had turned to stone. We have thus traced the legend from the Arctic circle to the shore of the Mediterranean. In the Serbian story it is interesting to observe how the grave of the Arctic winter sun, whose return is allegorized in so many ways in these stories, and which has given us so many enchanted castles, of which the castle of iron, with its frozen warriors, is the prototpye, is here transforming itself into the place of eternal torment of our genial Christian theology. I quote another Serbian story called the Devil and the Archangel, partly because it illustrates this metamorphosis, and partly because it shows that the egg which fell into the sea of fire in the Lapp story, symbolizes the sun. The yunner’s three attempts to recover it correspond to the plucking of the three hairs in Father Know-All, and to the three days’ struggle at the bridge in the Sun-horse, to the invariably triple form of the three days’ struggle for the light at the re-appearance of the sun from its Arctic underworld.
When the devils revolted and fled to the earth, they brought the sun with them, and the Czar of the devils stuck it on a pike, and carried it over his shoulder. But when the world began to disgust God so that he wished to burn it up by means of the sun, he sent his Holy Archangel on to the earth, and the Archangel began to fraternize with the Czar of the devils: but the Czar of the devils perceived what the other wanted, and carefully kept on his guard. Going thus about in the world they came to the sea and prepared to bathe, and the devil flung the spear with the sun on it upon the ground. After bathing a little, says the Holy Archangel: “Suppose we dive to see who can go the deepest.” And the devil replies: “Come along, then.” So the Holy Archangel dives and brings up a sponge in his teeth. Now it is the devil’s turn, but he fears lest the Archangel filch the sun while he is diving. Just then an idea strikes him. He spits on to the ground, and from the spittle forms a magpie to watch the sun while he is under water; but the Holy Archangel makes the sign of the cross over the sea, and ice forms upon the surface twelve ells in thickness; then he seizes the sun and carries it to God, and the magpie begins to cry out. When the devil hears the magpie’s voice he knows what it means, and hastens back at full speed. But rising to the surface, he finds it hard frozen, and cannot get out. So down he goes again to the bottom, fetches a stone, breaks the ice, and hurries after the Holy Archangel. Away runs the Archangel and the devil after him. Just as the Holy Archangel is stepping up to God in heaven with one foot, that moment the devil catches him up, and with his nails pinches a large piece of flesh out of the soles of both his feet. When the Archangel, thus wounded, comes into the presence of God, he complains thus: “What am I to do, O God, thus deformed as I am.” And God said: “Never fear! I wish to arrange that all people should have a dent like a small valley in the soles of both feet.” And so God formed them, and in all people is formed on the soles of both their feet a depression like a small valley. And thus it has remained even down to the present day.
