ANCIENT EGYPT THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD
NOTES TO BOOK 1
[1] [Hume, The Natural History of Religion. 'There is an universal tendency among mankind to conceive all beings like themselves, and to transfer to every object those qualities with which they are familiarly acquainted, and of which they are intimately conscious. The unknown causes, which continually employ their thought, appearing always in the same aspect, are all apprehended to be of the same kind or species. Nor is it long before we ascribe to them thought and reason, and passion, and sometimes even the limbs and figures of men, in order to bring them nearer to a resemblance with ourselves.' From Tylor, Primitive Culture, vol. 1, p. 477.]
[2] [Reid, Essays on the Active Powers; 4th Essay, 25/5, ch. 3. 'When we turn our attention to external objects, and begin to exercise our rational faculties about them, we find, that there are some motions and changes in them, which we have power to produce, and that they have many which must have some other cause. Either the objects must have life and active power, as we have, or they must be moved or changed by something that has life and active power, as external objects are moved by us. [Our first thoughts seem to be, That the objects in which we perceive such motion have understanding and active power as we have.]']
[3] [Bacon, 'Distribution of
the Work, the Great Instauration,' in The Third
Part of the Instauratio, A Natural and Experimental History to
serve as a
Foundation for Philosophy, or Phenomena of the Universe, being the Third Part of
the Instauratio Magna, Works, (1850 ed.), vol.
3, p. 342. 'For every thing depends upon our fixing the
mind's eye steadily in order to receive their images exactly as they exist, and
may God never permit us to give out the dream of our fancy as a model of the
world, but rather in his kindness vouchsafe to us the means of writing a
revelation and true vision of the traces and stamps of the Creator on his
creatures.'
Ibid., Works, (1850 ed.),
vol. 3, p. 345. 'We must have all things to be so as may agree with
our folly, not to divine wisdom, nor as they are found to be in themselves;
neither can I say which we rest most, our wits or the things themselves: but
certainly we set the stamps and seals of our own images upon God's creatures and
works, and never carefully look upon and acknowledge the Creator's stamps.'
See also preface to Works, (1870 ed.), vol. 5, p. 132.]
[4] [Spencer, Data of Sociology, ch.
24, p. 184. 'In the Personal Recollections of Mrs. Somerville, she says that her
little brother, on seeing the great meteor of 1783, exclaimed, "O, Mamma, there's the moon rinnin' awa." This description of an inorganic motion by a word
rightly applied only to an organic motion, illustrates a peculiarity of the
speech used by children and savages. A child's vocabulary consists mainly of
words referring to
those living beings which chiefly affect it; and its statements respecting
non-living things and motions, show a lack of words free from implications of
vitality. The statements of uncivilized men are similarly characterized. The
inland negroes who accompanied Livingstone to the west coast, and on their
return narrated their adventures, described their arrival at the sea by the
words "The world said to us, 'I am finished; there is no more of me.''' Like in
form and like in implication were the answers given to a correspondent who was
in Ashantee during the late war.
"I exclaimed, 'We ought to be at Beulah by now, surely. But what's that?' The
answer came from our guide. 'That, sar, plenty of water live, bimeby we walkee
cross him.' 'Where's Beulah, then?' 'Oh, Beulah live other side him big hill.'"
So, too, is it with the remark which a Bechuana chief made to Casalis "One event
is always the son of another, ... and we must never forget the genealogy." The
general truth that the poorer a language the more metaphorical it is, and the
derivative truth that being first developed to express human affairs, it carries
with it certain human implications when extended to the world around, is well
shown by the fact that even still our word "to be" is traced back to a word
meaning "to breathe."' Pp. 369-70 of third ed.]
[5] [Tylor, Primitive Culture, vol. 1, p. 288. 'Such animistic origin of nature-myths shows out very clearly in the great cosmic group of Sun, Moon, and Stars. In early philosophy throughout the world, the Sun and Moon are alive and as it were human in their nature. Usually contrasted as male and female, they nevertheless differ in the sex assigned to each, as well as in their relations to one another.']
[6] [Muller, Science of Thought, p. 502. 'Just at the end of his interesting work on
the Principles of Psychology Mr. Herbert Spencer makes a remark which shows that
he is by no means ignorant of what a psychologist might learn from a careful
study of language. "Whether it be or be not a true saying," he writes, "that
mythology is a disease of language, it may be said with truth that metaphysics,
in all its anti-realistic developments, is a disease of language." No doubt it
is, but does Mr. H. Spencer not perceive what enormous consequences flow from
this view of language for a proper study of psychology, nay, of philosophy in
general? If a disease of language can produce such hallucinations as mythology
and metaphysics, what then is the health of language and what its bearing on all
the healthy functions of the mind? Nervous or cerebral disorders occupy at
present a large portion in every work on psychology, yet they are in their
nature obscure and must always remain so.'
Ibid., p. 498.
'... because language could not possibly supply new names to acts in all
appearance so like our own, though it may be at the same time as different
from them as will is from impulse. But we go further. We speak of hands instead
of paws; we speak of the spectacles of a certain goose, of the coat
of a dog instead of his fur. In fact the whole animal world has been conceived
as a copy of our own. And not only the animal world, but the whole of nature,
was liable to be conceived and named by an assimilation to human nature.']
[7] [Juvenal, Satires, 15.1. 'Quis
nescit, Volusi Bithynice, qualia demens
Aegyptos portenta colat? crocodilon adorat
Pars haec, ilia pavet saturam serpentibus ibin.'
'WHO knows not, Bithynian Volusius, what monstrous things
Mad Egypt can worship? this part adores a crocodile;
That fears an Ibis saturated with serpents.'
'Line 1. Bithynian Volusius.] Who this Volusius was does not appear; all that
we know is, that he came from Bithynia, a country of the Lesser Asia, and was
undoubtedly a friend of Juvenal, who addresses this Satire to him.
Line
2. Mad Egypt.] Demens not only means mad, i.e. one that has lost his senses,
but also silly, foolish; which perhaps is meant here, in allusion to the silly
superstition which possessed the minds of the Ćgyptians in religious matters.
—This part.] One part of Egypt.
—Adores a crocodile.] That part of Egypt which lies near the river Nile
worships the crocodile; a dreadful amphibious animal, shaped something like a
lizard, and, from an egg little bigger than that of a goose, grows to be thirty
feet long. The Egyptians know how high the river will rise that year, by the
place where the crocodiles lay their eggs. The crocodile was worshipped with
divine honours, because these animals were supposed to have destroyed the Libyan
and Arabian robbers, v/ho swam over the river and killed many of the
inhabitants.' Rev. Madan's tr., Dublin, 1813.]
[8] [Horapollo, Hieroglyphica, bk. 1.
15. 'When they would denote the renovation of the moon, they again
pourtray a CYNOCEPHALUS in this posture, standing upright, and raising its hands
to heaven, with a diadem upon its head; and for the renovation they depict this
posture, into which the cynocephalus throws itself, as congratulating the
goddess, if we may so express it, in that they have both recovered light.'
Also, Captain Burton, in a letter to the author.]
[9] [Lenormant, Chaldean Magic, p. 18,
quoting from a magical hymn: 'They are seven! they are seven! in the depths of
the ocean, they are seven! in the brilliancy of the heavens they are seven! They
proceed from the ocean depths, from the hidden retreat, They are neither male
nor female.'
Another version appears in RP, 3, 143: 'They are
seven! they are seven! in the depths of the ocean, they are seven! In the
heights of heaven they are seven! In the ocean stream in a Palace were they
born. Male they are not: female they are not.'
From 'The Song of the Seven Spirits', originally published in TSBA, 2,
58.
See also NG 2:93,
149.]
[10] [Werner, 'African Folk-Lore,' CRev, 70, 378.]
[11]
[Ballad of Sir Patrick Spens, from Brand,
Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 3, p. 46. 'Dr. Jamieson, in his Etymological
Dictionary of the Scottish Language, v. Mone, says that in Scotland "it is
considered as an almost infallible presage of bad weather if the moon lies sat
on her back, or when her horns are pointed towards the zenith. It is a similar
prognostic when the new moon appears with the auld moon in her arms, or, in
other words, when that part of the moon which is covered with the shadow of the
earth is seen through it. A brugh, or hazy circle round the moon, is accounted a
certain prognostic of rain. If the circle be wide, and at some distance from the
body of that luminary, it is believed that the rain will be delayed far some
time; if it be close, and as it were adhering to the disc of the moon, rain is
expected very soon." [One of these superstitions is thus alluded to in the
ballad of Sir Patrick Spence,
"Late, late, yestreen, I saw the new moone
Wi' the auld moone in her arme;
And I feir, I feir, my deir master,
That we will come to harme."].'
See also NG 1:42.]
[12] [Wilson, 'Indian Tribes,' TES, 4, 304. 'The Selish Indians of North-West America have devised their story of the "Toad in the Moon;" the little wolf was in love with the toad, and pursued her one bright moonlight night, till, for a last chance of escape, she made a desperate spring on to the face of the moon, and there she is still.' From Tylor, Researches into the Early History of Mankind, p. 334.]
[13] [HL, 217. 'Some phrases, again, are ambiguous, and if their true sense be a good one, the popular interpretation may be a bad one. No words can more distinctly express the notion of "self-existent Being" than chepera cheper fesef, words which very frequently occur in Egyptian religious texts. But the word chepera signifies scarabaeus as well as being, and the scarabaeus was in fact an object of worship, as a symbol of divinity. How many Egyptians accepted the words in a sense which we ourselves should admit to be correct? Was there really, as is frequently asserted, an esoteric doctrine known to the scribes and priests alone, as distinct from the popular belief? No evidence has yet been produced in favour of this hypothesis.']
