The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-08-07
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CGrIous Myths of the MyidIe Ages.--
An Interesting voIuSie Showing
That There is Nothing new Under
theSun. IL EygElAsg4 ~ /.
Mr.. s. Barring GoulYhas made an in
terestiug volume oShis papers on the
"Curious Myths,f the Middle Ages"
They are now,Published in book form
by Roberts Bros, Boston, and are to be
had through the book audistationer7
house Of Campbell & McDernqt OF this
city. The papers thus collected and
published relate 10 the Wandering Jew,
Prester John, The Dlvining Rod, The
Seven Sleepsrs of Ephesus, William
Tell, The Dog Gellert, Tailed Men,
zAubelhurst and PopeJoan, The Man In
the Moon, The Mountain OF Venus, The
Fatality of Numbers and the Tenerbat
Paradise. These books or subjects, af-
ford ample scope for an exhibition of
curious learning as we'll as the rehearsal
of curious tales, and 1t is due to the au-
thor to say, observes the Boston Id
vertiSer, that she has rarely SO over
loaded his subject with erudite notes as
to make 1t lose its interest as popular
book, although certain of his papers
as for example those on the Dlvining
Rod and on Tailed Men-do not come
within the scope of his title" n e .
The constant reader" OF newspapers,
whose patience has been SO often tried
by conflicting and spurious special des-
patches, will Ind that the style Of state
ment commonly characterized as "can-
ards" did not originate in the era OF
the Hoe press and the Atlantic Cable.
Take the story, for example, ofIWil-
liam Tell. There never was a William
Tell, and Ito use the Hibernianism) he
never shot an apple from the head OF
his son; or, to be more exact, and to
adopt phrase of Artsmus Ward, in
speaking OF Mormon's wife as there
was a good many of her." there were a
host of the Swiss hero. 7rmf. ID ts. 90 b.
p The Tell of Swiss history is related TO
have saved his son and defed Gessler
In 1907. Every ,school-boy knows the
incident. But Saxo Grammaticus, a
Danish writer of the 18th century, tells
substantially the same story OF one
Text, hero of Denmark, who honr-
ished in the tenth century. As this is
the first form of the myth, we copy 1t
as translated by Mr.. Barring Could:
atToki, who had for some time been. in
the kings service, had, by his deeds,
eurpassing those OF his comrades, made
enemies OF his virtues. One day, when
he had drank too much, he boasted to
those who sat at the table with him that
his skill in archery was such that he
could hit the smallest apple set on the
top OF stick ar a considera BILE distance.
His detraetors, hearing this, lost no
time in conveying what he had said 10
the king (HRrold Bluetooth). But the
wickedness OF this monarch soon
transformed the confidence of the faith
er to the jeopardy of the son, for he
ordered the dearest pledge OF his life to
stand in the place of the stick, from
whom, If the utterer of the boast did
not a: his hrst shot strike down the ap-
pie, he should with his head pay the
penalty of having made an idle boast.
AIuB uABGu IAe
soldier to do this, which was so much
more than he had undertaken, the de.
tracing artifices OF the others having
taken advantage OF kwords spoken
when he was hardly sober. AS soon as
the boy was led forth, Toki carefully
admonished him to receive the whirr
of the arrow as calmly as possible, with
attentive ears and without, m loving, his
head, least by u slight motion o r. the
body he should Illustrate the expert
snce OF his we'll tried skill. , He
also made him stand with his back to-
wards him, lest he should befrighIened
Rtlthe sight OF the arrow. " Then he
drew three arrows from his culver, and
the first he shot struck the proposed
mark. Toki being asked by the king
why he had taken SO many more ar
rows out OF his squiver, when be was 10
make but one trial with his bow, "that
might Rvenge on thee" he replied.
''the error OF the first by the points oi
the others, lest my innocence might
happen to be afflicted, and thy injustice
go unpunished-" st
The same story, with variations, Is
told of Egil, brother OF the, mythical
Yelundr, in the Sagacof Thidrik; Ia
Norwegian history, of King Olaf, the
Saint, who died inithe year 1890; in the
life of Hemingr, another Morse hero,
VINO uIeu IN 4OoOi III Au6 EdEOe 1slanuh
it is related of Geyti, Aslak' IS son; in the
celebrated Malleus Malehcarum, 1t is
narrated OF a man named Punohs; in
early English literature it appears in
the old ballad ofwilliam of Cloudsleyi
1t turns up in Finland, and even in Per
sls it Is preserved in II poem by Altar,
who lived and died long before the
days of william Tell of Switzerland.
According to the Persian poet how
ever, the king shoots the apple from the
head of a beloved page, and the lad dies
from sheer fright, though the arrow
does not even Craze his skin. -
In short, the story is a fable common
to the Aryan races.
The legend ofthe dog Gellert, whose
grave is still pointed out in Wales, is
shown to exist in Greek. Latin He
brew. Arabic, Persian, Egyptian, Hin
doc, Mongolian and Chinese, as well as
in English literature. - - u
1t quite clear that the story of the
Pope Joan is fabulous, and, as our au-
thor says, "rests not on the slightest
1'histOrical foundation" 1t was pro6a.
: 81 la :.