CONCLUSION.
More strange than true. I never may believe
These antique fables, nor these fairy toys.
Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,
Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend
More than cool reason ever comprehends.
The lunatic, the lover, and the poet
Are of imagination all compact;
One sees more devils than vast hell can hold;
That is the madman: the lover, all as frantic,
Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt;
The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven,
And, as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen
Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name.
Such tricks hath strong imagination:
That, if it would but apprehend some joy,
It comprehends some bringer of that joy;
Or, in the night, imagining some fear,
How easy is a bush supposed a bear.
_Shakspere._
In the preceding chapters the chief object I have had in view has been
to show that many superstitions and legends yet, or recently, familiar
to the people of our northern counties, were, like their congeners in
other portions of Europe, descendants from one common parentage. I have
dealt almost entirely with that species of folk-lore which I think has
been originally communicated _orally_ from one generation to another,
and not so much with that which may be termed the _literary_ fictions of
Europe and the East, except in so far as there is good reason to know
that the latter are built upon the former. Still Oriental scholars
assure us that "many of our best European fictions, as well single
stories as whole collections, may be traced from Europe to Arabia, and
from Arabia to India, and that the _Indian_ form of the story or
collection _almost invariably bears the marks of an earlier origin than
any other form_, and appears to be, if not the original form, at least
the oldest surviving one."[36]
Doubtless many other traditionary observances, now nearly obsolete,
might be traced to a similar origin to that which I have ascribed to
those treated of in this work. Sufficient, however, I believe, has been
done to demonstrate the fact that many of them are of much greater
antiquity than has generally been supposed. A national religion may be
changed in a relatively short period of time, but superstition and
tradition, in some form or other, hold their own amongst the populace
for ages after their original significance has perished.[37] Hallam,
referring to the religious condition of the Britons at the time of the
heptarchy, says "the retention of heathen superstitions was not
incompatible, in that age, with a cordial faith" in Christianity.
The late war in Mexico has afforded a striking modern instance of the
truth of this proposition. The Christianity of the native Mexican
Indians, according to a writer in the _Pall Mull Gazette_ (July, 1867),
"is of a very crude and undeveloped kind, and indeed it is very doubtful
whether in some parts of the country it has ever really eradicated the
old religion. _But it is quite certain that it has not eradicated the
old superstitions._ Just as many Pagan feasts in Southern Italy have
been converted into Christian feasts by mere change of name, so has the
Christianity of the Mexicans been grafted on to their old belief and
superstitions, and although they may not quite have believed that the
arrival of the Emperor Maximilian was really the fulfilment of the long
promised second advent of their ancient god Quetzalcoatle, yet he
nevertheless had a white face and a yellow beard, and came from the West
in a ship, and was of an illustrious descent, and there is no doubt of
the fact that the Mexican Indians received him with open arms, and with
a more or less superstitious veneration, looking to him for the
regeneration of their country and for a release from the dominion of the
Spanish creoles."
The Maories, like several branches of the Aryan race, deified, during
life, some of their own warriors. "Watches and white men also were at
first regarded as deities; the latter," says Sir John Lubbock, "not
perhaps unnaturally, as being armed with thunder and lightning." The
Dyaks of Saráwak regard the late Sir James Brooke as a species of deity.
After explaining the conditions under which they lived previous to his
advent amongst them, and the vast amelioration in the conditions of
their existence attendant upon his rule, Mr. Alfred Russel Wallace, in
his "Malay Archipelago," says,--
"And the unknown stranger who had done all this for them, and asked for
nothing in return, what could he be? How was it possible for them to
realise his motives? Was it not natural that they should refuse to
believe he was a man? for of pure benevolence combined with great power,
they had had no experience amongst men. They naturally concluded that he
was a superior being, come down upon earth to confer blessings upon the
afflicted. In many villages where he had not been seen, I was asked
strange questions about him. Was he not as old as the mountains? Could
he not bring the dead to life? And they firmly believe that he can give
them good harvests, and make their fruit trees bear an abundant crop."
Historians are now pretty generally satisfied, from the combined
evidences of philology, ethnology, and tradition, that the bulk of the
European nations had a common origin in the East, and that some Asiatic
tribes are descendent from the same original stock. I am not, however,
insensible to the value of the fact that the early action and thought of
all tribes or nations present a certain amount of resemblance, on
account of the similar conditions to which each has been subjected. The
aborigines of Australia, the South Sea Islands, and America, procured
fire by means of an instrument similar to the "chark" of the modern
Hindoos and their Aryan ancestors, but they did not give it the same
name. The modern Jews, of Semitic origin, sacrifice the common fowl on
the eve of the Feast of the Atonement. The belief in the mystical
character of chanticleer is equally shared by the Lancashire and Cornish
peasant, the Norseman, the Welshman, the ancient Roman, the modern
Hindoo, and some of the North-African tribes. Mr. Lapham, in describing
the "Animal Mounds" of Wisconsin, speaks of one carved into the shape of
a great serpent, in Adams County. He says,--"Conforming to the curve of
the hill, and occupying its very summit, is the serpent, its head
resting near the point, and its body winding back for seven hundred
feet, in graceful undulations, terminating in a triple coil at the tail.
The entire length, if extended, would be not less than one thousand
feet.... The outline of the work is clearly and boldly defined.... The
neck of the serpent is stretched out, and slightly curved, and its mouth
is opened wide, as if in the act of swallowing or ejecting an oval
figure, which rests partially within the distended jaws. This oval is
formed by an embankment of earth, without any perceptible opening, four
feet in height, and is perfectly regular in outline, its transverse and
conjugate diameters being one hundred and sixty, and eighty feet,
respectively." This looks, certainly, very like the gigantic Scotch
serpent mound, referred to at page 51 of this work, and the huge worm
hills of Durham and the North of England. Sir John Lubbock has treated
this branch of the subject exhaustively in his recent work on "The
Origin of Civilization and the Primitive Condition of Man."
The Arabs and other Semitic tribes worshipped the sun as well as the
Aryans. The sun and fire worship, likewise, was found to obtain in more
than one state on the discovery of South America. Many writers have
arrived at the conclusion that "there was communication between the Old
World and America in very remote times." Mr. Baldwin (Pre-historic
Nations, p. 393) contends that "the antiquities of Mexico and Central
America reveal religious symbols, devices, and ideas nearly identical
with those found in all countries of the Old World where Cushite
communities formerly existed. They show us planet worship with its usual
orphic and phallic accompaniments. Humboldt, having travelled in
America, and observed remains of these civilisations, was convinced that
such communications formerly existed. He found evidence of it in the
religious symbols, the architecture, the hieroglyphics, and the social
customs made manifest by the ruins, which he was sure came from the
other side of the ocean; and, in his view, the date of this
communication was older than 'the present division of Asia into Chinese,
Mongols, Hindus,' etc. Humboldt did not observe symbols of phallic
worship, but the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg shows that they were
described by Spanish writers at the time of the Conquest. He points out
that they were prevalent in the countries of Mexico and Central
America, being very abundant at Colhuacan, on the Gulf of California,
and at Panuco. Colhuacan was a flourishing city, and the capital of an
important kingdom; 'there,' he says, 'phallic institutions had existed
from time immemorial.' At Panuco phallic symbols abounded in the temples
and on the public monuments. These, with the serpent devices, the sun
worship, and the remarkable knowledge of astronomy that existed in
connection with them, show a system of religion of which the Abbé is
constrained to say: 'Asia appears to have been the cradle of this
religion, and of the social institutions which it consecrated.'" The
ancient traditions preserved by the inhabitants seem to countenance this
view. They speak of a race of "bearded white men who came across the
ocean from the East."