[14] [Hieroglyphica, bk. 2. 55. 'When they would symbolise a mystic man, and one initiated, they delineate a GRASSHOPPER; for he does not utter sounds through his mouth, but chirping by means of his spine, sings a sweet melody.']
[15] [Erman, Life in Ancient Egypt, p. 82. 'These governors, who always bore the proud title of "First under the king," had a double function, judicial and administrative. The governor was the judge, and the chief of the district (as perhaps the latter title may be translated) in his department, and if a large town were situated in the latter, he was also ruler of this town. A number of lesser offices were apparently connected with this principal one; we say apparently, because for the most part these lesser offices were only empty titles. The members of this ancient bureaucracy were fond of creating a special title for each function of their judicial or administrative work; for instance, they had to pass on the royal orders to their district or their town, they therefore entitled themselves "Privy councillor of the royal orders," and as their duty consisted in directing the public works, they called themselves "Superintendent of the works of the king" and "Superintendent of the royal commissions." If they collected the taxes of corn and cattle, or commanded the local militia, they bore the title of "Superintendent of the sacrificial and provision houses," or "Superintendent of the war department"; if they had an office for the different secretaries, connected with their government or judicial work, they then assumed the title of "Superintendent of the royal scribes," or "Superintendent of the legal writers." In addition, they had various priestly duties. As judges, they were priests of Ma't the goddess of truth; their loyalty constrained them to be priests of the king and of his ancestors; finally, they were almost always invested (I know not why) with the office of prophet of the frog-headed goddess Heqt.']
[16] [Lanzone, Dizionario, p. 853. 'On lamps of the Greek and Roman periods found in Egypt the frog often appears on the upper part, and one is known which has the legend egw eimi anstasis, "I am the resurrection." The use of this amulet appears not to be older than the XVIIIth dynasty.' From Budge, The Mummy, p. 266.]
[17] [Rit. ch. 42. Cf. Renouf.]
[18] ['A Journey from St. Petersburgh to Pekin in the year 1719,' in Pinkerton's Voyages, vol. 7, p. 369. 'The world-bearing elephants of the Hindus, the world-supporting frog of the Mongol Lamas, the world-bull of the Moslems, the gigantic Omophore of the Manichaean cosmology, are all creatures who carry the earth on their backs or heads, and shake it when they stretch or shift.' From Tylor, Primitive Culture, vol. 1, p. 365.]
[19] [Dennys, Folk-Lore of China, pp. 117-8. 'The statement given by Chang Heng is to the effect that 'How I the fabled inventor of arrows in the days of Yao and Shun, obtained the drug of immortality from Si Wang Mu (the fairy "Royal Mother" of the West); and Chang-Ngo (his wife) having stolen it, fled to the moon, and became the frog Chan-chu which is seen there.' The later fabulists have adhered to this story and amplified its details, as for instance, in the Kwang-ki a pleasing story of a subsequent reunion between How I and his wife is told; but in general the myth has been handed down unaltered, and the lady Chang-ngo is still pointed out among the shadows in the surface of the moon. In its etymological bearings, the legend is well worthy of further investigation."']
[20] [Birch, Dictionary? Unable to trace.]
[21] [Wilkinson. Title unknown.]
[22] [Spencer, Data of Sociology, ch. 22,
par. 175. 'Of course the doctrine of metempsychosis becomes comprehensible; arid
its developments no longer look so grotesque. Where a man who had several
animal-names was spoken of in this legend as the eagle and in that as the wolf,
there would result the idea that he was now one and now the other; and from this
suggestion, unchecked credulity might not unnaturally elaborate the belief in
successive transformations.
Stories of women who have borne animals, similarly fall into their places.
The Land-Dyaks of Lundu consider it wrong to kill the cobra, because "one of
their female ancestors was pregnant for seven years, and ultimately brought
forth twins one a human being, the other a cobra." The Batavians "believe that
women, when they are delivered of a child, are frequently at the same time
delivered of a young crocodile as a twin." May we not conclude that twins of
whom one gained the nickname of the crocodile, gave rise to a legend which
originated this monstrous belief?
If the use of animal-names preceded the use of human proper names if, when there
arose such proper names, these did not at first displace the animal-names but
were joined with them if, at a still later stage, animal-names fell into disuse
and the conventional surnames became predominant; then it seems inferable that
the brute-god arises first, that the god half-brute and half-human belongs to a
later stage, and that the anthropomorphic god comes latest.' P. 352 of 3rd ed.]
[23] [Rit. ch. 88. Cf. Birch.]
[24] [Travels in West Africa, ch. 10, p. 468. 'One witch-doctor I know in Kacongo had a strange professional method. When, by means of his hand rubbings, &c., he had got hold of a witch or a bewitched one, he always gave the unfortunate an emetic and always found several lively young crocodiles in the consequence, and the stories of the natives in this region abound in accounts of people who have been carried off by witch crocodiles, and kept in places underground for years.']
[25] [Ibid., pp. 470-1. 'The strangest thing, however, that I ever heard of being witched into a man I was told of by a most intelligent Igalwa, a Christian, and a very trustworthy man, and his statement was attested by another man, equally reliable, but not a Christian. They said that a relation of theirs had been witched two years previously. An emetic was administered, and there appeared upon the scene a strange little animal which grew with visible rapidity. An hour after its coming to light it crawled about, got out of its basin, and then flew away. I tried my best to identify the species, but the nearest thing I could get to it was that it was like a small bat. It had bat's wings, but then it had a body and tail like a lizard, which was distracting of it, to a naturalist. This thing, they said, had been given to the man when it was "small small," (i.e., very small) in some drink or food, and if it had been left undisturbed by that emetic, it would have grown up inside the man, killing him by feeding on his vitals. There was no want of information or verbal testimony in the case, but I should have felt more sure about the affair if I could have got that thing in a bottle of pure alcohol. The only other case of this winged lizard I heard of was at Batanga, when a witch-doctor had been opened and a winged, lizard-like thing found in his inside, which, Batanga said, was his power.']
[26] [Data of Sociology, ch. 8, par. 55. 'Once
established, the belief in transformation easily extends itself to other classes
of things. Between an egg and a young bird, there is a far greater contrast in
appearance and structure than between one mammal and another. The tadpole, with
a tail and no limbs, differs from the young frog with four limbs and no tail,
more than a man differs from a hyaena; for both of these have four limbs, and
both laugh. Hence there seems ample justification for the belief that any kind
of creature may be transformed into any other; and so there results the theory
of metamorphosis in general, which rises into an explanation everywhere employed
without check.
Here, again, we have to note that while initiating and fostering the notion that
things of all kinds may suddenly change their forms, the experiences of
transformations confirm the notion of duality. Each object is not only what it
seems, but is potentially something else.' P. 116 of 3rd ed.]
[27] [Spencer, ibid. 'The inference here drawn, therefore, harmonizing with all preceding inferences, is that the initial step in the genesis of such a myth, would be the naming of human beings Storm and Sunshine; that from the confusion inevitably arising in tradition between them and the natural agents having the same names, would result this personalizing of these natural agents, and the ascription to them of human origins and human adventures: the legend, once having thus germinated, being, in successive generations, elaborated and moulded into fitness with the phenomena.' P. 373 of 3rd ed.]
[28] [From Gubernatis, op. cit. See note below.]
[29] [Gubernatis, Zoological Mythology, vol. 2, p. 218, footnote 2. 'In the Engadine in
Switzerland, too, it is believed that the souls of men emigrate from the world
and return into it in the forms of bees. The bees are there considered
messengers of death; cfr. Rochholz, Deutscher Glaube und Branch, i. 147,
148.—When someone dies, the bee is invoked
as follows, almost as if requesting the soul of the departed to watch for ever
over the living:—
"Bienchen, unser Herr ist todt,
Verlass mich nicht in meiner Noth."
In Germany, people are unwilling to buy the bees of a dead
man, it being believed that they will die or disappear immediately after him:—"Stirbt
der Hausherr, so muss sein Tod nicht bloss dem Vieh im Stall und den Bienen im
Stocke angesagt werden;" Simrock, the work quoted before, p. 601.']
[30] [Rit. ch.76. Compare 'Hail, flying to the heavens, to the light by the stars, or to the stars.' Birch's tr.]
[31] [Daily Mail, May 26th, 1892.]
[33] [Rit. ch. 44. 'Apheru dandles me,' Birch's tr.]
[34] [Rit. ch. 64. Anup = Anubis.]
[35] [Werner, 'African Folk-Lore,' CRev, 70.]
[36] [Source. Poss. in the above.]
[37] [Hieroglyphica, bk. 1. 50. 'To denote a disappearance, they delineate a MOUSE, because it pollutes and spoils all things by nibbling them. They also make use of the same symbol when they would denote discernment, for when many different sorts of bread lie before him, the mouse selects the purest from among them and eats it. And hence the selection by the bakers is guided by mice.']
[38] [Of Isis and Osiris, ch.30.]
[39] [Brugsch. Unable to trace.]
