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diff --git a/old/1061.txt b/old/1061.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4548cc8 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1061.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7526 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Myths and Myth-Makers, by John Fiske + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Myths and Myth-Makers + Old Tales and Superstitions Interpreted by Comparative Mythology + +Author: John Fiske + +Posting Date: July 31, 2008 [EBook #1061] +Release Date: October, 1997 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYTHS AND MYTH-MAKERS *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Keller + + + + + +MYTHS AND MYTH-MAKERS + +Old Tales and Superstitions Interpreted by Comparative Mythology + +By John Fiske + + + + +La mythologie, cette science toute nouvelle, qui nous fait suivre +les croyances de nos peres, depuis le berceau du monde jusqu'aux +superstitions de nos campagnes.--EDMOND SCHERER + + + +TO MY DEAR FRIEND, WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS, IN REMEMBRANCE OF PLEASANT +AUTUMN EVENINGS SPENT AMONG WEREWOLVES AND TROLLS AND NIXIES, I dedicate +THIS RECORD OF OUR ADVENTURES. + + + + +PREFACE. + +IN publishing this somewhat rambling and unsystematic series of papers, +in which I have endeavoured to touch briefly upon a great many of the +most important points in the study of mythology, I think it right to +observe that, in order to avoid confusing the reader with intricate +discussions, I have sometimes cut the matter short, expressing myself +with dogmatic definiteness where a sceptical vagueness might perhaps +have seemed more becoming. In treating of popular legends and +superstitions, the paths of inquiry are circuitous enough, and seldom +can we reach a satisfactory conclusion until we have travelled all the +way around Robin Hood's barn and back again. I am sure that the reader +would not have thanked me for obstructing these crooked lanes with the +thorns and brambles of philological and antiquarian discussion, to such +an extent as perhaps to make him despair of ever reaching the high road. +I have not attempted to review, otherwise than incidentally, the works +of Grimm, Muller, Kuhn, Breal, Dasent, and Tylor; nor can I pretend +to have added anything of consequence, save now and then some bit of +explanatory comment, to the results obtained by the labour of these +scholars; but it has rather been my aim to present these results in such +a way as to awaken general interest in them. And accordingly, in dealing +with a subject which depends upon philology almost as much as astronomy +depends upon mathematics, I have omitted philological considerations +wherever it has been possible to do so. Nevertheless, I believe that +nothing has been advanced as established which is not now generally +admitted by scholars, and that nothing has been advanced as probable for +which due evidence cannot be produced. Yet among many points which are +proved, and many others which are probable, there must always remain +many other facts of which we cannot feel sure that our own explanation +is the true one; and the student who endeavours to fathom the primitive +thoughts of mankind, as enshrined in mythology, will do well to bear in +mind the modest words of Jacob Grimm,--himself the greatest scholar and +thinker who has ever dealt with this class of subjects,--"I shall indeed +interpret all that I can, but I cannot interpret all that I should +like." + +PETERSHAM, September 6, 1872. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + I. THE ORIGINS OF FOLK-LORE + + II. THE DESCENT OF FIRE + + III. WEREWOLVES AND SWAN-MAIDENS + + IV. LIGHT AND DARKNESS + + V. MYTHS OF THE BARBARIC WORLD + + VI. JUVENTUS MUNDI + + VII. THE PRIMEVAL GHOST-WORLD + + NOTE + + + + +MYTHS AND MYTH-MAKERS. + + + + +I. THE ORIGINS OF FOLK-LORE. + +FEW mediaeval heroes are so widely known as William Tell. His exploits +have been celebrated by one of the greatest poets and one of the most +popular musicians of modern times. They are doubtless familiar to +many who have never heard of Stauffacher or Winkelried, who are quite +ignorant of the prowess of Roland, and to whom Arthur and Lancelot, nay, +even Charlemagne, are but empty names. + +Nevertheless, in spite of his vast reputation, it is very likely that +no such person as William Tell ever existed, and it is certain that the +story of his shooting the apple from his son's head has no historical +value whatever. In spite of the wrath of unlearned but patriotic Swiss, +especially of those of the cicerone class, this conclusion is forced +upon us as soon as we begin to study the legend in accordance with the +canons of modern historical criticism. It is useless to point to Tell's +lime-tree, standing to-day in the centre of the market-place at Altdorf, +or to quote for our confusion his crossbow preserved in the arsenal at +Zurich, as unimpeachable witnesses to the truth of the story. It is in +vain that we are told, "The bricks are alive to this day to testify to +it; therefore, deny it not." These proofs are not more valid than the +handkerchief of St. Veronica, or the fragments of the true cross. For if +relics are to be received as evidence, we must needs admit the truth of +every miracle narrated by the Bollandists. + +The earliest work which makes any allusion to the adventures of William +Tell is the chronicle of the younger Melchior Russ, written in 1482. As +the shooting of the apple was supposed to have taken place in 1296, this +leaves an interval of one hundred and eighty-six years, during which +neither a Tell, nor a William, nor the apple, nor the cruelty of +Gessler, received any mention. It may also be observed, parenthetically, +that the charters of Kussenach, when examined, show that no man by +the name of Gessler ever ruled there. The chroniclers of the fifteenth +century, Faber and Hammerlin, who minutely describe the tyrannical acts +by which the Duke of Austria goaded the Swiss to rebellion, do not +once mention Tell's name, or betray the slightest acquaintance with his +exploits or with his existence. In the Zurich chronicle of 1479 he is +not alluded to. But we have still better negative evidence. John of +Winterthur, one of the best chroniclers of the Middle Ages, was living +at the time of the battle of Morgarten (1315), at which his father was +present. He tells us how, on the evening of that dreadful day, he saw +Duke Leopold himself in his flight from the fatal field, half dead with +fear. He describes, with the loving minuteness of a contemporary, all +the incidents of the Swiss revolution, but nowhere does he say a word +about William Tell. This is sufficiently conclusive. These mediaeval +chroniclers, who never failed to go out of their way after a bit of the +epigrammatic and marvellous, who thought far more of a pointed story +than of historical credibility, would never have kept silent about the +adventures of Tell, if they had known anything about them. + +After this, it is not surprising to find that no two authors who +describe the deeds of William Tell agree in the details of topography +and chronology. Such discrepancies never fail to confront us when +we leave the solid ground of history and begin to deal with floating +legends. Yet, if the story be not historical, what could have been +its origin? To answer this question we must considerably expand the +discussion. + +The first author of any celebrity who doubted the story of William Tell +was Guillimann, in his work on Swiss Antiquities, published in 1598. +He calls the story a pure fable, but, nevertheless, eating his words, +concludes by proclaiming his belief in it, because the tale is so +popular! Undoubtedly he acted a wise part; for, in 1760, as we are +told, Uriel Freudenberger was condemned by the canton of Uri to be burnt +alive, for publishing his opinion that the legend of Tell had a Danish +origin. [1] + +The bold heretic was substantially right, however, like so many other +heretics, earlier and later. The Danish account of Tell is given as +follows, by Saxo Grammaticus:-- + +"A certain Palnatoki, for some time among King Harold's body-guard, had +made his bravery odious to very many of his fellow-soldiers by the zeal +with which he surpassed them in the discharge of his duty. This man +once, when talking tipsily over his cups, had boasted that he was so +skilled an archer that he could hit the smallest apple placed a long way +off on a wand at the first shot; which talk, caught up at first by the +ears of backbiters, soon came to the hearing of the king. Now, mark +how the wickedness of the king turned the confidence of the sire to the +peril of the son, by commanding that this dearest pledge of his life +should be placed instead of the wand, with a threat that, unless the +author of this promise could strike off the apple at the first flight of +the arrow, he should pay the penalty of his empty boasting by the loss +of his head. The king's command forced the soldier to perform more +than he had promised, and what he had said, reported, by the tongues of +slanderers, bound him to accomplish what he had NOT said. Yet did not +his sterling courage, though caught in the snare of slander, suffer him +to lay aside his firmness of heart; nay, he accepted the trial the more +readily because it was hard. So Palnatoki warned the boy urgently when +he took his stand to await the coming of the hurtling arrow with calm +ears and unbent head, lest, by a slight turn of his body, he should +defeat the practised skill of the bowman; and, taking further counsel to +prevent his fear, he turned away his face, lest he should be scared at +the sight of the weapon. Then, taking three arrows from the quiver, he +struck the mark given him with the first he fitted to the string..... +But Palnatoki, when asked by the king why he had taken more arrows from +the quiver, when it had been settled that he should only try the fortune +of the bow ONCE, made answer, 'That I might avenge on thee the swerving +of the first by the points of the rest, lest perchance my innocence +might have been punished, while your violence escaped scot-free.'" [2] + +This ruthless king is none other than the famous Harold Blue-tooth, and +the occurrence is placed by Saxo in the year 950. But the story appears +not only in Denmark, but in England, in Norway, in Finland and Russia, +and in Persia, and there is some reason for supposing that it was known +in India. In Norway we have the adventures of Pansa the Splay-footed, +and of Hemingr, a vassal of Harold Hardrada, who invaded England in +1066. In Iceland there is the kindred legend of Egil brother of Wayland +Smith, the Norse Vulcan. In England there is the ballad of William of +Cloudeslee, which supplied Scott with many details of the archery scene +in "Ivanhoe." Here, says the dauntless bowman, + + "I have a sonne seven years old; + Hee is to me full deere; + I will tye him to a stake-- + All shall see him that bee here-- + And lay an apple upon his head, + And goe six paces him froe, + And I myself with a broad arrowe + Shall cleave the apple in towe." + +In the Malleus Maleficarum a similar story is told Puncher, a famous +magician on the Upper Rhine. The great ethnologist Castren dug up the +same legend in Finland. It is common, as Dr. Dasent observes, to the +Turks and Mongolians; "and a legend of the wild Samoyeds, who never +heard of Tell or saw a book in their lives relates it, chapter and +verse, of one of their marksmen." Finally, in the Persian poem of +Farid-Uddin Attar, born in 1119, we read a story of a prince who shoots +an apple from the head of a beloved page. In all these stories, names +and motives of course differ; but all contain the same essential +incidents. It is always an unerring archer who, at the capricious +command of a tyrant, shoots from the head of some one dear to him a +small object, be it an apple, a nut, or a piece of coin. The archer +always provides himself with a second arrow, and, when questioned as to +the use he intended to make of his extra weapon, the invariable reply +is, "To kill thee, tyrant, had I slain my son." Now, when a marvellous +occurrence is said to have happened everywhere, we may feel sure that +it never happened anywhere. Popular fancies propagate themselves +indefinitely, but historical events, especially the striking and +dramatic ones, are rarely repeated. The facts here collected lead +inevitably to the conclusion that the Tell myth was known, in its +general features, to our Aryan ancestors, before ever they left their +primitive dwelling-place in Central Asia. + +It may, indeed, be urged that some one of these wonderful marksmen may +really have existed and have performed the feat recorded in the legend; +and that his true story, carried about by hearsay tradition from one +country to another and from age to age, may have formed the theme for +all the variations above mentioned, just as the fables of La Fontaine +were patterned after those of AEsop and Phaedrus, and just as many of +Chaucer's tales were consciously adopted from Boccaccio. No doubt there +has been a good deal of borrowing and lending among the legends of +different peoples, as well as among the words of different languages; +and possibly even some picturesque fragment of early history may have +now and then been carried about the world in this manner. But as the +philologist can with almost unerring certainty distinguish between the +native and the imported words in any Aryan language, by examining their +phonetic peculiarities, so the student of popular traditions, though +working with far less perfect instruments, can safely assert, with +reference to a vast number of legends, that they cannot have been +obtained by any process of conscious borrowing. The difficulties +inseparable from any such hypothesis will become more and more apparent +as we proceed to examine a few other stories current in different +portions of the Aryan domain. + +As the Swiss must give up his Tell, so must the Welshman be deprived of +his brave dog Gellert, over whose cruel fate I confess to having shed +more tears than I should regard as well bestowed upon the misfortunes +of many a human hero of romance. Every one knows how the dear old brute +killed the wolf which had come to devour Llewellyn's child, and how the +prince, returning home and finding the cradle upset and the dog's mouth +dripping blood, hastily slew his benefactor, before the cry of the child +from behind the cradle and the sight of the wolf's body had rectified +his error. To this day the visitor to Snowdon is told the touching +story, and shown the place, called Beth-Gellert, [3] where the dog's +grave is still to be seen. Nevertheless, the story occurs in the +fireside lore of nearly every Aryan people. Under the Gellert-form it +started in the Panchatantra, a collection of Sanskrit fables; and it +has even been discovered in a Chinese work which dates from A. D. 668. +Usually the hero is a dog, but sometimes a falcon, an ichneumon, an +insect, or even a man. In Egypt it takes the following comical shape: +"A Wali once smashed a pot full of herbs which a cook had prepared. +The exasperated cook thrashed the well-intentioned but unfortunate Wali +within an inch of his life, and when he returned, exhausted with his +efforts at belabouring the man, to examine the broken pot, he discovered +amongst the herbs a poisonous snake." [4] Now this story of the Wali is +as manifestly identical with the legend of Gellert as the English word +FATHER is with the Latin pater; but as no one would maintain that +the word father is in any sense derived from pater, so it would be +impossible to represent either the Welsh or the Egyptian legend as a +copy of the other. Obviously the conclusion is forced upon us that the +stories, like the words, are related collaterally, having descended from +a common ancestral legend, or having been suggested by one and the same +primeval idea. + +Closely connected with the Gellert myth are the stories of Faithful John +and of Rama and Luxman. In the German story, Faithful John accompanies +the prince, his master, on a journey in quest of a beautiful maiden, +whom he wishes to make his bride. As they are carrying her home across +the seas, Faithful John hears some crows, whose language he understands, +foretelling three dangers impending over the prince, from which his +friend can save him only by sacrificing his own life. As soon as they +land, a horse will spring toward the king, which, if he mounts it, will +bear him away from his bride forever; but whoever shoots the horse, and +tells the king the reason, will be turned into stone from toe to knee. +Then, before the wedding a bridal garment will lie before the king, +which, if he puts it on, will burn him like the Nessos-shirt of +Herakles; but whoever throws the shirt into the fire and tells the +king the reason, will be turned into stone from knee to heart. Finally, +during the wedding-festivities, the queen will suddenly fall in a swoon, +and "unless some one takes three drops of blood from her right breast +she will die"; but whoever does so, and tells the king the reason, will +be turned into stone from head to foot. Thus forewarned, Faithful John +saves his master from all these dangers; but the king misinterprets +his motive in bleeding his wife, and orders him to be hanged. On the +scaffold he tells his story, and while the king humbles himself in an +agony of remorse, his noble friend is turned into stone. + +In the South Indian tale Luxman accompanies Rama, who is carrying home +his bride. Luxman overhears two owls talking about the perils that await +his master and mistress. First he saves them from being crushed by the +falling limb of a banyan-tree, and then he drags them away from an arch +which immediately after gives way. By and by, as they rest under a tree, +the king falls asleep. A cobra creeps up to the queen, and Luxman kills +it with his sword; but, as the owls had foretold, a drop of the cobra's +blood falls on the queen's forehead. As Luxman licks off the blood, +the king starts up, and, thinking that his vizier is kissing his wife, +upbraids him with his ingratitude, whereupon Luxman, through grief at +this unkind interpretation of his conduct, is turned into stone. [5] + +For further illustration we may refer to the Norse tale of the "Giant +who had no Heart in his Body," as related by Dr. Dasent. This burly +magician having turned six brothers with their wives into stone, the +seventh brother--the crafty Boots or many-witted Odysseus of European +folk-lore--sets out to obtain vengeance if not reparation for the evil +done to his kith and kin. On the way he shows the kindness of his nature +by rescuing from destruction a raven, a salmon, and a wolf. The grateful +wolf carries him on his back to the giant's castle, where the lovely +princess whom the monster keeps in irksome bondage promises to act, +in behalf of Boots, the part of Delilah, and to find out, if possible, +where her lord keeps his heart. The giant, like the Jewish hero, finally +succumbs to feminine blandishments. "Far, far away in a lake lies an +island; on that island stands a church; in that church is a well; in +that well swims a duck; in that duck there is an egg; and in that egg +there lies my heart, you darling." Boots, thus instructed, rides on the +wolf's back to the island; the raven flies to the top of the steeple and +gets the church-keys; the salmon dives to the bottom of the well, and +brings up the egg from the place where the duck had dropped it; and +so Boots becomes master of the situation. As he squeezes the egg, +the giant, in mortal terror, begs and prays for his life, which Boots +promises to spare on condition that his brothers and their brides should +be released from their enchantment. But when all has been duly effected, +the treacherous youth squeezes the egg in two, and the giant instantly +bursts. + +The same story has lately been found in Southern India, and is published +in Miss Frere's remarkable collection of tales entitled "Old Deccan +Days." In the Hindu version the seven daughters of a rajah, with +their husbands, are transformed into stone by the great magician +Punchkin,--all save the youngest daughter, whom Punchkin keeps shut up +in a tower until by threats or coaxing he may prevail upon her to marry +him. But the captive princess leaves a son at home in the cradle, who +grows up to manhood unmolested, and finally undertakes the rescue of his +family. After long and weary wanderings he finds his mother shut up in +Punchkin's tower, and persuades her to play the part of the princess +in the Norse legend. The trick is equally successful. "Hundreds of +thousands of miles away there lies a desolate country covered with thick +jungle. In the midst of the jungle grows a circle of palm-trees, and in +the centre of the circle stand six jars full of water, piled one above +another; below the sixth jar is a small cage which contains a little +green parrot; on the life of the parrot depends my life, and if the +parrot is killed I must die." [6] The young prince finds the place +guarded by a host of dragons, but some eaglets whom he has saved from a +devouring serpent in the course of his journey take him on their +crossed wings and carry him to the place where the jars are standing. He +instantly overturns the jars, and seizing the parrot, obtains from the +terrified magician full reparation. As soon as his own friends and a +stately procession of other royal or noble victims have been set at +liberty, he proceeds to pull the parrot to pieces. As the wings and legs +come away, so tumble off the arms and legs of the magician; and finally +as the prince wrings the bird's neck, Punchkin twists his own head round +and dies. + +The story is also told in the highlands of Scotland, and some portions +of it will be recognized by the reader as incidents in the Arabian +tale of the Princess Parizade. The union of close correspondence in +conception with manifest independence in the management of the details +of these stories is striking enough, but it is a phenomenon with which +we become quite familiar as we proceed in the study of Aryan popular +literature. The legend of the Master Thief is no less remarkable than +that of Punchkin. In the Scandinavian tale the Thief, wishing to get +possession of a farmer's ox, carefully hangs himself to a tree by the +roadside. The farmer, passing by with his ox, is indeed struck by the +sight of the dangling body, but thinks it none of his business, and +does not stop to interfere. No sooner has he passed than the Thief lets +himself down, and running swiftly along a by-path, hangs himself with +equal precaution to a second tree. This time the farmer is astonished +and puzzled; but when for the third time he meets the same unwonted +spectacle, thinking that three suicides in one morning are too much for +easy credence, he leaves his ox and runs back to see whether the other +two bodies are really where he thought he saw them. While he is framing +hypotheses of witchcraft by which to explain the phenomenon, the Thief +gets away with the ox. In the Hitopadesa the story receives a finer +point. "A Brahman, who had vowed a sacrifice, went to the market to buy +a goat. Three thieves saw him, and wanted to get hold of the goat. They +stationed themselves at intervals on the high road. When the Brahman, +who carried the goat on his back, approached the first thief, the +thief said, 'Brahman, why do you carry a dog on your back?' The Brahman +replied, 'It is not a dog, it is a goat.' A little while after he was +accosted by the second thief, who said, 'Brahman, why do you carry a dog +on your back?' The Brahman felt perplexed, put the goat down, examined +it, took it up again, and walked on. Soon after he was stopped by the +third thief, who said, 'Brahman, why do you carry a dog on your back?' +Then the Brahman was frightened, threw down the goat, and walked home to +perform his ablutions for having touched an unclean animal. The thieves +took the goat and ate it." The adroitness of the Norse King in "The +Three Princesses of Whiteland" shows but poorly in comparison with the +keen psychological insight and cynical sarcasm of these Hindu sharpers. +In the course of his travels this prince met three brothers fighting +on a lonely moor. They had been fighting for a hundred years about the +possession of a hat, a cloak, and a pair of boots, which would make the +wearer invisible, and convey him instantly whithersoever he might wish +to go. The King consents to act as umpire, provided he may once try the +virtue of the magic garments; but once clothed in them, of course he +disappears, leaving the combatants to sit down and suck their thumbs. +Now in the "Sea of Streams of Story," written in the twelfth century by +Somadeva of Cashmere, the Indian King Putraka, wandering in the Vindhya +Mountains, similarly discomfits two brothers who are quarrelling over +a pair of shoes, which are like the sandals of Hermes, and a bowl which +has the same virtue as Aladdin's lamp. "Why don't you run a race for +them?" suggests Putraka; and, as the two blockheads start furiously off, +he quietly picks up the bowl, ties on the shoes, and flies away! [7] + +It is unnecessary to cite further illustrations. The tales here quoted +are fair samples of the remarkable correspondence which holds good +through all the various sections of Aryan folk-lore. The hypothesis +of lateral diffusion, as we may call it, manifestly fails to explain +coincidences which are maintained on such an immense scale. It is quite +credible that one nation may have borrowed from another a solitary +legend of an archer who performs the feats of Tell and Palnatoki; but it +is utterly incredible that ten thousand stories, constituting the entire +mass of household mythology throughout a dozen separate nations, should +have been handed from one to another in this way. No one would venture +to suggest that the old grannies of Iceland and Norway, to whom we owe +such stories as the Master Thief and the Princesses of Whiteland, had +ever read Somadeva or heard of the treasures of Rhampsinitos. A large +proportion of the tales with which we are dealing were utterly unknown +to literature until they were taken down by Grimm and Frere and +Castren and Campbell, from the lips of ignorant peasants, nurses, or +house-servants, in Germany and Hindustan, in Siberia and Scotland. +Yet, as Mr. Cox observes, these old men and women, sitting by the +chimney-corner and somewhat timidly recounting to the literary explorer +the stories which they had learned in childhood from their own +nurses and grandmas, "reproduce the most subtle turns of thought and +expression, and an endless series of complicated narratives, in which +the order of incidents and the words of the speakers are preserved +with a fidelity nowhere paralleled in the oral tradition of historical +events. It may safely be said that no series of stories introduced +in the form of translations from other languages could ever thus have +filtered down into the lowest strata of society, and thence have sprung +up again, like Antaios, with greater energy and heightened beauty." +There is indeed no alternative for us but to admit that these fireside +tales have been handed down from parent to child for more than a hundred +generations; that the primitive Aryan cottager, as he took his evening +meal of yava and sipped his fermented mead, listened with his children +to the stories of Boots and Cinderella and the Master Thief, in the days +when the squat Laplander was master of Europe and the dark-skinned Sudra +was as yet unmolested in the Punjab. Only such community of origin +can explain the community in character between the stories told by the +Aryan's descendants, from the jungles of Ceylon to the highlands of +Scotland. + +This conclusion essentially modifies our view of the origin and growth +of a legend like that of William Tell. The case of the Tell legend is +radically different from the case of the blindness of Belisarius or +the burning of the Alexandrian library by order of Omar. The latter are +isolated stories or beliefs; the former is one of a family of stories or +beliefs. The latter are untrustworthy traditions of doubtful events; but +in dealing with the former, we are face to face with a MYTH. + +What, then, is a myth? The theory of Euhemeros, which was so fashionable +a century ago, in the days of the Abbe Banier, has long since been so +utterly abandoned that to refute it now is but to slay the slain. The +peculiarity of this theory was that it cut away all the extraordinary +features of a given myth, wherein dwelt its inmost significance, and to +the dull and useless residuum accorded the dignity of primeval history. +In this way the myth was lost without compensation, and the student, +in seeking good digestible bread, found but the hardest of pebbles. +Considered merely as a pretty story, the legend of the golden fruit +watched by the dragon in the garden of the Hesperides is not without its +value. But what merit can there be in the gratuitous statement which, +degrading the grand Doric hero to a level with any vulgar fruit-stealer, +makes Herakles break a close with force and arms, and carry off a crop +of oranges which had been guarded by mastiffs? It is still worse when +we come to the more homely folk-lore with which the student of mythology +now has to deal. The theories of Banier, which limped and stumbled +awkwardly enough when it was only a question of Hermes and Minos and +Odin, have fallen never to rise again since the problems of Punchkin +and Cinderella and the Blue Belt have begun to demand solution. +The conclusion has been gradually forced upon the student, that the +marvellous portion of these old stories is no illegitimate extres-cence, +but was rather the pith and centre of the whole, [8] in days when there +was no supernatural, because it had not yet been discovered that there +was such a thing as nature. The religious myths of antiquity and the +fireside legends of ancient and modern times have their common root in +the mental habits of primeval humanity. They are the earliest recorded +utterances of men concerning the visible phenomena of the world into +which they were born. + +That prosaic and coldly rational temper with which modern men are wont +to regard natural phenomena was in early times unknown. We have come +to regard all events as taking place regularly, in strict conformity to +law: whatever our official theories may be, we instinctively take this +view of things. But our primitive ancestors knew nothing about laws of +nature, nothing about physical forces, nothing about the relations of +cause and effect, nothing about the necessary regularity of things. +There was a time in the history of mankind when these things had never +been inquired into, and when no generalizations about them had been +framed, tested, or established. There was no conception of an order of +nature, and therefore no distinct conception of a supernatural order of +things. There was no belief in miracles as infractions of natural laws, +but there was a belief in the occurrence of wonderful events too mighty +to have been brought about by ordinary means. There was an unlimited +capacity for believing and fancying, because fancy and belief had not +yet been checked and headed off in various directions by established +rules of experience. Physical science is a very late acquisition of the +human mind, but we are already sufficiently imbued with it to be almost +completely disabled from comprehending the thoughts of our ancestors. +"How Finn cosmogonists could have believed the earth and heaven to be +made out of a severed egg, the upper concave shell representing +heaven, the yolk being earth, and the crystal surrounding fluid the +circumambient ocean, is to us incomprehensible; and yet it remains a +fact that they did so regard them. How the Scandinavians could have +supposed the mountains to be the mouldering bones of a mighty Jotun, +and the earth to be his festering flesh, we cannot conceive; yet such a +theory was solemnly taught and accepted. How the ancient Indians could +regard the rain-clouds as cows with full udders milked by the winds +of heaven is beyond our comprehension, and yet their Veda contains +indisputable testimony to the fact that they were so regarded." We have +only to read Mr. Baring-Gould's book of "Curious Myths," from which +I have just quoted, or to dip into Mr. Thorpe's treatise on "Northern +Mythology," to realize how vast is the difference between our +stand-point and that from which, in the later Middle Ages, our immediate +forefathers regarded things. The frightful superstition of werewolves is +a good instance. In those days it was firmly believed that men could be, +and were in the habit of being, transformed into wolves. It was believed +that women might bring forth snakes or poodle-dogs. It was believed that +if a man had his side pierced in battle, you could cure him by nursing +the sword which inflicted the wound. "As late as 1600 a German writer +would illustrate a thunder-storm destroying a crop of corn by a picture +of a dragon devouring the produce of the field with his flaming tongue +and iron teeth." + +Now if such was the condition of the human intellect only three or four +centuries ago, what must it have been in that dark antiquity when not +even the crudest generalizations of Greek or of Oriental science had +been reached? The same mighty power of imagination which now, restrained +and guided by scientific principles, leads us to discoveries and +inventions, must then have wildly run riot in mythologic fictions +whereby to explain the phenomena of nature. Knowing nothing whatever +of physical forces, of the blind steadiness with which a given effect +invariably follows its cause, the men of primeval antiquity could +interpret the actions of nature only after the analogy of their own +actions. The only force they knew was the force of which they were +directly conscious,--the force of will. Accordingly, they imagined all +the outward world to be endowed with volition, and to be directed by it. +They personified everything,--sky, clouds, thunder, sun, moon, ocean, +earthquake, whirlwind. [9] The comparatively enlightened Athenians of +the age of Perikles addressed the sky as a person, and prayed to it to +rain upon their gardens. [10] And for calling the moon a mass of dead +matter, Anaxagoras came near losing his life. To the ancients the moon +was not a lifeless ball of stones and clods: it was the horned huntress, +Artemis, coursing through the upper ether, or bathing herself in the +clear lake; or it was Aphrodite, protectress of lovers, born of the +sea-foam in the East near Cyprus. The clouds were no bodies of vaporized +water: they were cows with swelling udders, driven to the milking by +Hermes, the summer wind; or great sheep with moist fleeces, slain by +the unerring arrows of Bellerophon, the sun; or swan-maidens, flitting +across the firmament, Valkyries hovering over the battle-field to +receive the souls of falling heroes; or, again, they were mighty +mountains piled one above another, in whose cavernous recesses the +divining-wand of the storm-god Thor revealed hidden treasures. The +yellow-haired sun, Phoibos, drove westerly all day in his flaming +chariot; or perhaps, as Meleagros, retired for a while in disgust from +the sight of men; wedded at eventide the violet light (Oinone, Iole), +which he had forsaken in the morning; sank, as Herakles, upon a blazing +funeral-pyre, or, like Agamemnon, perished in a blood-stained bath; or, +as the fish-god, Dagon, swam nightly through the subterranean waters, +to appear eastward again at daybreak. Sometimes Phaethon, his rash, +inexperienced son, would take the reins and drive the solar chariot too +near the earth, causing the fruits to perish, and the grass to wither, +and the wells to dry up. Sometimes, too, the great all-seeing divinity, +in his wrath at the impiety of men, would shoot down his scorching +arrows, causing pestilence to spread over the land. Still other +conceptions clustered around the sun. Now it was the wonderful +treasure-house, into which no one could look and live; and again it +was Ixion himself, bound on the fiery wheel in punishment for violence +offered to Here, the queen of the blue air. + +This theory of ancient mythology is not only beautiful and plausible, +it is, in its essential points, demonstrated. It stands on as firm a +foundation as Grimm's law in philology, or the undulatory theory in +molecular physics. It is philology which has here enabled us to read the +primitive thoughts of mankind. A large number of the names of Greek gods +and heroes have no meaning in the Greek language; but these names occur +also in Sanskrit, with plain physical meanings. In the Veda we find +Zeus or Jupiter (Dyaus-pitar) meaning the sky, and Sarameias or Hermes, +meaning the breeze of a summer morning. We find Athene (Ahana), meaning +the light of daybreak; and we are thus enabled to understand why the +Greek described her as sprung from the forehead of Zeus. There too +we find Helena (Sarama), the fickle twilight, whom the Panis, or +night-demons, who serve as the prototypes of the Hellenic Paris, strive +to seduce from her allegiance to the solar monarch. Even Achilleus +(Aharyu) again confronts us, with his captive Briseis (Brisaya's +offspring); and the fierce Kerberos (Carvara) barks on Vedic ground in +strict conformity to the laws of phonetics. [11] Now, when the Hindu +talked about Father Dyaus, or the sleek kine of Siva, he thought of the +personified sky and clouds; he had not outgrown the primitive mental +habits of the race. But the Greek, in whose language these physical +meanings were lost, had long before the Homeric epoch come to regard +Zeus and Hermes, Athene, Helena, Paris, and Achilleus, as mere persons, +and in most cases the originals of his myths were completely forgotten. +In the Vedas the Trojan War is carried on in the sky, between the bright +deities and the demons of night; but the Greek poet, influenced perhaps +by some dim historical tradition, has located the contest on the shore +of the Hellespont, and in his mind the actors, though superhuman, are +still completely anthropomorphic. Of the true origin of his epic story +he knew as little as Euhemeros, or Lord Bacon, or the Abbe Banier. + +After these illustrations, we shall run no risk of being misunderstood +when we define a myth as, in its origin, an explanation, by the +uncivilized mind, of some natural phenomenon; not an allegory, not an +esoteric symbol,--for the ingenuity is wasted which strives to detect in +myths the remnants of a refined primeval science,--but an explanation. +Primitive men had no profound science to perpetuate by means of +allegory, nor were they such sorry pedants as to talk in riddles when +plain language would serve their purpose. Their minds, we may be sure, +worked like our own, and when they spoke of the far-darting sun-god, +they meant just what they said, save that where we propound a scientific +theorem, they constructed a myth. [12] A thing is said to be explained +when it is classified with other things with which we are already +acquainted. That is the only kind of explanation of which the highest +science is capable. We explain the origin, progress, and ending of a +thunder-storm, when we classify the phenomena presented by it along with +other more familiar phenomena of vaporization and condensation. But the +primitive man explained the same thing to his own satisfaction when he +had classified it along with the well-known phenomena of human volition, +by constructing a theory of a great black dragon pierced by the unerring +arrows of a heavenly archer. We consider the nature of the stars to +a certain extent explained when they are classified as suns; but the +Mohammedan compiler of the "Mishkat-ul-Ma'sabih" was content to explain +them as missiles useful for stoning the Devil! Now, as soon as the old +Greek, forgetting the source of his conception, began to talk of a human +Oidipous slaying a leonine Sphinx, and as soon as the Mussulman began, +if he ever did, to tell his children how the Devil once got a good +pelting with golden bullets, then both the one and the other were +talking pure mythology. + +We are justified, accordingly, in distinguishing between a myth and +a legend. Though the words are etymologically parallel, and though in +ordinary discourse we may use them interchangeably, yet when strict +accuracy is required, it is well to keep them separate. And it is +perhaps needless, save for the sake of completeness, to say that +both are to be distinguished from stories which have been designedly +fabricated. The distinction may occasionally be subtle, but is usually +broad enough. Thus, the story that Philip II. murdered his wife +Elizabeth, is a misrepresentation; but the story that the same Elizabeth +was culpably enamoured of her step-son Don Carlos, is a legend. The +story that Queen Eleanor saved the life of her husband, Edward I., by +sucking a wound made in his arm by a poisoned arrow, is a legend; but +the story that Hercules killed a great robber, Cacus, who had stolen his +cattle, conceals a physical meaning, and is a myth. While a legend is +usually confined to one or two localities, and is told of not more than +one or two persons, it is characteristic of a myth that it is spread, +in one form or another, over a large part of the earth, the leading +incidents remaining constant, while the names and often the motives +vary with each locality. This is partly due to the immense antiquity +of myths, dating as they do from a period when many nations, now widely +separated, had not yet ceased to form one people. Thus many elements of +the myth of the Trojan War are to be found in the Rig-Veda; and the myth +of St. George and the Dragon is found in all the Aryan nations. But we +must not always infer that myths have a common descent, merely because +they resemble each other. We must remember that the proceedings of the +uncultivated mind are more or less alike in all latitudes, and that +the same phenomenon might in various places independently give rise to +similar stories. [13] The myth of Jack and the Beanstalk is found not +only among people of Aryan descent, but also among the Zulus of South +Africa, and again among the American Indians. Whenever we can trace a +story in this way from one end of the world to the other, or through a +whole family of kindred nations, we are pretty safe in assuming that we +are dealing with a true myth, and not with a mere legend. + +Applying these considerations to the Tell myth, we at once obtain a +valid explanation of its origin. The conception of infallible skill +in archery, which underlies such a great variety of myths and popular +fairy-tales, is originally derived from the inevitable victory of the +sun over his enemies, the demons of night, winter, and tempest. Arrows +and spears which never miss their mark, swords from whose blow no armour +can protect, are invariably the weapons of solar divinities or heroes. +The shafts of Bellerophon never fail to slay the black demon of the +rain-cloud, and the bolt of Phoibos Chrysaor deals sure destruction +to the serpent of winter. Odysseus, warring against the impious +night-heroes, who have endeavoured throughout ten long years or hours of +darkness to seduce from her allegiance his twilight-bride, the weaver +of the never-finished web of violet clouds,--Odysseus, stripped of +his beggar's raiment and endowed with fresh youth and beauty by the +dawn-goddess, Athene, engages in no doubtful conflict as he raises the +bow which none but himself can bend. Nor is there less virtue in the +spear of Achilleus, in the swords of Perseus and Sigurd, in Roland's +stout blade Durandal, or in the brand Excalibur, with which Sir Bedivere +was so loath to part. All these are solar weapons, and so, too, are +the arrows of Tell and Palnatoki, Egil and Hemingr, and William of +Cloudeslee, whose surname proclaims him an inhabitant of the Phaiakian +land. William Tell, whether of Cloudland or of Altdorf, is the last +reflection of the beneficent divinity of daytime and summer, constrained +for a while to obey the caprice of the powers of cold and darkness, as +Apollo served Laomedon, and Herakles did the bidding of Eurystheus. +His solar character is well preserved, even in the sequel of the Swiss +legend, in which he appears no less skilful as a steersman than as an +archer, and in which, after traversing, like Dagon, the tempestuous sea +of night, he leaps at daybreak in regained freedom upon the land, and +strikes down the oppressor who has held him in bondage. + +But the sun, though ever victorious in open contest with his enemies, +is nevertheless not invulnerable. At times he succumbs to treachery, +is bound by the frost-giants, or slain by the demons of darkness. The +poisoned shirt of the cloud-fiend Nessos is fatal even to the mighty +Herakles, and the prowess of Siegfried at last fails to save him from +the craft of Hagen. In Achilleus and Meleagros we see the unhappy solar +hero doomed to toil for the profit of others, and to be cut off by an +untimely death. The more fortunate Odysseus, who lives to a ripe old +age, and triumphs again and again over all the powers of darkness, must +nevertheless yield to the craving desire to visit new cities and look +upon new works of strange men, until at last he is swallowed up in the +western sea. That the unrivalled navigator of the celestial ocean should +disappear beneath the western waves is as intelligible as it is that the +horned Venus or Astarte should rise from the sea in the far east. It is +perhaps less obvious that winter should be so frequently symbolized as a +thorn or sharp instrument. Achilleus dies by an arrow-wound in the +heel; the thigh of Adonis is pierced by the boar's tusk, while Odysseus +escapes with an ugly scar, which afterwards secures his recognition by +his old servant, the dawn-nymph Eurykleia; Sigurd is slain by a thorn, +and Balder by a sharp sprig of mistletoe; and in the myth of the +Sleeping Beauty, the earth-goddess sinks into her long winter sleep when +pricked by the point of the spindle. In her cosmic palace, all is locked +in icy repose, naught thriving save the ivy which defies the cold, until +the kiss of the golden-haired sun-god reawakens life and activity. + +The wintry sleep of nature is symbolized in innumerable stories of +spell-bound maidens and fair-featured youths, saints, martyrs, and +heroes. Sometimes it is the sun, sometimes the earth, that is supposed +to slumber. Among the American Indians the sun-god Michabo is said to +sleep through the winter months; and at the time of the falling leaves, +by way of composing himself for his nap, he fills his great pipe and +divinely smokes; the blue clouds, gently floating over the landscape, +fill the air with the haze of Indian summer. In the Greek myth the +shepherd Endymion preserves his freshness in a perennial slumber. The +German Siegfried, pierced by the thorn of winter, is sleeping until +he shall be again called forth to fight. In Switzerland, by the +Vierwald-stattersee, three Tells are awaiting the hour when their +country shall again need to be delivered from the oppressor. Charlemagne +is reposing in the Untersberg, sword in hand, waiting for the coming of +Antichrist; Olger Danske similarly dreams away his time in Avallon; and +in a lofty mountain in Thuringia, the great Emperor Yrederic Barbarossa +slumbers with his knights around him, until the time comes for him to +sally forth and raise Germany to the first rank among the kingdoms of +the world. The same story is told of Olaf Tryggvesson, of Don Sebastian +of Portugal, and of the Moorish King Boabdil. The Seven Sleepers of +Ephesus, having taken refuge in a cave from the persecutions of the +heathen Decius, slept one hundred and sixty-four years, and awoke to +find a Christian emperor on the throne. The monk of Hildesheim, in the +legend so beautifully rendered by Longfellow, doubting how with God +a thousand years ago could be as yesterday, listened three minutes +entranced by the singing of a bird in the forest, and found, on waking +from his revery, that a thousand years had flown. To the same family of +legends belong the notion that St. John is sleeping at Ephesus until the +last days of the world; the myth of the enchanter Merlin, spell-bound by +Vivien; the story of the Cretan philosopher Epimenides, who dozed away +fifty-seven years in a cave; and Rip Van Winkle's nap in the Catskills. +[14] + +We might go on almost indefinitely citing household tales of wonderful +sleepers; but, on the principle of the association of opposites, we +are here reminded of sundry cases of marvellous life and wakefulness, +illustrated in the Wandering Jew; the dancers of Kolbeck; Joseph of +Arimathaea with the Holy Grail; the Wild Huntsman who to all eternity +chases the red deer; the Captain of the Phantom Ship; the classic +Tithonos; and the Man in the Moon. + +The lunar spots have afforded a rich subject for the play of human +fancy. Plutarch wrote a treatise on them, but the myth-makers had been +before him. "Every one," says Mr. Baring-Gould, "knows that the moon +is inhabited by a man with a bundle of sticks on his back, who has been +exiled thither for many centuries, and who is so far off that he is +beyond the reach of death. He has once visited this earth, if the +nursery rhyme is to be credited when it asserts that + + 'The Man in the Moon + Came down too soon + And asked his way to Norwich'; + +but whether he ever reached that city the same authority does not +state." Dante calls him Cain; Chaucer has him put up there as a +punishment for theft, and gives him a thorn-bush to carry; Shakespeare +also loads him with the thorns, but by way of compensation gives him a +dog for a companion. Ordinarily, however, his offence is stated to have +been, not stealing, but Sabbath-breaking,--an idea derived from the Old +Testament. Like the man mentioned in the Book of Numbers, he is caught +gathering sticks on the Sabbath; and, as an example to mankind, he is +condemned to stand forever in the moon, with his bundle on his back. +Instead of a dog, one German version places with him a woman, whose +crime was churning butter on Sunday. She carries her butter-tub; and +this brings us to Mother Goose again:-- + + "Jack and Jill went up the hill + To get a pail of water. + Jack fell down and broke his crown, + And Jill came tumbling after." + +This may read like mere nonsense; but there is a point of view from +which it may be safely said that there is very little absolute nonsense +in the world. The story of Jack and Jill is a venerable one. In +Icelandic mythology we read that Jack and Jill were two children whom +the moon once kidnapped and carried up to heaven. They had been drawing +water in a bucket, which they were carrying by means of a pole placed +across their shoulders; and in this attitude they have stood to the +present day in the moon. Even now this explanation of the moon-spots +is to be heard from the mouths of Swedish peasants. They fall away one +after the other, as the moon wanes, and their water-pail symbolizes the +supposed connection of the moon with rain-storms. Other forms of the +myth occur in Sanskrit. + +The moon-goddess, or Aphrodite, of the ancient Germans, was called +Horsel, or Ursula, who figures in Christian mediaeval mythology as a +persecuted saint, attended by a troop of eleven thousand virgins, +who all suffer martyrdom as they journey from England to Cologne. The +meaning of the myth is obvious. In German mythology, England is the +Phaiakian land of clouds and phantoms; the succubus, leaving her lover +before daybreak, excuses herself on the plea that "her mother is calling +her in England." [15] The companions of Ursula are the pure stars, who +leave the cloudland and suffer martyrdom as they approach the regions +of day. In the Christian tradition, Ursula is the pure Artemis; but, +in accordance with her ancient character, she is likewise the sensual +Aphrodite, who haunts the Venusberg; and this brings us to the story of +Tannhauser. + +The Horselberg, or mountain of Venus, lies in Thuringia, between +Eisenach and Gotha. High up on its slope yawns a cavern, the +Horselloch, or cave of Venus within which is heard a muffled roar, as +of subterranean water. From this cave, in old times, the frightened +inhabitants of the neighbouring valley would hear at night wild moans +and cries issuing, mingled with peals of demon-like laughter. Here it +was believed that Venus held her court; "and there were not a few who +declared that they had seen fair forms of female beauty beckoning them +from the mouth of the chasm." [16] Tannhauser was a Frankish knight and +famous minnesinger, who, travelling at twilight past the Horselberg, +"saw a white glimmering figure of matchless beauty standing before him +and beckoning him to her." Leaving his horse, he went up to meet her, +whom he knew to be none other than Venus. He descended to her palace +in the heart of the mountain, and there passed seven years in careless +revelry. Then, stricken with remorse and yearning for another glimpse +of the pure light of day, he called in agony upon the Virgin Mother, who +took compassion on him and released him. He sought a village church, and +to priest after priest confessed his sin, without obtaining absolution, +until finally he had recourse to the Pope. But the holy father, +horrified at the enormity of his misdoing, declared that guilt such as +his could never be remitted sooner should the staff in his hand grow +green and blossom. "Then Tannhauser, full of despair and with his soul +darkened, went away, and returned to the only asylum open to him, the +Venusberg. But lo! three days after he had gone, Pope Urban discovered +that his pastoral staff had put forth buds and had burst into flower. +Then he sent messengers after Tannhauser, and they reached the Horsel +vale to hear that a wayworn man, with haggard brow and bowed head, had +just entered the Horselloch. Since then Tannhauser has not been seen." +(p. 201.) + +As Mr. Baring-Gould rightly observes, this sad legend, in its +Christianized form, is doubtless descriptive of the struggle between +the new and the old faiths. The knightly Tannhauser, satiated with +pagan sensuality, turns to Christianity for relief, but, repelled by +the hypocrisy, pride, and lack of sympathy of its ministers, gives up in +despair, and returns to drown his anxieties in his old debauchery. + +But this is not the primitive form of the myth, which recurs in the +folk-lore of every people of Aryan descent. Who, indeed, can read it +without being at once reminded of Thomas of Erceldoune (or Horsel-hill), +entranced by the sorceress of the Eilden; of the nightly visits of Numa +to the grove of the nymph Egeria; of Odysseus held captive by the Lady +Kalypso; and, last but not least, of the delightful Arabian tale of +Prince Ahmed and the Peri Banou? On his westward journey, Odysseus is +ensnared and kept in temporary bondage by the amorous nymph of darkness, +Kalypso (kalnptw, to veil or cover). So the zone of the moon-goddess +Aphrodite inveigles all-seeing Zeus to treacherous slumber on Mount +Ida; and by a similar sorcery Tasso's great hero is lulled in unseemly +idleness in Armida's golden paradise, at the western verge of the world. +The disappearance of Tannhauser behind the moonlit cliff, lured by Venus +Ursula, the pale goddess of night, is a precisely parallel circumstance. + +But solar and lunar phenomena are by no means the only sources of +popular mythology. Opposite my writing-table hangs a quaint German +picture, illustrating Goethe's ballad of the Erlking, in which the whole +wild pathos of the story is compressed into one supreme moment; we see +the fearful, half-gliding rush of the Erlking, his long, spectral arms +outstretched to grasp the child, the frantic gallop of the horse, the +alarmed father clasping his darling to his bosom in convulsive embrace, +the siren-like elves hovering overhead, to lure the little soul with +their weird harps. There can be no better illustration than is furnished +by this terrible scene of the magic power of mythology to invest the +simplest physical phenomena with the most intense human interest; for +the true