A writer in a recent number of the _Gentleman's Magazine_ has the
following pertinent remarks on this curious and interesting
subject:--"One fact corroborative of the idea that the Old World, or at
least some of the inhabitants of Asia, were once aware of the existence
of America before its discovery by Columbus, is that many of the Arabian
ulema with whom I have conversed on this subject are fully convinced
that the ancient Arabian geographers knew of America; and, in support of
this opinion, point to passages in old works in which a country to the
west of the Atlantic is spoken of. An Arab gentleman, a friend of mine,
General Hussein Pasha, in a work he has just written on America, called
'En-Nesser-Et Tayir,' quotes from Djeldeki and other old writers to show
this."
This writer favours the view that the Chinese, at a very remote period,
became acquainted with the American continent, _via_ the Pacific Ocean.
Some writers regard the inscription on the celebrated Dighton rock, on
the east bank of the Taunton river, as Ph[oe]nician. This, however, has
been disputed. Others regard it as commemorative of an Indian triumph at
some remote period.
Dr. Charles Frederick Winslow, in his recently published work, "Force
and Nature," expresses himself strongly in favour of the truth of the
presumed ancient communication between the Asian and the American
continents. He says:--
"In order to sustain this position, I might, were it admissible, adduce
here, as collateral proof, an important and hitherto unpublished fact,
of an archæological character, in addition to my geographical and
geological observations made upon the coasts and islands of the Pacific
Ocean. The fact is this, brought to my knowledge by an unusually
extensive practice of my profession, that a uniform custom of
_dorsocision_ has existed throughout the Polynesian islands from periods
unknown, and beyond all tradition, embracing alike New Zealand, Esther
Island, Tahiti, the Marquesas, and Hawaii--a rite wholly different from,
but similar in its results to, the Jewish one of circumcision; and that
this has been performed at the eighth or ninth year in all of them, and
transmitted by father to son, with undeviating precision, from
generation to generation. A fact of this character so deeply rooted in
the moral, social, and traditional life of many peoples thus widely
distributed throughout that vast ocean, so remotely separated from each
other, and without intercourse, indicates even more strongly than
colour, caste or language, not only the unity of their progenitors, but
also the wide-spread existence of a single race, the vestiges of which
were left here and there above the waters when the land sank between
America and Asia, and received the older seas into a new basin."
Various hypotheses have been suggested as to the direction in which the
flora of the "Old World," and especially of the _miocene_ division of
the tertiary formations, migrated to America, or _vice versa_. Heer, the
celebrated Swiss naturalist, favours the Atlantic route, and regards
certain important relations between the fauna of the continents of
Europe and America as corroborative, to some extent, at least, of the
truth of the statement of the Egyptian priests to Plato, that there, at
one time, existed a continent named Atlantis, in the midst of the space
now occupied by the Atlantic ocean. Sir Charles Lyell, however, on
geological grounds, dissents from this view, and rather inclines to the
one propounded by Dr. Asa Gray and Mr. Bentham, that the route of the
migration was in the opposite or Pacific direction, "and took a course
four times as long across America and the whole of Asia." Lyell
says,--"It is the enormous depth and width of the Atlantic which makes
us shrink from the hypothesis of a migration of plants, fitted for a
sub-tropical climate in the Upper Miocene period, from America to
Europe, by a direct course from west to east. Can we not escape from
this difficulty by adopting the theory that the forms of vegetation
common to recent America and Miocene Europe, first extended from east to
west across North America and passed thence by Behring's Straits and the
Aleutian Islands to Kamtschatka, and thence by land, placed between the
40th and 60th parallels of latitude where the Kurile Islands and Japan
are now situated, and thence to China, from which they made their way
across Asia to Europe?"
Mr. Consul Plowden, in a report to the Earl of Clarendon, a few years
ago, mentions some Abyssinian superstitions which much resemble others
of Aryan origin. Although the Abyssinians are said to be descended from
the Semitic[38] branch of the human family, it must not be forgotten
that Christianity has prevailed amongst them from a very early period;
and, consequently, sympathetic intercourse must have taken place in the
less remote past between them and some of the offshoots of the Aryan
stock. Mr. Plowden says,--
"The Abyssinians are superstitious; they believe in the efficacy of
amulets; of writings in jargon mixed with Scripture; in the charms of
Mussulmans to control the hail and the rain; in spirits of the forest
and the river; in omens; in fortune-tellers; and in devils that may be
cast out by spells from their human victims, quoting the authority of
the New Testament for their belief--to these they attribute epilepsy and
other incurable diseases. One absurdity has, however, led to the death
of many innocent individuals; all workers in iron, and some others, are
supposed to convert themselves into hyenas, and to prey invisibly on
their enemies, and many have been slaughtered in this belief. This
singular idea, which is universal and tenacious, has its parallel in the
'loup-garou' of France and the 'wehr-wolf' of Germany."
Speaking of the natives of Minahasa, the north-east promontory of the
island Celebes, in the Malayan Archipelago, Mr. Russel Wallace, after
commending their modern qualities, refers to their original condition
when first discovered by Europeans. He says,--
"Their religion was that naturally engendered in the undeveloped human
mind by the contemplation of grand natural phenomena and the luxuriance
of tropical nature. The burning mountain, the torrent and the lake, were
the abode of their deities; and certain trees and birds were supposed to
have especial influence over men's actions and destiny. They held wild
and exciting festivals to propitiate these deities or demons; and
believed that men could be changed by them into animals, either during
life or after death."
These superstitions would themselves suggest some remote connection with
India; and, singularly enough, Mr. Wallace, in his map of the Malay
Archipelago, just includes them within the boundary line which divides
the Hindoo-Malayan from the Austro-Malayan region of this district.
Indeed, as has been before observed, he shows that in the neighbouring
island of Bali, the religion of the Brahmins still obtains, and that
magnificent ruins of their temples still exist in the island of Java.
Therefore it is not improbable some of these now reclaimed savages may
be only degenerate descendants from the original Hindoo-Aryan stock.
There is doubtless much force in Hallam's observation that "similarity
of laws and customs _may often_ be traced to natural causes in the state
of society rather than to imitation." Yet the strong tendency of all
humanity to imitation of every kind, the "toughness of tradition," and
the longevity of superstitious belief, are nevertheless equally powerful
agents in the mental development of humanity, and demand the most
careful consideration and regard, when the nature and character of
progressive civilisation, in any age or country, is subjected to
philosophical analysis.