[40] [Webster,
Basque Legends, p. 82. 'Malbrouk goes off happy at hearing this news, and
that he would find the princess. He goes on, and on, 'and on, and he arrives
opposite to this island, and remembering what the hawk had said to him, he said,
"Jesus, hawk!" and immediately he becomes a hawk. He flies away, and goes on
until he comes to the island of which the wood-pecker had told him; he sees that
he can only get in there like an ant, and he says, "Jesus, ant!" and he gets
through the little lattice-work. He is dazed at the sight of the beauty of this
young lady. He says, "Jesus, man!" and he becomes a man again. When the young
lady sees him, she says to him:
"Be off quickly from here. It is all over with your life. He is about to come,
this horrible body without a soul, I before a quarter of an hour, and you will
be done away with."
Campbell refers to "The Giant who had no Heart in his Body," "Norse Tales,"
1859. See his references, and those in the "Contes Populaires de la Grande
Bretagne," cited above. M. d'Abbadie has also communicated to us the outlines of
a wild Tartaro story, told in Basque, in which the hero "fights with a body
without a soul."']
[41] [Ibid., p. 27. 'He gives him a
new dress, finer than the others, a more spirited horse, a terrible dog, a
sword, and a bottle of good scented water. He said to him,
"The serpent will say to you, 'Ah! if I had a spark between my head and my
tail, how I would burn you and your lady, and your horse and your dog.'"']
[42] [Rit. ch. 109. There is no mention of a lake of goose or duck in the chapter or any others. However, a 'Lake of the Rubu' is mentioned by Birch.]
[43] [Rit. ch. 108. 'There is a snake on the brow of that hill almost 30 cubits long, 10 cubits broad; 3 cubits in front of him are of stone? [hard]. I know the name of that snake on his hill. Eater of Fire is his name; and when the time comes that the Sun is inclined to him, he looks to the Sun.' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]
[44] [Rit., ch. 54. 'I am the Egg of the Great Cackler [Seb]. I have watched this great egg which Seb prepared for the earth.' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]
[45] [Webster,
Basque Legends, pp. 80-3. 'When he has gone only a little way he is
frightened, and rings. They pull him up. The second goes; and when he has gone a
little farther down he is frightened, and rings. Malbrouk then gets in, and he
says to them:
"When I shall give a pull at the bucket from below, then you will pull it up."
He goes down, then, and at last he sees that there is a beautiful house
underground, and he sees there a beautiful young lady, who is sitting with a
serpent asleep in her lap. When she sees Malbrouk, she says to him:
"Be off, I pray you, from here; he has only three-quarters of an hour to sleep,
and if he wakes, it is all over with you and me."
He says to her, "No matter; lay the head of the serpent on the ground, gently,
gently, without waking him."
She lays it there, and he carries off this young lady in the bucket, after
having pulled the cord. He goes into another chamber, and he sees another young
lady, still more beautiful, with the head of a lion asleep on her lap. She also
says to him:
"Be off quickly from here. He has only half-an-hour to sleep, and if he wakes,
it is all up with you and me."
Malbrouk says to her, "Place gently, gently, without waking him, the head of the
lion on the ground."
She does so. Malbrouk takes her, gets into the bucket with her, and his brothers
pull them both up. They write at once to the king to come and fetch them, that
they have found two of his daughters. As you may suppose, the king sends a
carriage directly to fetch them, and he makes great rejoicings. The king tells
him to choose whichever of the two he likes for his wife. Malbrouk says to him:
"When I shall have found your third daughter she shall be my wife, and my two
brothers may take these two young ladies for their wives."
They do as Malbrouk said, and he sets out to see his sweetheart. He goes on, and
on, and on. All the fowls of the air know Malbrouk. As he was going along he
finds a wolf, a dog, a hawk, and an ant, and in their language they cry out
"Oyhu! Malbrouk, Malbrouk!" and saying to him, "Where are you going, Malbrouk?
these three days we have been here before this sheep, and cannot agree how to
divide it; but you, you shall divide it."
Malbrouk goes to them, then, trembling lest they should make a division of him,
too. He cuts off the head, and gives it to the ant.
"You will have enough to eat, and for your whole household."
He gives the entrails to the hawk, and for the dog and the wolf he cuts the
carcase in half. He left them all well satisfied; and Malbrouk goes on his way
in silence, in silence. When he had gone a little way, the ant says:
"We have not given Malbrouk any reward."
The wolf calls to him to come back. Malbrouk comes trembling, thinking that it
was his turn, and that they are going to eat him, without doubt. The ant says to
him:
"We have not given you anything, after that you have made such a good division
for us; but whenever you wish to become an ant, you have only to say, 'Jesus,
ant!' and you will become an ant."
The hawk says to him: "When you wish to make yourself a hawk, you will say, 'Jesus, hawk!' and you will be a hawk."
The wolf says to him: "When you shall wish to become a wolf, you shall say, 'Jesus, wolf!' and you shall be a wolf."
And the dog, he said to him the same thing, too! He goes off, then, well
pleased, further into the forest. A wood-pecker says to him:
"Malbrouk, where are you going?"
"To fetch such a daughter of a king."
"You will not find her easily. Since they have delivered her sisters, he has
carried her to the farther side of the Red Sea, in an island, and keeps her
there in prison, in a beautiful house, with the doors and windows so closely
shut that only the ants can get into that house."
Malbrouk goes off happy at hearing this news, and that he would find the
princess. He goes on, and on, and on, and he arrives opposite to this island,
and remembering what the hawk had said to him, he said, "Jesus, hawk!" and
immediately he becomes a hawk. He flies away, and goes on until he comes to the
island of which the wood-pecker had told him; he sees that he can only get in
there like an ant, and he says, "Jesus, ant!" and he gets through the little
lattice-work. He is dazed at the sight of the beauty of this young lady. He
says, "Jesus, man!" and he becomes a man again. When the young lady sees him,
she says to him:
"Be off quickly from here. It is all over with your life. He is about to come,
this horrible body without a soul, I before a quarter of an hour, and you will
be done away with."
"I will become an ant again, and I will place myself in your bosom; but do not
scratch yourself too hard, else you will crush me."
As soon as he has said that the monster comes. He gives her partridges and
pigeons for her dinner, but he himself eats serpents and horrible vermin. He
tells her that he has a slight headache, and to take the hammer and rap him on
the head. She could not lift it, it was so big; but she knocks him as well as
she is able. The monster goes off. The ant comes out from where he was, and
prepares to eat the partridges and pigeons with the young lady. Malbrouk said to
her:
"You must ask him, as if you were in great trouble about it, what would have to
be done to kill him? and you will tell him how unhappy you would be if he should
be killed that you would die of hunger in prison in this island."
The young lady says, "Yes," she will do so.
The monster comes again, and says to her:
"Ay! ay! ay! my head. Take the hammer, and hit me hard."
The young lady does it until she is tired, arid then she says:
"How unfortunate I shall be if you die."
He answers, "I shall not die. He who will know that will know a great secret."
"Most certainly I would not wish you to die. I should die of hunger in this
island without you, and I should get no benefit by it. You ought to tell me what
would kill you."
He says to her, "No! Before this, too, a woman has deceived a man, and I will
not tell you."
"You can tell it to me yes, to me. To whom shall I tell it? I see nobody. Nobody
is able to come here."
At last, at last, he tells her then:
"You must kill a terrible wolf which is in the forest, and inside him is a fox,
in the fox is a pigeon; this pigeon has an egg in his head, and whoever should
strike me on the forehead with this egg would kill me. But who will know all
that? Nobody."' Continued in note 48 below.]
[46] [As above note.]
[47] [Source. Poss. in Werner.]
[48] [Webster,
Basque Legends, pp. 84-6. 'The princess said to him, "Nobody, happily. I,
too, I should die."
The monster goes out as before, and the ant too, as you may think, happy in
knowing the secret. On the very next day he sets out for the forest. He sees a
frightful wolf. He says, directly, "Jesus, wolf!" and he immediately becomes a
wolf. He then goes to this wolf, and they begin to fight, and he gets him down
and chokes him. He leaves him there, and goes off to the young lady in the
island, and says to her:
"We have got the wolf; I have killed him, and left him in the forest."
The monster comes directly afterwards, saying:
"Ay! ay! ay! my head! Strike my head quickly."
She hits his head till she is tired. He says to the princess:
"They have killed the wolf; I do not know if anything is going to happen to me.
I am much afraid of it."
"You have nothing to be afraid of. To whom could I have told anything? Nobody
can get in here."
When he has gone, the ant goes to the forest. He opens the wolf, and out of him
comes a fox, who escapes at full speed. Malbrouk says, "Jesus, dog!" and he
becomes a dog. He, too, sets off running, and catches the fox. They begin to
fight, and he kills him, too. He opens him, and there comes out of him a pigeon.
Malbrouk says, at once, "Jesus, hawk!" and he becomes a hawk. He flies off to
catch the pigeon, seizes him in his terrible talons, and takes out of his head
this precious egg, and goes proudly with it into the chamber of the young lady.
He tells how he has very happily accomplished his business, and says to her:
"At present, it is your turn; act alone."
And again he makes himself an ant. Our monster comes, crying, that it is all up
with him, that they have taken the egg out of the pigeon, and that he does not
know what must become of him. He tells her to strike him on the head with the
hammer.
The young lady says to him:
"What have you to fear? Who shall have got this egg? And how should he strike
your forehead?"
He shows her how, saying, "Like that."
As the young lady had the egg in her hand, she strikes the monster as he had
told her, and he falls stark dead. In an instant the ant comes out joyously
(from his hiding-place), and he says to her:
"We must set out instantly for your father's house."
