Note 378 — Chapter I · (continued 4)

[1] Mâ gâm anâgâm aditiṁ vadhishṭa; Ṛigv. viii. 90, 15.

[2] Gomâtaraḥ; Ṛigv. i. 8, 1, 3.—Aditis, called "mâtâ rudrâṇâm;" Ṛigv. viii. 90, 15.

[3] Tubhyaṁ (to Vâyus, to the wind), dhenuḥ sabardughâ viçvâ vasûni dohate aǵanayo maruto vakshaṇâbhyaḥ; Ṛigv. i. 134, 4.

[4] Imâs ta indra pṛiçnayo ghṛitaṁ duhata âçiram; Ṛigv. viii. 6, 19.—Trir asmâi sapta dhenavo duduhre satyâm âçiram pûrvye vyomani; Ṛigv. ix. 70, 1.—Trîṇi sarâṅsi pṛiçnayo duduhre vaǵriṇe madhu; Ṛigv. viii. 7, 10.—In the Râmâyaṇan, i. 48, the Marutas also appear in the number of 7.

[5] Pra çaṅsâ goshv aghnyaṁ krîḷaṁ yać ćhardho mârutam ǵambhe rasasya vâvṛidhe; Ṛigv. i. 37, 5.

[6] Ime ye te su vâyo bâhvoǵaso 'ntar nadî te patayanty ukshaṇo mahi vrâdhanta ukshaṇaḥ dhanvań ćid ye anâçavo ǵirâç, ćid aǵirâukasaḥ sûryasyeva raçmayo durniyantavo hastayor durniyantavaḥ; Ṛigv. i. 135, 9.

[7] Ṛiksho na vo marutaḥ çimîvâṇ amo dudhro gâur iva bhîmayuḥ; Ṛigv. v. 56, 3.

[8] Te syandrâso nokshaṇo 'ṭi shkandanti çarvarîḥ; Ṛigv. v. 52, 3.

[9] Tvam vâtâir aruṇâir yâsi; Tâittiriya Yaǵurvedas, i. 3, 14.—Ańǵibhir vy ânaǵre ke cid usrâ iva stṛibhiḥ; Ṛigv. i. 87, 1.

[10] Vṛishâ vṛishabhih; Ṛigv. i. 100, 4.—Gṛishṭiḥ sasûva sthaviraṃ tavâgâm anâdhṛishyaṃ vṛishabhaṁ tumram indram; Ṛigv. iv. 18, 10.—Sa mâtarâ na dadṛiçâna usriyo nânadad eti marutâm iva svanaḥ; Ṛigv. ix. 70, 6.

[11] Vṛishâyamâṇo vṛiṇita somam; Ṛigv. i. 32, 3.—Pituṁ nu stosham maho dharmâṇam tavishîm yasya trito (Tritas, as we shall see, is an alter ego of the god Indras) vy oǵasâ vṛitram viparvam ardayat; Ṛigv. i. 187, 1.

[12] Pibâ vardhasva; Ṛigv. iii. 36, 3.

[13] Indro madhu sambhṛitam usriyâyâm padvad viveda çaphavan name goḥ; Ṛigv. iii. 39, 6.

[14] Trî yać ćhatâ mahishâṇâm agho mâs trî sarâṇsi maghavâ somyâpâḥ kâraṁ na viçve ahvanta devâ bharam indrâya yad ahim ǵaghâna; Ṛigv. v. 29, 8.

[15] Vasoḥ kabandhamṛishabho bibharti; Atharvavedas, ix. 4, 3.

[16] Sruvati bhîmo vṛisḥabhas tavishyayâ çṛiñge çiçâno hariṇî vićakshaṇaḥ; Ṛigv. ix. 70, 7.

[17] Yas tigmaçṛiñgo vṛishabho na bhîma ekaḥ kṛishṭîç ćyâvayati pra viçvâḥ; Ṛigv. vii. 19, 1.—Idaṁ namo vṛishabhâya svarâǵe satyaçushmâya tavase 'vâći; Ṛigv. i. 51, 15.

[18] Çiçîte vaǵraṁ teǵase na vaṅsagaḥ; Ṛigv. i. 55, 1.

[19] Abhy enaṁ vaǵra âyasaḥ sahasrabhṛishṭir âyatârćano; Ṛigv. i. 80, 12.

[20] Sahasraçṛiñgo vṛishabho yaḥ samudrâd udâćarat; Ṛigv. vii. 55, 7.

[21] Vi tigmena vṛishabheṇa puro 'bhet; Ṛigv. i. 33, 13.

[22] Priyâ indrasya dhenavo vagraṁ hinvanti sâyakaṁ vasvîḥ; Ṛigv. i. 84, 10, 11, 12. The root, hi, properly signifies to distend, draw out; here, to draw out the arm of Indras seems to me to mean to elongate it, to render it as fine as a thread—to sharpen it (in Italian, affilare); the cows that sharpen (It. affilanti), are a variety of the cows that spin (It. filanti).

[23] Yuǵaṁ vaǵraṁ vṛishabhaç ćakra indro nir ǵyotishâ tamaso gâ adukshat; Ṛigv. i. 33, 10.

[24] Çiçîte çṛiñge rakshase vinikshe; Ṛigv. v. 2, 9.—Ćatvâri çṛiñgâ trayo asya pâdâ dve çîrshe sapta hastâso asya; Ṛigv. iv. 58, 3.—Tapurǵambho vana â vâtaćodito yûthe na sâhvân ava vâti vaṅsagaḥ abhi vraǵann akshitam pâǵasâ raǵaḥ sthâtuç ćaratham bhayate patatriṇaḥ; Ṛigv. i. 58, 5. In this stanza, however, Vaṅsagaḥ may probably signify rather the stallion than the bull, as we find in the second stanza this same Agnis already compared to a radiant horse (atyo na pṛishṭham prushitasya roćate).

[25] Adris and parvatas properly mean mountain, but, in the Vedâs, often cloud; and among their many meanings there is also that of tree; agas (properly that which does not move) expresses equally tree and mountain. Hence perhaps the Italian proverb: Le montagne stanno ferme, ma gli uomini s'incontrano, Mountains stand still, but men meet; hence the cry of Râmas in the Râmâyaṇam, ii. 122, that the Himâlayas would move before he should become a traitor; hence the assurance with which Macbeth, after the celebrated prophecy of the witches, can say: "That will never be; who can impress the forest; bid the tree unfix his earth-bound root?" Shakespeare (Macbeth, iv. 1.) Nevertheless the forest moved, as it not unfrequently does in the myths, where the tree-clouds walk, and fill all with terror wherever they go, where heroes and monsters often fight, by unrooting the trees of a whole forest. Cfr. Râmâyaṇam, iii. 3, 5, and the chapters of this work which treat of the Horse, the Bear, and the Monkey.

[26] Vraǵam gaćha gosthânam; Tâittir. Yaǵúr. i. 1, 9; cfr. Çatapathabrâhmaṇam, i. 2, 3, 4.

[27] Kṛishṇo nonâva vṛishabhaḥ; Ṛigv. i. 79, 2.—Vâçreva vidyun mimâti vatsaṁ na mâtâ sishakti; Ṛigv. i. 38, 8.

[28] Açmânaṁ ćit svaryam parvataṁ girim pra ćyâvayanti yâmabhiḥ; Ṛigv. v. 96, 4.

[29] Pavyâ rathânâm adrim bhindanty oǵasâ; Ṛigv. v. 52, 9. Pavis, in general, is the iron part, the iron end (of a dart, or a lance); here it would appear to be the iron tire of the chariot's wheels, which, driving furiously over the mountain, break it,—thunder, in fact, often suggests the idea of a noisy chariot making ruin in heaven.

[30] Vîraḥ karmaṇyaḥ sudaksho yuktagrâvâ ǵâyate devakâmaḥ; Ṛigv. iii. 4, 9.

[31] Ayaṁ çṛiṇve adha ǵayann uta ghnann ayam uta pra kṛiṇute yudhâ gâḥ; Ṛigv. iv. 17, 10.—Viḷu ćid âruǵatnubhir guhâ ćid indra vahnibhiḥ avinda usriyâ anu; Ṛigv. i. 6, 5.—Tvaṁ valasya gomato 'pavar adrivo bilam; Ṛigv. i. 11, 5.—Vi gobhir adrim âirayat; Ṛigv. i. 7, 3.—Ukshâ mimâti prati yanti dhenavaḥ; Ṛigv. ix. 69, 4.—Yad anyâsu vṛishabho roravîti so anyasmin yûthe ni dadhâti retaḥ; Ṛigv. iii. 55, 17.—Pûshaṅvân vaǵrint sam u patnyâmadaḥ; Ṛigv. i. 82, 6.

[32] Indrâgnî navatim puro dâsapatnîr adhûnutam sâkam ekena karmaṇâ; Ṛigv. iii. 12, 6; Tâitt. Yaǵurv. i. 1, 14. Cfr. chap. on Serpent.

[33] Devâsa âyan paraçûṅr abibhran vanâ vṛiçćanto abhi viḍbhir âyan ni sudrvaṁ dadhato vakshaṇâsu yatrâ kṛipîṭam anu tad dahanti; Ṛigv. x. 28, 8.

[34] Cfr. the chapter on the Bear and the Monkey.

[35] Vṛikshe-vṛikshe niyatâ mîmayad gâus tato vayaḥ pra patân pûrushâdaḥ viçvam bhuvanam bhayâte; Ṛigv. x. 27, 22.—Tvam âyasam prati vartayo gor divo açmânam; Ṛigv. i. 121, 9.

[36] Brihaspatir govapusho valasya nir maǵǵânaṁ na parvaṇo ǵabhâra; Ṛigv. x. 68, 9.

[37] Gâurîr mimâya salilâni takshaty ekapadî dvipadî sâ ćatushpadî—ashṭâpadî navapadî babhûvushî sahasrâksharâ parame vyoman; Ṛigv. i. 164, 41.

[38] Utâdaḥ parushe gavi sûraç ćakraṁ hiraṇyayam; Ṛigv. vi. 56, 3.

[39] Dâsapatnîr ahigopâ atishṭhan niruddhâ âpah paṇineva gâvaḥ; Ṛigv. i. 32, 11.

[40] Vishaṁ gavâṁ yâtudhânaḥ pibantu; Ṛigv. x. 87, 18. The same passage can, however, be also translated: "The demons of the cows may drink the poison."

[41] Ṛigv. iii. 12, 6; x. 27, 22.

[42] Ṛigv. ix. 70, 1.

[43] viii. 6, 19. Cfr. the chapters on the Horse and the Cuckoo.

[44] Vi raçmibhiḥ sasṛiǵe sûryo gâḥ; Ṛigv. vii. 36, 1.

[45] Ta vâm (the gods Vishṇus and Indras) vâstûny uçmasi gama-dhyâi yatra gâvo bhûriçṛiñgâ ayâsaḥ; Ṛigv. i. 154, 6. Here all the stars or cows together form many horns; but perhaps each star or cow in itself was supposed to have but one horn; for the stars, like the moon, shed but one ray of light, but one light. This, it appears to me, may be inferred from the name of Ekaçṛiñgâs or unicorns, given, in the later mythology of the Indians, to an entire order of Mani, of whom the stars are represented as the supreme habitations, and even purest forms.

[46] Kanyâ vâr avâyatî somam api srutâvidat astam bharanty abravîd indrâya sunavâi tvâ çakrâya sunavâi tvâ.—Indrâyendo pari srava; Ṛigv. viii. 80, 1, 3.

[47] Indrâsomâ tapataṁ raksha ubǵataṁ ny arpayataṁ vṛishaṇâ tamovṛidhaḥ; Ṛigv. vii, 104, 1.—The following stanzas reproduce and develop the same argument.

[48] Pańćokshaṇo madhye tasthur maho divaḥ—Te sedhanti patho vṛikaṁ tarantaṁ yahvatîr apaḥ; Ṛigv. i. 105, 10, 11.

[49] Vasavo gâuryaṁ ćit padi shitâm amuńćatâ yaǵtrâh; Ṛigv. iv. 12, 6.

[50] Takshan dhenuṁ sabardugham; Ṛigv. i. 20, 3.—Niç ćarmaṇo gâm ariṇîta dhîtibhiḥ; Ṛigv. i. 161, 7, e, iv. 36, 4.

[51] This interesting particular is more fully developed in the chapters which treat of the Wolf, the Pig and the Wild Boar, q. v.—To avoid useless and troublesome repetitions, I must observe here that the myths of morning and evening are often applied to spring and autumn, and the myths of night to winter.

[52] Rayim ṛibhavaḥ sarvavîram â takshata vṛishaṇo mandasânâḥ; Ṛigv. iv. 35, 6.

[53] Rayim ṛibhavas takshatâ vayaḥ; Ṛigv. iv. 36, 8.—Here again we have the cow in relation to the birds, since the riches given by the Ṛibhavas consist above all in cows. (Ye gomantaṁ vâǵavantaṁ suvîraṁ rayiṁ dhattha vasumantam purukshuṁ te agrepâ ṛibhavo mandasânâ asme dhatta ye ća râṭiṁ gṛiṇanti; Ṛigv. iv. 34, 10.)

[54] Çayave ćin nâsâtyâ çaćibhir ǵasuraye staryam pipyathur gâm; Ṛigv. i. 116. 22.—Yâ ǵarantâ yuvaçâ tâkṛiṇotana; Ṛigv. i. 161, 7.

[55] Ǵyeshṭha âha ćamasâ dvâ kareti kanîyân trîn kriṇavâmety âha kanishṭha âha ćaturas kareti tvashṭa ṛibhavas tat panayad vaćo vaḥ; Ṛigv. iv. 33, 5.

[56] Vâǵo devânâm abhavat sukarmendrasya ṛibhukshâ varuṇasya vibhvâ; Ṛigv. iv. 33, 9.

[57] Te vâǵo vibhvân ṛibhur indravantaḥ; Ṛigv. iv. 33, 3.

[58] Ṛibhur vibhvâ vâǵa indro no aćhemaṁ yaǵńaṁ ratnadheyopa yâta; Ṛigv. iv. 34, 1.—Pibata vâǵâ ṛibhavo; Ṛigv. iv. 34, 4.

[59] Dvâdaça dyûn yad agohyasyâtithye raṇann ṛibhavaḥ sasantaḥ sukshetrâkṛiṇvann anayanta sindhûn dhanvâtishṭhann oshadhîr nimnam âpaḥ; Ṛigv. iv. 33, 7.—Cfr. Ṛigv. i. 161, 11-13.

[60] Yamena dattaṁ trita enam âyunag indra eṇam prathamo adhy atishṭhat; Ṛigv. i. 163, 2.—Asi yamo asy âdityo arvann asi trito guhyena vratena asi somena samayâ vipṛikta âhus te trîṇi divi bandhanâni trîṇi ta âhur divi bandhanâni trîṇy apsu trîṇy antaḥ samudre; Ṛigv. i. 163, 3, 4.

[61] Vishṇus the three-faced is already spoken of in the Ṛigvedas and in the Yaǵurvedas. The third step of Vishṇus is taken among the cows with the great or many horns: Gamadhye gâvo yatra bhûri-çṛiñgâ ayâsaḥ atrâ 'ha tad urugâyasya vishṇoḥ paramam padam ava bhâti bhûreḥ; Tâittiriya Yaǵurv. i. 3, 6.

[62] Ṛigv. i. 187, 1, the passage already cited, when speaking of the water of strength.

[63] Na mâ garan nadyo mâtṛitamâ dâsâ yad îm susamubdham avâdhuḥ çiro yaḍ asya trâitano vitakshat; Ṛigv. i. 158, 5. We shall have occasion to return more than once to an analogous myth referring to Indras.

[64] Tritas tad vedâptyaḥ sa ǵâmitvâya rebhati; Ṛigv. i. 105, 9.—Gâmitvâ is properly the relation of brotherhood, and also relationship in general. Rebhas, or the invoker, represented as a hero, is no other than our Trita âptyas.

[65] Rebham nivṛitaṁ sitam adbhyaḥ; Ṛigv. i. 112, 5.

[66] Tritaḥ kûpe 'vahito devân havata ûtaye tać ćhuçrâva bṛihaspatiḥ kṛiṇvann aṅhûraṇâd uru; Ṛigv. i. 105, 17.

[67] Nîtimańǵarî, quoted by Wilson, Ṛigvedas-Saṁhitâ, vol. i.

[68] Â gâ âǵad uçanâ kâvyaḥ saćâ; Ṛigv. i. 83, 5.

[69] Patir gavâm abhavad eka indraḥ; Ṛigv. iii. 31, 4.

[70] Ǵaǵâna sûryam ushâsam; Ṛigv. iii. 32, 8.

[71] Sasânâtyâṅ uta sûryaṁ sasânendraḥ sasâna purubhoǵasam gâm; Ṛigv. iii. 34, 9.

[72] Mahi ǵyotir nihitaṁ vakshaṇâsu âmâ pakvaṁ ćarati bibhratî gâuḥ viçvaṁ svâdma sambhṛitam usriyâyâm; Ṛigv. iii. 30, 14.

[73] Indraḥ sîtâm ni gṛihṇâtu tâm pûshânu yaćhatu sâ naḥ payasvatî duhâm uttarâm-uttarâṁ samâm; Ṛigv. iv. 57, 7.

[74] Mṛidha ushṭro na; Ṛigv. i. 138, 2.

[75] Yat saṁvatsam ṛibhavo gâm arakshan yat saṁvatsam ṛibhavo mâ apiṅçan; Ṛigv. iv. 33, 4.

[76] Ushâ nâ râmîr aruṇâir aporṇute maho ǵyotishâ çućatâ goarṇasâ; Ṛigv. ii. 34, 12.

[77] Dhenuḥ pratnasya kâmyaṁ duhânântaḥ putraç ćarati dakshiṇâyâḥâ dyotaniṁ vahati çubhrayâmoshasaḥ stomo açvinâv aǵigaḥ; Ṛigv. iii. 58, 1.

[78] Ṛitâya dhenû parame duhâte; Ṛigv. iv. 23, 10.

[79] Gavâm mâtâ; Ṛigv. v. 45, 2.

[80] Areṇâvas tuǵa â sadman dhenavaḥ svaranti tâ uparatâti sûryam; Ṛigv. i. 151, 5.

[81] Ud apaptann aruṇâ bhânavo vṛithâ svâyuǵo arushîr gâ ayukshata; Ṛigv. i. 92, 2

[82] Yenâ navagve añgire daçagve saptâsye revatî revad ûsha; Ṛigv. iv. 51, 4.—The sun is also said to be drawn by seven fair horses; Ṛigv. i. 50, 9.—Cfr. the following chapter.

[83] Ta usho adrisâno gotrâ gavâm añgiraso gṛiṇanti; Ṛigv. vi. 65, 5.

[84] Ṛiteṇâdriṁ vy asan bhidantaḥ sam añgiraso navanta gobhiḥ çûnaṁ naraḥ pari shadann ushâsam; Ṛigv. iv. 3, 11.

[85] Praty u adarçy âyaty ućhantî duhitâ divaḥ—Ud usriyâḥ sṛiǵate sûryaḥ saćâ; Ṛigv. vii. 81, 1, 2.

[86] Vahanti sîm aruṇâso ruçanto gâvaḥ subhagâm urviyâ prathânâm apeǵate çûro asteva çatrûn bâdhate; Ṛigv. vi. 64, 3.

[87] Ruǵad dṛiḷhâni dadad usriyâṇâm prati gâva ushasaṁ vâvaçanta; Ṛigv. vii. 75, 7.

