The explanations provided by the method of fairy tales are
based upon the evidence of things that can not be perceived and
upon assumptions that can not be tested. Take, for instance,
the explanation of an echo; to the primitive mind, hearing the
repetition of its shout, and conscious of only speaking once,
is it not inevitable one should suppose that the shout came
from another person? A futile search in the wood or under the
cliff would lead to the thought that the person was hiding,
and the more naturally, as on coming to the cliff whence the
shout seemed to come one’s call would receive no answer. As at
other times such mocking answers would always come from the
same place, what more natural than to think that some person
or spirit dwelt there? Hence such a story as Lander tells of
his voyage down the Niger: “As they came to a creek the captain
shouted, and where an echo was returned half a glass of rum and
a piece of yam and fish were thrown into the water. On asking
the reason why he was throwing away the provisions thus, he
was answered: ‘Did you not hear the fetish?’ And so, in South
Pacific myth, echo is the first and parent fairy to whom divine
honors are paid as the giver of food, and as she ‘who speaks to
the worshipers out of the rocks.’”--WILLIAM SCHOOLING,
_Westminster Review_.
(861)
=Economic Injustice=--See INJUSTICE.