It will be seen from the preceding chapters, that many traditions and
superstitions appear insensibly to glide into each other. Sometimes two
or more seem, as it were, to overlie one another, or to have become
indeed even more intimately compounded. With regard to superstitions,
this is very apparent in those which relate to witchcraft, were-wolves,
transformations, the furious host, the spectre huntsman, giants, heroes,
tyrant lords, etc. This is parallelled by many traditionary beliefs both
general and local. In whatever part of the country stands a ruined
castle or abbey or other religious establishment, the nearest peasant or
even farmer, will assure an enquirer that it was battered into ruin by
Oliver Cromwell! Here the secretary Cromwell, of Henry the Eighth's
reign, and the renowned Protector of the following century are evidently
amalgamated. Indeed the redoubted Oliver himself seems to have absorbed
all the castle-destroying heroes of the national history, Old Time
included. The Arthur legends appear to have been constructed upon a
somewhat similar principle. At the "pass of the Ribble," near Preston,
the site of Cromwell's victory over the Duke of Hamilton, every human
skull which is dug up or washed by the swollen river from out of its
banks, is believed to pertain to a "Scotch warrior" who fell in that
battle. Scottish armies have crossed the pass on several occasions from
the days of Athelstan to those of the "Young Pretender," but tradition
has fused them nearly all into one.
The sites of ruined churches, abbeys, etc., are believed yet to entomb
the ancient edifices, and superstitious people say that, by applying the
ear to the earth at midnight, on Christmas eve, they can hear the bells
ringing. It is not unlikely, when this practice was a common one, that
the sound of some distant bells might occasionally be feebly conducted
by the earth, and give countenance to this very universal superstition.
The strength of this species of traditionary faith was forcibly
illustrated, a few years ago, at the "Maudlands," Preston. Historical
records and discovered remains, as well as tradition, marked the
locality as the site of a Mediæval Hospital, dedicated to St. Mary
Magdalen. A "square mound," evidently an artificial earthwork, was a
conspicuous object. Learned antiquaries regarded this as of Roman
construction, although no actual remains had been discovered to attest
the truth of the conjecture. Popular superstition, however, declared
that the mound resulted from the pressure of the steeple of the church
of the Hospital, which was entombed beneath it, and that the truth of
this could be attested on any Christmas-Eve by the experiment referred
to. Doubts being entertained as to the Roman character of the work, some
local antiquaries caused excavations to be made in the mound. So
prevalent was this superstition, that, on the discovery of a small brick
chamber, scores of people eagerly visited the spot, and retired fully
convinced they had seen a portion of the steeple of the sunken edifice,
and that its discovery demonstrated the truth of the ancient tradition!
Singularly enough, in this instance, "antiquarianism" and "folk-lore"
proved equally at fault. Remains of pottery, bulbous shaped tobacco pipe
bowls, called by the populace both "fairy pipes" and "Cromwell pipes,"
etc., together with documentary and other evidence, enabled me, in my
"History of Preston and its Environs," to demonstrate that the mound in
question was the most modern structure then on the ground; that it
formed part of the defences of Preston constructed by Colonel Rosworm,
after the capture of the town by the Parliamentary troops under Sir John
Seaton, in 1643; and that the small brick chamber, in all probability,
was the remains of a powder and "match" magazine. However satisfactory
this appears to intelligent historical students and general readers,
still the sunken church and the Christmas-Eve bell-ringing yet finds
favour with some not otherwise ignorant persons. A precisely similar
legend is implicitly believed by many in connection with the Roman
outwork on Mellor Hill, on the line of ancient road from Manchester to
Ribchester.
Ancient castles and monasteries were supposed to have underground means
of intercommunication. One tradition of this class, near Preston,
presents some remarkable features. In my youth I and the public
generally firmly believed that some such work as the celebrated "Thames
tunnel" had, ages ago, been constructed beneath the bed of the Ribble
and its broad valley, to enable the monks at Tulketh to communicate
with the inmates of the priory on the opposite table land at Penwortham.
In the "History of Preston and its Environs," I have endeavoured to sift
out the little truth that may underlie this strange tradition. Finding
good evidence that each of these promontories had been occupied as
outposts or _speculæ_ in connection with the Roman station at the "Pass
of the Ribble," previously referred to, I have suggested that it is not
improbable the results of the rude system of telegraphy then in use
would be sufficient to utterly confound the ignorant peasantry of the
day, who would be unable to account for the rapid communication of
intelligence except by means of a secret underground passage. The monks
from Evesham, on the establishment of their "cell" at Penwortham, might,
from policy, countenance the tradition of their predecessors, especially
in troubled times, on account of the impression of power which such a
belief would naturally engender amongst the more ignorant of the
population. This way of accounting for the transmission of secret
information and even war material is by no means an uncommon one amongst
uneducated people in various parts of the world. In Abyssinia, according
to Mansfield Parkyns, the people firmly believe that the German
missionaries had "in the course of only a few days, perforated a tunnel
all the way (from Adowa) to Massowa, on the coast of the Red Sea, a
distance of above a hundred and fifty miles, whence they were to obtain
large supplies of arms, ammunition, etc."
In the churchyard at Ribchester the remains of a Roman temple dedicated
to Minerva have been discovered. Long before this, however, a singular
tradition was current respecting it. Leland, King Henry the Eighth's
antiquary, after visiting the spot, says:--"Ther is a place wher the
people fable that the _Jues_ had a Temple." Doubtless the edifice
discovered in the early part of the present century was the temple
referred to. In the middle period of Christianity in England, the only
old, or indeed, different religion to their own, known to the mass of
the people, would be the Jewish. Hence the confounding of the Pagan
Romans with their Israelitish successors.
The _Athenæum_ (Feb. 1868) contained the following paragraph, which
affords a marked modern illustration of this tendency to the confusion
of various traditions in the popular mind:--
"SAMSON MOHAMMEDAN.--At Miss Heraud's reading of 'Samson Agonistes,' the
Rev. Henry Allon, who presided, mentioned a fact illustrative of the way
in which tradition deals with ancient legends. As he stood on the site
of the Temple of Gaza, two learned Mussulmans assured Mr. Allon that
Samson was not a Jew but a Mussulman, and that he pulled down the
temple, not on the head of the Philistines, but on that of the assembled
Christians who had persecuted the Mohammedans."