significance of the whole picture is contained in the father's +address to his child, + + "Sei ruhig, bleibe ruhig, mein Kind; + In durren Blattern sauselt der Wind." + +The story of the Piper of Hamelin, well known in the version of Robert +Browning, leads to the same conclusion. In 1284 the good people of +Hamelin could obtain no rest, night or day, by reason of the direful +host of rats which infested their town. One day came a strange man in a +bunting-suit, and offered for five hundred guilders to rid the town of +the vermin. The people agreed: whereupon the man took out a pipe and +piped, and instantly all the rats in town, in an army which blackened +the face of the earth, came forth from their haunts, and followed the +piper until he piped them to the river Weser, where they alls jumped +in and were drowned. But as soon as the torment was gone, the townsfolk +refused to pay the piper on the ground that he was evidently a wizard. +He went away, vowing vengeance, and on St. John's day reappeared, and +putting his pipe to his mouth blew a different air. Whereat all the +little, plump, rosy-cheeked, golden-haired children came merrily running +after him, their parents standing aghast, not knowing what to do, +while he led them up a hill in the neighbourhood. A door opened in the +mountain-side, through which he led them in, and they never were seen +again; save one lame boy, who hobbled not fast enough to get in before +the door shut, and who lamented for the rest of his life that he had not +been able to share the rare luck of his comrades. In the street through +which this procession passed no music was ever afterwards allowed to be +played. For a long time the town dated its public documents from this +fearful calamity, and many authorities have treated it as an historical +event. [17] Similar stories are told of other towns in Germany, and, +strange to say, in remote Abyssinia also. Wesleyan peasants in England +believe that angels pipe to children who are about to die; and in +Scandinavia, youths are said to have been enticed away by the songs of +elf-maidens. In Greece, the sirens by their magic lay allured voyagers +to destruction; and Orpheus caused the trees and dumb beasts to follow +him. Here we reach the explanation. For Orpheus is the wind sighing +through untold acres of pine forest. "The piper is no other than the +wind, and the ancients held that in the wind were the souls of the +dead." To this day the English peasantry believe that they hear the wail +of the spirits of unbaptized children, as the gale sweeps past their +cottage doors. The Greek Hermes resulted from the fusion of two deities. +He is the sun and also the wind; and in the latter capacity he bears +away the souls of the dead. So the Norse Odin, who like Hermes fillfils +a double function, is supposed to rush at night over the tree-tops, +"accompanied by the scudding train of brave men's spirits." And readers +of recent French literature cannot fail to remember Erokmann-Chatrian's +terrible story of the wild huntsman Vittikab, and how he sped through +the forest, carrying away a young girl's soul. + +Thus, as Tannhauser is the Northern Ulysses, so is Goethe's Erlking none +other than the Piper of Hamelin. And the piper, in turn, is the classic +Hermes or Orpheus, the counterpart of the Finnish Wainamoinen and the +Sanskrit Gunadhya. His wonderful pipe is the horn of Oberon, the lyre of +Apollo (who, like the piper, was a rat-killer), the harp stolen by +Jack when he climbed the bean-stalk to the ogre's castle. [18] And the +father, in Goethe's ballad, is no more than right when he assures his +child that the siren voice which tempts him is but the rustle of the +wind among the dried leaves; for from such a simple class of phenomena +arose this entire family of charming legends. + +But why does the piper, who is a leader of souls (Psychopompos), also +draw rats after him? In answering this we shall have occasion to note +that the ancients by no means shared that curious prejudice against the +brute creation which is indulged in by modern anti-Darwinians. In many +countries, rats and mice have been regarded as sacred animals; but in +Germany they were thought to represent the human soul. One story out of +a hundred must suffice to illustrate this. "In Thuringia, at Saalfeld, a +servant-girl fell asleep whilst her companions were shelling nuts. They +observed a little red mouse creep from her mouth and run out of the +window. One of the fellows present shook the sleeper, but could not wake +her, so he moved her to another place. Presently the mouse ran back to +the former place and dashed about, seeking the girl; not finding her, +it vanished; at the same moment the girl died." [19] This completes the +explanation of the piper, and it also furnishes the key to the horrible +story of Bishop Hatto. + +This wicked prelate lived on the bank of the Rhine, in the middle of +which stream he possessed a tower, now pointed out to travellers as the +Mouse Tower. In the year 970 there was a dreadful famine, and people +came from far and near craving sustenance out of the Bishop's ample and +well-filled granaries. Well, he told them all to go into the barn, and +when they had got in there, as many as could stand, he set fire to the +barn and burnt them all up, and went home to eat a merry supper. But +when he arose next morning, he heard that an army of rats had eaten all +the corn in his granaries, and was now advancing to storm the palace. +Looking from his window, he saw the roads and fields dark with them, +as they came with fell purpose straight toward his mansion. In frenzied +terror he took his boat and rowed out to the tower in the river. But it +was of no use: down into the water marched the rats, and swam across, +and scaled the walls, and gnawed through the stones, and came swarming +in about the shrieking Bishop, and ate him up, flesh, bones, and all. +Now, bearing in mind what was said above, there can be no doubt that +these rats were the souls of those whom the Bishop had murdered. There +are many versions of the story in different Teutonic countries, and +in some of them the avenging rats or mice issue directly, by a strange +metamorphosis, from the corpses of the victims. St. Gertrude, moreover, +the heathen Holda, was symbolized as a mouse, and was said Go lead an +army of mice; she was the receiver of children's souls. Odin, also, in +his character of a Psychopompos, was followed by a host of rats. [20] + +As the souls of the departed are symbolized as rats, so is the +psychopomp himself often figured as a dog. Sarameias, the Vedic +counterpart of Hermes and Odin, sometimes appears invested with canine +attributes; and countless other examples go to show that by the early +Aryan mind the howling wind was conceived as a great dog or wolf. As the +fearful beast was heard speeding by the windows or over the house-top, +the inmates trembled, for none knew but his own soul might forthwith be +required of him. Hence, to this day, among ignorant people, the howling +of a dog under the window is supposed to portend a death in the family. +It is the fleet greyhound of Hermes, come to escort the soul to the +river Styx. [21] + +But the wind-god is not always so terrible. Nothing can be more +transparent than the phraseology of the Homeric Hymn, in which Hermes is +described as acquiring the strength of a giant while yet a babe in the +cradle, as sallying out and stealing the cattle (clouds) of Apollo, +and driving them helter-skelter in various directions, then as crawling +through the keyhole, and with a mocking laugh shrinking into his cradle. +He is the Master Thief, who can steal the burgomaster's horse from under +him and his wife's mantle from off her back, the prototype not only of +the crafty architect of Rhampsinitos, but even of the ungrateful slave +who robs Sancho of his mule in the Sierra Morena. He furnishes in part +the conceptions of Boots and Reynard; he is the prototype of Paul Pry +and peeping Tom of Coventry; and in virtue of his ability to contract or +expand himself at pleasure, he is both the Devil in the Norse Tale, [22] +whom the lad persuades to enter a walnut, and the Arabian Efreet, whom +the fisherman releases from the bottle. + +The very interesting series of myths and popular superstitions suggested +by the storm-cloud and the lightning must be reserved for a future +occasion. When carefully examined, they will richly illustrate the +conclusion which is the result of the present inquiry, that the +marvellous tales and quaint superstitions current in every Aryan +household have a common origin with the classic legends of gods and +heroes, which formerly were alone thought worthy of the student's +serious attention. These stories--some of them familiar to us in +infancy, others the delight of our maturer years--constitute the debris, +or alluvium, brought down by the stream of tradition from the distant +highlands of ancient mythology. + +September, 1870. + + + + +II. THE DESCENT OF FIRE. + +IN the course of my last summer's vacation, which was spent at a small +inland village, I came upon an unexpected illustration of the tenacity +with which conceptions descended from prehistoric antiquity have now +and then kept their hold upon life. While sitting one evening under the +trees by the roadside, my attention was called to the unusual conduct of +half a dozen men and boys who were standing opposite. An elderly man +was moving slowly up and down the road, holding with both hands a forked +twig of hazel, shaped like the letter Y inverted. With his palms turned +upward, he held in each hand a branch of the twig in such a way that the +shank pointed upward; but every few moments, as he halted over a certain +spot, the twig would gradually bend downwards until it had assumed the +likeness of a Y in its natural position, where it would remain pointing +to something in the ground beneath. One by one the bystanders proceeded +to try the experiment, but with no variation in the result. Something in +the ground seemed to fascinate the bit of hazel, for it could not pass +over that spot without bending down and pointing to it. + +My thoughts reverted at once to Jacques Aymar and Dousterswivel, as +I perceived that these men were engaged in sorcery. During the long +drought more than half the wells in the village had become dry, and here +was an attempt to make good the loss by the aid of the god Thor. These +men were seeking water with a divining-rod. Here, alive before my eyes, +was a superstitious observance, which I had supposed long since dead and +forgotten by all men except students interested in mythology. + +As I crossed the road to take part in the ceremony a farmer's boy came +up, stoutly affirming his incredulity, + +and offering to show the company how he could carry the rod motionless +across the charmed spot. But when he came to take the weird twig he +trembled with an ill-defined feeling of insecurity as to the soundness +of his conclusions, and when he stood over the supposed rivulet the rod +bent in spite of him,--as was not so very strange. For, with all his +vague scepticism, the honest lad had not, and could not be supposed to +have, the foi scientifique of which Littre speaks. [23] + +Hereupon I requested leave to try the rod; but something in my manner +seemed at once to excite the suspicion and scorn of the sorcerer. "Yes, +take it," said he, with uncalled-for vehemence, "but you can't stop it; +there's water below here, and you can't help its bending, if you break +your back trying to hold it." So he gave me the twig, and awaited, with +a smile which was meant to express withering sarcasm, the discomfiture +of the supposed scoffer. But when I proceeded to walk four or five times +across the mysterious place, the rod pointing steadfastly toward the +zenith all the while, our friend became grave and began to philosophize. +"Well," said he, "you see, your temperament is peculiar; the conditions +ain't favourable in your case; there are some people who never can work +these things. But there's water below here, for all that, as you'll +find, if you dig for it; there's nothing like a hazel-rod for finding +out water." + +Very true: there are some persons who never can make such things work; +who somehow always encounter "unfavourable conditions" when they wish +to test the marvellous powers of a clairvoyant; who never can make +"Planchette" move in conformity to the requirements of any known +alphabet; who never see ghosts, and never have "presentiments," save +such as are obviously due to association of ideas. The ill-success of +these persons is commonly ascribed to their lack of faith; but, in the +majority of cases, it might be more truly referred to the strength of +their faith,--faith in the constancy of nature, and in the adequacy +of ordinary human experience as interpreted by science. [24] La foi +scientifique is an excellent preventive against that obscure, though not +uncommon, kind of self-deception which enables wooden tripods to write +and tables to tip and hazel-twigs to twist upside-down, without the +conscious intervention of the performer. It was this kind of faith, no +doubt, which caused the discomfiture of Jacques Aymar on his visit to +Paris, [25] and which has in late years prevented persons from obtaining +the handsome prize offered by the French Academy for the first authentic +case of clairvoyance. + +But our village friend, though perhaps constructively right in his +philosophizing, was certainly very defective in his acquaintance with +the time-honoured art of rhabdomancy. Had he extended his inquiries so +as to cover the field of Indo-European tradition, he would have learned +that the mountain-ash, the mistletoe, the white and black thorn, the +Hindu asvattha, and several other woods, are quite as efficient as the +hazel for the purpose of detecting water in times of drought; and in due +course of time he would have perceived that the divining-rod itself +is but one among a large class of things to which popular belief has +ascribed, along with other talismanic properties, the power of opening +the ground or cleaving rocks, in order to reveal hidden treasures. +Leaving him in peace, then, with his bit of forked hazel, to seek for +cooling springs in some future thirsty season, let us endeavour to +elucidate the origin of this curious superstition. + +The detection of subterranean water is by no means the only use to +which the divining-rod has been put. Among the ancient Frisians it was +regularly used for the detection of criminals; and the reputation of +Jacques Aymar was won by his discovery of the perpetrator of a horrible +murder at Lyons. Throughout Europe it has been used from time immemorial +by miners for ascertaining the position of veins of metal; and in the +days when talents were wrapped in napkins and buried in the field, +instead of being exposed to the risks of financial speculation, the +divining-rod was employed by persons covetous of their neighbours' +wealth. If Boulatruelle had lived in the sixteenth century, he would +have taken a forked stick of hazel when he went to search for the buried +treasures of Jean Valjean. It has also been applied to the cure of +disease, and has been kept in households, like a wizard's charm, to +insure general good-fortune and immunity from disaster. + +As we follow the conception further into the elf-land of popular +tradition, we come upon a rod which not only points out the situation of +hidden treasure, but even splits open the ground and reveals the mineral +wealth contained therein. In German legend, "a shepherd, who was driving +his flock over the Ilsenstein, having stopped to rest, leaning on his +staff, the mountain suddenly opened, for there was a springwort in his +staff without his knowing it, and the princess [Ilse] stood before him. +She bade him follow her, and when he was inside the mountain she told +him to take as much gold as he pleased. The shepherd filled all his +pockets, and was going away, when the princess called after him, 'Forget +not the best.' So, thinking she meant that he had not taken enough, +he filled his hat also; but what she meant was his staff with the +springwort, which he had laid against the wall as soon as he stepped +in. But now, just as he was going out at the opening, the rock suddenly +slammed together and cut him in two." [26] + +Here the rod derives its marvellous properties from the enclosed +springwort, but in many cases a leaf or flower is itself competent to +open the hillside. The little blue flower, forget-me-not, about which +so many sentimental associations have clustered, owes its name to the +legends told of its talismanic virtues. [27] A man, travelling on a +lonely mountain, picks up a little blue flower and sticks it in his hat. +Forthwith an iron door opens, showing up a lighted passage-way, through +which the man advances into a magnificent hall, where rubies and +diamonds and all other kinds of gems are lying piled in great heaps on +the floor. As he eagerly fills his pockets his hat drops from his head, +and when he turns to go out the little flower calls after him, "Forget +me not!" He turns back and looks around, but is too bewildered with his +good fortune to think of his bare head or of the luck-flower which he +has let fall. He selects several more of the finest jewels he can +find, and again starts to go out; but as he passes through the door the +mountain closes amid the crashing of thunder, and cuts off one of his +heels. Alone, in the gloom of the forest, he searches in vain for the +mysterious door: it has disappeared forever, and the traveller goes on +his way, thankful, let us hope, that he has fared no worse. + +Sometimes it is a white lady, like the Princess Ilse, who invites the +finder of the luck-flower to help himself to her treasures, and who +utters the enigmatical warning. The mountain where the event occurred +may be found almost anywhere in Germany, and one just like it stood in +Persia, in the golden prime of Haroun Alraschid. In the story of the +Forty Thieves, the mere name of the plant sesame serves as a talisman to +open and shut the secret door which leads into the robbers' cavern; and +when the avaricious Cassim Baba, absorbed in the contemplation of the +bags of gold and bales of rich merchandise, forgets the magic formula, +he meets no better fate than the shepherd of the Ilsenstein. In the +story of Prince Ahmed, it is an enchanted arrow which guides the young +adventurer through the hillside to the grotto of the Peri Banou. In +the tale of Baba Abdallah, it is an ointment rubbed on the eyelid which +reveals at a single glance all the treasures hidden in the bowels of the +earth. + +The ancient Romans also had their rock-breaking plant, called Saxifraga, +or "sassafras." And the further we penetrate into this charmed circle +of traditions the more evident does it appear that the power of cleaving +rocks or shattering hard substances enters, as a primitive element, into +the conception of these treasure-showing talismans. Mr. Baring-Gould +has given an excellent account of the rabbinical legends concerning the +wonderful schamir, by the aid of which Solomon was said to have built +his temple. From Asmodeus, prince of the Jann, Benaiah, the son of +Jehoiada, wrested the secret of a worm no bigger than a barley-corn, +which could split the hardest substance. This worm was called schamir. +"If Solomon desired to possess himself of the worm, he must find the +nest of the moor-hen, and cover it with a plate of glass, so that the +mother bird could not get at her young without breaking the glass. She +would seek schamir for the purpose, and the worm must be obtained from +her." As the Jewish king did need the worm in order to hew the stones +for that temple which was to be built without sound of hammer, or axe, +or any tool of iron, [28] he sent Benaiah to obtain it. According to +another account, schamir was a mystic stone which enabled Solomon to +penetrate the earth in search of mineral wealth. Directed by a Jinni, +the wise king covered a raven's eggs with a plate of crystal, and thus +obtained schamir which the bird brought in order to break the plate. +[29] + +In these traditions, which may possibly be of Aryan descent, due to the +prolonged intercourse between the Jews and the Persians, a new feature +is added to those before enumerated: the rock-splitting talisman is +always found in the possession of a bird. The same feature in the myth +reappears on Aryan soil. The springwort, whose marvellous powers we have +noticed in the case of the Ilsenstein shepherd, is obtained, according +to Pliny, by stopping up the hole in a tree where a woodpecker keeps its +young. The bird flies away, and presently returns with the springwort, +which it applies to the plug, causing it to shoot out with a loud +explosion. The same account is given in German folk-lore. Elsewhere, +as in Iceland, Normandy, and ancient Greece, the bird is an eagle, a +swallow, an ostrich, or a hoopoe. + +In the Icelandic and Pomeranian myths the schamir, or "raven-stone," +also renders its possessor invisible,--a property which it shares with +one of the treasure-finding plants, the fern. [30] In this respect +it resembles the ring of Gyges, as in its divining and rock-splitting +qualities it resembles that other ring which the African magrician gave +to Aladdin, to enable him to descend into the cavern where stood the +wonderful lamp. + +According to one North German tradition, the luck-flower also will make +its finder invisible at pleasure. But, as the myth shrewdly adds, it is +absolutely essential that the flower be found by accident: he who seeks +for it never finds it! Thus all cavils are skilfully forestalled, +even if not satisfactorily disposed of. The same kind of reasoning is +favoured by our modern dealers in mystery: somehow the "conditions" +always are askew whenever a scientific observer wishes to test their +pretensions. + +In the North of Europe schamir appears strangely and grotesquely +metamorphosed. The hand of a man that has been hanged, when dried and +prepared with certain weird unguents and set on fire, is known as the +Hand of Glory; and as it not only bursts open all safe-locks, but also +lulls to sleep all persons within the circle of its influence, it is of +course invaluable to thieves and burglars. I quote the following story +from Thorpe's "Northern Mythology": "Two fellows once came to Huy, who +pretended to be exceedingly fatigued, and when they had supped would +not retire to a sleeping-room, but begged their host would allow them +to take a nap on the hearth. But the maid-servant, who did not like the +looks of the two guests, remained by the kitchen door and peeped through +a chink, when she saw that one of them drew a thief's hand from his +pocket, the fingers of which, after having rubbed them with an ointment, +he lighted, and they all burned except one. Again they held this finger +to the fire, but still it would not burn, at which they appeared much +surprised, and one said, 'There must surely be some one in the house +who is not yet asleep.' They then hung the hand with its four burning +fingers by the chimney, and went out to call their associates. But the +maid followed them instantly and made the door fast, then ran up stairs, +where the landlord slept, that she might wake him, but was unable, +notwithstanding all her shaking and calling. In the mean time the +thieves had returned and were endeavouring to enter the house by a +window, but the maid cast them down from the ladder. They then took a +different course, and would have forced an entrance, had it not occurred +to the maid that the burning fingers might probably be the cause of her +master's profound sleep. Impressed with this idea she ran to the kitchen +and blew them out, when the master and his men-servants instantly +awoke, and soon drove away the robbers." The same event is said to have +occurred at Stainmore in England; and Torquermada relates of Mexican +thieves that they carry with them the left hand of a woman who has died +in her first childbed, before which talisman all bolts yield and all +opposition is benumbed. In 1831 "some Irish thieves attempted to commit +a robbery on the estate of Mr. Naper, of Loughcrew, county Meath. They +entered the house armed with a dead man's hand with a lighted candle in +it, believing in the superstitious notion that a candle placed in a dead +man's hand will not be seen by any but those by whom it is used; and +also that if a candle in a dead hand be introduced into a house, it will +prevent those who may be asleep from awaking. The inmates, however, were +alarmed, and the robbers fled, leaving the hand behind them." [31] + +In the Middle Ages the hand of glory was used, just like the +divining-rod, for the detection of buried treasures. + +Here, then, we have a large and motley group of objects--the forked +rod of ash or hazel, the springwort and the luck-flower, leaves, +worms, stones, rings, and dead men's hands--which are for the most part +competent to open the way into cavernous rocks, and which all agree +in pointing out hidden wealth. We find, moreover, that many of these +charmed objects are carried about by birds, and that some of them +possess, in addition to their generic properties, the specific power of +benumbing people's senses. What, now, is the common origin of this whole +group of superstitions? And since mythology has been shown to be the +result of primeval attempts to explain the phenomena of nature, what +natural phenomenon could ever have given rise to so many seemingly +wanton conceptions? Hopeless as the problem may at first sight seem, it +has nevertheless been solved. In his great treatise on "The Descent +of Fire," Dr. Kuhn has shown that all these legends and traditions are +descended from primitive myths explanatory of the lightning and the +storm-cloud. [32] + +To us, who are nourished from childhood on the truths revealed by +science, the sky is known to be merely an optical appearance due to the +partial absorption of the solar rays in passing through a thick stratum +of atmospheric air; the clouds are known to be large masses of watery +vapour, which descend in rain-drops when sufficiently condensed; and +the lightning is known to be a flash of light accompanying an electric +discharge. But these conceptions are extremely recondite, and have been +attained only through centuries of philosophizing and after careful +observation and laborious experiment. To the untaught mind of a child or +of an uncivilized man, it seems far more natural and plausible to regard +the sky as a solid dome of blue crystal, the clouds as snowy mountains, +or perhaps even as giants or angels, the lightning as a flashing dart or +a fiery serpent. In point of fact, we find that the conceptions actually +entertained are often far more grotesque than these. I can recollect +once framing the hypothesis that the flaming clouds of sunset were +transient apparitions, vouchsafed us by way of warning, of that burning +Calvinistic hell with which my childish imagination had been unwisely +terrified; [33] and I have known of a four-year-old boy who thought that +the snowy clouds of noonday were the white robes of the angels hung out +to dry in the sun. [34] My little daughter is anxious to know whether +it is necessary to take a balloon in order to get to the place where +God lives, or whether the same end can be accomplished by going to the +horizon and crawling up the sky; [35] the Mohammedan of old was working +at the same problem when he called the rainbow the bridge Es-Sirat, over +which souls must pass on their way to heaven. According to the ancient +Jew, the sky was a solid plate, hammered out by the gods, and spread +over the earth in order to keep up the ocean overhead; [36] but the +plate was full of little windows, which were opened whenever it became +necessary to let the rain come through. [37] With equal plausibility +the Greek represented the rainy sky as a sieve in which the daughters +of Danaos were vainly trying to draw water; while to the Hindu the +rain-clouds were celestial cattle milked by the wind-god. In primitive +Aryan lore, the sky itself was a blue sea, and the clouds were ships +sailing over it; and an English legend tells how one of these ships +once caught its anchor on a gravestone in the churchyard, to the great +astonishment of the people who were coming out of church. Charon's +ferry-boat was one of these vessels, and another was Odin's golden ship, +in which the souls of slain heroes were conveyed to Valhalla. Hence it +was once the Scandinavian practice to bury the dead in boats; and in +Altmark a penny is still placed in the mouth of the corpse, that it may +have the means of paying its fare to the ghostly ferryman. [38] In such +a vessel drifted the Lady of Shalott on her fatal voyage; and of similar +nature was the dusky barge, "dark as a funeral-scarf from stem to +stern," in which Arthur was received by the black-hooded queens. [39] + +But the fact that a natural phenomenon was explained in one way did not +hinder it from being explained in a dozen other ways. The fact that the +sun was generally regarded as an all-conquering hero did not prevent +its being called an egg, an apple, or a frog squatting on the waters, or +Ixion's wheel, or the eye of Polyphemos, or the stone of Sisyphos, which +was no sooner pushed to the zenith than it rolled down to the horizon. +So the sky was not only a crystal dome, or a celestial ocean, but it was +also the Aleian land through which Bellerophon wandered, the country of +the Lotos-eaters, or again the realm of the Graiai beyond the twilight; +and finally it was personified and worshipped as Dyaus or Varuna, the +Vedic prototypes of the Greek Zeus and Ouranos. The clouds, too, had +many other representatives besides ships and cows. In a future paper it +will be shown that they were sometimes regarded as angels or houris; at +present it more nearly concerns us to know that they appear, throughout +all Aryan mythology, under the form of birds. It used to be a matter of +hopeless wonder to me that Aladdin's innocent request for a roc's egg +to hang in the dome of his palace should have been regarded as a crime +worthy of punishment by the loss of the wonderful lamp; the obscurest +part of the whole affair being perhaps the Jinni's passionate allusion +to the egg as his master: "Wretch! dost thou command me to bring thee +my master, and hang him up in the midst of this vaulted dome?" But the +incident is to some extent cleared of its mystery when we learn that +the roc's egg is the bright sun, and that the roc itself is the rushing +storm-cloud which, in the tale of Sindbad, haunts the sparkling starry +firmament, symbolized as a valley of diamonds. [40] According to one +Arabic authority, the length of its wings is ten thousand fathoms. But +in European tradition it dwindles from these huge dimensions to the size +of an eagle, a raven, or a woodpecker. Among the birds enumerated by +Kuhn and others as representing the storm-cloud are likewise the wren +or "kinglet" (French roitelet); the owl, sacred to Athene; the cuckoo, +stork, and sparrow; and the red-breasted robin, whose name Robert was +originally an epithet of the lightning-god Thor. In certain parts of +France it is still believed that the robbing of a wren's nest will +render the culprit liable to be struck by lightning. The same belief was +formerly entertained in Teutonic countries with respect to the robin; +and I suppose that from this superstition is descended the prevalent +notion, which I often encountered in childhood, that there is something +peculiarly wicked in killing robins. + +Now, as the raven or woodpecker, in the various myths of schamir, is the +dark storm-cloud, so the rock-splitting worm or plant or pebble which +the bird carries in its beak and lets fall to the ground is nothing more +or less than the flash of lightning carried and dropped by the cloud. +"If the cloud was supposed to be a great bird, the lightnings were +regarded as writhing worms or serpents in its beak. These fiery +serpents, elikiai gram-moeidws feromenoi, are believed in to this day by +the Canadian Indians, who call the thunder their hissing." [41] + +But these are not the only mythical conceptions which are to be found +wrapped up in the various myths of schamir and the divining-rod. The +persons who told these stories were not weaving ingenious allegories +about thunder-storms; they were telling stories, or giving utterance +to superstitions, of which the original meaning was forgotten. The old +grannies who, along with a stoical indifference to the fate of quails +and partridges, used to impress upon me the wickedness of killing +robins, did not add that I should be struck by lightning if I failed to +heed their admonitions. They had never heard that the robin was the bird +of Thor; they merely rehearsed the remnant of the superstition which +had survived to their own times, while the essential part of it had long +since faded from recollection. The reason for regarding a robin's +life as more sacred than a partridge's had been forgotten; but it left +behind, as was natural, a vague recognition of that mythical sanctity. +The primitive meaning of a myth fades away as inevitably as the +primitive meaning of a word or phrase; and the rabbins who told of a +worm which shatters rocks no more thought of the writhing thunderbolts +than the modern reader thinks of oyster-shells when he sees the word +ostracism, or consciously breathes a prayer as he writes the phrase good +bye. It is only in its callow infancy that the full force of a myth is +felt, and its period of luxuriant development dates from the time when +its physical significance is lost or obscured. It was because the Greek +had forgotten that Zeus meant the bright sky, that he could make him +king over an anthropomorphic Olympos. The Hindu Dyaus, who carried his +significance in his name as plainly as the Greek Helios, never attained +such an exalted position; he yielded to deities of less obvious +pedigree, such as Brahma and Vishnu. + +Since, therefore, the myth-tellers recounted merely the wonderful +stories which their own nurses and grandmas had told them, and had no +intention of weaving subtle allegories or wrapping up a physical +truth in mystic emblems, it follows that they were not bound to +avoid incongruities or to preserve a philosophical symmetry in their +narratives. In the great majority of complex myths, no such symmetry is +to be found. A score of different mythical conceptions would get wrought +into the same story, and the attempt to pull them apart and construct a +single harmonious system of conceptions out of the pieces must often end +in ingenious absurdity. If Odysseus is unquestionably the sun, so is the +eye of Polyphemos, which Odysseus puts out. [42] But the Greek poet knew +nothing of the incongruity, for he was thinking only of a superhuman +hero freeing himself from a giant cannibal; he knew nothing of Sanskrit, +or of comparative mythology, and the sources of his myths were as +completely hidden from his view as the sources of the Nile. + +We need not be surprised, then, to find that in one version of the +schamir-myth the cloud is the bird which carries the worm, while in +another version the cloud is the rock or mountain which the talisman +cleaves open; nor need we wonder at it, if we find stories in which the +two conceptions are mingled together without regard to an incongruity +which in the mind of the myth-teller no longer exists. [43] + +In early Aryan mythology there is nothing by which the clouds are +more frequently represented than by rocks or mountains. Such were the +Symplegades, which, charmed by the harp of the wind-god Orpheus, parted +to make way for the talking ship Argo, with its crew of solar heroes. +[44] Such, too, were the mountains Ossa and Pelion, which the giants +piled up one upon another in their impious assault upon Zeus, the lord +of the bright sky. As Mr. Baring-Gould observes: "The ancient Aryan had +the same name for cloud and mountain. To him the piles of vapour on the +horizon were so like Alpine ranges, that he had but one word whereby to +designate both. [45] These great mountains of heaven were opened by the +lightning. In the sudden flash he beheld the dazzling splendour within, +but only for a moment, and then, with a crash, the celestial rocks +closed again. Believing these vaporous piles to contain resplendent +treasures of which partial glimpse was obtained by mortals in a +momentary gleam, tales were speedily formed, relating the adventures of +some who had succeeded in entering these treasure-mountains." + +This sudden flash is the smiting of the cloud-rock by the arrow of +Ahmed, the resistless hammer of Thor, the spear of Odin, the trident +of Poseidon, or the rod of Hermes. The forked streak of light is the +archetype of the divining-rod in its oldest form,--that in which it +not only indicates the hidden treasures, but, like the staff of the +Ilsenstein shepherd, bursts open the enchanted crypt and reveals them +to the astonished wayfarer. Hence the one thing essential to the +divining-rod, from whatever tree it be chosen, is that it shall be +forked. + +It is not difficult to comprehend the reasons which led the ancients +to speak of the lightning as a worm, serpent, trident, arrow, or forked +wand; but when we inquire why it was sometimes symbolized as a flower or +leaf; or when we seek to ascertain why certain trees, such as the ash, +hazel, white-thorn, and mistletoe, were supposed to be in a certain +sense embodiments of it, we are entering upon a subject too complicated +to be satisfactorily treated within the limits of the present paper. It +has been said that the point of resemblance between a cow and a comet, +that both have tails, was quite enough for the primitive word-maker: it +was certainly enough for the primitive myth-teller. [46] Sometimes the +pinnate shape of a leaf, the forking of a branch, the tri-cleft corolla, +or even the red colour of a flower, seems to have been sufficient to +determine the association of ideas. The Hindu commentators of the Veda +certainly lay great stress on the fact that the palasa, one of their +lightning-trees, is trident-leaved. The mistletoe branch is forked, like +a wish-bone, [47] and so is the stem which bears the forget-me-not or +wild scorpion grass. So too the leaves of the Hindu ficus religiosa +resemble long spear-heads. [48] But in many cases it is impossible +for us to determine with confidence the reasons which may have guided +primitive men in their choice of talismanic plants. In the case of some +of these stories, it would no doubt be wasting ingenuity to attempt to +assign a mythical origin for each point of detail. The ointment of the +dervise, for instance, in the Arabian tale, has probably no special +mythical significance, but was rather suggested by the exigencies of the +story, in an age when the old mythologies were so far disintegrated and +mingled together that any one talisman would serve as well as another +the purposes of the narrator. But the lightning-plants of Indo-European +folk-lore cannot be thus summarily disposed of; for however difficult it +may be for us to perceive any connection between them and the celestial +phenomena which they represent, the myths concerning them are so +numerous and explicit as to render it certain that some such connection +was imagined by the myth-makers. The superstition concerning the hand +of glory is not so hard to interpret. In the mythology of the Finns, the +storm-cloud is a black man with a bright copper hand; and in Hindustan, +Indra Savitar, the deity who slays the demon of the cloud, is +golden-handed. The selection of the hand of a man who has been hanged +is probably due to the superstition which regarded the storm-god Odin +as peculiarly the lord of the gallows. The man who is raised upon the +gallows is placed directly in the track of the wild huntsman, who comes +with his hounds to carry off the victim; and hence the notion, which, +according to Mr. Kelly, is "very common in Germany and not extinct in +England," that every suicide by hanging is followed by a storm. + +The paths of comparative mythology are devious, but we have now pursued +them long enough I believe, to have arrived at a tolerably clear +understanding of the original nature of the divining-rod. Its power of +revealing treasures has been sufficiently explained; and its affinity +for water results so obviously from the character of the lightning-myth +as to need no further comment. But its power of detecting criminals +still remains to be accounted for. + +In Greek mythology, the being which detects and punishes crime is the +Erinys, the prototype of the Latin Fury, figured by late writers as a +horrible monster with serpent locks. But this is a degradation of the +original conception. The name Erinys did not originally mean Fury, and +it cannot be explained from Greek sources alone. It appears in Sanskrit +as Saranyu, a word which signifies the light of morning creeping over +the sky. And thus we are led to the startling conclusion that, as the +light of morning reveals the evil deeds done under the cover of night, +so the lovely Dawn, or Erinys, came to be regarded under one aspect +as the terrible detector and avenger of iniquity. Yet startling as the +conclusion is, it is based on established laws of phonetic change, and +cannot be gainsaid. + +But what has the avenging daybreak to do with the lightning and the +divining-rod? To the modern mind the association is not an obvious one: +in antiquity it was otherwise. Myths of the daybreak and myths of +the lightning often resemble each other so closely that, except by a +delicate philological analysis, it is difficult to distinguish the one +from the other. The reason is obvious. In each case the phenomenon to be +explained is the struggle between the day-god and one of the demons +of darkness. There is essentially no distinction to the mind of the +primitive man between the Panis, who steal Indra's bright cows and +keep them in a dark cavern all night, and the throttling snake Ahi or +Echidna, who imprisons the waters in the stronghold of the thunder-cloud +and covers the earth with a short-lived darkness. And so the poisoned +arrows of Bellerophon, which slay the storm-dragon, differ in no +essential respect from the shafts with which Odysseus slaughters the +night-demons who have for ten long hours beset his mansion. Thus the +divining-rod, representing as it does the weapon of the god of day, +comes legitimately enough by its function of detecting and avenging +crime. + +But the lightning not only reveals strange treasures and gives water to +the thirsty land and makes plain what is doing under cover of darkness; +it also sometimes kills, benumbs, or paralyzes. Thus the head of the +Gorgon Medusa turns into stone those who look upon it. Thus the ointment +of the dervise, in the tale of Baba Abdallah, not only reveals all the +treasures of the earth, but instantly thereafter blinds the unhappy man +who tests its powers. And thus the hand of glory, which bursts open bars +and bolts, benumbs also those who happen to be near it. Indeed, few of +the favoured mortals who were allowed to visit the caverns opened by +sesame or the luck-flower, escaped without disaster. The monkish tale of +"The Clerk and the Image," in which the primeval mythical features are +curiously distorted, well illustrates this point. + +In the city of Rome there formerly stood an image with its right hand +extended and on its forefinger the words "strike here." Many wise men +puzzled in vain over the meaning of the inscription; but at last a +certain priest observed that whenever the sun shone on the figure, the +shadow of the finger was discernible on the ground at a little distance +from the statue. Having marked the spot, he waited until midnight, and +then began to dig. At last his spade struck upon something hard. It +was a trap-door, below which a flight of marble steps descended into a +spacious hall, where many men were sitting in solemn silence amid piles +of gold and diamonds and long rows of enamelled vases. Beyond this he +found another room, a gynaecium filled with beautiful women reclining +on richly embroidered sofas; yet here, too, all was profound silence. +A superb banqueting-hall next met his astonished gaze; then a silent +kitchen; then granaries loaded with forage; then a stable crowded +with motionless horses. The whole place was brilliantly lighted by a +carbuncle which was suspended in one corner of the reception-room; and +opposite stood an archer, with his bow and arrow raised, in the act of +taking aim at the jewel. As the priest passed back through this hall, he +saw a diamond-hilted knife lying on a marble table; and wishing to carry +away something wherewith to accredit his story, he reached out his +hand to take it; but no sooner had he touched it than all was dark. The +archer had shot with his arrow, the bright jewel was shivered into a +thousand pieces, the staircase had fled, and the priest found himself +buried alive. [49] + +Usually, however, though the lightning is wont to strike dead, with its +basilisk glance, those who rashly enter its mysterious caverns, it is +regarded rather as a benefactor than as a destroyer. The feelings with +which the myth-making age contemplated the thunder-shower as it +revived the earth paralyzed by a long drought, are shown in the myth of +Oidipous. The Sphinx, whose name signifies "the one who binds," is the +demon who sits on the cloud-rock and imprisons the rain, muttering, dark +sayings which none but the all-knowing sun may understand. The flash +of solar light which causes the monster to fling herself down from the +cliff with a fearful roar, restores the land to prosperity. But besides +this, the association of the thunder-storm with the approach of summer +has produced many myths in which the lightning is symbolized as the +life-renewing wand of the victorious sun-god. Hence the use of the +divining-rod in the cure of disease; and hence the large family of +schamir-myths in which the dead are restored to life by leaves or herbs. +In Grimm's tale of the "Three Snake Leaves," a prince is buried alive +(like Sindbad) with his dead wife, and seeing a snake approaching her +body, he cuts it in three pieces. Presently another snake, crawling from +the corner, saw the other lying dead, and going, away soon returned +with three green leaves in its mouth; then laying the parts of the body +together so as to join, it put one leaf on each wound, and the dead +snake was alive again. The prince, applying the leaves to his wife's +body, restores her also to life." [50] In the Greek story, told by +AElian and Apollodoros, Polyidos is shut up with the corpse of Glaukos, +which he is ordered to restore to life. He kills a dragon which is +approaching the body, but is presently astonished at seeing another +dragon come with a blade of grass and place it upon its dead companion, +which instantly rises from the ground. Polyidos takes the same blade of +grass, and with it resuscitates Glaukos. The same incident occurs in the +Hindu story of Panch Phul Ranee, and in Fouque's "Sir Elidoc," which is +founded on a Breton legend. + +We need not wonder, then, at the extraordinary therapeutic +properties which are in all Aryan folk-lore ascribed to the +various lightning-plants. In Sweden sanitary amulets are made of +mistletoe-twigs, and the plant is supposed to be a specific against +epilepsy and an antidote for poisons. In Cornwall children are passed +through holes in ash-trees in order to cure them of hernia. Ash rods are +used in some parts of England for the cure of diseased sheep, cows, and +horses; and in particular they are supposed to neutralize the venom +of serpents. The notion that snakes are afraid of an ash-tree is not +extinct even in the United States. The other day I was told, not by an +old granny, but by a man fairly educated and endowed with a very unusual +amount of good common-sense, that a rattlesnake will sooner go through +fire than creep over ash leaves or into the shadow of an ash-tree. +Exactly the same statement is made by Piny, who adds that if you draw +a circle with an ash rod around the spot of ground on which a snake +is lying, the animal must die of starvation, being as effectually +imprisoned as Ugolino in the dungeon at Pisa. In Cornwall it is believed +that a blow from an ash stick will instantly kill any serpent. The ash +shares this virtue with the hazel and fern. A Swedish peasant will tell +you that snakes may be deprived of their venom by a touch with a hazel +wand; and when an ancient Greek had occasion to make his bed in the +woods, he selected fern leaves if possible, in the belief that the smell +of them would drive away poisonous animals. [51] + +But the beneficent character of the lightning appears still more clearly +in another class of myths. To the primitive man the shaft of light +coming down from heaven was typical of the original descent of fire for +the benefit and improvement of the human race. The Sioux Indians account +for the origin of fire by a myth of unmistakable kinship; they say that +"their first ancestor obtained his fire from the sparks which a friendly +panther struck from the rocks as he scampered up a stony hill." [52] +This panther is obviously the counterpart of the Aryan bird which +drops schamir. But the Aryan imagination hit upon a far more remarkable +conception. The ancient Hindus obtained fire by a process similar to +that employed by Count Rumford in his experiments on the generation of +heat by friction. They first wound a couple of cords around a pointed +stick in such a way that the unwinding of the one would wind up the +other, and then, placing the point of the stick against a circular disk +of wood, twirled it rapidly by alternate pulls on the two strings. This +instrument is called a chark, and is still used in South Africa, [53] +in Australia, in Sumatra, and among the Veddahs of Ceylon. The Russians +found it in Kamtchatka; and it was formerly employed in America, from +Labrador to the Straits of Magellan. [54] The Hindus churned milk by +a similar process; [55] and in order to explain the thunder-storm, a +Sanskrit poem tells how "once upon a time the Devas, or gods, and their +opponents, the Asuras, made a truce, and joined together in churning +the ocean to procure amrita, the drink of immortality. They took Mount +Mandara for a churning-stick, and, wrapping the great serpent Sesha +round it for a rope, they made the mountain spin round to and fro, the +Devas pulling at the serpent's tail, and the Asuras at its head." [56] +In this myth the churning-stick, with its flying serpent-cords, is +the lightning, and the armrita, or drink of immortality, is simply the +rain-water, which in Aryan folk-lore possesses the same healing virtues +as the lightning. "In Sclavonic myths it is the water of life which +restores the dead earth, a water brought by a bird from the depths of a +gloomy cave." [57] It is the celestial soma or mead which Indra loves +to drink; it is the ambrosial nectar of the Olympian gods; it is the +charmed water which in the Arabian Nights restores to human shape +the victims of wicked sorcerers; and it is the elixir of life which +mediaeval philosophers tried to discover, and in quest of which Ponce de +Leon traversed the wilds of Florida. [58] + +"Jacky's next proceeding was to get some dry sticks and wood, and +prepare a fire, which, to George's astonishment, he lighted thus. He got +a block of wood, in the middle of which he made a hole; then he cut and +pointed a long stick, and inserting the point into the block, worked +it round between his palms for some time and with increasing rapidity. +Presently there came a smell of burning wood, and soon after it burst +into a flame at the point of contact. Jacky cut slices of shark and +roasted them."