s may be relics of totemism
amongst these communities. The following are some of the other taboos,
although some of them are but lightly regarded now-a-days.

(i.) To build a house with stone walls on all four sides.

(ii.) To use nails in building a house.

(iii.) To use more than one kind of timber in building the hearth.

(iv.) To build a house with resinous timber. Only the Siem family
can use such timber.

(v.) To cut trees from a sacred forest.

(vi.) To take or give anything with the left hand.

(vii.) To step over any one's body.

(viii.) To kill any animal or bird without first throwing rice over
its body. . .

(ix.) To drink the milk of a cow or goat.

(x.) To talk with any one, except with one of a man's or woman's
fellow-workers, when the thrashing of paddy is going on.

There are the following special taboos for pregnant women.

(_a_) To Accompany a funeral procession.

(_b_) To finish any sewing she may have commenced before she became
_enceinte_. There is a similar prohibition regarding the finishing
of the plaiting of wicker baskets.

(_c_) It is _sang_ for the husband of a pregnant woman to thatch the
ridge of the house at such a time, or to fix a handle to an axe or
a _dao_.

CHAPTER V

Folk-Tales, Traditions and Superstitions

Folk-Tales.

The Khasis possess a considerable amount of folk-lore. The tales which
will be found reproduced in the original Khasi have been obtained from
a collection which was in the possession of the Rev. Dr. Roberts,
of Cherrapunji, who very kindly placed it at my disposal. The
translations are by U Nissor Singh, Sub-Inspector of Schools, and
the author of a Khasi English Dictionary as well as certain other
educational works in that language. Dr. Roberts's collections would
fill a book; so I have selected only a few of what I consider typical
tales. At the instance of Sir Charles Lyall, I have given the Khasi
and English side by side. The stories will speak for themselves,
but I add a few explanatory notes. The water-fall of Ka Likai is
a magnificent cascade in the rainy season; it can best be viewed
from the heights of Laitkynsew. The water-fall is situated close
to the village of Nongriat, which is approached by a succession of
stone steps from the village of Tyrna, just below the Charrapunji
Laitkynsew bridle-path. "Dingiei," which is mentioned in the second
tale, is the high hill to be seen on the right-hand side of the
Shillong-Cherrapunji