ody is
burned for such women become _churins_. The reason of this is that
when the _churin_ pursues any one the thorns may hurt her and prevent
her from running fast: and so the man who is pursued may escape; for
if the _churin_ catches him she will lick all the flesh off his bones;
they especially attack the belly and their tongues are very rough.

There was once a man who had been to get his ploughshare sharpened by
the blacksmith and as he was on his way home it came on to rain, so he
took shelter in a hollow tree. While he was waiting for the weather
to clear he saw a _churin_ coming along singing and she also came to
take shelter in the same tree. Fortunately she pushed in backwards
and the man took the ploughshare which was still nearly red hot and
pressed it against her back; so she ran away screaming and he made
good his escape in the other direction; otherwise he would assuredly
have been licked to death.

CLXVII. Hares and Men.

In former days hares used to eat men and a man presented himself before
Thakur and said "O Father, these hares do us much damage; they are
little animals and hide under leaves and then spring out and eat us;
big animals we can see coming and can save ourselves. Have pity on
us and deliver us from these little animals," So Thakur summoned the
chief of the hares and fixed a day for hearing the case; and when the
man and the hare appeared he asked the hare whether they ate men and
the hare denied it and asserted on the contrary that men ate hares; but
the man when questioned denied that men killed hares. Then Thakur said
"O hare and man, I have questioned you both and you give contradictory
answers; and neither admits the charge; the matter shall be decided in
this way; you, hare, shall watch a _Kita_ tree and if within a year you
see a leaf fall from the tree you shall be allowed to eat men; and you,
man, shall watch a _Korkot_ tree and if you see a leaf fall, then men
shall be allowed to eat hares. Begin your watch to-day and this day
next year bring me your leaves." So the man and the hare departed and
each sat under a tree to see a leaf fall but they watched and watched
in vain until on the last day of the year a _korkot_ leaf fell and
the man joyfully picked it up and took it to Thakur; and the hare
failing to see a leaf fall bit off a leaf with its teeth and took it
to Thakur. Then Thakur examined the two leaves and said to the hare,
"This leaf did not fall of itself; see