--Reade, Never too Late to Mend, chap. xxxviii. + +The most interesting point in this Hindu myth is the name of the peaked +mountain Mandara, or Manthara, which the gods and devils took for their +churning-stick. The word means "a churning-stick," and it appears also, +with a prefixed preposition, in the name of the fire-drill, pramantha. +Now Kuhn has proved that this name, pramantha, is etymologically +identical with Prometheus, the name of the beneficent Titan, who stole +fire from heaven and bestowed it upon mankind as the richest of boons. +This sublime personage was originally nothing but the celestial drill +which churns fire out of the clouds; but the Greeks had so entirely +forgotten his origin that they interpreted his name as meaning "the one +who thinks beforehand," and accredited him with a brother, Epimetheus, +or "the one who thinks too late." The Greeks had adopted another name, +trypanon, for their fire-drill, and thus the primitive character of +Prometheus became obscured. + +I have said above that it was regarded as absolutely essential that +the divining-rod should be forked. To this rule, however, there was one +exception, and if any further evidence be needed to convince the +most sceptical that the divining-rod is nothing but a symbol of +the lightning, that exception will furnish such evidence. For this +exceptional kind of divining-rod was made of a pointed stick rotating +in a block of wood, and it was the presence of hidden water or treasure +which was supposed to excite the rotatory motion. + +In the myths relating to Prometheus, the lightning-god appears as the +originator of civilization, sometimes as the creator of the human race, +and always as its friend, [59] suffering in its behalf the most fearful +tortures at the hands of the jealous Zeus. In one story he creates man +by making a clay image and infusing into it a spark of the fire which he +had brought from heaven; in another story he is himself the first man. +In the Peloponnesian myth Phoroneus, who is Prometheus under another +name, is the first man, and his mother was an ash-tree. In Norse +mythology, also, the gods were said to have made the first man out of +the ash-tree Yggdrasil. The association of the heavenly fire with +the life-giving forces of nature is very common in the myths of both +hemispheres, and in view of the facts already cited it need not surprise +us. Hence the Hindu Agni and the Norse Thor were patrons of marriage, +and in Norway, the most lucky day on which to be married is still +supposed to be Thursday, which in old times was the day of the +fire-god. [60] Hence the lightning-plants have divers virtues in +matters pertaining to marriage. The Romans made their wedding torches +of whitethorn; hazel-nuts are still used all over Europe in divinations +relating to the future lover or sweetheart; [61] and under a mistletoe +bough it is allowable for a gentleman to kiss a lady. A vast number of +kindred superstitions are described by Mr. Kelly, to whom I am indebted +for many of these examples. [62] + +Thus we reach at last the completed conception of the divining-rod, or +as it is called in this sense the wish-rod, with its kindred talismans, +from Aladdin's lamp and the purse of Bedreddin Hassan, to the Sangreal, +the philosopher's stone, and the goblets of Oberon and Tristram. These +symbols of the reproductive energies of nature, which give to the +possessor every good and perfect gift, illustrate the uncurbed belief in +the power of wish which the ancient man shared with modern children. In +the Norse story of Frodi's quern, the myth assumes a whimsical shape. +The prose Edda tells of a primeval age of gold, when everybody had +whatever he wanted. This was because the giant Frodi had a mill which +ground out peace and plenty and abundance of gold withal, so that it lay +about the roads like pebbles. Through the inexcusable avarice of +Frodi, this wonderful implement was lost to the world. For he kept his +maid-servants working at the mill until they got out of patience, and +began to make it grind out hatred and war. Then came a mighty sea-rover +by night and slew Frodi and carried away the maids and the quern. When +he got well out to sea, he told them to grind out salt, and so they did +with a vengeance. They ground the ship full of salt and sank it, and so +the quern was lost forever, but the sea remains salt unto this day. + +Mr. Kelly rightly identifies Frodi with the sun-god Fro or Freyr, and +observes that the magic mill is only another form of the fire-churn, or +chark. According to another version the quern is still grinding away +and keeping the sea salt, and over the place where it lies there is a +prodigious whirlpool or maelstrom which sucks down ships. + +In its completed shape, the lightning-wand is the caduceus, or rod of +Hermes. I observed, in the preceding paper, that in the Greek conception +of Hermes there have been fused together the attributes of two deities +who were originally distinct. The Hermes of the Homeric Hymn is a +wind-god; but the later Hermes Agoraios, the patron of gymnasia, the +mutilation of whose statues caused such terrible excitement in Athens +during the Peloponnesian War, is a very different personage. He is +a fire-god, invested with many solar attributes, and represents the +quickening forces of nature. In this capacity the invention of fire was +ascribed to him as well as to Prometheus; he was said to be the friend +of mankind, and was surnamed Ploutodotes, or "the giver of wealth." + +The Norse wind-god Odin has in like manner acquired several of the +attributes of Freyr and Thor. [63] His lightning-spear, which is +borrowed from Thor, appears by a comical metamorphosis as a wish-rod +which will administer a sound thrashing to the enemies of its possessor. +Having cut a hazel stick, you have only to lay down an old coat, name +your intended victim, wish he was there, and whack away: he will howl +with pain at every blow. This wonderful cudgel appears in Dasent's tale +of "The Lad who went to the North Wind," with which we may conclude +this discussion. The story is told, with little variation, in Hindustan, +Germany, and Scandinavia. + +The North Wind, representing the mischievous Hermes, once blew away a +poor woman's meal. So her boy went to the North Wind and demanded his +rights for the meal his mother had lost. "I have n't got your meal," +said the Wind, "but here's a tablecloth which will cover itself with an +excellent dinner whenever you tell it to." So the lad took the cloth and +started for home. At nightfall he stopped at an inn, spread his cloth +on the table, and ordered it to cover itself with good things, and so +it did. But the landlord, who thought it would be money in his pocket +to have such a cloth, stole it after the boy had gone to bed, and +substituted another just like it in appearance. Next day the boy went +home in great glee to show off for his mother's astonishment what the +North Wind had given him, but all the dinner he got that day was what +the old woman cooked for him. In his despair he went back to the North +Wind and called him a liar, and again demanded his rights for the meal +he had lost. "I have n't got your meal," said the Wind, "but here's a +ram which will drop money out of its fleece whenever you tell it to." So +the lad travelled home, stopping over night at the same inn, and when he +got home he found himself with a ram which did n't drop coins out of its +fleece. A third time he visited the North Wind, and obtained a bag with +a stick in it which, at the word of command, would jump out of the bag +and lay on until told to stop. Guessing how matters stood as to his +cloth and ram, he turned in at the same tavern, and going to a bench lay +down as if to sleep. The landlord thought that a stick carried about in +a bag must be worth something, and so he stole quietly up to the bag, +meaning to get the stick out and change it. But just as he got within +whacking distance, the boy gave the word, and out jumped the stick +and beat the thief until he promised to give back the ram and the +tablecloth. And so the boy got his rights for the meal which the North +Wind had blown away. October, 1870. + + + + +III. WEREWOLVES AND SWAN-MAIDENS. + +IT is related by Ovid that Lykaon, king of Arkadia, once invited Zeus +to dinner, and served up for him a dish of human flesh, in order to test +the god's omniscience. But the trick miserably failed, and the impious +monarch received the punishment which his crime had merited. He was +transformed into a wolf, that he might henceforth feed upon the viands +with which he had dared to pollute the table of the king of Olympos. +From that time forth, according to Pliny, a noble Arkadian was each +year, on the festival of Zeus Lykaios, led to the margin of a certain +lake. Hanging his clothes upon a tree, he then plunged into the water +and became a wolf. For the space of nine years he roamed about the +adjacent woods, and then, if he had not tasted human flesh during all +this time, he was allowed to swim back to the place where his clothes +were hanging, put them on, and return to his natural form. It is further +related of a certain Demainetos, that, having once been present at +a human sacrifice to Zeus Lykaios, he ate of the flesh, and was +transformed into a wolf for a term of ten years. [64] + +These and other similar mythical germs were developed by the mediaeval +imagination into the horrible superstition of werewolves. + +A werewolf, or loup-garou [65] was a person who had the power of +transforming himself into a wolf, being endowed, while in the lupine +state, with the intelligence of a man, the ferocity of a wolf, and the +irresistible strength of a demon. The ancients believed in the existence +of such persons; but in the Middle Ages the metamorphosis was supposed +to be a phenomenon of daily occurrence, and even at the present day, +in secluded portions of Europe, the superstition is still cherished +by peasants. The belief, moreover, is supported by a vast amount +of evidence, which can neither be argued nor pooh-poohed into +insignificance. It is the business of the comparative mythologist to +trace the pedigree of the ideas from which such a conception may have +sprung; while to the critical historian belongs the task of ascertaining +and classifying the actual facts which this particular conception was +used to interpret. + +The mediaeval belief in werewolves is especially adapted to illustrate +the complicated manner in which divers mythical conceptions and +misunderstood natural occurrences will combine to generate a +long-enduring superstition. Mr. Cox, indeed, would have us believe that +the whole notion arose from an unintentional play upon words; but +the careful survey of the field, which has been taken by Hertz and +Baring-Gould, leads to the conclusion that many other circumstances +have been at work. The delusion, though doubtless purely mythical in its +origin, nevertheless presents in its developed state a curious mixture +of mythical and historical elements. + +With regard to the Arkadian legend, taken by itself, Mr. Cox is probably +right. The story seems to belong to that large class of myths which have +been devised in order to explain the meaning of equivocal words whose +true significance has been forgotten. The epithet Lykaios, as applied to +Zeus, had originally no reference to wolves: it means "the bright one," +and gave rise to lycanthropic legends only because of the similarity +in sound between the names for "wolf" and "brightness." Aryan mythology +furnishes numerous other instances of this confusion. The solar deity, +Phoibos Lykegenes, was originally the "offspring of light"; but popular +etymology made a kind of werewolf of him by interpreting his name as +the "wolf-born." The name of the hero Autolykos means simply the +"self-luminous"; but it was more frequently interpreted as meaning "a +very wolf," in allusion to the supposed character of its possessor. +Bazra, the name of the citadel of Carthage, was the Punic word for +"fortress"; but the Greeks confounded it with byrsa, "a hide," and hence +the story of the ox-hides cut into strips by Dido in order to measure +the area of the place to be fortified. The old theory that the Irish +were Phoenicians had a similar origin. The name Fena, used to designate +the old Scoti or Irish, is the plural of Fion, "fair," seen in the +name of the hero Fion Gall, or "Fingal"; but the monkish chroniclers +identified Fena with phoinix, whence arose the myth; and by a like +misunderstanding of the epithet Miledh, or "warrior," applied to Fion by +the Gaelic bards, there was generated a mythical hero, Milesius, and the +soubriquet "Milesian," colloquially employed in speaking of the Irish. +[66] So the Franks explained the name of the town Daras, in Mesopotamia, +by the story that the Emperor Justinian once addressed the chief +magistrate with the exclamation, daras, "thou shalt give": [67] the +Greek chronicler, Malalas, who spells the name Doras, informs us +with equal complacency that it was the place where Alexander overcame +Codomannus with dorn, "the spear." A certain passage in the Alps is +called Scaletta, from its resemblance to a staircase; but according to a +local tradition it owes its name to the bleaching skeletons of a +company of Moors who were destroyed there in the eighth century, while +attempting to penetrate into Northern Italy. The name of Antwerp denotes +the town built at a "wharf"; but it sounds very much like the Flemish +handt werpen, "hand-throwing": "hence arose the legend of the giant +who cut of the hands of those who passed his castle without paying him +black-mail, and threw them into the Scheldt." [68] In the myth of Bishop +Hatto, related in a previous paper, the Mause-thurm is a corruption of +maut-thurm; it means "customs-tower," and has nothing to do with mice +or rats. Doubtless this etymology was the cause of the floating myth +getting fastened to this particular place; that it did not give rise +to the myth itself is shown by the existence of the same tale in other +places. Somewhere in England there is a place called Chateau Vert; the +peasantry have corrupted it into Shotover, and say that it has +borne that name ever since Little John shot over a high hill in the +neighbourhood. [69] Latium means "the flat land"; but, according to +Virgil, it is the place where Saturn once hid (latuisset) from the wrath +of his usurping son Jupiter. [70] + +It was in this way that the constellation of the Great Bear received +its name. The Greek word arktos, answering to the Sanskrit riksha, meant +originally any bright object, and was applied to the bear--for what +reason it would not be easy to state--and to that constellation which +was most conspicuous in the latitude of the early home of the Aryans. +When the Greeks had long forgotten why these stars were called arktoi, +they symbolized them as a Great Bear fixed in the sky. So that, as +Max Muller observes, "the name of the Arctic regions rests on a +misunderstanding of a name framed thousands of years ago in Central +Asia, and the surprise with which many a thoughtful observer has looked +at these seven bright stars, wondering why they were ever called the +Bear, is removed by a reference to the early annals of human speech." +Among the Algonquins the sun-god Michabo was represented as a hare, his +name being compounded of michi, "great," and wabos, "a hare"; yet wabos +also meant "white," so that the god was doubtless originally called +simply "the Great White One." The same naive process has made bears of +the Arkadians, whose name, like that of the Lykians, merely signified +that they were "children of light"; and the metamorphosis of Kallisto, +mother of Arkas, into a bear, and of Lykaon into a wolf, rests +apparently upon no other foundation than an erroneous etymology. +Originally Lykaon was neither man nor wolf; he was but another form of +Phoibos Lykegenes, the light-born sun, and, as Mr. Cox has shown, his +legend is but a variation of that of Tantalos, who in time of drought +offers to Zeus the flesh of his own offspring, the withered fruits, and +is punished for his impiety. + +It seems to me, however, that this explanation, though valid as far +as it goes, is inadequate to explain all the features of the werewolf +superstition, or to account for its presence in all Aryan countries and +among many peoples who are not of Aryan origin. There can be no doubt +that the myth-makers transformed Lykaon into a wolf because of his +unlucky name; because what really meant "bright man" seemed to them +to mean "wolf-man"; but it has by no means been proved that a similar +equivocation occurred in the case of all the primitive Aryan werewolves, +nor has it been shown to be probable that among each people the +being with the uncanny name got thus accidentally confounded with the +particular beast most dreaded by that people. Etymology alone does not +explain the fact that while Gaul has been the favourite haunt of the +man-wolf, Scandinavia has been preferred by the man-bear, and Hindustan +by the man-tiger. To account for such a widespread phenomenon we must +seek a more general cause. + +Nothing is more strikingly characteristic of primitive thinking than the +close community of nature which it assumes between man and brute. The +doctrine of metempsychosis, which is found in some shape or other all +over the world, implies a fundamental identity between the two; the +Hindu is taught to respect the flocks browsing in the meadow, and will +on no account lift his hand against a cow, for who knows but it may +he his own grandmother? The recent researches of Mr. M`Lennan and Mr. +Herbert Spencer have served to connect this feeling with the primeval +worship of ancestors and with the savage customs of totemism. [71] + +The worship of ancestors seems to have been every where the oldest +systematized form of fetichistic religion. The reverence paid to the +chieftain of the tribe while living was continued and exaggerated after +his death The uncivilized man is everywhere incapable of grasping +the idea of death as it is apprehended by civilized people. He cannot +understand that a man should pass away so as to be no longer capable of +communicating with his fellows. The image of his dead chief or comrade +remains in his mind, and the savage's philosophic realism far surpasses +that of the most extravagant mediaeval schoolmen; to him the persistence +of the idea implies the persistence of the reality. The dead man, +accordingly, is not really dead; he has thrown off his body like a husk, +yet still retains his old appearance, and often shows himself to his old +friends, especially after nightfall. He is no doubt possessed of more +extensive powers than before his transformation, [72] and may very +likely have a share in regulating the weather, granting or withholding +rain. Therefore, argues the uncivilized mind, he is to be cajoled and +propitiated more sedulously now than before his strange transformation. + +This kind of worship still maintains a languid existence as the state +religion of China, and it still exists as a portion of Brahmanism; but +in the Vedic religion it is to be seen in all its vigour and in all +its naive simplicity. According to the ancient Aryan, the pitris, or +"Fathers" (Lat. patres), live in the sky along with Yama, the great +original Pitri of mankind. This first man came down from heaven in the +lightning, and back to heaven both himself and all his offspring must +have gone. There they distribute light unto men below, and they shine +themselves as stars; and hence the Christianized German peasant, fifty +centuries later, tells his children that the stars are angels' eyes, and +the English cottager impresses it on the youthful mind that it is wicked +to point at the stars, though why he cannot tell. But the Pitris are not +stars only, nor do they content themselves with idly looking down on +the affairs of men, after the fashion of the laissez-faire divinities of +Lucretius. They are, on the contrary, very busy with the weather; +they send rain, thunder, and lightning; and they especially delight +in rushing over the housetops in a great gale of wind, led on by their +chief, the mysterious huntsman, Hermes or Odin. + +It has been elsewhere shown that the howling dog, or wish-hound of +Hermes, whose appearance under the windows of a sick person is such +an alarming portent, is merely the tempest personified. Throughout +all Aryan mythology the souls of the dead are supposed to ride on the +night-wind, with their howling dogs, gathering into their throng the +souls of those just dying as they pass by their houses. [73] Sometimes +the whole complex conception is wrapped up in the notion of a single +dog, the messenger of the god of shades, who comes to summon the +departing soul. Sometimes, instead of a dog, we have a great ravening +wolf who comes to devour its victim and extinguish the sunlight of life, +as that old wolf of the tribe of Fenrir devoured little Red Riding-Hood +with her robe of scarlet twilight. [74] Thus we arrive at a true +werewolf myth. The storm-wind, or howling Rakshasa of Hindu folk-lore, +is "a great misshapen giant with red beard and red hair, with pointed +protruding teeth, ready to lacerate and devour human flesh; his body is +covered with coarse, bristling hair, his huge mouth is open, he looks +from side to side as he walks, lusting after the flesh and blood of men, +to satisfy his raging hunger and quench his consuming thirst. Towards +nightfall his strength increases manifold; he can change his shape at +will; he haunts the woods, and roams howling through the jungle." [75] + +Now if the storm-wind is a host of Pitris, or one great Pitri who +appears as a fearful giant, and is also a pack of wolves or wish-hounds, +or a single savage dog or wolf, the inference is obvious to the +mythopoeic mind that men may become wolves, at least after death. And to +the uncivilized thinker this inference is strengthened, as Mr. Spencer +has shown, by evidence registered on his own tribal totem or heraldic +emblem. The bears and lions and leopards of heraldry are the degenerate +descendants of the totem of savagery which designated the tribe by a +beast-symbol. To the untutored mind there is everything in a name; and +the descendant of Brown Bear or Yellow Tiger or Silver Hyaena cannot be +pronounced unfaithful to his own style of philosophizing, if he regards +his ancestors, who career about his hut in the darkness of night, +as belonging to whatever order of beasts his totem associations may +suggest. + +Thus we not only see a ray of light thrown on the subject of +metempsychosis, but we get a glimpse of the curious process by which +the intensely realistic mind of antiquity arrived at the notion that +men could be transformed into beasts. For the belief that the soul +can temporarily quit the body during lifetime has been universally +entertained; and from the conception of wolf-like ghosts it was but a +short step to the conception of corporeal werewolves. In the Middle Ages +the phenomena of trance and catalepsy were cited in proof of the theory +that the soul can leave the body and afterwards return to it. Hence it +was very difficult for a person accused of witchcraft to prove an alibi; +for to any amount of evidence showing that the body was innocently +reposing at home and in bed, the rejoinder was obvious that the soul may +nevertheless have been in attendance at the witches' Sabbath or busied +in maiming a neighbour's cattle. According to one mediaeval notion, the +soul of the werewolf quit its human body, which remained in a trance +until its return. [76] + +The mythological basis of the werewolf superstition is now, I believe, +sufficiently indicated. The belief, however, did not reach its complete +development, or acquire its most horrible features, until the pagan +habits of thought which had originated it were modified by contact +with Christian theology. To the ancient there was nothing necessarily +diabolical in the transformation of a man into a beast. But +Christianity, which retained such a host of pagan conceptions under such +strange disguises, which degraded the "All-father" Odin into the ogre +of the castle to which Jack climbed on his bean-stalk, and which blended +the beneficent lightning-god Thor and the mischievous Hermes and the +faun-like Pan into the grotesque Teutonic Devil, did not fail to impart +a new and fearful character to the belief in werewolves. Lycanthropy +became regarded as a species of witchcraft; the werewolf was supposed +to have obtained his peculiar powers through the favour or connivance +of the Devil; and hundreds of persons were burned alive or broken on +the wheel for having availed themselves of the privilege of +beast-metamorphosis. The superstition, thus widely extended and greatly +intensified, was confirmed by many singular phenomena which cannot +be omitted from any thorough discussion of the nature and causes of +lycanthropy. + +The first of these phenomena is the Berserker insanity, characteristic +of Scandinavia, but not unknown in other countries. In times when +killing one's enemies often formed a part of the necessary business of +life, persons were frequently found who killed for the mere love of the +thing; with whom slaughter was an end desirable in itself, not merely +a means to a desirable end. What the miser is in an age which worships +mammon, such was the Berserker in an age when the current idea of heaven +was that of a place where people could hack each other to pieces through +all eternity, and when the man who refused a challenge was punished with +confiscation of his estates. With these Northmen, in the ninth century, +the chief business and amusement in life was to set sail for some +pleasant country, like Spain or France, and make all the coasts and +navigable rivers hideous with rapine and massacre. When at home, in the +intervals between their freebooting expeditions, they were liable to +become possessed by a strange homicidal madness, during which they would +array themselves in the skins of wolves or bears, and sally forth by +night to crack the backbones, smash the skulls, and sometimes to drink +with fiendish glee the blood of unwary travellers or loiterers. These +fits of madness were usually followed by periods of utter exhaustion and +nervous depression. [77] + +Such, according to the unanimous testimony of historians, was the +celebrated "Berserker rage," not peculiar to the Northland, although +there most conspicuously manifested. Taking now a step in advance, we +find that in comparatively civilized countries there have been many +cases of monstrous homicidal insanity. The two most celebrated cases, +among those collected by Mr. Baring-Gould, are those of the Marechal +de Retz, in 1440, and of Elizabeth, a Hungarian countess, in the +seventeenth century. The Countess Elizabeth enticed young girls into +her palace on divers pretexts, and then coolly murdered them, for the +purpose of bathing in their blood. The spectacle of human suffering +became at last such a delight to her, that she would apply with her +own hands the most excruciating tortures, relishing the shrieks of her +victims as the epicure relishes each sip of his old Chateau Margaux. +In this way she is said to have murdered six hundred and fifty +persons before her evil career was brought to an end; though, when one +recollects the famous men in buckram and the notorious trio of crows, +one is inclined to strike off a cipher, and regard sixty-five as a +sufficiently imposing and far less improbable number. But the case of +the Marechal de Retz is still more frightful. A marshal of France, a +scholarly man, a patriot, and a man of holy life, he became suddenly +possessed by an uncontrollable desire to murder children. During seven +years he continued to inveigle little boys and girls into his castle, +at the rate of about TWO EACH WEEK, (?) and then put them to death in +various ways, that he might witness their agonies and bathe in their +blood; experiencing after each occasion the most dreadful remorse, +but led on by an irresistible craving to repeat the crime. When this +unparalleled iniquity was finally brought to light, the castle was found +to contain bins full of children's bones. The horrible details of the +trial are to be found in the histories of France by Michelet and Martin. + +Going a step further, we find cases in which the propensity to murder +has been accompanied by cannibalism. In 1598 a tailor of Chalons was +sentenced by the parliament of Paris to be burned alive for lycanthropy. +"This wretched man had decoyed children into his shop, or attacked them +in the gloaming when they strayed in the woods, had torn them with his +teeth and killed them, after which he seems calmly to have dressed their +flesh as ordinary meat, and to have eaten it with a great relish. The +number of little innocents whom he destroyed is unknown. A whole caskful +of bones was discovered in his house." [78] About 1850 a beggar in the +village of Polomyia, in Galicia, was proved to have killed and eaten +fourteen children. A house had one day caught fire and burnt to the +ground, roasting one of the inmates, who was unable to escape. The +beggar passed by soon after, and, as he was suffering from excessive +hunger, could not resist the temptation of making a meal off the charred +body. From that moment he was tormented by a craving for human flesh. +He met a little orphan girl, about nine years old, and giving her a +pinchbeck ring told her to seek for others like it under a tree in the +neighbouring wood. She was slain, carried to the beggar's hovel, and +eaten. In the course of three years thirteen other children mysteriously +disappeared, but no one knew whom to suspect. At last an innkeeper +missed a pair of ducks, and having no good opinion of this beggar's +honesty, went unexpectedly to his cabin, burst suddenly in at the door, +and to his horror found him in the act of hiding under his cloak a +severed head; a bowl of fresh blood stood under the oven, and pieces of +a thigh were cooking over the fire. [79] + +This occurred only about twenty years ago, and the criminal, though +ruled by an insane appetite, is not known to have been subject to any +mental delusion. But there have been a great many similar cases, in +which the homicidal or cannibal craving has been accompanied by genuine +hallucination. Forms of insanity in which the afflicted persons imagine +themselves to be brute animals are not perhaps very common, but they are +not unknown. I once knew a poor demented old man who believed himself +to be a horse, and would stand by the hour together before a manger, +nibbling hay, or deluding himself with the presence of so doing. Many +of the cannibals whose cases are related by Mr. Baring-Gould, in +his chapter of horrors, actually believed themselves to have been +transformed into wolves or other wild animals. Jean Grenier was a boy of +thirteen, partially idiotic, and of strongly marked canine physiognomy; +his jaws were large and projected forward, and his canine teeth were +unnaturally long, so as to protrude beyond the lower lip. He believed +himself to be a werewolf. One evening, meeting half a dozen young girls, +he scared them out of their wits by telling them that as soon as the sun +had set he would turn into a wolf and eat them for supper. A few days +later, one little girl, having gone out at nightfall to look after the +sheep, was attacked by some creature which in her terror she mistook for +a wolf, but which afterwards proved to be none other than Jean Grenier. +She beat him off with her sheep-staff, and fled home. As several +children had mysteriously disappeared from the neighbourhood, Grenier +was at once suspected. Being brought before the parliament of Bordeaux, +he stated that two years ago he had met the Devil one night in the woods +and had signed a compact with him and received from him a wolf-skin. +Since then he had roamed about as a wolf after dark, resuming his human +shape by daylight. He had killed and eaten several children whom he had +found alone in the fields, and on one occasion he had entered a house +while the family were out and taken the baby from its cradle. A careful +investigation proved the truth of these statements, so far as the +cannibalism was concerned. There is no doubt that the missing children +were eaten by Jean Grenier, and there is no doubt that in his own mind +the halfwitted boy was firmly convinced that he was a wolf. Here the +lycanthropy was complete. + +In the year 1598, "in a wild and unfrequented spot near Caude, some +countrymen came one day upon the corpse of a boy of fifteen, horribly +mutilated and bespattered with blood. As the men approached, two wolves, +which had been rending the body, bounded away into the thicket. The men +gave chase immediately, following their bloody tracks till they lost +them; when, suddenly crouching among the bushes, his teeth chattering +with fear, they found a man half naked, with long hair and beard, and +with his hands dyed in blood. His nails were long as claws, and were +clotted with fresh gore and shreds of human flesh." [80] + +This man, Jacques Roulet, was a poor, half-witted creature under the +dominion of a cannibal appetite. He was employed in tearing to pieces +the corpse of the boy when these countrymen came up. Whether there were +any wolves in the case, except what the excited imaginations of the men +may have conjured up, I will not presume to determine; but it is certain +that Roulet supposed himself to be a wolf, and killed and ate several +persons under the influence of the delusion. He was sentenced to death, +but the parliament of Paris reversed the sentence, and charitably shut +him up in a madhouse. + +The annals of the Middle Ages furnish many cases similar to these of +Grenier and Roulet. Their share in maintaining the werewolf superstition +is undeniable; but modern science finds in them nothing that cannot be +readily explained. That stupendous process of breeding, which we call +civilization, has been for long ages strengthening those kindly social +feelings by the possession of which we are chiefly distinguished from +the brutes, leaving our primitive bestial impulses to die for want of +exercise, or checking in every possible way their further expansion by +legislative enactments. But this process, which is transforming us from +savages into civilized men, is a very slow one; and now and then there +occur cases of what physiologists call atavism, or reversion to an +ancestral type of character. Now and then persons are born, in civilized +countries, whose intellectual powers are on a level with those of the +most degraded Australian savage, and these we call idiots. And now and +then persons are born possessed of the bestial appetites and cravings +of primitive man, his fiendish cruelty and his liking for human flesh. +Modern physiology knows how to classify and explain these abnormal +cases, but to the unscientific mediaeval mind they were explicable only +on the hypothesis of a diabolical metamorphosis. And there is nothing +strange in the fact that, in an age when the prevailing habits of +thought rendered the transformation of men into beasts an easily +admissible notion, these monsters of cruelty and depraved appetite +should have been regarded as capable of taking on bestial forms. Nor is +it strange that the hallucination under which these unfortunate wretches +laboured should have taken such a shape as to account to their feeble +intelligence for the existence of the appetites which they were +conscious of not sharing with their neighbours and contemporaries. If +a myth is a piece of unscientific philosophizing, it must sometimes +be applied to the explanation of obscure psychological as well as of +physical phenomena. Where the modern calmly taps his forehead and says, +"Arrested development," the terrified ancient made the sign of the cross +and cried, "Werewolf." + +We shall be assisted in this explanation by turning aside for a +moment to examine the wild superstitions about "changelings," which +contributed, along with so many others, to make the lives of our +ancestors anxious and miserable. These superstitions were for the most +part attempts to explain the phenomena of insanity, epilepsy, and other +obscure nervous diseases. A man who has hitherto enjoyed perfect health, +and whose actions have been consistent and rational, suddenly loses all +self-control and seems actuated by a will foreign to himself. Modern +science possesses the key to this phenomenon; but in former times it was +explicable only on the hypothesis that a demon had entered the body +of the lunatic, or else that the fairies had stolen the real man and +substituted for him a diabolical phantom exactly like him in stature and +features. Hence the numerous legends of changelings, some of which +are very curious. In Irish folk-lore we find the story of one Rickard, +surnamed the Rake, from his worthless character. A good-natured, idle +fellow, he spent all his evenings in dancing,--an accomplishment in +which no one in the village could rival him. One night, in the midst of +a lively reel, he fell down in a fit. "He's struck with a fairy-dart," +exclaimed all the friends, and they carried him home and nursed him; but +his face grew so thin and his manner so morose that by and by all began +to suspect that the true Rickard was gone and a changeling put in his +place. Rickard, with all his accomplishments, was no musician; and so, +in order to put the matter to a crucial test, a bagpipe was left in the +room by the side of his bed. The trick succeeded. One hot summer's day, +when all were supposed to be in the field making hay, some members +of the family secreted in a clothes-press saw the bedroom door open a +little way, and a lean, foxy face, with a pair of deep-sunken eyes, peer +anxiously about the premises. Having satisfied itself that the coast +was clear, the face withdrew, the door was closed, and presently such +ravishing strains of music were heard as never proceeded from a bagpipe +before or since that day. Soon was heard the rustle of innumerable +fairies, come to dance to the changeling's music. Then the "fairy-man" +of the village, who was keeping watch with the family, heated a pair +of tongs red-hot, and with deafening shouts all burst at once into the +sick-chamber. The music had ceased and the room was empty, but in at the +window glared a fiendish face, with such fearful looks of hatred, that +for a moment all stood motionless with terror. But when the fairy-man, +recovering himself, advanced with the hot tongs to pinch its nose, it +vanished with an unearthly yell, and there on the bed was Rickard, safe +and sound, and cured of his epilepsy. [81] + +Comparing this legend with numerous others relating to changelings, +and stripping off the fantastic garb of fairy-lore with which popular +imagination has invested them, it seems impossible to doubt that they +have arisen from myths devised for the purpose of explaining the obscure +phenomena of mental disease. If this be so, they afford an excellent +collateral illustration of the belief in werewolves. The same mental +habits which led men to regard the insane or epileptic person as a +changeling, and which allowed them to explain catalepsy as the temporary +departure of a witch's soul from its body, would enable them to +attribute a wolf's nature to the maniac or idiot with cannibal +appetites. And when the myth-forming process had got thus far, it would +not stop short of assigning to the unfortunate wretch a tangible lupine +body; for all ancient mythology teemed with precedents for such a +transformation. + +It remains for us to sum up,--to tie into a bunch the keys which +have helped us to penetrate into the secret causes of the werewolf +superstition. In a previous paper we saw what a host of myths, +fairy-tales, and superstitious observances have sprung from attempts to +interpret one simple natural phenomenon,--the descent of fire from the +clouds. Here, on the other hand, we see what a heterogeneous multitude +of mythical elements may combine to build up in course of time a single +enormous superstition, and we see how curiously fact and fancy have +co-operated in keeping the superstition from falling. In the first place +the worship of dead ancestors with wolf totems originated the notion +of the transformation of men into divine or superhuman wolves; and this +notion was confirmed by the ambiguous explanation of the storm-wind +as the rushing of a troop of dead men's souls or as the howling of +wolf-like monsters. Mediaeval Christianity retained these conceptions, +merely changing the superhuman wolves into evil demons; and finally the +occurrence of cases of Berserker madness and cannibalism, accompanied by +lycanthropic hallucinations, being interpreted as due to such demoniacal +metamorphosis, gave rise to the werewolf superstition of the Middle +Ages. The etymological proceedings, to which Mr. Cox would incontinently +ascribe the origin of the entire superstition, seemed to me to have +played a very subordinate part in the matter. To suppose that Jean +Grenier imagined himself to be a wolf, because the Greek word for wolf +sounded like the word for light, and thus gave rise to the story of a +light-deity who became a wolf, seems to me quite inadmissible. Yet as +far as such verbal equivocations may have prevailed, they doubtless +helped to sustain the delusion. + +Thus we need no longer regard our werewolf as an inexplicable creature +of undetermined pedigree. But any account of him would be quite +imperfect which should omit all consideration of the methods by which +his change of form was accomplished. By the ancient Romans the werewolf +was commonly called a "skin-changer" or "turn-coat" (versipellis), and +similar epithets were applied to him in the Middle Ages The mediaeval +theory was that, while the werewolf kept his human form, his hair grew +inwards; when he wished to become a wolf, he simply turned himself +inside out. In many trials on record, the prisoners were closely +interrogated as to how this inversion might be accomplished; but I am +not aware that any one of them ever gave a satisfactory answer. At +the moment of change their memories seem to have become temporarily +befogged. Now and then a poor wretch had his arms and legs cut off, +or was partially flayed, in order that the ingrowing hair might be +detected. [82] Another theory was, that the possessed person had merely +to put on a wolf's skin, in order to assume instantly the lupine form +and character; and in this may perhaps be seen a vague reminiscence of +the alleged fact that Berserkers were in the habit of haunting the woods +by night, clothed in the hides of wolves or bears. [83] Such a wolfskin +was kept by the boy Grenier. Roulet, on the other hand, confessed to +using a magic salve or ointment. A fourth method of becoming a werewolf +was to obtain a girdle, usually made of human skin. Several cases are +related in Thorpe's "Northern Mythology." One hot day in harvest-time +some reapers lay down to sleep in the shade; when one of them, who could +not sleep, saw the man next him arise quietly and gird him with a strap, +whereupon he instantly vanished, and a wolf jumped up from among the +sleepers and ran off across the fields. Another man, who possessed such +a girdle, once went away from home without remembering to lock it +up. His little son climbed up to the cupboard and got it, and as he +proceeded to buckle it around his waist, he became instantly transformed +into a strange-looking beast. Just then his father came in, and seizing +the girdle restored the child to his natural shape. The boy said that no +sooner had he buckled it on than he was tormented with a raging hunger. + +Sometimes the werewolf transformation led to unlucky accidents. At +Caseburg, as a man and his wife were making hay, the woman threw down +her pitchfork and went away, telling her husband that if a wild beast +should come to him during her absence he must throw his hat at it. +Presently a she-wolf rushed towards him. The man threw his hat at it, +but a boy came up from another part of the field and stabbed the animal +with his pitchfork, whereupon it vanished, and the woman's dead body lay +at his feet. + +A parallel legend shows that this woman wished to have the hat thrown +at her, in order that she might be henceforth free from her liability +to become a werewolf. A man was one night returning with his wife from +a merry-making when he felt the change coming on. Giving his wife the +reins, he jumped from the wagon, telling her to strike with her apron +at any animal which might come to her. In a few moments a wolf ran up to +the side of the vehicle, and, as the woman struck out with her apron, it +bit off a piece and ran away. Presently the man returned with the +piece of apron in his mouth and consoled his terrified wife with the +information that the enchantment had left him forever. + +A terrible case at a village in Auvergne has found its way into the +annals of witchcraft. "A gentleman while hunting was suddenly attacked +by a savage wolf of monstrous size. Impenetrable by his shot, the beast +made a spring upon the helpless huntsman, who in the struggle luckily, +or unluckily for the unfortunate lady, contrived to cut off one of its +fore-paws. This trophy he placed in his pocket, and made the best of +his way homewards in safety. On the road he met a friend, to whom he +exhibited a bleeding paw, or rather (as it now appeared) a woman's hand, +upon which was a wedding-ring. His wife's ring was at once recognized by +the other. His suspicions aroused, he immediately went in search of his +wife, who was found sitting by the fire in the kitchen, her arm hidden +beneath her apron, when the husband, seizing her by the arm, found his +terrible suspicions verified. The bleeding stump was there, evidently +just fresh from the wound. She was given into custody, and in the event +was burned at Riom, in presence of thousands of spectators." [84] + +Sometimes a werewolf was cured merely by recognizing him while in his +brute shape. A Swedish legend tells of a cottager who, on entering the +forest one day without recollecting to say his Patter Noster, got into +the power of a Troll, who changed him into a wolf. For many years his +wife mourned him as dead. But one Christmas eve the old Troll, disguised +as a beggarwoman, came to the house for alms; and being taken in and +kindly treated, told the woman that her husband might very likely appear +to her in wolf-shape. Going at night to the pantry to lay aside a joint +of meat for tomorrow's dinner, she saw a wolf standing with its paws on +the window-sill, looking wistfully in at her. "Ah, dearest," said she, +"if I knew that thou wert really my husband, I would give thee a bone." +Whereupon the wolf-skin fell off, and her husband stood before her in +the same old clothes which he had on the day that the Troll got hold of +him. + +In Denmark it was believed that if a woman were to creep through a +colt's placental membrane stretched between four sticks, she would for +the rest of her life bring forth children without pain or illness; but +all the boys would in such case be werewolves, and all the girls Maras, +or nightmares. In this grotesque superstition appears that curious +kinship between the werewolf and the wife or maiden of supernatural +race, which serves admirably to illustrate the nature of both +conceptions, and the elucidation of which shall occupy us throughout the +remainder of this paper. + +It is, perhaps, needless to state that in the personality of the +nightmare, or Mara, there was nothing equine. The Mara was a female +demon, [85] who would come at night and torment men or women by +crouching on their chests or stomachs and stopping their respiration. +The scene is well enough represented in Fuseli's picture, though the +frenzied-looking horse which there accompanies the demon has no place +in the original superstition. A Netherlandish story illustrates the +character of the Mara. Two young men were in love with the same damsel. +One of them, being tormented every night by a Mara, sought advice from +his rival, and it was a treacherous counsel that he got. "Hold a sharp +knife with the point towards your breast, and you'll never see the Mara +again," said this false friend. The lad thanked him, but when he lay +down to rest he thought it as well to be on the safe side, and so held +the knife handle downward. So when the Mara came, instead of forcing the +blade into his breast, she cut herself badly, and fled howling; and let +us hope, though the legend here leaves us in the dark, that this poor +youth, who is said to have been the comelier of the two, revenged +himself on his malicious rival by marrying the young lady. + +But the Mara sometimes appeared in less revolting shape, and became the +mistress or even the wife of some mortal man to whom she happened to +take a fancy. In such cases she would vanish on being recognized. There +is a well-told monkish tale of a pious knight who, journeying one day +through the forest, found a beautiful lady stripped naked and tied to a +tree, her back all covered with deep gashes streaming with blood, from a +flogging which some bandits had given her. Of course he took her home +to his castle and married her, and for a while they lived very happily +together, and the fame of the lady's beauty was so great that kings and +emperors held tournaments in honor of her. But this pious knight used +to go to mass every Sunday, and greatly was he scandalized when he found +that his wife would never stay to assist in the Credo, but would always +get up and walk out of church just as the choir struck up. All her +husband's coaxing was of no use; threats and entreaties were alike +powerless even to elicit an explanation of this strange conduct. At last +the good man determined to use force; and so one Sunday, as the lady got +up to go out, according to custom, he seized her by the arm and sternly +commanded her to remain. Her whole frame was suddenly convulsed, and her +dark eyes gleamed with weird, unearthly brilliancy. The services paused +for a moment, and all eyes were turned toward the knight and his +lady. "In God's name, tell me what thou art," shouted the knight; and +instantly, says the chronicler, "the bodily form of the lady melted +away, and was seen no more; whilst, with a cry of anguish and of terror, +an evil spirit of monstrous form rose from the ground, clave the chapel +roof asunder, and disappeared in the air." + +In a Danish legend, the Mara betrays her affinity to the Nixies, or +Swan-maidens. A peasant discovered that his sweetheart was in the habit +of coming to him by night as a Mara. He kept strict watch until he +discovered her creeping into the room through a small knot-hole in the +door. Next day he made a peg, and after she had come to him, drove in +the peg so that she was unable to escape. They were married and lived +together many years; but one night it happened that the man, joking with +his wife about the way in which he had secured her, drew the peg from +the knot-hole, that she might see how she had entered his room. As she +peeped through, she became suddenly quite small, passed out, and was +never seen again. + +The well-known pathological phenomena of nightmare are sufficient to +account for the mediaeval theory of a fiend who sits upon one's bosom +and hinders respiration; but as we compare these various legends +relating to the Mara, we see that a more recondite explanation is needed +to account for all her peculiarities. Indigestion may interfere with our +breathing, but it does not make beautiful women crawl through keyholes, +nor does it bring wives from the spirit-world. The Mara belongs to an +ancient family, and in passing from the regions of monkish superstition +to those of pure mythology we find that, like her kinsman the werewolf, +she had once seen better days. Christianity made a demon of the Mara, +and adopted the theory that Satan employed these seductive creatures as +agents for ruining human souls. Such is the character of the knight's +wife, in the monkish legend just cited. But in the Danish tale the +Mara appears as one of that large family of supernatural wives who are +permitted to live with mortal men under certain conditions, but who are +compelled to flee away when these conditions are broken, as is always +sure to be the case. The eldest and one of the loveliest of this family +is the Hindu nymph Urvasi, whose love adventures with Pururavas are +narrated in the Puranas, and form the subject of the well-known and +exquisite Sanskrit drama by Kalidasa. Urvasi is allowed to live with +Pururavas so long as she does not see him undressed. But one night her +kinsmen, the Gandharvas, or cloud-demons, vexed at her long absence from +heaven, resolved to get her away from her mortal companion, They stole +a pet lamb which had been tied at the foot of her couch, whereat she +bitterly upbraided her husband. In rage and mortification, Pururavas +sprang up without throwing on his tunic, and grasping his sword sought +the robber. Then the wicked Gandharvas sent a flash of lightning, and +Urvasi, seeing her naked husband, instantly vanished. + +The different versions of this legend, which have been elaborately +analyzed by comparative mythologists, leave no doubt that Urvasi is +one of the dawn-nymphs or bright fleecy clouds of early morning, which +vanish as the splendour of the sun is unveiled. We saw, in the preceding +paper, that the ancient Aryans regarded the sky as a sea or great lake, +and that the clouds were explained variously as Phaiakian ships with +bird-like beaks sailing over this lake, or as bright birds of divers +shapes and hues. The light fleecy cirrhi were regarded as mermaids, or +as swans, or as maidens with swan's plumage. In Sanskrit they are called +Apsaras, or "those who move in the water," and the Elves and Maras of +Teutonic mythology have the same significance. Urvasi appears in one +legend as a bird; and a South German prescription for getting rid of +the Mara asserts that if she be wrapped up in the bedclothes and +firmly held, a white dove will forthwith fly from the room, leaving the +bedclothes empty. [86] + +In the story of Melusina the cloud-maiden appears as a kind of mermaid, +but in other respects the legend resembles that of Urvasi. Raymond, +Count de la Foret, of Poitou, having by an accident killed his patron +and benefactor during a hunting excursion, fled in terror and despair +into the deep recesses of the forest. All the afternoon and evening he +wandered through the thick dark woods, until at midnight he came upon +a strange scene. All at once "the boughs of the trees became less +interlaced, and the trunks fewer; next moment his horse, crashing +through the shrubs, brought him out on a pleasant glade, white with +rime, and illumined by the new moon; in the midst bubbled up a limpid +fountain, and flowed away over a pebbly-floor with a soothing murmur. +Near the fountain-head sat three maidens in glimmering white dresses, +with long waving golden hair, and faces of inexpressible beauty." [87] +One of them advanced to meet Raymond, and according to all mythological +precedent, they were betrothed before daybreak. In due time the +fountain-nymph [88] became Countess de la Foret, but her husband was +given to understand that all her Saturdays would be passed in strictest +seclusion, upon which he must never dare to intrude, under penalty of +losing her forever. For many years all went well, save that the fair +Melusina's children were, without exception, misshapen or disfigured. +But after a while this strange weekly seclusion got bruited about all +over the neighbourhood, and people shook their heads and looked grave +about it. So many gossiping tales came to the Count's ears, that he +began to grow anxious and suspicious, and at last he determined to know +the worst. He went one Saturday to Melusina's private apartments, and +going through one empty room after another, at last came to a locked +door which opened into a bath; looking through a keyhole, there he +saw the Countess transformed from the waist downwards into a fish, +disporting herself like a mermaid in the water. Of course he could not +keep the secret, but when some time afterwards they quarrelled, must +needs address her as "a vile serpent, contaminator of his honourable +race." So she disappeared through the window, but ever afterward hovered +about her husband's castle of Lusignan, like a Banshee, whenever one of +its lords was about to die. + +The well-known story of Undine is similar to that of Melusina, save that +the naiad's desire to obtain a human soul is a conception foreign to +the spirit of the myth, and marks the degradation which Christianity had +inflicted upon the denizens of fairy-land. In one of Dasent's tales the +water-maiden is replaced by a kind of werewolf. A white bear marries a +young girl, but assumes the human shape at night. She is never to look +upon him in his human shape, but how could a young bride be expected +to obey such an injunction as that? She lights a candle while he is +sleeping, and discovers the handsomest prince in the world; unluckily +she drops tallow on his shirt, and that tells the story. But she is more +fortunate than poor Raymond, for after a tiresome journey to the "land +east of the sun and west of the moon," and an arduous washing-match +with a parcel of ugly Trolls, she washes out the spots, and ends her +husband's enchantment. [89] + +In the majority of these legends, however, the Apsaras, or cloud-maiden, +has a shirt of swan's feathers which plays the same part as the wolfskin +cape or girdle of the werewolf. If you could get hold of a werewolf's +sack and burn it, a permanent cure was effected. No danger of a relapse, +unless the Devil furnished him with a new wolfskin. So the swan-maiden +kept her human form, as long as she was deprived of her tunic of +feathers. Indo-European folk-lore teems with stories of swan-maidens +forcibly wooed and won by mortals who had stolen their clothes. A man +travelling along the road passes by a lake where several lovely girls +are bathing; their dresses, made of feathers curiously and daintily +woven, lie on the shore. He approaches the place cautiously and steals +one of these dresses. [90] When the girls have finished their bathing, +they all come and get their dresses and swim away as swans; but the one +whose dress is stolen must needs stay on shore and marry the thief. It +is needless to add that they live happily together for many years, +or that finally the good man accidentally leaves the cupboard door +unlocked, whereupon his wife gets back her swan-shirt and flies away +from him, never to return. But it is not always a shirt of feathers. In +one German story, a nobleman hunting deer finds a maiden bathing in a +clear pool in the forest. He runs stealthily up to her and seizes her +necklace, at which she loses the power to flee. They are married, and +she bears seven sons at once, all of whom have gold chains about their +necks, and are able to transform themselves into swans whenever they +like. A Flemish legend tells of three Nixies, or water-sprites, who came +out of the Meuse one autumn evening, and helped the villagers celebrate +the end of the vintage. Such graceful dancers had never been seen in +Flanders, and they could sing as well as they could dance. As the night +was warm, one of them took off her gloves and gave them to her partner +to hold for her. When the clock struck twelve the other two started off +in hot haste, and then there was a hue and cry for gloves. The lad would +keep them as love-tokens, and so the poor Nixie had to go home without +them; but she must have died on the way, for next morning the waters of +the Meuse were blood-red, and those damsels never returned. + +In the Faro Islands it is believed that seals cast off their skins every +ninth night, assume human forms, and sing and dance like men and women +until daybreak, when they resume their skins and their seal natures. +Of course a man once found and hid one of these sealskins, and so got +a mermaid for a wife; and of course she recovered the skin and escaped. +[91] On the coasts of Ireland it is supposed to be quite an ordinary +thing for young sea-fairies to get human husbands in this way; the +brazen things even come to shore on purpose, and leave their red caps +lying around for young men to pick up; but it behooves the husband to +keep a strict watch over the red cap, if he would not see his children +left motherless. + +This mermaid's cap has contributed its quota to the superstitions of +witchcraft. An Irish story tells how Red James was aroused from sleep +one night by noises in the kitchen. Going down to the door, he saw a +lot of old women drinking punch around the