as Riklin shows,[87] has already become important for the interpretation of fairy tales through the investigation of Laistner.[88] The typical riding takes on a special aspect through the results of the analytic investigation of infantile psychology; the two contributions of Freud and myself[89] have emphasized, on one side, the anxiety significance of the horse, on the other side the sexual meaning of the phantasy of riding. When we take these experiences into consideration, we need no longer be surprised that the maternal "world-ash" Ygdrasil is called in German "the frightful horse." Cannegieter[90] says of nightmares:
"Abigunt eas nymphas (matres deas, mairas) hodie rustici osse
capitis equini tectis injecto, cujusmodi ossa per has terras in
rusticorum villis crebra est animadvertere. Nocte autem ad concubia
equitare creduntur et equos fatigare ad longinqua itinera."[1]
The connection of nightmare and horse seems, at first
glance, to be present also etymologically—nightmare and
mare. The Indo-Germanic root for märe is mark.
Märe is the horse, English mare; Old High German
marah (male horse) and meriha (female horse); Old
Norse merr (mara = nightmare); Anglo-Saxon myre
(maira). The French "cauchmar" comes from calcare
= to tread, to step (of iterative meaning, therefore, "to
tread" or press down). It was also said of the cock who
- ↑ Even to-day the country people drive off these nymphs (mother goddesses, Maira) by throwing a bone of the head of a horse upon the roof—bones of this kind can often be seen throughout the land on the farmhouses of the country people. By night, however, they are believed to ride at the time of the first sleep, and they are believed to tire out their horses by long journeys.
