Page:The Mythology of the Aryan Nations.djvu/602

This page has been validated.

570

MYTHOLOGY OF THE ARYAN NATIONS.

BOOK II.

and when the man answers that he is moulding eyes, asks him further whether he can give him a pair of new eyes.^[1] He is told to come again another day; and when he makes his appearance accordingly, the man tells him that the operation cannot be performed rightly unless he is first tightly bound with his back fastened to a bench. While he is thus pinioned, he asks the man's name. The reply

↑ Grimm, D. M. 963–980. It is unnecessary to trace in detail all the fancies and notions on the subject of the devil and his works which Grimm has gathered together; but it may be fairly said that scarcely a single point mentioned by him is without its value, as throwing light on popular forms of thought and expression.

The blinded devil reappears in Grimm's story of the Robber and his Sons, which reproduces the narrative of the Odyssey. Here the robber is the only one who is not devoured by the Giant, and he blinds his enemy while pretending to heal his eyes. In the sequel, instead of clinging to the ram's fleece he clings to the rafters of the ceiling, and aftervards wraps himself in a ram's skin, and so escapes between the giant's legs. But as soon as he gets out of the cave, he cannot resist the temptation of turning round, like Odysseus, to mock at his enemy. The giant, saying that so clever a man ought not go unrewarded, holds out to him a ring which, when placed on his finger, makes him cry out, "Here I am, here I am." But although he is guided by the sound, the giant stumbles sadly in his blindness, and the robber at last makes his escape by biting off his finger and so getting rid of the ring.

The blinded Kyklops forms the subject of the third voyage of Sindbad; but the myth has gained nothing by being dressed out in Arabian garb. He is the Urisk of the Western Fairy Tale.—Keightley, Fairy Mythology, 396. The Lap story runs as follows: "There was a Karelian who had been taken by a giant and was kept in a castle. The giant had only one eye, but he had Hocks and herds. The night came and the giant fell asleep. The Karelian put out his eye. The giant, who now could no longer see, sat at the door, and felt everything that went out. He had a great many sheep in the courtyard. The Karelian got under the belly of one of them and escaped."—Latham, Nationalities of Europe, i. 227.

For some other versions of the myth, see Sayce, Introduction to the Science of Language, ii. 264. Mr. Sayce, giving a list, perhaps not urgently called for, of all recent works on mythology and language, has been pleased to mention this work, in the original edition, as a book to be read with caution. The remark applies to many attempts made by pioneers in a new path; but it would not be easy for unprejudiced readers to discern any material difference between my conclusions and those of Mr. Sayce, or in the modes of presenting the evidence of those conclusions, in his pages or in mine. The only difference is one of time, the Mythology of the Aryan Nations having preceded the Introduction to the Science of Language by ten years. The remarkable agreement of Mr. Sayce with many of my conclusions which have been most disputed, might perhaps have furnished a reason for some acknowledgement of the work which I had done. My own obligations to Professor Max Midler I had acknowledged, wherever I had the opportunity, gladly and gratefully.

For myself, I confess that I am but a learner; and I confess not less willingly that in some of my conclusions ten or twelve years ago I was mistaken, and that in some I was altogether wrong. I was especially wrong in restricting within exceedingly narrow limits the influence of Semitic upon Greek thought; but I hope it may be found that this fault has been now amended. I may plead, however, that a very large amount of evidence, now brought together, was then not available, and that I was attempting a task of wider range than I think had been attempted by those who had gone before me. If I could at that time have had the benefit of Mr. Brown's researches, my treatment of the myths of Dionysos, Orion, Aphrodite, and other mythical beings, might have been less inadequate. I hope that at the least the account given of them may be neither partial nor distorted.

[1] Grimm, D. M. 963–980. It is unnecessary to trace in detail all the fancies and notions on the subject of the devil and his works which Grimm has gathered together; but it may be fairly said that scarcely a single point mentioned by him is without its value, as throwing light on popular forms of thought and expression.

The blinded devil reappears in Grimm's story of the Robber and his Sons, which reproduces the narrative of the Odyssey. Here the robber is the only one who is not devoured by the Giant, and he blinds his enemy while pretending to heal his eyes. In the sequel, instead of clinging to the ram's fleece he clings to the rafters of the ceiling, and aftervards wraps himself in a ram's skin, and so escapes between the giant's legs. But as soon as he gets out of the cave, he cannot resist the temptation of turning round, like Odysseus, to mock at his enemy. The giant, saying that so clever a man ought not go unrewarded, holds out to him a ring which, when placed on his finger, makes him cry out, "Here I am, here I am." But although he is guided by the sound, the giant stumbles sadly in his blindness, and the robber at last makes his escape by biting off his finger and so getting rid of the ring.

The blinded Kyklops forms the subject of the third voyage of Sindbad; but the myth has gained nothing by being dressed out in Arabian garb. He is the Urisk of the Western Fairy Tale.—Keightley, Fairy Mythology, 396. The Lap story runs as follows: "There was a Karelian who had been taken by a giant and was kept in a castle. The giant had only one eye, but he had Hocks and herds. The night came and the giant fell asleep. The Karelian put out his eye. The giant, who now could no longer see, sat at the door, and felt everything that went out. He had a great many sheep in the courtyard. The Karelian got under the belly of one of them and escaped."—Latham, Nationalities of Europe, i. 227.

For some other versions of the myth, see Sayce, Introduction to the Science of Language, ii. 264. Mr. Sayce, giving a list, perhaps not urgently called for, of all recent works on mythology and language, has been pleased to mention this work, in the original edition, as a book to be read with caution. The remark applies to many attempts made by pioneers in a new path; but it would not be easy for unprejudiced readers to discern any material difference between my conclusions and those of Mr. Sayce, or in the modes of presenting the evidence of those conclusions, in his pages or in mine. The only difference is one of time, the Mythology of the Aryan Nations having preceded the Introduction to the Science of Language by ten years. The remarkable agreement of Mr. Sayce with many of my conclusions which have been most disputed, might perhaps have furnished a reason for some acknowledgement of the work which I had done. My own obligations to Professor Max Midler I had acknowledged, wherever I had the opportunity, gladly and gratefully.

For myself, I confess that I am but a learner; and I confess not less willingly that in some of my conclusions ten or twelve years ago I was mistaken, and that in some I was altogether wrong. I was especially wrong in restricting within exceedingly narrow limits the influence of Semitic upon Greek thought; but I hope it may be found that this fault has been now amended. I may plead, however, that a very large amount of evidence, now brought together, was then not available, and that I was attempting a task of wider range than I think had been attempted by those who had gone before me. If I could at that time have had the benefit of Mr. Brown's researches, my treatment of the myths of Dionysos, Orion, Aphrodite, and other mythical beings, might have been less inadequate. I hope that at the least the account given of them may be neither partial nor distorted.

[1]