fireplace, and laughing and +joking with his housekeeper. When the punchbowl was empty, they all put +on red caps, and singing + + "By yarrow and rue, + And my red cap too, + Hie me over to England," + +they flew up chimney. So Jimmy burst into the room, and seized the +housekeeper's cap, and went along with them. They flew across the sea to +a castle in England, passed through the keyholes from room to room and +into the cellar, where they had a famous carouse. Unluckily Jimmy, being +unused to such good cheer, got drunk, and forgot to put on his cap when +the others did. So next morning the lord's butler found him dead-drunk +on the cellar floor, surrounded by empty casks. He was sentenced to be +hung without any trial worth speaking of; but as he was carted to the +gallows an old woman cried out, "Ach, Jimmy alanna! Would you be afther +dyin' in a strange land without your red birredh?" The lord made no +objections, and so the red cap was brought and put on him. Accordingly +when Jimmy had got to the gallows and was making his last speech for the +edification of the spectators, he unexpectedly and somewhat irrelevantly +exclaimed, "By yarrow and rue," etc., and was off like a rocket, +shooting through the blue air en route for old Ireland. [92] + +In another Irish legend an enchanted ass comes into the kitchen of a +great house every night, and washes the dishes and scours the tins, +so that the servants lead an easy life of it. After a while in their +exuberant gratitude they offer him any present for which he may feel +inclined to ask. He desires only "an ould coat, to keep the chill off of +him these could nights"; but as soon as he gets into the coat he resumes +his human form and bids them good by, and thenceforth they may wash +their own dishes and scour their own tins, for all him. + +But we are diverging from the subject of swan-maidens, and are in danger +of losing ourselves in that labyrinth of popular fancies which is more +intricate than any that Daidalos ever planned. The significance of +all these sealskins and feather-dresses and mermaid caps and +werewolf-girdles may best be sought in the etymology of words like the +German leichnam, in which the body is described as a garment of flesh +for the soul. [93] In the naive philosophy of primitive thinkers, the +soul, in passing from one visible shape to another, had only to put on +the outward integument of the creature in which it wished to incarnate +itself. With respect to the mode of metamorphosis, there is little +difference between the werewolf and the swan-maiden; and the similarity +is no less striking between the genesis of the two conceptions. The +original werewolf is the night-wind, regarded now as a manlike deity and +now as a howling lupine fiend; and the original swan-maiden is the +light fleecy cloud, regarded either as a woman-like goddess or as a +bird swimming in the sky sea. The one conception has been productive of +little else but horrors; the other has given rise to a great variety +of fanciful creations, from the treacherous mermaid and the fiendish +nightmare to the gentle Undine, the charming Nausikaa, and the stately +Muse of classic antiquity. + +We have seen that the original werewolf, howling in the wintry blast, +is a kind of psychopomp, or leader of departed souls; he is the +wild ancestor of the death-dog, whose voice under the window of a +sick-chamber is even now a sound of ill-omen. The swan-maiden has also +been supposed to summon the dying to her home in the Phaiakian land. +The Valkyries, with their shirts of swan-plumage, who hovered over +Scandinavian battle-fields to receive the souls of falling heroes, were +identical with the Hindu Apsaras; and the Houris of the Mussulman belong +to the same family. Even for the angels,--women with large wings, who +are seen in popular pictures bearing mortals on high towards heaven,--we +can hardly claim a different kinship. Melusina, when she leaves +the castle of Lusignan, becomes a Banshee; and it has been a common +superstition among sailors, that the appearance of a mermaid, with her +comb and looking-glass, foretokens shipwreck, with the loss of all on +board. + +October, 1870. + + + + +IV. LIGHT AND DARKNESS. + +WHEN Maitland blasphemously asserted that God was but "a Bogie of +the nursery," he unwittingly made a remark as suggestive in point of +philology as it was crude and repulsive in its atheism. When examined +with the lenses of linguistic science, the "Bogie" or "Bug-a-boo" or +"Bugbear" of nursery lore turns out to be identical, not only with +the fairy "Puck," whom Shakespeare has immortalized, but also with the +Slavonic "Bog" and the "Baga" of the Cuneiform Inscriptions, both +of which are names for the Supreme Being. If we proceed further, and +inquire after the ancestral form of these epithets,--so strangely +incongruous in their significations,--we shall find it in the Old Aryan +"Bhaga," which reappears unchanged in the Sanskrit of the Vedas, and has +left a memento of itself in the surname of the Phrygian Zeus "Bagaios." +It seems originally to have denoted either the unclouded sun or the sky +of noonday illumined by the solar rays. In Sayana's commentary on the +Rig-Veda, Bhaga is enumerated among the seven (or eight) sons of Aditi, +the boundless Orient; and he is elsewhere described as the lord of life, +the giver of bread, and the bringer of happiness. [94] + +Thus the same name which, to the Vedic poet, to the Persian of the time +of Xerxes, and to the modern Russian, suggests the supreme majesty +of deity, is in English associated with an ugly and ludicrous fiend, +closely akin to that grotesque Northern Devil of whom Southey was unable +to think without laughing. Such is the irony of fate toward a deposed +deity. The German name for idol--Abgott, that is, "ex-god," or +"dethroned god"--sums up in a single etymology the history of the +havoc wrought by monotheism among the ancient symbols of deity. In +the hospitable Pantheon of the Greeks and Romans a niche was always +in readiness for every new divinity who could produce respectable +credentials; but the triumph of monotheism converted the stately mansion +into a Pandemonium peopled with fiends. To the monotheist an "ex-god" +was simply a devilish deceiver of mankind whom the true God had +succeeded in vanquishing; and thus the word demon, which to the ancient +meant a divine or semi-divine being, came to be applied to fiends +exclusively. Thus the Teutonic races, who preserved the name of their +highest divinity, Odin,--originally, Guodan,--by which to designate +the God of the Christian, [95] were unable to regard the Bog of ancient +tradition as anything but an "ex-god," or vanquished demon. + +The most striking illustration of this process is to be found in the +word devil itself: To a reader unfamiliar with the endless tricks which +language delights in playing, it may seem shocking to be told that the +Gypsies use the word devil as the name of God. [96] This, however, is +not because these people have made the archfiend an object of worship, +but because the Gypsy language, descending directly from the Sanskrit, +has retained in its primitive exalted sense a word which the English +language has received only in its debased and perverted sense. The +Teutonic words devil, teufel, diuval, djofull, djevful, may all +be traced back to the Zend dev, [97] a name in which is implicitly +contained the record of the oldest monotheistic revolution known to +history. The influence of the so-called Zoroastrian reform upon the +long-subsequent development of Christianity will receive further notice +in the course of this paper; for the present it is enough to know that +it furnished for all Christendom the name by which it designates the +author of evil. To the Parsee follower of Zarathustra the name of the +Devil has very nearly the same signification as to the Christian; yet, +as Grimm has shown, it is nothing else than a corruption of deva, the +Sanskrit name for God. When Zarathustra overthrew the primeval Aryan +nature-worship in Bactria, this name met the same evil fate which in +early Christian times overtook the word demon, and from a symbol of +reverence became henceforth a symbol of detestation. [98] But throughout +the rest of the Aryan world it achieved a nobler career, producing the +Greek theos, the Lithuanian diewas, the Latin deus, and hence the modern +French Dieu, all meaning God. + +If we trace back this remarkable word to its primitive source in that +once lost but now partially recovered mother-tongue from which all our +Aryan languages are descended, we find a root div or dyu, meaning "to +shine." From the first-mentioned form comes deva, with its numerous +progeny of good and evil appellatives; from the latter is derived the +name of Dyaus, with its brethren, Zeus and Jupiter. In Sanskrit dyu, +as a noun, means "sky" and "day"; and there are many passages in the +Rig-Veda where the character of the god Dyaus, as the personification +of the sky or the brightness of the ethereal heavens, is unmistakably +apparent. This key unlocks for us one of the secrets of Greek mythology. +So long as there was for Zeus no better etymology than that which +assigned it to the root zen, "to live," [99] there was little hope +of understanding the nature of Zeus. But when we learn that Zeus is +identical with Dyaus, the bright sky, we are enabled to understand +Horace's expression, "sub Jove frigido," and the prayer of the +Athenians, "Rain, rain, dear Zeus, on the land of the Athenians, and on +the fields." [100] Such expressions as these were retained by the Greeks +and Romans long after they had forgotten that their supreme deity +was once the sky. Yet even the Brahman, from whose mind the physical +significance of the god's name never wholly disappeared, could speak of +him as Father Dyaus, the great Pitri, or ancestor of gods and men; and +in this reverential name Dyaus pitar may be seen the exact equivalent of +the Roman's Jupiter, or Jove the Father. The same root can be followed +into Old German, where Zio is the god of day; and into Anglo-Saxon, +where Tiwsdaeg, or the day of Zeus, is the ancestral form of Tuesday. + +Thus we again reach the same results which were obtained from the +examination of the name Bhaga. These various names for the supreme Aryan +god, which without the help afforded by the Vedas could never have +been interpreted, are seen to have been originally applied to the +sun-illumined firmament. Countless other examples, when similarly +analyzed, show that the earliest Aryan conception of a Divine Power, +nourishing man and sustaining the universe, was suggested by the light +of the mighty Sun; who, as modern science has shown, is the originator +of all life and motion upon the globe, and whom the ancients delighted +to believe the source, not only of "the golden light," [101] but of +everything that is bright, joy-giving, and pure. Nevertheless, in +accepting this conclusion as well established by linguistic science, we +must be on our guard against an error into which writers on mythology +are very liable to fall. Neither sky nor sun nor light of day, neither +Zeus nor Apollo, neither Dyaus nor Indra, was ever worshipped by the +ancient Aryan in anything like a monotheistic sense. To interpret Zeus +or Jupiter as originally the supreme Aryan god, and to regard classic +paganism as one of the degraded remnants of a primeval monotheism, is to +sin against the canons of a sound inductive philosophy. Philology itself +teaches us that this could not have been so. Father Dyaus was originally +the bright sky and nothing more. Although his name became generalized, +in the classic languages, into deus, or God, it is quite certain that in +early days, before the Aryan separation, it had acquired no such exalted +significance. It was only in Greece and Rome--or, we may say, among +the still united Italo-Hellenic tribes--that Jupiter-Zeus attained a +pre-eminence over all other deities. The people of Iran quite +rejected him, the Teutons preferred Thor and Odin, and in India he was +superseded, first by Indra, afterwards by Brahma and Vishnu. We need +not, therefore, look for a single supreme divinity among the old Aryans; +nor may we expect to find any sense, active or dormant, of monotheism in +the primitive intelligence of uncivilized men. [102] The whole fabric +of comparative mythology, as at present constituted, and as described +above, in the first of these papers, rests upon the postulate that the +earliest religion was pure fetichism. + +In the unsystematic nature-worship of the old Aryans the gods are +presented to us only as vague powers, with their nature and attributes +dimly defined, and their relations to each other fluctuating and often +contradictory. There is no theogony, no regular subordination of one +deity to another. The same pair of divinities appear now as father and +daughter, now as brother and sister, now as husband and wife; and again +they quite lose their personality, and are represented as mere natural +phenomena. As Muller observes, "The poets of the Veda indulged freely in +theogonic speculations without being frightened by any contradictions. +They knew of Indra as the greatest of gods, they knew of Agni as the god +of gods, they knew of Varuna as the ruler of all; but they were by no +means startled at the idea that their Indra had a mother, or that +their Agni [Latin ignis] was born like a babe from the friction of two +fire-sticks, or that Varuna and his brother Mitra were nursed in the lap +of Aditi." [103] Thus we have seen Bhaga, the daylight, represented +as the offspring, of Aditi, the boundless Orient; but he had several +brothers, and among them were Mitra, the sun, Varuna, the overarching +firmament, and Vivasvat, the vivifying sun. Manifestly we have here +but so many different names for what is at bottom one and the same +conception. The common element which, in Dyaus and Varuna, in Bhaga and +Indra, was made an object of worship, is the brightness, warmth, and +life of day, as contrasted with the darkness, cold, and seeming death +of the night-time. And this common element was personified in as many +different ways as the unrestrained fancy of the ancient worshipper saw +fit to devise. [104] + +Thus we begin to see why a few simple objects, like the sun, the sky, +the dawn, and the night, should be represented in mythology by such +a host of gods, goddesses, and heroes. For at one time the Sun is +represented as the conqueror of hydras and dragons who hide away from +men the golden treasures of light and warmth, and at another time he is +represented as a weary voyager traversing the sky-sea amid many perils, +with the steadfast purpose of returning to his western home and +his twilight bride; hence the different conceptions of Herakles, +Bellerophon, and Odysseus. Now he is represented as the son of the Dawn, +and again, with equal propriety, as the son of the Night, and the fickle +lover of the Dawn; hence we have, on the one hand, stories of a virgin +mother who dies in giving birth to a hero, and, on the other hand, +stories of a beautiful maiden who is forsaken and perhaps cruelly slain +by her treacherous lover. Indeed, the Sun's adventures with so many +dawn-maidens have given him quite a bad character, and the legends are +numerous in which he appears as the prototype of Don Juan. Yet again his +separation from the bride of his youth is described as due to no fault +of his own, but to a resistless decree of fate, which hurries him away +as Aineias was compelled to abandon Dido. Or, according to a third +and equally plausible notion, he is a hero of ascetic virtues, and the +dawn-maiden is a wicked enchantress, daughter of the sensual Aphrodite, +who vainly endeavours to seduce him. In the story of Odysseus these +various conceptions are blended together. When enticed by artful women, +[105] he yields for a while to the temptation; but by and by his longing +to see Penelope takes him homeward, albeit with a record which Penelope +might not altogether have liked. Again, though the Sun, "always roaming +with a hungry heart," has seen many cities and customs of strange men, +he is nevertheless confined to a single path,--a circumstance which +seems to have occasioned much speculation in the primeval mind. +Garcilaso de la Vega relates of a certain Peruvian Inca, who seems to +have been an "infidel" with reference to the orthodox mythology of his +day, that he thought the Sun was not such a mighty god after all; for +if he were, he would wander about the heavens at random instead of +going forever, like a horse in a treadmill, along the same course. The +American Indians explained this circumstance by myths which told how the +Sun was once caught and tied with a chain which would only let him swing +a little way to one side or the other. The ancient Aryan developed the +nobler myth of the labours of Herakles, performed in obedience to the +bidding of Eurystheus. Again, the Sun must needs destroy its parents, +the Night and the Dawn; and accordingly his parents, forewarned by +prophecy, expose him in infancy, or order him to be put to death; but +his tragic destiny never fails to be accomplished to the letter. +And again the Sun, who engages in quarrels not his own, is sometimes +represented as retiring moodily from the sight of men, like Achilleus +and Meleagros: he is short-lived and ill-fated, born to do much good +and to be repaid with ingratitude; his life depends on the duration of a +burning brand, and when that is extinguished he must die. + +The myth of the great Theban hero, Oidipous, well illustrates the +multiplicity of conceptions which clustered about the daily career of +the solar orb. His father, Laios, had been warned by the Delphic oracle +that he was in danger of death from his own son. The newly born Oidipous +was therefore exposed on the hillside, but, like Romulus and Remus, and +all infants similarly situated in legend, was duly rescued. He was taken +to Corinth, where he grew up to manhood. Journeying once to Thebes, he +got into a quarrel with an old man whom he met on the road, and slew +him, who was none other than his father, Laios. Reaching Thebes, he +found the city harassed by the Sphinx, who afflicted the land with +drought until she should receive an answer to her riddles. Oidipous +destroyed the monster by solving her dark sayings, and as a reward +received the kingdom, with his own mother, Iokaste, as his bride. Then +the Erinyes hastened the discovery of these dark deeds; Iokaste died in +her bridal chamber; and Oidipous, having blinded himself, fled to the +grove of the Eumenides, near Athens, where, amid flashing lightning and +peals of thunder, he died. + +Oidipous is the Sun. Like all the solar heroes, from Herakles and +Perseus to Sigurd and William Tell, he performs his marvellous deeds at +the behest of others. His father, Laios, is none other than the +Vedic Dasyu, the night-demon who is sure to be destroyed by his solar +offspring In the evening, Oidipous is united to the Dawn, the mother who +had borne him at daybreak; and here the original story doubtless ended. +In the Vedic hymns we find Indra, the Sun, born of Dahana (Daphne), +the Dawn, whom he afterwards, in the evening twilight, marries. To the +Indian mind the story was here complete; but the Greeks had forgotten +and outgrown the primitive signification of the myth. To them Oidipous +and Iokaste were human, or at least anthropomorphic beings; and a +marriage between them was a fearful crime which called for bitter +expiation. Thus the latter part of the story arose in the effort to +satisfy a moral feeling As the name of Laios denotes the dark night, so, +like Iole, Oinone, and Iamos, the word Iokaste signifies the delicate +violet tints of the morning and evening clouds. Oidipous was exposed, +like Paris upon Ida (a Vedic word meaning "the earth"), because the +sunlight in the morning lies upon the hillside. [106] He is borne on +to the destruction of his father and the incestuous marriage with his +mother by an irresistible Moira, or Fate; the sun cannot but slay the +darkness and hasten to the couch of the violet twilight. [107] The +Sphinx is the storm-demon who sits on the cloud-rock and imprisons the +rain; she is the same as Medusa, Ahi, or Echidna, and Chimaira, and is +akin to the throttling snakes of darkness which the jealous Here sent to +destroy Herakles in his cradle. The idea was not derived from Egypt, but +the Greeks, on finding Egyptian figures resembling their conception of +the Sphinx, called them by the same name. The omniscient Sun comprehends +the sense of her dark mutterings, and destroys her, as Indra slays +Vritra, bringing down rain upon the parched earth. The Erinyes, who +bring to light the crimes of Oidipous, have been explained, in a +previous paper, as the personification of daylight, which reveals the +evil deeds done under the cover of night. The grove of the Erinyes, like +the garden of the Hyperboreans, represents "the fairy network of clouds, +which are the first to receive and the last to lose the light of the sun +in the morning and in the evening; hence, although Oidipous dies in a +thunder-storm, yet the Eumenides are kind to him, and his last hour is +one of deep peace and tranquillity." [108] To the last remains with him +his daughter Antigone, "she who is born opposite," the pale light which +springs up opposite to the setting sun. + +These examples show that a story-root may be as prolific of +heterogeneous offspring as a word-root. Just as we find the root spak, +"to look," begetting words so various as sceptic, bishop, speculate, +conspicsuous, species, and spice, we must expect to find a simple +representation of the diurnal course of the sun, like those lyrically +given in the Veda, branching off into stories as diversified as those +of Oidipous, Herakles, Odysseus, and Siegfried. In fact, the types +upon which stories are constructed are wonderfully few. Some clever +playwright--I believe it was Scribe--has said that there are only seven +possible dramatic situations; that is, all the plays in the world may be +classed with some one of seven archetypal dramas. [109] If this be +true, the astonishing complexity of mythology taken in the concrete, as +compared with its extreme simplicity when analyzed, need not surprise +us. + +The extreme limits of divergence between stories descended from a common +root are probably reached in the myths of light and darkness with which +the present discussion is mainly concerned The subject will be best +elucidated by taking a single one of these myths and following its +various fortunes through different regions of the Aryan world. The myth +of Hercules and Cacus has been treated by M. Breal in an essay which +is one of the most valuable contributions ever made to the study of +comparative mythology; and while following his footsteps our task will +be an easy one. + +The battle between Hercules and Cacus, although one of the oldest of the +traditions common to the whole Indo-European race, appears in Italy as +a purely local legend, and is narrated as such by Virgil, in the eighth +book of the AEneid; by Livy, at the beginning of his history; and +by Propertius and Ovid. Hercules, journeying through Italy after his +victory over Geryon, stops to rest by the bank of the Tiber. While he is +taking his repose, the three-headed monster Cacus, a son of Vulcan and +a formidable brigand, comes and steals his cattle, and drags them +tail-foremost to a secret cavern in the rocks. But the lowing of the +cows arouses Hercules, and he runs toward the cavern where the robber, +already frightened, has taken refuge. Armed with a huge flinty rock, he +breaks open the entrance of the cavern, and confronts the demon within, +who vomits forth flames at him and roars like the thunder in the +storm-cloud. After a short combat, his hideous body falls at the feet +of the invincible hero, who erects on the spot an altar to Jupiter +Inventor, in commemoration of the recovery of his cattle. Ancient Rome +teemed with reminiscences of this event, which Livy regarded as first +in the long series of the exploits of his countrymen. The place where +Hercules pastured his oxen was known long after as the Forum Boarium; +near it the Porta Trigemina preserved the recollection of the monster's +triple head; and in the time of Diodorus Siculus sight-seers were shown +the cavern of Cacus on the slope of the Aventine. Every tenth day +the earlier generations of Romans celebrated the victory with solemn +sacrifices at the Ara Maxima; and on days of triumph the fortunate +general deposited there a tithe of his booty, to be distributed among +the citizens. + +In this famous myth, however, the god Hercules did not originally +figure. The Latin Hercules was an essentially peaceful and domestic +deity, watching over households and enclosures, and nearly akin to +Terminus and the Penates. He does not appear to have been a solar +divinity at all. But the purely accidental resemblance of his name to +that of the Greek deity Herakles, [110] and the manifest identity of the +Cacus-myth with the story of the victory of Herakles over Geryon, led +to the substitution of Hercules for the original hero of the legend, +who was none other than Jupiter, called by his Sabine name Sancus. Now +Johannes Lydus informs us that, in Sabine, Sancus signified "the sky," +a meaning which we have already seen to belong to the name Jupiter. The +same substitution of the Greek hero for the Roman divinity led to the +alteration of the name of the demon overcome by his thunderbolts. The +corrupted title Cacus was supposed to be identical with the Greek word +kakos, meaning "evil" and the corruption was suggested by the epithet of +Herakles, Alexikakos, or "the averter of ill." Originally, however, +the name was Caecius, "he who blinds or darkens," and it corresponds +literally to the name of the Greek demon Kaikias, whom an old proverb, +preserved by Aulus Gellius, describes as a stealer of the clouds. [111] + +Thus the significance of the myth becomes apparent. The three-headed +Cacus is seen to be a near kinsman of Geryon's three-headed dog Orthros, +and of the three-headed Kerberos, the hell-hound who guards the dark +regions below the horizon. He is the original werewolf or Rakshasa, the +fiend of the storm who steals the bright cattle of Helios, and hides +them in the black cavernous rock, from which they are afterwards rescued +by the schamir or lightning-stone of the solar hero. The physical +character of the myth is apparent even in the description of Virgil, +which reads wonderfully like a Vedic hymn in celebration of the exploits +of Indra. But when we turn to the Veda itself, we find the correctness +of the interpretation demonstrated again and again, with inexhaustible +prodigality of evidence. Here we encounter again the three-headed +Orthros under the identical title of Vritra, "he who shrouds or +envelops," called also Cushna, "he who parches," Pani, "the robber," and +Ahi, "the strangler." In many hymns of the Rig-Veda the story is told +over and over, like a musical theme arranged with variations. Indra, +the god of light, is a herdsman who tends a herd of bright golden or +violet-coloured cattle. Vritra, a snake-like monster with three heads, +steals them and hides them in a cavern, but Indra slays him as Jupiter +slew Caecius, and the cows are recovered. The language of the myth is +so significant, that the Hindu commentators of the Veda have +themselves given explanations of it similar to those proposed by modern +philologists. To them the legend never became devoid of sense, as the +myth of Geryon appeared to Greek scholars like Apollodoros. [112] + +These celestial cattle, with their resplendent coats of purple and gold, +are the clouds lit up by the solar rays; but the demon who steals them +is not always the fiend of the storm, acting in that capacity. They are +stolen every night by Vritra the concealer, and Caecius the darkener, +and Indra is obliged to spend hours in looking for them, sending Sarama, +the inconstant twilight, to negotiate for their recovery. Between +the storm-myth and the myth of night and morning the resemblance is +sometimes so close as to confuse the interpretation of the two. Many +legends which Max Muller explains as myths of the victory of day over +night are explained by Dr. Kuhn as storm-myths; and the disagreement +between two such powerful champions would be a standing reproach to what +is rather prematurely called the SCIENCE of comparative mythology, +were it not easy to show that the difference is merely apparent and +non-essential. It is the old story of the shield with two sides; and a +comparison of the ideas fundamental to these myths will show that there +is no valid ground for disagreement in the interpretation of them. The +myths of schamir and the divining-rod, analyzed in a previous paper, +explain the rending of the thunder-cloud and the procuring of water +without especial reference to any struggle between opposing divinities. +But in the myth of Hercules and Cacus, the fundamental idea is the +victory of the solar god over the robber who steals the light. Now +whether the robber carries off the light in the evening when Indra has +gone to sleep, or boldly rears his black form against the sky during the +daytime, causing darkness to spread over the earth, would make little +difference to the framers of the myth. To a chicken a solar eclipse +is the same thing as nightfall, and he goes to roost accordingly. Why, +then, should the primitive thinker have made a distinction between +the darkening of the sky caused by black clouds and that caused by +the rotation of the earth? He had no more conception of the scientific +explanation of these phenomena than the chicken has of the scientific +explanation of an eclipse. For him it was enough to know that the solar +radiance was stolen, in the one case as in the other, and to suspect +that the same demon was to blame for both robberies. + +The Veda itself sustains this view. It is certain that the victory of +Indra over Vritra is essentially the same as his victory over the Panis. +Vritra, the storm-fiend, is himself called one of the Panis; yet the +latter are uniformly represented as night-demons. They steal Indra's +golden cattle and drive them by circuitous paths to a dark hiding-place +near the eastern horizon. Indra sends the dawn-nymph, Sarama, to search +for them, but as she comes within sight of the dark stable, the Panis +try to coax her to stay with them: "Let us make thee our sister, do not +go away again; we will give thee part of the cows, O darling." [113] +According to the text of this hymn, she scorns their solicitations, but +elsewhere the fickle dawn-nymph is said to coquet with the powers of +darkness. She does not care for their cows, but will take a drink of +milk, if they will be so good as to get it for her. Then she goes back +and tells Indra that she cannot find the cows. He kicks her with his +foot, and she runs back to the Panis, followed by the god, who smites +them all with his unerring arrows and recovers the stolen light. From +such a simple beginning as this has been deduced the Greek myth of the +faithlessness of Helen. [114] + +These night-demons, the Panis, though not apparently regarded with any +strong feeling of moral condemnation, are nevertheless hated and dreaded +as the authors of calamity. They not only steal the daylight, but they +parch the earth and wither the fruits, and they slay vegetation during +the winter months. As Caecius, the "darkener," became ultimately changed +into Cacus, the "evil one," so the name of Vritra, the "concealer," the +most famous of the Panis, was gradually generalized until it came to +mean "enemy," like the English word fiend, and began to be applied +indiscriminately to any kind of evil spirit. In one place he is called +Adeva, the "enemy of the gods," an epithet exactly equivalent to the +Persian dev. + +In the Zendavesta the myth of Hercules and Cacus has given rise to a +vast system of theology. The fiendish Panis are concentrated in Ahriman +or Anro-mainyas, whose name signifies the "spirit of darkness," and +who carries on a perpetual warfare against Ormuzd or Ahuramazda, who +is described by his ordinary surname, Spentomainyas, as the "spirit of +light." The ancient polytheism here gives place to a refined dualism, +not very different from what in many Christian sects has passed current +as monotheism. Ahriman is the archfiend, who struggles with Ormuzd, not +for the possession of a herd of perishable cattle, but for the dominion +of the universe. Ormuzd creates the world pure and beautiful, but +Ahriman comes after him and creates everything that is evil in it. He +not only keeps the earth covered with darkness during half of the day, +and withholds the rain and destroys the crops, but he is the author of +all evil thoughts and the instigator of all wicked actions. Like his +progenitor Vritra and his offspring Satan, he is represented under the +form of a serpent; and the destruction which ultimately awaits these +demons is also in reserve for him. Eventually there is to be a day of +reckoning, when Ahriman will be bound in chains and rendered powerless, +or when, according to another account, he will be converted to +righteousness, as Burns hoped and Origen believed would be the case with +Satan. + +This dualism of the ancient Persians has exerted a powerful influence +upon the development of Christian theology. The very idea of an +archfiend Satan, which Christianity received from Judaism, seems either +to have been suggested by the Persian Ahriman, or at least to have +derived its principal characteristics from that source. There is no +evidence that the Jews, previous to the Babylonish captivity, possessed +the conception of a Devil as the author of all evil. In the earlier +books of the Old Testament Jehovah is represented as dispensing with his +own hand the good and the evil, like the Zeus of the Iliad. [115] The +story of the serpent in Eden--an Aryan story in every particular, +which has crept into the Pentateuch--is not once alluded to in the Old +Testament; and the notion of Satan as the author of evil appears only +in the later books, composed after the Jews had come into close contact +with Persian ideas. [116] In the Book of Job, as Reville observes, Satan +is "still a member of the celestial court, being one of the sons of the +Elohim, but having as his special office the continual accusation of +men, and having become so suspicious by his practice as public accuser, +that he believes in the virtue of no one, and always presupposes +interested motives for the purest manifestations of human piety." In +this way the character of this angel became injured, and he became more +and more an object of dread and dislike to men, until the later Jews +ascribed to him all the attributes of Ahriman, and in this singularly +altered shape he passed into Christian theology. Between the Satan of +the Book of Job and the mediaeval Devil the metamorphosis is as great +as that which degraded the stern Erinys, who brings evil deeds to light, +into the demon-like Fury who torments wrong-doers in Tartarus; and, +making allowance for difference of circumstances, the process of +degradation has been very nearly the same in the two cases. + +The mediaeval conception of the Devil is a grotesque compound of +elements derived from all the systems of pagan mythology which +Christianity superseded. He is primarily a rebellious angel, expelled +from heaven along with his followers, like the giants who attempted +to scale Olympos, and like the impious Efreets of Arabian legend who +revolted against the beneficent rule of Solomon. As the serpent prince +of the outer darkness, he retains the old characteristics of Vritra, +Ahi, Typhon, and Echidna. As the black dog which appears behind the +stove in Dr. Faust's study, he is the classic hell-hound Kerberos, the +Vedic Carvara. From the sylvan deity Pan he gets his goat-like body, his +horns and cloven hoofs. Like the wind-god Orpheus, to whose music the +trees bent their heads to listen, he is an unrivalled player on the +bagpipes. Like those other wind-gods the psychopomp Hermes and the wild +huntsman Odin, he is the prince of the powers of the air: his flight +through the midnight sky, attended by his troop of witches mounted on +their brooms, which sometimes break the boughs and sweep the leaves from +the trees, is the same as the furious chase of the Erlking Odin or the +Burckar Vittikab. He is Dionysos, who causes red wine to flow from +the dry wood, alike on the deck of the Tyrrhenian pirate-ship and in +Auerbach's cellar at Leipzig. He is Wayland, the smith, a skilful +worker in metals and a wonderful architect, like the classic fire-god +Hephaistos or Vulcan; and, like Hephaistos, he is lame from the effects +of his fall from heaven. From the lightning-god Thor he obtains his red +beard, his pitchfork, and his power over thunderbolts; and, like that +ancient deity, he is in the habit of beating his wife behind the door +when the rain falls during sunshine. Finally, he takes a hint from +Poseidon and from the swan-maidens, and appears as a water-imp or Nixy +(whence probably his name of Old Nick), and as the Davy (deva) whose +"locker" is situated at the bottom of the sea. [117] + +According to the Scotch divines of the seventeenth century, the Devil is +a learned scholar and profound thinker. Having profited by six thousand +years of intense study and meditation, he has all science, philosophy, +and theology at his tongue's end; and, as his skill has increased with +age, he is far more than a match for mortals in cunning. [118] Such, +however, is not the view taken by mediaeval mythology, which usually +represents his stupidity as equalling his malignity. The victory of +Hercules over Cacus is repeated in a hundred mediaeval legends in which +the Devil is overreached and made a laughing-stock. The germ of this +notion may be found in the blinding of Polyphemos by Odysseus, which +is itself a victory of the sun-hero over the night-demon, and which +curiously reappears in a Middle-Age story narrated by Mr. Cox. "The +Devil asks a man who is moulding buttons what he may be doing; and when +the man answers that he is moulding eyes, asks him further whether he +can give him a pair of new eyes. He is told to come again another day; +and when he makes his appearance accordingly, the man tells him that the +operation cannot be performed rightly unless he is first tightly bound +with his back fastened to a bench. While he is thus pinioned he asks the +man's name. The reply is Issi (`himself'). When the lead is melted, the +Devil opens his eyes wide to receive the deadly stream. As soon as he is +blinded, he starts up in agony, bearing away the bench to which he had +been bound; and when some workpeople in the fields ask him who had thus +treated him, his answer is, 'Issi teggi' (`Self did it'). With a laugh +they bid him lie on the bed which he has made: 'selbst gethan, selbst +habe.' The Devil died of his new eyes, and was never seen again." + +In his attempts to obtain human souls the Devil is frequently foiled by +the superior cunning of mortals. Once, he agreed to build a house for +a peasant in exchange for the peasant's soul; but if the house were not +finished before cockcrow, the contract was to be null and void. Just as +the Devil was putting on the last tile the man imitated a cockcrow and +waked up all the roosters in the neighbourhood, so that the fiend had +his labour for his pains. A merchant of Louvain once sold himself to +the Devil, who heaped upon him all manner of riches for seven years, and +then came to get him. The merchant "took the Devil in a friendly manner +by the hand and, as it was just evening, said, 'Wife, bring a light +quickly for the gentleman.' 'That is not at all necessary,' said the +Devil; 'I am merely come to fetch you.' 'Yes, yes, that I know very +well,' said the merchant, 'only just grant me the time till this little +candle-end is burnt out, as I have a few letters to sign and to put +on my coat.' 'Very well,' said the Devil, 'but only till the candle is +burnt out.' 'Good,' said the merchant, and going into the next room, +ordered the maid-servant to place a large cask full of water close to a +very deep pit that was dug in the garden. The men-servants also carried, +each of them, a cask to the spot; and when all was done, they were +ordered each to take a shovel, and stand round the pit. The merchant +then returned to the Devil, who seeing that not more than about an inch +of candle remained, said, laughing, 'Now get yourself ready, it will +soon be burnt out.' 'That I see, and am content; but I shall hold you to +your word, and stay till it IS burnt.' 'Of course,' answered the Devil; +'I stick to my word.' 'It is dark in the next room,' continued the +merchant, 'but I must find the great book with clasps, so let me just +take the light for one moment.' 'Certainly,' said the Devil, 'but I'll +go with you.' He did so, and the merchant's trepidation was now on the +increase. When in the next room he said on a sudden, 'Ah, now I know, +the key is in the garden door.' And with these words he ran out with the +light into the garden, and before the Devil could overtake him, threw it +into the pit, and the men and the maids poured water upon it, and then +filled up the hole with earth. Now came the Devil into the garden and +asked, 'Well, did you get the key? and how is it with the candle? where +is it?' 'The candle?' said the merchant. 'Yes, the candle.' 'Ha, ha, ha! +it is not yet burnt out,' answered the merchant, laughing, 'and will not +be burnt out for the next fifty years; it lies there a hundred fathoms +deep in the earth.' When the Devil heard this he screamed awfully, and +went off with a most intolerable stench." [119] + +One day a fowler, who was a terrible bungler and could n't hit a bird +at a dozen paces, sold his soul to the Devil in order to become a +Freischutz. The fiend was to come for him in seven years, but must be +always able to name the animal at which he was shooting, otherwise the +compact was to be nullified. After that day the fowler never missed his +aim, and never did a fowler command such wages. When the seven years +were out the fowler told all these things to his wife, and the twain hit +upon an expedient for cheating the Devil. The woman stripped herself, +daubed her whole body with molasses, and rolled herself up in a +feather-bed, cut open for this purpose. Then she hopped and skipped +about the field where her husband stood parleying with Old Nick. +"there's a shot for you, fire away," said the Devil. "Of course I'll +fire, but do you first tell me what kind of a bird it is; else our +agreement is cancelled, Old Boy." There was no help for it; the +Devil had to own himself nonplussed, and off he fled, with a whiff of +brimstone which nearly suffocated the Freischutz and his good woman. +[120] + +In the legend of Gambrinus, the fiend is still more ingloriously +defeated. Gambrinus was a fiddler, who, being jilted by his sweetheart, +went out into the woods to hang himself. As he was sitting on the bough, +with the cord about his neck, preparatory to taking the fatal plunge, +suddenly a tall man in a green coat appeared before him, and offered +his services. He might become as wealthy as he liked, and make his +sweetheart burst with vexation at her own folly, but in thirty years +he must give up his soul to Beelzebub. The bargain was struck, for +Gambrinus thought thirty years a long time to enjoy one's self in, and +perhaps the Devil might get him in any event; as well be hung for a +sheep as for a lamb. Aided by Satan, he invented chiming-bells and +lager-beer, for both of which achievements his name is held in grateful +remembrance by the Teuton. No sooner had the Holy Roman Emperor quaffed +a gallon or two of the new beverage than he made Gambrinus Duke of +Brabant and Count of Flanders, and then it was the fiddler's turn to +laugh at the discomfiture of his old sweetheart. Gambrinus kept clear of +women, says the legend, and so lived in peace. For thirty years he sat +beneath his belfry with the chimes, meditatively drinking beer with his +nobles and burghers around him. Then Beelzebub sent Jocko, one of his +imps, with orders to bring back Gambrinus before midnight. But Jocko +was, like Swiveller's Marchioness, ignorant of the taste of beer, never +having drunk of it even in a sip, and the Flemish schoppen were too much +for him. He fell into a drunken sleep, and did not wake up until noon +next day, at which he was so mortified that he had not the face to go +back to hell at all. So Gambrinus lived on tranquilly for a century or +two, and drank so much beer that he turned into a beer-barrel. [121] + +The character of gullibility attributed to the Devil in these legends +is probably derived from the Trolls, or "night-folk," of Northern +mythology. In most respects the Trolls resemble the Teutonic elves +and fairies, and the Jinn or Efreets of the Arabian Nights; but their +pedigree is less honourable. The fairies, or "White Ladies," were +not originally spirits of darkness, but were nearly akin to the +swan-maidens, dawn-nymphs, and dryads, and though their wrath was to +be dreaded, they were not malignant by nature. Christianity, having no +place for such beings, degraded them into something like imps; the most +charitable theory being that they were angels who had remained neutral +during Satan's rebellion, in punishment for which Michael expelled them +from heaven, but has left their ultimate fate unannounced until the day +of judgment. The Jinn appear to have been similarly degraded on the rise +of Mohammedanism. But the Trolls were always imps of darkness. They are +descended from the Jotuns, or Frost-Giants of Northern paganism, and +they correspond to the Panis, or night-demons of the Veda. In many Norse +tales they are said to burst when they see the risen sun. [122] They eat +human flesh, are ignorant of the simplest arts, and live in the deepest +recesses of the forest or in caverns on the hillside, where the sunlight +never penetrates. Some of these characteristics may very likely have +been suggested by reminiscences of the primeval Lapps, from whom the +Aryan invaders wrested the dominion of Europe. [123] In some legends the +Trolls are represented as an ancient race of beings now superseded by +the human race. "'What sort of an earth-worm is this?' said one Giant to +another, when they met a man as they walked. 'These are the earth-worms +that will one day eat us up, brother,' answered the other; and soon +both Giants left that part of Germany." "'See what pretty playthings, +mother!' cries the Giant's daughter, as she unties her apron, and shows +her a plough, and horses, and a peasant. 'Back with them this instant,' +cries the mother in wrath, 'and put them down as carefully as you can, +for these playthings can do our race great harm, and when these come we +must budge.'" Very naturally the primitive Teuton, possessing already +the conception of night-demons, would apply it to these men of the +woods whom even to this day his uneducated descendants believe to be +sorcerers, able to turn men into wolves. But whatever contributions +historical fact may have added to his character, the Troll is originally +a creation of mythology, like Polyphemos, whom he resembles in his +uncouth person, his cannibal appetite, and his lack of wit. His ready +gullibility is shown in the story of "Boots who ate a Match with the +Troll." Boots, the brother of Cinderella, and the counterpart alike +of Jack the Giant-killer, and of Odysseus, is the youngest of three +brothers who go into a forest to cut wood. The Troll appears and +threatens to kill any one who dares to meddle with his timber. The elder +brothers flee, but Boots puts on a bold face. He pulled a cheese out of +his scrip and squeezed it till the whey began to spurt out. "Hold your +tongue, you dirty Troll," said he, "or I'll squeeze you as I squeeze +this stone." So the Troll grew timid and begged to be spared, [124] and +Boots let him off on condition that he would hew all day with him. +They worked till nightfall, and the Troll's giant strength accomplished +wonders. Then Boots went home with the Troll, having arranged that he +should get the water while his host made the fire. When they reached the +hut there were two enormous iron pails, so heavy that none but a Troll +could lift them, but Boots was not to be frightened. "Bah!" said he. "Do +you suppose I am going to get water in those paltry hand-basins? Hold +on till I go and get the spring itself!" "O dear!" said the Troll, "I'd +rather not; do you make the fire, and I'll get the water." Then when the +soup was made, Boots challenged his new friend to an eating-match; and +tying his scrip in front of him, proceeded to pour soup into it by the +ladleful. By and by the giant threw down his spoon in despair, and owned +himself conquered. "No, no! don't give it up yet," said Boots, "just cut +a hole in your stomach like this, and you can eat forever." And suiting +the action to the words, he ripped open his scrip. So the silly Troll +cut himself open and died, and Boots carried off all his gold and +silver. + +Once there was a Troll whose name was Wind-and-Weather, and Saint Olaf +hired him to build a church. If the church were completed within a +certain specified time, the Troll was to get possession of Saint Olaf. +The saint then planned such a stupendous edifice that he thought the +giant would be forever building it; but the work went on briskly, and at +the appointed day nothing remained but to finish the point of the spire. +In his consternation Olaf rushed about until he passed by the Troll's +den, when he heard the giantess telling her children that their father, +Wind-and-Weather, was finishing his church, and would be home to-morrow +with Saint Olaf. So the saint ran back to the church and bawled out, +"Hold on, Wind-and-Weather, your spire is crooked!" Then the giant +tumbled down from the roof and broke into a thousand pieces. As in the +cases of the Mara and the werewolf, the enchantment was at an end as +soon as the enchanter was called by name. + +These Trolls, like the Arabian Efreets, had an ugly habit of carrying +off beautiful princesses. This is strictly in keeping with their +character as night-demons, or Panis. In the stories of Punchkin and +the Heartless Giant, the night-demon carries off the dawn-maiden after +having turned into stone her solar brethren. But Boots, or Indra, in +search of his kinsfolk, by and by arrives at the Troll's castle, and +then the dawn-nymph, true to her fickle character, cajoles the Giant +and enables Boots to destroy him. In the famous myth which serves as the +basis for the Volsunga Saga and the Nibelungenlied, the dragon Fafnir +steals the Valkyrie Brynhild and keeps her shut up in a castle on the +Glistening Heath, until some champion shall be found powerful enough +to rescue her. The castle is as hard to enter as that of the Sleeping +Beauty; but Sigurd, the Northern Achilleus, riding on his deathless +horse, and wielding his resistless sword Gram, forces his way in, slays +Fafnir, and recovers the Valkyrie. + +In the preceding paper the Valkyries were shown to belong to the class +of cloud-maidens; and between the tale of Sigurd and that of Hercules +and Cacus there is no difference, save that the bright sunlit clouds +which are represented in the one as cows are in the other represented +as maidens. In the myth of the Argonauts they reappear as the Golden +Fleece, carried to the far east by Phrixos and Helle, who are themselves +Niblungs, or "Children of the Mist" (Nephele), and there guarded by a +dragon. In all these myths a treasure is stolen by a fiend of darkness, +and recovered by a hero of light, who slays the demon. And--remembering +what Scribe said about the fewness of dramatic types--I believe we are +warranted in asserting that all the stories of lovely women held in +bondage by monsters, and rescued by heroes who perform wonderful tasks, +such as Don Quixote burned to achieve, are derived ultimately from solar +myths, like the myth of Sigurd and Brynhild. I do not mean to say that +the story-tellers who beguiled their time in stringing together the +incidents which make up these legends were conscious of their solar +character. They did not go to work, with malice prepense, to weave +allegories and apologues. The Greeks who first told the story of Perseus +and Andromeda, the Arabians who devised the tale of Codadad and +his brethren, the Flemings who listened over their beer-mugs to +the adventures of Culotte-Verte, were not thinking of sun-gods or +dawn-maidens, or night-demons; and no theory of mythology can be sound +which implies such an extravagance. Most of these stories have lived +on the lips of the common people; and illiterate persons are not in +the habit of allegorizing in the style of mediaeval monks or rabbinical +commentators. But what has been amply demonstrated is, that the sun +and the clouds, the light and the darkness, were once supposed to +be actuated by wills analogous to the human will; that they were +personified and worshipped or propitiated by sacrifice; and that their +doings were described in language which applied so well to the deeds of +human or quasi-human beings that in course of time its primitive purport +faded from recollection. No competent scholar now doubts that the myths +of the Veda and the Edda originated in this way, for philology itself +shows that the names employed in them are the names of the great +phenomena of nature. And when once a few striking stories had thus +arisen,--when once it had been told how Indra smote the Panis, and how +Sigurd rescued Brynhild, and how Odysseus blinded the Kyklops,--then +certain mythic or dramatic types had been called into existence; and to +these types, preserved in the popular imagination, future stories would +inevitably conform. We need, therefore, have no hesitation in admitting +a common origin for the vanquished Panis and the outwitted Troll or +Devil; we may securely compare the legends of St. George and Jack the +Giant-killer with the myth of Indra slaying Vritra; we may see in the +invincible Sigurd the prototype of many a doughty knight-errant of +romance; and we may learn anew the lesson, taught with fresh emphasis by +modern scholarship, that in the deepest sense there is nothing new under +the sun. + +I am the more explicit on this point, because it seems to me that the +unguarded language of many students of mythology is liable to give rise +to misapprehensions, and to discredit both the method which they employ +and the results which they have obtained. If we were to give full weight +to the statements which are sometimes made, we should perforce believe +that primitive men had nothing to do but to ponder about the sun and the +clouds, and to worry themselves over the disappearance of daylight. But +there is nothing in the scientific interpretation of myths which obliges +us to go any such length. I do not suppose that any ancient Aryan, +possessed of good digestive powers and endowed with sound common-sense, +ever lay awake half the night wondering whether the sun would come back +again. [125] The child and the savage believe of necessity that the +future will resemble the past, and it is only philosophy which raises +doubts on the subject. [126] The predominance of solar legends in most +systems of mythology is not due to the lack of "that Titanic assurance +with which we say, the sun MUST rise"; [127] nor again to the fact +that the phenomena of day and night are the most striking phenomena in +nature. Eclipses and earthquakes and floods are phenomena of the most +terrible and astounding kind, and they have all generated myths; +yet their contributions to folk-lore are scanty compared with those +furnished by the strife between the day-god and his enemies. The +sun-myths have been so prolific because the dramatic types to which +they have given rise are of surpassing human interest. The dragon who +swallows the sun is no doubt a fearful personage; but the hero who toils +for others, who slays hydra-headed monsters, and dries the tears +of fair-haired damsels, and achieves success in spite of incredible +obstacles, is a being with whom we can all sympathize, and of whom we +never weary of hearing. + +With many of these legends