At a marriage ceremony no Japanese bride or bridegroom will wear anything of a pur-

ple colour, lest the marriage tie be soon loosed. (GRIFFIS, M.E., p. 467.)
Pushpaka: Hind. Myth. The flower-adorned chariot of Kuvera, the god of wealth.
Put: Hind. Myth. A hell to which childless men are said to be condemned. A name
invented to explain the word "putra," son. (Dowson, H.C.D., p. 250.)
Putana: Hind. Myth. A female demon, daughter of Bali. She attempted to kill the infant
Krishna by suckling him, but was herself sucked to death by the child. (Dowson,
H.C.D., p. 251.)
Pygmalion: Gr. Myth. A Greek sculptor who made a statue of Galatea. This statue was
animated by Venus, and Pygmalion married his own statue.
Pygmy: A race of short-statured people. The ancients believed that they existed in vari-
ous parts of the world, and especially in the region of the sources of the Nile. The word
"pygmy "is used in modern language to denote a short person.
Pyladus: Gr. Myth. A friend of Orestes and husband of Electra.
Pyrrha: Gr. Myth. Wife of Prometheus, mother of Deucalion.
Pysk: Swedish Folklore. "Little goblin"; a pixie.
Pythia: Gr. Myth. One of the priestesses of the Delphian Oracle.
Python: Gr. Myth. A monstrous serpent which arose from the mud left after the subsi-
dence of the deluge which Deucalion survived. It dwelt in the caves of Mt. Parnassus,
where Apollo (q.v.) slew it.
Pythons are worshipped by the Ewe-speaking peoples of the Slave Coast (ELLIS, The
Ewe-speaking Peoples, 54 sqq.; FRAZER, Adonis, i. 8, n. i.)
Q
Qaf: Moham. Myth. The mountains of Qaf are supposed to encompass the whole of the
earth, and to be the chief abode of the Jinni. (LANE, A.S.M.A., p. 37.) Vide Sakhrat.
Qahu: Egypt. Myth. This was the name by which the City of the Gods was designated.
(BUDGE, Book of the Dead, Ch. CXLIX.)
Qebhsennuf: Egypt. Myth. One of the four children of Horus. He was hawk-headed,
and represented the West; he also protected the liver and the gall-bladder. (BUDGE,
Eastern Magic, p. 89.)
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Qebhsnauf: Another spelling for Qebhsennuf.
Quenching Fire: St. Florian will help to quench fires.
Qen-Qentel: Egypt. Myth. A pool of Sekhet-Hetepet.
Qetebh meriri: Jewish Folklore. A spirit of poisonous pestilence.
Qor'an: The Qor'an is the holy book of the Muhammedans, and is used by them in the
same manner for telling fortunes as the Bible by the Christians; it is opened at random,
and the text thus found is said to give the key to the problem you have in mind.
The Qor'an is a powerful charm against evil spirits.
The uneducated Muslims of India do not mention the Qor'an by name, fearing to com-
mit blasphemy thereby. (PHILLOTT, Hindustani Stepping Stones, Appendix.) cf. Bible,
Prayer Book, God, Shedim.
Quaking-grass: There is a lingering superstition in the Midlands that the Briza brings ill-
luck to its possessor. (LEAN, Vol. II, p. 639, quoting TOM BURGESS, Old English Wild
Flowers, 1868.)
Quarrel: If you dream you are quarrelling, you will either receive some unexpected
news, or your sweetheart will marry another. Vide Apron, Fire, Fireplace, Glass, Knife,
Shoe, Menstruation.
Question: Spirits must never be questioned directly. (WUTTKE, p. 224.) Vide "What is
the matter with you?"
Quetzal: A Central American bird, worshipped either as a deity or as a symbol of a
deity both by the Aztecs and the Mayas.
Quetzalocoatl: Aztec Myth. A king from whom has been derived the earliest Aztec cul-
ture. Quetzalocoatl driven away by his evil brother, Tezcatlipoca, set sail for the Golden
Country of Tiapallan, promising to return at a later date. Quetzalocoatl represents the
day-deity.
"By the sorceries of the Mexican god Tezcatlipoca (q.v.) he (Quetzalocoatl) was driven
to the fabled country of Tiapallan, whence he had come. According to another account,
he was supposed to have cast himself on a pyre, and after his death, his heart became
the morning star. By some he is regarded as a sun-god, by others as a god of the air."-
-Non-Classical Mythology, p. 142.
Quinsy: St. Blaise cures quinsy.
Quirinus: Rom. Relig. An ancient god of war. As distinguished from Mars, he was a god
of armed peace rather than that of aggressive warfare. In early times he, with Jupiter
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and Mars, formed the dominant triad of the Roman state.
Qutrub: Arab. Folklore. The male Ghoul is called by this name. (LANE, A.S.M.A., p. 43.)
Qutrus: Moham. Folklore. They were demons who usually assumed the form of cats.
(MAS'UDI, Muruj al-Dhabab, III. 321.)
R
Ra: Egypt. Myth. The great god of the sun, the principal deity of historical Egypt. He
was the son of Nut, the sky, and was believed to be engaged each night with the ser-
pent Apepi. He is represented as a man with a sun-disc round his head.
Rabisu: Babyl. Folklore. A demon who springs upon his victim unawares.
Ragnarok: Norse Myth. The so-called "Twilight of the Gods," the final destruction of the
world in the great conflict between the Asir (gods) on the one hand, and on the other
hand, the giants and the powers of Hel, under the leadership of Loki.
Rahab: Hebrew Myth. A great demon or dragon, who after a severe struggle, was over-
come by Jahweh.
Rahu: Hind. Myth. A demon of coal-black colour, who devours the sun, and thus caus-
es a whole or a partial eclipse. (CROOKE, P.R.I., I, 19; Ethnologie du Bengale, pp. 101
sq.) Vide Indra, Ketu, Mayoba, Aracho, Eclipse.
Raiko and the Oni: This is one of the most famous of Japanese folktales. Raiko, the
bravest man of his times, fights with monsters and ghouls, and kills all the wicked
things in Japan, so that children may now sleep in peace, without being afraid of being
carried away by ghouls, and the like. (GRIFFIS, M.E., pp. 491-493.)
Rain: Rain on a wedding day forebodes tears for the bride (PLOSS, Das Weib, Vol. I,
p. 451, quoting KARUSIO), or foretells the birth of many children (STRACKERJAN, Vol.
I, p. 23.)
Rain is caused by witches. (LEHMANN, A.Z., p. 111.)
Gnats flying low foretell rain.
The croaking of a crow or a frog denotes rain.
Rain can be stopped by first-born children stripping naked and standing on their heads;
or, in Calcutta, by making a candle of cloth and burning it. (Enc. Rel. Eth., Vol. VIII, p.
291.)
The Zulus cause rain by shooting at the sky with bows and arrows. Vide Cat, Grass,
Pig, Rake, Sexton, Whistle, Crow, Frog, Raven, Dog, Rice, Woman, First-born
Children, Gnat, Mowing.
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