In Rink's _Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo_, p. 441, there is an
account of Kanak's visit to the man of the moon, where he meets a
woman who, he is warned, will take out his entrails if she can only
make him laugh. He follows the moon-man's advice, which is to rub his
leg with the nail of his little finger when he can no longer keep from
smiling, and so saves himself from the old hag. Rishya ['S]ringa (to
return to the land of our fairy tales) threw a drop of water from the
nail of his little finger on a Rakshas who, in the form of a tiger,
was rushing to devour him. The demon instantly quitted the tiger's
body, and asked the Rishi what he should do. He followed the holy
man's instructions and obtained moksha (salvation)--see _Indian
Antiquary_ for May 1873, p. 142, "The Legend of Rishya ['S]ringa,"
told by V. N. Narasimmiyengar of Bangalor.

XV.--HOW KING BURTAL BECAME A FAKIR.

1. The Fakir strikes the dead antelope with his wand (_chabuk_), as in
"Shekh Farid," p. 98. In both cases Dunkni says the wand used was a
long, slender piece of bamboo. I do not know whether the bamboo is a
lightning-plant. Possibly it is, being a grass (some grasses are
lightning-plants, see Fiske's _Myths and Mythmakers_, pp. 56, 61), and
also because its long slender stems are lance-shaped. If it does
belong to this class, naturally a blow from a bamboo (or lightning)
wand would give life, for, says Fiske (_ib._ p. 60), "the association
of the thunder-storm with the approach of summer has produced many
myths in which the lightning is symbolized as the life-renewing wand
of the victorious sun-god."

2. The king tries to hide the ball in his hair. The wonderful power
and strength of hair appears in tales from all lands: Signor de
Gubernatis suggests that, in the case of solar heroes, their hair is
the sun's rays (_Zoological Mythology_, vol. I. p. 117, vol. II. p.
154); and it seems to me possible that, just as the _colour_ of the
solar hero's hair has been appropriated by Indian fairy-tale princes
who are not solar, the _qualities_ of his hair may have been
attributed to that of folk-lore heroes who are not solar, and may also
have been the origin of some of the strange superstitions prevalent
about human hair. This theory, if correct, would account for most of
the strange things that I have hitherto met about hair. It must be
remembered that the sun's rays are also his weapons; they turn to
thunderbolts when the sun is hidden in