which present the myth of light and darkness +in its most attractive form, the reader is already acquainted, and it is +needless to retail stories which have been told over and over again in +books which every one is presumed to have read. I will content myself +with a weird Irish legend, narrated by Mr. Patrick Kennedy, [128] +in which we here and there catch glimpses of the primitive mythical +symbols, as fragments of gold are seen gleaming through the crystal of +quartz. + +Long before the Danes ever came to Ireland, there died at Muskerry a +Sculloge, or country farmer, who by dint of hard work and close economy +had amassed enormous wealth. His only son did not resemble him. When the +young Sculloge looked about the house, the day after his father's +death, and saw the big chests full of gold and silver, and the cupboards +shining with piles of sovereigns, and the old stockings stuffed with +large and small coin, he said to himself, "Bedad, how shall I ever be +able to spend the likes o' that!" And so he drank, and gambled, and +wasted his time in hunting and horse-racing, until after a while he +found the chests empty and the cupboards poverty-stricken, and the +stockings lean and penniless. Then he mortgaged his farm-house and +gambled away all the money he got for it, and then he bethought him that +a few hundred pounds might be raised on his mill. But when he went to +look at it, he found "the dam broken, and scarcely a thimbleful of water +in the mill-race, and the wheel rotten, and the thatch of the house all +gone, and the upper millstone lying flat on the lower one, and a coat +of dust and mould over everything." So he made up his mind to borrow a +horse and take one more hunt to-morrow and then reform his habits. + +As he was returning late in the evening from this farewell hunt, passing +through a lonely glen he came upon an old man playing backgammon, +betting on his left hand against his right, and crying and cursing +because the right WOULD win. "Come and bet with me," said he to +Sculloge. "Faith, I have but a sixpence in the world," was the reply; +"but, if you like, I'll wager that on the right." "Done," said the old +man, who was a Druid; "if you win I'll give you a hundred guineas." So +the game was played, and the old man, whose right hand was always the +winner, paid over the guineas and told Sculloge to go to the Devil with +them. + +Instead of following this bit of advice, however, the young farmer went +home and began to pay his debts, and next week he went to the glen +and won another game, and made the Druid rebuild his mill. So Sculloge +became prosperous again, and by and by he tried his luck a third time, +and won a game played for a beautiful wife. The Druid sent her to his +house the next morning before he was out of bed, and his servants came +knocking at the door and crying, "Wake up! wake up! Master Sculloge, +there's a young lady here to see you." "Bedad, it's the vanithee [129] +herself," said Sculloge; and getting up in a hurry, he spent three +quarters of an hour in dressing himself. At last he went down stairs, +and there on the sofa was the prettiest lady ever seen in Ireland! +Naturally, Sculloge's heart beat fast and his voice trembled, as he +begged the lady's pardon for this Druidic style of wooing, and besought +her not to feel obliged to stay with him unless she really liked him. +But the young lady, who was a king's daughter from a far country, was +wondrously charmed with the handsome farmer, and so well did they get +along that the priest was sent for without further delay, and they were +married before sundown. Sabina was the vanithee's name; and she warned +her husband to have no more dealings with Lassa Buaicht, the old man of +the glen. So for a while all went happily, and the Druidic bride was as +good as she was beautiful But by and by Sculloge began to think he was +not earning money fast enough. He could not bear to see his wife's white +hands soiled with work, and thought it would be a fine thing if he could +only afford to keep a few more servants, and drive about with Sabina +in an elegant carriage, and see her clothed in silk and adorned with +jewels. + +"I will play one more game and set the stakes high," said Sculloge to +himself one evening, as he sat pondering over these things; and so, +without consulting Sabina, he stole away to the glen, and played a game +for ten thousand guineas. But the evil Druid was now ready to pounce +on his prey, and he did not play as of old. Sculloge broke into a cold +sweat with agony and terror as he saw the left hand win! Then the face +of Lassa Buaicht grew dark and stern, and he laid on Sculloge the curse +which is laid upon the solar hero in misfortune, that he should never +sleep twice under the same roof, or ascend the couch of the dawn-nymph, +his wife, until he should have procured and brought to him the sword of +light. When Sculloge reached home, more dead than alive, he saw that his +wife knew all. Bitterly they wept together, but she told him that with +courage all might be set right. She gave him a Druidic horse, which bore +him swiftly over land and sea, like the enchanted steed of the Arabian +Nights, until he reached the castle of his wife's father who, as +Sculloge now learned, was a good Druid, the brother of the evil Lassa +Buaicht. This good Druid told him that the sword of light was kept by +a third brother, the powerful magician, Fiach O'Duda, who dwelt in an +enchanted castle, which many brave heroes had tried to enter, but +the dark sorcerer had slain them all. Three high walls surrounded +the castle, and many had scaled the first of these, but none had ever +returned alive. But Sculloge was not to be daunted, and, taking from +his father-in-law a black steed, he set out for the fortress of Fiach +O'Duda. Over the first high wall nimbly leaped the magic horse, and +Sculloge called aloud on the Druid to come out and surrender his sword. +Then came out a tall, dark man, with coal-black eyes and hair and +melancholy visage, and made a furious sweep at Sculloge with the flaming +blade. But the Druidic beast sprang back over the wall in the twinkling +of an eye and rescued his rider, leaving, however, his tail behind in +the court-yard. Then Sculloge returned in triumph to his father-in-law's +palace, and the night was spent in feasting and revelry. + +Next day Sculloge rode out on a white horse, and when he got to Fiach's +castle, he saw the first wall lying in rubbish. He leaped the second, +and the same scene occurred as the day before, save that the horse +escaped unharmed. + +The third day Sculloge went out on foot, with a harp like that of +Orpheus in his hand, and as he swept its strings the grass bent to +listen and the trees bowed their heads. The castle walls all lay in +ruins, and Sculloge made his way unhindered to the upper room, where +Fiach lay in Druidic slumber, lulled by the harp. He seized the sword +of light, which was hung by the chimney sheathed in a dark scabbard, and +making the best of his way back to the good king's palace, mounted his +wife's steed, and scoured over land and sea until he found himself in +the gloomy glen where Lassa Buaicht was still crying and cursing and +betting on his left hand against his right. + +"Here, treacherous fiend, take your sword of light!" shouted Sculloge in +tones of thunder; and as he drew it from its sheath the whole valley +was lighted up as with the morning sun, and next moment the head of the +wretched Druid was lying at his feet, and his sweet wife, who had come +to meet him, was laughing and crying in his arms. November, 1870. + + + + +V. MYTHS OF THE BARBARIC WORLD. + +THE theory of mythology set forth in the four preceding papers, and +illustrated by the examination of numerous myths relating to the +lightning, the storm-wind, the clouds, and the sunlight, was originally +framed with reference solely to the mythic and legendary lore of the +Aryan world. The phonetic identity of the names of many Western gods and +heroes with the names of those Vedic divinities which are obviously +the personifications of natural phenomena, suggested the theory which +philosophical considerations had already foreshadowed in the works +of Hume and Comte, and which the exhaustive analysis of Greek, Hindu, +Keltic, and Teutonic legends has amply confirmed. Let us now, before +proceeding to the consideration of barbaric folk-lore, briefly +recapitulate the results obtained by modern scholarship working strictly +within the limits of the Aryan domain. + +In the first place, it has been proved once for all that the languages +spoken by the Hindus, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Kelts, Slaves, and +Teutons are all descended from a single ancestral language, the Old +Aryan, in the same sense that French, Italian, and Spanish are descended +from the Latin. And from this undisputed fact it is an inevitable +inference that these various races contain, along with other elements, +a race-element in common, due to their Aryan pedigree. That the +Indo-European races are wholly Aryan is very improbable, for in every +case the countries overrun by them were occupied by inferior races, +whose blood must have mingled in varying degrees with that of their +conquerors; but that every Indo-European people is in great part +descended from a common Aryan stock is not open to question. + +In the second place, along with a common fund of moral and religious +ideas and of legal and ceremonial observances, we find these kindred +peoples possessed of a common fund of myths, superstitions, proverbs, +popular poetry, and household legends. The Hindu mother amuses her child +with fairy-tales which often correspond, even in minor incidents, with +stories in Scottish or Scandinavian nurseries; and she tells them in +words which are phonetically akin to words in Swedish and Gaelic. No +doubt many of these stories might have been devised in a dozen different +places independently of each other; and no doubt many of them have +been transmitted laterally from one people to another; but a careful +examination shows that such cannot have been the case with the great +majority of legends and beliefs. The agreement between two such stories, +for instance, as those of Faithful John and Rama and Luxman is so +close as to make it incredible that they should have been independently +fabricated, while the points of difference are so important as to make +it extremely improbable that the one was ever copied from the other. +Besides which, the essential identity of such myths as those of Sigurd +and Theseus, or of Helena and Sarama, carries us back historically to a +time when the scattered Indo-European tribes had not yet begun to +hold commercial and intellectual intercourse with each other, and +consequently could not have interchanged their epic materials or their +household stories. We are therefore driven to the conclusion--which, +startling as it may seem, is after all the most natural and plausible +one that can be stated--that the Aryan nations, which have inherited +from a common ancestral stock their languages and their customs, have +inherited also from the same common original their fireside legends. +They have preserved Cinderella and Punchkin just as they have preserved +the words for father and mother, ten and twenty; and the former case, +though more imposing to the imagination, is scientifically no less +intelligible than the latter. + +Thirdly, it has been shown that these venerable tales may be grouped in +a few pretty well defined classes; and that the archetypal myth of each +class--the primitive story in conformity to which countless subsequent +tales have been generated--was originally a mere description of physical +phenomena, couched in the poetic diction of an age when everything was +personified, because all natural phenomena were supposed to be due to +the direct workings of a volition like that of which men were conscious +within themselves. Thus we are led to the striking conclusion that +mythology has had a common root, both with science and with religious +philosophy. The myth of Indra conquering Vritra was one of the theorems +of primitive Aryan science; it was a provisional explanation of the +thunder-storm, satisfactory enough until extended observation and +reflection supplied a better one. It also contained the germs of a +theology; for the life-giving solar light furnished an important part +of the primeval conception of deity. And finally, it became the fruitful +parent of countless myths, whether embodied in the stately epics of +Homer and the bards of the Nibelungenlied, or in the humbler legends of +St. George and William Tell and the ubiquitous Boots. + +Such is the theory which was suggested half a century ago by the +researches of Jacob Grimm, and which, so far as concerns the mythology +of the Aryan race, is now victorious along the whole line. It remains +for us to test the universality of the general principles upon which it +is founded, by a brief analysis of sundry legends and superstitions +of the barbaric world. Since the fetichistic habit of explaining the +outward phenomena of nature after the analogy of the inward phenomena of +conscious intelligence is not a habit peculiar to our Aryan ancestors, +but is, as psychology shows, the inevitable result of the conditions +under which uncivilized thinking proceeds, we may expect to find the +barbaric mind personifying the powers of nature and making myths about +their operations the whole world over. And we need not be surprised if +we find in the resulting mythologic structures a strong resemblance to +the familiar creations of the Aryan intelligence. In point of fact, we +shall often be called upon to note such resemblance; and it accordingly +behooves us at the outset to inquire how far a similarity between +mythical tales shall be taken as evidence of a common traditional +origin, and how far it may be interpreted as due merely to the similar +workings of the untrained intelligence in all ages and countries. + +Analogies drawn from the comparison of languages will here be of service +to us, if used discreetly; otherwise they are likely to bewilder far +more than to enlighten us. A theorem which Max Muller has laid down +for our guidance in this kind of investigation furnishes us with an +excellent example of the tricks which a superficial analogy may play +even with the trained scholar, when temporarily off his guard. Actuated +by a praiseworthy desire to raise the study of myths to something like +the high level of scientific accuracy already attained by the study of +words, Max Muller endeavours to introduce one of the most useful canons +of philology into a department of inquiry where its introduction could +only work the most hopeless confusion. One of the earliest lessons to be +learned by the scientific student of linguistics is the uselessness of +comparing together directly the words contained in derivative languages. +For example, you might set the English twelve side by side with the +Latin duodecim, and then stare at the two words to all eternity without +any hope of reaching a conclusion, good or bad, about either of them: +least of all would you suspect that they are descended from the same +radical. But if you take each word by itself and trace it back to its +primitive shape, explaining every change of every letter as you go, you +will at last reach the old Aryan dvadakan, which is the parent of both +these strangely metamorphosed words. [130] Nor will it do, on the other +hand, to trust to verbal similarity without a historical inquiry into +the origin of such similarity. Even in the same language two words of +quite different origin may get their corners rubbed off till they look +as like one another as two pebbles. The French words souris, a "mouse," +and souris, a "smile," are spelled exactly alike; but the one comes from +Latin sorex and the other from Latin subridere. + +Now Max Muller tells us that this principle, which is indispensable +in the study of words, is equally indispensable in the study of myths. +[131] That is, you must not rashly pronounce the Norse story of the +Heartless Giant identical with the Hindu story of Punchkin, although the +two correspond in every essential incident. In both legends a magician +turns several members of the same family into stone; the youngest member +of the family comes to the rescue, and on the way saves the lives of +sundry grateful beasts; arrived at the magician's castle, he finds +a captive princess ready to accept his love and to play the part of +Delilah to the enchanter. In both stories the enchanter's life +depends on the integrity of something which is elaborately hidden in +a far-distant island, but which the fortunate youth, instructed by +the artful princess and assisted by his menagerie of grateful beasts, +succeeds in obtaining. In both stories the youth uses his advantage +to free all his friends from their enchantment, and then proceeds to +destroy the villain who wrought all this wickedness. Yet, in spite of +this agreement, Max Muller, if I understand him aright, would not have +us infer the identity of the two stories until we have taken each +one separately and ascertained its primitive mythical significance. +Otherwise, for aught we can tell, the resemblance may be purely +accidental, like that of the French words for "mouse" and "smile." + +A little reflection, however, will relieve us from this perplexity, and +assure us that the alleged analogy between the comparison of words and +the comparison of stories is utterly superficial. The transformations +of words--which are often astounding enough--depend upon a few +well-established physiological principles of utterance; and since +philology has learned to rely upon these principles, it has become +nearly as sure in its methods and results as one of the so-called "exact +sciences." Folly enough is doubtless committed within its precincts by +writers who venture there without the laborious preparation which this +science, more than almost any other, demands. But the proceedings of +the trained philologist are no more arbitrary than those of the trained +astronomer. And though the former may seem to be straining at a gnat and +swallowing a camel when he coolly tells you that violin and fiddle are +the same word, while English care and Latin cura have nothing to do with +each other, he is nevertheless no more indulging in guess-work than the +astronomer who confesses his ignorance as to the habitability of Venus +while asserting his knowledge of the existence of hydrogen in the +atmosphere of Sirius. To cite one example out of a hundred, every +philologist knows that s may become r, and that the broad a-sound may +dwindle into the closer o-sound; but when you adduce some plausible +etymology based on the assumption that r has changed into s, or o into +a, apart from the demonstrable influence of some adjacent letter, the +philologist will shake his head. + +Now in the study of stories there are no such simple rules all cut and +dried for us to go by. There is no uniform psychological principle +which determines that the three-headed snake in one story shall become a +three-headed man in the next. There is no Grimm's Law in mythology which +decides that a Hindu magician shall always correspond to a Norwegian +Troll or a Keltic Druid. The laws of association of ideas are not so +simple in application as the laws of utterance. In short, the study of +myths, though it can be made sufficiently scientific in its methods and +results, does not constitute a science by itself, like philology. It +stands on a footing similar to that occupied by physical geography, +or what the Germans call "earth-knowledge." No one denies that all the +changes going on over the earth's surface conform to physical laws; but +then no one pretends that there is any single proximate principle which +governs all the phenomena of rain-fall, of soil-crumbling, of magnetic +variation, and of the distribution of plants and animals. All these +things are explained by principles obtained from the various sciences +of physics, chemistry, geology, and physiology. And in just the same way +the development and distribution of stories is explained by the help +of divers resources contributed by philology, psychology, and history. +There is therefore no real analogy between the cases cited by Max +Muller. Two unrelated words may be ground into exactly the same shape, +just as a pebble from the North Sea may be undistinguishable from +another pebble on the beach of the Adriatic; but two stories like +those of Punchkin and the Heartless Giant are no more likely to arise +independently of each other than two coral reefs on opposite sides of +the globe are likely to develop into exactly similar islands. + +Shall we then say boldly, that close similarity between legends is proof +of kinship, and go our way without further misgivings? Unfortunately +we cannot dispose of the matter in quite so summary a fashion; for it +remains to decide what kind and degree of similarity shall be considered +satisfactory evidence of kinship. And it is just here that doctors may +disagree. Here is the point at which our "science" betrays its weakness +as compared with the sister study of philology. Before we can decide +with confidence in any case, a great mass of evidence must be brought +into court. So long as we remained on Aryan ground, all went smoothly +enough, because all the external evidence was in our favour. We knew +at the outset, that the Aryans inherit a common language and a common +civilization, and therefore we found no difficulty in accepting the +conclusion that they have inherited, among other things, a common stock +of legends. In the barbaric world it is quite otherwise. Philology does +not pronounce in favour of a common origin for all barbaric culture, +such as it is. The notion of a single primitive language, standing in +the same relation to all existing dialects as the relation of old Aryan +to Latin and English, or that of old Semitic to Hebrew and Arabic, was a +notion suited only to the infancy of linguistic science. As the case now +stands, it is certain that all the languages actually existing cannot be +referred to a common ancestor, and it is altogether probable that +there never was any such common ancestor. I am not now referring to the +question of the unity of the human race. That question lies entirely +outside the sphere of philology. The science of language has nothing to +do with skulls or complexions, and no comparison of words can tell us +whether the black men are brethren of the white men, or whether +yellow and red men have a common pedigree: these questions belong to +comparative physiology. But the science of language can and does tell us +that a certain amount of civilization is requisite for the production +of a language sufficiently durable and wide-spread to give birth to +numerous mutually resembling offspring Barbaric languages are neither +widespread nor durable. Among savages each little group of families has +its own dialect, and coins its own expressions at pleasure; and in the +course of two or three generations a dialect gets so strangely altered +as virtually to lose its identity. Even numerals and personal pronouns, +which the Aryan has preserved for fifty centuries, get lost every few +years in Polynesia. Since the time of Captain Cook the Tahitian language +has thrown away five out of its ten simple numerals, and replaced them +by brand-new ones; and on the Amazon you may acquire a fluent command +of some Indian dialect, and then, coming back after twenty years, find +yourself worse off than Rip Van Winkle, and your learning all antiquated +and useless. How absurd, therefore, to suppose that primeval savages +originated a language which has held its own like the old Aryan and +become the prolific mother of the three or four thousand dialects now +in existence! Before a durable language can arise, there must be an +aggregation of numerous tribes into a people, so that there may be +need of communication on a large scale, and so that tradition may be +strengthened. Wherever mankind have associated in nations, permanent +languages have arisen, and their derivative dialects bear the +conspicuous marks of kinship; but where mankind have remained in their +primitive savage isolation, their languages have remained sporadic and +transitory, incapable of organic development, and showing no traces of a +kinship which never existed. + +The bearing of these considerations upon the origin and diffusion of +barbaric myths is obvious. The development of a common stock of legends +is, of course, impossible, save where there is a common language; and +thus philology pronounces against the kinship of barbaric myths with +each other and with similar myths of the Aryan and Semitic worlds. +Similar stories told in Greece and Norway are likely to have a common +pedigree, because the persons who have preserved them in recollection +speak a common language and have inherited the same civilization. But +similar stories told in Labrador and South Africa are not likely to +be genealogically related, because it is altogether probable that the +Esquimaux and the Zulu had acquired their present race characteristics +before either of them possessed a language or a culture sufficient +for the production of myths. According to the nature and extent of the +similarity, it must be decided whether such stories have been carried +about from one part of the world to another, or have been independently +originated in many different places. + +Here the methods of philology suggest a rule which will often be found +useful. In comparing, the vocabularies of different languages, those +words which directly imitate natural sounds--such as whiz, crash, +crackle--are not admitted as evidence of kinship between the languages +in which they occur. Resemblances between such words are obviously no +proof of a common ancestry; and they are often met with in languages +which have demonstrably had no connection with each other. So in +mythology, where we find two stories of which the primitive character is +perfectly transparent, we need have no difficulty in supposing them to +have originated independently. The myth of Jack and his Beanstalk is +found all over the world; but the idea of a country above the sky, to +which persons might gain access by climbing, is one which could hardly +fail to occur to every barbarian. Among the American tribes, as well +as among the Aryans, the rainbow and the Milky-Way have contributed the +idea of a Bridge of the Dead, over which souls must pass on the way to +the other world. In South Africa, as well as in Germany, the habits of +the fox and of his brother the jackal have given rise to fables in which +brute force is overcome by cunning. In many parts of the world we find +curiously similar stories devised to account for the stumpy tails of the +bear and hyaena, the hairless tail of the rat, and the blindness of +the mole. And in all countries may be found the beliefs that men may be +changed into beasts, or plants, or stones; that the sun is in some way +tethered or constrained to follow a certain course; that the storm-cloud +is a ravenous dragon; and that there are talismans which will +reveal hidden treasures. All these conceptions are so obvious to the +uncivilized intelligence, that stories founded upon them need not +be supposed to have a common origin, unless there turns out to be a +striking similarity among their minor details. On the other hand, the +numerous myths of an all-destroying deluge have doubtless arisen partly +from reminiscences of actually occurring local inundations, and partly +from the fact that the Scriptural account of a deluge has been carried +all over the world by Catholic and Protestant missionaries. [132] + +By way of illustrating these principles, let us now cite a few of the +American myths so carefully collected by Dr. Brinton in his admirable +treatise. We shall not find in the mythology of the New World the wealth +of wit and imagination which has so long delighted us in the stories +of Herakles, Perseus, Hermes, Sigurd, and Indra. The mythic lore of +the American Indians is comparatively scanty and prosaic, as befits the +product of a lower grade of culture and a more meagre intellect. Not +only are the personages less characteristically pourtrayed, but there +is a continual tendency to extravagance, the sure index of an inferior +imagination. Nevertheless, after making due allowances for differences +in the artistic method of treatment, there is between the mythologies of +the Old and the New Worlds a fundamental resemblance. We come upon solar +myths and myths of the storm curiously blended with culture-myths, as in +the cases of Hermes, Prometheus, and Kadmos. The American parallels to +these are to be found in the stories of Michabo, Viracocha, Ioskeha, and +Quetzalcoatl. "As elsewhere the world over, so in America, many tribes +had to tell of.... an august character, who taught them what they +knew,--the tillage of the soil, the properties of plants, the art of +picture-writing, the secrets of magic; who founded their institutions +and established their religions; who governed them long with glory +abroad and peace at home; and finally did not die, but, like Frederic +Barbarossa, Charlemagne, King Arthur, and all great heroes, vanished +mysteriously, and still lives somewhere, ready at the right moment to +return to his beloved people and lead them to victory and happiness." +[133] Everyone is familiar with the numerous legends of white-skinned, +full-bearded heroes, like the mild Quetzalcoatl, who in times long +previous to Columbus came from the far East to impart the rudiments of +civilization and religion to the red men. By those who first heard +these stories they were supposed, with naive Euhemerism, to refer to +pre-Columbian visits of Europeans to this continent, like that of the +Northmen in the tenth century. But a scientific study of the subject has +dissipated such notions. These legends are far too numerous, they are +too similar to each other, they are too manifestly symbolical, to admit +of any such interpretation. By comparing them carefully with each other, +and with correlative myths of the Old World, their true character soon +becomes apparent. + +One of the most widely famous of these culture-heroes was Manabozho or +Michabo, the Great Hare. With entire unanimity, says Dr. Brinton, the +various branches of the Algonquin race, "the Powhatans of Virginia, the +Lenni Lenape of the Delaware, the warlike hordes of New England, the +Ottawas of the far North, and the Western tribes, perhaps without +exception, spoke of this chimerical beast,' as one of the old +missionaries calls it, as their common ancestor. The totem, or clan, +which bore his name was looked up to with peculiar respect." Not only +was Michabo the ruler and guardian of these numerous tribes,--he was the +founder of their religious rites, the inventor of picture-writing, the +ruler of the weather, the creator and preserver of earth and heaven. +"From a grain of sand brought from the bottom of the primeval ocean he +fashioned the habitable land, and set it floating on the waters till it +grew to such a size that a strong young wolf, running constantly, died +of old age ere he reached its limits." He was also, like Nimrod, a +mighty hunter. "One of his footsteps measured eight leagues, the Great +Lakes were the beaver-dams he built, and when the cataracts impeded his +progress he tore them away with his hands." "Sometimes he was said +to dwell in the skies with his brother, the Snow, or, like many great +spirits, to have built his wigwam in the far North on some floe of ice +in the Arctic Ocean..... But in the oldest accounts of the missionaries +he was alleged to reside toward the East; and in the holy formulae of +the meda craft, when the winds are invoked to the medicine lodge, the +East is summoned in his name, the door opens in that direction, and +there, at the edge of the earth where the sun rises, on the shore of the +infinite ocean that surrounds the land, he has his house, and sends the +luminaries forth on their daily journeys." [134] From such accounts as +this we see that Michabo was no more a wise instructor and legislator +than Minos or Kadmos. Like these heroes, he is a personification of the +solar life-giving power, which daily comes forth from its home in the +east, making the earth to rejoice. The etymology of his name confirms +the otherwise clear indications of the legend itself. It is compounded +of michi, "great," and wabos, which means alike "hare" and "white." +"Dialectic forms in Algonquin for white are wabi, wape, wampi, etc.; for +morning, wapan, wapanch, opah; for east, wapa, wanbun, etc.; for day, +wompan, oppan; for light, oppung." So that Michabo is the Great White +One, the God of the Dawn and the East. And the etymological confusion, +by virtue of which he acquired his soubriquet of the Great Hare, affords +a curious parallel to what has often happened in Aryan and Semitic +mythology, as we saw when discussing the subject of werewolves. + +Keeping in mind this solar character of Michabo, let us note how full +of meaning are the myths concerning him. In the first cycle of these +legends, "he is grandson of the Moon, his father is the West Wind, +and his mother, a maiden, dies in giving him birth at the moment of +conception. For the Moon is the goddess of night; the Dawn is her +daughter, who brings forth the Morning, and perishes herself in the act; +and the West, the spirit of darkness, as the East is of light, precedes, +and as it were begets the latter, as the evening does the morning. +Straightway, however, continues the legend, the son sought the unnatural +father to revenge the death of his mother, and then commenced a long and +desperate struggle. It began on the mountains. The West was forced to +give ground. Manabozho drove him across rivers and over mountains and +lakes, and at last he came to the brink of this world. 'Hold,' cried he, +'my son, you know my power, and that it is impossible to kill me.' What +is this but the diurnal combat of light and darkness, carried on from +what time 'the jocund morn stands tiptoe on the misty mountain-tops,' +across the wide world to the sunset, the struggle that knows no end, for +both the opponents are immortal?" [135] + +Even the Veda nowhere affords a more transparent narrative than this. +The Iroquois tradition is very similar. In it appear twin brothers, +[136] born of a virgin mother, daughter of the Moon, who died in giving +them life. Their names, Ioskeha and Tawiskara, signify in the Oneida +dialect the White One and the Dark One. Under the influence of Christian +ideas the contest between the brothers has been made to assume a moral +character, like the strife between Ormuzd and Ahriman. But no such +intention appears in the original myth, and Dr. Brinton has shown that +none of the American tribes had any conception of a Devil. When the +quarrel came to blows, the dark brother was signally discomfited; and +the victorious Ioskeha, returning to his grandmother, "established his +lodge in the far East, on the horders of the Great Ocean, whence the sun +comes. In time he became the father of mankind, and special guardian of +the Iroquois." He caused the earth to bring forth, he stocked the woods +with game, and taught his children the use of fire. "He it was who +watched and watered their crops; 'and, indeed, without his aid,' says +the old missionary, quite out of patience with their puerilities, +'they think they could not boil a pot.'" There was more in it than poor +Brebouf thought, as we are forcibly reminded by recent discoveries in +physical science. Even civilized men would find it difficult to boil a +pot without the aid of solar energy. Call him what we will,--Ioskeha, +Michabo, or Phoibos,--the beneficent Sun is the master and sustainer +of us all; and if we were to relapse into heathenism, like +Erckmann-Chatrian's innkeeper, we could not do better than to select him +as our chief object of worship. + +The same principles by which these simple cases are explained furnish +also the key to the more complicated mythology of Mexico and Peru. Like +the deities just discussed, Viracocha, the supreme god of the Quichuas, +rises from the bosom of Lake Titicaca and journeys westward, slaying +with his lightnings the creatures who oppose him, until he finally +disappears in the Western Ocean. Like Aphrodite, he bears in his name +the evidence of his origin, Viracocha signifying "foam of the sea"; and +hence the "White One" (l'aube), the god of light rising white on the +horizon, like the foam on the surface of the waves. The Aymaras spoke +of their original ancestors as white; and to this day, as Dr. Brinton +informs us, the Peruvians call a white man Viracocha. The myth of +Quetzalcoatl is of precisely the same character. All these solar heroes +present in most of their qualities and achievements a striking likeness +to those of the Old World. They combine the attributes of Apollo, +Herakles, and Hermes. Like Herakles, they journey from east to west, +smiting the powers of darkness, storm, and winter with the thunderbolts +of Zeus or the unerring arrows of Phoibos, and sinking in a blaze +of glory on the western verge of the world, where the waves meet the +firmament. Or like Hermes, in a second cycle of legends, they rise with +the soft breezes of a summer morning, driving before them the bright +celestial cattle whose udders are heavy with refreshing rain, fanning +the flames which devour the forests, blustering at the doors of wigwams, +and escaping with weird laughter through vents and crevices. The white +skins and flowing beards of these American heroes may be aptly compared +to the fair faces and long golden locks of their Hellenic compeers. +Yellow hair was in all probability as rare in Greece as a full beard +in Peru or Mexico; but in each case the description suits the solar +character of the hero. One important class of incidents, however is +apparently quite absent from the American legends. We frequently see the +Dawn described as a virgin mother who dies in giving birth to the Day; +but nowhere do we remember seeing her pictured as a lovely or valiant or +crafty maiden, ardently wooed, but speedily forsaken by her solar lover. +Perhaps in no respect is the superior richness and beauty of the Aryan +myths more manifest than in this. Brynhild, Urvasi, Medeia, Ariadne, +Oinone, and countless other kindred heroines, with their brilliant +legends, could not be spared from the mythology of our ancestors +without, leaving it meagre indeed. These were the materials which +Kalidasa, the Attic dramatists, and the bards of the Nibelungen found +ready, awaiting their artistic treatment. But the mythology of the New +World, with all its pretty and agreeable naivete, affords hardly enough, +either of variety in situation or of complexity in motive, for a grand +epic or a genuine tragedy. + +But little reflection is needed to assure us that the imagination of the +barbarian, who either carries away his wife by brute force or buys her +from her relatives as he would buy a cow, could never have originated +legends in which maidens are lovingly solicited, or in which their +favour is won by the performance of deeds of valour. These stories +owe their existence to the romantic turn of mind which has always +characterized the Aryan, whose civilization, even in the times before +the dispersion of his race, was sufficiently advanced to allow of his +entertaining such comparatively exalted conceptions of the relations +between men and women. The absence of these myths from barbaric +folk-lore is, therefore, just what might be expected; but it is a fact +which militates against any possible hypothesis of the common origin +of Aryan and barbaric mythology. If there were any genetic relationship +between Sigurd and Ioskeha, between Herakles and Michabo, it would be +hard to tell why Brynhild and Iole should have disappeared entirely +from one whole group of legends, while retained, in some form or +other, throughout the whole of the other group. On the other hand, the +resemblances above noticed between Aryan and American mythology fall +very far short of the resemblances between the stories told in different +parts of the Aryan domain. No barbaric legend, of genuine barbaric +growth, has yet been cited which resembles any Aryan legend as the story +of Punchkin resembles the story of the Heartless Giant. The myths +of Michabo and Viracocha are direct copies, so to speak, of natural +phenomena, just as imitative words are direct copies of natural sounds. +Neither the Redskin nor the Indo-European had any choice as to the main +features of the career of his solar divinity. He must be born of the +Night,--or of the Dawn,--must travel westward, must slay harassing +demons. Eliminating these points of likeness, the resemblance between +the Aryan and barbaric legends is at once at an end. Such an identity +in point of details as that between the wooden horse which enters +Ilion, and the horse which bears Sigurd into the place where Brynhild +is imprisoned, and the Druidic steed which leaps with Sculloge over the +walls of Fiach's enchanted castle, is, I believe, nowhere to be found +after we leave Indo-European territory. + +Our conclusion, therefore, must be, that while the legends of the Aryan +and the non-Aryan worlds contain common mythical elements, the legends +themselves are not of common origin. The fact that certain mythical +ideas are possessed alike by different races, shows that in each case +a similar human intelligence has been at work explaining similar +phenomena; but in order to prove a family relationship between the +culture of these different races, we need something more than this. +We need to prove not only a community of mythical ideas, but also a +community between the stories based upon these ideas. We must show not +only that Michabo is like Herakles in those striking features which +the contemplation of solar phenomena would necessarily suggest to +the imagination of the primitive myth-maker, but also that the two +characters are similarly conceived, and that the two careers agree in +seemingly arbitrary points of detail, as is the case in the stories of +Punchkin and the Heartless Giant. The mere fact that solar heroes, all +over the world, travel in a certain path and slay imps of darkness is of +great value as throwing light upon primeval habits of thought, but it +is of no value as evidence for or against an alleged community of +civilization between different races. The same is true of the sacredness +universally attached to certain numbers. Dr. Blinton's opinion that the +sanctity of the number four in nearly all systems of mythology is due to +a primitive worship of the cardinal points, becomes very probable +when we recollect that the similar pre-eminence of seven is almost +demonstrably connected with the adoration of the sun, moon, and +five visible planets, which has left its record in the structure and +nomenclature of the Aryan and Semitic week. [137] + +In view of these considerations, the comparison of barbaric myths +with each other and with the legends of the Aryan world becomes doubly +interesting, as illustrating the similarity in the workings of the +untrained intelligence the world over. In our first paper we saw how +the moon-spots have been variously explained by Indo-Europeans, as a +man with a thorn-bush or as two children bearing a bucket of water on a +pole. In Ceylon it is said that as Sakyamuni was one day wandering half +starved in the forest, a pious hare met him, and offered itself to him +to be slain and cooked for dinner; whereupon the holy Buddha set it on +high in the moon, that future generations of men might see it and marvel +at its piety. In the Samoan Islands these dark patches are supposed +to be portions of a woman's figure. A certain woman was once hammering +something with a mallet, when the moon arose, looking so much like a +bread-fruit that the woman asked it to come down and let her child +eat off a piece of it; but the moon, enraged at the insult, gobbled up +woman, mallet, and child, and there, in the moon's belly, you may still +behold them. According to the Hottentots, the Moon once sent the Hare to +inform men that as she died away and rose again, so should men die +and again come to life. But the stupid Hare forgot the purport of the +message, and, coming down to the earth, proclaimed it far and wide that +though the Moon was invariably resuscitated whenever she died, mankind, +on the other hand, should die and go to the Devil. When the silly brute +returned to the lunar country and told what he had done, the Moon was so +angry that she took up an axe and aimed a blow at his head to split it. +But the axe missed and only cut his lip open; and that was the origin +of the "hare-lip." Maddened by the pain and the insult, the Hare flew at +the Moon and almost scratched her eyes out; and to this day she bears on +her face the marks of the Hare's claws. [138] + +Again, every reader of the classics knows how Selene cast Endymion into +a profound slumber because he refused her love, and how at sundown she +used to come and stand above him on the Latmian hill, and watch him as +he lay asleep on the marble steps of a temple half hidden among drooping +elm-trees, over which clambered vines heavy with dark blue grapes. This +represents the rising moon looking down on the setting sun; in Labrador +a similar phenomenon has suggested a somewhat different story. Among +the Esquimaux the Sun is a maiden and the Moon is her brother, who +is overcome by a wicked passion for her. Once, as this girl was at a +dancing-party in a friend's hut, some one came up and took hold of her +by the shoulders and shook her, which is (according to the legend) the +Esquimaux manner of declaring one's love. She could not tell who it was +in the dark, and so she dipped her hand in some soot and smeared one of +his cheeks with it. When a light was struck in the hut, she saw, to her +dismay, that it was her brother, and, without waiting to learn any more, +she took to her heels. He started in hot pursuit, and so they ran till +they got to the end of the world,--the jumping-off place,--when they +both jumped into the sky. There the Moon still chases his sister, the +Sun; and every now and then he turns his sooty cheek toward the earth, +when he becomes so dark that you cannot see him. [139] + +Another story, which I cite from Mr. Tylor, shows that Malays, as well +as Indo-Europeans, have conceived of the clouds as swan-maidens. In the +island of Celebes it is said that "seven heavenly nymphs came down from +the sky to bathe, and they were seen by Kasimbaha, who thought first +that they were white doves, but in the bath he saw that they were women. +Then he stole one of the thin robes that gave the nymphs their power of +flying, and so he caught Utahagi, the one whose robe he had stolen, +and took her for his wife, and she bore him a son. Now she was called +Utahagi from a single white hair she had, which was endowed with magic +power, and this hair her husband pulled out. As soon as he had done +it, there arose a great storm, and Utahagi went up to heaven. The child +cried for its mother, and Kasimbaha was in great grief, and cast about +how he should follow Utahagi up into the sky." Here we pass to the myth +of Jack and the Beanstalk. "A rat gnawed the thorns off the rattans, and +Kasimbaha clambered up by them with his son upon his back, till he came +to heaven. There a little bird showed him the house of Utahagi, and +after various adventures he took up his abode among the gods." [140] + +In Siberia we find a legend of swan-maidens, which also reminds us of +the story of the Heartless Giant. A certain Samojed once went out to +catch foxes, and found seven maidens swimming in a lake surrounded by +gloomy pine-trees, while their feather dresses lay on the shore. He +crept up and stole one of these dresses, and by and by the swan-maiden +came to him shivering with cold and promising to become his wife if he +would only give her back her garment of feathers. The ungallant fellow, +however, did not care for a wife, but a little revenge was not unsuited +to his way of thinking. There were seven robbers who used to prowl about +the neighbourhood, and who, when they got home, finding their hearts +in the way, used to hang them up on some pegs in the tent. One of these +robbers had killed the Samojed's mother; and so he promised to return +the swan-maiden's dress after she should have procured for him these +seven hearts. So she stole the hearts, and the Samojed smashed six of +them, and then woke up the seventh robber, and told him to restore his +mother to life, on pain of instant death, Then the robber produced a +purse containing the old woman's soul, and going to the graveyard shook +it over her bones, and she revived at once. Then the Samojed smashed the +seventh heart, and the robber died; and so the swan-maiden got back her +plumage and flew away rejoicing. [141] + +Swan-maidens are also, according to Mr. Baring-Gould, found among the +Minussinian Tartars. But there they appear as foul demons, like the +Greek Harpies, who delight in drinking the blood of men slain in battle. +There are forty of them, who darken the whole firmament in their flight; +but sometimes they all coalesce into one great black storm-fiend, who +rages for blood, like a werewolf. + +In South Africa we find the werewolf himself. [142] A certain Hottentot +was once travelling with a Bushwoman and her child, when they perceived +at a distance a troop of wild horses. The man, being hungry, asked the +woman to turn herself into a lioness and catch one of these horses, that +they might eat of it; whereupon the woman set down her child, and taking +off a sort of petticoat made of human skin became instantly transformed +into a lioness, which rushed across the plain, struck down a wild horse +and lapped its blood. The man climbed a tree in terror, and conjured his +companion to resume her natural shape. Then the lioness came back, and +putting on the skirt made of human skin reappeared as a woman, and took +up her child, and the two friends resumed their journey after making a +meal of the horse's flesh. [143] + +The werewolf also appears in North America, duly furnished with his +wolf-skin sack; but neither in America nor in Africa is he the genuine +European werewolf, inspired by a diabolic frenzy, and ravening for human +flesh. The barbaric myths testify to the belief that men can be changed +into beasts or have in some cases descended from beast ancestors, but +the application of this belief to the explanation of abnormal cannibal +cravings seems to have been confined to Europe. The werewolf of +the Middle Ages was not merely a transformed man,--he was an insane +cannibal, whose monstrous appetite, due to the machinations of the +Devil, showed its power over his physical organism by changing the shape +of it. The barbaric werewolf is the product of a lower and simpler kind +of thinking. There is no diabolism about him; for barbaric races, while +believing in the existence of hurtful and malicious fiends, have not a +sufficiently vivid sense of moral abnormity to form the conception of +diabolism. And the cannibal craving, which to the mediaeval European was +a phenomenon so strange as to demand a mythological explanation, +would not impress the barbarian as either very exceptional or very +blameworthy. + +In the folk-lore of the Zulus, one of the most quick-witted and +intelligent of African races, the cannibal possesses many features in +common with the Scandinavian Troll, who also has a liking for human +flesh. As we saw in the preceding paper, the Troll has very likely +derived some of his characteristics from reminiscences of the barbarous +races who preceded the Aryans in Central and Northern Europe. In like +manner the long-haired cannibal of Zulu nursery literature, who is +always represented as belonging to a distinct race, has been supposed to +be explained by the existence of inferior races conquered and displaced +by the Zulus. Nevertheless, as Dr. Callaway observes, neither the +long-haired mountain cannibals of Western Africa, nor the Fulahs, +nor the tribes of Eghedal described by Barth, "can be considered as +answering to the description of long-haired as given in the Zulu legends +of cannibals; neither could they possibly have formed their historical +basis..... It is perfectly clear that the cannibals of the Zulu legends +are not common men; they are magnified into giants and magicians; they +are remarkably swift and enduring; fierce and terrible warriors." Very +probably they may have a mythical origin in modes of thought akin to +those which begot the Panis of the Veda and the Northern Trolls. The +parallelism is perhaps the most remarkable one which can be found in +comparing barbaric with Aryan folk-lore. Like the Panis and Trolls, the +cannibals are represented as the foes of the solar hero Uthlakanyana, +who is almost as great a traveller as Odysseus, and whose presence of +mind amid trying circumstances is not to be surpassed by that of the +incomparable Boots. Uthlakanyana is as precocious as Herakles or Hermes. +He speaks before he is born, and no sooner has he entered the world than +he begins to outwit other people and get possession of their property. +He works bitter ruin for the cannibals, who, with all their strength and +fleetness, are no better endowed with quick wit than the Trolls, whom +Boots invariably victimizes. On one of his journeys, Uthlakanyana fell +in with a cannibal. Their greetings were cordial enough, and they ate a +bit of leopard together, and began to build a house, and killed a couple +of cows, but the cannibal's cow was lean, while Uthlakanyana's was fat. +Then the crafty traveller, fearing that his companion might insist upon +having the fat cow, turned and said, "'Let the house be thatched now +then we can eat our meat. You see the sky, that we shall get wet.' The +cannibal said, 'You are right, child of my sister; you are a man indeed +in saying, let us thatch the house, for we shall get wet.' +Uthlakanyana said, 'Do you do it then; I will go inside, and push the +thatching-needle for you, in the house.' The cannibal went up. His hair +was very, very long. Uthlakanyana went inside and pushed the needle for +him. He thatched in the hair of the cannibal, tying it very tightly; he +knotted it into the thatch constantly, taking it by separate locks and +fastening it firmly, that it might be tightly fastened to the house." +Then the rogue went outside and began to eat of the cow which was +roasted. "The cannibal said, 'What are you about, child of my sister? +Let us just finish the house; afterwards we can do that; we will do it +together.' Uthlakanyana replied, 'Come down then. I cannot go into the +house any more. The thatching is finished.' The cannibal assented. When +he thought he was going to quit the house, he was unable to quit it. +He cried out saying, 'Child of my sister, how have you managed your +thatching?' Uthlakanyana said, 'See to it yourself. I have thatched +well, for I shall not have any dispute. Now I am about to eat in peace; +I no longer dispute with anybody, for I am now alone with my cow.'" +So the cannibal cried and raved and appealed in vain to Uthlakanyana's +sense of justice, until by and by "the sky came with hailstones and +lightning Uthlakanyana took all the meat into the house; he stayed in +the house and lit a fire. It hailed and rained. The cannibal cried on +the top of the house; he was struck with the hailstones, and died there +on the house. It cleared. Uthlakanyana went out and said, 'Uncle, just +come down, and come to me. It has become clear. It no longer rains, and +there is no more hail, neither is there any more lightning. Why are you +silent?' So Uthlakanyana ate his cow alone, until he had finished it. He +then went on his way." [144] + +In another Zulu legend, a girl is stolen by cannibals, and shut up +in the rock Itshe-likantunjambili, which, like the rock of the Forty +Thieves, opens and shuts at the command of those who understand its +secret. She gets possession of the secret and escapes, and when the +monsters pursue her she throws on the ground a calabash full of sesame, +which they stop to eat. At last, getting tired of running, she