Traditions, Superstitions and Folk-lore Part 29

Max Muller, in his "History of Sanscrit Literature," points out that similar meanings clearly underlie the Vedic myths. He says:

"It is fabled that Praj.a.pati, the Lord of Creation, did violence to his daughter. But what does it mean? Praj.a.pati, 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 Ahalya, this does not imply that the G.o.d Indra committed such a crime; but Indra means the sun, and Ahalya the night; and as the night is seduced and ruined by the sun of the morning, therefore is Indra called the paramour of Ahalya."

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 cla.s.s. 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 aeolus, through all his descendants, chiefly in Sisyphus, is confused or a.s.sociated with the real G.o.d 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 Daedalus, the flight of Icarus, and the story of Phrixus and h.e.l.le, giving you continual a.s.sociations 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 ma.s.s 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 gra.s.s 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 G.o.ddess 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 pa.s.sed, their wings, Lacked not for love fair objects whom they wooed With gentle whisper. Withered boughs grotesque, Stripped of their leaves and twigs by h.o.a.ry age, From depth of s.h.a.ggy 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 G.o.d.

This figurative or poetical element in the cla.s.sical 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 ma.s.s of the populace, to have treated their mythic personages as actual concrete beings.

Farrer, in his "Origin of Language," forcibly ill.u.s.trates 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 Sch.e.l.ling 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 pa.s.sage, 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 superst.i.tions 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 "t.i.tle 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 ma.n.u.script 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 superst.i.tious 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 Phnicians, from the Cus.h.i.tes 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 Goldstucker mentioned, as a curious fact, that, in old Sanscrit musical ma.n.u.scripts, 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 ill.u.s.trated by the childish faith with which we have all placed large whelk or other univalve sh.e.l.ls 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 sh.e.l.l, 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 Demeter 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 ent.i.tled "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.