came forth and ran away; again he struck, and a wilg pig appeared; struck again, and an Almys (a hairy evil spirit, a loan word from Arabic) came forth; again he struck, and a camel issued forth.
God now came, and threw the bellows, tongs, and hammer into the fire. The bellows became a woman, the hammer and tongs became a man. God spat on the woman and she became a heron (kordoi), the feathers of which are not used for pluming arrows, the flesh of which a dog will not eat, which makes the swamp to stink. God also spat on the man and he became a rat (yalban), that has long feet, no hands, that is the dirt of a house, that nibbles the soles of old shoes.
§ 21. God then told the man he had made cattle, food, and good water for him; that he would soon go away not soon to return. Before doing so he gave directions to Yapkara, Mandy Shire, and Shal Yime to look after mankind in various ways. Mandy Shire was to teach man how to fish with a line and with a net; how to shoot squirrels and to pasture cattle. Accordingly, he made a rod and fished, spun hemp and made nets, made boats and fished with the net, made a gun and gunpowder and shot squirrels. One day he said; "The wind will carry me away to-day." Then a whirlwind arose and carried him away.
§ 22. In Mr. A. Lang's "Myth, Ritual, and Religion," p. 182, allusion is made to a Huron legend, in which the earth is formed from some soil fished up by a musk-rat.[1] Also, to a Vogul story, in which the son of the first pair of human beings made by the chief god Numi Tarom dives to the bottom of the sea and brings up three handsful of mud which grew into our earth.
§ 23. A short Finnish creation myth, not unlike the Mordvin forms, will be found in the Folklore Journal, vol. v. p. 164, 165.
§ 24. Dr. Radloff, op. cit. vol. i. p. 285, gives another Tatar legend.
In days gone by the great Payana had made man, but could not make him a soul. He went to the great Kudai (god) to ask for a
- ↑ A new, fuller, and most interesting version of this legend is given in the American Folklore Journal, vol. i. No. III. pp. 180-183.