climbs a +tree, and there she finds her brother, who, warned by a dream, has come +out to look for her. They ascend the tree together until they come to a +beautiful country well stocked with fat oxen. They kill an ox, and while +its flesh is roasting they amuse themselves by making a stout thong of +its hide. By and by one of the cannibals, smelling the cooking meat, +comes to the foot of the tree, and looking up discovers the boy and girl +in the sky-country! They invite him up there; to share in their feast, +and throw him an end of the thong by which to climb up. When the +cannibal is dangling midway between earth and heaven, they let go the +rope, and down he falls with a terrible crash. [145] + +In this story the enchanted rock opened by a talismanic formula brings +us again into contact with Indo-European folk-lore. And that the +conception has in both cases been suggested by the same natural +phenomenon is rendered probable by another Zulu tale, in which the +cannibal's cave is opened by a swallow which flies in the air. Here we +have the elements of a genuine lightning-myth. We see that among these +African barbarians, as well as among our own forefathers, the clouds +have been conceived as birds carrying the lightning which can cleave +the rocks. In America we find the same notion prevalent. The Dakotahs +explain the thunder as "the sound of the cloud-bird flapping his wings," +and the Caribs describe the lightning as a poisoned dart which the bird +blows through a hollow reed, after the Carib style of shooting. [146] +On the other hand, the Kamtchatkans know nothing of a cloud-bird, but +explain the lightning as something analogous to the flames of a volcano. +The Kamtchatkans say that when the mountain goblins have got their +stoves well heated up, they throw overboard, with true barbaric +shiftlessness, all the brands not needed for immediate use, which makes +a volcanic eruption. So when it is summer on earth, it is winter in +heaven; and the gods, after heating up their stoves, throw away their +spare kindlingwood, which makes the lightning. [147] + +When treating of Indo-European solar myths, we saw the unvarying, +unresting course of the sun variously explained as due to the subjection +of Herakles to Eurystheus, to the anger of Poseidon at Odysseus, or to +the curse laid upon the Wandering Jew. The barbaric mind has worked +at the same problem; but the explanations which it has given are more +childlike and more grotesque. A Polynesian myth tells how the Sun used +to race through the sky so fast that men could not get enough daylight +to hunt game for their subsistence. By and by an inventive genius, named +Maui, conceived the idea of catching the Sun in a noose and making +him go more deliberately. He plaited ropes and made a strong net, and, +arming himself with the jawbone of his ancestress, Muri-ranga-whenua, +called together all his brethren, and they journeyed to the place where +the Sun rises, and there spread the net. When the Sun came up, he stuck +his head and fore-paws into the net, and while the brothers tightened +the ropes so that they cut him and made him scream for mercy, Maui beat +him with the jawbone until he became so weak that ever since he has +only been able to crawl through the sky. According to another Polynesian +myth, there was once a grumbling Radical, who never could be satisfied +with the way in which things are managed on this earth. This bold +Radical set out to build a stone house which should last forever; but +the days were so short and the stones so heavy that he despaired of +ever accomplishing his project. One night, as he lay awake thinking the +matter over, it occurred to him that if he could catch the Sun in a net, +he could have as much daylight as was needful in order to finish his +house. So he borrowed a noose from the god Itu, and, it being autumn, +when the Sun gets sleepy and stupid, he easily caught the luminary. The +Sun cried till his tears made a great freshet which nearly drowned the +island; but it was of no use; there he is tethered to this day. + +Similar stories are met with in North America. A Dog-Rib Indian once +chased a squirrel up a tree until he reached the sky. There he set a +snare for the squirrel and climbed down again. Next day the Sun was +caught in the snare, and night came on at once. That is to say, the sun +was eclipsed. "Something wrong up there," thought the Indian, "I must +have caught the Sun"; and so he sent up ever so many animals to release +the captive. They were all burned to ashes, but at last the mole, going +up and burrowing out through the GROUND OF THE SKY, (!) succeeded in +gnawing asunder the cords of the snare. Just as it thrust its head out +through the opening made in the sky-ground, it received a flash of light +which put its eyes out, and that is why the mole is blind. The Sun got +away, but has ever since travelled more deliberately. [148] + +These sun-myths, many more of which are to be found collected in Mr. +Tylor's excellent treatise on "The Early History of Mankind," well +illustrate both the similarity and the diversity of the results obtained +by the primitive mind, in different times and countries, when engaged +upon similar problems. No one would think of referring these stories to +a common traditional origin with the myths of Herakles and Odysseus; yet +both classes of tales were devised to explain the same phenomenon. Both +to the Aryan and to the Polynesian the steadfast but deliberate journey +of the sun through the firmament was a strange circumstance which called +for explanation; but while the meagre intelligence of the barbarian +could only attain to the quaint conception of a man throwing a noose +over the sun's head, the rich imagination of the Indo-European created +the noble picture of Herakles doomed to serve the son of Sthenelos, in +accordance with the resistless decree of fate. + +Another world-wide myth, which shows how similar are the mental habits +of uncivilized men, is the myth of the tortoise. The Hindu notion of a +great tortoise that lies beneath the earth and keeps it from falling +is familiar to every reader. According to one account, this tortoise, +swimming in the primeval ocean, bears the earth on his back; but by and +by, when the gods get ready to destroy mankind, the tortoise will grow +weary and sink under his load, and then the earth will be overwhelmed +by a deluge. Another legend tells us that when the gods and demons +took Mount Mandara for a churning-stick and churned the ocean to make +ambrosia, the god Vishnu took on the form of a tortoise and lay at the +bottom of the sea, as a pivot for the whirling mountain to rest upon. +But these versions of the myth are not primitive. In the original +conception the world is itself a gigantic tortoise swimming in a +boundless ocean; the flat surface of the earth is the lower plate which +covers the reptile's belly; the rounded shell which covers his back is +the sky; and the human race lives and moves and has its being inside of +the tortoise. Now, as Mr. Tylor has pointed out, many tribes of Redskins +hold substantially the same theory of the universe. They regard the +tortoise as the symbol of the world, and address it as the mother of +mankind. Once, before the earth was made, the king of heaven quarrelled +with his wife, and gave her such a terrible kick that she fell down into +the sea. Fortunately a tortoise received her on his back, and proceeded +to raise up the earth, upon which the heavenly woman became the mother +of mankind. These first men had white faces, and they used to dig in the +ground to catch badgers. One day a zealous burrower thrust his knife too +far and stabbed the tortoise, which immediately sank into the sea and +drowned all the human race save one man. [149] In Finnish mythology the +world is not a tortoise, but it is an egg, of which the white part is +the ocean, the yolk is the earth, and the arched shell is the sky. In +India this is the mundane egg of Brahma; and it reappears among the +Yorubas as a pair of calabashes put together like oyster-shells, one +making a dome over the other. In Zulu-land the earth is a huge beast +called Usilosimapundu, whose face is a rock, and whose mouth is very +large and broad and red: "in some countries which were on his body it +was winter, and in others it was early harvest." Many broad rivers flow +over his back, and he is covered with forests and hills, as is indicated +in his name, which means "the rugose or knotty-backed beast." In this +group of conceptions may be seen the origin of Sindbad's great fish, +which lay still so long that sand and clay gradually accumulated upon +its back, and at last it became covered with trees. And lastly, passing +from barbaric folk-lore and from the Arabian Nights to the highest level +of Indo-European intelligence, do we not find both Plato and Kepler +amusing themselves with speculations in which the earth figures as a +stupendous animal? + + + + +VI. JUVENTUS MUNDI. [150] + + +TWELVE years ago, when, in concluding his "Studies on Homer and the +Homeric Age," Mr. Gladstone applied to himself the warning addressed by +Agamemnon to the priest of Apollo, + + "Let not Nemesis catch me by the swift ships." + +he would seem to have intended it as a last farewell to classical +studies. Yet, whatever his intentions may have been, they have yielded +to the sweet desire of revisiting familiar ground,--a desire as strong +in the breast of the classical scholar as was the yearning which led +Odysseus to reject the proffered gift of immortality, so that he might +but once more behold the wreathed smoke curling about the roofs of his +native Ithaka. In this new treatise, on the "Youth of the World," Mr. +Gladstone discusses the same questions which were treated in his earlier +work; and the main conclusions reached in the "Studies on Homer" +are here so little modified with reference to the recent progress of +archaeological inquiries, that the book can hardly be said to have had +any other reason for appearing, save the desire of loitering by the +ships of the Argives, and of returning thither as often as possible. + +The title selected by Mr. Gladstone for his new work is either a very +appropriate one or a strange misnomer, according to the point of +view from which it is regarded. Such being the case, we might readily +acquiesce in its use, and pass it by without comment, trusting that +the author understood himself when he adopted it, were it not that by +incidental references, and especially by his allusions to the legendary +literature of the Jews, Mr. Gladstone shows that he means more by the +title than it can fairly be made to express. An author who seeks to +determine prehistoric events by references to Kadmos, and Danaos, and +Abraham, is at once liable to the suspicion of holding very inadequate +views as to the character of the epoch which may properly be termed the +"youth of the world." Often in reading Mr. Gladstone we are reminded +of Renan's strange suggestion that an exploration of the Hindu Kush +territory, whence probably came the primitive Aryans, might throw some +new light on the origin of language. Nothing could well be more futile. +The primitive Aryan language has already been partly reconstructed for +us; its grammatical forms and syntactic devices are becoming familiar to +scholars; one great philologist has even composed a tale in it; yet +in studying this long-buried dialect we are not much nearer the first +beginnings of human speech than in studying the Greek of Homer, the +Sanskrit of the Vedas, or the Umbrian of the Igovine Inscriptions. The +Aryan mother-tongue had passed into the last of the three stages of +linguistic growth long before the break-up of the tribal communities +in Aryana-vaedjo, and at that early date presented a less primitive +structure than is to be seen in the Chinese or the Mongolian of our own +times. So the state of society depicted in the Homeric poems, and well +illustrated by Mr. Gladstone, is many degrees less primitive than that +which is revealed to us by the archaeological researches either of +Pictet and Windischmann, or of Tylor, Lubbock, and M'Lennan. We shall +gather evidences of this as we proceed. Meanwhile let us remember that +at least eleven thousand years before the Homeric age men lived in +communities, and manufactured pottery on the banks of the Nile; and let +us not leave wholly out of sight that more distant period, perhaps a +million years ago, when sparse tribes of savage men, contemporaneous +with the mammoths of Siberia and the cave-tigers of Britain, struggled +against the intense cold of the glacial winters. + +Nevertheless, though the Homeric age appears to be a late one when +considered with reference to the whole career of the human race, there +is a point of view from which it may be justly regarded as the "youth of +the world." However long man may have existed upon the earth, he becomes +thoroughly and distinctly human in the eyes of the historian only at the +epoch at which he began to create for himself a literature. As far back +as we can trace the progress of the human race continuously by means of +the written word, so far do we feel a true historical interest in its +fortunes, and pursue our studies with a sympathy which the mere lapse of +time is powerless to impair. But the primeval man, whose history never +has been and never will be written, whose career on the earth, dateless +and chartless, can be dimly revealed to us only by palaeontology, +excites in us a very different feeling. Though with the keenest interest +we ransack every nook and corner of the earth's surface for information +about him, we are all the while aware that what we are studying is +human zoology and not history. Our Neanderthal man is a specimen, not a +character. We cannot ask him the Homeric question, what is his name, who +were his parents, and how did he get where we found him. His language +has died with him, and he can render no account of himself. We can only +regard him specifically as Homo Anthropos, a creature of bigger brain +than his congener Homo Pithekos, and of vastly greater promise. But +this, we say, is physical science, and not history. + +For the historian, therefore, who studies man in his various social +relations, the youth of the world is the period at which literature +begins. We regard the history of the western world as beginning about +the tenth century before the Christian era, because at that date we find +literature, in Greece and Palestine, beginning to throw direct light +upon the social and intellectual condition of a portion of mankind. +That great empires, rich in historical interest and in materials for +sociological generalizations, had existed for centuries before that +date, in Egypt and Assyria, we do not doubt, since they appear at the +dawn of history with all the marks of great antiquity; but the only +steady historical light thrown upon them shines from the pages of Greek +and Hebrew authors, and these know them only in their latest period. For +information concerning their early careers we must look, not to history, +but to linguistic archaeology, a science which can help us to general +results, but cannot enable us to fix dates, save in the crudest manner. + +We mention the tenth century before Christ as the earliest period at +which we can begin to study human society in general and Greek society +in particular, through the medium of literature. But, strictly speaking, +the epoch in question is one which cannot be fixed with accuracy. The +earliest ascertainable date in Greek history is that of the Olympiad +of Koroibos, B. C. 776. There is no doubt that the Homeric poems +were written before this date, and that Homer is therefore strictly +prehistoric. Had this fact been duly realized by those scholars who have +not attempted to deny it, a vast amount of profitless discussion might +have been avoided. Sooner or later, as Grote says, "the lesson must +be learnt, hard and painful though it be, that no imaginable reach of +critical acumen will of itself enable us to discriminate fancy from +reality, in the absence of a tolerable stock of evidence." We do not +know who Homer was; we do not know where or when he lived; and in all +probability we shall never know. The data for settling the question +are not now accessible, and it is not likely that they will ever be +discovered. Even in early antiquity the question was wrapped in an +obscurity as deep as that which shrouds it to-day. The case between the +seven or eight cities which claimed to be the birthplace of the +poet, and which Welcker has so ably discussed, cannot be decided. The +feebleness of the evidence brought into court may be judged from the +fact that the claims of Chios and the story of the poet's blindness rest +alike upon a doubtful allusion in the Hymn to Apollo, which Thukydides +(III. 104) accepted as authentic. The majority of modern critics have +consoled themselves with the vague conclusion that, as between the two +great divisions of the early Greek world, Homer at least belonged to +the Asiatic. But Mr. Gladstone has shown good reasons for doubting this +opinion. He has pointed out several instances in which the poems seem +to betray a closer topographical acquaintance with European than with +Asiatic Greece, and concludes that Athens and Argos have at least as +good a claim to Homer as Chios or Smyrna. + +It is far more desirable that we should form an approximate opinion as +to the date of the Homeric poems, than that we should seek to determine +the exact locality in which they originated. Yet the one question is +hardly less obscure than the other. Different writers of antiquity +assigned eight different epochs to Homer, of which the earliest is +separated from the most recent by an interval of four hundred and sixty +years,--a period as long as that which separates the Black Prince from +the Duke of Wellington, or the age of Perikles from the Christian era. +While Theopompos quite preposterously brings him down as late as the +twenty-third Olympiad, Krates removes him to the twelfth century B. C. +The date ordinarily accepted by modern critics is the one assigned by +Herodotos, 880 B. C. Yet Mr. Gladstone shows reasons, which appear to me +convincing, for doubting or rejecting this date. + +I refer to the much-abused legend of the Children of Herakles, which +seems capable of yielding an item of trustworthy testimony, provided +it be circumspectly dealt with. I differ from Mr. Gladstone in +not regarding the legend as historical in its present shape. In my +apprehension, Hyllos and Oxylos, as historical personages, have no value +whatever; and I faithfully follow Mr. Grote, in refusing to accept any +date earlier than the Olympiad of Koroibos. The tale of the "Return of +the Herakleids" is undoubtedly as unworthy of credit as the legend +of Hengst and Horsa; yet, like the latter, it doubtless embodies +a historical occurrence. One cannot approve, as scholarlike or +philosophical, the scepticism of Mr. Cox, who can see in the whole +narrative nothing but a solar myth. There certainly was a time when the +Dorian tribes--described in the legend as the allies of the Children of +Herakles--conquered Peloponnesos; and that time was certainly subsequent +to the composition of the Homeric poems. It is incredible that the Iliad +and the Odyssey should ignore the existence of Dorians in Peloponnesos, +if there were Dorians not only dwelling but ruling there at the time +when the poems were written. The poems are very accurate and rigorously +consistent in their use of ethnical appellatives; and their author, in +speaking of Achaians and Argives, is as evidently alluding to peoples +directly known to him, as is Shakespeare when he mentions Danes and +Scotchmen. Now Homer knows Achaians, Argives, and Pelasgians dwelling in +Peloponnesos; and he knows Dorians also, but only as a people inhabiting +Crete. (Odyss. XIX. 175.) With Homer, moreover, the Hellenes are not the +Greeks in general but only a people dwelling in the north, in Thessaly. +When these poems were written, Greece was not known as Hellas, but +as Achaia,--the whole country taking its name from the Achaians, +the dominant race in Peloponnesos. Now at the beginning of the truly +historical period, in the eighth century B. C., all this is changed. +The Greeks as a people are called Hellenes; the Dorians rule in +Peloponnesos, while their lands are tilled by Argive Helots; and the +Achaians appear only as an insignificant people occupying the southern +shore of the Corinthian Gulf. How this change took place we cannot tell. +The explanation of it can never be obtained from history, though some +light may perhaps be thrown upon it by linguistic archaeology. But at +all events it was a great change, and could not have taken place in a +moment. It is fair to suppose that the Helleno-Dorian conquest must have +begun at least a century before the first Olympiad; for otherwise the +geographical limits of the various Greek races would not have been so +completely established as we find them to have been at that date. The +Greeks, indeed, supposed it to have begun at least three centuries +earlier, but it is impossible to collect evidence which will either +refute or establish that opinion. For our purposes it is enough to know +that the conquest could not have taken place later than 900 B. C.; and +if this be the case, the MINIMUM DATE for the composition of the Homeric +poems must be the tenth century before Christ; which is, in fact, the +date assigned by Aristotle. Thus far, and no farther, I believe it +possible to go with safety. Whether the poems were composed in the +tenth, eleventh, or twelfth century cannot be determined. We +are justified only in placing them far enough back to allow the +Helleno-Dorian conquest to intervene between their composition and the +beginning of recorded history. The tenth century B. C. is the latest +date which will account for all the phenomena involved in the case, and +with this result we must be satisfied. Even on this showing, the Iliad +and Odyssey appear as the oldest existing specimens of Aryan literature, +save perhaps the hymns of the Rig-Veda and the sacred books of the +Avesta. + +The apparent difficulty of preserving such long poems for three or four +centuries without the aid of writing may seem at first sight to justify +the hypothesis of Wolf, that they are mere collections of ancient +ballads, like those which make up the Mahabharata, preserved in the +memories of a dozen or twenty bards, and first arranged under the orders +of Peisistratos. But on a careful examination this hypothesis is seen to +raise more difficulties than it solves. What was there in the position +of Peisistratos, or of Athens itself in the sixth century B. C., so +authoritative as to compel all Greeks to recognize the recension then +and there made of their revered poet? Besides which the celebrated +ordinance of Solon respecting the rhapsodes at the Panathenaia obliges +us to infer the existence of written manuscripts of Homer previous to +550 B. C. As Mr. Grote well observes, the interference of Peisistratos +"presupposes a certain foreknown and ancient aggregate, the main +lineaments of which were familiar to the Grecian public, although many +of the rhapsodes in their practice may have deviated from it both by +omission and interpolation. In correcting the Athenian recitations +conformably with such understood general type, Peisistratos might hope +both to procure respect for Athens and to constitute a fashion for the +rest of Greece. But this step of 'collecting the torn body of sacred +Homer' is something generically different from the composition of a new +Iliad out of pre-existing songs: the former is as easy, suitable, and +promising as the latter is violent and gratuitous." [151] + +As for Wolf's objection, that the Iliad and Odyssey are too long to +have been preserved by memory, it may be met by a simple denial. It is a +strange objection indeed, coming from a man of Wolf's retentive memory. +I do not see how the acquisition of the two poems can be regarded as +such a very arduous task; and if literature were as scanty now as in +Greek antiquity, there are doubtless many scholars who would long since +have had them at their tongues' end. Sir G. C. Lewis, with but little +conscious effort, managed to carry in his head a very considerable +portion of Greek and Latin classic literature; and Niebuhr (who +once restored from recollection a book of accounts which had been +accidentally destroyed) was in the habit of referring to book and +chapter of an ancient author without consulting his notes. Nay, there +is Professor Sophocles, of Harvard University, who, if you suddenly stop +and interrogate him in the street, will tell you just how many times any +given Greek word occurs in Thukydides, or in AEschylos, or in Plato, and +will obligingly rehearse for you the context. If all extant copies of +the Homeric poems were to be gathered together and burnt up to-day, +like Don Quixote's library, or like those Arabic manuscripts of which +Cardinal Ximenes made a bonfire in the streets of Granada, the poems +could very likely be reproduced and orally transmitted for several +generations; and much easier must it have been for the Greeks +to preserve these books, which their imagination invested with a +quasi-sanctity, and which constituted the greater part of the literary +furniture of their minds. In Xenophon's time there were educated +gentlemen at Athens who could repeat both Iliad and Odyssey verbatim. +(Xenoph. Sympos., III. 5.) Besides this, we know that at Chios there was +a company of bards, known as Homerids, whose business it was to recite +these poems from memory; and from the edicts of Solon and the Sikyonian +Kleisthenes (Herod., V. 67), we may infer that the case was the same in +other parts of Greece. Passages from the Iliad used to be sung at the +Pythian festivals, to the accompaniment of the harp (Athenaeus, XIV. +638), and in at least two of the Ionic islands of the AEgaean there were +regular competitive exhibitions by trained young men, at which prizes +were given to the best reciter. The difficulty of preserving the poems, +under such circumstances, becomes very insignificant; and the Wolfian +argument quite vanishes when we reflect that it would have been no +easier to preserve a dozen or twenty short poems than two long ones. +Nay, the coherent, orderly arrangement of the Iliad and Odyssey would +make them even easier to remember than a group of short rhapsodies not +consecutively arranged. + +When we come to interrogate the poems themselves, we find in them quite +convincing evidence that they were originally composed for the ear +alone, and without reference to manuscript assistance. They abound in +catchwords, and in verbal repetitions. The "Catalogue of Ships," as Mr. +Gladstone has acutely observed, is arranged in well-defined sections, +in such a way that the end of each section suggests the beginning of +the next one. It resembles the versus memoriales found in old-fashioned +grammars. But the most convincing proof of all is to be found in the +changes which Greek pronunciation went through between the ages of +Homer and Peisistratos. "At the time when these poems were composed, the +digamma (or w) was an effective consonant, and figured as such in the +structure of the verse; at the time when they were committed to writing, +it had ceased to be pronounced, and therefore never found a place in any +of the manuscripts,--insomuch that the Alexandrian critics, though they +knew of its existence in the much later poems of Alkaios and Sappho, +never recognized it in Homer. The hiatus, and the various perplexities +of metre, occasioned by the loss of the digamma, were corrected by +different grammatical stratagems. But the whole history of this lost +letter is very curious, and is rendered intelligible only by the +supposition that the Iliad and Odyssey belonged for a wide space of time +to the memory, the voice, and the ear exclusively." [152] + +Many of these facts are of course fully recognized by the Wolfians; but +the inference drawn from them, that the Homeric poems began to exist in +a piecemeal condition, is, as we have seen, unnecessary. These poems may +indeed be compared, in a certain sense, with the early sacred and +epic literature of the Jews, Indians, and Teutons. But if we assign a +plurality of composers to the Psalms and Pentateuch, the Mahabharata, +the Vedas, and the Edda, we do so because of internal evidence furnished +by the books themselves, and not because these books could not have been +preserved by oral tradition. Is there, then, in the Homeric poems any +such internal evidence of dual or plural origin as is furnished by +the interlaced Elohistic and Jehovistic documents of the Pentateuch? A +careful investigation will show that there is not. Any scholar who +has given some attention to the subject can readily distinguish the +Elohistic from the Jehovistic portions of the Pentateuch; and, save in +the case of a few sporadic verses, most Biblical critics coincide in the +separation which they make between the two. But the attempts which have +been made to break up the Iliad and Odyssey have resulted in no such +harmonious agreement. There are as many systems as there are critics, +and naturally enough. For the Iliad and the Odyssey are as much alike +as two peas, and the resemblance which holds between the two holds also +between the different parts of each poem. From the appearance of the +injured Chryses in the Grecian camp down to the intervention of Athene +on the field of contest at Ithaka, we find in each book and in each +paragraph the same style, the same peculiarities of expression, the same +habits of thought, the same quite unique manifestations of the faculty +of observation. Now if the style were commonplace, the observation +slovenly, or the thought trivial, as is wont to be the case in +ballad-literature, this argument from similarity might not carry with it +much conviction. But when we reflect that throughout the whole course +of human history no other works, save the best tragedies of Shakespeare, +have ever been written which for combined keenness of observation, +elevation of thought, and sublimity of style can compare with the +Homeric poems, we must admit that the argument has very great weight +indeed. Let us take, for example, the sixth and twenty-fourth books +of the Iliad. According to the theory of Lachmann, the most eminent +champion of the Wolfian hypothesis, these are by different authors. +Human speech has perhaps never been brought so near to the limit of its +capacity of expressing deep emotion as in the scene between Priam and +Achilleus in the twenty-fourth book; while the interview between Hektor +and Andromache in the sixth similarly wellnigh exhausts the power of +language. Now, the literary critic has a right to ask whether it +is probable that two such passages, agreeing perfectly in turn of +expression, and alike exhibiting the same unapproachable degree of +excellence, could have been produced by two different authors. And the +physiologist--with some inward misgivings suggested by Mr. Galton's +theory that the Greeks surpassed us in genius even as we surpass the +negroes--has a right to ask whether it is in the natural course of +things for two such wonderful poets, strangely agreeing in their +minutest psychological characteristics, to be produced at the same time. +And the difficulty thus raised becomes overwhelming when we reflect that +it is the coexistence of not two only, but at least twenty such geniuses +which the Wolfian hypothesis requires us to account for. That theory +worked very well as long as scholars thoughtlessly assumed that the +Iliad and Odyssey were analogous to ballad poetry. But, except in the +simplicity of the primitive diction, there is no such analogy. The +power and beauty of the Iliad are never so hopelessly lost as when it is +rendered into the style of a modern ballad. One might as well attempt +to preserve the grandeur of the triumphant close of Milton's Lycidas by +turning it into the light Anacreontics of the ode to "Eros stung by a +Bee." The peculiarity of the Homeric poetry, which defies translation, +is its union of the simplicity characteristic of an early age with a +sustained elevation of style, which can be explained only as due to +individual genius. + +The same conclusion is forced upon us when we examine the artistic +structure of these poems. With regard to the Odyssey in particular, +Mr. Grote has elaborately shown that its structure is so thoroughly +integral, that no considerable portion could be subtracted without +converting the poem into a more or less admirable fragment. The +Iliad stands in a somewhat different position. There are unmistakable +peculiarities in its structure, which have led even Mr. Grote, who +utterly rejects the Wolfian hypothesis, to regard it as made up of +two poems; although he inclines to the belief that the later poem +was grafted upon the earlier by its own author, by way of further +elucidation and expansion; just as Goethe, in his old age, added a +new part to "Faust." According to Mr. Grote, the Iliad, as originally +conceived, was properly an Achilleis; its design being, as indicated in +the opening lines of the poem, to depict the wrath of Achilleus and +the unutterable woes which it entailed upon the Greeks The plot of +this primitive Achilleis is entirely contained in Books I., VIII., and +XI.-XXII.; and, in Mr. Grote's opinion, the remaining books injure the +symmetry of this plot by unnecessarily prolonging the duration of +the Wrath, while the embassy to Achilleus, in the ninth book, unduly +anticipates the conduct of Agamemnon in the nineteenth, and is +therefore, as a piece of bungling work, to be referred to the hands of +an inferior interpolator. Mr. Grote thinks it probable that these books, +with the exception of the ninth, were subsequently added by the poet, +with a view to enlarging the original Achilleis into a real Iliad, +describing the war of the Greeks against Troy. With reference to this +hypothesis, I gladly admit that Mr. Grote is, of all men now living, the +one best entitled to a reverential hearing on almost any point connected +with Greek antiquity. Nevertheless it seems to me that his theory rests +solely upon imagined difficulties which have no real existence. I doubt +if any scholar, reading the Iliad ever so much, would ever be struck by +these alleged inconsistencies of structure, unless they were suggested +by some a priori theory. And I fear that the Wolfian theory, in spite of +Mr. Grote's emphatic rejection of it, is responsible for some of these +over-refined criticisms. Even as it stands, the Iliad is not an account +of the war against Troy. It begins in the tenth year of the siege, and +it does not continue to the capture of the city. It is simply occupied +with an episode in the war,--with the wrath of Achilleus and its +consequences, according to the plan marked out in the opening lines. The +supposed additions, therefore, though they may have given to the poem +a somewhat wider scope, have not at any rate changed its primitive +character of an Achilleis. To my mind they seem even called for by the +original conception of the consequences of the wrath. To have inserted +the battle at the ships, in which Sarpedon breaks down the wall of the +Greeks, immediately after the occurrences of the first book, would have +been too abrupt altogether. Zeus, after his reluctant promise to Thetis, +must not be expected so suddenly to exhibit such fell determination. And +after the long series of books describing the valorous deeds of Aias, +Diomedes, Agamemnon, Odysseus, and Menelaos, the powerful intervention +of Achilleus appears in far grander proportions than would otherwise +be possible. As for the embassy to Achilleus, in the ninth book, I +am unable to see how the final reconciliation with Agamemnon would be +complete without it. As Mr. Gladstone well observes, what Achilleus +wants is not restitution, but apology; and Agamemnon offers no apology +until the nineteenth book. In his answer to the ambassadors, Achilleus +scornfully rejects the proposals which imply that the mere return of +Briseis will satisfy his righteous resentment, unless it be accompanied +with that public humiliation to which circumstances have not yet +compelled the leader of the Greeks to subject himself. Achilleus is not +to be bought or cajoled. Even the extreme distress of the Greeks in the +thirteenth book does not prevail upon him; nor is there anything in the +poem to show that he ever would have laid aside his wrath, had not the +death of Patroklos supplied him with a new and wholly unforeseen motive. +It seems to me that his entrance into the battle after the death of his +friend would lose half its poetic effect, were it not preceded by some +such scene as that in the ninth book, in which he is represented as deaf +to all ordinary inducements. As for the two concluding books, which Mr. +Grote is inclined to regard as a subsequent addition, not necessitated +by the plan of the poem, I am at a loss to see how the poem can be +considered complete without them. To leave the bodies of Patroklos +and Hektor unburied would be in the highest degree shocking to Greek +religious feelings. Remembering the sentence incurred, in far less +superstitious times, by the generals at Arginusai, it is impossible to +believe that any conclusion which left Patroklos's manes unpropitiated, +and the mutilated corpse of Hektor unransomed, could have satisfied +either the poet or his hearers. For further particulars I must refer +the reader to the excellent criticisms of Mr. Gladstone, and also to the +article on "Greek History and Legend" in the second volume of Mr. Mill's +"Dissertations and Discussions." A careful study of the arguments of +these writers, and, above all, a thorough and independent examination of +the Iliad itself, will, I believe, convince the student that this great +poem is from beginning to end the consistent production of a single +author. + +The arguments of those who would attribute the Iliad and Odyssey, taken +as wholes, to two different authors, rest chiefly upon some apparent +discrepancies in the mythology of the two poems; but many of these +difficulties have been completely solved by the recent progress of the +science of comparative mythology. Thus, for example, the fact that, +in the Iliad, Hephaistos is called the husband of Charis, while in the +Odyssey he is called the husband of Aphrodite, has been cited even by +Mr. Grote as evidence that the two poems are not by the same author. It +seems to me that one such discrepancy, in the midst of complete general +agreement, would be much better explained as Cervantes explained his own +inconsistency with reference to the stealing of Sancho's mule, in the +twenty-second chapter of "Don Quixote." But there is no discrepancy. +Aphrodite, though originally the moon-goddess, like the German +Horsel, had before Homer's time acquired many of the attributes of the +dawn-goddess Athene, while her lunar characteristics had been to a +great extent transferred to Artemis and Persephone. In her renovated +character, as goddess of the dawn, Aphrodite became identified with +Charis, who appears in the Rig-Veda as dawn-goddess. In the post-Homeric +mythology, the two were again separated, and Charis, becoming divided in +personality, appears as the Charites, or Graces, who were supposed to be +constant attendants of Aphrodite. But in the Homeric poems the two are +still identical, and either Charis or Aphrodite may be called the wife +of the fire-god, without inconsistency. + +Thus to sum up, I believe that Mr. Gladstone is quite right in +maintaining that both the Iliad and Odyssey are, from beginning to end, +with the exception of a few insignificant interpolations, the work of a +single author, whom we have no ground for calling by any other name than +that of Homer. I believe, moreover, that this author lived before the +beginning of authentic history, and that we can determine neither his +age nor his country with precision. We can only decide that he was a +Greek who lived at some time previous to the year 900 B.C. + +Here, however, I must begin to part company with Mr. Gladstone, and +shall henceforth unfortunately have frequent occasion to differ from him +on points of fundamental importance. For Mr. Gladstone not only regards +the Homeric age as strictly within the limits of authentic history, but +he even goes much further than this. He would not only fix the date of +Homer positively in the twelfth century B. C., but he regards the +Trojan war as a purely historical event, of which Homer is the authentic +historian and the probable eye-witness. Nay, he even takes the word +of the poet as proof conclusive of the historical character of events +happening several generations before the Troika, according to the +legendary chronology. He not only regards Agamemnon, Achilleus, +and Paris as actual personages, but he ascribes the same reality to +characters like Danaos, Kadmos, and Perseus, and talks of the Pelopid +and Aiolid dynasties, and the empire of Minos, with as much confidence +as if he were dealing with Karlings or Capetians, or with the epoch of +the Crusades. + +It is disheartening, at the present day, and after so much has been +finally settled by writers like Grote, Mommsen, and Sir G. C. Lewis, +to come upon such views in the work of a man of scholarship and +intelligence. One begins to wonder how many more times it will be +necessary to prove that dates and events are of no historical value, +unless attested by nearly contemporary evidence. Pausanias and Plutarch +were able men no doubt, and Thukydides was a profound historian; but +what these writers thought of the Herakleid invasion, the age of +Homer, and the war of Troy, can have no great weight with the critical +historian, since even in the time of Thukydides these events were +as completely obscured by lapse of time as they are now. There is no +literary Greek history before the age of Hekataios and Herodotos, three +centuries subsequent to the first recorded Olympiad. A portion of this +period is satisfactorily covered by inscriptions, but even these fail us +before we get within a century of this earliest ascertainable date. +Even the career of the lawgiver Lykourgos, which seems to belong to +the commencement of the eighth century B. C., presents us, from lack of +anything like contemporary records, with many insoluble problems. The +Helleno-Dorian conquest, as we have seen, must have occurred at some +time or other; but it evidently did not occur within two centuries of +the earliest known inscription, and it is therefore folly to imagine +that we can determine its date or ascertain the circumstances which +attended it. Anterior to this event there is but one fact in Greek +antiquity directly known to us,--the existence of the Homeric poems. The +belief that there was a Trojan war rests exclusively upon the contents +of those poems: there is no other independent testimony to it whatever. +But the Homeric poems are of no value as testimony to the truth of the +statements contained in them, unless it can be proved that their author +was either contemporary with the Troika, or else derived his information +from contemporary witnesses. This can never be proved. To assume, as Mr. +Gladstone does, that Homer lived within fifty years after the Troika, is +to make a purely gratuitous assumption. For aught the wisest historian +can tell, the interval may have been five hundred years, or a thousand. +Indeed the Iliad itself expressly declares that it is dealing with an +ancient state of things which no longer exists. It is difficult to see +what else can be meant by the statement that the heroes of the Troika +belong to an order of men no longer seen upon the earth. (Iliad, V. +304.) Most assuredly Achilleus the son of Thetis, and Sarpedon the son +of Zeus, and Helena the daughter of Zeus, are no ordinary mortals, such +as might have been seen and conversed with by the poet's grandfather. +They belong to an inferior order of gods, according to the peculiar +anthropomorphism of the Greeks, in which deity and humanity are so +closely mingled that it is difficult to tell where the one begins and +the other ends. Diomedes, single-handed, vanquishes not only the gentle +Aphrodite, but even the god of battles himself, the terrible Ares. +Nestor quaffs lightly from a goblet which, we are told, not two men +among the poet's contemporaries could by their united exertions raise +and place upon a table. Aias and Hektor and Aineias hurl enormous masses +of rock as easily as an ordinary man would throw a pebble. All this +shows that the poet, in his naive way, conceiving of these heroes as +personages of a remote past, was endeavouring as far as possible to +ascribe to them the attributes of superior beings. If all that were +divine, marvellous, or superhuman were to be left out of the poems, the +supposed historical residue would hardly be worth the trouble of saving. +As Mr. Cox well observes, "It is of the very essence of the narrative +that Paris, who has deserted Oinone, the child of the stream Kebren, and +before whom Here, Athene, and Aphrodite had appeared as claimants +for the golden apple, steals from Sparta the beautiful sister of the +Dioskouroi; that the chiefs are summoned together for no other purpose +than to avenge her woes and wrongs; that Achilleus, the son of the +sea-nymph Thetis, the wielder of invincible weapons and the lord of +undying horses, goes to fight in a quarrel which is not his own; that +his wrath is roused because he is robbed of the maiden Briseis, and that +henceforth he takes no part in the strife until his friend Patroklos has +been slain; that then he puts on the new armour which Thetis brings to +him from the anvil of Hephaistos, and goes forth to win the victory. The +details are throughout of the same nature. Achilleus sees and converses +with Athene; Aphrodite is wounded by Diomedes, and Sleep and Death bear +away the lifeless Sarpedon on their noiseless wings to the far-off +land of light." In view of all this it is evident that Homer was not +describing, like a salaried historiographer, the state of things which +existed in the time of his father or grandfather. To his mind the +occurrences which he described were those of a remote, a wonderful, a +semi-divine past. + +This conclusion, which I have thus far supported merely by reference to +the Iliad itself, becomes irresistible as soon as we take into account +the results obtained during the past thirty years by the science of +comparative mythology. As long as our view was restricted to Greece, +it was perhaps excusable that Achilleus and Paris should be taken for +exaggerated copies of actual persons. Since the day when Grimm laid the +foundations of the science of mythology, all this has been changed. It +is now held that Achilleus and Paris and Helena are to be found, not +only in the Iliad, but also in the Rig-Veda, and therefore, as mythical +conceptions, date, not from Homer, but from a period preceding the +dispersion of the Aryan nations. The tale of the Wrath of Achilleus, far +from originating with Homer, far from being recorded by the author of +the Iliad as by an eyewitness, must have been known in its essential +features in Aryana-vaedjo, at that remote epoch when the Indian, the +Greek, and the Teuton were as yet one and the same. For the story has +been retained by the three races alike, in all its principal features; +though the Veda has left it in the sky where it originally belonged, +while the Iliad and the Nibelungenlied have brought it down to earth, +the one locating it in Asia Minor, and the other in Northwestern Europe. +[153] + +In the Rig-Veda the Panis are the genii of night and winter, +corresponding to the Nibelungs, or "Children of the Mist," in the +Teutonic legend, and to the children of Nephele (cloud) in the Greek +myth of the Golden Fleece. The Panis steal the cattle of the Sun (Indra, +Helios, Herakles), and carry them by an unknown route to a dark cave +eastward. Sarama, the creeping Dawn, is sent by Indra to find and +recover them. The Panis then tamper with Sarama, and try their best to +induce her to betray her solar lord. For a while she is prevailed +upon to dally with them; yet she ultimately returns to give Indra the +information needful in order that he might conquer the Panis, just +as Helena, in the slightly altered version, ultimately returns to her +western home, carrying with her the treasures (ktemata, Iliad, II. 285) +of which Paris had robbed Menelaos. But, before the bright Indra and his +solar heroes can reconquer their treasures they must take captive the +offspring of Brisaya, the violet light of morning. Thus Achilleus, +answering to the solar champion Aharyu, takes captive the daughter of +Brises. But as the sun must always be parted from the morning-light, to +return to it again just before setting, so Achilleus loses Briseis, +and regains her only just before his final struggle. In similar wise +Herakles is parted from Iole ("the violet one"), and Sigurd from +Brynhild. In sullen wrath the hero retires from the conflict, and his +Myrmidons are no longer seen on the battle-field, as the sun hides +behind the dark cloud and his rays no longer appear about him. Yet +toward the evening, as Briseis returns, he appears in his might, clothed +in the dazzling armour wrought for him by the fire-god Hephaistos, and +with his invincible spear slays the great storm-cloud, which during his +absence had wellnigh prevailed over the champions of the daylight. But +his triumph is short-lived; for having trampled on the clouds that had +opposed him, while yet crimsoned with the fierce carnage, the sharp +arrow of the night-demon Paris slays him at the Western Gates. We have +not space to go into further details. In Mr. Cox's "Mythology of the +Aryan Nations," and "Tales of Ancient Greece," the reader will find the +entire contents of the Iliad and Odyssey thus minutely illustrated by +comparison with the Veda, the Edda, and the Lay of the Nibelungs. + +Ancient as the Homeric poems undoubtedly are, they are modern in +comparison with the tale of Achilleus and Helena, as here unfolded. The +date of the entrance of the Greeks into Europe will perhaps never be +determined; but I do not see how any competent scholar can well place it +at less than eight hundred or a thousand years before the time of Homer. +Between the two epochs the Greek, Latin, Umbrian, and Keltic lauguages +had time to acquire distinct individualities. Far earlier, therefore, +than the Homeric "juventus mundi" was that "youth of the world," in +which the Aryan forefathers, knowing no abstract terms, and possessing +no philosophy but fetichism, deliberately spoke of the Sun, and the +Dawn, and the Clouds, as persons or as animals. The Veda, +though composed much later than this,--perhaps as late as the +Iliad,--nevertheless preserves the record of the mental life of this +period. The Vedic poet is still dimly aware that Sarama is the fickle +twilight, and the Panis the night-demons who strive to coax her from her +allegiance to the day-god. He keeps the scene of action in the sky. But +the Homeric Greek had long since forgotten that Helena and Paris were +anything more than semi-divine mortals, the daughter of Zeus and the +son of the Zeus-descended Priam. The Hindu understood that Dyaus ("the +bright one") meant the sky, and Sarama ("the creeping one") the dawn, +and spoke significantly when he called the latter the daughter of the +former. But the Greek could not know that Zeus was derived from a root +div, "to shine," or that Helena belonged to a root sar, "to creep." +Phonetic change thus helped him to rise from fetichism to polytheism. +His nature-gods became thoroughly anthropomorphic; and he probably no +more remembered that Achilleus originally signified the sun, than we +remember that the word God, which we use to denote the most vast of +conceptions, originally meant simply the Storm-wind. Indeed, when the +fetichistic tendency led the Greek again to personify the powers of +nature, he had recourse to new names formed from his own language. Thus, +beside Apollo we have Helios; Selene beside Artemis and Persephone; Eos +beside Athene; Gaia beside Demeter. As a further consequence of this +decomposition and new development of the old Aryan mythology, we find, +as might be expected, that the Homeric poems are not always consistent +in their use of their mythic materials. Thus, Paris, the night-demon, +is--to Max Muller's perplexity--invested with many of the attributes of +the bright solar heroes. "Like Perseus, Oidipous, Romulus, and Cyrus, he +is doomed to bring ruin on his parents; like them he is exposed in +his infancy on the hillside, and rescued by a shepherd." All the solar +heroes begin life in this way. Whether, like Apollo, born of the dark +night (Leto), or like Oidipous, of the violet dawn (Iokaste), they are +alike destined to bring destruction on their parents, as the night and +the dawn are both destroyed by the sun. The exposure of the child in +infancy represents the long rays of the morning-sun resting on the +hillside. Then Paris forsakes Oinone ("the wine-coloured one"), but +meets her again at the gloaming when she lays herself by his side amid +the crimson flames of the funeral pyre. Sarpedon also, a solar hero, is +made to fight on the side of the Niblungs or Trojans, attended by his +friend Glaukos ("the brilliant one"). They command the Lykians, or +"children of light"; and with them comes also Memnon, son of the Dawn, +from the fiery land of the Aithiopes, the favourite haunt of Zeus and +the gods of Olympos. + +The Iliad-myth must therefore have been current many ages before +the Greeks inhabited Greece, long before there was any Ilion to be +conquered. Nevertheless, this does not forbid the supposition that the +legend, as we have it, may have been formed by the crystallization of +mythical conceptions about a nucleus of genuine tradition. In this view +I am upheld by a most sagacious and accurate scholar, Mr. E. A. Freeman, +who finds in Carlovingian romance an excellent illustration of the +problem before us. + +The Charlemagne of romance is a mythical personage. He is supposed to +have been a Frenchman, at a time when neither the French nation nor +the French language can properly be said to have existed; and he is +represented as a doughty crusader, although crusading was not thought of +until long after the Karolingian era. The legendary deeds of Charlemagne +are not conformed to the ordinary rules of geography and chronology. +He is a myth, and, what is more, he is a solar myth,--an avatar, or at +least a representative, of Odin in his solar capacity. If in his case +legend were not controlled and rectified by history, he would be for us +as unreal as Agamemnon. + +History, however, tells us that there was an Emperor Karl, German in +race, name, and language, who was one of the two or three greatest men +of action that the world has ever seen, and who in the ninth century +ruled over all Western Europe. To the historic Karl corresponds in many +particulars the mythical Charlemagne. The legend has preserved the fact, +which without the information supplied by history we might perhaps set +down as a fiction, that there was a time when Germany, Gaul, Italy, +and part of Spain formed a single empire. And, as Mr. Freeman has well +observed, the mythical crusades of Charlemagne are good evidence that +there were crusades, although the real Karl had nothing whatever to do +with one. + +Now the case of Agamemnon may be much like that of Charlemagne, except +that we no longer have history to help us in rectifying the legend. +The Iliad preserves the tradition of a time when a large portion of +the islands and mainland of Greece were at least partially subject to a +common suzerain; and, as Mr. Freeman has again shrewdly suggested, +the assignment of a place like Mykenai, instead of Athens or Sparta +or Argos, as the seat of the suzerainty, is strong evidence of the +trustworthiness of the tradition. It appears to show that the legend was +constrained by some remembered fact, instead of being guided by general +probability. Charlemagne's seat of government has been transferred in +romance from Aachen to Paris; had it really