Note 1069 — Chapter VI
Reading edition
It is noteworthy that among the numerous ætiological myths there seems to be no attempt to account for the origin of language. Language was thought of as so simple and natural a thing that no explanation of its beginnings was necessary. Adam, in Gen. ii, is able, as a matter of course, to give names to the animals. In early myths beasts have the power of speech. In a Nandi folk-story (Hollis, The Nandi, p. 113) what excites the wonder of the thunder and the elephant is not man's capacity of speech, but the fact that he can turn over when asleep without first getting up.