by the Nandi of British East Africa. They say that when the first people
lived upon the earth a dog came to them one day and said: "All people
will die like the moon, but unlike the moon you will not return to life
again unless you give me some milk to drink out of your gourd, and beer
to drink through your straw. If you do this, I will arrange for you to
go to the river when you die and to come to life again on the third
day." But the people laughed at the dog, and gave him some milk and beer
to drink off a stool. The dog was angry at not being served in the same
vessels as a human being, and though he put his pride in his pocket and
drank the milk and the beer from the stool, he went away in high
dudgeon, saying, "All people will die, and the moon alone will return to
life." That is the reason why, when people die, they stay away, whereas
when the moon goes away she comes back again after three days'
absence.[71] The Wa-Sania of British East Africa believe that in days
gone by people never died, till one unlucky day a lizard came and said
to them, "All of you know that the moon dies and rises again, but human
beings will die and rise no more." They say that from that day people
began to die and have persisted in dying ever since.[72]
[Sidenote: Fijian story of the moon, the rat, and death. Caroline
Islands story of the moon, death, and resurrection. Wotjobaluk story of
the moon, death, and resurrection. Cham story of the moon, death, and
resurrection.]
With these African stories of the origin of death we may compare one
told by the Fijians on the other side of the world. They say that once
upon a time the Moon contended that men should be like himself (for the
Fijian moon seems to be a male); that is, he meant that just as he grows
old, disappears, and comes in sight again, so men grown old should
vanish for a while and then return to life. But the rat, who is a Fijian
god, would not hear of it. "No," said he, "let men die like rats." And
he had the best of it in the dispute, for men die like rats to this
day.[73] In the Caroline Islands they say that long, long ago death was
unknown, or rather it was a short sleep, not a long, long one, as it is
now. Men died on the last day of the waning moon and came to life again
on the first appearance of the new moon, just as if they had awakened
from a refreshing slumber. But an evil spirit somehow contrived that
when men slept the sleep of death they should wake no more.[74] The
Wotjobaluk of south-eastern Australia relate that, when all animals were
men and women, some of them died and the moon used to say, "You
up-again," whereupon they came to life again. But once on a time an old
man said, "Let them remain dead"; and since then nobody has ever come to
life again except the moon, which still continues to do so down to this
very day.[75] The Chams of Annam and Cambodia say that the goddess of
good luck used to resuscitate people as fast as they died, till the
sky-god, tired of her constant interference with the laws of nature,
transferred her to the moon, where it is no longer in her power to bring
the dead to life again.[76]
[Sidenote: Cycle of death and resurrection after three days, like the
monthly disappearance and reappearance of the moon.]
These stories which associate human immortality with the moon are
products of a primitive philosophy which, meditating on the visible
changes, of the lunar orb, drew from the observation of its waning and
waxing a dim notion that under a happier fate man might have been
immortal like the moon, or rather that like it he might have undergone
an endless cycle of death and resurrection, dying then rising again from
the dead after three days. The same curious notion of death and
resurrection after three days is entertained by the Unmatjera and
Kaitish, two savage tribes of Central Australia. They say that long ago
their dead used to be buried either in trees or underground, and that
after three days they regularly rose from the dead. The Kaitish tell how
this happy state of things came to an end. It was all through a man of
the Curlew totem, who finding some men of the Little Wallaby totem
burying a Little Wallaby man, fell into a passion and kicked the body
into the sea. Of course after that the dead man could not come to life
again, and that is why nowadays nobody rises from the dead after three
days, as everybody used to do long ago.[77] Although no mention is made
of the moon in this Australian story, we may conjecture that these
savages, like the Nandi of East Africa, fixed upon three days as the
normal interval between death and resurrection simply because three days
is the interval between the disappearance of the old and the
reappearance of the new moon. If that is so, the aborigines of Central
Australia may be added to the many races of mankind who have seen in the
waning and waxing moon an emblem of human immortality. Nor does this
association of ideas end with a mere tradition that in some former age
men used to die with the old moon and come to life again with the new
moon. Many savages, on seeing the new moon for the first time in the
month, observe ceremonies which seem to be intended to renew and
increase their life and strength with the renewal and the increase of
the lunar light. For example, on the day when the new moon first
appeared, the Indians of San Juan Capistrano in California used to call
together all the young men and make them run about, while the old men
danced in a circle, saying, "As the moon dieth and cometh to life again,
so we also having to die will again live."[78] Again, an old writer
tells us that at the appearance of every new moon the negroes of the
Congo clapped their hands and cried out, sometimes falling on their
knees, "So may I renew my life as thou art renewed."[79]
[Sidenote: III. Story of the Serpent and his Cast Skin. New Britain
story of immortality, the serpent, and death. Annamite story of
immortality, the serpent, and death. Vuatom story of immortality, the
lizard, the serpent, and death.]
