II. "The Story of the Cast Skin" also falls into two groups of tales.
(1) Those in which men had an opportunity of the power of changing their skins, and so of perpetually renewing their youth; but this opportunity was lost through some accident or wrong-doing, and was transferred to certain of the lower animals. This occurs among the WaFipa and WaBende of East Africa, the Dusun of British North Borneo, the Todjo-Toradja of central Celebes, and in Nias (an island to the west of Sumatra), in Vuatom or Watom (an islet off the Gazelle peninsula of New Britain), and in Samoa. The Arawak of British Guiana relate that once upon a time the Creator came down to earth to see how his creature man was getting on. But men were so wicked that they tried to kill him; so he deprived them of eternal life and bestowed it on the animals which renew their skin, such as serpents, lizards, and beetles. A somewhat different version of the story is told by the Tamanachier, an Indian tribe of the Orinoco. They say that after residing among them for some time, the Creator took boat to cross to the other side of the great salt water from which he had come. Just as he was shoving off from the shore, he called out to them in a changed voice, "You will change your skins," by which he meant to say, "You will renew your youth like the serpents and the beetles." But, unfortunately, an old woman, hearing these words, cried out, "Oh!" in a tone of scepticism, if not of sarcasm, which so annoyed the Creator that he changed his tune at once and said testily, "Ye shall die." That is why we are all mortal.
(2) That mankind was once in possession of this faculty, but lost it through the action of an old woman, as in the last story. This variant is found among the To Koolawi (a mountain tribe in central Celebes) and among the Kai (a mixed Pygmy, or Negrito, and Papuan tribe of the Rawlinson and Sattelberg ranges, north of Huon Gulf, in
