Note 54 — Chapter IV · MYTHS AND LEGENDS

“The legend regarding the origin of the evil spirits known as Čo̱l is as follows:—Their ancestor, Maia Čo̱l, one day stole a pig which had been captured by Maia Ko̱lwo̱t, and climbed up into a gurjon-tree with his prize. Now Maia Ko̱lwo̱t was remarkable for his great strength, and being enraged, determined to revenge himself; he thereupon planted a number of spikes all round the tree in which the thief had taken refuge, and then proceeded to force it into the ground. On finding that if he remained where he was, he must inevitably be buried alive, Maia Čo̱l sprang off the tree, and thereby met a more terrible fate, for he was impaled on the spikes, and perished miserably. His disembodied spirit did not pass to Čaitan (Hades), but took up its abode on the invisible bridge, where, by Puluga’s orders, numbers of his descendants were sent to join him, in the form of black birds with long tails54.”