 Worldly people came not." 

 A Sgan fcory says: "Anciently God dwelt with the Karens, and 

 ilp'. said to him: ' Thon art very old.' He replied: 'I will kill 



