_ADDITIONAL NOTE._


DRINKING THE SEA DRY, p. 306.

The same jest is also found in _Aino Folk-Tales_, translated by Prof.
Basil Hall Chamberlain, and published in the _Folk-Lore Journal_, 1888,
as follows:

There was the Chief of the Mouth of the River and the Chief of the Upper
Current of the River. The former was very vain-glorious, and therefore
wished to put the latter to shame or to kill him by engaging him in an
attempt to perform something impossible. So he sent for him and said:
"The sea is a useful thing, in so far as it is the original home of the
fish which come up the river. But it is very destructive in stormy
weather, when it beats wildly upon the beach. Do you now drink it dry,
so that there may be rivers and dry land only. If you cannot do so, then
forfeit all your possessions." The other said, greatly to the
vain-glorious man's surprise: "I accept the challenge." So, on their
going down to the beach, the Chief of the Upper Current of the River
took a cup and scooped up a little of the sea-water with it, drank a few
drops, and said: "In the sea-water itself there is no harm. It is some
of the rivers flowing into it that are poisonous. Do you, therefore,
first close the mouths of all the rivers both in Aino-land and in Japan,
and prevent them from flowing into the sea, and then I will undertake to
drink the sea dry." Hereupon the Chief of the Mouth of the River felt
ashamed, acknowledged his error, and gave all his treasures to his
rival.