An Account of the Creation of the Dog. 



By W. G. Maxwell. 



I heard this story from Pa' Senik, an old Kelantan Malay 

 now resident near Batu Gajah in Perak. He was giving an 

 account of the creation of the first man according to the 

 Muhammadan tradition, which may be found in Sale's Notes to 

 his translation of the Koran and in D'Herbelot's article 

 "Adam" in his Bibliotheque Orientale ; and the account of 

 the creation of the dog was a mere parenthesis in his story — 

 It is new to me, and appears to be a Malay accretion to the 

 Arabic myth. 



When Azrael had torn out the heart of the Earth and had 

 fashioned it into the form of man, he left the moulded figure, 

 which was still without life, on Bukit Zabaniah. 



It lay there face upwards exposed to all the elements. 

 Iblis passed that way and saw it, and, from malice, voided his 

 excrement on its chest. 



When Azrael returned he flung the excrement away, and it 

 immediately took the form of a dog. 



The creation of the dog in this manner has had effect in 

 two ways. In the first place, the dog, though an unclean 

 animal may be bought and sold by Muhammadans, whereas 

 the purchase money of all other unclean animals carries the 

 taint of the unclean. In the second place, the Dog, however 

 badly treated and however often thrashed, will always return 

 to man. 



£•' A. Soc. No. 46 1906. 



