ed himself on his back. And the horse turned back the way he had
come, neighing without a pause.

"What can be the matter with the horse?" thought the father.
"Something must have surely gone wrong at home!" So he dropped the
reins and rode back. And he fed the horse liberally because he had
been so intelligent; but the horse ate nothing, and when he saw the
girl, he struck out at her with his hoofs and tried to bite her. This
surprised the father; he questioned his daughter, and she told him the
truth, just as it had occurred.

"You must not say a word about it to any one," spoke her father, "or
else people will talk about us."

And he took down his crossbow, shot the horse, and hung up his skin in
the yard to dry. Then he went on his travels again.

One day his daughter went out walking with the daughter of a
neighbor. When they entered the yard, she pushed the horse-hide with
her foot and said: "What an unreasonable animal you were--wanting to
marry a human being! What happened to you served you right!"

But before she had finished her speech, the horse-hide moved, rose up,
wrapped itself about the girl and ran off.

Horrified, her companion ran home to her father and told him what had
happened. The neighbors looked for the girl everywhere, but she could
not be found.

At last, some days afterward, they saw the girl hanging from the
branches of a tree, still wrapped in the horse-hide; and gradually she
turned into a silkworm and wove a cocoon. And the threads which she
spun were strong and thick. Her girl friend then took down the cocoon
and let her slip out of it; and then she spun the silk and sold it at
a large profit.

But the girl's relatives longed for her greatly. So one day the girl
appeared riding in the clouds on her horse, followed by a great
company and said: "In heaven I have been assigned to the task of
watching over the growing of silkworms. You must yearn for me no
longer!" And thereupon they built temples to her in her native land,
and every year, at the silkworm season, sacrifices are offered to her
and her protection is implored. And the Silkworm Goddess is also known
as the girl with the Horse's Head.

Note: This tale is placed in the times of the Emperor
Hau, and the legend seems to have originated in
Setchuan. The stallion is the sign of the zodiac which
rules the springtime, the season when the silkworms are
cultivated. Hence she is called the Goddess with the