They open a window, and the young man makes himself a hawk, and he says to the
young lady:
"Cling firmly to my neck."
And he flies off, and they arrive at the other side of the island. He writes
immediately to the king his lord, to send and fetch them as quickly as possible.
The king sent; and judge what joy and what feasts there were in that court. The
king wished them to marry directly, but Malbrouk would not do so. (He said) that
he ought to bring his dowry. The king said to him:
"You have gained enough already."
He will not hear of that, but goes off far, far, far away, to the house of his
godfather.
They had there a cow with golden horns, and these horns bore fruits of diamonds.
A boy used to guard her in the field. Malbrouk said to him:
"What! do you not hear that the master is calling you? Go, quickly, then, and
learn what he wants of you."
The boy, (believing it), goes off. The master calls to him from the window:
"Where are you going to, leaving the cow? Go quickly; I see that Malbrouk is
about there."
The boy sets off running back, but he cannot find the cow. Malbrouk had got off
proudly with his cow, and he gives it to his future wife, who was very much
pleased with it.']
[49] [P. 349. Massey errs here; it should be History of Oxfordshire. See also NG 1:347, and note below.]
[50] ['Dr. Plott, in his History of Oxfordshire, p. 349, mentions a custom at Burford in that county (yet within memory), of making a dragon yearly, and carrying it up and down the town in great jollity, on Midsummer Eve; to which, he says, not knowing for what reason, they added a giant. It is curious to find Dr. Plott attributing the cause of this general custom to a particular event. In his Oxfordshire, f. 203, he tells us "that, about the year 750, a battle was fought near Burford, perhaps on the place still called Battle-Edge, west of the town towards Upton, between Cuthred or Cuthbert, a tributary king of the West Saxons, and Ethelbald, king of Mercia, whose insupportable exactions the former king not being able to endure, he came into the field against Ethelbald, met, and overthrew him there, winning his banner, whereon was depicted a golden dragon: in remembrance of which victory he supposes the custom was, in all likelihood, first instituted.' From Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 520.]
[51] [1 Sam. 17:4-36. 'And there went out
a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose
height was six cubits and a span.
And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of
mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass.
And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his
shoulders.
And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam; and his spear's head
weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him.
And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye
come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to
Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me.
If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants:
but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and
serve us.
And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man,
that we may fight together.
When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were
dismayed, and greatly afraid.
Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehemjudah, whose name was
Jesse; and he had eight sons: and the man went among men for an old man in the
days of Saul.
And the three eldest sons of Jesse went and followed Saul to the battle: and the
names of his three sons that went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and
next unto him Abinadab, and the third Shammah.
And David was the youngest: and the three eldest followed Saul.
But David went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem.
And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty
days.
And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this
parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp to thy brethren;
And carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and look how thy
brethren fare, and take their pledge.
Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah,
fighting with the Philistines.
And David rose up early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and
took, and went, as Jesse had commanded him; and he came to the trench, as the
host was going forth to the fight, and shouted for the battle.
For Israel and the Philistines had put the battle in array, army against army.
And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage, and ran
into the army, and came and saluted his brethren.
And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine
of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, and spake
according to the same words: and David heard them.
And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore
afraid.
And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man that is come up? surely to
defy Israel is he come up: and it shall be, that the man who killeth him, the
king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make
his father's house free in Israel.
And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the
man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for
who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the
living God?
And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done to
the man that killeth him.
And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men; and Eliab's anger
was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with
whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the
naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the
battle.
And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause?
And he turned from him toward another, and spake after the same manner: and the
people answered him again after the former manner.
And when the words were heard which David spake, they rehearsed them before
Saul: and he sent for him.
And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy servant will
go and fight with this Philistine.
And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight
with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.
And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a
lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock:
And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and
when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew
him.
Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine
shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.']
[52] [Burne, Shropshire Folklore, p. 428. 'Behind it rises the ancient Causeway Wood, with its yews and hollies, its ash and mountain-ash trees. The spring is never known to fail, even in the dryest seasons. Its waters, say the folk, are always cold in summer and warm in winter, and, needless to add they are good for sore eyes. Will it be believed that this beautiful fountain, fit only for the fairest of water-nymphs, is the scene of what seems like a fragment of the 'husk-myth' of the Frog-Prince? Here, so said the same woman who told the legend of the Devil's Causeway, the Devil and his imps appear in the form of frogs! Here frogs are always seen together; these are the imps: the largest frog, being Satan himself, remains at the bottom and shows himself but seldom. The Frog-well, she called the spring—Causeway-well is, I believe, the usual name. I cannot but think that this story must properly belong to some other well in the neighbourhood, rather than to one so manifestly not the abode of frogs.' P. 415 of 1886 ed.]
[53] [Bastian. Title unknown.]
[54] [Source.]
[55] [Of Isis and Osiris, ch. 12.]
[56] [Data of Sociology, p. 348. 'Can we doubt that Osiris-Apis was an ancient hero-king, who became a god, when, according to Brugsch, the Step-pyramid, built during the first dynasty, "concealed the bleached bones of bulls and the inscriptions chiselled in the stone relating to the royal names of the Apis," and, as he infers, "was a common sepulchre of the holy bulls:" re-incarnations of this apotheosized hero-king?']
[57] [Plutarch, Of Isis and Osiris, ch. 41.]
[59] [Chabas, 'Hymn to Osiris' RP, 4,
97. See line 16, p. 102.
Mallet, 'Hymn to Osiris on the Stele of Amon-em-Ha,'
RPNS, 4, 14.
See p. 21.]
[60] [Gen. 19:36. 'Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.']
[61] [Rit. ch. 40. 'Deceased piercing a snake on the Back of an Ass,' Birch's description. Cf. Renouf.]
[62] [Source.]
[63] [Gubernatis, Zoological Mythology, vol. 1, p. 362. 'It must have been not without some gay levity that priest and people ex-claimed "Hinham!" three times after the conclusion of the mass, on the day of the festival of the ass. Nor did the inhabitants of Empoli show him more reverence, when, on the eighth day after the festival of the Corpus Domini—that is, near the summer solstice—they made him fly in the air, amid the jeers of the crowd.']
[64] [Ibid., vol. 1, p. 362. 'The Westphalians were accustomed to call by name of "the ass Thomas," (as in Holland he is called "luilak") the boy who on St. Thomas's Day was the last to enter school.']
[65] [Grimm, Household Stories, 1882, pp.
204-7. 'In times past there lived a king and queen, who said to each other every
day of their lives, "Would that we had a child!" and yet they had none. But it
happened once that when the queen was bathing, there came a frog out of the
water, and he squatted on the ground, and said to her,
"Thy wish shall be fulfilled; before a year has gone by, thou shalt bring a
daughter into the world."
And as the frog foretold, so it happened; and the queen bore a daughter so
beautiful that the king could not contain himself for joy, and he ordained a
great feast. Not only did he bid to it his relations, friends, and
acquaintances, but also the wise women, that they might be kind and favourable
to the child. There were thirteen of them in his kingdom, but as he had only
provided twelve golden plates for them to eat from, one of them had to be left
out. However, the feast was celebrated with all splendour; and as it drew to an
end, the wise women stood forward to present to the child their wonderful gifts:
one bestowed virtue, one beauty, a third riches, and so on, whatever there is in
the world to wish for. And when eleven of them had said their say, in came the
uninvited thirteenth, burning to revenge herself, and without greeting or
respect, she cried with a loud voice,
"In the fifteenth year of her age the princess shall prick herself with a
spindle and shall fall down dead."
And without speaking one more word she turned away and left the hall. Every one
was terrified at her saying, when the twelfth came forward, for she had not yet
bestowed her gift, and though she could not do away with the evil prophecy, yet
she could soften it, so she said, "The princess shall not die, but fall into a
deep sleep for a hundred years."
Now the king, being desirous of saving his child even from this misfortune, gave
commandment that all the spindles in his kingdom should be burnt up.
The maiden grew up, adorned with all the gifts of the wise women; and she was so
lovely, modest, sweet, and kind and clever, that no one who saw her could help
loving her.
It happened one day, she being already fifteen years old, that the king and
queen rode abroad, and the maiden was left behind alone in the castle. She
wandered about into all the nooks and corners, and into all the chambers and
parlours, as the fancy took her, till at last she came to an old tower. She
climbed the narrow winding stair which led to a little door, with a rusty key
sticking out of the lock; she turned the key, and the door opened, and there in
the little room sat an old woman with a spindle, diligently spinning her flax.
"Good day, mother," said the princess, "what are you doing?"
"I am spinning," answered the old woman, nodding her head.
"What thing is that that twists round so briskly?" asked the maiden, and taking
the spindle into her hand she began to spin; but no sooner had she touched it
than the evil prophecy was fulfilled, and she pricked her finger with it. In
that very moment she fell back upon the bed that stood there, and lay in a deep
sleep. And this sleep fell upon the whole castle; the king and queen, who had
returned and were in the great hall, fell fast asleep, and with them the whole
court. The horses in their stalls, the dogs in the yard, the pigeons on the
roof, the flies on the wall, the very fire that flickered on the hearth, became
still, and slept like the rest; and the meat on the spit ceased roasting, and
the cook, who was going to pull the scullion's hair for some mistake he had
made, let him go, and went to sleep. And the wind ceased, and not a leaf fell
from the trees about the castle.
