I have now collected nearly a dozen stories.  There are more people coming this week.  My favorite has been about how people came to worship idols.  Here is an abridged version:

How People Came to Worship Idols

A man & his wife lived in a village.  The man was a fisherman and went out to the river fishing.  One day he caught an idol.  The idol told the man to create an instrument and play it.  While the man played, the idol would dance.   If the man tired first, the idol would kill him but if the idol tired first, the man could kill him.  So they began and after a few hours the man grew tired and the idol killed the man.

In the meantime, the man’s wife gave birth to a son.  When the son was five years old, he began to fish just as his father had done.  His mother begged him not to fish at the river because that was where his father had been killed.  But the son made a pole and began to fish the river.  After several years, the boy caught an idol just as his father had done.  Again the spirit said that they had entered into an agreement and taught the boy to build an instrument and begin playing.  After a few hours the idol began to get tired but the boy continued to play.  The spirit decided to force the boy to stop playing so he sneezed.  When he sneezed, dust blew up into the boy’s face but he continued to play and the smoke went away.  Then he sneezed again and the rain came and it rained very heavy but the boy still played and the rain went away.  Then the spirit sneezed again and saw a blaze of fire coming at the boy but he still played.  At last the spirit got very tired and he fell to the ground just moving his arms and his legs but the boy said, you are still dancing and he kept playing.  Then the spirit could only just move one arm and leg but the boy said you are still dancing and he kept playing.  Finally the spirit just lay on the ground exhausted and not moving. 

The boy cut off the spirit’s head and placed it in a box.  Then soon after, the boy began to have dreams and the spirit would say this will happen, and it did.  Then he would have another dream and the spirit would say this will happen, and it did.  Until after some time of this, the people began worshipping the idol.