I have before observed that the European languages referred to are _not
asserted to have sprang from the Sanscrit_, but that all, on the
contrary, have a common source. The Vedic hymns, however, are the oldest
preserved specimens of any of these cognate tongues.[39] Considerable
change must have taken place in the southern Aryan speech before the
period when they were written; yet they retain to a great extent,
reliable evidence of the common origin of the languages referred to. Max
Müller is very explicit on this subject. He says,--
"Even in the Veda, where _dyu_ occurs as a masculine, as an active noun,
and discloses the same germs of thought which in Greece and Rome grew
into the name of the supreme god of the firmament, Dyu, the deity, the
lord of heaven, the ancient god of light, never assumes any powerful
mythological vitality, never rises to the rank of a supreme deity. In
the earlier lists of Vedic deities, Dyu is not included, and the real
representative of Jupiter in the Veda is not Dyu, but Indra, a name of
Indian growth, and unknown in any other independent branch of Aryan
language. _Indra_ was another conception of the bright sunny sky, but,
partly because its etymological meaning was obscured, partly through the
more active poetry and worship of certain Rishis, this name gained a
complete ascendancy over that of Dyu, and nearly extinguished the memory
in India of one of the earliest, if not _the_ earliest, name by which
the Aryans endeavoured to express their first conception of the deity.
Originally, however, and this is one of the most important discoveries
which we owe to the study of the Veda--originally _Dyu_ was the bright
heavenly deity in India as well as in Greece."
The early mythology of the Aryans, and doubtless of all other savage
nations, was more or less a species of, perhaps unconscious,
anthropomorphism or a personification of the powers or forces of nature.
This is beautifully illustrated by a superstition yet existent among
the Ojibbeway Indians in North America. North-west of Fort Garry lies
the lake Manitobah, which has recently given its name to the new
province formed out of the Red River region. This name is derived from
the circumstance that a "mysterious voice" is said to be occasionally
heard at night in a small island in its midst. The Indians never
approach it, believing it to be the home of the Manitobah, or the
"Speaking God." The "voice" is said to result, as in the case of
Charybdis, from the beating of the waves upon the rocks and shingle of
the shore. One writer says:--"Along the northern coast of the island
there is a long low cliff of fine grained compact limestone, which,
under the stroke of the hammer, clinks like steel. The waves beating on
the shore at the foot of the cliff cause the fallen fragments to rub
against each other, and to give out a sound resembling the chimes of
distant church bells. This phenomenon occurs when the gale blows from
the north, and then, as the winds subside, low, wailing sounds, like
whispering voices, are heard in the air. Travellers assert that the
effect is very impressive, and they have been awakened at night under
the impression that they were listening to church bells."[40]
The kind of personification referred to would, in the case of primæval
man, have certainly but a very remote affinity to that conscious
artistic personification employed by the cultivated poets and sculptors
of after ages. Mr. G. W. Cox, in his "Mythology of the Aryan Nations,"
presents this distinction in very forcible language. He says,--
"The sun would awaken both mornful and inspiriting ideas, ideas of
victory and defeat, of toil and premature death. He would be the Titan,
strangling the serpents of the night before he drove his chariot up the
sky; and he would also be the being who, worn down by unwilling labour
undergone for men, sinks wearied into the arms of the mother who bore
him in the morning. Other images would not be wanting; the dawn and the
dew and the violet clouds would not be less real and living than the
sun. In his rising from the east he would quit the fair dawn, whom he
should see no more till his labour drew towards its close. And not less
would he love and be loved by the dew and by the morning herself, while
to both his life would be fatal as his fiery car rose higher in the sky.
So would man speak of all other things also; of the thunder and the
earthquake and the storm, not less than of summer and of winter. But it
would be no personification, and still less would it be an allegory or
metaphor. It would be to him a _veritable reality_, which he examined
and analysed as little as he reflected on himself. It would be a
sentiment and a belief, but in no sense a religion."
In other words, primæval savages did not work artistically, but simply
observed, thought, and expressed themselves in the only manner in which
they were able.
Kelly describes the usual course of a myth as "beginning in a figurative
explanation of meteoric facts, it next became a hieratic mystery, and
then descended from the domain of religion to that of magic and popular
story."
I have previously observed that the word "Edda," the title of the work
which records the wild mythical cosmogony of the Scandinavian race, (a
mixture of oriental and northern legend), means "Mother of Poetry."
Language itself is largely made up of figures of speech, or as Jean Paul
Richter says it is a "dictionary of faded metaphors," the original
meaning of which is fully understood but by the philologist. It is not
surprising, therefore, that the unknown should, under certain
conditions, be figuratively described by means of the known, or that
personifications of this class eventuated in the belief in absolute
personal existences, in the minds of doubtless well-meaning, but,
nevertheless, ignorant men. A few verses from H. H. Wilson's translation
of the Vedic hymns will show the nature of this personification:--
"Dyaus (Sky) father, and Prithivi (Earth) kind mother,[41] Agni
(Fire) brother, ye Vasus (Bright ones) have mercy on us."
. . . . . . . .
"How long is it that the dawns have risen? How long will they rise?
"Those mortals who beheld the pristine Ushas dawning have passed
away: to us she is now visible, and they approach who will behold
her in after times.
"Ushas, endowed with truth, who art the sister of Bhava, the sister
of Varuna, be thou hymned first of the gods.
"Unimpeding divine rites, although wearing away the ages of mankind,
the dawn shines the likeness of the mornings that have passed, or
that are to be for ever, the first of those that are to come.
"She shines upon us like a young wife, rousing every living being to
go to his work. The fire had to be kindled by men: she brought light
by striking down darkness.
"She rose up, spreading far and wide, and moving towards every one
she grew in brightness, wearing her brilliant garment. The mother of
the cows, the leader of the dogs, she shone gold-coloured, lovely to
behold.
"She, the fortunate, who brings the eye of the god, who leads the
white and lovely steed (of the sun), the Dawn was seen revealed by
her rays, with brilliant treasures she follows every one.
"Thou, who art a blessing when thou art near, drive far away the
unfriendly; make the pastures wide, give us safety. Remove the
haters, bring treasures, liaise up wealth to the worshipper, thou
mighty Dawn.
"Shine for us with thy best rays, thou bright Dawn, thou who
lengthenest our life, thou the love of all, who givest us wealth in
cows, horses, and chariots."
Max Müller thus further illustrates the process of the transition
referred to:--
"To us it is clear that the story of Zeus descending as a golden rain
into the prison of Danaê was meant for the bright sky delivering the
earth from the bonds of winter, and awaking in her a new life by the
golden showers of spring. Many of the stories that are told about the
love of Zeus for human and half human heroines have a similar
origin.[42] The idea which we express by the phrase, 'King by the grace
of God,' was expressed in ancient language by calling Kings the
descendants of Zeus. This simple and natural conception gave rise to
innumerable local legends. Great families and whole tribes claimed Zeus
for their ancestor; and as it was necessary in each case to supply him
with a wife, the name of the country was naturally chosen to supply the
wanting link in these sacred genealogies. Thus _Æacus_ the famous king
of _Ægina_, was fabled to be the offspring of Zeus. This need not have
meant more than that he was a powerful, wise, and just king. But it soon
came to mean more. Æacus was fabled to have been really the son of Zeus,
and Zeus is represented as carrying off Ægina and making her the mother
of Æacus.... It is said that Zeus in the form of a bull carried off
_Europâ_. This means no more if we translate it back into Sanscrit, than
that the strong rising sun (Vrishan) carries off the wide-shining dawn.
