The Forest Of Fruit Trees (English), in: South Asia — Saora
ix, 29
HILL SAORA
Guli, Ganjam District
After the first earth had sunk beneath the waters and the new earth was made, Kittung planted the forest with fruit-bearing trees. These were the only trees he made. At that time, there were few people and no grain; everybody lived on fruit. But when the population increased and men made fields and hill-clearing and sowed them with grain, they needed firewood to cook with and they cut down the fruit trees and burnt the wood. In this way the forest was destroyed.
When Kittung saw this he was very sad, for he loved his trees had pity on them, and he went to find seed. But he found none and sat down on a rock wept. Then the tutelary-wife of Kittung’s father came out of the ground and asked him what the matter was. Kittung told her and she gave him seed saying, ‘Every tree will bear fruit, but men will be able to eat the fruit only of those that were first made. They will not be able to eat the fruit of these new trees.’ Kittung sowed the seed and when the forest grew again he said to men, ‘Do not cut fruit till they are dry and useless. For your fires and buildings use the new trees.’
– Elwin, Verrier, Tribal Myths of Orissa,(Bombay: Oxford University Press, 1953), pp. 113-114. [This source is in the public domain; download here].
Flood Stories 