Another type of stories told to explain the origin of death is the one
which I have called the type of the Serpent and his Cast Skin. Some
savages seem to think that serpents and all other animals, such as
lizards, which periodically shed their skins, thereby renew their life
and so never die. Hence they imagine that if man also could only cast
his old skin and put on a new one, he too would be immortal like a
serpent. Thus the Melanesians, who inhabit the coast of the Gazelle
Peninsula in New Britain, tell the following story of the origin of
death. They say that To Kambinana, the Good Spirit, loved men and wished
to make them immortal; but he hated the serpents and wished to kill
them. So he called his brother To Korvuvu and said to him, "Go to men
and take them the secret of immortality. Tell them to cast their skin
every year. So will they be protected from death, for their life will be
constantly renewed. But tell the serpents that they must thenceforth
die." But To Korvuvu acquitted himself badly of his task; for he
commanded men to die and betrayed to the serpents the secret of
immortality. Since then all men have been mortal, but the serpents cast
their skins every year and are immortal.[80] In this story we meet again
with the incident of the reversed message; through a blunder or through
the malice of the messenger the glad tidings of immortality are
perverted into a melancholy message of death. A similar tale, with a
similar incident, is told in Annam. They say that Ngoc hoang sent a
messenger from heaven to men to say that when they had reached old age
they should change their skins and live for ever, but that when serpents
grew old they must die. The messenger came down to earth and said,
rightly enough, "When man is old, he shall cast his skin; but when
serpents are old, they shall die and be laid in coffins." So far, so
good. But unfortunately there happened to be a brood of serpents within
hearing, and when they heard the doom pronounced on their kind they fell
into a fury and said to the messenger, "You must say it over again and
just the contrary, or we will bite you." That frightened the messenger
and he repeated his message, changing the words thus: "When he is old,
the serpent shall cast his skin; but when he is old, man shall die and
be laid in the coffin." That is why all creatures are now subject to
death, except the serpent, who, when he is old, casts his skin and lives
for ever.[81] The natives of Vuatom, an island in the Bismarck
Archipelago, say that a certain To Konokonomiange bade two lads fetch
fire, promising that if they did so they should never die, but that if
they refused their bodies would perish, though their shades or souls
would survive. They would not hearken to him, so he cursed them, saying,
"What! You would all have lived! Now you shall die, though your soul
shall live. But the iguana (_Goniocephalus_) and the lizard (_Varanus
indicus_) and the snake (_Enygrus_), they shall live, they shall cast
their skin and they shall live for evermore." When the lads heard that,
they wept, for bitterly they rued their folly in not going to fetch the
fire for To Konokonomiange.[82]
[Sidenote: Nias story of immortality, the crab, and death. Arawak and
Tamanachier stories of immortality, the serpent, the lizard, the beetle,
and death.]
Other peoples tell somewhat different stories to explain how men missed
the boon of immortality and serpents acquired it. Thus the natives of
Nias, an island off the coast of Sumatra, say that, when the earth was
created, a certain being was sent down by God from heaven to put the
last touches to the work of creation. He should have fasted for a month,
but unable to withstand the pangs of hunger he ate some bananas. The
choice of food was most unlucky, for had he only eaten river-crabs
instead of bananas men would have cast their skins like crabs and would
never have died.[83] The Arawaks 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.[84] A somewhat
different version of the story is told by the Tamanachiers, 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.[85]
[Sidenote: Melanesian story of the old woman who renewed her youth by
casting her skin.]
The natives of the Banks' Islands and the New Hebrides believe that
there was a time in the beginning of things when men never died but cast
their skins like snakes and crabs and so renewed their youth. But the
unhappy change to mortality came about at last, as it so often does in
these stories, through an old woman. Having grown old, this dame went to
a stream to change her skin, and change it she did, for she stripped off
her wizened old hide, cast it upon the waters, and watched it floating
down stream till it caught on a stick. Then she went home a buxom young
woman. But the child whom she had left at home did not know her and set
up such a prodigious squalling that to quiet it the woman went straight
back to the river, fished out her cast-off old skin, and put it on
again. From that day to this people have ceased to cast their skins and
to live for ever.[86] The same legend of the origin of death has been
recorded in the Shortlands Islands[87] and among the Kai of German New
Guinea.[88] It is also told with some variations by the natives of the
Admiralty Islands. They say that once on a time there was an old woman
and she was frail. She had two sons, and they went a-fishing, and she
herself went to bathe. She stripped off her wrinkled old skin and came
forth as young as she had been long ago. Her sons came home from the
fishing, and very much astonished were they to see her. The one said,
"It is our mother," but the other said, "She may be your mother, but she
shall be my wife." Their mother heard them and said, "What were you two
saying?" The two said, "Nothing! We only said that you are our mother."