This story is alluded to again and again in the Veda. Now _Minos_, the
ancient King of Crete, required parents; so Zeus and Europâ were
assigned to him."
The fabled ravishment of Leda by Jupiter in the form of a swan is
capable of a like interpretation. Light clouds were called swans, and
Mr. Cox regards a white mist, in this instance, to form an equivalent to
the golden shower of the Danaê legend.
In like manner the myth which fabled that [OE]dipus married his mother
after murdering his father, is divested of its revolting features. It is
held to imply no more than that the sun destroys the darkness and sinks
at evening into the twilight from whence he sprung.
Max Müller, in his "History of Sanscrit Literature," points out that
similar meanings clearly underlie the Vedic myths. He says:
"It is fabled that Prajâpati, the Lord of Creation, did violence to his
daughter. But what does it mean? Prajâpati, the Lord of Creation, is the
name of the sun; and he is called so because he protects all creatures.
His daughter Ushas is the dawn. And when it is said that he was in love
with her, this only means that, at sunrise, the sun runs after the dawn,
the dawn being at the same time called the daughter of the sun, because
she rises when he approaches. In the same manner it was said that Indra
was the seducer of Ahalyâ, this does not imply that the god Indra
committed such a crime; but Indra means the sun, and Ahalyâ the night;
and as the night is seduced and ruined by the sun of the morning,
therefore is Indra called the paramour of Ahalyâ."
This throws a new and satisfactory light upon what has long been
regarded as a serious blot upon the morals of the ancient Greeks, as
exhibited by the conduct of the most exalted of the deities which figure
in their picturesque and poetic, but certainly not very decorous,
mythological theogony.
Mr. Ruskin, in his lecture on "Light," delivered at Oxford recently,
gives several excellent examples of Greek personifications of this
class. He concludes as follows:--
"Then join with these the Northern legends connected with the air. It
does not matter whether you take Dorus as the son of Apollo or the son
of Helen; he equally symbolises the power of light; while his brother
Æolus, through all his descendants, chiefly in Sisyphus, is confused or
associated with the real god of the winds, and represents to you the
power of the air. And then, as this conception enters into art, you have
the myths of Dædalus, the flight of Icarus, and the story of Phrixus and
Helle, giving you continual associations of the physical air and light,
ending with the power of Athena over Corinth as well as over Athens.
Now, once having the clue, you can work out the sequels for yourselves
better than I can for you; and you will soon find even the earliest or
slightest grotesques of Greek art become full of interest to you. For
nothing is more wonderful than the depth of meaning which nations in
their first days of thought, like children, can attach to the rudest
symbols; and what to us is grotesque or ugly, like a little child's
doll, can speak to them the loveliest things."
We have already seen, in Chapter X., that Lord Bacon regarded the great
mass of the Greek myths as allegories. Another ingenious mode of
interpreting the artistically beautiful mythology of the Greeks is
eloquently expressed by Wordsworth, in his poem, "The Excursion":--
In that fair clime, the lonely Herdsman, stretched
On the soft grass through half a summer day,
With music lulled his indolent repose;
And, in some fit of weariness, if he,
When his own breath was silent, chanced to hear
A distant strain, far sweeter than the sounds
Which his poor skill could make, his fancy fetched
Even from the blazing chariot of the Sun
A beardless youth who touched a golden lute,
And filled the illumined groves with ravishment.
The mighty Hunter, lifting up his eyes
Towards the crescent Moon, with grateful heart
Called on the lovely Wanderer who bestowed
That timely light to share his joyous sport,
And hence a beaming Goddess with her nymphs
Across the lawn and through the darksome grove
(Not unaccompanied with tuneful notes
By echo multiplied from rock or cave)
Swept in the storm of chase, as moon and stars
Glance rapidly along the clouded heaven
When winds are blowing strong. The traveller slaked
His thirst from rill or gushing fount, and thanked
The Naiad. Sunbeams upon distant hills
Gliding apace, with shadows in their train,
Might, with small help from fancy, be transformed
Into fleet Oreads sporting visibly.
The Zephyrs, fanning, as they passed, their wings,
Lacked not for love fair objects whom they wooed
With gentle whisper. Withered boughs grotesque,
Stripped of their leaves and twigs by hoary age,
From depth of shaggy covert peeping forth
In the low vale, or on steep mountain side;
And sometimes intermixed with stirring horns
Of the live deer, or goat's depending beard;
These were the lurking Satyrs, a wild brood
Of gamesome deities; or Pan himself,
The simple shepherd's awe-inspiring god.
This figurative or poetical element in the classical mythology would,
doubtless, be understood by the more cultured sections of the ancient
populations of the later period, at least to a certain extent. For
instance; Ovid distinctly states that under the name Vesta direct
reference is made to fire. Socrates, too, understood nothing more than
the north wind in the name Boreas. I have previously referred to the
statement of Diodorus Siculus, that although the mythographers spoke of
Prometheus stealing fire from heaven, they merely intended to imply that
he was the inventor of the "chark," or fire-producing instrument. Some,
if not all, of the earlier Greek writers, however, including Homer and
Hesiod, appear, like the mass of the populace, to have treated their
mythic personages as actual concrete beings.
Farrer, in his "Origin of Language," forcibly illustrates the figurative
character of much of our ordinary every-day speech. He says,--"The
continual metaphors by which we compare our thoughts and emotions to the
changes of the outer world--sadness to a cloudy sky, calm to the silvery
rays of the moonlight, anger to waves agitated by the wind--are not, as
Schelling observed, a mere play of the imagination, but are an
expression, in two different languages, of the same thought of the
Creator, and one serves to interpret the other. 'Nature is visible
spirit, spirit invisible nature.'"
Shakspere is supposed to have founded some portions of his Tempest on a
narrative of the shipwreck of Sir John Somers on one of the Bermuda
islands. These islands were then uninhabited by man, and generally
believed to be "enchanted." Old Stowe, in his "Annals," speaking of this
shipwreck, among other things, says these islands "were, of all nations,
said and supposed to be enchanted and inhabited with witches and
devills, which grow by reason of accustomed monstrous thunder, storms,
and tempests." One of Shakspere's commentators, referring to this
passage, says,--"This account by old Stowe of the elemental growth and
generation of the hags and imps and devils and abortions of the island,
is fearfully fine. Caliban and Sycorax and Setebos, might well be
imagined to have first glared into life through the long fermenting
incantation of 'accustomed monstrous thunder.'" Ruskin says "the whole
play of the Tempest is an allegorical representation of the powers of
true, and, therefore, spiritual, liberty, as opposed to true, and,
therefore, carnal and brutal, slavery. There is not a sentence nor a
rhyme sung or uttered by Ariel or Caliban throughout the play which has
not this under meaning."
Herbert Spencer has truly said, "We too often forget that not only is
there 'a soul of goodness in things evil,' but very generally also, a
soul of truth in things erroneous."