[88] Gâvo na vraǵaṁ vy ushâ avar tamaḥ; Ṛigv. i. 92, 4.

[89] Yo açvânâṁ yo gavâṁ gopatiḥ; Ṛigv. i. 101, 4.

[90] Yuñkte gavâm aruṇânâm anîkam; Ṛigv. i. 124, 11.—Esha gobhir aruṇebhir yuǵânâ; Ṛigv. v. 80, 3.

[91] Avishk Kṛinvânâ tanvam purastat ṛitasya panthâm anv eti; Ṛigv. v. 80, 4.

[92] Apaçyam gopâm anipadyamânam â ća parâ ća pathibhiç ćarantaṁ sa sadhrîćîḥ sa vishûćir vasâna â varîvarti bhuvaneshv antaḥ; Ṛigv. x. 177, 3.

[93] Apâd eti prathamâ padvatînâṁ kas tad vâm ćiketa; Ṛigv. i. 152, 3.

[94] Ratham ye ćakruḥ suvṛitam; Ṛigv. iv. 33, 8.—Takshan nâsatyâbhyâm pariǵmânaṁ sukhaṁ ratham; Ṛigv. i. 20, 3.

[95] Yuvo rathaṁ duhitâ sûryasya saha çriyâ nâsatyâvṛiṇîta; Ṛigv. i. 117, 13.—Â vâm rathaṁ duhitâ sûryasya kârshmevâtishṭhad arvatâ ǵayantî viçve devâ anv amanyanta hṛidbhih; Ṛigv. i. 116, 17.

[96] Yuktvâ ratham upa devân ayâtana; Ṛigv. i. 161, 7.—Pṛithû ratho dakshinâyâ ayogy âenam devâso amṛitâso asthuḥ; Ṛigv. i. 123, 1.—Devî ǵirâ rathânâm; Ṛigv. i. 48, 3.—Çataṁ rathebhiḥ subhagoshâ iyaṁ vi yâty abhi mânushân; Ṛigv. i. 48, 7.

[97] Ǵânaty ahnaḥ prathamasya; Ṛigv. i. 123, 9.

[98] Anu dvâ ǵahitâ nayo 'ndhaṁ çroṇaṁ ća vṛitrahan; Ṛigv. iv. 30, 19.

[99] Sakhâbhûd açvinor ushâḥ; Ṛigv. iv. 52, 2.—Parâvṛiǵam prandhaṁ çroṇaṁ ćakshasa etave kṛithaḥ; Ṛigv. i. 112, 8.—I here explicitly abandon the hypothesis I advanced six years ago in the "Life and Miracles of the God Indras in the Ṛigvedas," pp. 22 and 24, to the effect that the hero Pâravṛiǵ is the lightning flashing from the dark cloud; whereas the blind-lame seems now to me the sun in the darkness of night or winter.

[100] Sa vidvâṅ apagohaṁ kanînâm âvir bhavann udatishṭhat parâvṛik prati çronaḥ sthâd vy anag aćashṭa; Ṛigv. ii. 15, 7.

[101] Ṛigv. v. 48, 1.

[102] Etad ghed uta vîryam indra ćakartha pâuṅsyam striyaṁ yad durhaṇâ yuvaṁ vadhîr duhitaram divaḥ divaç ćid ghâ duhitaram mahân mahîyamânâm ushâsam indra sam piṇak aposhâ anasaḥ sarat sampishṭâd aha bibhyushî ni yat sîm çiçnathad vṛishâ; Ṛigv. iv. 30, 8-11.

[103] The two arms of Indras are said to vanquish the cow (or the cows); Goǵitâ bahû; Ṛigv. i. 102, 6.

[104] Vy ućhâ duhitar divo mâ ćiraṁ tanuthâ apaḥ net tvâ stenaṁ yathâ ripuṁ tapâti sûro arćishâ; Ṛigv. v. 79, 9.—Cfr. the chapter which treats of the Spider.

[105] Bhadro bhadrayâ saćamâna âgât svasâraṁ ǵâro abhy eti paçćat; Ṛigv. x. 3, 3.

[106] Cfr. Ṛigv. x. 17, and Max Müller's "Lectures on the Science of Language," second series, 481-486.

[107] Kanyeva tanvâ çâçadânâṅ (arepasâ tanvâ çâçadânâ; Ṛigv. i. 124, 6), eshi devi devam iyakshamâṇam saṁsmayamânâ yuvatiḥ purastâd âvir vakshâṅsi kṛiṇushe vibhâtî; Ṛigv. i. 123, 10.

[108] Ṛigv. i. 30, 20-22.

[109] Vy û vraǵasya tamaso dvâroćhantîr avran ćhućayaḥ pâvakâḥ; Ṛigv. iv. 51, 2.—Apa dvesho bâdhamânâ tamâṅsy ushâ divo duhitâ ǵyotishâgât; Ṛigv. v. 80, 5.—Spârhâ vasûni tamasâpagûḷhâ âvish, kṛiṇvanty ushaso vibhâtîḥ; Ṛigv. i. 123, 6.—Sasato bodhayantî; Ṛigv. i. 124, 4.—Viçvaṁ ǵivaṁ ćarase bodhayantî; Ṛigv. i. 92, 9.—Martyatrâ; Ṛigv. i. 123, 3.

[110] Viçvâni devî bhuvanâbhićakshyâ; Ṛigv. i. 92, 6.—Praǵânatî; Ṛigv. i. 124, 3.

[111] Arbhâd îshate na maho vibhâtî; Ṛigv. i. 124, 6.

[112] As to Ghoshâ, cured by the Açvinâu (Ṛigv. i. 117, 7), and Apalâ, cured by Indras (Ṛigv. viii. 80), see the same subject discussed more in detail in the chapter which treats of the Hog.

[113] Çukrâ kṛishṇâd aǵanishṭa çvitîćî; Ṛigv. i. 123, 9.

[114] Yasyânakshâ duhitâ ǵâtvâsa kas tâṁ vidvâṅ abhi manyâte andhâm kataro menim prati tam mućâte ya îm vahâte ya îm vâ vareyât; Ṛigv. x. 27, 11.—Vṛitrasya kanînikâ 'si ćakshushpâ asi; Tâittir. Yagurv. i. 2, 1.

[115] Apânyad ety abhy anyad eti vishurûpe ahanî saṁ ćarete; Ṛigv. i. 123, 7.

[116] Ruçadvatsâ ruçatî çvetyâgâd ârâig u kṛishṇâ sadanâny asyâḥ samânabandhû amṛite anûćî dyâvâ varṇaṁ ćarata âminâne samâno adhvâ svasror anantas tam anyânyâ ćarato devaçishṭe na methete na tasthatuḥ sumeke naktoshâsa samanasâ virûpe; Ṛigv. i. 113, 2, 3.

[117] Naktoshâsâ varṇam âmemyâne dhâpayete çiçum ekaṁ samîćî; Ṛigv. i. 96, 5.

[118] Nâǵâmiṁ na pari vṛiṇakti ǵâmim; Ṛigv. i. 124, 6.

[119] Vyûrṇvatî divo antân abodhy apa svasâraṁ sanutar yuyoti praminatî manushyâ yugâni yoshâ ǵarasya ćakshasâ vi bhâti; Ṛigv. i. 92, 11.

[120] Svasâ svasre ǵyâyasyâi yonim ârâik; Ṛigv. i. 124, 8.

[121] Nârîr apasaḥ; Ṛigv. i. 92, 3.

[122] Çućayaḥ pâvakâh; Ṛigv. iv. 51, 2.

[123] Yoshâ ǵârasya ćakshasâ vibhâti; Ṛigv. quoted above, i. 92, 11.

[124] Yatamânâ raçmibhiḥ sûryasya; Ṛigv. i. 123, 12.—Vyućhantî raçmibhiḥ sûryasya; Ṛigv. i. 124, 8.

[125] Ritasya yoshâ na minâti dhâma; Ṛigv. i. 123, 9.

[126] Susaṁkâçâ mâtṛimṛishṭeva yoshâvis tanvaṁ kriṇushe dṛiçe kam; Ṛigv. i. 123, 11.

[127] Eshâ çubhrâ na tanvo vidânordhveva snâtî dṛiçaye no asthât; Ṛigv. v. 80, 5.

[128] Adhi peçâṅsi vapate nṛitûr ivâporṇute vaksha usreva barǵaham; Ṛigv. i. 92, 4.

[129] Bhadrâ vastrâ tanvate; Ṛigv. i. 134, 4.

[130] Smayate vibhâtî supratîkâ; Ṛigv. i. 92, 6.

[131] Prâkramisham ushasâm agriyeva; Ṛigv. x. 95, 2.

[132] I must, however, observe that competent authorities, such as Professor Weber, consider the phallical worship of Çivas to have originated in the beliefs of the indigenous tribes of Dravidian race.

[133] Ṛigv. i. 123, 8.

[134] Vidique saepe, sed cumprimis anno 1785 in Malabaria ad flumen templo celebri Ambalapushe proximum, extra oppidum Callureàta in silvula, sententia regis Travancoridis Ráma Varmer, quinque viros arbori appensos et morti traditos, quod, contra regni leges et religionis præscripta, voluntarie unicam vaccam occiderint; Systema Brahmanicum, illustr. Fr. Paullinus a S. Bartholomæo, Romæ, 179.—Cfr. Mânava-Dharmaçâstram, xi. 60, and Yâgńavalkya-Dharmaçâstram, iii. 234.

[135] ii. 1, 8.

[136] Pańćagavyaṁ piban goghno mâsam âsîta saṁyataḥ goshṭreçayo go 'nugâmî gopradânena çudhyati; Dharm. iii. 263.

[137] Dharm. xi. 166.

[138] Ibid. iii. 271.

[139] Ka imaṁ daçabhir mamendraṁ krîṇâti dhenubhiḥ; Ṛigv. iv. 24, 10.

[140] Dharm. iii. 27.

[141] Gṛihyasûtrâṇi, i. 8, 9.—It was, moreover, on the occasion of a marriage, the custom to give cows to the Brâhmans; in the Râmâyaṇam, i. 74, the King Daçarathas, at the nuptials of his four sons, gives 400,000 cows.

[142] Â naḥ praǵâṁ ǵanayatu praǵâpatiḥ; Ṛigv. x. 85, 43.

[143] Goćarmavasano hariḥ; xiii. 1228.

[144] Cfr. Böhtlingk u. Roth's, Sanskrit Wörterbuch s. v. goćarman.

[145] Âçvalây. Gṛihyasû. iv. 3.

[146] Gṛihyasû. i. 13.—The commentator Nârâyaṇas, quoted by Professor Stenzler, in his version of Âçvalâyanas, explains how the two beans and grain of barley express by their form the male organs of generation.

[147] Gṛihyasû. i. 14.

[148] Gṛihyasû. ii. 10.—The St Antony, protector of animals, of the Vedic faith was the god Rudras, the wind, to whom, when the cattle were afflicted by a disease, it was necessary to sacrifice in the midst of an enclosure of cows.—Cfr. the same, Âçvalây. iv. 8.

[149] Yać ća goshu dushvapnyaṁ yać ćâsme duhitar divaḥ tritâya tad vibhâvary âptyâya parâ vahânehaso va ûtayaḥ suûtayo va ûtayaḥ; Ṛigv. viii. 47, 14.

[150] Payaḥ kṛishṇâsu ruçad rohiṇîshu; Ṛigv. i. 62, 9.—Cfr. Ṛigv. i. 123, 9.

[151] Gṛihyasû. iv. 3.

[152] Âçvalây; Gṛihyasû.

[153] v. 4, 23.

[154] Indro vâi vṛitraṁ hatvâ viçvakarmâbhavat; iv. 3, 22.

[155] iii. 2, 37.

[156] Ushase ćaṛuṁ yoshâḥ sâ râkâ so eva trishṭup gave ćarum ya gáuḥ sâ sinîvâlî (the new moon) so eva ǵagati; iii. 2, 48.

[157] Abhûd ushâ ruçatpaçur ityushaso rûpam; i. 2, 18.—Gobhiraruṇâir ushâ âǵimadhâvat tasmâd ushasyagatâyâm aruṇam ivaeva pra-bhátyusḥasorûpam; iv. 2, 9.—Abhûd ushâ ruçatpaçur ityushaso rûpam; i. 2, 18.

[158] Âit.-brâhm. vi. 4, 24.

[159] Âit.-brâhm. iv. 3, 17.

[160] iii. 8080.

[161] Cfr. Weber's Über die Kṛishṇaǵamâshtamî, Berlin, 1868; L'Inde Française, par Eugène Burnouf, Paris, 1828; The Hindoos, London, 1834, vol. i.

[162] iv. 3, 20.

[163] i. 3. 22.

[164] Mahînâm payo 'sy oshadhînáṁ rasaḥ; Taittir. Yagurv. i. 1, 10.—Kshîrodaṁ sâgaraṁ sarve mathnîmaḥ sahitâ vayaṁ nâuâushadhîḥ samâhṛitya prakshipya ća tatastataḥ; Râmây. i. 46.—Cfr. Kuhn's Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des Göttertranks, Berlin, 1859.

[165] The Gandhamâdanas is especially defended by the Gandharvâs, a word which seems to be composed of gandha, perfume, and arvas, the one who goes on (and afterwards the horse), from the root arv, expansion of ṛiv; according to this, they would therefore be those who go in the perfumes, as the nymphs beloved and guarded by them are they who go in the waters (ap-sarasas). Cfr. the chapter on the Ass.

[166] Cfr. Râmây. vi. 82, 83.

[167] Böhtlingk's Indische Sprüche, 122, erster Theil; 2^te Aufl. S. Petersburg, 1870.—Cfr. Mahâbhâratam, i. 1143-1145.

[168] Abhi tyaṁ devaṁ savitâram ûṇyoḥ kavikratum arćâmi satyasavasam ratnadhâm abhi priyam matiṃ; Tâittir. Yagurv. i. 2, 6.

[169] i. 46.

[170] xiii. 7034.

[171] Hariv., 12,367.

[172] Âruhya tasya çikhare so 'paçyat paramâushadîṁ dṛishṭvâ ćotpâtayâmâsa viçalyakaraṇîṁ çubhâm.—Viçalyo niruǵaḥ çîghramudatishṭhanmahîtalât; vi. 83.

[173] Sa nighṛishâñgulim râmo dhâute manaḥçilâgirâu ćakara tilakaṁ patnyâ lalâṭe rućiraṁ tadâ bâlârkasamavarṇena tena sâ giridhâtunâ lalâṭe vinivishṭhe na sasaṁdheva niçâbhavat; Râmây. ii. 105.

[174] Sîvyatu apaḥ sûćyâćhidyamânayâ dadâtu vîraṁ çatadâyam ukthyam; Ṛigv. ii. 32, 4.

[175] Tataḥ çubhaṁ sâ taruṇârkasaṁnibhaṁ gataklamâ vasrayugaṁ sadâ malaṁ sraǵo 'ñgarâgaṁ ća vibhûshaṇâni ća prasannaćetâ ǵagṛihe tu mâithilî; Râmây. iii. 5.

[176] Râmây. iv. 50-53.

[177] Pîtâirnivâsitâ vastrâiḥ krîdanto gomaye hrade; Râmây. v. 27.—Cfr. vi. 23.

[178] Sîtâmuvâća ha dîpyamânâm svayâ lakshmyâ saṅdhyâmâutpâtikîmiva; Râmây. v. 52.

[179] Samarthâ gatanaṁ gantumapivâ tvaṁ rasâtalam—Aćirammokshyase sîte; Râmây. vi. 9, 10.

[180] Sâumyaḥ somâtmagáḥ; Râmây. vi. 6.

[181] Sitaḥ kakudvâniva tîkshṇaçṛiñgo rarâǵa ćandraḥ paripûrṇaçṛiñgaḥ; Râmây. v. 11.—Cfr. v. 20.

[182] Babhâu nashṭaprabhaḥ sûryo raǵanî ćâbhyavartata; Râmây. ii. 92.

[183] Nishâdarâǵo guhaḥ sanîlâmbudatulyavarṇaḥ; Râmây. ii. 48.

[184] Sadâ vanagoćaraḥ; Râmây. ii. 98.

[185] iii. 63.

[186] Râmây. iv. 1.

[187] Sahasrâkshadhanushmadbhis toyadâiriva mârutaḥ; Râmây. v. 40.

[188] Râmây. v. 73.—In the Râmâyaṇam itself, Râmas, overpowered with grief, is compared now to a bull (v. 34), now to an elephant tormented by a lion (v. 37).

[189] Râmây. vi. 105.

[190] Râmây. vi. 102.

[191] Çâradaṁ sthûlapṛishataṁ çṛiñgâbhyâm govṛisho yathâ; Râmây. iii. 32.

[192] Râmây. v. 28.—The monster Kabandhas salutes them both with the name of Vṛishabhaskandhâu, or they who have bulls' shoulders; Râmây. iii. 74.

[193] Râmây. vii. 36-38.

[194] Râmây. v. 93.

[195] Çrantâṅstu na tapet sûryaḥ kathańćidvânarânapi abhrâṇi ǵaǵnire digbhyas ćhâdayitvâ raveḥ prabhâṁ pravavarsha ća parǵanyo mârutaçća çivo vavâu; Râmây. v. 95.

[196] Râmây. iii. 77.

[197] Râmây. iii. 23.

[198] Râmây. vi. 37.

[199] Paçya lakshmaṇa mârîćaṁ mahâçanisamasvanam sapadânugamâyântaṁ subâhuṁ ća niçâćaraṁ etâvadya mayâ paçya nîlâńćanaćayopamâu asmin kshaṇe samâdhûtâvanilenâmbudâviva; Râmây. i. 33.

[200] Çakreṇeva vinirmukto vaǵrastaruvaropari; Râmây. iii. 35.

[201] Mâyâmâçritya vipulâṁ vâtadurdinasaṁkulâm; Râmây. iii. 73.

[202] Te nikṛittabhuǵaskandhâs kavandhâkṛiti ekadarçanâḥ nadanto bhâiravânnâdânnâpatanti sma dânavâs; Mbh. iii. 806.

[203] Atha tatra mahâghoraṁ vikṛitaṁ tam mahoććhrayaṁ vivṛiddhamaçirogrîvaṁ kabandhamudare mukham romabhirnićitaṁ tikshṇâirmahâgirimivoććhritam nîlameghanibhaṁ ghoraṁ meghastanitanisvanam mahatâ ćâtipiñgena vipulenâyatenaća ekenorasi dîrgheṇa nayanenâtidarçinâ; Râmây. iii. 74.—The one yellowish eye of Kabandhas reminds us of Vâiçravaṇas with only one yellowish eye (ekapinghekshaṇas), his other eye having been burnt out by the goddess Parvatî; Râmây. vii. 13.

[204] i. 49; ii. 7, et passim.

[205] Cfr. the chapter on the Wolf.

[206] iii. 40, et seq.

[207] Taruṇâdityasaṁkâçâm taptakâńćanabhûshitâṁ raktâmbaradharâm bâlâm; Râmây. vi. 103.—Of the dress of Sîtâ we read in another place that it shines "like the light of the sun upon the summit of a mountain" (Sûryaprabheva çâilâgre tasyâḥ kâusheyamuttamaṁ; iv. 58).

[208] Râmây. vi. 99.

[209] Cfr. Weber's Ueber das Râmâyaṇa, Berlin, 1870, p. 9.

[210] Ibid. p. 1.

