adulterer. We will beat him to death with
clubs according to the law." Accordingly, when all the people sat in a
circle, and the child was placed in the midst, he went to no one, and,
although the king called and coaxed him much, he nevertheless refused
to go. Then the king said, "Remember who is absent." All replied,
"There is no one else except U Manik Raitong." The Siem replied,
"Call, then, U Raitong." Some of the people said, "It is useless to
call that unfortunate, who is like a dog or a cat; leave him alone,
oh king." The king replied, "No, go and call him, for every man must
come." So they called him, and when he arrived and the child saw him,
the child laughed and followed "U Raitong." Then the people shouted
that it was U Raitong who had committed adultery with the queen. The
king and his ministers then ordered that U Raitong should be put to
death outside the village. U Raitong said, "Be pleased to prepare
a funeral pyre, and I will burn myself thereon, wicked man that I
am." They agreed to his request. U Raitong said to those who were
preparing the funeral pyre, "When I arrive near the funeral pyre,
set fire to it beforehand, and I will throw myself in, and you stand
at a distance." Then U Raitong went and bathed, dressed himself well,
and, taking his flute, played on it as he walked backwards to the
funeral pyre; and when he arrived close to it, they lighted it as he
had told them to do. He walked three times round the pyre, and then
planted his flute in the earth and threw himself into the flames. The
queen, too, ran quickly and threw herself on the pyre also. After
U Raitong and the queen had been burned, a pool of water formed in
the foundations of the pyre, and a bamboo sprang up whose leaves grew
upside-down. From U Raitong's time it has become the practice to play
the flute at funerals as a sign of mourning for the departed.

U Manik Raitong bad ka Sharati jong u.

La don uwei u briw shaphang shatei ha ka ri Khasi ha khap ri Bhoi
uba kyrteng U Manik. Ki briw ki la sin ia u U Manik Raitong namar
ba u long u khun swet uba la iap baroh ki kymi, ki kypa, ki hynmen,
ki para bad ki kur ki jaid. U long ruh uba duk shibun. Une U Manik
Raitong u dap da ki jingsngowsih synia sngi, u iam ud jilliw ha la
ka mynsim namar la ka jinglong khun swet long pukir. Um jiw kwah ban
iaid kai leh kai kum ki para samla; u sum da ka dypei da ka khyndew
ia lade, u pynleit la ki sngi ki por tang ha ki jingud ki jingiam
ba