188 Religion &c. 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: ‘ 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, and 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.” 