[211] Vîryaçulkâ ća me kanyâ divyarûpâ guṇânvitâ bhûtalâdutthitâ pûrvaṁ nâmnâ sîtetyayoniǵâ; Râmây. i. 68.

[212] Râmây. vii. 104, 105.

[213] Kathâ sarit sâgaras, iii. 17.

[214] i. 3888-3965.

[215] "Apriyańća na kartavyaṁ kṛite ćâinâm tyaǵâmyaham," says Ǵaratkarus; Mbh. i. 1871.

[216] Mbh. i. 1870-1911.

[217] Indische Studien, vol. i. pp. 457-464, vol. ii. pp. 111-128.

[218] History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature.

[219] Varuṇas, the god of night, has, like the night, a double aspect; now he is the gloomy ocean, now the luminous milky ocean without a moon. He is represented under the latter aspect in the 7th book of the Râmâyaṇam (canto 27), in which the solar hero, having entered the celestial city of Varuṇas, finds the cow which always yields milk (payaḥ ksharantâm satataṁ tatra gâṁ ća dadarça saḥ), whence the white-rayed moon emerges, whence also the ambrosia and the nectar (yataçćandraḥ prabhavati çîtaraçmiḥ—yasmâdamṛitaṃutpannaṁ sudhâ ćâpi).

[220] Cfr. the chapter on the Horse.

[221] In the Râmâyaṇam, i. 63, the deliverer is Indras, who, even in the Âitareya, does much for Çunaḥçepas.

[222] Teǵasâ gharmadah sadâ—Prâsâdaçatasambâdhaṁ nirmitaṁ viçvakarmanâ çobhitaṁ padminîbhiçća kâńćanâiçća mahâdrumâiḥ nilayaḥ pâçahastasya varuṇasya mahâtmanaḥ; Râmây. iv. 43.

[223] i. 64.

[224] The Puranic-legend gives an instance of such another father in Hiraṇyakaçipus, who, persecuting his own son Prahlâdas, tries to destroy him in several ways, and finally throws him into the sea; Prahlâdas praises Vishṇus, and is delivered.—Cfr. The Vishṇu Purâṇa, translated by H. Wilson, i. 17-20. London: Trübner, 1864.

[225] Chap. xii. 13.

[226] i. 54-56.

[227] Etadeva hi me ratnametadeva hi me dhanam etadva hi sarvasvam etadeva hi ǵivitam; Râmây. 1. c.

[228] Nanâda vividhân nâdân yathâ prâvṛishi toyadaḥ; Râmây. iii. 24.

[229] Dhârayan mâhishaṁ rupaṁ tîkshṇaçriñgo bhayâvahaḥ; Râmây. iv. 9.—Further on, instead (iv. 46), the buffalo is said to be the brother of Dundubhis, and to have the strength of a thousand serpents (balaṁ nâgasahasrasya dhârayan) or elephants, for the word nâgas is equivocal.

[230] Çṛiñgâbhyâmâlikhan darpat taddvâram; Râmây, iv. 9.—Cfr. the two chapters which treat of the Horse and the Monkey.

[231] I do not insist upon this brâhmanic god, because his legend is now popular.—Cfr., for the rest, for the relationship of Kṛishṇas with the cows, the cowherds, and the cow-maiden, the whole 5th book of the Vishṇu Purâna, translated by H. Wilson, and the Gîtagoviṅdas of Gayadevas, edidit Lassen, Bonn, 1836.

[232] Viçvarûpo vâi tvâshṭraḥ purohito devânâm âsît svasriyo 'surâṇâm tasya trîṇi çirshâny asant—Indras tasya vaǵram âdâya çîrshâny aćhinad yat somapânam—Brahma-hatyam upâ 'griḥṇat—Tam bhûtâny abhy akroçan brahmahann iti; Tâittirîya Saṁhitâ, ed. Weber. ii. 5, 1-6.

[233] vii. 5, 28.

[234] Sa tasya khañgena mahâçirâṅsi kapiḥ samas tâṁ sukuṇḍalâṁ kruddhaḥ praćiććheda tadâ hanûmâns ṭvâshṭrâtmaǵasyeva çirânsi çakrah; Râmây. vii. 50.

[235] Râmây. vii. 10.

[236] Mbh. i. 4990.—Cfr. also the three phallical and solar brothers of the story of Çunaḥçepas (him with the luminous tail or phallus).

[237] i. 4775.

[238] Balaṁ nâgasahasrasya yasmin kuṇḍe pratishṭhitaṁ yâvatpivati bâlo 'yaṁ tâvad asmâi pradîyataṁ—ekoććhvâsâttataḥ kuṇḍaṁ danaḥ; Mbh. i. 5030, 5032.—A similar legend is found again in the third book of the Mahâbhâratam, under the form of an impenetrable forest, in which the king of the serpents envelops Bhîmas.

[239] Mbh. i. 4777.

[240] i. 5300-5304.

[241] i. 680-828.

[242] Tam kliçyamânamindro 'paçyatsa vaǵraṁ presḥayâmâsa—gaććhâsya brâhmaṇasya sâhâyyaṁ kurusveti—atha vaǵram daṇḍakâshṭhamanupraviçya tadvilamadârayat; Mbh. i. 794-795.

[243] In a legend of the Tibetan Buddhists, referred to by Professor Schiefner in his interesting work, Ueber Indra's Donnerkeil (St Petersburg), 1848, we find two valiant heroes who, upon Mount Gṛidhrakûṭa (the vulture's peak), strive, in presence of their master, to lift the vaǵram (that is, the arm in the form of a wedge, the lever-rod, the thunderbolt of Indras), but in vain; Vaǵrapâṇis alone succeeds in lifting the vaǵram with his right hand. Râmas makes a similar trial of strength in the Râmâyaṇam, when he lifts and breaks in pieces a bow, which no one had before been able even to move.

[244] Cfr. the following chapter.

[245] i. 2772-2783.

[246] To the myth of the ravished earrings is almost always joined, even in the popular tales, the story of the horse, which is always especially referred to the Açvinâu, as that of the bull to Indras. In the Puranic legends, Kṛishṇas receives from the earth the earrings of Aditis (whom we already know to be a cow), whilst he frees the princesses from the infernal Narakas.—Cfr. the Vishṇu Purâṇa, v. 29.

[247] v. 17.

[248] Cfr. the chapters which treat of the Wolf, the Fox, and the Serpent; and also the foregoing discussion on the Vedic riddles, where the sun is called anipadyamânas.

[249] Ahaṁ ǵalaṁ kimuńćâmi praǵânâm hitakâmyayâ; Mbh. i. 3317.

[250] iii. 23, 24.

[251] Dadarça râǵâ tâm tatra kanyâmagniçikhâmiva; Mbh. i. 3294.

[252] Mbh. i. 3379-3394

[253] Mbh. i. 3435-3545.

[254] Mbh. i. 4193-4211.

[255] Mbh. i. 4211-4216.

[256] We shall find the lame goat in the chapter which treats of the Lamb and the Goat.

[257] 1908.

[258] v. 12.

[259] The word badhiras means here the crooked, the crippled one, and not the deaf (from the root badh or vadh, to wound, to cut); the more so that here the name of the blind man's companion is Mantharakas, a word which properly means the slow one. The curved line and the slow line correspond; and the curved one, who cannot stand upright, may be the hunchback just as well as the cripple, the crooked, the lame.—Cfr. The chapter on the Tortoise.

[260] For the incident of the hunchback who betrays the blind man, in the same popular tale, cfr. next chapter.

[261] i. 6527.

[262] Sâudâminîva ćâbhreshu tatrâevântaradhîyata; Mbh. i. 6557.

[263] Tasminnṛipatiçârdûle pravishṭe nagaraṁ punaḥ pravavarsha sahasrâkshaḥ çasyâni ǵanayanprabhuḥ; Mbh. 6629, 6630.

[264] i. 6651-6772.

[265] The hundred daughters of King Kuçanabhas, and of the nymph Ghṛitâći, who walks in curdled milk, recalling to us the mythical cow.—Cfr. Râmây. i. 35.

[266] Cfr. Virgil, Ænëid, I. 65-75, where Juno gives the nymph Deiopea to Æolus.

[267] Anquetil du Perron, Zendavesta, ii. p. 545.

[268] Misit itaque Deus justissimus citissime Angelum Behman quasi esset fumus (jubendo): Ito et bovem rubrum accipiens mactato in nomine Dei qui prudentiam dat; eumque coquito in aceto veteri, et cave accurate facias, allio ac rutâ, superadditis; et in nomine Dei ex olla effundito: deinde coram eo adpone ut comedat. Cumque portiunculam panis in íllud friasset, Diabolus ille maledictus inde aufugit, abiit, evanuit et disparuit, nec deinde, illum aliquis postea vidit; Sadder, p. 94.—The Russian peasants still believe that a household devil, the damavoi, enters into the stable, who, during the night, mounts on horses and oxen and makes them sweat and grow lean.—Cfr. also, on the Damavoi, Ralston's Songs of the Russian people, London, 1872, pp. 119-139.

[269] Cfr. Spiegel's Avesta, vol. ii.; Einleitung, vii.

[270] Cfr. Spiegel's Avesta, vol. ii. 21.

[271] x. 11.

[272] xxix.

[273] Cfr. Spiegel's Avesta, vol. ii. p. 8.

[274] xix. 99-101. Professor Spiegel translates "Mit dem Hunde, mit Entscheidung, mit Vieh, mit Stärke, mit Tugend, diese bringt die Seelen der Reinen über den Harabezaiti hinweg: über die Brücke Chinvat bringt sie das Heer der himmlischen Yazatas."

[275] Cows and calves, as a funeral gift, are spoken of in the Khorda Avesta, li. 15, Spiegel's version.

[276] Cfr. also the Tistrya with a whole eye of the Khorda Avesta of Spiegel, p. 9, and all the Tistar Yast in the Khorda Avesta, xxiv. If Tistar is the moon, Tistrya would appear to perform the same duties as the good fairy—that is, of showing, by means of her good eyes, her good eyesight, and her splendour, the way to the lost heroes. The Hindoo cow of Vasishṭhas, which yields every good thing, and which then fights in the clouds against Viçvâmitras, would sometimes appear to be the moon veiled by the rainy cloud; thus we can explain the rain-giving character of the star Tistrya, which, according to the Bundehesh, by raining ten days and ten nights, destroyed the monsters of dryness created by the demon Ag̃ro-maiṇyus.

[277] xxxix. 1.

[278] xvii. 25.

[279] Spiegel's version, p. 149.—Cfr. the three litanies for the body and soul of the cow, in the fragments of the same vol. p. 254.

[280] Khorda Avesta, Spiegel's version, Einl. x.

[281] Spiegel's version, p. 4.

[282] These are the exact terms used by Spiegel:—"Dieser opferte der frühere Vifra-navâza, als ihn aufrief der siegreiche, starke Thraetaona, in der Gestalt eines Vogels, eines Kahrkâça. Dieser flog dort während dreier Tage und dreier Nächte hin zu seiner eigenen Wohnung, nicht abwärts, nicht abwärts gelangte er genährt. Er ging hervor gegen die Morgenröthe der dritten Nacht, der starken, beim Zerfliessen der Morgenröthe und betete zur Ardvî Çûra, der fleckenlosen; Ardvî Çûra, fleckenlose! eile mir schnell zu Hülfe, bringe nun mir Beistand, ich will dir tausend Opfer mit Haoma und Fleisch versehene, gereinigte, wohl ausgesuchte, bringen hin zu dem Wasser Ragha, wenn ich lebend hinkomme zu der von Ahura geschaffenen Erde, hin zu meiner Wohnung. Es lief herbei Ardvî Çûra, die fleckenlose, in Gestalt eines schönen Mädchens, eines sehr kräftigen, wohlgewachsenen, aufgeschürzten, reinen, mit glänzendem Gesichte, edlen, unten am Fusse mit Schuhen bekleidet, mit goldnem Diadem auf dem Scheitel. Diese ergriff ihm am Arme, bald war das, nicht lange dauerte es, dass er hinstrebte kräftig zu von Ahura geschaffenen Erde, gesund, so unverletzt als wie vorher, zu seiner eignen Wohnung;" Khorda Avesta, pp. 51, 52.

[283] Welche zuerst den Wagen fährt; Khorda Avesta, Spiegel's version, p. 45.

[284] Professor Spiegel says, however, "Vom Aufgang der Sonne bis Tagesanbruch," which in a note he explains, "Vom Sonnenaufgang bis Mitternacht," which it appears to us cannot stand scrutiny, any more than the conclusion inferred from this, that the sacrifice was to be made "den ganzen Tag hindurch." Zarathustra would not have been obliged to ask the precise time at which to sacrifice to the goddess, if she was to answer him in such a general way. What occasion is there to pray in midday, in full daylight, that the darkness may be dispersed?—If there be any equivoque, it can only be, in my opinion, in the rather frequent exchange of the maiden Aurora and the fairy Moon.

[285] Cfr. Khorda Avesta, Spiegel's version, pp. 7, 27.

[286] xix. 52.

[287] Cfr. the chapter which treats of the Cock.

[288] Cfr. Khorda Avesta, Spiegel's version, Einl. xxv., and all the important Mirh Yast, or collection of hymns in honour of Mithra, in the Khorda Avesta, xxvi.

[289] Cfr. Khorda Avesta, Spiegel's version, Einl. xxxiii., and the Bahrâm Yast in the Khorda Avesta, xxx. 7, Spiegel's version. It is then that he says of himself, "As to strength, I am the strongest." Further on it is said that strength belongs to the bull (or the cow).

[290] In a hymn, Indras even calls himself Uçanâ, with the added denomination of kavis; Ahaṁ kaviruçanâ: Ṛigv. iv. 26, 1.

[291] Vendidad, xxii. 11.

[292] Chap. ix.

[293] Cfr. Farvardin Yast in the Khorda Avesta, xxix. 30, Spiegel's version.

[294] Cfr. Khorda Avesta, Spiegel's version, Einleit. xxxiv., and the Râm Yast in the Khorda Avesta, xxxi. 40.—The 57th strophe appears to be a real Vedic hymn to the Marutas; the wind is celebrated as the strongest of the strong, the swiftest of the swift, having arms and ornaments of gold, a golden wheel and a golden chariot; his golden shoes and his girdle of gold besides show his sympathy and relation with the Ardvî Çûra Anâhita, who, in the form of aurora, is referred to in the 55th strophe.

[295] Cfr. Khorda Avesta, p. lxix.

[296] Cfr. ibid. p. lxi.

[297] Denn Verethraghna, der von Ahura geschaffene, hält die Hände zurück der furchtbaren Kampfesreihen, der verbündeten Länder und der mithratrügenden Menschen, er umhüllt ihr Gesicht, verhüllt ihre Ohren, nicht lässt er ihre Füsse ausschreiten, nicht sind sie mächtig; Khorda Avesta. xxx. 63, Spiegel's version.

[298] Cfr. the Mihr Yast in the Khorda Avesta, xxvi. 128, 129.

[299] Cfr. ibid.

[300] Urvâksha is also called the accumulator; Khorda Avesta, xl. 3, Spiegel's version.

[301] Khorda Avesta, p. 155.

[302] Khorda Avesta, xxxiii., Spiegel's version.

[303] Mögest du reich an Rindern sein wie (der Sohn) de Athvyânischen (clanes); Khorda Avesta, xl. 4, Spiegel's version.

[304] Soll ich zum Himmel aufsteigen, soll ich in die Erde kriechen? Darauf entgegnete Ahura Mazda: Schöne Ashi, vom Schöpfer geschaffene! steige nicht zum Himmel auf, krieche nicht in die Erde; gehe du hieher in die Mitte der Wohnung eines schönen Königs; Khorda Avesta, xxxiii. 59, 60, Spiegel's version.—Cfr. xxxiv. 3, and following, where are celebrated the handsome husband of the beautiful Ashis and his rich kingdom.

[305] Die Stierkopfkeule in der Rechten schwingend; Schack, Heldensagen von Firdusi, iv. 2.—Cfr. viii. 9.

[306] Die Donnerwolke bin ich, die Blitzeskeule schleudert; Schack, Heldensagen von Firdusi, v. 5.

[307] Die Diwe (the demons) pflegen um Mittagszeit zur Ruhe sich zu legen; das ist die Stunde sie zu besiegen. Nicht eher schreitet Rustem zu der That, bis sich die Sonne hoch erhoben hat; Schack, Heldensagen von Firdusi, v. 5.

[308] Ist's Rustem? ist es nicht die Sonne, die durch Morgenwolken bricht? Schack, Heldensagen von Firdusi, vii. 2.

[309] Indeed, this undertaking seems to the ferryman himself so supernatural, that he says these cannot be called men: "In Wahrheit, Menschen kann man sie nicht heissen." Schack, Heldensagen von Firdusi, x. 27.

[310] Cfr. Spiegel's Die Alexandersage bei den Orientale, Leipzig, 1851; and Zacher's Pseudocallisthenes, Forschungen zur Kritik und Geschichte der ältesten Aufzeichnung der Alexandersage, Halle, 1867.

[311] Georg Rosen's version, Leipzig, Brockhaus, 1858, 2 vols.

[312] Bernhard Jülg's version, Innsbruck, 1867-1868.

[313] i. 5.

[314] i. 6.

[315] Tuti-Name, i. 7.

[316] Tuti-Name, i. 13.

[317] Tuti-Name, i. 14.—Cfr. Afanassieff, Narodnija ruskija skaski, vi. 23.

[318] iii. 27.

[319] ii. 17.

[320] Tuti-Name, ii. 19.

[321] ii. 21.

[322] ii. 28.

[323] This story was current in Italy as early as the fifteenth century, having been related to her son by the mother of the philosopher and man of letters Pontano, as I find from his biography, published last year by Professor Tallarigo (Sanseverino-Marche).

[324] ii. 21.

[325] Tuti-Name, ii. 25.

[326] ii. 24.

[327] ii. 26.

[328] ii. 28.

[329] ii. 29.

[330] ii. 29.

[331] Cfr. also the chapter on the Hog, where we shall expound the myths and legends relating to disguises.

[332] Cfr. also the chapters on the Lion and the Fox.

[333] Cfr. on the story of Perrette, an interesting essay of Professor Max Müller in the Contemporary Review, 1870.

[334] Radloff, Proben der Volkslitteratur der Türkischen Stämme süd-Sibiriens.

[335] Professor Schiefner has already compared with this passage a story published by Ahlquist in his Versuch einer Mokscha-Mordwinischen Grammatik, p. 97.

[336] Kasan, 1836, quoted by Professor Schiefner in the introduction to the Proben, &c., of Radloff.

[337] Cfr., for the meaning of this myth, the chapter which treats of the Hare.

[338] Rune, 7.—Cfr. Castren's Kleinere Schriften, Petersburg, 1862, and the French translation of the Kalevala, published in 1867 by Leouzon le Duc.

[339] I find combined in the Kleinere Schriften of Castren (p. 25) the same Ukko with the word Kave (Kave Ukko). I would with diffidence ask the learned Finnish philologists, whether, as Ukko is a Finnish form of the deity whom the Hindoos called Indras, and as the hero protected by Indras, the hero in whom Indras is reproduced, is called in the Vedic (and Iranian) tradition Kâvya Uçanâ, or even Uçanâ Kavis, the words Kave Ukko may not have some relation to the name given to the Vedic and Iranian hero?

[340] Väinämöinen, alt und wahrhaft, konnt durch ihn die Eiche fällen; Kal. 24, in Castren's Kleinere Schriften, p. 233.

