← Table of contents
Custom and Myth

Note {112a} — APOLLO AND THE MOUSE.

Reading edition

Liebrecht (Zur Volkskunde, p. 13, quoting Journal Asiatique, 1st series, 3, 307) finds the same myth in Chinese annals. It is not a god, however, but the king of the rats, who appears to the distressed monarch in his dream. Rats then gnaw the bowstrings of his enemies. The invaders were Turks, the rescued prince a king of Khotan. The king raised a temple, and offered sacrifice—to the rats?

Explore with AITake your curiosity a little further.

Reading settings