Note 165 — Chapter IV · ANIMAL-WORSHIP.
Reading edition
The souls of the dead are believed to enter into flies and bees. Hence in parts of Great Britain news of a death in a family is whispered into the beehive.165 In one of Somadeva’s tales we find the monkeys trying to warm themselves over a firefly, which is gifted with various miraculous powers.166 A fly falling into an inkstand is a lucky omen. In the Râmâyana Hanumân metamorphoses himself into a fly to reach Sîtâ, and there are many instances of this in the tales.