eemed to laugh at him: so in future I
shall not mind going about with you."

CXLIII. The Paharia Socialists.

Formerly before the Santals came into the country the four _taluqs_
of Sankara, Chiptiam, Sulunga and Dhaka formed the Paharia Raj and
the whole country was dense jungle. Then the Santals came and cleared
the jungle, and brought the land under cultivation. The Paharia Raja
of Gando was named Somar Singh and he paid tribute to the Burdwan Raja.

Once ten or twelve Paharias went to Burdwan to pay the annual
tribute. After they had paid in the money the Raja gave them a feast
and a room to sleep in and sent them one bed. The Paharias had a
discussion as to who should sleep on the bed and in order to avoid any
ill-feeling about it they decided that they would all sleep on the
ground and put their feet on the bed and then they could feel that
they had all an equal share of it. This they did and in the morning
the Burdwan Raja came in and found them all lying in this strange
position and was very much amused. He explained that he had sent the
bed for the use of the chief man among them and asked whether they had
no distinctions of rank. "Yes" they said "we have in our own villages;
but here we are in a foreign land and as we do not all belong to one
village who is to decide which is the chief among us. Away from home
we are all equal."

CXLIV. How a Tiger Was Killed.

In the days when the Santals lived in the jungle country there was
once a man who had a patch of maize by the bank of a stream; and to
watch his crop he had put up a platform in his field. Now one day
he stole a goat and killed it; he did not take it home nor tell his
family; he took it to the maize patch with some firewood and fire and
a knife and a hatchet; and he hoisted all these on to his platform
and lit a fire in the bottom of an earthen pot and cut up the goat
and began to cook and eat the flesh. And a tiger smelt the flesh and
came and sat down under the platform.

As the man ate he threw down the bones and as he threw them the tiger
caught them in its mouth; and after a time the man noticed that he
did not hear the bones strike the ground; so he looked down quietly
and saw the tiger; then he was very frightened for he thought that
when he could no longer keep the tiger quiet by throwing down bits
of meat, the tiger would spring up unto the platform and eat him.

At last a thought struck him and he drew the head of his hatc