in constant fear. These ropes may still be seen hanging from the sun at dawn, and when he descends into the ocean at night. By the assistance of these ropes he is gently let down into Avaiki, and in the morning is raised up out of the shades. Of course this extravagant myth refers to what English children call 'the sun drawing up water;' or, as these islanders still say 'Tena te taura a Māui!' 'Behold the ropes of Māui!'"[1]
In connexion with this set of tales, it may be noticed that there are to be found in the Old World ideas of the sun being bound with a cord to hold it in check. In North Germany the townsmen of Bösum sit up in their church tower and hold the sun by a cable all day; taking care of it at night, and letting it up again in the morning. In Reynard the Fox, the day is bound with a rope, and its bonds only let it come slowly on. In a Hungarian tale midnight and dawn are bound, so that they can get no farther towards men.[2] This notion is curiously like the Peruvian story of the Inca who denied the pretension of the Sun to be the doer of all things, for if he were free, he would go and visit other parts of the heavens where he had never been. He is, said the Inca, like a tied beast who goes ever round and round in the same track.[3] The idea is renewed by Wordsworth, that "modern ancient," as Max Müller so truly calls him:—
"Well does thine aspect usher in this Day;
As aptly suits therewith that modest pace
Submitted to the chains
That bind thee to the path which God ordains
That thou shouldst trace,
Till, with the heavens and earth, thou pass away!"
The legend of the Ascent to Heaven by the Tree has just been brought forward in two of its American versions,[4] taken down at periods two centuries apart, and among tribes not only separated by long distance but speaking languages of two distinct families,
- ↑ Rev. W. W. Gill, 'Myths and Songs from the South Pacific,' London, 1876, p. 62; another version, p. 70, mentions Mam's ropes breaking, till a noose was made of his sister's hair, as in the American story. [Note to 3rd Edition.]
- ↑ Bastian, vol. ii. p. 58. Grimm, D. M., p 706. See Steinthal, 'Die Sage von Simson,' in Lazarus & Steinthal's ' Zeitschrift;' Berlin, 1862, vol. ii. p. 141.
- ↑ Garcilaso de la Vega, part i. viii. 8. See also Acosta, Hist. del Nuevo Orbe, chap. v.
- ↑ See also Schoolcraft, part. iii. p. 547; part i. plate 52, p. 378.