been at Paris, says Mr. +Freeman, no one would have thought of transferring it to Aachen. +Moreover, the story of Agamemnon, though uncontrolled by historic +records, is here at least supported by archaeologic remains, which prove +Mykenai to have been at some time or other a place of great consequence. +Then, as to the Trojan war, we know that the Greeks several times +crossed the AEgaean and colonized a large part of the seacoast of Asia +Minor. In order to do this it was necessary to oust from their homes +many warlike communities of Lydians and Bithynians, and we may be +sure that this was not done without prolonged fighting. There may very +probably have been now and then a levy en masse in prehistoric Greece, +as there was in mediaeval Europe; and whether the great suzerain at +Mykenai ever attended one or not, legend would be sure to send him on +such an expedition, as it afterwards sent Charlemagne on a crusade. + +It is therefore quite possible that Agamemnon and Menelaos may represent +dimly remembered sovereigns or heroes, with their characters and actions +distorted to suit the exigencies of a narrative founded upon a solar +myth. The character of the Nibelungenlied here well illustrates that of +the Iliad. Siegfried and Brunhild, Hagen and Gunther, seem to be mere +personifications of physical phenomena; but Etzel and Dietrich are none +other than Attila and Theodoric surrounded with mythical attributes; and +even the conception of Brunhild has been supposed to contain elements +derived from the traditional recollection of the historical Brunehault. +When, therefore, Achilleus is said, like a true sun-god, to have died by +a wound from a sharp instrument in the only vulnerable part of his body, +we may reply that the legendary Charlemagne conducts himself in many +respects like a solar deity. If Odysseus detained by Kalypso represents +the sun ensnared and held captive by the pale goddess of night, the +legend of Frederic Barbarossa asleep in a Thuringian mountain embodies +a portion of a kindred conception. We know that Charlemagne and Frederic +have been substituted for Odin; we may suspect that with the mythical +impersonations of Achilleus and Odysseus some traditional figures may +be blended. We should remember that in early times the solar-myth was a +sort of type after which all wonderful stories would be patterned, and +that to such a type tradition also would be made to conform. + +In suggesting this view, we are not opening the door to Euhemerism. +If there is any one conclusion concerning the Homeric poems which +the labours of a whole generation of scholars may be said to have +satisfactorily established, it is this, that no trustworthy history can +be obtained from either the Iliad or the Odyssey merely by sifting out +the mythical element. Even if the poems contain the faint reminiscence +of an actual event, that event is inextricably wrapped up in mythical +phraseology, so that by no cunning of the scholar can it be construed +into history. In view of this it is quite useless for Mr. Gladstone +to attempt to base historical conclusions upon the fact that Helena is +always called "Argive Helen," or to draw ethnological inferences from +the circumstances that Menelaos, Achilleus, and the rest of the Greek +heroes, have yellow hair, while the Trojans are never so described. The +Argos of the myth is not the city of Peloponnesos, though doubtless +so construed even in Homer's time. It is "the bright land" where Zeus +resides, and the epithet is applied to his wife Here and his daughter +Helena, as well as to the dog of Odysseus, who reappears with Sarameyas +in the Veda. As for yellow hair, there is no evidence that Greeks have +ever commonly possessed it; but no other colour would do for a solar +hero, and it accordingly characterizes the entire company of them, +wherever found, while for the Trojans, or children of night, it is not +required. + +A wider acquaintance with the results which have been obtained during +the past thirty years by the comparative study of languages and +mythologies would have led Mr. Gladstone to reconsider many of his views +concerning the Homeric poems, and might perhaps have led him to cut out +half or two thirds of his book as hopelessly antiquated. The chapter on +the divinities of Olympos would certainly have had to be rewritten, and +the ridiculous theory of a primeval revelation abandoned. One can hardly +preserve one's gravity when Mr. Gladstone derives Apollo from the +Hebrew Messiah, and Athene from the Logos. To accredit Homer with an +acquaintance with the doctrine of the Logos, which did not exist until +the time of Philo, and did not receive its authorized Christian form +until the middle of the second century after Christ, is certainly a +strange proceeding. We shall next perhaps be invited to believe that the +authors of the Volsunga Saga obtained the conception of Sigurd from +the "Thirty-Nine Articles." It is true that these deities, Athene and +Apollo, are wiser, purer, and more dignified, on the whole, than any +of the other divinities of the Homeric Olympos. They alone, as Mr. +Gladstone truly observes, are never deceived or frustrated. For all +Hellas, Apollo was the interpreter of futurity, and in the maid Athene +we have perhaps the highest conception of deity to which the Greek mind +had attained in the early times. In the Veda, Athene is nothing but the +dawn; but in the Greek mythology, while the merely sensuous glories of +daybreak are assigned to Eos, Athene becomes the impersonation of the +illuminating and knowledge-giving light of the sky. As the dawn, she +is daughter of Zeus, the sky, and in mythic language springs from his +forehead; but, according to the Greek conception, this imagery signifies +that she shares, more than any other deity, in the boundless wisdom +of Zeus. The knowledge of Apollo, on the other hand, is the peculiar +privilege of the sun, who, from his lofty position, sees everything that +takes place upon the earth. Even the secondary divinity Helios possesses +this prerogative to a certain extent. + +Next to a Hebrew, Mr. Gladstone prefers a Phoenician ancestry for the +Greek divinities. But the same lack of acquaintance with the old Aryan +mythology vitiates all his conclusions. No doubt the Greek mythology is +in some particulars tinged with Phoenician conceptions. Aphrodite was +originally a purely Greek divinity, but in course of time she acquired +some of the attributes of the Semitic Astarte, and was hardly improved +by the change. Adonis is simply a Semitic divinity, imported into +Greece. But the same cannot be proved of Poseidon; [154] far less of +Hermes, who is identical with the Vedic Sarameyas, the rising wind, +the son of Sarama the dawn, the lying, tricksome wind-god, who invented +music, and conducts the souls of dead men to the house of Hades, even +as his counterpart the Norse Odin rushes over the tree-tops leading +the host of the departed. When one sees Iris, the messenger of Zeus, +referred to a Hebrew original, because of Jehovah's promise to Noah, one +is at a loss to understand the relationship between the two conceptions. +Nothing could be more natural to the Greeks than to call the rainbow the +messenger of the sky-god to earth-dwelling men; to call it a token set +in the sky by Jehovah, as the Hebrews did, was a very different thing. +We may admit the very close resemblance between the myth of Bellerophon +and Anteia, and that of Joseph and Zuleikha; but the fact that the Greek +story is explicable from Aryan antecedents, while the Hebrew story is +isolated, might perhaps suggest the inference that the Hebrews were the +borrowers, as they undoubtedly were in the case of the myth of Eden. +Lastly, to conclude that Helios is an Eastern deity, because he reigns +in the East over Thrinakia, is wholly unwarranted. Is not Helios pure +Greek for the sun? and where should his sacred island be placed, if not +in the East? As for his oxen, which wrought such dire destruction to the +comrades of Odysseus, and which seem to Mr. Gladstone so anomalous, they +are those very same unhappy cattle, the clouds, which were stolen by the +storm-demon Cacus and the wind-deity Hermes, and which furnished endless +material for legends to the poets of the Veda. + +But the whole subject of comparative mythology seems to be terra +incognita to Mr. Gladstone. He pursues the even tenour of his way in +utter disregard of Grimm, and Kuhn, and Breal, and Dasent, and Burnouf. +He takes no note of the Rig-Veda, nor does he seem to realize that there +was ever a time when the ancestors of the Greeks and Hindus worshipped +the same gods. Two or three times he cites Max Muller, but makes no +use of the copious data which might be gathered from him. The only work +which seems really to have attracted his attention is M. Jacolliot's +very discreditable performance called "The Bible in India." Mr. +Gladstone does not, indeed, unreservedly approve of this book; but +neither does he appear to suspect that it is a disgraceful piece of +charlatanry, written by a man ignorant of the very rudiments of the +subject which he professes to handle. + +Mr. Gladstone is equally out of his depth when he comes to treat purely +philological questions. Of the science of philology, as based upon +established laws of phonetic change, he seems to have no knowledge +whatever. He seems to think that two words are sufficiently proved to +be connected when they are seen to resemble each other in spelling or in +sound. Thus he quotes approvingly a derivation of the name Themis from +an assumed verb them, "to speak," whereas it is notoriously derived from +tiqhmi, as statute comes ultimately from stare. His reference of hieros, +"a priest," and geron, "an old man," to the same root, is utterly +baseless; the one is the Sanskrit ishiras, "a powerful man," the other +is the Sanskrit jaran, "an old man." The lists of words on pages 96-100 +are disfigured by many such errors; and indeed the whole purpose for +which they are given shows how sadly Mr. Gladstone's philology is in +arrears. The theory of Niebuhr--that the words common to Greek and +Latin, mostly descriptive of peaceful occupations, are Pelasgian--was +serviceable enough in its day, but is now rendered wholly antiquated +by the discovery that such words are Aryan, in the widest sense. The +Pelasgian theory works very smoothly so long as we only compare the +Greek with the Latin words,--as, for instance, sugon with jugum; but +when we add the English yoke and the Sanskrit yugam, it is evident that +we have got far out of the range of the Pelasgoi. But what shall we say +when we find Mr. Gladstone citing the Latin thalamus in support of +this antiquated theory? Doubtless the word thalamus is, or should be, +significative of peaceful occupations; but it is not a Latin word at +all, except by adoption. One might as well cite the word ensemble to +prove the original identity or kinship between English and French. + +When Mr. Gladstone, leaving the dangerous ground of pure and applied +philology, confines himself to illustrating the contents of the Homeric +poems, he is always excellent. His chapter on the "Outer Geography" of +the Odyssey is exceedingly interesting; showing as it does how much +may be obtained from the patient and attentive study of even a single +author. Mr. Gladstone's knowledge of the SURFACE of the Iliad and +Odyssey, so to speak, is extensive and accurate. It is when he attempts +to penetrate beneath the surface and survey the treasures hidden in the +bowels of the earth, that he shows himself unprovided with the talisman +of the wise dervise, which alone can unlock those mysteries. But modern +philology is an exacting science: to approach its higher problems +requires an amount of preparation sufficient to terrify at the outset +all but the boldest; and a man who has had to regulate taxation, and +make out financial statements, and lead a political party in a great +nation, may well be excused for ignorance of philology. It is difficult +enough for those who have little else to do but to pore over treatises +on phonetics, and thumb their lexicons, to keep fully abreast with the +latest views in linguistics. In matters of detail one can hardly ever +broach a new hypothesis without misgivings lest somebody, in some weekly +journal published in Germany, may just have anticipated and refuted it. +Yet while Mr. Gladstone may be excused for being unsound in philology, +it is far less excusable that he should sit down to write a book about +Homer, abounding in philological statements, without the slightest +knowledge of what has been achieved in that science for several years +past. In spite of all drawbacks, however, his book shows an abiding +taste for scholarly pursuits, and therefore deserves a certain kind +of praise. I hope,--though just now the idea savours of the +ludicrous,--that the day may some time arrive when OUR Congressmen and +Secretaries of the Treasury will spend their vacations in writing books +about Greek antiquities, or in illustrating the meaning of Homeric +phrases. + +July, 1870. + + + + +VII. THE PRIMEVAL GHOST-WORLD. + +NO earnest student of human culture can as yet have forgotten or wholly +outlived the feeling of delight awakened by the first perusal of Max +Muller's brilliant "Essay on Comparative Mythology,"--a work in which +the scientific principles of myth-interpretation, though not newly +announced, were at least brought home to the reader with such an amount +of fresh and striking concrete illustration as they had not before +received. Yet it must have occurred to more than one reader that, while +the analyses of myths contained in this noble essay are in the main +sound in principle and correct in detail, nevertheless the author's +theory of the genesis of myth is expressed, and most likely conceived, +in a way that is very suggestive of carelessness and fallacy. There are +obvious reasons for doubting whether the existence of mythology can be +due to any "disease," abnormity, or hypertrophy of metaphor in language; +and the criticism at once arises, that with the myth-makers it was not +so much the character of the expression which originated the thought, +as it was the thought which gave character to the expression. It is not +that the early Aryans were myth-makers because their language abounded +in metaphor; it is that the Aryan mother-tongue abounded in metaphor +because the men and women who spoke it were myth-makers. And they were +myth-makers because they had nothing but the phenomena of human will and +effort with which to compare objective phenomena. Therefore it was that +they spoke of the sun as an unwearied voyager or a matchless archer, +and classified inanimate no less than animate objects as masculine and +feminine. Max Muller's way of stating his theory, both in this Essay +and in his later Lectures, affords one among several instances of the +curious manner in which he combines a marvellous penetration into the +significance of details with a certain looseness of general conception. +[155] The principles of philological interpretation are an indispensable +aid to us in detecting the hidden meaning of many a legend in which the +powers of nature are represented in the guise of living and thinking +persons; but before we can get at the secret of the myth-making tendency +itself, we must leave philology and enter upon a psychological study. +We must inquire into the characteristics of that primitive style of +thinking to which it seemed quite natural that the sun should be an +unerring archer, and the thunder-cloud a black demon or gigantic robber +finding his richly merited doom at the hands of the indignant Lord of +Light. + +Among recent treatises which have dealt with this interesting problem, +we shall find it advantageous to give especial attention to Mr. Tylor's +"Primitive Culture," [156] one of the few erudite works which are at +once truly great and thoroughly entertaining. The learning displayed +in it would do credit to a German specialist, both for extent and for +minuteness, while the orderly arrangement of the arguments and the +elegant lucidity of the style are such as we are accustomed to expect +from French essay-writers. And what is still more admirable is the +way in which the enthusiasm characteristic of a genial and original +speculator is tempered by the patience and caution of a cool-headed +critic. Patience and caution are nowhere more needed than in writers +who deal with mythology and with primitive religious ideas; but these +qualities are too seldom found in combination with the speculative +boldness which is required when fresh theories are to be framed or new +paths of investigation opened. The state of mind in which the explaining +powers of a favourite theory are fondly contemplated is, to some extent, +antagonistic to the state of mind in which facts are seen, with the +eye of impartial criticism, in all their obstinate and uncompromising +reality. To be able to preserve the balance between the two opposing +tendencies is to give evidence of the most consummate scientific +training. It is from the want of such a balance that the recent great +work of Mr. Cox is at times so unsatisfactory. It may, I fear, seem +ill-natured to say so, but the eagerness with which Mr. Cox waylays +every available illustration of the physical theory of the origin of +myths has now and then the curious effect of weakening the reader's +conviction of the soundness of the theory. For my own part, though by no +means inclined to waver in adherence to a doctrine once adopted on good +grounds, I never felt so much like rebelling against the mythologic +supremacy of the Sun and the Dawn as when reading Mr. Cox's volumes. +That Mr. Tylor, while defending the same fundamental theory, awakens no +such rebellious feelings, is due to his clear perception and realization +of the fact that it is impossible to generalize in a single formula +such many-sided correspondences as those which primitive poetry end +philosophy have discerned between the life of man and the life of +outward nature. Whoso goes roaming up and down the elf-land of popular +fancies, with sole intent to resolve each episode of myth into some +answering physical event, his only criterion being outward resemblance, +cannot be trusted in his conclusions, since wherever he turns for +evidence he is sure to find something that can be made to serve as such. +As Mr. Tylor observes, no household legend or nursery rhyme is safe from +his hermeneutics. "Should he, for instance, demand as his property +the nursery 'Song of Sixpence,' his claim would be easily +established,--obviously the four-and-twenty blackbirds are the +four-and-twenty hours, and the pie that holds them is the underlying +earth covered with the overarching sky,--how true a touch of nature +it is that when the pie is opened, that is, when day breaks, the birds +begin to sing; the King is the Sun, and his counting out his money is +pouring out the sunshine, the golden shower of Danae; the Queen is +the Moon, and her transparent honey the moonlight; the Maid is the +'rosy-fingered' Dawn, who rises before the Sun, her master, and hangs +out the clouds, his clothes, across the sky; the particular blackbird, +who so tragically ends the tale by snipping off her nose, is the hour of +sunrise." In all this interpretation there is no a priori improbability, +save, perhaps, in its unbroken symmetry and completeness. That +some points, at least, of the story are thus derived from antique +interpretations of physical events, is in harmony with all that we know +concerning nursery rhymes. In short, "the time-honoured rhyme really +wants but one thing to prove it a sun-myth, that one thing being a proof +by some argument more valid than analogy." The character of the argument +which is lacking may be illustrated by a reference to the rhyme about +Jack and Jill, explained some time since in the paper on "The Origins of +Folk Lore." If the argument be thought valid which shows these ill-fated +children to be the spots on the moon, it is because the proof consists, +not in the analogy, which is in this case not especially obvious, but +in the fact that in the Edda, and among ignorant Swedish peasants of our +own day, the story of Jack and Jill is actually given as an explanation +of the moon-spots. To the neglect of this distinction between what is +plausible and what is supported by direct evidence, is due much of the +crude speculation which encumbers the study of myths. + +It is when Mr. Tylor merges the study of mythology into the wider +inquiry into the characteristic features of the mode of thinking in +which myths originated, that we can best appreciate the practical +value of that union of speculative boldness and critical sobriety which +everywhere distinguishes him. It is pleasant to meet with a writer who +can treat of primitive religious ideas without losing his head over +allegory and symbolism, and who duly realizes the fact that a savage +is not a rabbinical commentator, or a cabalist, or a Rosicrucian, but +a plain man who draws conclusions like ourselves, though with feeble +intelligence and scanty knowledge. The mystic allegory with which such +modern writers as Lord Bacon have invested the myths of antiquity is +no part of their original clothing, but is rather the late product of +a style of reasoning from analogy quite similar to that which we +shall perceive to have guided the myth-makers in their primitive +constructions. The myths and customs and beliefs which, in an advanced +stage of culture, seem meaningless save when characterized by +some quaintly wrought device of symbolic explanation, did not seem +meaningless in the lower culture which gave birth to them. Myths, like +words, survive their primitive meanings. In the early stage the myth is +part and parcel of the current mode of philosophizing; the explanation +which it offers is, for the time, the natural one, the one which would +most readily occur to any one thinking on the theme with which the myth +is concerned. But by and by the mode of philosophizing has changed; +explanations which formerly seemed quite obvious no longer occur to any +one, but the myth has acquired an independent substantive existence, and +continues to be handed down from parents to children as something true, +though no one can tell why it is true: Lastly, the myth itself +gradually fades from remembrance, often leaving behind it some utterly +unintelligible custom or seemingly absurd superstitious notion. For +example,--to recur to an illustration already cited in a previous +paper,--it is still believed here and there by some venerable granny +that it is wicked to kill robins; but he who should attribute the belief +to the old granny's refined sympathy with all sentient existence, would +be making one of the blunders which are always committed by those +who reason a priori about historical matters without following the +historical method. At an earlier date the superstition existed in the +shape of a belief that the killing of a robin portends some calamity; +in a still earlier form the calamity is specified as death; and again, +still earlier, as death by lightning. Another step backward reveals that +the dread sanctity of the robin is owing to the fact that he is the bird +of Thor, the lightning god; and finally we reach that primitive stage +of philosophizing in which the lightning is explained as a red bird +dropping from its beak a worm which cleaveth the rocks. Again, the +belief that some harm is sure to come to him who saves the life of +a drowning man, is unintelligible until it is regarded as a case of +survival in culture. In the older form of the superstition it is held +that the rescuer will sooner or later be drowned himself; and thus we +pass to the fetichistic interpretation of drowning as the seizing of the +unfortunate person by the water-spirit or nixy, who is naturally angry +at being deprived of his victim, and henceforth bears a special grudge +against the bold mortal who has thus dared to frustrate him. + +The interpretation of the lightning as a red bird, and of drowning as +the work of a smiling but treacherous fiend, are parts of that primitive +philosophy of nature in which all forces objectively existing are +conceived as identical with the force subjectively known as volition. +It is this philosophy, currently known as fetichism, but treated by Mr. +Tylor under the somewhat more comprehensive name of "animism," which +we must now consider in a few of its most conspicuous exemplifications. +When we have properly characterized some of the processes which the +untrained mind habitually goes through, we shall have incidentally +arrived at a fair solution of the genesis of mythology. + +Let us first note the ease with which the barbaric or uncultivated mind +reaches all manner of apparently fanciful conclusions through reckless +reasoning from analogy. It is through the operation of certain laws of +ideal association that all human thinking, that of the highest as well +as that of the lowest minds, is conducted: the discovery of the law of +gravitation, as well as the invention of such a superstition as the +Hand of Glory, is at bottom but a case of association of ideas. The +difference between the scientific and the mythologic inference consists +solely in the number of checks which in the former case combine to +prevent any other than the true conclusion from being framed into a +proposition to which the mind assents. Countless accumulated experiences +have taught the modern that there are many associations of ideas which +do not correspond to any actual connection of cause and effect in the +world of phenomena; and he has learned accordingly to apply to his newly +framed notions the rigid test of verification. Besides which the same +accumulation of experiences has built up an organized structure of ideal +associations into which only the less extravagant newly framed notions +have any chance of fitting. The primitive man, or the modern savage who +is to some extent his counterpart, must reason without the aid of these +multifarious checks. That immense mass of associations which answer to +what are called physical laws, and which in the mind of the civilized +modern have become almost organic, have not been formed in the mind of +the savage; nor has he learned the necessity of experimentally testing +any of his newly framed notions, save perhaps a few of the commonest. +Consequently there is nothing but superficial analogy to guide the +course of his thought hither or thither, and the conclusions at which he +arrives will be determined by associations of ideas occurring apparently +at haphazard. Hence the quaint or grotesque fancies with which European +and barbaric folk-lore is filled, in the framing of which the myth-maker +was but reasoning according to the best methods at his command. To this +simplest class, in which the association of ideas is determined by mere +analogy, belong such cases as that of the Zulu, who chews a piece of +wood in order to soften the heart of the man with whom he is about +to trade for cows, or the Hessian lad who "thinks he may escape the +conscription by carrying a baby-girl's cap in his pocket,--a symbolic +way of repudiating manhood." [157] A similar style of thinking underlies +the mediaeval necromancer's practice of making a waxen image of his +enemy and shooting at it with arrows, in order to bring about the +enemy's death; as also the case of the magic rod, mentioned in a +previous paper, by means of which a sound thrashing can be administered +to an absent foe through the medium of an old coat which is imagined +to cover him. The principle involved here is one which is doubtless +familiar to most children, and is closely akin to that which Irving so +amusingly illustrates in his doughty general who struts through a field +of cabbages or corn-stalks, smiting them to earth with his cane, and +imagining himself a hero of chivalry conquering single-handed a host of +caitiff ruffians. Of like origin are the fancies that the breaking of +a mirror heralds a death in the family,--probably because of the +destruction of the reflected human image; that the "hair of the dog that +bit you" will prevent hydrophobia if laid upon the wound; or that the +tears shed by human victims, sacrificed to mother earth, will bring down +showers upon the land. Mr. Tylor cites Lord Chesterfield's remark, "that +the king had been ill, and that people generally expected the illness +to be fatal, because the oldest lion in the Tower, about the king's age, +had just died. 'So wild and capricious is the human mind,'" observes +the elegant letter-writer. But indeed, as Mr. Tylor justly remarks, "the +thought was neither wild nor capricious; it was simply such an argument +from analogy as the educated world has at length painfully learned to be +worthless, but which, it is not too much to declare, would to this +day carry considerable weight to the minds of four fifths of the human +race." Upon such symbolism are based most of the practices of divination +and the great pseudo-science of astrology. "It is an old story, that +when two brothers were once taken ill together, Hippokrates, the +physician, concluded from the coincidence that they were twins, but +Poseidonios, the astrologer, considered rather that they were born under +the same constellation; we may add that either argument would be thought +reasonable by a savage." So when a Maori fortress is attacked, the +besiegers and besieged look to see if Venus is near the moon. The moon +represents the fortress; and if it appears below the companion planet, +the besiegers will carry the day, otherwise they will be repulsed. +Equally primitive and childlike was Rousseau's train of thought on the +memorable day at Les Charmettes when, being distressed with doubts as to +the safety of his soul, he sought to determine the point by throwing a +stone at a tree. "Hit, sign of salvation; miss, sign of damnation!" +The tree being a large one and very near at hand, the result of the +experiment was reassuring, and the young philosopher walked away without +further misgivings concerning this momentous question. [158] + +When the savage, whose highest intellectual efforts result only in +speculations of this childlike character, is confronted with the +phenomena of dreams, it is easy to see what he will make of them. +His practical knowledge of psychology is too limited to admit of his +distinguishing between the solidity of waking experience and what we may +call the unsubstantialness of the dream. He may, indeed, have learned +that the dream is not to be relied on for telling the truth; the Zulu, +for example, has even reached the perverse triumph of critical logic +achieved by our own Aryan ancestors in the saying that "dreams go by +contraries." But the Zulu has not learned, nor had the primeval Aryan +learned, to disregard the utterances of the dream as being purely +subjective phenomena. To the mind as yet untouched by modern culture, +the visions seen and the voices heard in sleep possess as much objective +reality as the gestures and shouts of waking hours. When the savage +relates his dream, he tells how he SAW certain dogs, dead warriors, +or demons last night, the implication being that the things seen were +objects external to himself. As Mr. Spencer observes, "his rude language +fails to state the difference between seeing and dreaming that he saw, +doing and dreaming that he did. From this inadequacy of his language +it not only results that he cannot truly represent this difference to +others, but also that he cannot truly represent it to himself. Hence in +the absence of an alternative interpretation, his belief, and that of +those to whom he tells his adventures, is that his OTHER SELF has been +away and came back when he awoke. And this belief, which we find among +various existing savage tribes, we equally find in the traditions of the +early civilized races." [159] + +Let us consider, for a moment, this assumption of the OTHER SELF, for +upon this is based the great mass of crude inference which constitutes +the primitive man's philosophy of nature. The hypothesis of the OTHER +SELF, which serves to account for the savage's wanderings during sleep +in strange lands and among strange people, serves also to account for +the presence in his dreams of parents, comrades, or enemies, known to be +dead and buried. The other self of the dreamer meets and converses with +the other selves of his dead brethren, joins with them in the hunt, or +sits down with them to the wild cannibal banquet. Thus arises the belief +in an ever-present world of souls or ghosts, a belief which the entire +experience of uncivilized man goes to strengthen and expand. The +existence of some tribe or tribes of savages wholly destitute of +religious belief has often been hastily asserted and as often called in +question. But there is no question that, while many savages are unable +to frame a conception so general as that of godhood, on the other hand +no tribe has ever been found so low in the scale of intelligence as +not to have framed the conception of ghosts or spiritual personalities, +capable of being angered, propitiated, or conjured with. Indeed it is +not improbable a priori that the original inference involved in the +notion of the other self may be sufficiently simple and obvious to fall +within the capacity of animals even less intelligent than uncivilized +man. An authentic case is on record of a Skye terrier who, being +accustomed to obtain favours from his master by sitting on his +haunches, will also sit before his pet india-rubber ball placed on the +chimney-piece, evidently beseeching it to jump down and play with him. +[160] Such a fact as this is quite in harmony with Auguste Comte's +suggestion that such intelligent animals as dogs, apes, and elephants +may be capable of forming a few fetichistic notions. The behaviour of +the terrier here rests upon the assumption that the ball is open to the +same sort of entreaty which prevails with the master; which implies, not +that the wistful brute accredits the ball with a soul, but that in his +mind the distinction between life and inanimate existence has never been +thoroughly established. Just this confusion between things living +and things not living is present throughout the whole philosophy of +fetichism; and the confusion between things seen and things dreamed, +which suggests the notion of another self, belongs to this same +twilight stage of intelligence in which primeval man has not yet clearly +demonstrated his immeasurable superiority to the brutes. [161] + +The conception of a soul or other self, capable of going away from +the body and returning to it, receives decisive confirmation from the +phenomena of fainting, trance, catalepsy, and ecstasy, [162] which occur +less rarely among savages, owing to their irregular mode of life, than +among civilized men. "Further verification," observes Mr. Spencer, "is +afforded by every epileptic subject, into whose body, during the absence +of the other self, some enemy has entered; for how else does it happen +that the other self on returning denies all knowledge of what his body +has been doing? And this supposition, that the body has been 'possessed' +by some other being, is confirmed by the phenomena of somnambulism and +insanity." Still further, as Mr. Spencer points out, when we recollect +that savages are very generally unwilling to have their portraits taken, +lest a portion of themselves should get carried off and be exposed to +foul play, [163] we must readily admit that the weird reflection of the +person and imitation of the gestures in rivers or still woodland pools +will go far to intensify the belief in the other self. Less frequent but +uniform confirmation is to be found in echoes, which in Europe within +two centuries have been commonly interpreted as the voices of mocking +fiends or wood-nymphs, and which the savage might well regard as the +utterances of his other self. + +With the savage's unwillingness to have his portrait taken, lest it fall +into the hands of some enemy who may injure him by conjuring with it, +may be compared the reluctance which he often shows toward telling +his name, or mentioning the name of his friend, or king, or tutelar +ghost-deity. In fetichistic thought, the name is an entity mysteriously +associated with its owner, and it is not well to run the risk of its +getting into hostile hands. Along with this caution goes the similarly +originated fear that the person whose name is spoken may resent such +meddling with his personality. For the latter reason the Dayak will +not allude by name to the small pox, but will call it "the chief" or +"jungle-leaves"; the Laplander speaks of the bear as the "old man with +the fur coat"; in Annam the tiger is called "grandfather" or "Lord"; +while in more civilized communities such sayings are current as "talk +of the Devil, and he will appear," with which we may also compare such +expressions as "Eumenides" or "gracious ones" for the Furies, and other +like euphemisms. Indeed, the maxim nil mortuis nisi bonum had most +likely at one time a fetichistic flavour. + +In various islands of the Pacific, for both the reasons above specified, +the name of the reigning chief is so rigorously "tabu," that common +words and even syllables resembling that name in sound must be omitted +from the language. In New Zealand, where a chiefs name was Maripi, or +"knife," it became necessary to call knives nekra; and in Tahiti, fetu, +"star," had to be changed into fetia, and tui, "to strike," became tiai, +etc., because the king's name was Tu. Curious freaks are played with the +languages of these islands by this ever-recurring necessity. Among the +Kafirs the women have come to speak a different dialect from the men, +because words resembling the names of their lords or male relatives are +in like manner "tabu." The student of human culture will trace among +such primeval notions the origin of the Jew's unwillingness to pronounce +the name of Jehovah; and hence we may perhaps have before us the +ultimate source of the horror with which the Hebraizing Puritan regards +such forms of light swearing--"Mon Dieu," etc.--as are still tolerated +on the continent of Europe, but have disappeared from good society in +Puritanic England and America. The reader interested in this group of +ideas and customs may consult Tylor, Early History of Mankind, pp. +142, 363; Max Muller, Science of Language, 6th edition, Vol. II. p. 37; +Mackay, Religious Development of the Greeks and Hebrews, Vol. I. p. 146. + +Chamisso's well-known tale of Peter Schlemihl belongs to a widely +diffused family of legends, which show that a man's shadow has been +generally regarded not only as an entity, but as a sort of spiritual +attendant of the body, which under certain circumstances it may +permanently forsake. It is in strict accordance with this idea that not +only in the classic languages, but in various barbaric tongues, the +word for "shadow" expresses also the soul or other self. Tasmanians, +Algonquins, Central-Americans, Abipones, Basutos, and Zulus are cited by +Mr. Tylor as thus implicitly asserting the identity of the shadow with +the ghost or phantasm seen in dreams; the Basutos going so far as to +think "that if a man walks on the river-bank, a crocodile may seize his +shadow in the water and draw him in." Among the Algonquins a sick person +is supposed to have his shadow or other self temporarily detached from +his body, and the convalescent is at times "reproached for exposing +himself before his shadow was safely settled down in him." If the sick +man has been plunged into stupor, it is because his other self has +travelled away as far as the brink of the river of death, but not being +allowed to cross has come back and re-entered him. And acting upon a +similar notion the ailing Fiji will sometimes lie down and raise a hue +and cry for his soul to be brought back. Thus, continues Mr. Tylor, "in +various countries the bringing back of lost souls becomes a regular part +of the sorcerer's or priest's profession." [164] On Aryan soil we find +the notion of a temporary departure of the soul surviving to a late date +in the theory that the witch may attend the infernal Sabbath while her +earthly tabernacle is quietly sleeping at home. The primeval conception +reappears, clothed in bitterest sarcasm, in Dante's reference to his +living contemporaries whose souls he met with in the vaults of hell, +while their bodies were still walking about on the earth, inhabited by +devils. + +The theory which identifies the soul with the shadow, and supposes the +shadow to depart with the sickness and death of the body, would seem +liable to be attended with some difficulties in the way of verification, +even to the dim intelligence of the savage. But the propriety of +identifying soul and breath is borne out by all primeval experience. The +breath, which really quits the body at its decease, has furnished the +chief name for the soul, not only to the Hebrew, the Sanskrit, and the +classic tongues; not only to German and English, where geist, and ghost, +according to Max Muller, have the meaning of "breath," and are akin +to such words as gas, gust, and geyser; but also to numerous barbaric +languages. Among the natives of Nicaragua and California, in Java and in +West Australia, the soul is described as the air or breeze which +passes in and out through the nostrils and mouth; and the Greenlanders, +according to Cranz, reckon two separate souls, the breath and +the shadow. "Among the Seminoles of Florida, when a woman died in +childbirth, the infant was held over her face to receive her parting +spirit, and thus acquire strength and knowledge for its future use..... +Their state of mind is kept up to this day among Tyrolese peasants, who +can still fancy a good man's soul to issue from his mouth at death like +a little white cloud." [165] It is kept up, too, in Lancashire, where a +well-known witch died a few years since; "but before she could 'shuffle +off this mortal coil' she must needs TRANSFER HER FAMILIAR SPIRIT to +some trusty successor. An intimate acquaintance from a neighbouring +township was consequently sent for in all haste, and on her arrival was +immediately closeted with her dying friend. What passed between them has +never fully transpired, but it is confidently affirmed that at the close +of the interview this associate RECEIVED THE WITCH'S LAST BREATH INTO +HER MOUTH AND WITH IT HER FAMILIAR SPIRIT. The dreaded woman thus +ceased to exist, but her powers for good or evil were transferred to her +companion; and on passing along the road from Burnley to Blackburn we +can point out a farmhouse at no great distance with whose thrifty matron +no neighbouring farmer will yet dare to quarrel." [166] + +Of the theory of embodiment there will be occasion to speak further on. +At present let us not pass over the fact that the other self is not only +conceived as shadow or breath, which can at times quit the body during +life, but is also supposed to become temporarily embodied in the visible +form of some bird or beast. In discussing elsewhere the myth of Bishop +Hatto, we saw that the soul is sometimes represented in the form of a +rat or mouse; and in treating of werewolves we noticed the belief that +the spirits of dead ancestors, borne along in the night-wind, have +taken on the semblance of howling dogs or wolves. "Consistent with these +quaint ideas are ceremonies in vogue in China of bringing home in a cock +(live or artificial) the spirit of a man deceased in a distant place, +and of enticing into a sick man's coat the departing spirit which has +already left his body and so conveying it back." [167] In Castren's +great work on Finnish mythology, we find the story of the giant who +could not be killed because he kept his soul hidden in a twelve-headed +snake which he carried in a bag as he rode on horseback; only when the +secret was discovered and the snake carefully killed, did the giant +yield up his life. In this Finnish legend we have one of the thousand +phases of the story of the "Giant who had no Heart in his Body," but +whose heart was concealed, for safe keeping, in a duck's egg, or in a +pigeon, carefully disposed in some belfry at the world's end a million +miles away, or encased in a wellnigh infinite series of Chinese boxes. +[168] Since, in spite of all these precautions, the poor giant's heart +invariably came to grief, we need not wonder at the Karen superstition +that the soul is in danger when it quits the body on its excursions, as +exemplified in countless Indo-European stories of the accidental killing +of the weird mouse or pigeon which embodies the wandering spirit. +Conversely it is held that the detachment of the other self is fraught +with danger to the self which remains. In the philosophy of "wraiths" +and "fetches," the appearance of a double, like that which troubled +Mistress Affery in her waking dreams of Mr. Flintwinch, has been from +time out of mind a signal of alarm. "In New Zealand it is ominous to see +the figure of an absent person, for if it be shadowy and the face not +visible, his death may erelong be expected, but if the face be seen he +is dead already. A party of Maoris (one of whom told the story) were +seated round a fire in the open air, when there appeared, seen only by +two of them, the figure of a relative, left ill at home; they exclaimed, +the figure vanished, and on the return of the party it appeared that +the sick man had died about the time of the vision." [169] The belief in +wraiths has survived into modern times, and now and then appears in the +records of that remnant of primeval philosophy known as "spiritualism," +as, for example, in the case of the lady who "thought she saw her own +father look in at the church-window at the moment he was dying in his +own house." + +The belief in the "death-fetch," like the doctrine which identifies +soul with shadow, is instructive as showing that in barbaric thought the +other self is supposed to resemble the material self with which it has +customarily been associated. In various savage superstitions the minute +resemblance of soul to body is forcibly stated. The Australian, for +instance, not content with slaying his enemy, cuts off the right thumb +of the corpse, so that the departed soul may be incapacitated from +throwing a spear. Even the half-civilized Chinese prefer crucifixion +to decapitation, that their souls may not wander headless about the +spirit-world. [171] Thus we see how far removed from the Christian +doctrine of souls is the primeval theory of the soul or other self +that figures in dreamland. So grossly materialistic is the primitive +conception that the savage who cherishes it will bore holes in the +coffin of his dead friend, so that the soul may again have a chance, if +it likes, to revisit the body. To this day, among the peasants in some +parts of Northern Europe, when Odin, the spectral hunter, rides by +attended by his furious host, the windows in every sick-room are opened, +in order that the soul, if it chooses to depart, may not be hindered +from joining in the headlong chase. And so, adds Mr. Tylor, after +the Indians of North America had spent a riotous night in singeing an +unfortunate captive to death with firebrands, they would howl like the +fiends they were, and beat the air with brushwood, to drive away the +distressed and revengeful ghost. "With a kindlier feeling, the Congo +negroes abstained for a whole year after a death from sweeping the +house, lest the dust should injure the delicate substance of the ghost"; +and even now, "it remains a German peasant saying that it is wrong +to slam a door, lest one should pinch a soul in it." [172] Dante's +experience with the ghosts in hell and purgatory, who were astonished at +his weighing down the boat in which they were carried, is belied by the +sweet German notion "that the dead mother's coming back in the night to +suckle the baby she has left on earth may be known by the hollow pressed +down in the bed where she lay." Almost universally ghosts, however +impervious to thrust of sword or shot of pistol, can eat and drink like +Squire Westerns. And lastly, we have the grotesque conception of souls +sufficiently material to be killed over again, as in the case of the +negro widows who, wishing to marry a second time, will go and duck +themselves in the pond, in order to drown the souls of their departed +husbands, which are supposed to cling about their necks; while, +according to the Fiji theory, the ghost of every dead warrior must go +through a terrible fight with Samu and his brethren, in which, if he +succeeds, he will enter Paradise, but if he fails he will be killed over +again and finally eaten by the dreaded Samu and his unearthly company. + +From the conception of souls embodied in beast-forms, as above +illustrated, it is not a wide step to the conception of beast-souls +which, like human souls, survive the death of the tangible body. The +wide-spread superstitions concerning werewolves and swan-maidens, and +the hardly less general belief in metempsychosis, show that primitive +culture has not arrived at the distinction attained by modern philosophy +between the immortal man and the soulless brute. Still more direct +evidence is furnished by sundry savage customs. The Kafir who has +killed an elephant will cry that he did n't mean to do it, and, lest the +elephant's soul should still seek vengeance, he will cut off and bury +the trunk, so that the mighty beast may go crippled to the spirit-land. +In like manner, the Samoyeds, after shooting a bear, will gather about +the body offering excuses and laying the blame on the Russians; and the +American redskin will even put the pipe of peace into the dead animal's +mouth, and beseech him to forgive the deed. In Assam it is believed that +the ghosts of slain animals will become in the next world the property +of the hunter who kills them; and the Kamtchadales expressly declare +that all animals, even flies and bugs, will live after death,--a belief, +which, in our own day, has been indorsed on philosophical grounds by an +eminent living naturalist. [173] The Greenlanders, too, give evidence +of the same belief by supposing that when after an exhausting fever the +patient comes up in unprecedented health and vigour, it is because he +has lost his former soul and had it replaced by that of a young child +or a reindeer. In a recent work in which the crudest fancies of primeval +savagery are thinly disguised in a jargon learned from the superficial +reading of modern books of science, M. Figuier maintains that human +souls are for the most part the surviving souls of deceased animals; in +general, the souls of precocious musical children like Mozart come from +nightingales, while the souls of great architects have passed into them +from beavers, etc., etc. [174] + +The practice of begging pardon of the animal one has just slain is in +some parts of the world extended to the case of plants. When the +Talein offers a prayer to the tree which he is about to cut down, it is +obviously because he regards the tree as endowed with a soul or ghost +which in the next life may need to be propitiated. And the doctrine of +transmigration distinctly includes plants along with animals among the +future existences into which the human soul may pass. + +As plants, like animals, manifest phenomena of life, though to a much +less conspicuous degree, it is not incomprehensible that the +savage should attribute souls to them. But the primitive process of +anthropomorphisation does not end here. Not only the horse and dog, +the bamboo, and the oak-tree, but even lifeless objects, such as the +hatchet, or bow and arrows, or food and drink of the dead man, possess +other selves which pass into the world of ghosts. Fijis and other +contemporary savages, when questioned, expressly declare that this is +their belief. "If an axe or a chisel is worn out or broken up, away +flies its soul for the service of the gods." The Algonquins told +Charlevoix that since hatchets and kettles have shadows, no less than +men and women, it follows, of course, that these shadows (or souls) must +pass along with human shadows (or souls) into the spirit-land. In this +we see how simple and consistent is the logic which guides the savage, +and how inevitable is the genesis of the great mass of beliefs, to our +minds so arbitrary and grotesque, which prevail throughout the barbaric +world. However absurd the belief that pots and kettles have souls +may seem to us, it is nevertheless the only belief which can be held +consistently by the savage to whom pots and kettles, no less than human +friends or enemies, may appear in his dreams; who sees them followed +by shadows as they are moved about; who hears their voices, dull +or ringing, when they are struck; and who watches their doubles +fantastically dancing in the water as they are carried across the +stream. [175] To minds, even in civilized countries, which are unused to +the severe training of science, no stronger evidence can be alleged +than what is called "the evidence of the senses"; for it is only long +familiarity with science which teaches us that the evidence of the +senses is trustworthy only in so far as it is correctly interpreted by +reason. For the truth of his belief in the ghosts of men and beasts, +trees and axes, the savage has undeniably the evidence of his senses +which have so often seen, heard, and handled these other selves. + +The funeral ceremonies of uncultured races freshly illustrate this crude +philosophy, and receive fresh illustration from it. On the primitive +belief in the ghostly survival of persons and objects rests the almost +universal custom of sacrificing the wives, servants, horses, and dogs of +the departed chief of the tribe, as well as of presenting at his shrine +sacred offerings of food, ornaments, weapons, and money. Among the +Kayans the slaves who are killed at their master's tomb are enjoined to +take great care of their master's ghost, to wash and shampoo it, and to +nurse it when sick. Other savages think that "all whom they kill in this +world shall attend them as slaves after death," and for this reason the +thrifty Dayaks of Borneo until lately would not allow their young men to +marry until they had acquired some post mortem property by procuring at +least one human head. It is hardly necessary to do more than allude +to the Fiji custom of strangling all the wives of the deceased at his +funeral, or to the equally well-known Hindu rite of suttee. Though, as +Wilson has shown, the latter rite is not supported by any genuine Vedic +authority, but only by a shameless Brahmanic corruption of the sacred +text, Mr. Tylor is nevertheless quite right in arguing that unless the +horrible custom had received the sanction of a public opinion bequeathed +from pre-Vedic times, the Brahmans would have had no motive for +fraudulently reviving it; and this opinion is virtually established +by the fact of the prevalence of widow sacrifice among Gauls, +Scandinavians, Slaves, and other European Aryans. [176] Though under +English rule the rite has been forcibly suppressed, yet the archaic +sentiments which so long maintained it are not yet extinct. Within the +present year there has appeared in the newspapers a not improbable story +of a beautiful and accomplished Hindu lady who, having become the wife +of a wealthy Englishman, and after living several years in England amid +the influences of modern society, nevertheless went off and privately +burned herself to death soon after her husband's decease. + +The reader who thinks it far-fetched to interpret funeral offerings of +food, weapons, ornaments, or money, on the theory of object-souls, will +probably suggest that such offerings may be mere memorials of affection +or esteem for the dead man. Such, indeed, they have come to be in many +countries after surviving the phase of culture in which they originated; +but there is ample evidence to show that at the outset they were +presented in the belief that their ghosts would be eaten or otherwise +employed by the ghost of the dead man. The stout club which is buried +with the dead Fiji sends its soul along with him that he may be able to +defend himself against the hostile ghosts which will lie in ambush for +him on the road to Mbulu, seeking to kill and