188 Religion dc. among the Karens. [No. 3, 



Some of the Karen stories seem to have been composed to turn the 

 worship of pagodas into ridicule ; as in the following where the 

 worshippers are represented as taking the language of a rat for that 

 of their god. 



" There was a lazy dirty Karen young man called Sanken, and he 

 one day caught a white rat and was about to kill and eat it ; but the 

 rat spoke up, and said : ' Do not kill me. I will get you a wife from 

 among the king's daughters.' So he let the rat go, and it ran into a 

 hole in the royal pagoda. 



'• When the king came and prayed to the pagoda, he said : c May my 

 power and glory increase. May my subjects become more numerous.' 

 Then the white rat in the pagoda replied : ' If you will make Sanken 

 your son-in-law, your power and glory will increase. Your subjects 

 ■will become more numerous, your people will multiply.' The king 

 supposed it was the image in the niche of the pagoda that spoke to 

 him, ami was astonished. He returned to the palace and told the 

 Queen what had happened, but she would not believe it ; so they both 

 went to the pagoda, and the king prayed as before, and received the 

 same answer in the hearing of the Queen who was then convinced ; and 

 they gave the lazy dirty Karen, one of their daughters in marriage." 