Thus, these despised and contemned traditionary superstitions of our
progenitors are found, nevertheless, to enshrine much valuable material,
by a careful study of which we may obtain a deeper insight into some of
the more subtle or hidden features of the human soul, the nature and
progress of man's intellectual growth, of the origin and development of
language as a medium of mental intercommunion, and of the true natural
basis on which rest some of the greatest triumphs of plastic and poetic
art that have astonished, delighted, and instructed mankind for
countless generations.
FOOTNOTES:
[36] Penny Cyclop., article Syntipas.--Syntipas is the "title of a
collection of stories written in Greek, and bearing the name of Michael
Andreopulos, but the collection is evidently translated from an Oriental
work.... Many of the stories of Syntipas are found in an Arabic
manuscript of the 'Arabian Nights,' in the British Museum. The whole
style of the stories points evidently to an Indian origin. The same may
be said of the collection named Pancha Tantra, the original of the
Fables of Pilpay, and some other Indian stories."
[37] Sir John Lubbock, in his "Pre-historic Times," says,--"Nor will
tradition supply the place of history. At best it is untrustworthy and
short-lived. Thus in 1770 the New Zealanders had no recollection of
Tasman's visit. Yet this took place in 1643, less than 130 years before,
and must have been to them an event of the greatest possible importance
and interest. In the same way the North American Indians soon lost all
tradition of De Soto's expedition, although 'by its striking incidents
it was so well suited to impress the Indian mind.'" This is no doubt
true in relation to many matters which leave behind no religious or
superstitious element. When this, however, is superadded, tradition
becomes, as Dasent expresses it, remarkable for its toughness, or
enduring vitality. Other authorities say, however, that on Cook's
arrival, the tradition of Tasman's visit was preserved amongst the
natives of the Tonga or Friendly Islands.
[38] This is denied, however, as we have already seen, by Mr. Baldwin,
who traces the ancient Ethiopians, as well as the Egyptians and
Ph[oe]nicians, from the Cushites of Arabia.
[39] In Chapter I. I have referred to the reported discovery by the
French _savan_, M. Lejean, of a spoken language between Kashmir and
Afghanistan containing older idioms than Sanscrit, and nearer in
affinity to the cognate European tongues. At a recent meeting of the
Philological Society, Professor Goldstücker mentioned, as a curious
fact, that, in old Sanscrit musical manuscripts, the word _laya_ occurs
with the same meaning as in French and English. The word _laya_ has not
yet found its way into any Sanscrit glossary.
[40] How charmingly this is illustrated by the childish faith with which
we have all placed large whelk or other univalve shells to the ear, and,
after listening with wonder for a time at the musical murmurings there
heard, exclaimed that the tide was then flowing landward. Wordsworth
refers to this in the following beautiful lines:--
... I've seen
A curious child, who dwelt upon a tract
Of inland ground, applying to his ear
The convolutions of a smooth-lipped shell,
To which, in silence hush'd, his very soul
Listened intently; for murmuring from within
Were heard sonorous cadences, whereby,
To his belief, the monitor expressed
Mysterious union with its native sea.
[41] May not this Prithivi be the forerunner of the Greek Dêmetêr and
the Roman Ceres, as well as of the harvest queen, or "kern-baby," and
the "mell-doll" of the autumnal festivals of the North of England?
[42] How beautifully and how truly has Eliza Cook expressed this
sentiment, without any reference to, or even knowledge of, the
philologist's interpretation of the Grecian or Aryan myth, in one
stanza, in her poem entitled "A Thing of Beauty is a Joy for ever":--
Oh! "beautiful for ever" is the sheen
Of April's sun, that, with a bridegroom's smile,
Nestles in nature's breast of balmy green;
With larks to sing a marriage song, the while
The "bridal of the earth and sky" is seen
Before the priest that bars all greed and guile;
With blissful promise there shall soon be born
Fair offspring in red grapes and yellow corn.
INDEX.
Abbeys, ruined, 290.
Abracadabra, 255.
Abury, 8.
Adonis, 160.
Æsir gods, the, 67, 169, 207.
Æsculapius (Asklêpios), 51, 135, 154.
Agni, 14, 16.
Ahi, the Dragon, 14, 41, 44, 47, 51.
Alchemy, 50.
Alisaunder, Kyng, romance, 47.
Allectricium, a precious stone, 135.
Allegorical theory of Greek Myths, 211, 298.
Allhalloween, 29.
Amara, lake, 23.
America, its ancient connection with Asia, 286.
Apollo, 241, 249, 298.
Apple howling, 66.
Arthur, King, 50, 161, et seq., 211, et seq., 241, 248, 272.
Aryan races, 2, 112, 162, 283, 289.
Ash trees, 68, 117, 150, 253, et seq.
Ashton black lad, 187, et seq.
Asuras, 23, 44.
Asvattha, 68, 257.
Asvins, 25.
Athenê, 245, 298.
Athenian ghost, 140.
Aubépine, see thorns.
Avalun, island of, 165.
Baal, Bel, 6, 10, 28, 31, 38, et seq., 57, 67, 83.
Baalbec, 8.
Baker's daughter, the, 235.
Baldr, 10, 67, 149, 159.
Ball-playing, Easter, 72.
Bargaist, 127.
Bean-geese, 182.
Bean-stalk, 68.
Beans, 68, 79, 225.
Bears, 231.
Beauty and the Beast, 224.
Belatucadrus, 11, 16.
Belisama, 6, 12, 15, 18.
Beltain fires, 31, 34, 83.
Beltane-day, 38.
Beowulf, 45, et seq., 213, 249.
Besoms, 96, 101, 116.
Bhrigus, 14.
Bible, divination by, 262.
Birds, lightning, 224, 235, 238, 242, et seq.
Birds, sacred and ominous, 67, 101, 132, 136, 157, 237, 242, et seq.
Black dog, see hound.
Black lad, Ashton, 187, et seq.
Blossoming staffs, 91.
Bluebeard, 195.
Boadicea's hare, 114.
Boars, 69, 111, 159, 163, 183, 255.
Boggart Ho' Clough, 128, 147, 151.
Boggarts, 124, et seq., 138, 184.
Bones, huge fossil, 110.
Bonfires, 30, 33, 40.
Book of Sports, 88.
Bottomless pools, 189, et seq, 213.
Boulders, erratic, 162, 221.
Boundary perambulation, 186.
Braggat Sunday, 78.
Brahmin temples at Java, etc., 290.
Bramham rocks, Yorkshire, 34, 223.
Brewing storms, 14, 17, 107, 114, 132, 156, et seq.
Brigantes, 5, 12.
Briony, 256.
Bronze age, 10, 44.
Broom, see besoms.
Brownies, 126.
Brutus and his Trojans, 5, 23, 197.
Buddhism, 4.
Bugbear, 128.
Bull or Bovine worship, 84, 112.
Buns, see cross-buns and cakes.
Bush (Inn sign), 117.
Cabalistic art, 119.
Cakes, 75, 77.
