lers, for instance, hold that man was composed of
earthly materials, but that God breathed into his body the breath of
life. "His flesh was made of earth, his bones of stone, his veins of
roots, his blood of water, his hair of grass, his thought of the wind,
his spirit of the cloud."[426] Many of the Russian stories about the
early ages of the world, also, are current in Western Europe, such as
that about the rye--which in olden days was a mass of ears from top to
bottom. But some lazy harvest-women having cursed "God's corn," the
Lord waxed wroth and began to strip the ears from the stem. But when
the last ear was about to fall, the Lord had pity upon the penitent
culprits, and allowed the single ear to remain as we now see it.[427]

A Little-Russian variant of this story says that Ilya (Elijah), was so
angry at seeing the base uses to which a woman turned "God's corn,"
that he began to destroy all the corn in the world. But a dog begged
for, and received a few ears. From these, after Ilya's wrath was
spent, mankind obtained seed, and corn began to grow again on the face
of the earth, but not in its pristine bulk and beauty. It is on
account of the good service thus rendered to our race that we ought to
cherish and feed the dog.[428]

Another story, from the Archangel Government, tells how a certain
King, as he roamed afield with his princes and boyars, found a grain
of corn as large as a sparrow's egg. Marvelling greatly at its size,
he tried in vain to obtain from his followers some explanation
thereof. Then they bethought them of "a certain man from among the old
people, who might be able to tell them something about it." But when
the old man came, "scarcely able to crawl along on a pair of
crutches," he said he knew nothing about it, but perhaps his father
might remember something. So they sent for his father, who came
limping along with the help of one crutch, and who said:

"I have a father living, in whose granary I have seen just such a
seed."

So they sent for his father, a man a hundred and seventy years old.
And the patriarch came, walking nimbly needing neither guide nor
crutch. Then the King began to question him, saying:

"Who sowed this sort of corn?"

"I sowed it, and reaped it," answered the old man, "and now I have
some of it in my granary. I keep it as a memorial. When I was young,
the grain was large and plentiful, but after a time it began to grow
smaller and smaller."

"Now tell me," aske