Then round about that place there grew a hedge of thorns thicker every year,
until at last the whole castle was hidden from view, and nothing of it could be
seen but the vane on the roof. And a rumour went abroad in all that country of
the beautiful sleeping Rosamond, for so was the princess called; and from time
to time many kings' sons came and tried to force their way through the hedge;
but it was impossible for them to do so, for the thorns held fast together like
strong hands, and the young men were caught by them, and not being able to get
free, there died a lamentable death.
Many a long year afterwards there came a king's son into that country, and heard
an old man tell how there should be a castle standing behind the hedge of
thorns, and that there a beautiful enchanted princess named Rosamond had slept
for a hundred years, and with her the king and queen, and the whole court. The
old man had been told by his grandfather that many king's sons had sought to
pass the thorn-hedge, but had been caught and pierced by the thorns, and had
died a miserable death. Then said the young man, "Nevertheless, I do not fear to
try; I shall win through and see the lovely Rosamond." The good old man tried to
dissuade him, but he would not listen to his words.
For now the hundred years were at an end, and the day had come when Rosamond
should be awakened. When the prince drew near the hedge of thorns, it was
changed into a hedge of beautiful large flowers, which parted and bent aside to
let him pass, and then closed behind him in a thick hedge. When he reached the
castle-yard, he saw the horses and brindled hunting-dogs lying asleep, and on
the roof the pigeons were sitting with their heads under their wings. And when
he came indoors, the flies on the wall were asleep, the cook in the kitchen had
his hand uplifted to strike the scullion, and the kitchen-maid had the black
fowl on her lap ready to pluck. Then he mounted higher, and saw in the hall the
whole court lying asleep, and above them, on their thrones, slept the king and
the queen. And still he went farther, and all was so quiet that he could hear
his own breathing; and at last he came to the tower, and went up the winding
stair, and opened the door of the little room where Rosamond lay. And when he
saw her looking so lovely in her sleep, he could not turn away his eyes; and
presently he stooped and kissed her, and she awaked, and opened her eyes, and
looked very kindly on him. And she rose, and they went forth together, and the
king and the queen and whole court waked up, and gazed on each other with great
eyes of wonderment. And the horses in the yard got up and shook themselves, the
hounds sprang up and wagged their tails, the pigeons on the roof drew their
heads from under their wings, looked round, and flew into the field, the flies
on the wall crept on a little farther, the kitchen fire leapt up and blazed, and
cooked the meat, the joint on the spit began to roast, the cook gave the
scullion such a box on the ear that he roared out, and the maid went on plucking
the fowl.
Then the wedding of the Prince and Rosamond was held with all splendour, and
they lived very happily together until their lives' end.' Lucy Crane's tr.]
[66] [Natural History, bk. 7.3. 'That three children are sometimes produced at one birth, is a well-known fact; the case, for instance, of the Horatii and the Curiatii. Where a greater number of children than this is produced at one birth, it is looked upon as portentous, except, indeed, in Egypt, where the water of the river Nile, which is used for drink, is a promoter of fecundity. Very recently, towards the close of the reign of the Emperor Augustus, now deified, a certain woman of the lower orders, at Ostia, whose name was Fausta, brought into the world, at one birth, two male children and two females, a presage, no doubt, of the famine which shortly after took place. We find it stated, also, that in Peloponnesus, a woman was delivered of five children at a birth four successive times, and that the greater part of all these children survived. Trogus informs us, that in Egypt, as many as seven children are occasionally produced at one birth.' Bostock and Riley's ed.]
[67] [Against Heresies, bk. 1, ch. 5. 2, 3. 'They go on to say that the Demiurge imagined that he created all these things of himself, while he in reality made them in conjunction with the productive power of Achamoth. He formed the heavens, yet was ignorant of the heavens; he fashioned man, yet knew not man; he brought to light the earth, yet had no acquaintance with the earth; and, in like manner, they declare that he was ignorant of the forms of all that he made, and knew not even of the existence of his own mother, but imagined that he himself was all things. They further affirm that his mother originated this opinion in his mind, because she desired to bring him forth possessed of such a character that he should be the head and source of his own essence, and the absolute ruler over every kind of operation [that was afterwards attempted]. This mother they also call Ogdoad, Sophia, Terra, Jerusalem, Holy Spirit, and, with a masculine reference, Lord. Her place of habitation is an intermediate one, above the Demiurge indeed, but below and outside of the Pleroma, even to the end.' ANF, 1. Donaldson's tr.]
[68] [Jer. 15:8-9. 'Their widows are
increased to me above the sand of the seas: I have brought upon them against the
mother of the young men a spoiler at noonday: I have caused him to fall upon it
suddenly, and terrors upon the city.
She that hath borne seven languisheth: she hath given up the ghost; her
sun is gone down while it was yet day: she hath been ashamed and confounded: and
the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the
LORD.']
[69] [Rev. 17:5-8. 'And upon her
forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS
AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of
the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the
mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven
heads and ten horns.
The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the
bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall
wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of
the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.']
[70] [Lal Behari Day,
Folk-Tales of Bengal, ch. 7, pp. 113-9. 'THE BOY WHOM SEVEN MOTHERS
SUCKLED.
Once on a time there reigned a king who had seven queens. He was very sad, for
the seven queens were all barren. A holy mendicant, however, one day told the
king that in a certain forest there grew a tree, on a branch of which hung seven
mangoes; if the king himself plucked those mangoes and gave one to each of the
queens they would all become mothers. So the king went to the forest, plucked
the seven mangoes that grew upon one branch, and gave a mango to each of the
queens to eat. In a short time the king's heart was filled with joy, as he heard
that the seven queens were all with child. One day the king was out hunting,
when he saw a young lady of peerless beauty cross his path. He fell in love with
her, brought her to his palace, and married her. This lady was, however, not a
human being, but a Rakshasi; but the king of course did not know it. The king
became dotingly fond of her; he did whatever she told him. She said one day to
the king, "You say that you love me more than any one else. Let me see whether
you really love me so. If you love me, make your seven other queens blind, and
let them be killed."
The king became very sad at the request of his best-beloved queen, the more so
as the seven queens were all with child. But there was nothing for it but to
comply with the Rakshasi-queen's request. The eyes of the seven queens were
plucked out of their sockets, and the queens themselves were delivered up to the
chief minister to be destroyed. But the chief minister was a merciful man.
Instead of killing the seven queens he hid them in a cave which was on the side
of a hill. In course of time the eldest of the seven queens gave birth to a
child. "What shall I do with the child," said she, "now that we are blind and
are dying for want of food? Let me kill the child, and let us all eat of its
flesh." So saying she killed the infant, and gave to each of her sister-queens a
part of the child to eat. The six ate their portion, but the seventh or youngest
queen did not eat her share, but laid it beside her. In a few days the second
queen also was delivered of a child, and she did with it as her eldest sister
had done with hers. So did the third, the fourth, the fifth, and the sixth
queen. At last the seventh queen gave birth to a son; but she, instead of
following the example of her sister-queens, resolved to nurse the child. The
other queens demanded their portions of the newly-born babe. She gave each of
them the portion she had got of the six children which had been killed, and
which she had not eaten but laid aside. The other queens at once perceived that
their portions were dry, and could not therefore be the parts of the child just
born. The seventh queen told them that she had made up her mind not to kill the
child but to nurse it. The others were glad to hear this, and they all said that
they would help her in nursing the child. So the child was suckled by seven
mothers, and it became after some years the hardiest and strongest boy that ever
lived. In the meantime the Rakshasi-wife of the king was doing infinite mischief
to the royal household and to the capital. What she ate at the royal table did
not fill her capacious stomach. She therefore, in the darkness of night,
gradually ate up all the members of the royal family, all the king's servants
and attendants, all his horses, elephants, and cattle; till none remained in the
palace except she herself and her royal consort. After that she used to go out
in the evenings into the city and eat up a stray human being here and there. The
king was left unattended by servants; there was no person left to cook for him,
for no one would take his service. At last the boy who had been suckled by seven
mothers, and who had now grown up to a stalwart youth, volunteered his services.
He attended on the king, and took every care to prevent the queen from
swallowing him up, for he went away home long before nightfall; and the Rakshasi-queen
never seized her victims except at night. Hence the queen determined in some
other way to get rid of the boy. As the boy always boasted that he was equal to
any work, however hard, the queen told him that she was suffering from some
disease which could be cured only by eating a certain species of melon, which
was twelve cubits long, but the stone of which was thirteen cubits long, and
that that fruit could be had only from her mother, who lived on the other side
of the ocean. She gave him a letter of introduction to her mother, in which she
requested her to devour the boy the moment he put the letter into her hands. The
boy, suspecting foul play, tore up the letter and proceeded on his journey. The
dauntless youth passed through many lands, and at last stood on the shore of the
ocean, on the other side of which was the country of the Rakshasis. He then
bawled as loud as he could, and said, "Granny! granny! come and save your
daughter; she is dangerously ill." An old Rakshasi on the other side of the
ocean heard the words, crossed the ocean, came to the boy, and on hearing the
message took the boy on her back and re-crossed the ocean. So the boy was in the
country of the Rakshasis. The twelve-cubit melon with its thirteen-cubit stone
was given to the boy at once, and he was told to perform the journey back. But
the boy pleaded fatigue, and begged to be allowed to rest one day. To this the
old Rakshasi consented. Observing a stout club and a rope hanging in the
Rakshasi's room, the boy inquired what they were there for. She replied, "Child,
by that club and rope I cross the ocean. If any one takes the club and the rope
in his hands, and addresses them in the following magical words,
"A monstrous bird comes out apparently from the palace.