Calendar, the, 56.
Candles, Christmas and Easter, 55, 60, 71.
Carling Sunday, 78.
Carols, Christmas, 56.
Carr gulds, 186.
Castles, ruined, 290.
Cat, the white, 224.
Cats, 96, 114, 164, 224, 232, 233.
Cauldrons, 96, 107.
Cavalcade of the dead, 176.
Caverned heroes, 164, et seq.
Chark, 24, 35, 91, 208, 257, 285.
Charon, 15, 179.
Chasse Maccabei, 157.
Cheetham's, George, boggart, 128.
Cheshire May games, 90.
Chivalry, origin of, 221.
Chives, 272.
Christmas observances and superstitions, 53, et seq., 134, 144, 290.
Church-builders, goblin, 127.
Churches, sunken, 290.
Cinderella, 210.
Cloud-land, 68, 72.
Cloud-maidens, 18, 47, 97.
Cloud-water, 17, 110.
Coach, black, legend, 171, 192.
Coccium, 15.
Cocidius, 14.
Cockatrice, 136.
Cocks and hens, see fowls, barn door.
Colt-hole at Preston, 186.
Comets, 49.
Coral, 255.
Corpse candles, 266.
Country Justice in 1618, 105.
Cow-path, see milky-way.
Cows, dun, etc., 110, 112, 182.
Cows, heavenly, 47, 182.
Crickets, 274.
Crocodiles, 235.
Cromwell's castle battering, 290.
Cross-buns and crosses, 73, 75, 262.
Crows, 248.
Cuckoo, 235, 237, 245, et seq.
Cudgel, magic, 161.
Cuerdale hoard, 252.
Cushites, 6, 10, 203, 286, 289.
Cyclopean cities, etc., 203.
Cyclops, 203, 209.
Cymri, 13.
Darvell Gatheron, 37.
Davenport Brothers, 129.
Dawn, the, 47, 95, 111.
Dead, food for the, 61.
Deæ Matres, 107.
Dee, river, 21.
Demon pigs, 163.
Deva, 21, 44, 298.
Devil, 21, 97, 100, 130, 137, 144, 163, 178, 181, 190, 194, 206, 278,
289.
Dew, 94.
Diamonds, male and female, 94.
Divination, 30, 64, 91, 134, 155, see wish-rod, 218, 252, et seq.,
269, et seq.
Dogs, 130, 171, et seq., 240, 244.
Dorsocision, 288.
Dosmery pool, 189.
Dowzing rod, 263.
Dragon slayers, 43.
Dragons, 40, et seq., 80.
Druids, 6, 11, 29, 34, 67, 98, 221, 224, 246.
Dwarfs, 130, 139, 211, 222.
Eagles, 235, 238.
Easter superstitions and ceremonies, 70, et seq.
Eden, river, 18.
Egg, the, a sun-type, 71, 161.
Eggs, Easter, 71, 73, 114.
Elephants, fossil, 204.
Elves, 19, 25, 184.
Eôs, see dawn.
Equinox, vernal, 83.
Erratic boulders, 162, 221.
Evil, see king's evil.
Fairies, 92, 107, 124, et seq., 143.
Falcons, 257.
Familiar spirit, transfer of, 123.
Fates, the, 97.
Feathers, cock and pigeon, 138.
Fern-seed, 143, et seq., 258.
Fetiches, 240, 259.
Fire, need, 24, 36, 71.
Fire-worship, 9, 16, 28, 38, et seq., 267, 285.
Floralia, flowers, and well-dressing, 74, 83, 87, 93, 122, 275.
Fortune telling, 119.
Fossil bones, gigantic, 204.
Fowls, barn-door, 132, et seq., 253, 285.
Freyja, 19, 67, 113, 115, 149, 177.
Friday, Good, 75, 101.
Frost giants, 19, 26, 169, 231.
Furious host, 153, et seq.
Gabriel Ratchets, 153, 181.
Gaels, 5, 13.
Gallows, 160, 256.
Garland, the, 44, 87.
Geoffrey of Monmouth, 5, 22.
Gertrude's bird, 236.
Ghosts, 92, 130, 134, 140, 151, 171, 179.
Giants, 17, 111, 162, 186, 197, et seq., 290.
Gipsies, 118.
Gjallar bridge, and horn, 166, 182.
Glastonbury thorn, 91.
Gnostics, 43, 116.
Goblin church builders, 163.
Gogmagog, 199, 208.
Goodfellow, Robin, variations of, 124, 138.
Gorillas, 198, 239, 259.
Greenteeth, Jenny, 279.
Grendel, 46, 213.
Gunpowder Plot, 32.
Guy of Warwick, 110.
Hakelberg, 156, 162, 164.
Halloween, 30, 38.
Halter, magic, 233.
Hares, 96, 113, 228, 243.
Hart, white, 154, 177.
Harvest blaster, 41, 48.
Havelock the Dane, lay of, 77.
Hecate, 109, 115.
Hel or Hela, 177, et seq., 240.
Helmwind, the, 166.
Heorot (Hartlepool), 45, 191.
Heriot, 182, 194.
Heroes, caverned, 164, et seq.
Hobgoblin, 128.
Hopkins, witchfinder, 105.
Horseshoes, 38, 255.
Hound, Odin's, and the headless, 171, et seq., 192.
Howling dog, see hound.
Huli, Indian festival, 58, 85.
Humber, river, 24.
Huntsman, Spectre, 153, et seq., 290.
Idunn, the goddess of youth, 19.
Indra, 8, 16, 22, 41, 45, 153, et seq., 222, 298.
Invisibility, 80, 143, et seq.
Iron forgers, mythic, 281.
Ituna Estuarium, 18.
Jack and the Bean-stalk, 68, 71.
Jack, the Giant-killer, 210, et seq.
Jackdaws, 248.
Jew, Wandering, 157, et seq., 237.
Jewish temple at Ribchester, 292.
Kelpies, water, 278, 280.
King's evil, touching for, 81.
Kings, divine right of, 8, 81.
Kjökkenmöddings, 243.
Kuyava, the harvest spoiler, 41.
Lady-bird, 250.
Lake dwellings, 114, 276.
Lakes, sacred and medicinal, 276, et seq.
Lambton worm, 44.
Lent-Mid, Sunday, 76.
Lifting of women at Easter, 74.
Lituus, or Augur's staff, 261.
Lizards, huge fossil, 52.
Luck of Eden Hall, 19.
Lykanthropy, 240.
Magpies, 248, 250.
Maidens, imprisoned, 47.
Mandrakes, 144, 255.
Mare's nest, 114.
Marriage, 36, 67, 75, 91, 146.
Maruts, 19, 153, 176, 184, 188, 240.
May-day superstitions and ceremonies, 74, 83, et seq., 97, 113.
Mead, 17, 260.
Medicines, 50, 68, 80, 94, 102, 112, 136, 271, et seq.
Merlin, 48.
Mermaids, 231.
Mersey, river, 25.