[341] Nur aus Trauer ward die Harfe, nur aus Kummer sie geschaffen; harten Tagen ist die Wölbung, ist das Stammholz zu verdanken, nur Verdruss spannt ihre Saiten, andre Mühsal macht die Wirbel; Kanteletar, i., quoted by Castren in the Kleinere Schriften, p. 277.

[342] The origin of the bad and poor mythical iron, described in the Kalevala, is one of these: the mythical iron is the cloudy or tenebrous sky. The description is original, but the myths to which it refers are known to Indo-Europeans; as, for instance, the honey which becomes poison.

[343] Ehsthnische Märchen aufgezeichnet von Fried. Kreuzwald, aus dem Ehsthnischen, übersetzt von F. Löwe, with notes by A. Schiefner and R. Köhler, Halle, 1869.

[344] This is the phenomenon which occurs in the winter solstice on Christmas Eve and that of New Year's Day, in which we pass from one year to another; in one night we become older by a year.

[345] In a popular Swedish song, the maiden Gundela, who plays marvellously upon the harp, and, in order to play it, demands the king to marry her, is also a shepherdess.—Cfr. Schwedische Volkslieder der Vorzeit, übertragen von Warrens, Leipzig, Brockhaus, 1857.

[346] Cfr. the note of F. Löwe, illustrating this passage, in his version of the collection of Kreuzwald, pp. 144 and 145.—[This is also a myth of easy interpretation, if I am not mistaken: at evening, the sun loses his rays; the lion, the hero, loses his nails; these nails are picked up by the demoniacal monster, who forms out of them a hat (the gloom of night, or the clouds), by which the wearer has the gift of seeing without being seen. The magician who sees with his eyes shut is an interesting variation of this subject.]

[347] A similar antithesis is found in a Hungarian proverb, communicated to me by my learned friend Count Geza Kunn, together with other notices of Hungarian beliefs relating to animals. This proverb is as follows: "Even the black cow's milk is white." The black cow is spoken of in two other Hungarian proverbs; one says, "The black cow has not trodden upon his heel," meaning that no misfortune has happened to him; it is the usual vulnerable heel, the heel of Achilles, the posterior part, for which is substituted sometimes, as we shall see in the chapter on the Fox and the Serpent, the tail or extreme hind part. Another proverb is, "In the dark all cows are black;" but it does not seem to have any mythical importance.

[348] These last have already been translated into English, and illustrated, by W. R. S. Ralston, M.A. The Narodnija Skaski sabrannija selskimi ućiteliami, isdanie A. A. Erlenwein (Moskva 1863), and the more voluminous N. Aphanasieva, Narodnija ruskija skaski, Isd. 2 (Moskva 1860, 1861), have not thus far been translated into other European languages. I have therefore thought fit to make copious quotations from them as well for the use of Western readers, as on account of the real importance of their mythical contents, whilst awaiting the publication of the competent work which Mr Ralston is expressly preparing upon Russian songs.

[349] iii. 8805, and following.

[350] Afanassieff, ii. 29.

[351] iv. 45.

[352] This subject is already given in Æsop's Fables, in the twenty-first fable (ed. Del Furia, Florence, 1809): the man prays to a wooden idol (xülinon theon) that it may make him rich; the statue does not answer; he breaks it to pieces, and gold comes out of it.

[353] Seventeenth story.

[354] Cfr. also in Afanassieff, the story, v. 19.

[355] Cfr. also, for the variations, the twenty-second of Erlenwein, and iii. 24, of Afanassieff.

[356] Story 54.

[357] Cfr. the first story of my collection of the Novelline di Santo Stefano di Calcinaia, Torino, A. F. Negro, 1869. I am also acquainted with a Piedmontese variation, differing but little from this Tuscan story.

[358] In the story, ii. 27, of the collection of Afanassieff, the beautiful princess, near the sea, combs the youngest son of the Tzar, who goes to sleep.

[359] Cfr. the chapter on the Goat.

[360] v. 37.

[361] v. 50.

[362] v. 9.

[363] In Lafontaine, Fables, vii. 1, the animal sacrificed is the ass.

[364] Afanassieff, iv. 20-22.—In a Lithuanian song, which describes the nuptials of animals, the bull appears as a woodcutter or woodman.—Cfr. Uhland's Schriften zur Geschichte der Dichtung und Sage, iii. 75.

[365] Afanassieff, v. 6.

[366] Cfr. the chapter which treats of the Wolf.

[367] Afanassieff, v. 41.

[368] Afanassieff, iv. 1.—In another variation of the same myth, which we have already referred to in the Vedic hymns, the birds come, on the contrary, out of a horse.

[369] v. 54.

[370] Cfr. Afanassieff, v. 54, and the chapters on the Fish and the Eel.

[371] I read in the travels of Olearius in Persia during the year 1638, French translation: "Les Persans disent que la montagne de Kilissim a une telle propriété que tous ceux qui y montent n'en descendent point; que le schach Abas obligea un jour un de ses chasseurs, en lui promettant une grosse somme d'argent, à monter sur cette montagne, et qu'il y monta effectivement, l'ayant fait connoître par le feu qu'il alluma; mais qu'il n'en descendit point, et que l'on ne sçait point ce qu'il devint avec son chien, qu'il menait avec lui."

[372] Afanassieff, iv. 9.—In the well-known English story of Jack and the Bean-stalk, it is the giant who is killed by the fall from heaven, when Jack cuts the bean-stalk close to the ground.

[373] Afanassieff, iv. 7.—Cfr. the chapter on the Fox.

[374] Afanassieff, v. 12, and vi. 2.—Cfr. the chapters on the Goat, the Fox, the Wolf, and the Duck, where other episodes of this legend are found again.—In the twelfth story of the fifth book of Afanassieff, the old man goes up to heaven to call God to account for the peas that He has taken from the top of the pea-plant; God gives him in exchange stockings of gold and garters of silver.

[375] Cfr. also v. 24.

[376] v. 55.—Cfr. also vi. 22.—Cfr. the Contes et Proverbes Populaires recueillis en Armagnac, par Bladé (Paris, 1867), where the foolish and lazy one occurs again under the name of Joan Lou Pigre.

[377] Cfr. also the two variations in Afanassieff, vi. 25.

[378]

Also cfr. the chapter on the Peacock.

[379] In the Festival of the Epiphany, which is also a festival of the husband and wife, the good fairy is accustomed to bring to the child, husband, and wife, a boot or a stocking full of presents. This nuptial boot occurs again in the English custom of throwing a slipper after a newly-married couple. Another meaning was also given to the slippers which are thrown away in the popular belief. Instead of being the heroine's shoes which, having been abandoned, serve to attract and guide the predestined husband, they are also considered as the old shoes which the devil leaves behind him when he flees (his tail, which betrays itself). The Germanic wild huntress Gueroryssa, another form of the Frau Holle—the phantom of winter expelled at Epiphany—is represented with a serpent's tail. Hence in the German carnival the use of the Schuh-teufel laufen, or running in the devil's slippers.

[380] Cfr. Afanassieff, v. 4, and the chapter on the Stork.

[381] Cfr. Afanassieff, ii. 25, ii. 28, iv. 47, v. 37.

[382] The mère sotte has become proverbial in France, where, in the sixteenth century, Pierre Gringore wrote a satirical comedy with the title of Le Jeu de Mère Sotte, in which the Mère Sotte is the Catholic Church.

[383] A similar story, which, on account of its indecent details, I was not able to publish in my collection of the Novelline di Santo Stefano di Calcinaia, is narrated upon the hills of Signa, near Florence. It is also told, with some variations, in Piedmont.—Cfr. a Russian variety of the same story in the chapter on the Hen.

[384] Novelline di Santo Stefano di Calcinaia, 22.

[385] Cfr. the chapter on the Fishes.

[386] Afanassieff, vi. 59.—But in the tale v. 11, he knows how to fight well.

[387] In England the monster smells the blood of an Englishman, as in the familiar lines in Jack the Giant-Killer—

[388] Cfr. Teza, The Three Golden Hairs of the Grandfather Know-all, a Bohemian tale (I tre Capelli d'oro del Nonno Satutto, Bologna, 1866).

[389] Afanassieff, ii. 7.

[390] v. 11.

[391] Afanassieff, v. 7, 8.

[392] iv. 46.

[393] v. 6; Erlenwein, 7.

[394] Erlenwein, 5.—In the first story of Erlenwein, the last-born, Vaniusha (Little John), takes from disputing peasants, by a stratagem, first a marvellous arrow, then a hat which makes the wearer invisible, and, finally, a mantle which flies of itself. He promises to divide them equitably, and for this service makes them pay him beforehand, each of the three times, a hundred roubles; he then throws the objects far away and says, that he who is able to find them will have them; all search, but he alone finds them. (Thus Arǵunas, in the Mahâbhâratam, hides his wonderful arms in the trunk of a tree, in which he alone can find them.)

[395] Cfr. Schiefner, Zur Russischen Heldensage, Petersburg, 1861. This is how the hero Svyatogor is described in a Russian popular epic song cited by Ralston (The Songs of the Russian people): "There comes a hero taller than the standing woods, whose head reaches to the fleeting clouds, bearing on his shoulders a crystal coffer."

[396] Afanassieff, vi. 41.

[397] v. 31, and Erlenwein, 16.

[398] v. 32.

[399] vi. 27.

[400] Çadis v nievó, i leti kuda nadobno; da po daroghie zabirái k sebié vsiákavo vstriećnavo.

[401] Na karablié niet ni adnavó pána, a vsió córnie ludi.

[402] Cfr. Afanassieff, v. 23.—Ice, in the form of an old man, comes to try the boiling bath into which the king of the sea wishes to throw the young hero; when Ice has tried the bath, the youth enters it without suffering any harm.—The trial of drinking occurs again in a grandiose form in the combat between Loki and Thor to empty the cup in the Edda of Snorri, a different form of the Hindoo legend of Agastyas, who dries up the sea.—Odin, too, as Indras and as Bhîmas, at three gulps dries up three lakes of mead.

[403] Afanassieff, v. 42.

[404] Cfr. the chapters on the Hare and the Quail.

[405] Afanassieff, vi. 28, and ii. 31.

[406] Afanassieff, vi. 20.—Cfr. i. 3, and ii. 31, where we have the same particular of the prince who strikes three times the disguised girl who serves him, as in the Tuscan story of the Wooden Top (the puppet), the third in my collection of the Novelline di Santo Stefano di Calcinaia.

[407] iv. 44.

[408] Cfr. next chapter.

[409] Cfr. the chapter on the Spider.

[410] Afanassieff, ii. 29, and iv. 45.

[411] v. 23.

[412] v. 42.

[413] Afanassieff, v. 27.

[414] Cfr. the chapter which treats of the Eagle, the Vulture, and the Falcon.

[415] Afanassieff, vi. 52.

[416] Afanassieff, vi. 63.

[417] vi. 51.

[418] In the story, vi. 52, Ivan, by playing in a marvellous manner on a flute, is recognised by the princess whom he had delivered from the monster.

[419] Cf. next chapter.

[420] We find the blind-lame man again in an epigram by Ausonius of Bordeaux, a writer of the fourth century:—

[421] Afanassieff, v. 39.

[422] The student who wishes to extend his researches in Slavonic tradition may consult with profit, among others, the following works:—Schwenck, Mythologie der Slaven; Hanusch, Slavische Mythologie; Woycicki, Polnische Märchen; Schleicher, Littauische Märchen; Wenzig, Westslavischer Märchenschatz; Kapper, Die Gesänge der Serben; Chodzko, Contes des Paysans et des Pâtres Slaves; Teza, Itre Capelli d'oro del Nonno Satutto, a Bohemian story; Miçkiević, Canti Popolari Illirici.

[423] Les Eddas, traduites de l'ancien idiome Scandinave par Mdlle. du Puget, 2ème édition, p. 16.

[424] Kuhn und Schwartz, Norddeutsche Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche, p. 501.

[425] Handbuch der Deutschen Mythologie, mit Einschluss der nordischen, 2te. aufl. p. 437.—We find also in Eginhardus (Vita Caroli Magni): "Quocumque eundum erat, carpento ibat, quod bubus junctis et bubulco rustico more agente, trahebatur."—The bull is a symbol of generation; the man who fears the bull is a stupid and ridiculous eunuch. We find in Du Cange, Lit. Remiss, ann. 1397, "Le suppliant, lui dist, Eudet, vous avéz un toreau qui purte les gens et ne osent aler aux champs pour luy; lequel Eudet luy respondis: as tu nom Jehannot?" Faire Johan dicitur mulier, quæ marito fidem non servat (a variety of the Mongol Sûrya Bagatur).

[426] Recorded by Cox, Mythology of the Aryan Nations, vol. i. p. 438, when speaking of the Hellenic myth of Zeus and Eurôpâ.

[427] Cfr. Kuhn, Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des Göttertranks, p. 181 and following.—In Du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis, s. v. Acannizare, we read an extract of a paper of Jacob, i. Regis Arag. fol. 16: "Quicunque Acannizaverit vaccam vel bovem, si bos vel vacca fecerit damnum casu fortuito, dum Acannizatur, cujus est amittat ipsum bovem vel vaccam, nisi Acannizetur causa nuptiarum;" and in Du Cange also: "Ut in anserem ludendo baculos torquere in usu fuit, ita et in bovem."

[428] Die Deutsche Heldensage, von Wilhelm Grimm, 2te Aus., No 102, 182.

[429] Cfr. the chapter on the Goat and He-goat for more information on mythical horns.

[430] Vide p. 497.

[431] Diese Brücke wird keine andere sein, als die himmlische Bîfröst, deren er hütet, eine Vermuthung, die noch an Wahrscheinlichkeit gewinnt, wenn man den friesischen Namen der Milchstrasse Kaupat, der Kuhpfad, hinzunimmt; denn Milchstrasse und Regenbogen berühren einander sehr nahe. Dieser ist die Tagesbrücke zwischen Göttern und Menschen, jene die nächtliche.

[432] Rothe Kühe geben auch weisse Milch; Wander, Deutsches Sprichwörter Lexicon, Leipzig, Brockhaus, 1870.

[433] Auch eine schwarze Kuh gibt weisse Milch; Wander, ibid.

[434] This reminds us of the familiar English riddle, "How many cows' tails would it take to reach the moon? One, if it were long enough."

[435] Wenn die Kuh gestohlen ist, verwahrt man den Stall.—Wer eine Kuh verloren und den Schwanz zurück erhält, hat nicht viel, aber mehr als nichts.—Die Kuh könnte mit dem Schwanze bis an den Himmel reichen, wenn er nur lang genug wäre.—Une vache ne sceit que lui vault sa queue jusques elle l'a perdue.—Die Kuh beim Schwanz fassen.—Die schwarze Kuh hat ihn gedrückt.—Eine Kuh kann keinen Hasen erlaufen.—Die Kuh überläuft einen Hasen.—Nicht alle, die Hörner blasen, jagen Hasen.—Wenn die Kühe lachen.—Wie eine blinde Kuh eine Erbse findet.—Den sollt man in einer alten Kuhhaut herumfahren.—Soll die Kuhmagd spinnen, wird man wenig Garn gewinnen.—Man würde eher einer Kuh spinnen lehren; Wander's Lexicon of German Proverbs, ii. 1666-1695.

[436] Livius i.: "Quia si, agendo, armentum in speluncam compulisset, ipsa vestigia quærentem dominum eo deductura erant, aversos boves eximium quemque pulchritudine caudis in speluncam traxit."

[437] Facetiæ, Krakau, 1592, quoted by Benfey in his introduction to the Pańćatantram, Leipzig, Brockhaus, p. 323: "Quia testiculi mei quadraginta annos pependerunt casuro similes et nunquam ceciderant."—And in Lessing, xi. 250, we read of Lachmann-Maltzahn: "De vulpe quadam asini testiculos manducandi cupido."—In Aldrovandi, De Quadrupedibus Bisulcis, i. Bologna, 1642, we read, "Membrum tauri in aceto maceratum et illitum, splendidam, teste secto, facit faciem; Rasis ait, genitale tauri rubri aridum tritum, et aurei pondere propinatum mulieri, fastidium coitus afferre; e contrario quidam recentiores, ut in viris Venerem excitent, tauri membrum cæteris hujus facultatibus admiscent."

[438] Wenn auch der Kuhschwanz wackelt, so fällt er doch nicht ab; in Wander, Deutsches Sprichwörter Lexicon.

[439] v. 8.

[440] Referred to by Köhler in Orient und Occident.

[441] iv. 15.

[442] Whence the proverb quoted above, relating to the stable that is shut when the cow is stolen, is also quoted as follows: "Shutting the stable when the horse has been stolen."

[443] Cfr. the chapter on the Wolf, where the dwarf enters the wolf by his mouth and comes out by his tail.

[444] In a Russian story, in Afanassieff, vi. 2, when the old peasant (the old sun) falls from the sky into a marsh (the sea of night), a duck (the moon or the aurora) comes to make its nest and lay an egg upon his head; the peasant clutches hold of its tail; the duck struggles and draws the peasant out of the marsh (the sun out of the night), and the peasant with the duck and its egg flies and returns to his house (the sky whence he had fallen).—In a variation of the same story in Afanassieff (the two stories together refer to that of Aristomenes) the old man falls from heaven into the mud. A fox places seven young foxes on his head. A wolf comes to eat the young foxes; the peasant catches hold of his tail; the wolf, by one pull, draws him out; by another, leaves his tail in the peasant's hand. The tail of the wolf of night is the morning aurora.—In the story of Turn-Little-Pea, Afanassieff, iii. 2, the young hero enters into the horse after having taken off his (black) hide, and after having taken him by the tail, i.e., he becomes the luminous horse of the sun.

[445] In the Russian story of lazy and stupid Emilius, who makes his fortune, the hero is shut up in a barrel with the heroine, and thrown into the sea: the sun and the aurora, made prisoners, and shut up together, cross together the sea of night.

[446] Wenn sich eine Kuh auf die Eier legt, so erwarte keine Hühner; Wander, the work quoted before.

[447] In the Russian story of Afanassieff, v. 36, the hero-workman kills the monster-serpent by gambling with him for the price of his own skin. Thinking that he may lose, he has provided himself beforehand with seven ox hides and with iron claws. He loses seven times; each time the monster thinks he has him in his power, but the workman as often imposes upon him with an ox's hide, inducing him to believe that it is his own. At last the serpent loses, and the workman, with his iron claws, really takes off his skin, upon which the serpent dies. To take the sack or hide from the monster, to burn the skin of the monster-serpent, goat, hog, frog, &c., to burn the enchanted mantle or hood in which the hero is wrapped up, is the same as to kill the monster.

[448] See the chapter on the Wolf.

[449] For the German one, cfr. Simrock, the work quoted before, p. 199.

[450] Afanassieff, ii. 17.

[451] Acarnides insutus pelle juvenci; Ovidius, In Ibin.

[452] Köhler, Ueber T. F. Campbell's Sammlung gälischer Märchen, in Orient und Occident.—Cfr. the 30th of the Novelline di Santo Stefano di Calcinaia.

[453] Köhler, the work quoted above.

[454] To this myth of the cow which goes over the moon, the observation of a lunar eclipse might have contributed materially, in which the cow earth (in Sanskṛit, go means earth as well as cow) really passes over the moon or hare. Or else, the cloud and the night, as a black cow, very frequently goes over the hare or moon.