"O stout club! O strong robe!
Take me at once to the other side
then immediately the club and rope will take him to the other side of the
ocean."
Observing a bird in a cage hanging in one corner of the room, the boy inquired
what it was. The old Rakshasi replied, "It contains a secret, child, which must
not be disclosed to mortals, and yet how can I hide it from my own grandchild?
That bird, child, contains the life of your mother. If the bird is killed, your
mother will at once die." Armed with these secrets, the boy went to bed that
night. Next morning the old Rakshasi, together with all the other Rakshasis,
went to distant countries for forage. The boy took down the cage from the
ceiling, as well as the club and rope. Having well secured the bird, he
addressed the club and rope thus,
"O stout club! strong rope!
Take me at once to the other side.''
In the twinkling of an eye the boy was put on this side the ocean. He then
retraced his steps, came to the queen, and gave her, to her astonishment, the
twelve-cubit melon with its thirteen-cubit stone; but the cage with the bird in
it he kept carefully concealed.
In the course of time the people of the city came to the king and said, "A
monstrous bird comes out apparently from the palace every evening, and seizes
the passengers in the streets and swallows them up. This has been going on for
so long a time that the city has become almost desolate."
The king could not make out what this monstrous bird was. The king's servant,
the boy, replied that he knew the monstrous bird, and that he would kill it
provided the queen stood beside the king. By royal command the queen was made to
stand beside the king. The boy then took the bird from the cage which he had
brought from the other side of the ocean, on seeing which she fell into a
fainting fit. Turning to the king the boy said, "Sire, you will soon perceive
who the monstrous bird is that devours your subjects every evening. As I tear
off each limb of this bird, the corresponding limb of the man-devourer will fall
off." The boy then tore off one leg of the bird in his hand; immediately, to the
astonishment of the whole assembly, for the citizens were all present, one of
the legs of the queen fell off. And when the boy squeezed the throat of the
bird, the queen gave up the ghost. The boy then related his own history and that
of his mother and his stepmothers. The seven queens, whose eyesight was
miraculously restored, were brought back to the palace; and the boy that was
suckled by seven mothers was recognised by the king as his rightful heir. So
they lived together happily.']
[71] [Rit. ch. 149. 'The Osiris has known thy name, he has known the seven cows and their bull, who give of food and of drink to the living, and who feed the Gods of the West.' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]
[72]
['Gospel of the Nativity of Mary,' ch. 8, in
Cowper,
Apocryphal Gospels, p. 93. 'Now among others was Joseph, an aged man of
the house and family of David; but when all of them brought their rods in order,
he alone withdrew his. Therefore, when nothing appeared agreeable to the divine
voice, the chief priest thought that God should be consulted again; and He
answered that of those who were designated, he alone to whom He must espouse the
virgin had not brought his rod. Joseph therefore was betrayed; for when he
brought his rod, and a dove came from heaven and sat on the top of it, it was
plainly apparent to all that the virgin was to be espoused to him. When,
therefore, the betrothal had been celebrated in the wonted manner, he retired to
the city of Bethlehem to set his house in order, and to procure what was
required by his marriage. But Mary, the virgin of the Lord, with seven* other
virgins of like age, and brought up with her, which she had received from the
priest, returned to the house of her parents in Galilee.
* Comp. Pseudo-Matthew, viii.'
Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, in ibid., pp.
41-4. 'Now it came to pass, that when she was fourteen years of age, and this
gave occasion to the Pharisees to say that according to custom a woman of that
age could not remain in the temple of God, a decision of this kind was come to,
that a crier should be sent among all the tribes of Israel, (saying) that all
should meet on the third day, at the temple of the Lord. Now when all the people
had met, Abiathar, the high priest, arose, and ascended to the upper step, so
that he could be seen and heard by all the people; and when great silence was
made, he said. Hear me, children of Israel, and receive my words in your ears.
Since your temple was built by Solomon, there have been therein virgins, the
daughters of kings, and the daughters of prophets, and of high priests, and of
priests, and they have been great and admirable. But when they have come to a
lawful age, they have been given in marriage to husbands, and have followed the
course of their precursors, and have pleased God. But by Mary alone a new order
of life has been invented, and she promiseth God that she will remain a virgin.
"Wherefore it seems to me, that by our inquiry and the answer of God, we should
seek to know to whom she ought to be committed to be kept. Then his saying
pleased all the synagogue. And the lot was cast by the priests for the twelve
tribes, and the lot fell upon the tribe of Judah. And the priest said, On the
next day, let whoever is without a wife come and bring a rod in his hand.
"Wherefore it came to pass, that Joseph brought a rod along with the younger
men. And when they had delivered their rods to the high priest, he offered
sacrifice to the Lord God, and asked of the Lord; and the Lord said to him. Put
the rods of all in God's holy of holies, and there let the rods remain, and bid
them come to thee in the morning to receive their rods, and to him from the top
of whose rod a dove shall come forth and fly to heaven, and in whose hand the
rod, when returned, shall give this sign, Mary shall be delivered to be kept.
Now on the next day, when they all came early, and an
offering of incense had been made, the high priest went into the holy of holies
and brought out the rods. And when he had given a rod to each, and a dove had
not gone forth from any, the chief priest arrayed himself with twelve bells and
a priestly robe and went into the holy of holies and burned sacrifice and poured
out prayer there. And an angel of God appeared, saying, There is here a very
short rod which thou hast counted for nothing, and hast placed it with the rest,
but hast not taken it out with the rest: when thou hast taken that out and given
to him to whom it belongs, there shall appear in it the sign which I have spoken
to thee of. It was the rod of Joseph, and because he was old he was as it were
discarded, as though he could not receive it; but neither would he himself ask
for his rod. And when he stood, humble and the last, the chief-priest with a
loud voice cried to him, saying. Come Joseph, and receive thy rod, because thou
art waited for. And Joseph came fearing, because the high priest called him with
so very loud a voice. But straightway as he stretched out his hand to receive
his rod, immediately a dove went forth from its top, whiter than snow and most
beautiful, and fluttering a long time among the pinnacles of the temple, at last
it flew towards the heavens. Then all the people congratulated the old man,
saying. Thou art become blessed in thy old age, father Joseph, in that God hath
shown thee fit to receive Mary. And when the priests had said to him. Take her,
for out of all the tribe of Judah thou alone art elected by God, Joseph began to
worship them with modesty, saying, I am old and have sons, and why doth deliver
to me this little child, whose age is less even than that of my grandchildren?
Then Abiathar the chief priest said to him, Remember, Joseph, how Dathan and
Abiram and Korah perished, because they contemned the will of God. So will it
happen to thee if thou contemnest what is commanded by God. Joseph answered him,
I do not contemn the will of God, indeed, but I will be her keeper until I know
this by the will of God, which of my sons can have her to wife. Let there be
given her certain virgins of her companions for a solace, with whom she may
meanwhile abide. Abiathar the chief priest answered, saying. Five! virgins shall
be given, indeed, for her solace, until the day appointed cometh in which thou
shalt take her, for she cannot be joined to another in matrimony.
Then Joseph took Mary with five* other virgins, who were to
be with her in the house of Joseph. Now these virgins were Rebecca, Zipporah,
Susanna, Abigea, and Gael, to whom there was given by the chief priest, silk and
blue, and fine linen, and scarlet, and purple, and flax. And they cast lots
among themselves what each virgin should do; and it fell out that Mary received
the purple for the veil of the temple of the Lord. When she had received it, the
virgins said. Since thou art the last, and humble, and less than all, thou hast
deserved to receive and obtain the purple. And saying this, as though in a
vexatious speech, they began to call her the queen of virgins. Therefore, while
they did thus among themselves, an angel of the Lord appeared among them saying
unto them. That saying shall not be uttered for vexing, but prophesied for a
most true prophecy. Therefore, being terrified at the presence of the angel and
at his words, they asked her to pardon them and pray for them.
* Seven virgins are assigned in the
Protevangelium, chap. x.'
The version in Ante-Nicene Fathers, ch. 8, runs
thus: 'Now there was among the rest Joseph, of the
house and family of David, a man of great age: and when all brought there rods,
according to the order, he alone withheld his. Wherefore, when nothing in
conformity with the divine voice appeared, the high priest thought it necessary
to consult God a second time; and He answered, that of those who had been
designated, he alone to whom the virgin ought to be espoused had not brought his
rod. Joseph, therefore, was found out. For when he had brought his rod, and the
dove came from heaven; and settled upon the top of it, it clearly appeared to
all that he was the man to whom the virgin should be espoused. Therefore, the
usual ceremonies of betrothal having been gone through, he went back to the city
of Bethlehem to put his house in order, and to procure things necessary for the
marriage. But Mary, the virgin of the Lord, with seven other virgins of her own
age, and who had been weaned at the same time, whom she had received from the
priest, returned to the house of her parents in Galilee.'
See also the ANCL, version of Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, ch.
8.]
[73] [First pub. in 1593 as Venus and Adonis. Vilia miretur vulgus: mihi flauus Apollo. Pocula Castalia plena minister aqua. Imprinted by Richard Field, and are to be sold at the signe of the White Greyhound in Paules Church-yard; London.]
[74] [See Sohrab and Rustom here.]
[75] [Of Isis and Osiris, ch.19.]
