| caption: |
beliefs about forest people, spirits |
| text: |
(228) That is how I heard about the belief in forest people who are called 'Man-dzang-tung-long' in Wakching and 'Shiniak Miha' in Tamlu. The latter means 'without parents'. They are small, like dwarfs, and their feet go backwards ie. their heel is in front, the toes behind. One can sometimes see their small footprints in the forest. The schoolmaster himself claims to have seen these and heard them laugh, but any person who actually sees them has to die. They follow the tracks of elephants and tigers and wild pigs are their domestic animals. Therefore when they hear a hunter approaching they try to drive them away. When a man has killed a wild animal he has to make an incision into its skin otherwise the 'Man-dzang-tung-long' will revive the animal. |
