The Greek myth of the Origin of Death is the most important of those
which turn on the breaking of a prohibition. The story has unfortunately
become greatly confused in the various poetical forms which have reached
us. As far as can be ascertained, death was regarded in one early Greek
myth as the punishment of indulgence in forbidden curiosity. Men appear
to have been free from death before the quarrel between Zeus and
Prometheus. In consequence of this quarrel Hephaestus fashioned a woman
out of earth and water, and gave her to Epimetheus, the brother of the
Titan. Prometheus had forbidden his brother to accept any gift from the
gods, but the bride was welcomed nevertheless. She brought her tabooed
coffer: this was opened; and men--who, according to Hesiod, had hitherto
lived exempt from 'maladies that bring down Fate'--were overwhelmed with
the 'diseases that stalk abroad by night and day.' Now, in Hesiod (Works
and Days, 70-100) there is nothing said about unholy curiosity. Pandora
simply opened her casket and scattered its fatal contents. But
Philodemus assures us that, according to a variant of the myth, it was
Epimetheus who opened the forbidden coffer, whence came Death.
Leaving the myths which turn on the breaking of a taboo, and reserving
for consideration the New Zealand story, in which the Origin of Death is
the neglect of a ritual process, let us look at some African myths of the
Origin of Death. It is to be observed that in these (as in all the myths
of the most backward races) many of the characters are not gods, but
animals.
The Bushman story lacks the beginning. The mother of the little Hare was
lying dead, but we do not know how she came to die. The Moon then struck
the little Hare on the lip, cutting it open, and saying, 'Cry loudly, for
your mother will not return, as _I_ do, but is quite dead.' In another
version the Moon promises that the old Hare shall return to life, but the
little Hare is sceptical, and is hit in the mouth as before. The
Hottentot myth makes the Moon send the Hare to men with the message that
they will revive as he (the Moon) does. But the Hare 'loses his memory
as he runs' (to quote the French proverb, which may be based on a form of
this very tale), and the messenger brings the tidings that men shall
surely die and never revive. The angry Moon then burns a hole in the
Hare's mouth. In yet another Hottentot version the Hare's failure to
deliver the message correctly caused the death of the Moon's mother
(Bleek, Bushman Folklore). {185} Compare Sir James Alexander's
Expedition, ii. 250, where the Namaquas tell this tale. The Fijians say
that the Moon wished men to die and be born again, like herself. The Rat
said, 'No, let them die, like rats;' and they do. {186}