"You are liars," said she, "I heard you both. If I had had my way, we
should have grown to be old men and women, and then we should have cast
our skin and been young men and young women. But you have had your way.
We shall grow old men and old women and then we shall die." With that
she fetched her old skin, and put it on, and became an old woman again.
As for us, her descendants, we grow up and we grow old. And if it had
not been for those two young men there would have been no end of our
days, we should have lived for ever and ever.[89]
[Sidenote: Samoan story of the shellfish, two torches, and death.]
The Samoans tell how the gods held a council to decide what was to be
done with men. One of them said, "Bring men and let them cast their
skin; and when they die, let them be turned to shellfish or to a
coco-nut leaf torch, which when shaken in the wind blazes out again."
But another god called Palsy (_Supa_) rose up and said, "Bring men and
let them be like the candle-nut torch, which when it is once out cannot
be blown up again. Let the shellfish change their skin, but let men
die." While they were debating, a heavy rain came on and broke up the
meeting. As the gods ran for shelter to their houses, they cried, "Let
it be according to the counsel of Palsy! Let it be according to the
counsel of Palsy!" So men died, but shellfish cast their skins.[90]
[Sidenote: IV. The Banana Story. Poso story of immortality, the stone,
the banana, and death. Mentra story of immortality, the banana, and
death.]
The last type of tales of the origin of death which I shall notice is
the one which I have called the Banana type. We have already seen that
according to the natives of Nias human mortality is all due to eating
bananas instead of crabs.[91] A similar opinion is entertained by other
people in that region of the world. Thus the natives of Poso, a district
of Central Celebes, say that in the beginning the sky was very near the
earth, and that the Creator, who lived in it, used to let down his good
gifts to men at the end of a rope. One day he thus lowered a stone; but
our first father and mother would have none of it and they called out to
their Maker, "What have we to do with this stone? Give us something
else." The Creator complied and hauled away at the rope; the stone
mounted up and up till it vanished from sight. Presently the rope was
seen coming down from heaven again, and this time there was a banana at
the end of it instead of a stone. Our first parents ran at the banana
and took it. Then there came a voice from heaven, saying: "Because ye
have chosen the banana, your life shall be like its life. When the
banana-tree has offspring, the parent stem dies; so shall ye die and
your children shall step into your place. Had ye chosen the stone, your
life would have been like the life of the stone changeless and
immortal." The man and his wife mourned over their fatal choice, but it
was too late; that is how through the eating of a banana death came into
the world.[92] The Mentras or Mantras, a shy tribe of savages in the
jungles of the Malay Peninsula, allege that in the early days of the
world men did not die, but only grew thin at the waning of the moon and
then waxed fat again as she waxed to the full. Thus there was no check
whatever on the population, which increased to a truly alarming extent.
So a son of the first man brought this state of things to his father's
notice and asked him what was to be done. The first man said, "Leave
things as they are"; but his younger brother, who took a more Malthusian
view of the situation, said, "No, let men die like the banana, leaving
their offspring behind." The question was submitted to the Lord of the
Underworld, and he decided in favour of death. Ever since then men have
ceased to renew their youth like the moon and have died like the
banana.[93]
[Sidenote: Primitive philosophy in the stories of the origin of death.]
Thus the three stories of the origin of death which I have called the
Moon type, the Serpent type, and the Banana type appear to be products
of a primitive philosophy which sees a cheerful emblem of immortality in
the waxing and waning moon and in the cast skins of serpents, but a sad
emblem of mortality in the banana-tree, which perishes as soon as it has
produced its fruit. But, as I have already said, these types of stories
do not exhaust the theories or fancies of primitive man on the question
how death came into the world. I will conclude this part of my subject
with some myths which do not fall under any of the preceding heads.
[Sidenote: Bahnar story of immortality, the tree, and death. Rivalry for
the boon of immortality between men and animals that cast their skins,
such as serpents and lizards.]
The Bahnars of eastern Cochinchina say that in the beginning when people
died they used to be buried at the foot of a tree called Lông Blô, and
that after a time they always rose from the dead, not as infants but as
full-grown men and women. So the earth was peopled very fast, and all
the inhabitants formed but one great town under the presidency of our
first parents. In time men multiplied to such an extent that a certain
lizard could not take his walks abroad without somebody treading on his
tail. This vexed him, and the wily creature gave an insidious hint to
the gravediggers. "Why bury the dead at the foot of the Lông Blô tree?"
