. The tribes and castes of the Central Provinces of India . act the courage ; this infusion ofbravery was then drunk by the warriors.^ In a modern Greekfolk-tale a mans strength lies in three golden hairs on hishead. When his mother plucks them out, he grows weak andtimid and is slain by his enemies.^ The Red Indian customof taking the scalp of a slain enemy and sometimes wearingthe scalps at the waist-belt may be due to the same relief. In Ceram the hair might not be cut because it was the seat of a mans strength ; and the Gaboon negroes for the same reason would not allow any of their hair t
. The tribes and castes of the Central Provinces of India . act the courage ; this infusion ofbravery was then drunk by the warriors.^ In a modern Greekfolk-tale a mans strength lies in three golden hairs on hishead. When his mother plucks them out, he grows weak andtimid and is slain by his enemies.^ The Red Indian customof taking the scalp of a slain enemy and sometimes wearingthe scalps at the waist-belt may be due to the same relief. In Ceram the hair might not be cut because it was the seat of a mans strength ; and the Gaboon negroes for the same reason would not allow any of their hair to pass into the possession of a stranger,* lo. Hair If thc hair was considered to be the special source of and^^ strength and hence frequently of life, that of the kings and priests. priests, in whose existence the primitive tribe believed its > W. Kirkpatrick , July ^ g^ q^ jj-d ed., Balder the BeatUi- 1911, ]). 438. fill, vol. ii. p. 103. ^ Golden Bough, 3rd cd. vol. viii. ^ Dr. Jevons, Introduction to the p. 153. History of Religion, p. <o Cd O K0 0 LU I1- II HAIR OF KINGS AND PRIESTS 273 own communal life to be bound up, would naturally be amatter of peculiar concern. That it was so has beenshown in the Golden Bough. Two hundred years ago thehair and nails of the Mikado of Japan could only be cutwhen he was asleep.^ The hair of the Flamcn Dialis at Romecould be cut only by a freeman and with a bronze knife,and his hair and nails when cut had to be buried undera lucky tree. The Prankish kings were never allowed tocrop their hair ; from their childhood upwards they had tokeep it unshorn. The hair of the Aztec priests hung downto their hams so that the weight of it became very trouble-some ; for they might never crop it so long as they lived, orat least till they had been relieved from their office on thescore of old age.^ In the Male Paharia tribe from the timethat any one devoted himself to the profession of priest andaugur his hair was allowed to grow li
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