nning of the world the ground was very hot. The ground was so
hot that the creatures called men even got their feet burnt. For this
reason, no tree or herb could grow. The only herb that grew at that time
was the mugwort. Of trees, the only ones were the oak and the pine. For
this reason, these two trees are the oldest among trees. Among herbs, it
is the mugwort. This being so, these two trees are divine trees; they
are trees which human beings worship. Among herbs, the mugwort is
considered to be truly the oldest.

Listen well to this, too, you younger folks!--(Translated literally.
Told by Penri, 19th July, 1886.)

liii.--_The Deer with the Golden Horn._--(A specimen of Aino history.)

My very earliest ancestor kept a deer. He used to tie the divine symbols
to its horns. Then the deer would go to the mountains, and bring down
with it plenty of other deer. When they came outside the house my
ancestor would kill the deer which his deer had brought from the
mountains, and thus was greatly enriched. The name of the village in
which that deer was kept was Setarukot.

There was a festival at a neighbouring village. So the man who kept the
deer went off thither to the festival with all his followers. Only his
wife was left behind with the deer. Then a man called Tun-uwo-ush
[_i.e._ "as tall as two men"], from the village of Shipichara, being
very bad-hearted, came in order to steal that deer. He found only the
deer and the woman at home. He stole both the woman and the deer, and
ran away with them. So the man who kept the deer, becoming angry,
pursued after him to fight him. Being three brothers in all, they went
off all three together. So Tun-uwo-ush invoked the aid of the whole
neighbourhood. He called together a great number of men. Then those
three brethren came together to fight him. As they were three of them,
the eldest, having killed three score men, was at last killed himself.
The second brother killed four score men, and was then killed himself.
Then the youngest brother, seeing how things were, thought it would be
useless to go on fighting alone. For this reason he ran away. Having run
away, he got home. Having got home, he came to his house. Then he
invoked the aid of all the neighbourhood. He invoked the aid even of
those Ainos who dwelt in the land of the Japanese. Then he went off with
plenty of men. Having gone off, he fought against Tun-uwo-ush. In the
war, he killed Tun-uwo-ush and all his followers. T