[455] In the Russian superstition, when a hare passes between the wheels of the vehicle which carries a newly-married couple, it bodes misfortune; nor is this without reason: the hare is the moon; the moon is the protectress of marriages; if she throws obstacles in the way, the marriage cannot be happy; consequently, marriages in India were celebrated at full moon.

[456] Die Kuh, die viel brüllt, gibt nicht die meiste Milch.

[457] Phalânâm phalam açnoti tadâ dattvâ; Mahâbhâratam, iii. 13, 423.

[458] In the German legend of King Volmar, in Simrock, the work quoted before, p. 451, we find the peas in the ashes. In the seventh of the Contes Merveilleux of Porchat, we have the pot in which the cabbages are boiled, from which come forth money and partridges. In the sixth of the same Contes Merveilleux, the young curioso sees a nest upon an elm-tree, and wishes to climb up; the ascent never comes to an end; the tree takes him up near to heaven. On the summit of the elm-tree there is a nest, from which comes forth a beautiful fair-haired maiden (the moon).

[459] i. 53.

[460] In the story, vi. 58, of Afanassieff, the honest workman, when he wishes to fix his eyes upon the princess who never laughs, falls into a marsh; the fish, the beetle, and the mouse, in gratitude, clean him again; then the princess laughs for the first time, and marries the honest workman. In the 25th of the Novelline di Santo Stefano, an analogous detail is found, but this is not enough to make the princess laugh; it is the eagles which draw after themselves everything they touch that accomplish the miracle of making the queen's daughter laugh. In the third story of the Pentameron, the princess laughs upon seeing Pervonto carried by the faggot of wood, instead of carrying it. The Russian stories of the ducks which save the hero, in Afanassieff, vi. 17-19, and the faithless wife and her lover bound together, are variations of the eagles of the Tuscan story.

[461] Ṛigvedas, v. 46, 8; v. 43, 6; i. 61, 8.

[462] In the Nibelungen, Krîmhilt, who has never saluted any one, (diu nie gruozte reeken), salutes for the first time the young Sîfrit, the victorious and predestined hero, and, whilst she is saluting him, turns the colour of flame (do erzunde sich sîn varwe).

[463] In a mediæval paper in Du Cange, s. v. Abocellus, we read: "De quodam cæco vaccarum custode," who, "quod colores et staturam vaccarum singularium specialiter discerneret," was believed to be demoniacal; hence the sacrament of confirmation was given him to deliver him from this diabolical faculty, and the paper narrates that he was immediately deprived of it. The blind hero who sees, who distinguishes his cows from each other, is the sun in the cloud. No sooner does he receive confirmation (which is a second baptism), than he ceases to see his cows, for the simple reason that the clouds are dissolved in rain, or that himself has recovered his vision.

[464] Cfr. the papers relative to Merlin by Liebrecht and Benfey in Orient und Occident.

[465] Fasti, iii. 339.

[466] Cfr. the chapter on the Fishes; where the custom of eating fish on Friday is also explained.

[467] In the first of the stories of Santo Stefano di Calcinaia, the cow-maid says to her cow, "Cow, my cow, spin with your mouth and wind with your horns; I will make you a faggot of green boughs."

[468] The maiden spins for her step-mother; the fairy gives luminous robes to the maiden; the maiden weaves dresses for her husband; these are all details which confound themselves in one. In the Nibelungen, the virgins prepared dresses of gold and pearls for the young hero Sîfrit.

[469] Holda, or Frau Holle, is burnt every year in Thuringia on the day of Epiphany, on which day (or, perhaps, better still, on the Berchtennacht, the preceding night, or Berta's night) the good fairy expels the wicked one. In England, too, the witch is burned on the day of Epiphany.—Cfr. Reinsberg von Düringsfeld, Das festliche Jahr, p. 19.

[470] In the Pentameron of Basil, i. 9, we read: "Passaie lo tiempo che Berta filava; mo hanno apierto l'huocchie li gattille."

[471] Afanassieff, vi. 2.

[472] Cfr. Simrock, the work quoted before, p. 409, and the ninth of the Novelline di Santo Stefano di Calcinaia, in which the luminous maiden disguised as an old woman is uncovered by the geese, when she puts down the dress of an old woman.

[473] Simrock, the work quoted before, p. 410.

[474] Wuotan also saves him whom he protects upon a mantle;—this is the flying carpet or mantle, hood, or hat, which renders the wearer invisible, and for which the three brothers disputed, which is also represented as a tablecloth that lays itself. Thus the poor man who goes to sell his cow's hide finds the pot of abundance and riches. The dispute for the tablecloth is the same as the dispute for riches, for the beautiful princess who is afterwards divided, or else carried off by a third or fourth person who takes the lion's share. We must not forget the fable of the animals who wish to divide the stag among themselves, of which the lion takes all, because he is named lion. In the Nibelungen, Schilbung and Nibelung dispute with each other for the division of a treasure; they beg Sîfrit to divide it; Sîfrit solves the question by killing them both and taking to himself the treasure, and the hood that makes its wearer invisible (Tarnkappe).

[475] The romance of Berta continues in the Reali di Francia in harmony with the popular stories of an analogous character; the false wife really causes King Pepin to marry her, and sends Berta into the forest to be killed; the hired murderers pity her, and grant her her life. Berta, whilst in the forest bound to a tree (like the Vedic cow), is found by a hunter; out of gratitude she works (she, no doubt, spins and weaves), in order that the hunter may sell her work at Paris for a high price. Meanwhile her father and mother dream that she is beset by bears and wolves who threaten to devour her, that thereupon, throwing herself into the water, a fisherman saves her (in the dream, the water has taken the place of the forest, and the fisherman that of the hunter). King Pepin goes into the forest, finds her, recognises and marries her, whilst Elizabeth is burnt alive. The change of wives also occurs in a graceful form (with a variation of the episode of the beauty thrown into the fountain) in the twelfth of the Contes Merveilleux of Porchat, Paris, 1863.

[476] Histoire de la Vie de Charlemagne et de Roland, par Jean Turpin, traduction de Alex. de Saint-Albin, Paris, 1865, preceded by the Chanson de Roland, poème de Théroulde.—Cfr. the Histoire Poétique de Charlemagne, par Gaston Paris.

[477] Uhland's Schriften zur Geschichte der Dichtung und Sage, iii. 77.

[478] "Seigneur, bénissez ce lit et ceux qui s'y trouvent; bénissez ces chers enfants, comme vous avez béni Tobie et Sara; daignez les bénir ainsi, Seigneur, afin qu'en votre nom ils vivent et vieillissent et multiplient, par le Christ notre Seigneur.—Ainsi soit-il." Villemarqué, Barzaz Breiz, Chants Populaires de la Bretagne, sixième édition, Paris, 1867, p. 423.

[479] Uhland, the work quoted above, p. 81.—In the French romance of Renard, on occasion of the apparent death of the fox, the gospel is read, on the contrary, by the horse. In the German customs the bull also appears as a funeral animal, and is fastened to the hearse. If, while he is drawing the hearse, he turns his head back, it is considered a sinister omen. According to a popular belief, the bulls and other stalled animals speak to each other on Christmas night. A tradition narrates, that a peasant wished on that night to hide himself and hear what the bulls were saying; he heard them say that they would soon have to draw him to the grave, and died of terror. This is the usual indiscretion and its punishment.—Cfr. Rochholz, Deutscher Glaube und Brauch, Berlin, 1867, i. 164, and Menzel, Die Vorchristliche Unsterblichkeits-Lehre, Leipzig, 1870.—We have the speaking oxen again in Phædrus's fable of the stag who takes refuge in the stable, ii. 8, where the master is called "ille qui oculos centum habet."

[480] Elle en mangea seze muiz, deux bussars et six tupins; Rabelais, Gargantua, i. 4.

[481] Cfr. Porchat, Contes Merveilleux, Paris, 1863.

[482] In Porchat, Superlatif, while he is a dwarf, is shut up in a clothes-press; he is a male form of the wooden girl, of the wise puppet, of the sun hidden in the trunk of a tree, in the tree of night, in the nocturnal (or cloudy, or wintry) night, full of mysteries, which the little solar hero surprises from his hiding-place. The hero in hell, or who, educated by the devil, learns every kind of evil, is a variation of this multiform idea. The dwarf of Porchat, who comes out of the clothes-press, is in perfect accord with the popular belief which makes the man be born in the wood, on the stump of a tree, of which the Christmas-tree is a lively reminiscence.

[483] According to Eustatius, "Iô gar hê selênê katà tên tôn Argetôn dialekton."

[484] Cfr. Pott, Studien zur griechischen Mythologie, Leipzig, Teubner, 1859; and Cox, the work quoted before.

[485] Dionysiakôn, i. 45, and following; iii. 306, and following.

[486] Metamorphoseôn, iv. 754.

[487] In England, as I have already noticed, the bull or ox is sacred to St Luke; in Russia, to the saints Froh and Laver. In Sicily, the protector of oxen is San Cataldo, who was bishop of Taranto. (For the notices relating to Sicilian beliefs concerning animals, I am indebted to my good friend Giuseppe Pitrè.) In Tuscany, and in other parts of Italy, oxen and horses are recommended to the care of St Antony, the great protector of domestic animals. In the rural parts of Tuscany, it was the custom, on the 17th of February, to lead oxen and horses to the church-door, that they might be blessed. Now, to save trouble, only a basket of hay is carried to be blessed; which done, it is taken to the animals that they may eat it and be preserved from evil. On Palm Sunday, to drive away every evil, juniper is put into the stables in Tuscany.

[488] Taúrous pammélanai, in the Odyssey; the commentator explains that the bulls are black because they resemble the colour of water.

[489] Kelainefès-nefelêgeréta Zeús; Odyssey, xiii. 147 and 153.

[490]

[491] In Diodoros, Hammon loves the virgin Amalthea, who has a horn resembling that of an ox. The goat and the cow in the lunar and cloudy myth are the same; and on this account we find them both in connection with the apple-tree, a vegetable form, and with the cornucopia, since both are seers, and spies, and guides. The golden doe is a variation of the same lunar myth.

[492] Argonantikôn, iii. 410, 1277.

[493] Nonnos, Dionysiakôn, xi. 113 and following.

[494] Orestês, 1380.

[495] Ergazoménous Bóas.—In the twelfth book of his History of Animals, Ælianos writes: "Among the Phrygians, if any one kills a working ox, he atones for it with his life." And Varro, De Re Rusticâ: "Bos socius hominum in rustico opere et Cereris minister. Ab hoc antiqui ita manus abstineri voluerunt ut capite sanxerint si quis occidisset."

[496] Scriptores Historiæ Augustæ, Lampridius, in the life of Heliogabalus.

[497] vii. 3.

[498] Fasti, iii. 800.

[499] Cfr. the chapter on the Hare.

[500] Plutarch, in the Life of Marcellus, Arrianos and Appianos among the Greeks, Livy, Cicero (De Divinatione), Pliny the elder, Julius Capitolinus, Julius Obsequens among the Latins.

[501] Éba kai táuros an hülan, xiv. 43. In Theokritos, the proverb is used to intimate that he is gone to other and perfidious loves; he, too, is a traitor.

[502] Rerum gestarum, xxii.—Cfr. the episode of the ox which lets itself fall into the marsh or swamp, in the various versions of the first book of the Pańćatantram.—The astrologers placed the brain under the protection of the moon, and the heart under that of the sun; Celoria, La Luna, Milano, 1871.

[503] Kadmeiôn Basilêas egeinato; Phoinissai, 835.

[504] Boiotia.

[505] Metam., iii. 10.—Cfr. Nonnos, Dionys., iv. 290, and following.

[506] Or, on the path of the sun in the sky.

[507] In an unpublished Piedmontese story, which is very widely spread, the girl carried off by robbers escapes from their hands, and hides in the trunk of a tree.

[508] De Quadrupedibus Bisulcis, i.

[509] De Vocabulis, i., quoted by Aldrovandi.

[510] Fasti, iv. 721.

[511] Cfr. Ott. Targioni Tozzetti, Lezioni di Materia Medica, Firenze, 1821.

[512] In an Æsopian fable taken from Syntipa, which corresponds to the first of Lokman, two bulls combine against the lion, and resist him; the lion excites them against each other, and tears them to pieces. In the sixth fable of Aphtonios, the bulls are three; in the eighteenth of Avianus, they are four. The lion already knew the motto of kings: "Divide et impera."

[513] Durandus, Rational. i. 3, quoted by Du Cange.

[514] Ovidius, Metam., ii. 706.

[515] Per tria partitos qui dabat ora sonos; Ecl. iv.

[516] Fasti, i. 550.

[517] Philê, Stichoi peri zôôn idiotêtos, lix.

[518] In Italian, attonito (or, properly speaking, struck by thunder) is the same as "who is much surprised").

[519] Dionys. xix 58.

[520] Cfr. Martigny, Dictionnaire des Antiquités Chrétiennes, s. v. veau.

[521] In Phædrus, as we have already observed, the ox and the ass are yoked together.

[522] Ippolitos, Ôs fonê Diòs, 1200-1229.

[523] Cfr. the chapter relating to the Ass.

[524] Ovidius, Fasti, v. 615.

[525] Ib. v. 620.

[526] The word atyas has the same meaning.

[527] Yunǵantv asya kâmyâ harî vipakshasâ rathe çonâ dhṛishṇû ṇṛivâhasâ; Ṛigv. i. 6, 2.

[528] Vaćoyuǵâu; Ṛigv. i. 7, 2.

[529] Yukshvâ hi keçinâ harî vṛishaṇâ kakshyaprâ; Ṛigv. i. 10, 3.

[530] Sûraćakshasaḥ; Ṛigv. i. 16, 1.

[531] Indrâya vaćoyuǵâ tatakshur manasâ harî; Ṛigv. i. 20, 2.

[532] Saudhanvanâ açvâd açvam atakshata; Ṛigv. i. 161, 7.

[533] Vi ǵanâń ćhyâvaḥ çitipâdo akhyan rathaṁ hiraṇyaprâugaṁ vahantaḥ; Ṛigv. i. 33, 5.

[534] Indro vañkû vañkutarâdhi tishṭhati; Ṛigv. i. 5, 11.

[535] Yukshvâ madaćyutâ harî; Ṛigv. i. 81, 3.

[536] Vâm açvinâ manaso ǵaviyân rathaḥ svaçvah; Ṛigv. i. 117, 2.

[537] Â tvâ yaćhantu harito na sûryam ahâ viçveva sûryam; Ṛigv. i. 130, 2.

[538] Harî sûryasya ketû; Ṛigv. ii. 11, 6.

[539] Ghṛitaçćutaṁ svâram asvârshṭâm; Ṛigv. ii. 11, 7.

[540] Pra ye dvitâ diva ṛińǵanty âtâḥ susammṛishṭâso vṛishabhasya mûraḥ; Ṛigv. iii. 43, 6.

[541] Indra haribhir yâhi mayûraromabhiḥ; Ṛigv. iii. 45. 1.

[542] Shoḷhâ yuktâh pańća-pańćâ vahanti; Ṛigv. iii. 55, 18.

[543] Patatribhir açramâir avyatibhir daṅsanâbhiḥ; Ṛigv. vii. 69, 7. The Açvinâu also are called dravatpânî (swift-hoofed); Ṛigv. i. 3, 1.

[544] Açvatarî—rathenâgnir âǵimadhâvattâsâṁ prâǵamâno yonimakûlayattásmâttâ na viǵâyaṅte. Gobhiraruṇâirushâ âǵimadhâvattasmâdushasyagatâyâmaruṇamivaeva prabhâtyushasorûpamaçvarathenendra âǵimadhâvattasmâtsa uććâirghosha upabdimânkshatrasya rûpamâindro hi sa gadarbharathenâçvinâ udaǵayatâmaçvinâvâçnuvâtâm; Ait. Br. iv. 2, 9.

[545] Tvâshtrî tu savitur bhâryâ vadavârupadhâriṇî asûyata mahâbhâgâ sâ 'ntarîkshe 'çvinâvubhâu; Mbh. i. 2599.

[546] Il. x. 352.

[547] In the Monferrato, according to the information kindly given me, concerning the beliefs relative to animals current in this country, by Dr Giuseppe Ferraro, the young collector of the popular songs and stories of the Monferrato, it is believed that the horse's teeth hung upon the necks of infants at the breast cause them to cut their teeth, and that the two incisors of the horse, when worn, are a spell to charm away every evil.

[548] Mbh. i. 1093-1237.

[549] Cfr. the first of the Tuscan stories of Santo Stefano di Calcinaia.—In the preceding chapter, we have seen how the apples of a certain apple-tree cause horns to grow on whoever eats them. In an unpublished Italian story, instead of the apple-tree, we have the fig-tree, and instead of horns, the tail. It is narrated by an old man of Osimo, in the Marches:—Three poor brothers, having but little inclination for work, go in search of fortune round the world. Overtaken in the country by night, they fall asleep in the open air. A fairy, under the aspect of a hideous old woman, comes up and wakens them, offering herself as their wife. The three brothers excuse themselves, and declare that they wish for nothing except a little money with which to make merry. The fairy answers, "Tell me what you wish for, and you shall have it." The first asks for a purse, which shall always be full of money; the second for a whistle, by blowing into which a whole army of brave combatants would be summoned to his side; the third a mantle, which would make its wearer invisible. The fairy satisfies them, and then disappears in flames, like the devil. The eldest brother, Stephen, goes with his purse into Portugal, where he plays and loses, but still remains rich. This comes to the queen-dowager's ears, who wishes to see the stranger, hoping to possess herself of his secret; she feigns to love him, and the wedding-day is fixed; but before it comes she has already gained his confidence, and taking the purse from him, she orders him to be flogged. Stephen returns to his brothers, relates his grievance, and proposing to revenge himself upon the queen, induces them to lend him the whistle, which calls armies into existence. The queen softens towards him, protesting that she expected to the last that he would have appeared on the day appointed for the wedding, and that he had been flogged without her knowledge. Stephen gives way, and the whistle passes out of his hands into those of the queen. He is flogged again, but twice as severely as before. Again he has recourse to his brothers; he implores, supplicates, and promises to get everything back by the miraculous mantle; but having obtained it, he allows himself to be deceived once more by the queen. Deprived of everything, he wanders about in despair, reduced to beggary. In the middle of January, he sees a tree covered with beautiful figs; desirous of them, he eats with avidity; but for every fig that he swallows, a span of tail as thick as a boa grows on to him. He goes on his way, still more desperate, till he finds more figs, of a smaller size; he eats them, and the tail disappears. Contented with this discovery, he fills a basket with the first figs, and disguised as a countryman, comes to the palace of the Queen of Portugal. Every one marvels on seeing such fine figs in January. The queen buys the basket, and every one eats; but tails immediately grow on their backs. Stephen then dresses himself as a doctor, and with the little figs, cures many persons. The queen has him called; he obliges her to confess to him first, and in the confession makes her say where the three marvellous gifts of the fairy are kept. Having recovered them, he leaves the queen with ten spans of tail, and returns rich and happy to his brothers. In this story there must be some parts wanting; it is probable that the fairy warned the brothers not to discover their secret to any one. The last enterprise, moreover, is more likely to have been undertaken by the third brother, who always assumes in fairy tales the part of the cunning one, than by the first-born, who in this story represents the part of the fool.—Polydorus speaks of the horse's tail as a chastisement for an insult to Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury, in the thirteenth book of his Hist. Angl.:—"Irridentes Archiepiscopum, caudam equi cui insidebat, amputarunt. At postea nutu Dei ita accidit, ut omnes ex eo hominum genere qui id facinus fecissent, nati sunt instar brutorum caudati."