eat him. Sometimes the +club is afterwards removed from the grave as of no further use, since +its ghost is all that the dead man needs. In like manner, "as the Greeks +gave the dead man the obolus for Charon's toll, and the old Prussians +furnished him with spending money, to buy refreshment on his weary +journey, so to this day German peasants bury a corpse with money in +his mouth or hand," and this is also said to be one of the regular +ceremonies of an Irish wake. Of similar purport were the funeral feasts +and oblations of food in Greece and Italy, the "rice-cakes made with +ghee" destined for the Hindu sojourning in Yama's kingdom, and the meat +and gruel offered by the Chinaman to the manes of his ancestors. "Many +travellers have described the imagination with which the Chinese +make such offerings. It is that the spirits of the dead consume the +impalpable essence of the food, leaving behind its coarse material +substance, wherefore the dutiful sacrificers, having set out sumptuous +feasts for ancestral souls, allow them a proper time to satisfy +their appetite, and then fall to themselves." [177] So in the Homeric +sacrifice to the gods, after the deity has smelled the sweet savour +and consumed the curling steam that rises ghost-like from the roasting +viands, "the assembled warriors devour the remains." [178] + +Thus far the course of fetichistic thought which we have traced out, +with Mr. Tylor's aid, is such as is not always obvious to the modern +inquirer without considerable concrete illustration. The remainder +of the process, resulting in that systematic and complete +anthropomorphisation of nature which has given rise to mythology, may +be more succinctly described. Gathering together the conclusions already +obtained, we find that daily or frequent experience of the phenomena +of shadows and dreams has combined with less frequent experience of the +phenomena of trance, ecstasy, and insanity, to generate in the mind of +uncultured man the notion of a twofold existence appertaining alike to +all animate or inanimate objects: as all alike possess material +bodies, so all alike possess ghosts or souls. Now when the theory +of object-souls is expanded into a general doctrine of spirits, the +philosophic scheme of animism is completed. Once habituated to the +conception of souls of knives and tobacco-pipes passing to the land +of ghosts, the savage cannot avoid carrying the interpretation still +further, so that wind and water, fire and storm, are accredited with +indwelling spirits akin by nature to the soul which inhabits the human +frame. That the mighty spirit or demon by whose impelling will the +trees are rooted up and the storm-clouds driven across the sky should +resemble a freed human soul, is a natural inference, since uncultured +man has not attained to the conception of physical force acting in +accordance with uniform methods, and hence all events are to his mind +the manifestations of capricious volition. If the fire burns down his +hut, it is because the fire is a person with a soul, and is angry with +him, and needs to be coaxed into a kindlier mood by means of prayer or +sacrifice. Thus the savage has a priori no alternative but to regard +fire-soul as something akin to human-soul; and in point of fact we find +that savage philosophy makes no distinction between the human ghost +and the elemental demon or deity. This is sufficiently proved by +the universal prevalence of the worship of ancestors. The essential +principle of manes-worship is that the tribal chief or patriarch, who +has governed the community during life, continues also to govern it +after death, assisting it in its warfare with hostile tribes, rewarding +brave warriors, and punishing traitors and cowards. Thus from the +conception of the living king we pass to the notion of what Mr. Spencer +calls "the god-king," and thence to the rudimentary notion of deity. +Among such higher savages as the Zulus, the doctrine of divine ancestors +has been developed to the extent of recognizing a first ancestor, the +Great Father, Unkulunkulu, who made the world. But in the stratum of +savage thought in which barbaric or Aryan folk-lore is for the most part +based, we find no such exalted speculation. The ancestors of the rude +Veddas and of the Guinea negroes, the Hindu pitris (patres, "fathers"), +and the Roman manes have become elemental deities which send rain or +sunshine, health or sickness, plenty or famine, and to which their +living offspring appeal for guidance amid the vicissitudes of life. +[179] The theory of embodiment, already alluded to, shows how thoroughly +the demons which cause disease are identified with human and object +souls. In Australasia it is a dead man's ghost which creeps up into +the liver of the impious wretch who has ventured to pronounce his +name; while conversely in the well-known European theory of demoniacal +possession, it is a fairy from elf-land, or an imp from hell, which +has entered the body of the sufferer. In the close kinship, moreover, +between disease-possession and oracle-possession, where the body of the +Pythia, or the medicine-man, is placed under the direct control of +some great deity, [180] we may see how by insensible transitions +the conception of the human ghost passes into the conception of the +spiritual numen, or divinity. + +To pursue this line of inquiry through the countless nymphs and dryads +and nixies of the higher nature-worship up to the Olympian divinities +of classic polytheism, would be to enter upon the history of religious +belief, and in so doing to lose sight of our present purpose, which has +merely been to show by what mental process the myth-maker can speak +of natural objects in language which implies that they are animated +persons. Brief as our account of this process has been, I believe +that enough has been said, not only to reveal the inadequacy of purely +philological solutions (like those contained in Max Muller's famous +Essay) to explain the growth of myths, but also to exhibit the vast +importance for this purpose of the kind of psychological inquiry into +the mental habits of savages which Mr. Tylor has so ably conducted. +Indeed, however lacking we may still be in points of detail, I think we +have already reached a very satisfactory explanation of the genesis of +mythology. Since the essential characteristic of a myth is that it is +an attempt to explain some natural phenomenon by endowing with human +feelings and capacities the senseless factors in the phenomenon, and +since it has here been shown how uncultured man, by the best use he can +make of his rude common sense, must inevitably come, and has invariably +come, to regard all objects as endowed with souls, and all nature as +peopled with supra-human entities shaped after the general pattern of +the human soul, I am inclined to suspect that we have got very near to +the root of the whole matter. We can certainly find no difficulty in +seeing why a water-spout should be described in the "Arabian Nights" as +a living demon: "The sea became troubled before them, and there arose +from it a black pillar, ascending towards the sky, and approaching the +meadow,.... and behold it was a Jinni, of gigantic stature." We can see +why the Moslem camel-driver should find it most natural to regard the +whirling simoom as a malignant Jinni; we may understand how it is that +the Persian sees in bodily shape the scarlet fever as "a blushing maid +with locks of flame and cheeks all rosy red"; and we need not consider +it strange that the primeval Aryan should have regarded the sun as a +voyager, a climber, or an archer, and the clouds as cows driven by the +wind-god Hermes to their milking. The identification of William Tell +with the sun becomes thoroughly intelligible; nor can we be longer +surprised at the conception of the howling night-wind as a ravenous +wolf. When pots and kettles are thought to have souls that live +hereafter, there is no difficulty in understanding how the blue sky can +have been regarded as the sire of gods and men. And thus, as the elves +and bogarts of popular lore are in many cases descended from ancient +divinities of Olympos and Valhalla, so these in turn must acknowledge +their ancestors in the shadowy denizens of the primeval ghost-world. + +August, 1872. + + + + +NOTE. + +THE following are some of the modern works most likely to be of use to +the reader who is interested in the legend of William Tell. + +HISELY, J. J. Dissertatio historiea inauguralis de Oulielmo Tellio, etc. +Groningae, 1824. + +IDELER, J. L. Die Sage von dem Schuss des Tell. Berlin, 1836. + +HAUSSER, L. Die Sage von Tell aufs Neue kritisch untersucht. Heidelberg, +1840. + +HISELY, J. J. Recherches critiques sur l'histoire de Guillaume Tell. +Lausanne, 1843. + +LIEBENAU, H. Die Tell-Sage zu dem Jahre 1230 historisoh nach neuesten +Quellen. Aarau, 1864. + +VISCHER, W. Die Sage von der Befreinng der Waldstatte, etc. Nebst einer +Beilage: das alteste Tellensehauspiel. Leipzig, 1867. + +BORDIER, H. L. Le Grutli et Guillaume Tell, ou defense de la tradition +vulgaire sur les origines de la confederation suisse. Geneve et Bale, +1869. + +The same. La querelle sur les traditions concernant l'origine de la +confederation suisse. Geneve et Bale, 1869. + +RILLIET, A. Les origines de la confederation suisse: histoire et +legende. 2eS ed., revue et corrigee. Geneve et Bale, 1869. + +The same. Lettre a M. Henri Bordier a propos de sa defense de la +tradition vulgaire sur les origines de la confederation suisse. Geneve +et Bale, 1869. + +HUNGERBUHLER, H. Etude critique sur les traditions relatives aux +origines de la confederation suisse. Geneve et Bale, 1869. + +MEYER, KARL. Die Tellsage. [In Bartsch, Germanistische Studien, I. +159-170. Wien, 1872.] + +See also the articles by M. Scherer, in Le Temps, 18 Feb., 1868; by M. +Reuss, in the Revue critique d'histoire, 1868; by M. de Wiss, in the +Journal de Geneve, 7 July, 1868; also Revue critique, 17 July, 1869; +Journal de Geneve, 24 Oct., 1868; Gazette de Lausanne, feuilleton +litteraire, 2-5 Nov., 1868, "Les origines de la confederation suisse," +par M. Secretan; Edinburgh Review, Jan., 1869, "The Legend of Tell and +Rutli." + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + + +[Footnote 1: See Delepierre, Historical Difficulties, p. 75.] + +[Footnote 2: Saxo Grammaticus, Bk. X. p. 166, ed. Frankf. 1576.] + +[Footnote 3: According to Mr. Isaac Taylor, the name is really derived +from "St. Celert, a Welsh saint of the fifth century, to whom the church +of Llangeller is consecrated." (Words and Places, p. 339.)] + +[Footnote 4: Compare Krilof's story of the Gnat and the Shepherd, in +Mr. Ralston's excellent version, Krilof and his Fables, p. 170. Many +parallel examples are cited by Mr. Baring-Gould, Curious Myths, Vol. I. +pp. 126-136. See also the story of Folliculus,--Swan, Gesta Romanorum, +ad. Wright, Vol. I. p. lxxxii] + +[Footnote 5: See Cox, Mythology of the Aryan Nations, Vol. I. pp. +145-149.] + +[Footnote 6: The same incident occurs in the Arabian story of +Seyf-el-Mulook and Bedeea-el-Jemal, where the Jinni's soul is enclosed +in the crop of a sparrow, and the sparrow imprisoned in a small box, and +this enclosed in another small box, and this again in seven other boxes, +which are put into seven chests, contained in a coffer of marble, which +is sunk in the ocean that surrounds the world. Seyf-el-Mulook raises +the coffer by the aid of Suleyman's seal-ring, and having extricated the +sparrow, strangles it, whereupon the Jinni's body is converted into +a heap of black ashes, and Seyf-el-Mulook escapes with the maiden +Dolet-Khatoon. See Lane's Arabian Nights, Vol. III. p. 316.] + +[Footnote 7: The same incident is repeated in the story of Hassan of +El-Basrah. See Lane's Arabian Nights, Vol. III p. 452.] + +[Footnote 8: "Retrancher le merveilleux d'un mythe, c'est le +supprimer."--Breal, Hercule et Cacus, p. 50.] + +[Footnote 9: "No distinction between the animate and inanimate is made +in the languages of the Eskimos, the Choctaws, the Muskoghee, and the +Caddo. Only the Iroquois, Cherokee, and the Algonquin-Lenape have it, so +far as is known, and with them it is partial." According to the Fijians, +"vegetables and stones, nay, even tools and weapons, pots and canoes, +have souls that are immortal, and that, like the souls of men, pass on +at last to Mbulu, the abode of departed spirits."--M'Lennan, The Worship +of Animals and Plants, Fortnightly Review, Vol. XII. p, 416.] + +[Footnote 10: Marcus Aurelius, V. 7.] + +[Footnote 11: Some of these etymologies are attacked by Mr. Mahaffy in +his Prolegomena to Ancient History, p. 49. After long consideration I am +still disposed to follow Max Muller in adopting them, with the possible +exception of Achilleus. With Mr. Mahaffy s suggestion (p. 52) that many +of the Homeric legends may have clustered around some historical basis, +I fully agree; as will appear, further on, from my paper on "Juventus +Mundi."] + +[Footnote 12: Les facultes qui engendrent la mythologie sont les memes +que celles qui engendront la philosophie, et ce n'est pas sans raison +que l'Inde et la Grece nous presentent le phenomene de la plus riche +mythologie a cote de la plus profonde metaphysique. "La conception de +la multiplicite dans l'univers, c'est le polytheisme chez les peuples +enfants; c'est la science chez les peuples arrives a l'age mur."--Renan, +Hist. des Langues Semitiques, Tom. I. p. 9.] + +[Footnote 13: Cases coming under this head are discussed further on, in +my paper on "Myths of the Barbaric World."] + +[Footnote 14: A collection of these interesting legends may be found in +Baring-Gould's "Curious Myths of the Middle Ages," of which work this +paper was originally a review.] + +[Footnote 15: See Procopius, De Bello Gothico, IV. 20; Villemarque, +Barzas Breiz, I. 136. As a child I was instructed by an old nurse that +Vas Diemen's Land is the home of ghosts and departed spirits.] + +[Footnote 16: Baring-Gould, Curious Myths, Vol. I. p. 197.] + +[Footnote 17: Hence perhaps the adage, "Always remember to pay the +piper."] + +[Footnote 18: And it reappears as the mysterious lyre of the Gaelic +musician, who + + "Could harp a fish out o' the water, + Or bluid out of a stane, + Or milk out of a maiden's breast, + That bairns had never nane."] + +[Footnote 19: Baring-Gould, Curious Myths, Vol. II. p. 159.] + +[Footnote 20: Perhaps we may trace back to this source the frantic +terror which Irish servant-girls often manifest at sight of a mouse.] + +[Footnote 21: In Persia a dog is brought to the bedside of the person +who is dying, in order that the soul may be sure of a prompt escort. The +same custom exists in India. Breal, Hercule et Cacus, p. 123.] + +[Footnote 22: The Devil, who is proverbially "active in a gale of wind," +is none other than Hermes.] + +[Footnote 23: "Il faut que la coeur devienne ancien parmi les aneiennes +choses, et la plenitude de l'histoire ne se devoile qu'a celui qui +descend, ainsi dispose, dans le passe. Mais il faut que l'esprit demeure +moderne, et n'oublie jamais qu'il n'y a pour lui d'autre foi que la foi +scientifique."--LITTRS.] + +[Footnote 24: For an admirable example of scientific self-analysis +tracing one of these illusions to its psychological sources, see +the account of Dr. Lazarus, in Taine, De l'Intelligence, Vol. I. pp. +121-125.] + +[Footnote 25: See the story of Aymar in Baring-Gould, Curious Myths, +Vol. I. pp. 57-77. The learned author attributes the discomfiture to +the uncongenial Parisian environment; which is a style of reasoning much +like that of my village sorcerer, I fear.] + +[Footnote 26: Kelly, Indo-European Folk-Lore, p. 177.] + +[Footnote 27: The story of the luck-flower is well told in verse by Mr. +Baring Gould, in his Silver Store, p. 115, seq.] + +[Footnote 28: 1 Kings vi. 7.] + +[Footnote 29: Compare the Mussulman account of the building of the +temple, in Baring-Gould, Legends of the Patriarchs and Prophets, +pp. 337, 338. And see the story of Diocletian's ostrich, Swan, Gesta +Romanorum, ed. Wright, Vol I. p. lxiv. See also the pretty story of the +knight unjustly imprisoned, id. p. cii.] + +[Footnote 30: "We have the receipt of fern-seed. We walk invisible." +--Shakespeare, Henry IV. See Ralston, Songs of the Russian People, p. 98] + +[Footnote 31: Henderson, Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties of England, +p. 202] + +[Footnote 32: Kuhn, Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des Gottertranks. +Berlin, 1859.] + +[Footnote 33: "Saga me forwhan byth seo sunne read on aefen? Ic the +secge, forthon heo locath on helle.--Tell me, why is the sun red at +even? I tell thee, because she looketh on hell." Thorpe, Analecta +Anglo-Saxonica, p. 115, apud Tylor, Primitive Culture, Vol. II. p. 63. +Barbaric thought had partly anticipated my childish theory.] + +[Footnote 34: "Still in North Germany does the peasant say of thunder, +that the angels are playing skittles aloft, and of the snow, that they +are shaking up the feather beds in heaven."--Baring-Gould, Book of +Werewolves, p. 172.] + +[Footnote 35: "The Polynesians imagine that the sky descends at the +horizon and encloses the earth. Hence they call foreigners papalangi, or +'heaven-bursters,' as having broken in from another world outside."--Max +Muller, Chips, II. 268.] + +[Footnote 36: "--And said the gods, let there be a hammered plate in the +midst of the waters, and let it be dividing between waters and waters." +Genesis i. 6.] + +[Footnote 37: Genesis vii. 11.] + +[Footnote 38: See Kelly, Indo-European Folk-Lore, p 120; who states also +that in Bengal the Garrows burn their dead in a small boat, placed on +top of the funeral-pile. In their character of cows, also, the clouds +were regarded as psychopomps; and hence it is still a popular +superstition that a cow breaking into the yard foretokens a death +in the family.] + +[Footnote 39: The sun-god Freyr had a cloud-ship called Skithblathnir, +which is thus described in Dasent's Prose Edda: "She is so great, that +all the AEsir, with their weapons and war-gear, may find room on board +her"; but "when there is no need of faring on the sea in her, she is +made.... with so much craft that Freyr may fold her together like a +cloth, and keep her in his bag." This same virtue was possessed by the +fairy pavilion which the Peri Banou gave to Ahmed; the cloud which is no +bigger than a man's hand may soon overspread the whole heaven, and shade +the Sultan's army from the solar rays.] + +[Footnote 40: Euhemerism has done its best with this bird, representing +it as an immense vulture or condor or as a reminiscence of the extinct +dodo. But a Chinese myth, cited by Klaproth, well preserves its true +character when it describes it as "a bird which in flying obscures +the sun, and of whose quills are made water-tuns." See Nouveau Journal +Asiatique, Tom. XII. p. 235. The big bird in the Norse tale of the "Blue +Belt" belongs to the same species.] + +[Footnote 41: Baring-Gould, Curious Myths, Vol. II. p. 146. Compare +Tylor, Primitive Culture, Vol. II. p. 237, seq.] + +[Footnote 42: "If Polyphemos's eye be the sun, then Odysseus, the solar +hero, extinguishes himself, a very primitive instance of suicide." +Mahaffy, Prolegomena, p. 57. See also Brown, Poseidon, pp. 39, 40. +This objection would be relevant only in case Homer were supposed to be +constructing an allegory with entire knowledge of its meaning. It has no +validity whatever when we recollect that Homer could have known nothing +of the incongruity.] + +[Footnote 43: The Sanskrit myth-teller indeed mixes up his materials in +a way which seems ludicrous to a Western reader. He describes Indra (the +sun-god) as not only cleaving the cloud-mountains with his sword, but +also cutting off their wings and hurling them from the sky. See Burnouf, +Bhagavata Purana, VI. 12, 26.] + +[Footnote 44: Mr. Tylor offers a different, and possibly a better, +explanation of the Symplegades as the gates of Night through which +the solar ship, having passed successfully once, may henceforth pass +forever. See the details of the evidence in his Primitive Culture, I. +315.] + +[Footnote 45: The Sanskrit parvata, a bulging or inflated body, means +both "cloud" and "mountain." "In the Edda, too, the rocks, said to have +been fashioned out of Ymir's bones, are supposed to be intended for +clouds. In Old Norse Klakkr means both cloud and rock; nay, the English +word CLOUD itself has been identified with the Anglo-Saxon clud, rock. +See Justi, Orient und Occident, Vol. II. p. 62." Max Muller, Rig-Veda, +Vol. 1. p. 44.] + +[Footnote 46: In accordance with the mediaeval "doctrine of signatures," +it was maintained "that the hard, stony seeds of the Gromwell must be +good for gravel, and the knotty tubers of scrophularia for scrofulous +glands; while the scaly pappus of scaliosa showed it to be a specific +in leprous diseases, the spotted leaves of pulmonaria that it was a +sovereign remedy for tuberculous lungs, and the growth of saxifrage in +the fissures of rocks that it would disintegrate stone in the bladder." +Prior, Popular Names of British Plants, Introd., p. xiv. See also +Chapiel, La Doctrine des Signatures. Paris, 1866.] + +[Footnote 47: Indeed, the wish-bone, or forked clavicle of a fowl, +itself belongs to the same family of talismans as the divining-rod.] + +[Footnote 48: The ash, on the other hand, has been from time immemorial +used for spears in many parts of the Aryan domain. The word oesc meant, +in Anglo-Saxon, indifferently "ash-tree," or "spear"; and the same is, +or has been, true of the French fresne and the Greek melia. The root of +oesc appears in the Sanskrit as, "to throw" or "lance," whence asa, "a +bow," and asana, "an arrow." See Pictet, Origines Indo-Europeennes, I. +222.] + +[Footnote 49: Compare Spenser's story of Sir Guyon, in the "Faery +Queen," where, however, the knight fares better than this poor priest. +Usually these lightning-caverns were like Ixion's treasure-house, into +which none might look and live. This conception is the foundation of +part of the story of Blue-Beard and of the Arabian tale of the third +one-eyed Calender] + +[Footnote 50: Cox, Mythology of the Aryan Nations, Vol. 1. p. 161.] + +[Footnote 51: Kelly, Indo-European Folk-Lore, pp. 147, 183, 186, 193.] + +[Footnote 52: Brinton, Myths of the New World, p. 151.] + +[Footnote 53: Callaway, Zulu Nursery Tales, I. 173, Note 12.] + +[Footnote 54: Tylor, Early History of Mankind, p. 238; Primitive +Culture, Vol. II. p. 254; Darwin, Naturalist's Voyage, p. 409.] + +[Footnote 55: The production of fire by the drill is often called +churning, e. g. "He took the uvati [chark], and sat down and churned it, +and kindled a fire." Callaway, Zulu Nursery Tales, I. 174.] + +[Footnote 56: Kelly, Indo-European Folk-Lore, p. 39. Burnouf, Bhagavata +Purana, VIII. 6, 32.] + +[Footnote 57: Baring-Gould, Curious Myths, p. 149.] + +[Footnote 58: It is also the regenerating water of baptism, and the +"holy water" of the Roman Catholic.] + +[Footnote 59: In the Vedas the rain-god Soma, originally the +personification of the sacrificial ambrosia, is the deity who imparts to +men life, knowledge, and happiness. See Breal, Hercule et Cacus, p. 85. +Tylor, Primitive Culture, Vol. II. p. 277.] + +[Footnote 60: We may, perhaps, see here the reason for making the Greek +fire-god Hephaistos the husband of Aphrodite.] + +[Footnote 61: "Our country maidens are well aware that triple leaves +plucked at hazard from the common ash are worn in the breast, for the +purpose of causing prophetic dreams respecting a dilatory lover. +The leaves of the yellow trefoil are supposed to possess similar +virtues."--Harland and Wilkinson, Lancashire Folk-Lore, p. 20.] + +[Footnote 62: In Peru, a mighty and far-worshipped deity was Catequil, +the thunder-god,.... "he who in thunder-flash and clap hurls from his +sling the small, round, smooth thunder-stones, treasured in the villages +as fire-fetishes and charms to kindle the flames of love."--Tylor, op. +cit. Vol. II. p. 239] + +[Footnote 63: In Polynesia, "the great deity Maui adds a new +complication to his enigmatic solar-celestial character by appearing as +a wind-god."--Tylor, op. cit. Vol. II. p. 242.] + +[Footnote 64: Compare Plato, Republic, VIII. 15.] + +[Footnote 65: Were-wolf = man-wolf, wer meaning "man." Garou is a +Gallic corruption of werewolf, so that loup-garou is a tautological +expression.] + +[Footnote 66: Meyer, in Bunsen's Philosophy of Universal History, Vol. +I. p. 151.] + +[Footnote 67: Aimoin, De Gestis Francorum, II. 5.] + +[Footnote 68: Taylor, Words and Places, p. 393.] + +[Footnote 69: Very similar to this is the etymological confusion upon +which is based the myth of the "confusion of tongues" in the eleventh +chapter of Genesis. The name "Babel" is really Bab-Il, or "the gate of +God"; but the Hebrew writer erroneously derives the word from the root +balal, "to confuse"; and hence arises the mythical explanation,--that +Babel was a place where human speech became confused. See Rawlinson, +in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, Vol. I. p. 149; Renan, Histoire des +Langues Semitiques, Vol. I. p. 32; Donaldson, New Cratylus, p. 74, note; +Colenso on the Pentateuch, Vol. IV. p. 268.] + +[Footnote 70: Vilg. AEn. VIII. 322. With Latium compare plat?s, Skr. +prath (to spread out), Eng. flat. Ferrar, Comparative Grammar of Greek, +Latin, and Sanskrit, Vol. I. p. 31.] + +[Footnote 71: M`Lennan, "The Worship of Animals and Plants," Fortnightly +Review, N. S. Vol. VI. pp. 407-427, 562-582, Vol. VII. pp 194-216; +Spencer, "The Origin of Animal Worship," Id. Vol. VII. pp. 535-550, +reprinted in his Recent Discussions in Science, etc., pp. 31-56.] + +[Footnote 72: Thus is explained the singular conduct of the Hindu, who +slays himself before his enemy's door, in order to acquire greater power +of injuring him. "A certain Brahman, on whose lands a Kshatriya raja had +built a house, ripped himself up in revenge, and became a demon of the +kind called Brahmadasyu, who has been ever since the terror of the whole +country, and is the most common village-deity in Kharakpur. Toward the +close of the last century there were two Brahmans, out of whose house a +man had wrongfully, as they thought, taken forty rupees; whereupon one +of the Brahmans proceeded to cut off his own mother's head, with the +professed view, entertained by both mother and son, that her spirit, +excited by the beating of a large drum during forty days might haunt, +torment, and pursue to death the taker of their money and those +concerned with him." Tylor, Primitive Culture, Vol. II. p. 103.] + +[Footnote 73: Hence, in many parts of Europe, it is still customary to +open the windows when a person dies, in order that the soul may not be +hindered in joining the mystic cavalcade.] + +[Footnote 74: The story of little Red Riding-Hood is "mutilated in the +English version, but known more perfectly by old wives in Germany, who +can tell that the lovely little maid in her shining red satin cloak was +swallowed with her grandmother by the wolf, till they both came out safe +and sound when the hunter cut open the sleeping beast." Tylor, Primitive +Culture, I. 307, where also see the kindred Russian story of Vasilissa +the Beautiful. Compare the case of Tom Thumb, who "was swallowed by the +cow and came out unhurt"; the story of Saktideva swallowed by the fish +and cut out again, in Somadeva Bhatta, II. 118-184; and the story +of Jonah swallowed by the whale, in the Old Testament. All these +are different versions of the same myth, and refer to the alternate +swallowing up and casting forth of Day by Night, which is commonly +personified as a wolf, and now and then as a great fish. Compare Grimm's +story of the Wolf and Seven Kids, Tylor, loc. cit., and see Early +History of Mankind, p. 337; Hardy, Manual of Budhism, p. 501.] + +[Footnote 75: Baring-Gould, Book of Werewolves, p. 178; Muir, Sanskrit +Texts, II. 435.] + +[Footnote 76: In those days even an after-dinner nap seems to have been +thought uncanny. See Dasent, Burnt Njal, I. xxi.] + +[Footnote 77: See Dasent, Burnt Njai, Vol. I. p. xxii.; Grettis Saga, by +Magnusson and Morris, chap. xix.; Viga Glum's Saga, by Sir Edmund Head, +p. 13, note, where the Berserkers are said to have maddened themselves +with drugs. Dasent compares them with the Malays, who work themselves +into a frenzy by means of arrack, or hasheesh, and run amuck.] + +[Footnote 78: Baring-Gould, Werewolves, p. 81.] + +[Footnote 79: Baring-Gould, op. cit. chap. xiv.] + +[Footnote 80: Baring-Gould, op. cit. p. 82.] + +[Footnote 81: Kennedy, Fictions of the Irish Celts, p. 90.] + +[Footnote 82: "En 1541, a Padoue, dit Wier, un homme qui se croyait +change en loup courait la campagne, attaquant et mettant a mort ceux +qu'il rencontrait. Apres bien des difficultes, on parvint s'emparer de +lui. Il dit en confidence a ceux qui l'arreterent: Je suis vraiment +un loup, et si ma peau ne parait pas etre celle d'un loup, c'est parce +qu'elle est retournee et que les poils sont en dedans.--Pour s'assurer +du fait, on coupa le malheureux aux differentes parties du corps, on lui +emporta les bras et les jambes."--Taine, De l'Intelligence, Tom. II. +p. 203. See the account of Slavonic werewolves in Ralston, Songs of the +Russian People, pp. 404-418.] + +[Footnote 83: Mr. Cox, whose scepticism on obscure points in history +rather surpasses that of Sir G. C. Lewis, dismisses with a sneer +the subject of the Berserker madness, observing that "the unanimous +testimony of the Norse historians is worth as much and as little as the +convictions of Glanvil and Hale on the reality of witchcraft." I have +not the special knowledge requisite for pronouncing an opinion on this +point, but Mr. Cox's ordinary methods of disposing of such questions +are not such as to make one feel obliged to accept his bare assertion, +unaccompanied by critical arguments. The madness of the bearsarks may, +no doubt, be the same thing us the frenzy of Herakles; but something +more than mere dogmatism is needed to prove it.] + +[Footnote 84: Williams, Superstitions of Witchcraft, p. 179. See a +parallel case of a cat-woman, in Thorpe's Northern Mythology, II. 26. +"Certain witches at Thurso for a long time tormented an honest fellow +under the usual form of cats, till one night he put them to flight with +his broadsword, and cut off the leg of one less nimble than the rest; +taking it up, to his amazement he found it to be a woman's leg, and +next morning he discovered the old hag its owner with but one leg +left."--Tylor, Primitive Culture, I. 283.] + +[Footnote 85: "The mare in nightmare means spirit, elf, or nymph; +compare Anglo-Saxon wudurmaere (wood-mare) = echo."--Tylor, Primitive +Culture, Vol. II. p. 173.] + +[Footnote 86: See Kuhn, Herabkunft des Feuers, p. 91; Weber, Indische +Studien. I. 197; Wolf, Beitrage zur deutschen Mythologie, II. 233-281 +Muller, Chips, II. 114-128.] + +[Footnote 87: Baring-Gould, Curious Myths, II. 207.] + +[Footnote 88: The word nymph itself means "cloud-maiden," as is +illustrated by the kinship between the Greek numph and the Latin nubes.] + +[Footnote 89: This is substantially identical with the stories of Beauty +and the Beast, Eros and Psyche, Gandharba Sena, etc.] + +[Footnote 90: The feather-dress reappears in the Arabian story of Hasssn +of El-Basrah, who by stealing it secures possession of the Jinniya. See +Lane's Arabian Nights, Vol. III. p. 380. Ralston, Songs of the Russian +People, p. 179.] + +[Footnote 91: Thorpe, Northern Mythology, III. 173; Kennedy, Fictions of +the Irish Celts, p. 123.] + +[Footnote 92: Kennedy, Fictions of the Irish Celts, p. 168.] + +[Footnote 93: Baring-Gould, Book of Werewolves, p. 133.] + +[Footnote 94: Muir's Sanskrit Texts, Vol. IV. p. 12; Muller, Rig-Veda +Sanhita, Vol. I. pp. 230-251; Fick, Woerterbuch der Indogermanischen +Grundsprache, p. 124, s v. Bhaga.] + +[Footnote 95: In the North American Review, October, 1869, p. 354, +I have collected a number of facts which seem to me to prove beyond +question that the name God is derived from Guodan, the original form of +Odin, the supreme deity of our Pagan forefathers. The case is exactly +parallel to that of the French Dieu, which is descended from the Deus of +the pagan Roman.] + +[Footnote 96: See Pott, Die Zigeuner, II. 311; Kuhn, Beitrage, I. 147. +Yet in the worship of dewel by the Gypsies is to be found the element of +diabolism invariably present in barbaric worship. "Dewel, the great +god in heaven (dewa, deus), is rather feared than loved by these +weather-beaten outcasts, for he harms them on their wanderings with his +thunder and lightning, his snow and rain, and his stars interfere with +their dark doings. Therefore they curse him foully when misfortune +falls on them; and when a child dies, they say that Dewel has eaten it." +Tylor, Primitive Culture, Vol. II. p. 248.] + +[Footnote 97: See Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, 939.] + +[Footnote 98: The Buddhistic as well as the Zarathustrian reformation +degraded the Vedic gods into demons. "In Buddhism we find these ancient +devas, Indra and the rest, carried about at shows, as servants of +Buddha, as goblins, or fabulous heroes." Max Muller, Chips, I. 25. This +is like the Christian change of Odin into an ogre, and of Thor into the +Devil.] + +[Footnote 99: Zeus--Dia--Zhna--di on............ Plato Kratylos, p. 396, +A., with Stallbaum's note. See also Proklos, Comm. ad Timaeum, II. p. +226, Schneider; and compare Pseudo-Aristotle, De Mundo, p. 401, a, 15, +who adopts the etymology. See also Diogenes Laertius, VII. 147.] + +[Footnote 100: Marcus Aurelius, v. 7; Hom. Iliad, xii. 25, cf. Petronius +Arbiter, Sat. xliv.] + +[Footnote 101: "Il Sol, dell aurea luce eterno forte." Tasso, +Gerusalemme, XV. 47; ef. Dante, Paradiso, X. 28.] + +[Footnote 102: The Aryans were, however, doubtless better off than +the tribes of North America. "In no Indian language could the early +missionaries find a word to express the idea of God. Manitou and Oki +meant anything endowed with supernatural powers, from a snake-skin or +a greasy Indian conjurer up to Manabozho and Jouskeha. The priests were +forced to use a circumlocution,--`the great chief of men,' or 'he who +lives in the sky.'" Parkman, Jesuits in North America, p. lxxix. "The +Algonquins used no oaths, for their language supplied none; doubtless +because their mythology had no beings sufficiently distinct to swear +by." Ibid, p. 31.] + +[Footnote 103: Muller, Rig-Veda-Sanhita, I. 230.] + +[Footnote 104: Compare the remarks of Breal, Hercule et Cacus, p. 13.] + +[Footnote 105: It should be borne in mind, however, that one of +the women who tempt Odysseus is not a dawn-maiden, but a goddess of +darkness; Kalypso answers to Venus-Ursula in the myth of Tannhauser. +Kirke, on the other hand, seems to be a dawn-maiden, like Medeia, +whom she resembles. In her the wisdom of the dawn-goddess Athene, +the loftiest of Greek divinities, becomes degraded into the art of an +enchantress. She reappears, in the Arabian Nights, as the wicked Queen +Labe, whose sorcery none of her lovers can baffle, save Beder, king of +Persia.] + +[Footnote 106: The Persian Cyrus is an historical personage; but the +story of his perils in infancy belongs to solar mythology as much as +the stories of the magic sleep of Charlemagne and Barbarossa. His +grandfather, Astyages, is purely a mythical creation, his name being +identical with that of the night-demon, Azidahaka, who appears in the +Shah-Nameh as the biting serpent Zohak. See Cox, Mythology of the Aryan +Nations, II. 358.] + +[Footnote 107: In mediaeval legend this resistless Moira is transformed +into the curse which prevents the Wandering Jew from resting until the +day of judgment.] + +[Footnote 108: Cox, Manual of Mythology, p. 134.] + +[Footnote 109: In his interesting appendix to Henderson's Folk Lore of +the Northern Counties of England, Mr. Baring-Gould has made an ingenious +and praiseworthy attempt to reduce the entire existing mass of household +legends to about fifty story-roots; and his list, though both redundant +and defective, is nevertheless, as an empirical classification, very +instructive.] + +[Footnote 110: There is nothing in common between the names Hercules and +Herakles. The latter is a compound, formed like Themistokles; the +former is a simple derivative from the root of hercere, "to enclose." If +Herakles had any equivalent in Latin, it would necessarily begin with S, +and not with H, as septa corresponds to epta, sequor to epomai, etc. +It should be noted, however, that Mommsen, in the fourth edition of +his History, abandons this view, and observes: "Auch der griechische +Herakles ist fruh als Herclus, Hercoles, Hercules in Italien einheimisch +und dort in eigenthumlicher Weise aufgefasst worden, wie es scheint +zunachst als Gott des gewagten Gewinns und der ausserordentlichen +Vermogensvermehrung." Romische Geschichte, I. 181. One would gladly +learn Mommsen's reasons for recurring to this apparently less defensible +opinion.] + +[Footnote 111: For the relations between Sancus and Herakles, see +Preller, Romische Mythologie, p. 635; Vollmer, Mythologie, p. 970.] + +[Footnote 112: Burnouf, Bhagavata-Purana, III. p. lxxxvi; Breal, op. +cit. p. 98.] + +[Footnote 113: Max Muller, Science of Language, II 484.] + +[Footnote 114: As Max Muller observes, "apart from all mythological +considerations, Sarama in Sanskrit is the same word as Helena in Greek." +Op. cit. p. 490. The names correspond phonetically letter for letter, +as, Surya corresponds to Helios, Sarameyas to Hermeias, and Aharyu to +Achilleus. Muller has plausibly suggested that Paris similarly answers +to the Panis.] + +[Footnote 115: "I create evil," Isaiah xiv. 7; "Shall there be evil in +the city, and the Lord hath not done it?" Amos iii. 6; cf. Iliad, xxiv. +527, and contrast 2 Samuel xxiv. 1 with 1 Chronicles xxi. 1.] + +[Footnote 116: Nor is there any ground for believing that the serpent in +the Eden myth is intended for Satan. The identification is entirely the +work of modern dogmatic theology, and is due, naturally enough, to the +habit, so common alike among theologians and laymen, of reasoning about +the Bible as if it were a single book, and not a collection of +writings of different ages and of very different degrees of historic +authenticity. In a future work, entitled "Aryana Vaedjo," I hope to +examine, at considerable length, this interesting myth of the garden of +Eden.] + +[Footnote 117: For further particulars see Cox, Mythology of the Aryan +Nations, Vol. II. pp 358, 366; to which I am indebted for several of the +details here given. Compare Welcker, Griechische Gotterlehre, I. 661, +seq.] + +[Footnote 118: Many amusing passages from Scotch theologians are cited +in Buckle's History of Civilization, Vol. II. p. 368. The same belief +is implied in the quaint monkish tale of "Celestinus and the Miller's +Horse." See Tales from the Gesta Romanorum, p. 134.] + +[Footnote 119: Thorpe, Northern Mythology, Vol. 11. p. 258.] + +[Footnote 120: Thorpe, Northern Mythology, Vol. II. p. 259. In the Norse +story of "Not a Pin to choose between them," the old woman is in doubt +as to her own identity, on waking up after the butcher has dipped her in +a tar-barrel and rolled her on a heap of feathers; and when Tray barks +at her, her perplexity is as great as the Devil's when fooled by the +Frenschutz. See Dasent, Norse Tales, p. 199.] + +[Footnote 121: See Deulin, Contes d'un Buveur de Biere, pp. 3-29.] + +[Footnote 122: Dasent, Popular Tales from the Norse, No. III. and No. +XLII.] + +[Footnote 123: See Dasent's Introduction, p. cxxxix; Campbell, Tales of +the West Highlands, Vol. IV. p. 344; and Williams, Indian Epic Poetry, +p. 10.] + +[Footnote 124: "A Leopard was returning home from hunting on one +occasion, when he lighted on the kraal of a Ram. Now the Leopard had +never seen a Ram before, and accordingly, approaching submissively, he +said, 'Good day, friend! what may your name be?' The other, in his gruff +voice, and striking his breast with his forefoot, said, 'I am a Ram; +who are you?' 'A Leopard,' answered the other, more dead than alive; and +then, taking leave of the Ram, he ran home as fast as he could." Bleek, +Hottentot Fables, p. 24.] + +[Footnote 125: I agree, most heartily, with Mr. Mahaffy's remarks, +Prolegomena to Ancient History, p. 69.] + +[Footnote 126: Sir George Grey once told some Australian natives about +the countries within the arctic circle where during part of the year the +sun never sets. "Their astonishment now knew no bounds. 'Ah! that must +be another sun, not the same as the one we see here,' said an old man; +and in spite of all my arguments to the contrary, the others adopted +this opinion." Grey's Journals, I. 293, cited in Tylor, Early History of +Mankind, p. 301.] + +[Footnote 127: Max Muller, Chips, II. 96.] + +[Footnote 128: Fictions of the Irish Celts, pp. 255-270.] + +[Footnote 129: A corruption of Gaelic bhan a teaigh, "lady of the +house."] + +[Footnote 130: For the analysis of twelve, see my essay on "The Genesis +of Language," North American Review, October 1869, p. 320.] + +[Footnote 131: Chips from a German Workshop, Vol. II. p. 246.] + +[Footnote 132: For various legends of a deluge, see Baring-Gould, +Legends of the Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 85-106.] + +[Footnote 133: Brinton, Myths of the New World, p. 160.] + +[Footnote 134: Brinton, op. cit. p. 163.] + +[Footnote 135: Brinton, op. cit. p. 167.] + +[Footnote 136: Corresponding, in various degrees, to the Asvins, the +Dioskouroi, and the brothers True and Untrue of Norse mythology.] + +[Footnote 137: See Humboldt's Kosmos, Tom. III. pp. 469-476. A +fetichistic regard for the cardinal points has not always been absent +from the minds of persons instructed in a higher theology as witness a +well-known passage in Irenaeus, and also the custom, well-nigh universal +in Europe, of building Christian churches in a line east and west.] + +[Footnote 138: Bleek, Hottentot Fables and Tales, p. 72. Compare the +Fiji story of Ra Vula, the Moon, and Ra Kalavo, the Rat, in Tylor, +Primitive Culture, I. 321.] + +[Footnote 139: Tylor, Early History of Mankind, p. 327.] + +[Footnote 140: Tylor, op. cit., p. 346.] + +[Footnote 141: Baring-Gould, Curious Myths, II. 299-302.] + +[Footnote 142: Speaking of beliefs in the Malay Archipelago, Mr. Wallace +says: "It is universally believed in Lombock that some men have the +power to turn themselves into crocodiles, which they do for the sake +of devouring their enemies, and many strange tales are told of such +transformations." Wallace, Malay Archipelago, Vol. I. p. 251.] + +[Footnote 143: Bleek, Hottentot Fables and Tales, p. 58.] + +[Footnote 144: Callaway, Zulu Nursery Tales, pp. 27-30.] + +[Footnote 145: Callaway, op. cit. pp. 142-152; cf. a similar story in +which the lion is fooled by the jackal. Bleek, op. cit. p. 7. I omit the +sequel of the tale.] + +[Footnote 146: Brinton, op. cit. p. 104.] + +[Footnote 147: Tylor, op. cit. p. 320.] + +[Footnote 148: Tylor, op. cit. pp. 338-343.] + +[Footnote 149: Tylor, op. cit. p. 336. November, 1870] + +[Footnote 150: Juventus Mundi. The Gods and Men of the Heroic Age. +By the Rt. Hon. William Ewart Gladstone. Boston: Little, Brown, & Co. +1869.] + +[Footnote 151: Hist. Greece, Vol. II. p. 208.] + +[Footnote 152: Grote, Hist. Greece, Vol. II. p. 198.] + +[Footnote 153: For the precise extent to which I would indorse the +theory that the Iliad-myth is an account of the victory of light over +darkness, let me refer to what I have said above on p. 134. I do not +suppose that the struggle between light and darkness was Homer's subject +in the Iliad any more than it was Shakespeare's subject in "Hamlet." +Homer's subject was the wrath of the Greek hero, as Shakespeare's +subject was the vengeance of the Danish prince. Nevertheless, the story +of Hamlet, when traced back to its Norse original, is unmistakably the +story of the quarrel between summer and winter; and the moody prince +is as much a solar hero as Odin himself. See Simrock, Die Quellen des +Shakespeare, I. 127-133. Of course Shakespeare knew nothing of this, +as Homer knew nothing of the origin of his Achilleus. The two stories, +therefore, are not to be taken as sun-myths in their present form. +They are the offspring of other stories which were sun-myths; they +are stories which conform to the sun-myth type after the manner above +illustrated in the paper on Light and Darkness. [Hence there is nothing +unintelligible in the inconsistency--which seems to puzzle Max Muller +(Science of Language, 6th ed. Vol. II. p. 516, note 20)--of investing +Paris with many of the characteristics of the children of light. +Supposing, as we must, that the primitive sense of the Iliad-myth had as +entirely disappeared in the Homeric age, as the primitive sense of the +Hamlet-myth had disappeared in the times of Elizabeth, the fit ground +for wonder is that such inconsistencies are not more numerous.] The +physical theory of myths will be properly presented and comprehended, +only when it is understood that we accept the physical derivation of +such stories as the Iliad-myth in much the same way that we are bound to +accept the physical etymologies of such words as soul, consider, truth, +convince, deliberate, and the like. The late Dr. Gibbs of Yale College, +in his "Philological Studies,"--a little book which I used to read with +delight when a boy,--describes such etymologies as "faded metaphors." +In similar wise, while refraining from characterizing the Iliad or the +tragedy of Hamlet--any more than I would characterize Le Juif Errant by +Sue, or La Maison Forestiere by Erckmann-Chatrian--as nature-myths, I +would at the same time consider these poems well described as embodying +"faded nature-myths."] + +[Footnote 154: I have no opinion as to the nationality of the +Earth-shaker, and, regarding the etymology of his name, I believe we can +hardly do better than acknowledge, with Mr. Cox, that it is unknown. +It may well be doubted, however, whether much good is likely to come +of comparisons between Poseidon, Dagon, Oannes, and Noah, or of +distinctions between the children of Shem and the children of Ham. See +Brown's Poseidon; a Link between Semite, Hamite, and Aryan, London, +1872,--a book which is open to several of the criticisms here directed +against Mr. Gladstone's manner of theorizing.] + +[Footnote 155: "The expression that the Erinys, Saranyu, the Dawn, finds +out the criminal, was originally quite free from mythology; IT MEANT +NO MORE THAN THAT CRIME WOULD BE BROUGHT TO LIGHT SOME DAY OR OTHER. +It became mythological, however, as soon as the etymological meaning +of Erinys was forgotten, and as soon as the Dawn, a portion of time, +assumed the rank of a personal being."--Science of Language, 6th +edition, II. 615. This paragraph, in which the italicizing is mine, +contains Max Muller's theory in a nutshell. It seems to me wholly at +variance with the facts of history. The facts concerning primitive +culture which are to be cited in this paper will show that the case +is just the other way. Instead of the expression "Erinys finds the +criminal" being originally a metaphor, it was originally a literal +statement of what was believed to be fact. The Dawn (not "a portion of +time,"(!) but the rosy flush of the morning sky) was originally regarded +as a real person. Primitive men, strictly speaking, do not talk in +metaphors; they believe in the literal truth of their similes and +personifications, from which, by survival in culture, our poetic +metaphors are lineally descended. Homer's allusion to a rolling stone as +essumenos or "yearning" (to keep on rolling), is to us a mere figurative +expression; but to the savage it is the description of a fact.] + +[Footnote 156: Primitive Culture: Researches into the Development of +Mythology, Philosophy, Religion, Art, and Custom By Edward B. Tylor. 2 +vols. 8vo. London. 1871.] + +[Footnote 157: Tylor, op. cit. I. 107.] + +[Footnote 158: Rousseau, Confessions, I. vi. For further illustration, +see especially the note on the "doctrine of signatures," supra, p. 55.] + +[Footnote 159: Spencer, Recent Discussions in Science, etc., p. 36, "The +Origin of Animal Worship."] + +[Footnote 160: See Nature, Vol. VI. p. 262, August 1, 1872. The +circumstances narrated are such as to exclude the supposition that the +sitting up is intended to attract the master's attention. The dog has +frequently been seen trying to soften the heart of the ball, while +observed unawares by his master.] + +[Footnote 161: "We would, however, commend to Mr. Fiske's attention +Mr. Mark Twain's dog, who 'couldn't be depended on for a special +providence,' as being nearer to the actual dog of every-day life than +is the Skye terrier mentioned by a certain correspondent of Nature, to +whose letter Mr. Fiske refers. The terrier is held to have had 'a few +fetichistic notions,' because he was found standing up on his hind legs +in front of a mantel-piece, upon which lay an india-rubber ball with +which he wished to play, but which he could not reach, and which, says +the letter-writer, he was evidently beseeching to come down and play +with him. We consider it more reasonable to suppose that a dog who had +been drilled into a belief that standing upon his hind legs was very +pleasing to his master, and who, therefore, had accustomed himself to +stand on his hind legs whenever he desired anything, and whose usual way +of getting what he desired was to induce somebody to get it for him, may +have stood up in front of the mantel-piece rather from force of habit +and eagerness of desire than because he had any fetichistic notions, or +expected the india-rubber ball to listen to his supplications. We admit, +however, to avoid polemical controversy, that in matter of religion the +dog is capable of anything." The Nation, Vol. XV. p. 284, October 1, +1872. To be sure, I do not know for certain what was going on in the +dog's mind; and so, letting both explanations stand, I will only add +another fact of similar import. "The tendency in savages to imagine +that natural objects and agencies are animated by spiritual or living +essences is perhaps illustrated by a little fact which I once noticed: +my dog, a full-grown and very sensible animal, was lying on the lawn +during a hot and still day; but at a little distance a slight breeze +occasionally moved an open parasol, which would have been wholly +disregarded by the dog, had any one stood near it. As it was, every time +that the parasol slightly moved, the dog growled fiercely and barked. +He must, I think, have reasoned to himself, in a rapid and unconscious +manner, that movement without any apparent cause indicated the presence +of some strange living agent, and no stranger had a right to be on his +territory." Darwin, Descent of Man, Vol. 1. p. 64. Without insisting +upon all the details of this explanation, one may readily grant, I +think, that in the dog, as in the savage, there is an undisturbed +association between motion and a living motor agency; and that out of a +multitude of just such associations common to both, the savage, with his +greater generalizing power, frames a truly fetichistic conception.] + +[Footnote 162: Note the fetichism wrapped up in the etymologies of these +Greek words. Catalepsy, katalhyis, a seizing of the body by some spirit +or demon, who holds it rigid. Ecstasy, ekstasis, a displacement or +removal of the soul from the body, into which the demon enters and +causes strange laughing, crying, or contortions. It is not metaphor, but +the literal belief ill a ghost-world, which has given rise to such +words as these, and to such expressions as "a man beside himself or +transported."] + +[Footnote 163: Something akin to the savage's belief in the animation +of pictures may be seen in young children. I have often been asked by my +three-year-old boy, whether the dog in a certain picture would bite him +if he were to go near it; and I can remember that, in my own childhood, +when reading a book about insects, which had the formidable likeness of +a spider stamped on the centre of the cover, I was always uneasy lest +my finger should come in contact with the dreaded thing as I held the +book.] + +[Footnote 164: Tylor, Primitive Culture, I. 394. "The Zulus hold that a +dead body can cast no shadow, because that appurtenance departed from +it at the close of life." Hardwick, Traditions, Superstitions, and +Folk-Lore, p. 123.] + +[Footnote 165: Tylor, op. cit. I. 391.] + +[Footnote 166: Harland and Wilkinson, Lancashire Folk-Lore, 1867, p. +210.] + +[Footnote 167: Tylor, op. cit. II. 139.] + +[Footnote 168: In Russia the souls of the dead are supposed to be +embodied in pigeons or crows. "Thus when the Deacon Theodore and his +three schismatic brethren were burnt in 1681, the souls of the martyrs, +as the 'Old Believers' affirm, appeared in the air as pigeons. In +Volhynia dead children are supposed to come back in the spring to their +native village under the semblance of swallows and other small birds, +and to seek by soft twittering or song to console their sorrowing +parents." Ralston, Songs of the Russian People, p. 118.] + +[Footnote 169: Tylor, op. cit. I. 404.] + +[Footnote 171: Tylor, op. cit. I. 407.] + +[Footnote 172: Tylor, op. cit. I. 410. In the next stage of survival +this belief will take the shape that it is wrong to slam a door, no +reason being assigned; and in the succeeding stage, when the child asks +why it is naughty to slam a door, he will be told, because it is an +evidence of bad temper. Thus do old-world fancies disappear before the +inroads of the practical sense.] + +[Footnote 173: Agassiz, Essay on Classification, pp. 97-99.] + +[Footnote 174: Figuier, The To-morrow of Death, p. 247.] + +[Footnote 175: Here, as usually, the doctrine of metempsychosis comes +in to complete the proof. "Mr. Darwin saw two Malay women in Keeling +Island, who had a wooden spoon dressed in clothes like a doll; this +spoon had been carried to the grave of a dead man, and becoming inspired +at full moon, in fact lunatic, it danced about convulsively like a table +or a hat at a modern spirit-seance." Tylor, op. cit. II. 139.] + +[Footnote 176: Tylor, op. cit. I. 414-422.] + +[Footnote 177: Tylor, op. cit. I. 435, 446; II. 30, 36.] + +[Footnote 178: According to the Karens, blindness occurs when the SOUL +OF THE EYE is eaten by demons. Id., II. 353.] + +[Footnote 179: The following citation is interesting as an illustration +of the directness of descent from heathen manes-worship to Christian +saint-worship: "It is well known that Romulus, mindful of his own +adventurous infancy, became after death a Roman deity, propitious to the +health and safety of young children, so that nurses and mothers would +carry sickly infants to present them in his little round temple at +the foot of the Palatine. In after ages the temple was replaced by +the church of St. Theodorus, and there Dr. Conyers Middleton, who drew +public attention to its curious history, used to look in and see ten +or a dozen women, each with a sick child in her lap, sitting in silent +reverence before the altar of the saint. The ceremony of blessing +children, especially after vaccination, may still be seen there on +Thursday mornings." Op. cit. II. 111.] + +[Footnote 180: Want of space prevents me from remarking at length +upon Mr. Tylor's admirable treatment of the phenomena of oracular +inspiration. Attention should be called, however, to the brilliant +explanation of the importance accorded by all religions to the rite of +fasting. Prolonged abstinence from food tends to bring on a mental +state which is favourable to visions. The savage priest or medicine-man +qualifies himself for the performance of his duties by fasting, and +where this is not sufficient, often uses intoxicating drugs; whence +the sacredness of the hasheesh, as also of the Vedic soma-juice. The +practice of fasting among civilized peoples is an instance of survival.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Myths and Myth-Makers, by John Fiske + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYTHS AND MYTH-MAKERS *** + +***** This file should be named 1061.txt or 1061.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/6/1061/ + +Produced by Charles Keller + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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