New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-11-26

| concerting However this may be we are well
content that hundred pages in this volume
| should be devoted TO a series Of brief essays. in
| which the translator exhibits some curious and
| interesting parallesms based on a comparison
| OF Greek myths with others indigenous thou
| sands Of miles away from Greek soil and all
! possibility of Greek influence. Some things,
| especially religious things which We are accus-
| toned TO associate with a single race Mr.. Lang
! believes to be universal and to have manifested
! themselves in divers widely separated times and
places in much the manner The weight
OF these details is not always the same, it is
true. Take. for example the expedient Of
Hermes, in the Hymn to Apollo of craftily weay-
ing for himself shoes Of twigs which woulf con-
cea the direction Of his tracks and thus iacili-
tate those quantity mischievous exploits which
| figure in the Hymn. Mr.. Lang notes that the
Australian blacks feather sandals for the
same purpose, adding, by the way, the amusing
information that this subterfuge does not really
mystify the native tracker. This parallel is in
teresting without appealing to the imagination
as very important. But one Of deeper sig
| niffcance is discussed in the essay the Hymn
! TO Demeter. wherein We are introduced 20
Pawnee version Of that loss Of Persephons
which, in Millions words.
cost Ceres all that pain
| To seek her through the world.
Here follows Mr. Lang's comparison:
In Attica, Hades Lord Of the Dead, rayishts
| away PerseuhOne. the vernal daughter of Deine-
ter. Demeter thea wanders among men, and -
! Hospitality received by Celeus. King Of Eleusls
Bafled in her endeavor to make his son i'm
mortal. she demands a temple. where she sits
| in wrath blighting the grain. She Is reconciled
b. the restoration Of her daughter at the com
mand Of Zeus. But for third OF the year
| Persephone having tasted a pomegranate seed
IN Hades has 10 reign as Queen OF the Dead
| beneath the earth
Among the Pawnees, not a mother and daugh
ter but two primal beings. brothers, named
| Manabozho and Chibiabos. are the chief char
| acters The ManitOs spirits or gods drown
Chibiabos. Manabozho NOUNS and srnears MS
face with black. as Demeter wears black raj
! ment. He laments Chibiabos ceaselessly till the
! ManitOS propitiate him with gifts ana ceIe-
monies. They offer to him cup like the boy
erage prepared for Demeter in the Hymn. by
Iambe. He drinks 1t, is glad. washes of the
black stain OF mourning and is himself again,
! while Earth again Is joyous. The Nantes re-
store Chibiabos 10 life but having once died.
| ne may not enter the Temple or Medicine Lodge.
| He is sent TO reign over the souls Of the de-
| parted. does Persephone
With lore OF this sort and with an ingenious
manipulation OF it Mr.. Lang delays the reader.
| willingly enough so far the latter Is con
cerned. in approaching the poetry Of the volume
| II is none the less poetry because IT Is put IN
prose The translator's object has been to pre-
serve the charm and beauty Of the Hymns ana
his pages are full Of both. We recognize THIS
! not only in the very short fragments which
| permit Of compactness Of style and certain
unity as Of the briefest lyric. but in the Hymns
which are really extended narratives. Perhaps
the most felicItoUs Of these is the Hymn TO
Ian,eter This unfulds in wonderfully clear
light a series Of pictures beautiful and instinct
with emotion Demejer at the wayside well
talking with the daughters Of Celeus Is painted
with a simplicity that only height'rs the tragic
tension Of her pause In the weary search, and
when mother and daughter are reunited Per-
sephones artless recital OF her experiences is set
forth with dircctness Of utterarce and natural
Less o. thought that link tho Woe-worn goddess
10 the children OF men. Mr.. Lang in the first
Of his essays points out that while the Hymns
ar, chiefly concerned not with men. but with
the gods the interest Of the Hymn 70 De
meter is perfectly human" These TRANSACTIONS