[550] Hiraṇyakarṇam maṇigrîvam arṇas; Ṛigv. i. 122, 14.

[551] Ilíou Halôsis, 65-72.

[552] In the before-quoted collection of Radloff, Täktäbäi Märgän.

[553]

[554] Phainomena, 215.

[555] Mbh. i. 1470, 1471.

[556] Quelli cavalli che sono de pilo morello se fanno de humore colerico impero che e più caldo humore et sicco che non e lo sangue et per questo produce ad nigredine el pelo. I tre Libri della Natura Dei Cavalli et del Modo di medicar le Loro Infermità, composti da Maestro Agostino Columbre; Prologo. 6, Vinegia, 1547.

[557]

[558] Devennosi corrigere et emendare quelli li quali se posseno dire heretici, impero che voleno dire che quelle tal bestie che portano li crini advolte et atrezate; et con loro poco cognoscimento dicono che sono le streghe che li cavalcano et chiamanli cavalli stregari;" Prologo. 10, the work quoted before.—Cfr. on the Damavoi, Ralston, The Songs of the Russian People, p. 120, 139.

[559]

In Tuscany, flying horses, when seen in dreams, announce news; no doubt, this flying horse seen in dreams can only refer to the nocturnal voyage of the solar horse.

[560] Cfr. Menzel, Die Vorchristliche Unsterblichkeits-Lehre, Leipzig, 1870.

[561] The Hungarians call the bier of the dead St Michael's horse; Neo-Greek popular songs represent the ferryman of the dead, Charon, on horseback; in Switzerland, the sight of a horse is a harbinger of approaching death for a person seriously ill.—Cfr. Rochholtz, Deutscher Glaube und Brauch, i. 163, 164.

[562] Afanassieff, v. 37.

[563] Ib. v. 54.

[564] Afanassieff, i. 6.

[565] Ib. ii. 25.—Cfr. iii. 5, iv. 27.

[566] Afanassieff, ii. 28.

[567] Ib. iv. 41.—In the twenty-first story of Erlenwein, the poor brother obtains wealth by means of a mare's head, while the rich brother, on the other hand, becomes poor.—In Af. v. 21, the dwarf-boy, who possesses great strength, enters into the ear of one of the two horses when in the act of ploughing; upon which they plough of their own accord, and the old father of the dwarf is at liberty to rest.—In the sixth Calmuck story, the head of the dead horse, when fallen from the tree, brings riches and good luck to him who lets it fall, who finds under it a golden cup: this is a form of the ambrosia which comes out of the horse's head, which we shall find farther on.

[568] The Russian text seems to me of too much importance, in the history of myths, not to deserve to be recorded here: "Iediet apiát vsadnik: sam ćornoi, adiet va vsiem ćornom; na ćornom kanié; padskakál k varótam babijaghí i is-ćesz, kak skvosz szemliń pravalílsia; nastála noć."

[569] Idiót aná i draszít. Vdrúg skaćet mimo iejá vsadnik sam bieloi, adiet v bielom, kon pod nim bieloi, i sbruja na kanié biélaja; na dvarié stalo raszvietát. Idiót aná dalshe, kak skaćet drugoi vsadnik; sam krasnoi, adiét v krasnom i na krasnom kanie; stalo vshódit solntze.

[570] Yaḥ pâurusheyeṇa kravishâ samañkte yo açvyena paçunâ yâtudhânaḥ yo aghnyâyâ bharati kshîram agne teshâin çîrshâṇi harasâpi vṛiçća; Ṛigv. x. 87, 16.—Cfr. the dragon that torments the horses in the Tuti-Name of Rosen, ii. 300.

[571] Tad agne ćakshuḥ prati dhehi rebhe çaphâruǵam yena paçyasi yâtudhânam; Ṛigv. x. 87, 12.—The demon Hayagrîvas killed by Vishṇus, which is the same as horse's neck, and Hayaçiras, or horse's head, another monster giant in the Râmâyaṇam, iv. 43, 44, always refer to the Vedic açva-yâtudhânas. We are already acquainted with the demon who, during the night, makes the horses sweat and grow lean, i.e., who makes them ugly. In the Latin tradition, after having assisted the Romans in the battle of the Lake Regillus, Castor and Pollux were seen, near the ambrosial lacus Iuturnæ (Ovidius, Fasti, i.), to wash the sweat off their horses with the water of this lake, which was near the temple of Vesta. To this Macaulay alludes in his verses—

The salutary water of the Dioscuri, or sons of the luminous one, would here occupy the place of the fire lighted by night in stables, and of the Vedic Agnis who kills the monster of horses. My friend Giuseppe Pitrè writes me, that in Sicily, when an ass, a mule, or a horse is to enter a new stable, salt is put upon its back (a form of Christian baptism), in order that the fairies may not lame it.—The Küllaros, the heroic horse of the Dioscuri, is perhaps not unrelated to the word küllos, which means lame and bent; the solar horse, before being heroic, is hump-backed, lame, lean, and ugly; the lame hero, the lame horse (ass or mule), the lame devil, seem to me to be three penumbræ of the solar hero, or of the sun in the darkness.

[572] Vibhir ûhathur ṛigrebhir açvâiḥ; Ṛigv. i. 117, 14.—Cfr. vii. 69, 7.

[573] Açvain na gûḷham açvinâ durevâir ṛishiṁ narâ vṛisḥaṇâ rebham apsu; Ṛigv. i. 117, 4.—The Açvinâu pass the sea upon a chariot, which resembles a ship; this chariot is said to have the sun for a covering—rathena sûryatvaćâ; Ṛigv. i. 47, 9.

[574] Yam açvinâ dadathuḥ çvetam açvam aghâçvâya çaçvad it svasti; Ṛigv. i. 116, 6.

[575] Agnis tuviçravastamain tuvibrahmâṇam uttamam atûrtaṁ çrâvayatpatim putram dadâti dâçushe—Agnir dadâti satpatiṁ sâsâha yo yudhâ nṛibhiḥ agnir atyaṁ raghushyadaṁ ǵetâram aparâǵitam; Ṛigv. v. 25, 5, 6.

[576] Ṛigv. i. 155, 6.

[577] i. 154, 4.

[578] Vishṇor nu kaṁ vîryaṇi pra voćam yaḥ pârthivâni vimame raǵâṅsi yo askabhâyad uttaraṁ sadhasthaṁ vićakramâṇas tredhorugâyah; Ṛigv. i. 154, 1.

[579] Yadâ te vishṇur oǵasâ trîṇi padâ vićakram âd it te haryatâ harî vavakshatuḥ; Ṛigv. viii. 12, 27.

[580] Râmây. iv. 40.

[581] Yuktas te astu dakshiṇa uta savyaḥ çatakrato tena ǵâyâm upa priyâm mandâno yâhy andhaso yoǵâ; Ṛigv. i. 82, 5.

[582] Tad û shu vâm aǵiraṁ ćeti yânain yena patî bhavathaḥ sûryâyâh; Ṛigv. iv. 43, 6.—In the following hymn, strophe 1st, the aurora is called now daughter of the sun, now cow: Tam vâṁ rathaṁ vayam adyâ huvema pṛithuǵrayam açvinâ saṁgatiṁ goḥ—Taḥ sûryâṁ vahati.

[583] Rathasya naptyaḥ; Ṛigv. i. 50. 9.

[584] Ṛigv. i. 116, 10.

[585] vi. 9.

[586] The lake of Brâhman, visited by Hanumant in the Râmâyaṇam, vi. 53, has the form of a horse's snout (hayânanam).

[587] Indro dadhîćo asthabhir vṛitrâṇy apratishkutaḥ ǵaghâna navatîr nava; Ṛigv. i. 84, 13, 14, i. 117, 22, and the corresponding commentary of Sâyaṇas.—The bones of the heroic horse possess strength equal to that of the horse itself; thus in the last chapter we have seen how, when the bones of the sacrificed bull or cow are kept, it springs up again with renewed strength.—Cfr. concerning this subject the interesting and copious details relating to European beliefs to be found in Rochholtz, Deutscher Glaube und Brauch, i. 219-253.

[588] ii. 24.

[589] Divo napâtâ; Ṛigv. i. 182, 1.

[590] As to the Vedic passage, v. 76, 3, where it would seem that the Açvinâu are invoked in the morning, at midday, and in the evening, there seems to me to be room for discussion. The text says: Utâ yâtam sañgave prâtar ahno (that is, in the early dawn, when the cows are gathered together), madhyandine (which, in my mind, is the middle term which separates the gloomy hours from the luminous ones), uditâ sûryasya (which, meaning the rising of the sun, cannot express evening, but precisely the rising of the morning sun). We too would have thus expressed the three moments in the morning in which it was opportune to invoke the Açvinâu.

[591] Sushupvâṅsaṁ na nirṛiter upasthe sûryaṁ na dasrâ tamasi kshiyantam çubhe rukmaṁ na darçataṁ nikhâtam ud ûpathur açvinâ vandanâya; Ṛigv. i. 117, 5.

[592] Madhupṛishṭhaṁ ghoram ayâsam açvam; Ṛigv. ix. 89, 4.

[593] Ṛigv. viii. 104, 15-25.

[594] Quoted in Muir's Sanskṛit Texts, v. 264.—Somas united with Agnis in the Ṛigvedas, Somas united with Rudras, seem, in my opinion, to be the same as Somas united with Indras.—Cfr. Muir, v. 269, 270.

[595] xii. 1, quoted by Muir in his Sanskṛit Texts, v. 224.

[596] In the Edda we find the Açvinâu under the forms of night and day. Odin took Natt and Dag her son, gave them two horses and two drays, and placed them in the heavens to go round the earth in twenty-four hours. Natt was the first to advance with Hrimfaxe, her horse; he scatters every morning the foam from his bit upon the earth; it is the dew. The horse of Dag is named Skenfaxe; the air and the earth are illumined by his mane.

[597] Â vâm patitvaṁ sakhyâya ǵagmushî yoshâvṛiṇîta ǵenyâ yuvâm patî; Ṛigv. i. 119, 5.

[598] Cfr. the legends relating to Ćyavanas cured by the Açvinâu in the Çatapatha Brâhmaṇam and in the Mahâbhâratam, referred to by Muir in the above-quoted fifth volume of the Sanskṛit Texts, p. 250, and those following.

[599] In the Ṛigv. i. 8, 2, also, the invokers of Indras desire to fight the enemies, the monsters Mushṭihatyayâ and Arvatâ, by fist and by horses.

[600] Mbh. i. 6484-6504.

[601] Râmây. i. 49, ii. 7.

[602] iv. 12.

[603] iv. 7, 17.

[604] iv. 8.

[605] iv. 10.

[606] Râmây. iv. 8.

[607] The Persian hero often takes his name from his horse or his horses; hence Kereçâçpa, Vîstâçpa, Arǵâçp, Gustâçp, Yapâçp, Pûrushâçpa, Açpâyaodha, &c.

[608] Cfr. Spiegel's Avesta, ii. 72.—In the Servian stories of Wuck, one of two brothers sleeps, transformed into stone with all his people, until the other comes to free and resuscitate him.

[609] i. 91, and following, Rosen's version.

[610] ii. 20, and following.

[611] ii. 157.

[612] Tuti-Name, i. 151.

[613] Cfr. a zoological variety of this myth in the chapter on the Cock and the Hen.

[614] This is a variety of the legend of the Tzar's daughter enamoured of Emilius, the foolish and idle, though fortunate, youth, whom the indignant Tzar orders to be shut up in a cask and thrown with her lover into the sea, as we have seen in the first chapter.

[615] iv. 24.

[616] We shall shortly find the hare (the moon) who devours the mare.

[617] i. 53.

[618] U kavó preszde sviećâ sama saboi zagaritsia, tot tzar budiet.

[619] Tzelijá kući zolotá v anbarah nasipani; ćto ni pluniet on, to vsié zólotom; dievat niekudá!

[620] It will, I hope, be deemed not inappropriate to quote here the words with which Professor Roth begins his essay upon the legend of Çunaḥçepas in the first volume of the Indische Studien: "Die Deutung der indischen Sagengeschichte sucht noch die Regeln, nach welchen die das überlieferte verworrene Material behanden soll. Eine und dieselbe Sage wird vielleicht in zehn verschiedenen Büchern in zehnfacher Form erzählt. Glaubt man einen festen Punkt gefunden zu haben, auf welchen nach einem Berichte die Spitze der Erzählung zusammenläuft, so streben andere Berichte wieder nach ganz anderem Ziele und treiben denjenigen, der einen festen Kern der Sage fassen will, rathlos im Kreise herum. Die Widersprüche, mit welchen ein Sammler und Ordner griechischer Heldensagen zu kämpfen hat, sind lauter Einklang und Klarheit im Vergleiche zu dem wirren Knäuel, in welchen die Willkühr indischer Poeten die reichen Ueberlieferungen ihrer Vorzeit zusammengeballt hat."

[621] ix. 37, 3.—I observe that the same craft as that used by the two brothers to steal the treasure, in an as yet unpublished fairy tale of the Canavese in Piedmont, was employed by the inexperienced robber, who becomes at length very skilful to rob the loaves from the baker's oven. The Piedmontese thief makes an opening from without, and thus carries the bread off. The same thief then steals the king's horse. At first, he learns his profession from the chief of the robbers. The chief sends him the first time to waylay some travellers, and bids him leap upon them; the young thief obeys these directions to the letter; he makes the travellers lie down and then jumps upon them, but does not rob them. The second time the chief tells him to take the travellers' quattrini (the name of a very small coin, by which money in general is also expressed). The young thief takes the quattrini alone, and lets the travellers keep their dollars and napoleons. At last, however, he becomes an accomplished thief.

[622] Cfr. in the same Pentamerone, the ninth story of the first book; the eighteenth of the Novelline di Santo Stefano di Calcinaia; the thirty-ninth of the Sicilian stories of the Gonzenbach; the sixtieth and the eighty-fifth story of Grimm's collection, Kinder und Hausmärchen; the tenth of Kuhn and Schwartz's Märchen; the twenty-second of the Greek stories of Hahn, Griechische und Albanesische Märchen; the fourth of Campbell's in Orient und Occident; the first book of the Pańćatantram, and the twelfth story of the fifth book of the same; and Cox, the work quoted before, i. 141, 142, 161, 281, 393, &c.

[623] In the Pentamerone, i. 9, the queen's son does the same with the wife of his twin-brother; "Mese la spata arrancata comme staccione 'miego ad isso ed a Fenizia."

[624] In the corresponding collections of Ferraro, Bolza, and Wolf.—Cfr. the end of the twenty-eighth of the Novelline di Santo Stefano di Calcinaia.

[625] i. 807 and following.

[626] iv. 4.

[627] i. 41-43.

[628] Râmây. i. 13.

[629] i. 13.

[630] In the Western stories, instead of the horse's fat or marrow, it is generally the fish eaten by the queen and her servant-maid which gives life to the two brothers, who become three when the water in which the fish was washed is given to be drunk by the mare or the bitch, whence the son of the mare or bitch is born. I have already attempted to prove the identity of the fish with the phallos; the fish eaten by the queen, the maid, the mare, or the bitch, which renders them pregnant, seems to me a symbol of coition. The horse's fat or marrow smelled by the queen seems to have the same meaning.

[631] Vâǵino devaǵâtasya sapteḥ pravakshyâmo vidathe vîryâṇi; Ṛigv. i. 162, 1.—Sûrâd açvaṁ vasavo nir atashṭa; Ṛigv. i. 163, 2.

[632] Sâdhur na gṛidhnuḥ; Ṛigv. i. 70, 11.

[633] Vikroçatâm nâdo bhûtânâm salilâukasâm çrûyate bhṛiçâmârttânâṁ viçatâm vaḍavâmukham; Râmây. iv. 40.—Aurvas, who, in the shape of a horse's head, swallows the water of the sea and vomits flames, is a variety of the same solar myth; Mbh. i. 6802, and following verses.

[634] Hiraṇyaçṛiñgo yo asya pâdâ manoǵavâ; Ṛigv. i. 163, 9.—Tava çṛiñgâṇi vishṭhitâ purutr âraṇyeshu ǵarbhurâṇâ ćaranti. 11.—We find the stag in relation with the horse, as his stronger rival until man mounts upon the horse's back, in the well-known apologue of Horace, Epist. i. 10.

[635] Vṛiksho nishṭhito madhye arṇaso yaṁ tâugryo nâdhitaḥ paryashasvaǵat; Ṛigv. i. 182, 7.

[636] Afanassieff, v. 11.

[637] Apa yor indraḥ pâpaǵa â marto na çaçramâṇo bibhîvân çubhe yad yuyuǵe tavishîvân; Ṛigv. x. 105, 3.

[638] Iasya saṁsthe na vṛiṇvate harî samatsu çatravaḥ; Ṛigv. i. 5, 4.

[639] Açvyo vâro abhavas tad indra; Ṛigv. i. 32, 12; and the Hindoo commentator notes that Indras chased the enemy as the tail of a horse shakes off the insects that place themselves upon it, which it is much more natural to believe of the tail of Indras's horse, which is covered with milk, butter, honey, and ambrosia.

[640] Ṛigv., the hymn quoted before, i. 84, 13, 14; Agnis, too, is honoured as a tailed horse (vâravantam açvam), Ṛigv. i. 27, 1.

[641] Ṛiǵipyaṁ çyenam prushitapsum âçum ćarkṛityam aryo nṛipatiṁ na çûram—vâtam iva dhraǵantam—uta smâsya tanyator iva dyor ṛighâyato abhiyuǵo bhayante yadâ sahasram abhi shîm ayodhîd durvartuḥ smâ bhavati bhîma ṛińǵan; Ṛigv. iv. 38, 2, 3, 8.

[642] Avakrâmantaḥ prapadâir amitrân; Ṛigv. vi. 75, 7.

[643] vi. 49.

[644] Cfr. Simrock, Handbuch der Deutschen Mythologie, p. 375, and Rochholtz, the work quoted before.

[645] Afanassieff, ii. 24.

[646] Ib. v. 6.

[647] Ib. v. 35.

[648] Povíshe liessú stajáćavo, ponísze ablaká hadiáćavo.

[649] For instance, in the Pentamerone, iii. 7, where the king of Scotland sends Corvetto to steal the horse of the ogre who lives ten miles distant from Scotland: "Haveva st' Huorco no bellissimo cavallo, che pareva fatto co lo penniello, e tra le autre bellizze no le mancava manco la parola." When Corvetto carries off the horse, it cries out, "A l'erta ca Corvetto me ne porta."—Cfr. also the Pentamerone, iii. 1.—Not only has the horse the gift of speech, but the chariot too: in the seventh book of the Râmâyaṇam, 44, the chariot Pushpakam speaks to Râmas, and says to him that he alone is worthy of driving it.

[650] Afanassieff, vi. 46.—Cfr. also v. 22, and the 26th of the Novelline di Santo Stefano di Calcinaia.

[651] i. 61, 15.

[652] Anaçvo ǵâto anabhîçur arvâ; Ṛigv. i. 152, 5.

[653] Cfr. Menzel, Die Vorchristliche Unsterblichkeits-Lehre.

[654] Sapta svasâraḥ suvitâya sûryaṁ vahanti harito rathe; Ṛigv. vii. 66, 15.

[655] Adha kratvâ maghavan tubhyaṁ devâ anu viçve adaduḥ somapeyam yat sûryasya haritaḥ patantîḥ purah satîr uparâ etaçe kaḥ; Ṛigv. v. 29, 5.

