CHAP. VIII.
nor oars. They can pour down rain or snow on the earth, and,
like the clouds, they can change their form at will; and thus they are
destroyed by Phoibos in the guise of a wolf, as the sun's rays scatter
the mists at noonday. In this capacity of changing their form and
bringing storms upon the earth we have all that is needed as the
groundwork of their reputation as sorcerers, even if we refuse to
indulge in any conjectures as to the origin of the name.[1] Their office
as nurses of Poseidôn[2] is even more significant, as showing their close
affinity to the nurses of Zeus in the cave of Dikte. Hence the story
recorded by Strabo that those of the Telchines who went with Rhea
to Crete were there called Kourêtes, the guardians of the child ((
Greek characters))
Zeus.[3] These are the dancers clad in everlasting youth, the Daktyloi,
or pointers, of Ida, the nourishing earth, the bride of Dyaus the
heaven.[4] These also are beings endowed with a strange wisdom and
with magical powers, and from them Orpheus received the charm
which gave to his harp its irresistible power. Their numbers vary,
sometimes only a few being seen, sometimes a troop of fifty or a
hundred, like the fifty children of Danaos, Thestios, or Asterodia.
The Telchines and Kouretês. The characteristics of the Phaiakians and their ships carry us to other myths of the clouds and the light. As roaming over hill and dale, as visiting every cornfield and seeing all the works of men, and as endowed with powers of thought, these mysterious vessels are possessed in some measure of the wisdom of Phoibos himself. The kindred Telchines and Kouretes, the unwearied dancers who move across the skies, have the power also of changing their forms at will.[5] If we put these attributes together, we at once have the wise yet treacherous, and the capricious yet truthful Proteus, the Farmer Weathersky of Teutonic tales. This strange being is the old
- ↑ Der name (
Greek characters) ist abzulciten von (Greek characters) in der Bedeutung bezaubern, durch BerUhrung ber{{subst:u:}}cken, daher Stesichoros die Keren und betaiibende Schl{{subst:a:}}ge, welche das Bewusstscin verdunkeln, (Greek characters) genannt hatte."—Preller, Gr. Myth. i. 473.
- ↑ Thirlwall, Hist. Greece, i. 76.
- ↑ Preller, Gr. Myth. i. 103.
- ↑ The connexion of (Greek characters) and
digitus with the root from which sprung
the Greek (Greek characters), the Latin indico and
other words, is generally admitted. The
myth that they served Rhea as the
fingers serve the hand would naturally
grow up when the real meaning of the
name was weakened or forgotten. But
this fact, if proved, would not explain
necessarily the source of the name; and
certainly could not do so, if it be only in
adaptation to a Semitic sound.
- ↑ So with the fairy in the Ballad of Tamlane:
"I quit my body when I please,
Or unto it repair;
We can inhabit at our ease
In either earth or air,Our shapes and size we can convert
To either large or small:
An old nutshell's the same to us
As is the lofty hall."The sequel of the ballad specifics all the changes of Thetis when Peleus seeks to win her.
