Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1871-05-10

entertained in Teutonic countries with re
Is spect to the robin and | suppose that from
: this superstition is descended the preyalen
notion, which [ often encountered in child
? hood; that there is something peculiarly
n wicked il killing robins.
Now, as the ravefi or voOdpecker, in the
S various myths of schamir, is the dark storm
;, cloud, so the rock splitting worm plan
:. or pebble which the bird carries in it's beab
n and let's fall to the ground IS nothing moro
# or less than the flash OF lightning Carried
Y and dro1ped by the cloud. a. 1t the CLOUD
/ was supposed 20 be a great bird, the light
nings were regarded as ~rithiDg worms oil
serpents in its beak. These fiery sefpents
3 are believed in to this day by the Canadian
c Indiana, tho call the thunder their hiss
t ing. ="
But these are not the only Mythical con-
D ceptions which are to be found wrapped NJ
= in the various myths OF schamir and the d.
G vining-rod. The persons who told these sto-
! rics were not weaving ingenious allegoriec
@ about thunder storms /; they were telling
stories or giving utterance to suPerstitiOns
: of which the original meaning was forgotten.
The old srannies who, along with stoical
! Indifference to Che fate of quails and par
tridges, used TO impress upon me the wick
/, edness of killing robins, did not add that |
should be struck by lightning if | failed to
heard that the robin was the bird of Thor !;
they merely rehearsej the remnant of the
superstition which had survived Go tEeir own
times, while the essential part of it had long
since faded from recollection The reason
for regarding a robins life as more sacred
than partridge's had been forgotten but
1t left behind, as was natural, a vague recOg-
milton of that mythical sanctity. The prim-
tive meaning Of myth fades away as inev-
r. 4
OF phrase and the rabbns who told of
worm which skaters rocks no more thought
Of the writhing thunderbolts than the mod
ern reader thinks Of oyster shells Y en- he
sees the word OStrnciSm, or consciously
hreathes prayer RS he writes the phrase
q0Jd 6V, Ii is only in it's callow infancy
that the full force Of a m5th is felt, and its
period of luxuriant development dates from
the time when its physical significance is
lost or obscured. 1t was because the Greek
mad forgotten that Zeus meant the bright
sky, that he would make him king over an
anthropJmorphic Olympus The Hindu
Dyaus. who carried his signif canoe in his
name as plainly as the Greek uelios, never
attained such an exalted position he yield
cd 10 delties Of less obvious pedigree, such
as Brahma and Nishnu.
Since. therefore. the myth tellers recoun-
ted merely the wonderful stories which their
own nurses and grandmas had told
them, and had no intention of weaving subtle
ailegJries or wrapping up physical truth
IN mystic cmhleIDs, 1t follows that they were
bound 70 avoid incCngruites or to preserve
philosophical symmetry IN their MARIA
tives In the great majority Of complex
myths. no such symmetry Is to be found. A
score of different mythical conceptions
would yet wrought into the same story, and
the attempt to pull them apart and construct
Il single harmonious system OF conceptions
out OF the pieces must often end 10 ingenious
ahsurdity Ii Odysseus IL uuquestionably
the sun. 50 is the eye oi POlyphemos which
OIysscus puts out. But the Treek poet
knew nothing of the ncongruty for he was
thinking only of a superhuman hero freeing
himself from a giant cannibal he knew
nothing OF Sauskrit, Or of comparative my
tholO.v and the sources of his myths were
as com pletely hidden from his view as the
sources Of the Nile
we need not bc surprised. then, find
that In one version Of the schamir-myth the
cloud ls the bird which carries the worm,
while in another version the cloud Is the
rock or mountain which the talisman cleaves
open, nor neeI we wonder at it. # We tnd
stories IN which the two conceptions are min
gled togethcrwithout regard 10 an incongru
Ity winch in the mind of tine myth teller no
longer exists
In early Aryan mythology there Is nothing
bv which the clouds are more frequently
represented than by rocks or mountains
Such were the Sympiegades, which, charmed
by the harp of the wind god Orpheus. parted
to make way for the talking snip Argo, with
It's crew of solar heroes. such too, were the
Ossa and Peliod, which the giants
piled up one upon another in their lmpious
assault upon Zeus, the lord OF the bright sky
As Mr. Barring Gould observes '' The ancient
Aryan had the same name for cloud and
mountain. To him the piles Of yapor on the
horizon were 80 like Alpine ranges, that he
had but one word whereby to designate both !
These great mountains OF heaven were opened
by the lightning. In the sudden hash he
behcli the dazzling splendor within, but only
Tor a moment. and then, with crash, the
ce cstial rocks closed again. Believing these
vaToious piles TO contain resplcndent treas
urcs of winch partial glimpse was obtained
by mortals in mementary gltam, tales were
speedily formed, relating the adventures Of
1f some W o had succeeded in entering these
treasure mountains.
Ihis sudden flash is the smiting of the
cloud rock bv the arrow Of Ahmed, the
resIstlcss hammer of Thor, the spear OF
Odih, the trident of Puseidon, or the rod of
lIcrmes. The fOrked streak of light Is the
Of the dlyining rod in its Oldest
form-that in which il not only indicates {
the hidden treasures, but, like the staff OF ,
the Il-enstein shepherd, bursts open the
enchanted crypt and reveals them to the
istOnished waytarer. Hence the one thing 5
essential to the diyining- rod, from whatever h
tree it be chosen, is that it shall be iorked.
lt is not difficult to comprehend the rea- :
sons which led the ancients To speak of the
ghtning as a worm, serpent, trident, arrow |
IT iorked wand ; but when we inquire why Ii
il was sometimes symbO.iZed flower or h
caf or when we seek 70 ascertain why GER
aip trees. such as the ash hazel, white
horn and mistletoe, were supposed to be in a
certain sense emb0diments of It, we are h
upon a subject too complicated to -
)e satisfactorily treated within the present y
per. 1t has been said that the point Of ?
esemblance betwe cow aud comet, Il
hat both have tails, was quite enough for H.
he primitive word d-maker it was certainly
.nough for the primitive myth-teller ) Some y
lines the pinnate shape of leaf, the lorking W
IF branch. the tri-cleft corolla, or even the h
ed color of a flower, seems to have been r.
uficient 70 determine the association OF !,
deas The Hindu commentators of the q
tcda certainly lay great stress on the fact az
hat the palasa, one Of their lightning trees, ri
; trident-leaved The mlstlctoe branch is ~
orked like wish bone. 4 and is the stem =
which bears the forget-me-nOt or wild scOr- "
)ion grass So TO the leaves of the Hindu al
fcus reIigiosa resemble long spear -headsT d
But in many cases it is impossible for US To
determine with confidence the reasons which .
nay have guided primitive men in their =
BanngGould, Curious Myths, Vol. II. p. Ii6. r,
The sanskrit myth-teler indeed mixes up his =,
Materials IN way which seems udicrous to West "
IN reader. He describes Indra (the sun-god) is
rot only cleaving the coud.mountains with his
hem from the sky see Burnouf, Bhasavata Purana =,