[656] Â no nâvâ matînâṁ yâtam parâya gantave, yuńǵâthâm açvinâ ratham; Ṛigv. i. 46, 7.

[657] Krandad açvo nayamâno ruvad gâur antar dûto na rodasî ćarad vâk; Ṛigv. i. 173, 3.

[658] Ghṛitaçćutaṁ svâram asvârshṭâm; Ṛigv. ii. 11, 7.

[659] ... in equæ genitalem partem demissam manum, cum ad eum locum ventum esset, naribus equi admovit, quo odore irritatus ante omnes hinnitum edidit, auditoque eo sex reliqui summæ potestatis continuo equis dilapsi candidati, ut mos est Persarum, humi prostratis corporibus Darium regem salutarunt; Valerius Maximus, Mem. vii.; Herodotus, iii. 87. Herodotus also refers to another variation of the same anecdote, where he adds, that at the first dawn of day it lightninged and thundered.

[660] Devî ǵîrâ rathânâm; Ṛigv. i. 48, 3.—Çataṁ rathebhiḥ subhagoshâ iyaṁ vi yâty abhi mânushân; i. 48, 7.

[661] Upa tmani dadhâno dhury âçûnt sahasrâṇi çatâni vaǵrabâhuḥ; Ṛigv. iv. 29, 4.

[662] Cfr. Ṛigv. iv. 3, 11; iv. 13, 3.

[663] Cfr. Böhtling u. Roth, Sanskṛit Wörterbuch, s. v. açvin.

[664] Kuhn u. Schwartz, p. 330.—The English proverbial expression, "a mare's nest," now used to denote an impossibility, probably originally referred to a real myth.

[665] Künêgetikôn, i. 284.

[666] ii. 3.—"Allecordatose d'haver 'ntiso na vota da certe stodiante, che le cavalle de Spagna se'mpreñano co lo viento;" and the story goes on to speak of the ogre's surprise, who, seeing a beautiful maiden in his garden, "penzaie che lo shiavro de lo pideto, havesse 'ngravedato quarche arvolo, e ne fosse sciuta sta penta criatura; perzo abbracciatala co gran'ammore, decette, figlia mia, parte de sto cuorpo, shiato de lo spireto mio, e chi me l' havesse ditto mai, che co na ventosetate, havesse dato forma a ssa bella facce?" Varro seriously wrote: "In fætura res incredibilis est in Hispania, sed est vera, quod in Lusitania ad Oceanum in ea regione, ubi est oppidum Olyssipo monte Tagro, quædam e vento concipiunt equæ, ut hic gallinæ solent, quarum ova hypanemia appellant, sed ex his equis qui nati pulli, non plus triennium vivunt."

[667] Rathebhir açvaparṇâiḥ; Ṛigv. i. 88, 1.—In Horace, Carm. i. 14—

[668] Açrûṇi ćâsya mumucurvâǵinaḥ; Râmây. vi. 75.

[669] In the corresponding Italian stories, the hero or heroine, punished for some indiscretion, must, before being pardoned, wear out seven pairs of iron shoes, and fill seven flasks with their tears.

[670] Proximus diebus equorum greges, quos in trajiciendo Rubicon Marti consacraverat, ac sine custodibus vagos dimiserat, comperit pabulo pertinacissime abstinere, ubertimque flere.

[671] xvii. 426.

[672] iii. 740.

[673] Vṛishâ tvâ vṛishaṇaṁ vardhatu dyâur vṛishâ vṛishabhyâm vahase haribhyâm sa no vṛisha vṛisharathaḥ suçipra vṛishakrato vṛishâ vaǵrin bhare dhâh; Ṛigv. v. 36, 5.—In Piedmont there exists a game of conversation, consisting in the description of the presents which one intends making to one's bride, in which description the letter r must never enter; he who introduces it loses the game.

[674] Vṛishâyam indra te ratha uto te vṛishaṇâ harî; Ṛigv. viii. 13, 31.

[675] Apâm phenena namućeḥ çira indrod avartayaḥ; Ṛigv. viii. 14, 13.

[676] It is also called the canine cough, and it is believed on this account that it is cured when the children are made to drink where a dog has been drinking.

[677] De Quadrupedibus i.

[678] Du Cange, Gloss. Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis, s. v. caballus.

[679] Vṛshapâṇayo 'çvâḥ; Ṛigv. vi. 75, 7.

[680] Kârotarâć ćhaphâd açvasya vṛishṇaḥ çataṁ kumbhâṅ asińćataṁ surâyaḥ; Ṛigv. i. 116, 7.

[681] "One spot on the margin of Lake Regillus was for many ages regarded with superstitious awe. A mark, resembling in shape a horse's hoof, was discernible in the volcanic rock; and this mark was believed to have been made by one of the celestial chargers."—Macaulay, Preface to the Battle of the Lake Regillus.

[682] Afanassieff, iv. 45.

[683] The milk of white mares, which, according to Olaus Magnus (i. 24) was poured into the ground by the king of the Goths every year, on the 28th of August, in honour of the gods, who received it with great avidity, would seem to be an announcement of the imminent rains of autumn; the horse loses his ambrosial humour, and his end is at hand.

[684] The Græco-Latin proverb, "Equus me portat, alit rex," would seem also to have a mythical origin, and to refer to the mythical legend of the betrayed blind man, who carries the cunning hunchback or lame man; who sometimes only feigns lameness, in order to play off his practical jokes upon his companion.

[685] The fable in Phædrus, iv. 24, of the poet Simonides saved by the Dioscuri, is well known; but the gods punish the miser who refuses to give the reward that he had promised, not on their own account, but on account of the wrong done to the poet, whom they love. It is remarkable that, as the Latin legend shows us the horses of the Dioscuri perspiring, so Phædrus represents the Dioscuri themselves as—

This sweat must be the crepuscular mists, in the same way as the poet Simonides, who alone escapes, being delivered by the Dioscuri, the ceiling of whose banqueting-hall he had ruined, seems to conceal an image of the sun saved from the night.

[686] Ueber den Zusammenhang indischer Fabeln mit griechischen, eine kritische Abhandlung von A. Weber, Berlin, 1855.

[687] Here is the hymn as given by Du Cange in his Gloss. M. et I. L.:—

[688] Cfr. Reinsberg von Düringsfeld, Das festliche Jahr.

[689] Sometimes the place of the ass is taken by the mule. At Turin, for instance, it is narrated that the church dedicated to the Corpus Domini was erected several centuries ago on account of the miracle of a mule which carried some sacred goods stolen by an impious thief. Having arrived in the little square where the Church of the Corpus Domini now stands, the mule refused to go any farther; and out of a cup, which was among the sacred objects stolen, a wafer containing the body of our Saviour rose into the air. Nor would it come down again until the bishop came forth, and, holding the cup high in the air, besought the wafer to come back into it; which having been miraculously accomplished, the Church of the Corpus Domini was erected on the spot, from which starts and to which returns the solemn procession which takes place annually at Turin on the festival of Corpus Domini, and in which, about twenty years ago, the princes and great dignitaries of the state, with the professors of the university, used to take part in all the pomp of mediæval ceremony and costume.—In Persia the festival of asses is celebrated at the approach of spring; the ass personifying here the end of the winter season.

[690] The same analogy presents itself in the Sanskṛit word arbhakas, which means little and foolish.

[691] Cfr. the root gad, from which we might perhaps deduce an imaginary intermediate form, gadarbhas, besides the known gardabhas and gandharbas or gandharvas.

[692] Cfr. arvan with the roots arv, arb, arp, ṛiph, riph, riv, ṛinv.

[693] x. 10, 5.

[694] Gandharva itthâ padam asya rakshati.; Ṛigv. ix. 83, 4.

[695] Strîkâmâḥ vâi gandharvâḥ; i. 27.

[696] Professor Kuhn (Die Herabkunft, d. f. &c.) has already compared to this the Zend Gandhrawa, who, in the Lake Vôuru-Kasha, keeps guard over the tree hom (the Vedic Somas). Kuhn and Weber, moreover, have identified the Vedic gandharvas, Kṛiçânus, who wounds the ravisher of the Somas, with the Zend Kereçâni, who endeavours to destroy riches; here the gandharvas would appear to be a monstrous and demoniacal being.

[697] ... ut omittam eos, quos libidinis ac fœdæ voluptatis causa, coluisse nomen illud atque imposuisse suis, a scriptoribus notatur, qualis olim Onos ille Commodi; qualis exsecrandus Marci Verotrasinus, qualis et alterius Onobelos, quales, quos matronis in deliciis fuisse scimus. Unde illud atque alium bipedem sibi quærit asellum, ejus nempe membri causa, quod, in asino, clava, a Nicandro dicitur; Laus Asini, Lugd. Batavorum, ex officina Elzeviriana, p. 194.

[698] To this flight into Egypt upon the ass can be referred the Piedmontese custom among children in the middle of Lent—that is, near the festival of St Joseph—of attaching to their companions now a saw, now a devil's head, now an ass's head, pronouncing the words, "L'asu cariá che gnün lu sa" (the ass burdened, and no one knows it). Moreover, it seems to me that to the Christian tradition of Joseph, and of the child Jesus carried upon the ass, can be referred the well-known European fable of the old man, the boy, and the ass, of which numerous varieties may be read in the article upon the asinus vulgi in the Orient und Occident of Benfey.

[699] Professor Benfey, in his learned Einleitung to the Pańćatantram, p. 268, says that the disguise by means of the skin of an ass is found in a Latin poem of the fifteenth century.

[700] "Addo ex Conrado Lycosthene in libro de ostentis et prodigiis hanc iconem quam hippokentauri esse credebam, ipse vero (nescio ex quo) Apothami vocat, Apothami (inquit) in aqua morantes, qui una parte hominem, alia vero caballum sive equum referunt. Sic etiam memoriæ tradiderunt mulieres esse capite plano sine crinibus, promissas autem barbas habentes. Atqui ea descriptio plane ad Onocentauros pertinere videtur, quos Aelianus et Philes sic fere delineant. Quæ vero de Onocentauro fama accepi, hæc sunt: Eum homini ore et promissa barba similem esse, simul et collum et pectus, humanam speciem gerere; mammas distantes tamquam mulieris ex pectore pendere; humeros, brachia, digitos, humanam figuram habere; dorsum, ventrem, latera, posteriores pedes, asino persimiles et quemadmodum asinum sic cinereo colore esse; imum ventrem leviter exalbescere: duplicem usum ei manus præstare; nam celeritate ubi sit opus eæ manus præcurrunt ante posteriores pedes; ex quo fit, ut non cæterorum quadrupedum cursu superetur. Ac ubi rursus habet necesse vel cibum capere vel aliud quidpiam tollere, qui ante pedes erant manus efficiuntur, tumque non graditur, sed in sessione quiescit: Animal est gravi animi acerbitate; nam si capiatur, non ferens servitutem, libertatis desiderio ab omni cibo abhorret, et fame sibi mortem consciscit, licet pullus adhuc fuerit. Hæc de Onocentauro Pythagoram narrare testatur Crates, ex Mysio Pergamo profectus;" Aldrovandi, De Quadrupedibus, i.—In the Indian satyrs described by Pliny, in the seventh book of his Natural History, we find represented an analogous animal: "Sunt et satyri subsolanis Indorum montibus (Cartadulonum dicitur regio) pernicissimum animal, turn quadrupes, turn recte currens, humana effigie, propter velocitatem nisi senes aut ægri, aut capiuntur." Evidently this refers to some kind of monkey (probably the orang-outang); but as the myth of the monkey does not differ much from that of the ass, as we shall see, even the Hindoo gandharvas is represented as a monkey.—"In A. V. iv. 37, 11, the gandharvas, a class of gods, who are described as hairy, like dogs and monkeys, but as assuming a handsome appearance to seduce the affections of earthly females, are implored to desist from this unbecoming practice, and not to interfere with mortals, as they had wives of their own, the Apsarases;" Muir's Sanskṛit Texts, v. 309.—We have the monkey-gandharvas and the warrior-gandharvas in the Vedic hymns, the warrior-monkey in the Râmâyaṇam, and the warrior-kentauros and warrior-ass in Hellenic myths.

[701] We also read of the ass that dances, which reminds us of the gandharvas in their capacity of heavenly musicians and dancers, who teach the gods how to dance. Nor is it perhaps without reason that the author of precepts for dancers and mimics is named Kṛiçâçvas: kṛiçâçvas means, as we already know, he who possesses a lean horse, or simply the lean horse. Between the lean horse, the mule, and the ass, the distance is short; nor can we overlook the fact that in the gandharvas Kṛiçânus is recognised as he who causes to become lean, which calls us back to the monster who makes horses grow lean, to the monster of horses, the ugly horse, the horse-monster, who destroys the golden ears of the fields, making them dry up, like the monster Çushṇas, or the destroyer of riches, like the Zend Kereçâni.—In the before-quoted book, Laus Asini, the author says in jest, "Fortassis Pegasum fuisse asinum;" and in this jest a great truth is contained.

[702] Kadâ yogo vâǵino râsabhasya yena yaǵńaṁ nâsatyopayâthaḥ; Ṛigv. i. 34, 9.

[703] Viḷupatmabhir âçuhemabhir vâ devânâṁ vâ ǵûtibhiḥ çâçadânâ tad râsabho nâsatyâ sahasram âǵâ yamasya pradhane ǵigâya.

[704] Yatrâ rathasya bṛihato nidhânaṁ vimoćanaṁ vâǵino râsabhasya; Ṛigv. iii. 53, 5.

[705] Nâvâǵinaṁ vâǵinâ hâsayanti na gardabham puro açvân nayanti; Ṛigv. iii. 53, 23.

[706] Gardabharathenâçvinâ udaǵayatâmaçvinâvâçnuvâtâṁ yadaçvinâ udaǵayatâmaçvinâvâçnuvâtâṁ tasmâtsasṛitaǵavo dugdhadohaḥ sarveshâmetarhi vâhanânâmanâçishṭo retasastvasya vîryaṁ nâharatâm tasmâtsa dviretâ vâǵî; Âit. Br. iv. 2, 9.

[707] Ueber den Zusammenhang indischer Fabeln mit griechischen, Berlin, 1855.

[708] St Jerome, in the Life of Saint Hilarion: "Ego, inquit, Aselle, faciam ut non calcitres necte hordeo alam, sed paleis; fame te conficiam et sitis gravi onerabo pondere; per æstus indagabo et frigore, ut cibum potius quam lasciviam cogites."—St Paulinus wrote, "Sit fortis anima mortificans asinum suum."—In Italian, too, there is a low term by which we say, il mio asino, instead of il mio corpo.

[709] A. c. i. m. t.,—pœna seu mulcta, quæ reis irrogari solebat, ut colligitur ex decreto Nepesini populi ann. 1134.—Iis et maxime maritis, qui a suis vapulabant mulieribus; quod eo usque insaniæ deventum erat, ut si maritus aufugisset, proximior vicinus eam ipse pœnam luere teneretur; quem morem non omnino periisse audivi. Du Cange, whose words these are, gives several examples of a similar chastisement.—In the Tuti-Name, ii. 20, a certain man complains to a sage that he has lost his ass, and begs the wise man to find it again for him; the latter points out a man who grew old without having known love; he who does not love is a fool.—It is a remarkable fact that the ass, generally considered a very lustful animal, is sometimes despised as unadapted to make fruitful, and the reason of this is given by Aldrovandi (De Quadrupedibus, i.)—Quamvis modo libidine maxime pruriat, ob verendi tamen enormitatem, qua supra modum præditus est, ad generandum admodum segnem esse compertum est, sicuti et homines qui simili genitalis productione conspicui sunt, quod in emissione per eam longitudinem semen transmeans hebetetur et frigidius fiat. Testaturque Ælianus inter causas cur Ægyptii asinos odere, et hanc quoque accedere putari, quod eum populi prædicti omnes fœcundos animantes colant, asinus minime fœcundans nullus in honore sit.

[710] Sam, indra, gardabham mṛiṇa nuvantam pâpayâmuyâ; Ṛigv. i. 29, 5.

[711] Quoted by Weber, Ueber den Zusammenhang indischer Fabeln mit griechischen, where the braying ass would also appear to be born of the omniform monster: "Entsteht, nach Ç. xii. 7, 1, 5, nebst Ross und Maulthier, aus dem Ruhm (yaças, which, however, may perhaps here also simply mean splendour), welcher dem Ohr des getödteten Viçvarûpa Tvâshṭra entfloss, worin der Bezug auf sein lautes Geschrei wohl nicht zu verkennen ist."—We have already seen, in the Russian stories quoted in the preceding chapter, how the two horsemen who protect the hero come out of the ears of the grey horse, and how the hero himself, entering by one ear, and coming out of the other, finds a heroic horse. Here we can, perhaps, detect an allusion to the long-eared ass, in the same way as in the appellation of âçrutkarṇas, or the ear which listens, given to Indras (Ṛigv. i. 10, 9), the long-eared Indras may possibly be a form representing the long-eared Midas, or the ass with long ears.

[712] Gatiṁ khara ivâçvasya suparṇasyeva pakshiṇaḥ anâgantuṁ na çakto 'smi râǵyam tava mahîpate.

[713] Râmây. ii. 71.

[714] Râmây. iii. 38, 48.

[715] Ib. v. 12.

[716] vi. 74.

[717] Kravyâdaḥ piçâćâḥ, in the Atharvavedas, viii. 2, 12.

[718] Cfr. also the Tuti-Name of Rosen, ii. 218, for the musical ass; and the same, ii. 149, for the ass in a lion's skin.

[719] xli. 28.—Cfr. the Khorda Avesta, Spiegel's Einleitung, p. 54: "Dort ist der dreibeinige Esel der in der Mitte des Sees steht und mit seinem Geschrei die bösen Wesen vertreibt und alles Wasser, das mit unreinen Wesen und Dingen in Berührung kommt, sogleich reinigt."

[720] Readers of Dante are acquainted with the trumpet of the devil Malacoda, which is used in the same way as the fool uses his in the Mongol story.

[721] In Menander, quoted by Aulus Gellius, a husband complains of the injuries done him by his wife, using the proverb, "The ass amongst the monkeys." Monkeys are well known for their impudent lasciviousness; the ass, who represents the phallos, among this lascivious fraternity finds himself often in the condition of an impotent and weak husband.

[722]

[723] From the myth of the ass, as a musician and judge of music, is derived the Tuscan game of the ass, which is thus described by Signor Fanfani in his Vocabolario dell' Uso Tuscano, Firenze, 1863:—"Each member of the party chooses an animal whose voice or song he must imitate. The head player represents the ass, and is the king of the other animals. When the head player, sitting in the middle, calls one of the animals who encircle him, the dog, for instance, this animal must bark; when he calls the cock, it must cry chicchiricù; when he calls the ox, he who represents it must bellow, and so on. When the ass brays, then all the animals emit their respective cries. Whoever laughs, or omits to give forth the voice or song of the animal which he represents, pays a forfeit."

[724] Ovidius, Metam. xi. 180.

[725] According to the Annals of Padova, cited by Berrardino Scardeone, in Aldrovandi. De Quadrupedibus, i.

[726] The German proverb, "Wald hat Ohren, Feld hat Gesicht," is well known. Cfr. the varieties of this proverb upon the ears of the forest, in the third vol. pp. 120 and 173, of Uhland's Schriften zur Geschichte der Dichtung und Sage, Stüttgart, 1866.

