Mr. Max Muller 'follows Kuhn' in his explanation of Prometheus, the Fire-
stealer, but he does not follow him all the way. Kuhn tried to account
for the myth that Prometheus _stole_ fire, and Mr. Max Muller does not
try. {194} Kuhn connects Prometheus with the Sanskrit pramantha, the
stick used in producing fire by drilling a pointed into a flat piece of
wood. The Greeks, of course, made Prometheus mean 'foresighted,'
providens; but let it be granted that the Germans know better. Pramantha
next is associated with the verb mathnami, 'to rub _or_ grind;' and that,
again, with Greek [Greek], 'to learn.' We too talk of a student as a
'grinder,' by a coincidence. The root manth likewise means 'to rob;' and
we can see in English how a fire-stick, a 'fire-rubber,' might become a
'fire-robber,' a stealer of fire. A somewhat similar confusion in old
Aryan languages converted the fire-stick into a person, the thief of
fire, Prometheus; while a Greek misunderstanding gave to Prometheus
(pramantha, 'fire-stick') the meaning of 'foresighted,' with the word for
prudent foresight, [Greek]. This, roughly stated, is the view of Kuhn.
{195a} Mr. Max Muller concludes that Prometheus, the producer of fire,
is also the fire-god, a representative of Agni, and necessarily 'of the
inevitable Dawn'--'of Agni as the deus matutinus, a frequent character of
the Vedic Agni, the Agni aushasa, or the daybreak' (ii. 813).
But Mr. Max Muller does not say one word about Prometheus as the Fire-
stealer. Now, that he _stole_ fire is of the essence of his myth; and
this myth of the original procuring of fire by theft occurs all over the
world. As Australian and American savages cannot conceivably have
derived the myth of fire-stealing from the root manth and its double
sense of stealing and rubbing, there must be some other explanation. But
this fact could not occur to comparative mythologists who did not
compare, probably did not even know, similar myths wherever found.