A
COLLECTION
OF
KACHÁRI FOLK-TALES AND RHYMES,
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[Contents]
INTENDED AS A SUPPLEMENT TO
REVEREND S. ENDLE’S
KACHÁRI GRAMMAR.
REVEREND S. ENDLE’S
KACHÁRI GRAMMAR.
SHILLONG:
PRINTED AT THE ASSAM SECRETARIAT PRINTING OFFICE.
1895.
PRINTED AT THE ASSAM SECRETARIAT PRINTING OFFICE.
1895.
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SHILLONG:
PRINTED BY THE SUPERINTENDENT OF THE ASSAMSECRETARIAT PRINTING DEPARTMENT.
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TRANSLITERATION.
I am sorry to find that in transcribing I havewandered away from Mr. Endle’s system of marking the values ofthe vowels. But the differences are, in essence, very small.
The circumflex accent indicates a long vowel.
“å” is as in Mr. Endle’sGrammar.
“ù” is the guttural “u”printed in Mr. Endle’s Grammar as “ŭ.”
J. D. A. [iii]
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PREFACE.
This little collection of Kachárifolk-stories and rhymes is intended as a supplement to the Reverend Mr.Endle’s Grammar of the language, and as a reading-book for thosewho have acquired an elementary knowledge of Kachári. I haveadded a rough translation, thinking that these specimens of thefolk-lore of a very simple and primitive people may be of interest tosome who do not care to learn Kachári, and that it may stimulateothers to make fuller and more successful excursions into an unexploredfield. These stories were collected during a tour of only sixweeks’ duration in the Kachári mauzas of Mangaldai, andcost only the effort of taking down the tales as they were dictated.Not only the Kacháris, but the other hill tribes of Assam havedoubtless their stores of folk legends which have never been exploited;and it pleases me to hope that others may find it as pleasant as I havefound it, to collect these fictions of the savage mind over the campfire. The text of the stories suggests a problem which it may amusesome one with better opportunities or more perseverance than myself tosolve. It will be noticed that while the words are for the most partKachári words, the syntax is curiously like the Assamese syntax.As an instance of this I have taken down (see page 1) an accusedperson’s statement in both Assamese and
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