MUNDARI POETRY, MUSIC AND DANCES. 103 



If now we remember that the variants kota-flower and nambar-flower , upper hamlet 

 and lower hamlet are intended to expand and generalize, and if we consider this in 

 connexion with the peculiar meaning of nambar-dumbar , we shall easily see that the 

 following is the pith of the two stanzas : — 



Now-a-days thou art thinking of nothing else but exhibiting thyself everywhere 

 decked out with any flowers thou mayest chance to find in the whole village : 



All this surely is not aimless. For whose sake then art thou thus bent on ostenta- 

 tious show ? 



But what a variety of shades these transitive jingles introduce into the expression 

 of that thought. 



The difficulty of a close, single- worded rendering is, however, not confined to the 

 transitive use of jingles, but it is rather general. For very frequently jingles by their 

 very nature imply comparisons which are in no way implied by English terms more or 

 less corresponding to them. Cf. leon-leon in the stanzas given above and ribi-ribitan 

 and gasa-gasatan, p. ioo. Sometimes the difficulty arises from the fact that the jingle 

 attributes directly to its subject some striking attribute not inherent n the subject 

 itself, but in something closely connected with the subject. This may be illustrated by 

 a stanza from a song embodying a complaint against the rough ways of boys and youths. 

 Some girls go to gather flowers for their hair from some trees close by the village. They 

 find the trees bare of every flower. They ask who may have done this and then answer 

 that it must have been the huntsmen who have passed. In the hunting season bands 

 of fifties and sometimes of one or several hundreds pass and repass in all directions. A 

 tree is soon bare of its last flower if the boys and youths of these bands take it into their 

 heads, as they generally will, to stick a bunch of flowers over the r ears on their 

 way to and from the chase. Here the girls complain that they not only took all the 

 flowers but also tore them off in such a ruthless manner as to disfigure the very appear- 

 ance of the trees. However, to show that their hearts are divided between the flowers and 

 the rough-handed hunstmen, they throw into their taunt a flattering jingle for the latter : 



Sendrako jilibe jilib, sendarako petekeda, 



Karengako jolobe-jolob, Karengako changarked. 



The huntsmen, the glittering ones, the huntsmen have plucked them, 

 The sportsmen, the flashing ones, the sportsmen have torn them off. 



Jilib' -jilib' means " glittering," but is rather applied to small objects, though it 

 may be applied to larger ones too. Hence here it refers to the arrcw-heads carried 

 to the chase. 



Jolob'-jolob' is synonymous with jilib'-jilib', but applies to larger objects giv'ng 

 greater flashes when in motion. Here it applies to the kapies , battle axes. 



Hence the lines taken separately really mean : 



The huntsmen with their glittering arrows, etc. 

 The sportsmen with their flashing axes, etc. 



