176 Religion &e. among the 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-luw’ 
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 
sometimes simply as departing. We have in verse the following : 
“ Ywah, about to return, commanded, commanded ; 
Ywah, about to depart, commanded, commanded ; 
He commanded the sun to come and weep for him, 
He 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 Sgau story says: “ Anciently God dwelt with the Karens, and 
they said to him: ‘Thou art very old.’ He replied: ‘I will kill 
