Savage Landor in a recent most interesting work.[B] In
the Shan-hai-king, as Professor Schlegel[C] points out, their country is
spoken of as the Siao-jin-Kouo, or land of little men, in distinction, be
it noted, to the Peh-min-Kouo, or land of white people, identified by him
with the Ainu. These little men are spoken of by the Ainu as
Koro-puk-guru, _i.e._, according to Milne, men occupying excavations, or
pit-dwellers. According to Chamberlain, the name means dwellers under
burdocks, and is associated with the following legend. Before the time of
the Ainu, Yezo was inhabited by a race of dwarfs, said by some to be two
to three feet, by others only one inch in height. When an enemy
approached, they hid themselves under the great leaves of the burdock
(_koro_), for which reason they are called Koro-puk-guru, i.e., the men
under the burdocks. When they were exterminated by the wooden clubs of the
Ainu, they raised their eyes to heaven, and, weeping, cried aloud to the
gods, "Why were we made so small?" It should be said that Professor
Schlegel and Mr.
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