Metempsychosis, 224, et seq.
Midsummer fires, 38.
Milesians, 13.
Milk, red cow's, 111.
Milky-way, 182, 238.
Mimosa catechu, 257.
Miocene flora, migration of, 288.
Mistletoe, 67, 149, 255.
Mithras, 9, 16, 43.
Moa, remains of, 52.
Monkey tribes, 197.
Monsters, see dragons and giants.
Moon and Sun, African notions of, 32.
Morris dancing, 88.
Mother goddesses, 107.
Mothering Sunday, 76.
Mysteries, moralities, or miracle plays, 72, 91.
Myths, growth of, 26, 98, 114, 159, 165, 176, 183, 209, 298, et seq.
Nativity, time of the, 55.
Need-fire, see fire.
New Year, 56, et seq.
New Year's day superstitions, 62.
New Year's gifts, 58.
Nickers, "Old Nick," 46, 73, 194, 208, 278.
Nightmare, 184, 233.
November fires, 32.
Oak, the, 67, 75.
Obolus, 179, 181.
Odin, 8, 14, 16, 19, 46, 75, 155, et seq., 279.
Ogres, 206, 222.
Oguisi (African spirit), 35, 169, 239.
Orion, 154.
Oromasdes, 9, 16.
Orpheus, 184.
Osmunda regalis, 149.
Owls, 193, 235, 243.
Pace-egging, 73.
Palm Sunday, 78.
Pani, 47, 220.
Pantomimes, 54.
Peas, 68, 78.
Pennygent, mountain, 18.
Personifications, mythical, 16, et seq., 183, 209, 298.
Phallic worship and emblems, 20, 36, 75, 83, 88, 92, 216, 262, 286.
Ph[oe]nicians, 6, 203.
Picumnus, 249.
Pilumnus, 249.
Pitris, or fathers, 139, 240.
Plague stones, 213.
Plants, lightning, 67, 69, 80, 144, et seq., 252, et seq.
Plovers, 237.
Poison, ordeal by, 122.
Polyphêmos, 210.
Predictions, or Prophecy, 49, 50, 65, 119, 245, 248.
Prometheus (Pramathas) 35, 249.
Puck, 124, et seq., 225.
Pyanots, 248.
Pythagoras, 79, 225.
Quetzalcoatle, Mexican god, 285.
Rain, 17, 23, 26.
Râkshasas (demons), 206.
Ramayana, 197.
Rats, 250.
Ravens, 165, 168, 247, et seq.
"Raw head and bloody bones," 131.
Red thread, berries, etc., 110, 112, 138.
Ribble, the, 6, 15, 18.
Ribhus, 25, 66, 184, 188.
Riding Hood, Little Red, 224, 241.
Rings, fairy, 141.
River worship, 18, 275, et seq.
Robin, 237, 242.
Roby's traditions, 128.
Rods, divining, etc., 91, 155, 252, et seq.
Round table, see table, round.
Rowan, see ash trees.
Rudra, 153, 247.
Rush-bearing, 71, 87.
Sailors' superstitions, 115, 116, 250.
St. John's eve, 39, 144.
St. John's-wort superstitions, 143, et seq.
Salt, 181.
Samson, a Mohammedan, 292.
Sangreal, 20, 217, 219.
Sanscrit, 3, 5, 293.
Seals, 231.
Seasons, wet and dry, 68, 282.
Secret passages, 290.
Semitic races, 2, 11, 112, 289.
Serpents, 24, 41, 45, 51, 286.
Sesha, serpent, 23, 44.
Setantii, 5, 14, 23.
Setantiorum, Portus, 10, 23.
Seven Whistlers, see whistlers.
Shere Thursday, 80.
Sieves, 96, 108.
Simnels, 76, et seq.
Skriker, 173, 175.
Solar myths, 43, 98, 208, 211.
Soma, 16, 18, 23, 31, 42, 44, 68, 108, 117, 257.
Soul bringers, 243, 249.
Souls, damned, wandering or unquiet, 158, 170, 179, 231.
Speaking god at Manitobah, 294.
Spectre huntsman, see huntsman.
Spectre-hound, see hound.
Spiritualism and Spirit-rapping, 96, 129, 131.
Springwort, see St. John's-wort.
Stone weapons, 10, 43, 162.
Stonehenge, 6.
Stork, 237, 242.
Storm brewing, 14, 17, 107, 132, 156, et seq.
Style, old and new, 58, 65.
Sun-dancing, 70, 83.
Sun-worship, 8, 28, 32, et seq., 57, 70, see Fire-worship.
Swallows, 243, 247.
Swan maidens, 19, 230.
Swords and spears, mythical, 161.
Table, round, 214, et seq., 262.
Taliesin, Romance of, 227.
Tarquin's castle at Manchester, 168, 213.
Teanla fires, 31, 34.
Templars, Knights, 116.
Thor, 16, 26, 57, 64, 75, 80, 92, 107, 150, 160, 242, 262.
Thorns, sacred, 69, 72, 86, 91, 258.
Three, magic number, 255, 273.
Thunder, Anglo-Saxon notions of, 42, 49.
Thunderstorms 49, 67, 156, et seq.
Tom Thumb, 222.
Torchlight processions, 34, 39.
Transmigration, 113, 222, 224, et seq., 289.
Trash, dog-fiend, 173.
Treasures, hidden or buried, 41, 46, 195, 252, 262.
Trees, sacred or lightning, 67, 252, 259.
Tregeagle, 187, et seq., 210.
Trident, 255, 257, 262.
Trimürtti or Triad, 16, 273.
Trolls, see giants.
Tyrant lord or magistrate, 187, et seq., 222, 290.
Underground passages, 291.
Urien, the Arthur of the North of England, 217.
Ushas, see dawn.
Vampires, 232.
Varuna, 14, 22, 26.
Vedas and Vedic literature, 3, 16, 295.
Vishnu, 41, 222.
Vritra, 14, 22, 41, 47, 161.
Wandering Jew, 157, et seq.
Wash, the, 26.
Wassail bowl, 60.
Wells and water, superstitions respecting, 80, 87, 267, et seq.
Were-wolves, 224, et seq., 289.
Whales' bones, 110, 111.
Wheel, sun type, 36, 40, 57.
Whinney moor, a soul path, 180.
Whistlers, seven, 157, 181, 237, 248.
White doe, 154, 237.
Whitsun ales, 88.
Wild huntsman, 19, 69, 153, 187, et seq.
Will-o'-whisp, 175.
Wish-rod, 91, 155, 252, et seq.
Wishtness, 155, 192.
Witchcraft, 38, 45, 73, 91, 96, et seq., 126, 133, 184, 232, et seq.,
255, 261, 274.
Woodpecker, 235, 236, 242, 248, et seq.
Wren, 237, 246.
Yggdrasil, or cloud tree, 68.
Yule tide and yule logs, 55, et seq., 85.
Zwergs, 80, 139.
[Decoration]
A. Ireland and Co., Printers, Manchester.