Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-01-09
.SHE MYTHICAL BOAT.
The Emblem of Wealth and sthe Hero
glyph of Plenty.

The Emblem of Wealth and sthe Hero
glSph of Plenty.
Initspurely symbolical aspectthe ship
is very conspicuous in mythology. 1t
is the emblembf wealth, and the hiero-
glyph Of plenty. The earth itself is an
ark, containing' within itself every
thing necessary for replenishing tire
world. And so-in the old mysteries Of
dead religions the ship always had an
honored place, being carried in the
professions of the priests either in its
own form-an actual ship model-or
else in some occult symbol of the SYM
bol-a bowl, or cup. or shell, or water
flower.
Thus in Athens. on the great Pana-
thenaic festival. her temple ministers
carried in solemn pageant to the temple
the ship Of tho goddess Athene, the
giver of all that was good to her city
Of Athens, tho City Of, the Violet
Crown. Athenian maidens embroid-
cred with fi~ame-colored silks the saffron
veil that covered the mythical vessel.
and all the city stood in the streets to
see the procession pass up the hill. So,
too, in the worship of Isis, a ship.
sometimes of colossal size. frightened
with the frst-fruits of the year, was
carried by patient kline in a triumphal
progress-''the Voyage of the Isis
from shrine to shrine in the early days
of March. So, too. in far more recent
years, and even still. I believe. in re-
mote corners of Catholic Europe, the
ship is borne by priests in the process
sion Of the Virgin. What it may meal
to those of u own day who kneel as
it passes it is not for me to guess. but
whatever its significance may be, there
is no doubt that the carrying of the
ship itself is the survival of the old
pagan symbol-the ark of the earth,
the chariot of the earth goddess; the
Earth herself.
But in the mystery-loving cults of
the old days, that delighted in %incrust-
ing symbol with symbol, and enamel
ling %obscurity upon o%bscurity. the ship
became a bowl, a cup, a shell on the
water, a water-lily. In India, where
the Gov is an emblem of an all-sutfer-
ing bounty, the milk-pail takes the
place of the bowl of plenty, and with
the lotus flowers-the vehicle of the
Vedic gods on the waters-divides the
functions of the mythic boat. 1t re-
appears again in Greek PHILOSOPHERS as
the caldron in which the Demiurge
fuses the primal clements of the earth,
and as the golden couch on which the
w~ealth-ggiving sun sails across the sky
seas from east to west.
And once this idea of bestowing
plenteously enters into the ship myth,
the form wanders wen more widely
from the original. 1t becomes the
%cornucopia that pcrpetually pours out
the riches of the harvests Of the earth,
the horn Of Amaltheia that never fails,
and innumerable other ''horns'' that
held all their possessors could wish
notably that horn of Oberon which
yielded the juice of mighty vintages,
but only to the lipspf mighty men.
But, more occult still, it became a COB.
let, mystic, wonderful, that always hello
wine, but, when false men tried tc
drink out of it, sent up its contents
bubbling and frothing in furious ane
undrinkable heat; a dish that could
never be emptied of food; a basket il
which a meal for one multiplied itself
into a banquet for a host; a churn that
churned gold and peace and prosperity
out of mems wishes; a lamp thai
brought up from the underworld the
Jim that could satisfy all desires;
ring that the fairies who keep all gooc
things were compelled to obey; a purse
that no spendthrift could come to tn.
bottom Of; a kettle hat not only KEEP
itself filled, but helped the guests t.
whatsoever they wanted. And so, from
things material to things immaterial
till we come to the Apollo's well tina
told all secrets of the past, present ane
future, the magic mirror of all wis
doms; and so. finally, to every one @
those royal roads to knowledge which
heroes and heroines of fairy tale ant
folklore travel with such perils AM
such success.
Yet fay as these myths wander from
the first idea, they revert to it so FIRE
qucntly, SO unexpectedly, that the orig
inal ship fancy sails without a doubt al
through them. Wherever the wish
breeze blows; there, be sure, is tn
magic boat, and whenever you see
cloud scud overhead, you may know
that a gaudharva is on a voyage.-Phl
Robinson, IN Harper's Magazime.