[76] [Rit. ch. 80. 'I have brought my orb to the darkness; it is changed to light.' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]
[77] [Source.]
[78] [Renouf, 'Tale of the Two Brothers,' RP, 2, 137.]
[79] [Gen. 39:1-20. 'And Joseph was
brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the
guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmeelites, which had
brought him down thither.
And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the
house of his master the Egyptian.
And his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that
he did to prosper in his hand.
And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him: and he made him overseer
over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand.
And it came to pass from the time that he had made him overseer in his house,
and over all that he had, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian's house for
Joseph's sake; and the blessing of the LORD was upon all that he had in the
house, and in the field.
And he left all that he had in Joseph's hand; and he knew not ought he had, save
the bread which he did eat. And Joseph was a goodly person, and well favoured.
And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes
upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me.
But he refused, and said unto his master's wife, Behold, my master wotteth not
what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand;
There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing
from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great
wickedness, and sin against God?
And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not
unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her.
And it came to pass about this time, that Joseph went into the house to do his
business; and there was none of the men of the house there within.
And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment
in her hand, and fled, and got him out.
And it came to pass, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and
was fled forth,
That she called unto the men of her house, and spake unto them, saying, See, he
hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us; he came in unto me to lie with me,
and I cried with a loud voice:
And it came to pass, when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, that he
left his garment with me, and fled, and got him out.
And she laid up his garment by her, until his lord came home.
And she spake unto him according to these words, saying, The Hebrew servant,
which thou hast brought unto us, came in unto me to mock me:
And it came to pass, as I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment
with me, and fled out.
And it came to pass, when his master heard the words of his wife, which she
spake unto him, saying, After this manner did thy servant to me; that his wrath
was kindled.
And Joseph's master took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the
king's prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison.']
[80] [Rit. ch. 80. 'I weave the woof of
the Firmament, giving light to the orb [hour], guarding the forepart of the orb
[hour] at the paths of total darkness, for the Gods of Dawn or Lions are in my
belly by my great incantations. I kiss, I embrace him, I come to him, I have
fallen down with him in the [Eastern] Valley of Abydos. I have given welcome. I
am the Tongue or the writer. I have taken the Perceptions in the land, where I
found them. I have deprived the darkness of its power. I am the Woman, the orb
[hour] of darkness. I have brought my orb to the darkness; it is changed to
light.
I have made the Eye of Horus when it was not coming on the
festival of the 15th day. I am the Woman, an orb of light in the darkness. I
have brought my orb to darkness; it is changed into light.
I have united Sut in the upper houses, through the old man
with him. I am the Woman, the orb in the darkness. I have brought my orb to the
darkness; it is changed into light.
I have prepared truth at the gate of the Moon, I have taken
the crown. I am the Woman, the orb in the darkness; it is changed into light.
Its fields are blue at its festival. I am the Woman, &c.; it
is to give light to him.
Its feathers are on my body; they are as copper and lead at
his months, I am the Woman, &c.
I overthrow the Extinguishers of Flame; I adore those who are
in the darkness. I have stood, the fiends (?) have hidden their faces. Behold,
ye seats [?]. I have not made ye listen there.' Birch's tr. Cf.
Renouf.]
[81] [Birch, Dictionary of Hieroglyphics.]
[82] [Source.]
[83] [Chips from a German Workshop, vol. 2, p. 245. 'Mr. Campbell thinks it is of Gaelic origin, because the speech of the frog in Gaelic is an imitation of the gurgling and quacking of spring frogs. However, the first question to answer is this, How came such a story ever to be invented? Human beings, we may hope, were at all times sufficiently enlightened to know that a marriage between a frog and the daughter of a queen was absurd. No poet could ever have sat down to invent sheer nonsense like this. We may ascribe to our ancestors any amount of childlike simplicity, but we must take care not to degrade them to the rank of mere idiots. There must have been something rational in the early stories and myths; and until we find a reason for each, we must just leave them alone as we leave a curious petrifaction which has not yet been traced back to a living type.']
[84] [Source.]
[85] [Source.]
[86] [Source.]
[87] [Hieroglyphica, bk.
1. 14. 'To denote the moon, or the habitable world, or letters,
or a priest, or anger, or swimming, they pourtray a
CYNOCEPHALUS. And they symbolise the moon by it, because the animal has a
kind of sympathy with it at its conjunction with the god. For at the exact
instant of the conjunction of the moon with the sun, when the moon becomes
unillumined, then the male Cynocephalus neither sees, nor eats, but is bowed
down to the earth with grief, as if lamenting the ravishment of the moon: and
the female also, in addition to its being unable to see, and being afflicted in
the same manner as the male, ex genitalibus sanguinem emittit: hence even to
this day cynocephali are brought up in the temples, in order that from them may
be ascertained the exact instant of the conjunction of the sun and moon. And
they symbolise by it the habitable world, because they hold that there
are seventy-two primitive countries of the world; and because these animals,
when brought up in the temples, and attended with care, do not die like other
creatures at once in the same day, but a portion of them dying daily is buried
by the priests, while the rest of the body remains in its natural state, and so
on till seventy-two days are completed, by which time it is all dead. They also
symbolise letters by it, because there is an Egyptian race of cynocephali
that is acquainted with letters; wherefore, when a cynocephalus is first brought
into a temple, the priest places before him a tablet, and a reed, and ink, to
ascertain whether it be of the tribe that is acquainted with letters, and
whether it writes. The animal is moreover consecrated to Hermes [Thoth], the
patron of all letters. And they denote by it a priest, because by nature
the cynocephalus does not eat fish, nor even any food that is fishy, like the
priests. And it is born circumcised, which circumcision the priests also adopt.
And they denote by it anger, because this animal is both exceedingly
passionate and choleric beyond others:—and swimming, because other animals by
swimming appear dirty, but this alone swims to whatever spot it intends to
reach, and is in no respect affected with dirt.'
See also BB 1:431 for
other refs to this chapter.]
[88] [Smyth, Aborigines, vol. 1, p. 423. 'PUND-JEL or Bun-jil created all things, but he made no women. Pund-jel has a wife named Boi-boi, whose face he has never seen. Yet he has a son whose name is Bin-beal, and a brother named Pal-ly-yan. Though Pund-jel was the creator of all things, he had help from Bin-beal and Pal-ly-yan. Pund-jel always carries a large knife or sword (Bul-li-to kul-pen-kul-pen gye-up) and when he made the earth (Beek) he went all over it, cutting it in many places, and thereby formed creeks and rivers, and mountains and valleys. All these things are believed by the Boo-noo-rong or Coast tribe.']
[89] [Afanassieff, Story 23. But see
Ralston, Russian Folktales, p. 184. 'So Prince Ivan returned home with a
false bride. But a certain old man took out the infant prince afield, and there
his mother appeared, flung aside her feather-covering, and suckled the babe,
exclaiming the while with tears 'To-day I suckle thee, to-morrow I shall suckle
thee, but on the third day I shall fly away beyond the dark forests, beyond the
high mountains!'
This occurred on two successive days, but on the second occasion Prince Ivan was
a witness of what took place, and he seized her feather-dress and burnt it, and
then laid hold of her. She first turned into a frog, then assumed various
reptile forms, and finally became a spindle. This he broke in two, and flung one
half in front and the other behind him, and the spell was broken along with it.
So he regained his wife and went home with her. But as for the false wife, he
took a gun and shot her.']
[90] [Source.]
[91] [Hieroglyphica, bk. 1. 9. 'To denote marriage, they again depict TWO CROWS, on account of what has been mentioned.']
[92] [Missionary Labours, p. 245. 'But it is a curious fact that while savages are, as a rule, so credulous, they often laugh at the religious doctrines taught them by missionaries. Elsewhere they recognise certain essential doctrines as familiar forms of old. Dr. Moffat remarks, "To speak of the Creation, the Fall and the Resurrection, seemed more fabulous, extravagant and ludicrous to them than their own vain stories of lions and hyaenas." Again, "The Gospel appeared too preposterous for the most foolish to believe."' From Lang, Myth, Ritual and Religion, vol. 1, p. 93.]
[93] [Hearne, Journey Among the Indians, p. 350. 'Hearne knew a Red Man, Matorabhee, who, "though a perfect bigot with regard to the arts and tricks of the jugglers, could yet by no means be impressed with a belief of any part of our religion."' Ibid., p. 93.]
[94] [Rochon, Madagascar: Robert Drury's Journal, during
Fifteen Years' Captivity on that Island. And A Further Description of
Madagascar, pp. 139-40. 'I only told them we had a way of
preserving the memory of things which they knew nothing of, and by this means, I
said, we had an account of the beginning of the world, and of its being created
by God, and that I could tell them a great many strange things relating
thereunto, which they then desired to hear: and accordingly I told them that the
world was originally dark, and a confused heap, and that God made the sun and
moon, beast, fish, fowl, trees, herbs, and everything else. They still continued
the first objection, and, as they thought, with more reason than before; "for,"
said one of them, "if you have a better way of keeping the memory of things than
we, yet I am sure you can't have the knowledge of what was done before there was
any man made to see it." To this I replied, "That God had revealed the knowledge
of this, and a great deal more to some particular persons," which they gladly
attending to hear, I went on to the creation of man, and then of the woman's
being made out of a rib, which God took from him while he was asleep. At this
they all broke out into amazement and laughter, and Deaan Murnanzack said, "It
was a plain untruth, and that it was a shame to tell it with a serious
countenance. By this, he said, he knew all the rest was false, for if this was
true a woman would have a rib more than a man, and a man want one on one side,
and have fewer than on the other."