[727] The reader is acquainted with the myth of the nymph Syrinx, beloved of Pan, who was changed into a cane or reed, from which Pan made a flute. We find the leaf of the cane in connection with the ass in Hungarian tradition. A singular indentation can be observed upon the leaves of the cane, which has a great resemblance to the mark of three teeth. To explain this strange mark the Hungarian people narrate, that the ass of the Redeemer once bit the leaf of a cane, but as Christ was in a hurry, the ass was unable to eat the leaf, and so it happened that its three teeth only left the mark of the bite upon the cane. From that time forward every leaf of a cane bears record to this. The two lines which stretch down the two flanks of the ass are said in Hungary to be caused by the blood of our Redeemer. The popular belief in Ireland is that these lines remain as a memorial of Christ having once struck the ass.—Cfr. the chapter on the Peacock and that on the Eel, where we shall find the hero and the heroine again transformed into canes.

[728] The loss of heart or courage is expressed in Italian by the low term "Quí mi casca l'asino" (here my ass falls). This expression, however, may perhaps be of Hellenic origin; the equivoque between the two equisonant expressions, "ap' onou" and "apo nou" is well-known; whence to fall off the ass and to fall from one's mind became synonymous.

[729] There is an unpublished story which I heard narrated at Antignano, near Leghorn, of a mother who has a silly son named Pipetta. The latter asks his mother for a quattrino (a small coin) to buy a vetch, and afterwards a bean, because it grows higher; he sows it, and it attains a marvellous height. Climbing up the bean-stalk he comes to the gates of paradise, which are opened to him, but St Peter sends him back; he then finds the entrance to hell, which he wishes to visit. The devil shows him all the sights; the two then play at cards, and Pipetta wins a sackful of souls. The devil fears that Pipetta will empty hell, so he allows him to depart with the sack, and an ass which throws gold from its tail; he mounts up to heaven, and consigns the sack of souls to St Peter. The story ends with the usual exchange of asses at the inn where Pipetta sleeps upon his descent from the beanstalk.

[730] Biblion Istorikon, i. 116.—It is added, that when Titus remonstrated with his father on his avarice, Vespasian made him smell the gold for which the horse's dung had been sold, asking him whether it smelt bad.—In the Mongol story we saw the fool who goes out with his ass and hides it in a cavern afterwards despoiling a merchant's caravan.—Tzetzas, i. 128, records the existence in Phrygia of a village called "Ass's-ears" (ê klêsis onou ôta), inhabited by robbers, and belonging to Midas; he thinks, moreover, that Midas was surnamed the large-eared on account of this village of his.

[731] vi. 105.

[732] Kleitas onôn hekatombas, xi. 51.

[733] In Anton. Liberalis we find a long narrative from which we gather that Apollo would only suffer the ass to be sacrificed to him among the Hyperboreans.

[734] I read on this subject in the curious volume Laus Asini, printed at Leyden by Elzevir, the following notice: "Si quis graviter a scorpione ictus, id in aurem insusurret asino, ex tempore curetur."

[735]

[736] Tam ûhathur nâubhir âtmanvatîbhir antarikshaprudbhir apodakâbhiḥ; strophe 3.—Cfr. strophe 4th and 5th of the same hymn.

[737] Another reason is also assigned for the honour given to the ass in heaven: the ass and Priapos contend together as to who is superior; Priapos defeats the ass, and Dionysos takes pity upon the vanquished, and places it in heaven among the stars.

[738] Laus Asini, Ludg. Batavorum, ex officina Elzeviriana.

[739] "Conferre aliquid et candori in mulierum cute existimatur. Poppaea certe Domitii Neronis conjux quingentas secum per omnia trahens fætas balnearum etiam solio totum corpus illo lacte macerabat, extendi quoque cutem credens;" Aldrov. To which custom Juvenal alludes in his 6th satire:

[740] "Finitis laudibus, surgit quidam archipresbyter, retro se ascendit asinum preparatum a curia; quidam cubicularius tenet in capite asini bacilem cum xx. solidis denariorum," &c.; in Du Cange, the work quoted before, s. v. cornomannia.—We also find in Du Cange that a soldier was called in the middle ages "caput asini, pro magnitudine capitis et congerie capillorum."

[741] In the Pentamerone, iii. 8, the night is called "l'aseno de l'ombre."

[742] In the Pentamerone, ii. I, we have a variation of the other Æsopian fable of the lion who is afraid of the ass. The old witch, in order to deliver herself from the lion which Petrosinella has caused to rise, flays an ass and dresses herself in its skin; the lion, believing it to be really an ass, runs off.—In the thirteenth of the Sicilian stories collected by Signora Laura Gonzenbach, and published at Leipzig by Brockhaus, the ass and the lion dispute the spoil; the young hero divides it, giving to the ass the hay that the lion has in its mouth, and to the lion the bones in the ass's mouth. But probably the lion here represents the dog, according to the Greek proverb, "Küni didôs achüra, onôi ta ostea," to express a thing done the wrong way.

[743] In the Pentamerone again, in the island of the ogres, an old ogress feeds a number of asses, who afterwards jump on to the bank of a river and kick the swans; here the ass is demoniacal, as it is in the Râmâyaṇam; the swans, as we shall see, are a form of the luminous Açvinâu.—In obscene literature, the mentula as a gardener, and the vulva as a garden, are two frequent images; cfr., among others, the Italian poem, La Menta.

[744] Cfr. the first of the Novelline di Santo Stefano di Calcinaia, in which we also find the third brother, believed to be stupid, who makes his ass throw gold from its tail; the foolish Pimpi, who kills his ass whilst cutting wood; the son of the poor man, who amuses himself by sending the ass before him tied to a string, and then making it return; the peasant who drags up the ass which had fallen into the marsh, and who then marries the daughter of the king of Russia (the wintry, the gloomy, the nocturnal one), who never laughed and whom he causes to laugh; and the ass who dies after eating a poisoned loaf.

[745] Contes et Proverbes Populaires recueillis en Armagnac, par J. F. Bladé, Paris, Franck.

[746] Cuentos y Poesias Populares Andaluces, collecionados por Fernan Caballero, Leipzig, Brockhaus, 1866.

[747] The Petropolitan Dictionary sees in the he-goat aǵas, the movable one (agilis). To illustrate the same analogies in the case of the Greek myth, it will be useful to repeat the words of Professor Bréal: "Le verbe grec aïssô, qui signifie s'élancer, a fait d'une part le substantif aix, chèvre (à cause de la nature bondissante de l'animal), et de l'autre les mots kataïx, kataigis, tempête (as it seems to me, that which shakes, which causes to move or tremble, inasmuch as I maintain that aǵas does not mean the movable, or him that rushes, so much as him that pushes, that butts, or causes to move). De là une nouvelle série d'images et de fables où la chèvre joue le rôle principal. L'égide, avant d'être un bouclier fait en peau de chèvre, était le ciel au moment de l'orage; Jupiter aigiochos était le dieu qui envoie la tempête; plus tard, on traduisit le dieu qui porte l'égide. Homère semble se souvenir de la première signification, quand il nous montre, au seul mouvement du bouclier le tonnerre qui éclate, l'Ida qui se couvre de nuages et les hommes frappés de terreur." Mr Ralston compares very well the Russian ablakagragonniki (cloud-compellers) to the Zeus nephelêgeretes. In the Ṛigv. i. 10, 8, it is said similarly to Indras: ǵeshaḥ svarvatîr apaḥ saṁ gâ asmabhyaṁ dhûnuhi.

[748] Let Finnish philologists observe whether it is not possible to refer to this their Aija, an equivalent of Ukko, their Indras, called hattarojen hallitsia, the master of the cloud-lambs.—Cfr. Castren's Kleinere Schriften, St Petersburg, 1862, p. 230.

[749] Mesham puruhûtam; Ṛigv. i. 51, 1.—Tad indro arthaṁ ćetati yûthena vṛishṇir eǵati; Ṛigv. i. 10, 2.

[750] Tvaṁ gotram añigirobhyo 'vṛiṇor; Ṛigv. i. 51, 3.

[751] Tvaṁ mâyâbhir apa mâyino 'dhamaḥ—tvam pipror nṛimaṇaḥ prâruǵaḥ puraḥ; Ṛigv. i. 51, 5.

[752] Mahantaṁ ćid arbudaṁ ni kramîḥ padâ; Ṛigv. i. 51, 6.—Arbudas is also in Sanskṛit the proper name of a mountain and of a hell; the cloud-mountain and the hell in the cloudy and nocturnal sky have already been noticed in this volume.

[753] Çaphâv iva ǵarbhurâṇâ tarobhiḥ; Ṛigv. ii. 39, 3.

[754] Siṅhyaṁ ćit petvenâ ǵaghâna; Ṛigv. vii. 18, 17.—In Firdusi we find, in the adventures of Isfendiar, two horned wolves that catch lions; these seem to be demoniacal forms of the ram of Indras which kills the lion.

[755] xxx. 9.—Here the horns are the sun's rays or the thunderbolts, which come again in the Italian superstition on the iettatura; the horns of the goat, it is said, and the red coral horns excel the devil and his magic.

[756] iv. 21.

[757] iii. 18.—In the story, i. 20, we are told that the lamb fled away into the forest with the he-goat, because its master took the skin off one of its sides (that is, the wool). The lambs appear in the morning and in the evening with luminous wool; they are sheared during the night.

[758] Afanassieff, ii. 4; iv. 17.

[759] The walnut-tree is also found in relation with the goat in a fable of Afanassieff, ii. 1, that of the accused who exculpate themselves by inculpating others. The cock and the hen gather nuts together; the cock throws one which strikes the hen on the ear; the hen weeps; a boiard asks the reason; the hen accuses the cock, the cock accuses the walnut-tree, the walnut-tree accuses the goat, the goat accuses the shepherd, the shepherd accuses the housewife, the housewife accuses the hog, the hog accuses the wolf, the wolf accuses God, but beyond God it is impossible to go.—In another jest in verse, intended to exercise the memory and loosen the tongue, and given by Afanassieff, iv. 16, we find the goat in connection with hazel-nuts. The he-goat begins to complain that the she-goat does not come back with the hazel-nuts (níet kaszi s ariehami); the song goes on to say, that the he-goat will send the wolf to find the she-goat, the bear after the wolf, the men after the bear, the oak-tree after the men, the axe after the oak-tree, the grindstone after the axe, the fire after the grindstone, the water after the fire, and the hurricane after the water; then the hurricane sends the water, the water the fire, the fire burns the grindstone, the stone grinds the axe, the axe cuts down the oak-tree, the oak-tree made into a stick (as we have already seen in Chapters I. and II.) beats the men, the men shoot against the bear, the bear fights with the wolves, the wolves hunt the she-goat, and here the she-goat comes back with the hazel-nuts (vot kasza s ariehami).

[760]

[761] Afanassieff, vi. 17.

[762] In the story, ii. 32 of Afanassieff, a similar voice has the same effect as that of the ass; it terrifies all the other animals. However, here, a goat that has been shorn is alone spoken of,—that is, the goat which has lost its hair or luminous wool, the thundering goat-cloud.—In the twenty-fifth story of the first book of the Narodnija iusznoruskija Skazki (Popular Stories of South Russia), edited by Rudcenko, Kiev, 1869, the goat terrifies by its voice the first fox and then the wolf, until she herself is terrified by the voice of the cock. (The morning sun, personified in the cock, destroys the she-goat of night.)

[763] Afanassieff, iii. 15.—She sends them to the pasturage; a young blacksmith, who is in her power, adopts the follow mode of deliverance: He puts his pelisse on outside-in, feigns himself a sheep, and passes out with the other sheep, escaping thus from the witch: the young sun comes out at morn like a shepherd-hero among the sheep. Thus Odysseus delivers himself from the grotto of Polyphemos with his companions, by hiding himself among the flock which comes out of it.

[764] Cfr. the eleventh of the Novelline di Santo Stefano di Calcinaia, where we have the lamb instead of the kid.

[765] A very interesting variation of this is contained in another unpublished story which I heard from a certain Marianna Nesti of Fucecchio in Tuscany.

There was once a queen that had a son, who, at the age of seven years, was enchanted, so that he lay constantly in bed like one deprived of life. Only at midnight he went out of the house, returning at one o'clock, covered with blood, and throwing himself as if dead into the bed. A woman had to remain regularly on the watch for the purpose of opening the door for him at midnight and at one o'clock; but no girl had, from very fright, been able to continue in the service more than one night. Near the city lived an old woman with three daughters; the two eldest tried to discharge the prescribed duty, but were overcome with fear; the youngest, more courageous, remained. The first night, at twelve o'clock, the dead man lifts up one arm; she runs to him and lifts the other; he tries to raise himself; she helps him to get out of bed. At one o'clock he returns covered with blood, and the girl asks him who has reduced him to this condition, but he answers nothing, and throws himself on the bed as if a corpse. The second night she follows him, and sees him enter a subterranean cavern; he comes to the foot of a flight of stairs, puts down his mantle and remains as naked as when he was born, a handsome youth of eighteen years of age. At the summit of the stairs two great witches cry, "Here he is! come, pretty one!" He ascends and is beaten by the witches for an hour till blood flows, he crying out the while for mercy. At one o'clock he is allowed to go, comes back to the foot of the stairs, takes his mantle and returns home dead. The third night his attendant again follows him, and when he puts down his mantle at the foot of the stairs and goes up, she takes the mantle and presses it tightly; the witches scream. The young man comes to the summit; but when they try to beat him they cannot lift the stick. Perceiving this, the girl presses and bites the mantle; when she does so, the witches feel themselves bitten; then the girl runs to the palace, orders a great fire to be lighted, and throws the mantle into it; upon its being burnt, the two witches expire, their enchantment is destroyed, and the prince marries his deliverer.

[766] In the eighth story of the first book of the Pentamerone, the ungrateful young woman, Renzolla, is condemned by her own protecting fairy to have the face of a horned goat until she shows her repentance.

[767] v. 25.

[768] iii. 16.

[769] i. 50; vii. 38.

[770] Çatam meshân vṛikye ćakshadânam ṛiǵrâçvam tam pitândhaṁ ćakâra tasma akshî nâsatyâ vićaksha âdhattam dasrâ bhishaǵâv anarvan; Ṛigv. i. 116, 16.—Cfr. 117, 18.

[771] Esha ćhâgaḥ puro açvena vâǵinâ; Ṛigv. i. 162, 3.

[772] Cfr. Afanassieff, v. 7, where the rogue passes the she-goat off as his sister, and lets her be killed, in order to oblige the murderer, by threats of exposure, to give him a large sum of money in compensation; and v. 52, where the head of a goat is cut off to conceal the murder of a sacristan, committed by the foolish third brother.—Cfr. Erlenwein, 17.

[773] The she-goat is also sacrificed, in the eighth of the Sicilian stories collected by Laura Gonzenbach, to test the virtue of a truthful peasant. The wife of a minister who is jealous of the peasant Verità (Truth), who has the custody of a goat, a lamb, a ram, and a wether belonging to the king, persuades him to believe that her life is forfeit, and can be ransomed only by the sacrifice of the wether. The peasant, overcome partly by love and partly by compassion, gives way and consents to the sacrifice. The minister hopes that the peasant will conceal his fault, but is disappointed in his expectation, inasmuch as, on the contrary, he ingenuously confesses everything; and he becomes, in consequence, yet dearer to the king.

[774] The devil also presents himself to do his evil deeds in the Bélier de Rochefort, in Bonnafoux, Légendes et Croyances Superstitieuses Conservées dans le Départment de la Creuse, Gueret, 1867, p. 17.—In a legend of Baden, too, recorded by Simrock (work quoted before, p. 260; cfr., in the same work, p. 501), the devil appears with the feet of a he-goat.

[775] vii. 50, 1.—In the Classical Dictionary of Natural History of Audouin, Bourdon, &c., first Italian translation, Venice, Tasso, 1831, we read: "Goat, species of ophidian reptiles, indigenous in Congo, and also in Bengal; as yet unclassified by zoologists, and which, it is said, throw from afar a kind of saliva causing blindness."

[776] Cfr. the lacerta cornuta of the Pentamerone.

[777] vi. 42.

[778] iv. 7.

[779]

[780] Pâvîravî tanyatur ekapâd aǵo divo dhartâ; Ṛigv. x. 65, 13.—Cfr. the aǵa ekapâd invoked after Ahirbudhnya and before Tritas, in the Ṛigv. ii. 31, 6, and the aǵâikapâd, a name given to Vishṇus, in the Hariv; the reader remembers also the goat-footed races of Herodotus.

[781] We also find the lame goat, or he-goat, in the legend of Thor. The god kills his he-goats, takes off their skins, and keeps their bones, to be able to resuscitate them at pleasure. His son, Thialfi, steals the thigh-bone of one of the goats, in order to go and sell it; then one of the he-goats of Thor, being resuscitated, is lame.—Cfr. for the analogous traditions the notices given by Simrock, work quoted before, p. 260.

[782] In a Russian song we read: "Moon! moon! golden horns!"

[783] ii. 240.

[784] Cfr. Du Cange, s. v. galaxia.

[785] Das festliche Jahr, zweite Ausg., p. 216.

[786] Florence, Piatti, 1821.

[787] Concerning this stone, cfr. a whole chapter in Aldrovandi, De Quadrupedibus Bisulcis, i.

[788] Cfr. Du Cange, s. v. Agnus Dei, where we even find the verses with which Urban V. accompanied the gift of an Agnus Dei to John Paleologus.—In the month of October, the Thuringians celebrate the festival of the race after the ram, which, when overtaken, is led to a large rock and there killed. For the race after the ram, cfr. also Villemarqué, Chants Populaires de la Bretagne.—In a popular song, in which England is transformed into Engelland (or country of the angels), Mary, the nurse of God, appears with the white lamb:—

[789] Menzel, the work quoted before.

[790] Professor Emilio Teza has published a mediæval Italian version of this poem with notes.

[791] Cfr. the before-quoted fable of Babrios, in which the vine complains of the he-goat which eats its leaves.—In the Italian proverb, "Salvar la capra e i cavoli," the she-goat is again indicated as an eater of leaves.—The leaves of the sorb-apple, according to the Norwegian belief, cure sick goats, by which the god Thor is drawn.—Cfr. Kuhn, Die H. d. F. u. d. G.

[792] From a narrative made to me by my friend Valentino Carrera, an intrepid Alp-climber and popular dramatist.

[793] Referred to by Martial's epigram:—

[794] With this myth of the brother Phrixos and of the sister Helle, who pass the sea or fly through the air with the sheep, is connected the Russian story recorded above of Ivan and Helena; Ivan is changed into a little kid or lamb. In the Italian variety of the same story, the sister is thrown into the sea by the witch. Whilst the brother and sister pass the Hellespont upon the golden ram, Helle falls into the sea. We learn from Apôllonios, in the second book of the Argon., that the fleece of the sheep became gold only when, on its arrival in Colchis, it was sacrificed and suspended upon an oak-tree. The cloud-ram becomes golden only in the morning and evening sky.—The luminous fleece can perhaps be recognised in the bride of the Ṛigvedas, who, leaning towards the relations of Kakshîvant, says: "Every day I shall be (properly speaking, I am) like the little woolly sheep of the gandhâri (sarvâham asmi romaçâ gandhârîṇâm ivâvikâ);" Ṛigv. i. 126. As there is an etymological analogy, so there may be a mythical analogy between the gandhâri and the gandharvâs.

[795] Book x.

[796] Ovid calls the goat "hædorum mater formosa duorum," and sings that the goat herself broke one of her horns against a tree, which horn the nymph Amalthea wrapped—

and Jupiter, when lord of heaven, in reward—