said he; "bury them at the foot of Lông Khung, and they will not come to
life again. Let them die outright and be done with it." The hint was
taken, and from that day the dead have not come to life again.[94] In
this story there are several points to be noticed. In the first place
the tree Lông Blô would seem to have been a tree of life, since all the
dead who were buried at its foot came to life again. In the second place
the lizard is here, as in so many African tales, the instrument of
bringing death among men. Why was that so? We may conjecture that the
reason is that the lizard like the serpent casts its skin periodically,
from which primitive man might infer, as he infers with regard to
serpents, that the creature renews its youth and lives for ever. Thus
all the myths which relate how a lizard or a serpent became the
maleficent agent of human mortality may perhaps be referred to an old
idea of a certain jealousy and rivalry between men and all creatures
which cast their skin, notably serpents and lizards; we may suppose that
in all such cases a story was told of a contest between man and his
animal rivals for the possession of immortality, a contest in which,
whether by mistake or by guile, the victory always remained with the
animals, who thus became immortal, while mankind was doomed to
mortality.
[Sidenote: Chingpaw story of the origin of death. Australian story of
the tree, the bat, and death. Fijian story of the origin of death.]
The Chingpaws of Upper Burma say that death originated in a practical
joke played by an old man who pretended to be dead in the ancient days
when nobody really died. But the Lord of the Sun, who held the threads
of all human lives in his hand, detected the fraud and in anger cut
short the thread of life of the practical joker. Since then everybody
else has died; the door for death to enter into the world was opened by
the folly of that silly, though humorous, old man.[95] The natives about
the Murray River in Australia used to relate how the first man and woman
were forbidden to go near a tree in which a bat lived, lest they should
disturb the creature. One day, however, the woman was gathering firewood
and she went near the tree. The bat flew away, and after that death came
into the world.[96] Some of the Fijians accounted for human mortality as
follows. When the first man, the father of the human race, was being
buried, a god passed by the grave and asked what it meant, for he had
never seen a grave before. On learning from the bystanders that they had
just buried their father, "Do not bury him," said he, "dig the body up
again." "No," said they, "we cannot do that. He has been dead four days
and stinks." "Not so," pleaded the god; "dig him up, and I promise you
that he will live again." Heedless of the divine promise, these
primitive sextons persisted in leaving their dead father in the grave.
Then said the god to these wicked men, "By disobeying me you have sealed
your own fate. Had you dug up your ancestor, you would have found him
alive, and you yourselves, when you passed from this world, should have
been buried, as bananas are, for the space of four days, after which you
should have been dug up, not rotten, but ripe. But now, as a punishment
for your disobedience, you shall die and rot." And still, when they hear
this sad tale told, the Fijians say, "O that those children had dug up
that body!"[97]
[Sidenote: Admiralty Islanders' stories of the origin of death.]
The Admiralty Islanders tell various stories to explain why man is
mortal. One of them has already been related. Here is another. A Souh
man went once to catch fish. A devil tried to devour him, but he fled
into the forest and took refuge in a tree. The tree kindly closed on him
so that the devil could not see him. When the devil was gone, the tree
opened up and the man clambered down to the ground. Then said the tree
to him, "Go to Souh and bring me two white pigs." He went and found two
pigs, one was white and one was black. He took chalk and chalked the
black pig so that it was white. Then he brought them to the tree, but on
the way the chalk fell off the black pig. And when the tree saw the
white pig and the black pig, he chid the man and said, "You are
thankless. I was good to you. An evil will overtake you; you will die.
The devil will fall upon you, and you will die." So it has been with us
as it was with the man of Souh. An evil overtakes us or a spirit falls
upon us, and we die. If it had been as the tree said, we should not have
died.[98] Another story told by the Admiralty Islanders to account for
the melancholy truth of man's mortality runs thus. Kosi, the chief of
Moakareng, was in his house. He was hungry. He said to his two sons, "Go
and climb the breadfruit trees and bring the fruit, that we may eat them
together and not die." But they would not. So he went himself and
climbed the breadfruit tree. But the north-west wind blew a storm, it
blew and threw him down. He fell and his body died, but his ghost went
home. He went and sat in his house. He tied up his hair and he painted
his face with red ochre. Now his wife and his two sons had gone after
him into the wood. They went to fetch home the breadfruits. They came
and saw Kosi, and he was dead. The three returned home, and there they
saw the ghost of Kosi sitting in his house. They said, "You there! Who's
that dead at the foot of the breadfruit tree? Kosi, he is dead at the
foot of the breadfruit tree." Kosi, he said, "Here am I. I did not fall.
Perhaps somebody else fell down. I did not. Here I am." "You're a liar,"
said they. "I ain't," said he. "Come," said they, "we'll go and see."
They went. Kosi, he jumped into his body. He died. They buried him. If
his wife had behaved well, we should not die. Our body would die, but
our ghost would go about always in the old home.[99]
[Sidenote: Stories of the origin of death: the fatal bundle or the fatal
box.]