So she sat and thought, and when she was warmed, she lay down by the side of Kora; and he wore tied to his waist a nail-cutter; she unfastened this and cut her throat with it as she lay.  Her death struggles aroused Kora, and he got up and saw the ground covered with her blood and he saw that she had killed herself with his nail-cutter; then he took counsel with himself and also cut his throat in the same way.  In the morning the two corpses were found lying side by side, and it was seen that their blood refused to mingle but had flowed in opposite directions.

So they took the bodies away to burn them and laid them on one pyre; and when the fire was lit, it was seen that the smoke from the two bodies rose separately into the air.  Then all who saw it, said “We wished to marry brother and sister but Chando would not approve of it; see how their blood would not mingle though spilt on the same floor, and how the smoke from the pyre rises in two separate columns; it is plain that the marriage of brother and sister is wrong.”  From that time such manages have been discontinued.

LI.  A Story on Caste.

There was once a village inhabited only by Musahars.  Among them was one girl who was so beautiful that she seemed more than human.  Her father and mother were so proud of her looks that they determined not to marry her to a man of their own caste.  They were constantly discussing whom they should choose as a son-in-law; one day they began to consider who were the greatest persons in the world.  The old woman was of opinion that there was no one greater than Chando, the Sun God, and suggested that they should marry the girl to him.  Her husband agreed and off they set and presented themselves before Chando.  Chando asked why they had come.  “O Chando, we understand that you are the greatest being in the world and we have come to marry our daughter to you,” Chando answered “I fancy there is some one greater than I,” “Who is he?” asked the parents.  “The cloud is greater than I, for it can hide my face and quench my rays.”

At this the father and mother hurried off with their daughter in search of the Cloud, and when they found him, told him that they had brought their daughter to give him to wife, as he was the greatest being in the world.  “I may be great,” said the Cloud, “but there is a greater than I, the Wind.  The Wind rises and blows me away in a minute.”  So they went in search of the Wind and when they found him, explained to him why they had brought him their daughter.  The Wind said “I am strong but there are stronger than I:  the Mountains are stronger.  I can blow things down or whirl them away, but I cannot move the mountains.”

So on they went to the Mountain and explained their errand.  The Mountain said “I am great but there are more powerful than I. The ground-rat is more powerful, for however high I may be the ground-rats burrow holes in me and I cannot resist them.”