I do not here give at full length Professor Tiele's explanation of the
meaning of a myth which I do not profess to explain myself. Thus, drops
of the blood of Ouranos falling on Earth begat the Melies, usually
rendered 'Nymphs of the Ash-trees.' But Professor Tiele says they were
really _bees_ (Hesychius, [Greek]=[Greek])--'that is to say, stars.'
Everybody has observed that the stars rise up off the earth, like the
bees sprung from the blood of Ouranos. In Myth, Ritual, and Religion (i.
299-315) I give the competing explanations of Mr. Max Muller, of Schwartz
(Cronos=storm god), Preller (Cronos=harvest god), of others who see the
sun, or time, in Cronos; while, with Professor Tiele, Cronos is the god
of the upper air, and also of the underworld and harvest; he 'doubles the
part.' 'Il est l'un et l'autre'--that is, 'le dieu qui fait murir le
ble' and also 'un dieu des lieux souterrains.' 'Il habite les
profondeurs sous la terre,' he is also le dieu du ciel nocturne.
It may have been remarked that I declined to add to this interesting
collection of plausible explanations of Cronos. A selection of such
explanations I offer in tabular form:--