Here I committed a great error through ignorance, which, however, I can't help
confessing. I hope our divines and all good Christians will consider the
circumstances I was in, and forgive me, for I had no more wit than to insist on
the truth of it, and affirm what I had heard when a child from ignorant persons,
"that a man had one rib less on one side than the other," and I had assurance
enough to put the whole argument upon this issue, and offered to lay my life as
a wager on it. The prince laughed at me, and refused my wager, but we bad two
women with us; he was very lean, whom they called and told her ribs, finding
them equal; and then a man, and found the same. But they were not all of them
convinced of the true number, not perfectly satisfying themselves, nor could I
myself, in attempting to count them after them. From this time I perceived Deaan
Murnanzack treated all I said on religion with contempt; and immediately
resumed his former objection with more vigour, and said, "That to talk what was
done before man was made was silly, and that what I said of God's talking with
men, and telling them such things had no proof, and the things I pretended to
know and talk of were only old women's stories."']
[95] [Rit. ch. 28. 'The branch is of prayer by which I have there made myself like him; Osiris who dwells in the West has judged the Osiris, trying the heart in the broad places [Halls].' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]
[96] [Source.]
[97] [Reclus, Primitive Folk, p. 320. 'Sometimes the victim was slowly roasted, a torment chosen as the most cruel of any; sometimes she was despatched by a blow to the heart, and the priest plunged a wooden image into the gaping wound, that the mannikin might be gorged with blood. Elsewhere the meriah was fastened to the stake by her hair, four men dragged her legs apart and extended her arms in a cross, and the djanni cut off her head; or else, seizing her by her four limbs, they held her in a horizontal position, her face towards the sun; the priest pronounced a short prayer, and severed her neck, which dripped into a hole, the blood flowing in streams into the Chthonic Goddess. Others made use of a more complicated process: to cause the victim to fall head foremost into the pit they suspended her over the opening by heels and neck. That she might not be strangled, she instinctively clutched the sides of the trench with her hands, and the priest with his carving knife set about slashing her ankles, thighs, and back; at the seventh stroke he cut off her head. When the thing was done, he thrust the red and sticky iron into the stake and left it there until the next sacrifice. After the third execution, the blade had deserved well of the people; they came in great pomp to unfasten it, and take it to retire upon its laurels in a temple. There was yet another method. The djanni forced the sufferer's head into a cleft bamboo, the two halves of which were drawn together with a cord by an assistant. The crowd had only been waiting for this moment; with drunken shouts and savage yells, they rushed upon the quarry, and each set to work with nails and knife; all tore off a Strip of palpitating flesh, all helped to mangle and dismember.']
[98] [Source.]
[99] [Source.]
[100] ['The Manners and Customs of the
Dieyerie Tribe of Australian Aborigines,' in Woods' The Native Tribes of
South Australia,
p. 276. 'This is one of their grandest ceremonies. When there is a drought or
dry season, frequent in the Dieyerie country the natives have a hard time of it.
No fresh herbs, no roots nothing but ardour have they to subsist on. The parched
earth yielding no grass, the emu, reptiles, &c., are so poor as to be
nearly valueless for food; it is, therefore, easily perceived that to the
natives rain is the supremest blessing. Believing they have the power of
producing it, under the inspiration of Mooramoora (the Good Spirit), they
proceed as follows: Women, generally accompanied by their paramours, are
despatched to the various camps to assemble the natives together at a given
place. After the tribe is gathered, they dig a hole about two feet deep, twelve
feet long, and from eight to ten feet broad. Over this they build a hut, by
placing stiff logs about three feet apart, filling the spaces between with
slighter logs, the building being of conical form, as the base of the erection
is wider than its apex—then the stakes are
covered with boughs.
This hut is only sufficiently large to contain the old men,
the young ones sit at the entrance or outside. This completed, the women are
called to look at the hut, which they approach from the rear, then dividing,
some one way, and some the other, go round until they reach the entrance each
looking inside, but passing no remark. They then return to their camp, distant
about five hundred yards. Two men, supposed to have received a special
inspiration from the Mooramoora, are selected for lancing, their arms
being bound tightly with string near the shoulders to hinder too profuse an
effusion of blood. When this is done all the men huddle together, and an old
man, generally the most influential of the tribe, takes a sharp flint and bleeds
the two men inside the arm below the elbow on one of the leading arteries—the
blood being made to flow on the men sitting around, during which the two men
throw handfuls of down, some of which adheres to the blood, the rest floating in
the air.']
[101] [1 Kin. 18:28. 'And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.']
[102] [Callaway, Religious System of the Amazulu, pp. 407-8. 'The account of the Insingizi. The Insingizi is a heaven-bird; it is a large bird. If the heaven is scorching, and the sun burns up the corn, the people go to rain-doctors; others hasten to find an Insingizi, thinking that if they find one, and kill it, the heaven will rain, when the bird has been thrown into a pool of the river. And indeed it is killed and thrown, into a pool. And if it rains, it is said it rains for the sake of the Insingizi which has been killed. It is said the heaven becomes soft it sympathises with it, and ceases to be hard; it wails for it by raining, wailing a funeral wail. And so the people are saved by having corn to eat. This then is what I know about the Insingizi. It is this bird which is sought for more than all others; for although the heaven be dry and scorching, if the people see many Izinsingizi walking in the open country and crying, it seems to men that they see a sign of rain because they see the Izinsingizi, and they trust that it will rain be cause they cry so much.']
[103] [Source.]
[104] [Spencer & Gillen, Natives Tribes of Central Australia, p. 338. 'However, to return to the Erathipa stone. There is on one side of it a round hole through which the spirit children are supposed to be on the look-out for women who may chance to pass near, and it is firmly believed that visiting the stone will result in conception. If a young woman has to pass near to the stone and does not wish to have a child she will carefully disguise her youth, distorting her face and walking with the aid of a stick. She will bend herself double like a very old woman, the tones of whose voice she will imitate, saying, "Don't come to me, I am an old woman." Above the small round hole a black line is painted with charcoal, and this is always renewed by any man who happens to visit the spot. It is called Iknula, and a black line such as this, and called by the same name, is always painted above the eye of a newly-born child, as it is supposed to prevent sickness. Not only may the women become pregnant by visiting the stone, but it is believed that by performing a very simple ceremony, a malicious man may cause women and even children who are at a distance to become so.']
[105] [Orpen, NC, August, 1896, 192-93.]
[106] [Not in The Ruined Cities of Mashonaland. Unable to trace.]
[107] [Ibid.]
[108] [Rit. ch. 39. (Renouf's tr.)]
[109] [Rit. ch. 93. '... things for millions of years as Baba. I am strong, he will be strong. He will prevail. I should go, or I should pass, to the East, for all the evil things in the festivals of the wicked are known to me, if Khepera should twist the horns, or wish to take and eat the phallus of the Sun or the head of Osiris.' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]
[110] [Rit. ch. 17. 'The white lion clawing the head is the phallus of Osiris, or the phallus of the Sun.' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]
[111] [Herodotus, Histories, bk. 2,
48. 'To Bacchus, on the eve of his
feast, every Egyptian sacrifices a hog before the door of his house, which is
then given back to the swineherd by whom it was furnished, and by him carried
away. In other respects the festival is celebrated almost exactly as Bacchic
festivals are in Greece, excepting that the Egyptians have no choral dances.
They also use instead of phalli another invention, consisting of images a cubit
high, pulled by strings, which the women carry round to the villages. A piper
goes in front, and the women fellow, singing hymns in honour of Bacchus. They
give a religious reason for the peculiarities of the image.' Tr., Rawlinson.
'Then for Dionysos on the eve of the festival each one kills a pig by cutting
its throat before his own doors, and after that he gives the pig to the
swineherd who sold it to him, to carry away again; and the rest of the feast of
Dionysos is celebrated by the Egyptians in the same way as by the Hellenes in
almost all things except choral dances, but instead of the "phallos" they have
invented another contrivance, namely figures of about a cubit in height worked
by strings, which women carry about the villages, with the privy member made to
move and not much less in size than the rest of the body: and a flute goes
before and they follow singing the praises of Dionysos. As to the reason why the
figure has this member larger than is natural and moves it, though it moves no
other part of the body, about this there is a sacred story told.' Tr., Macauley.]
[112] ['Refutation of all Heresies,' Ante-Nicene Fathers, 5, 50. 'And this is the great and secret and unknown mystery of the universe, concealed and revealed among the Egyptians. For Osiris, (the Naassene) says, is in temples in front of Isis; and his pudendum stands exposed, looking downwards, and crowned with all its own fruits of things that are made. And (he affirms) that such stands not only in the most hallowed temples chief of idols, but that also, for the information of all, it is as it were a light not set under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, proclaiming its message upon the housetops, in all byways, and all streets, and near the actual dwellings, placed in front as a certain appointed limit and termination of the dwelling, and that this is denominated the good (entity) by all.']
[113] [Source.]
[114] [Plutarch, Of Isis and Osiris, ch. 18.]
[115] [Rit. ch. 93. 'Let him not eat the phallus of the Sun, the head of Osiris.' Birch's tr. Parts of Renouf's tr. is based on the Turin text. See Renouf.]
[116] [Of Isis & Osiris, ch. ?]
[117] [The Natural Genesis.]
[118] [Source.]