FOLK-TALES OF THE LUSHAIS AND THEIR NEIGHBOURS.
BY LIEUTENANT-COLONEL J. SHAKESPEAR, C.I.E., D.S.O.,
POLITICAL AGENT IN MANIPUR.
(Read at Meeting, June 16th, 1909.)
These tales have been collected from the people inhabiting the great mass of hills which separates the plains of Bengal from those of Burmah. This area, till a few years ago, was but little known, but now most of it has been brought under our administration, and is settling down into a state of uninteresting peacefulness. My wife and I spent many years among the people, and found them most kindly folk; their ideas of "les convenances" are not ours, but after all who shall say which are right? Such things are much the result of environment and education, and what would be a sign of low tastes and depraved mind among us means nothing of the sort among them. When we first went up there the free and easy manners of the people were sometimes embarrassing; for instance, to be besieged by a crowd of women as one emerged from one's morning tub draped in a towel, and to be expected there and then to decide a case, was trying; and their curiosity as to how far our skins were white led them to attempt most disconcerting explorations. But we soon got accustomed to them, and they to us, and we found among them many true friends, much kindness, and many true gentlemen.
