Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-08-19
SHADOW LEGENDS
ZuIus Believe the Bodily Shade Is
the Future Spirit.
TAKING AWAY ONES SHADOW.

Look Into q Dark Pool Of Water
Tho Way Donald Mckay Managed to
Escape tho Clutches Of tho Devil.
That mysterious counterpart OF a
human being which Iengthens with
the day and disappears with the sun.
to reappcar more family with the
rising Of the moon. which we call a
shadow, has always struck the imagi-
! nation Of man. 1t has played a promi-
! nent part in primitive superstition and
! In later folklore. Shadows or shades
was the classical name or figure for
the spirits Of the departed which still
remains in use.
This idea Is not confined to civilized
! races. Among the Zulus the spirit is
the shade. Bishop Galloway, whose
! knowledge Of Zulu beliefs and modes
of thought was unrivaled, says that
the Zulus connect the bodily shade
with the future disembodied spirit
l.
the body will ultimately become the
"itongo." or spirit, when the body dies,
and they say that the long shadow
shortens ''as man approaches his end
and contracts into very little thing.
When they see the shadow Of man
thus contracting, they know he will
die. The long shadow goes away
when q man Is dead, and 1t Is that
which Is meant when 1t is said, The
shadow has departed There is, how
ever, short shadow which remains
with the body and is buried with it.
The long shadow becomes an ances-
trail spirit.
Identification of the shadow in any
mysterious or spiritual way with the
person whose body casts it. naturally
leads to respect for the strange second
self TO tread on the shadow Of a
chief is an insult to the chief himself.
In the Institutes Of Manu-. the ancient
Hindu law giver. the law runs:
Let him not Intentionally pass over
the shadow of sacred images, of
natural or spiritual father, Of a king,
Of Brahmin who keeps house, or OF
any reverend parsonage, nor Of one
who has just performed sacrifice"
There are traces Of the survival of
these primitive ways Of regarding a
mans shadow In the English country
feeling that it Is unlucky to cross the
oP psrio1 no
leaves the altar; and in another rural
belief that it is unlucky to cross the
path Of horses ploughing when the sun
Is shining behind them.
Association between shadows and
mirrored representations Of the human
form is obviously natural, so it is not
surprising to find superstitions about
the shadow mingled with widely scat
tered versions Of the Narcissus legend.
The story of the beautiful youth who
became enamored Of his own image.
as he saw it represented in the water. |
and languished thereafter till he died, |
has its origin in the belief that trouble |
follows from beholding the watery !
image.
Let him not look at his own image |
in water; that Is settled rule" CON-
mands Manu-. the Hindu law giver.
The reason for the prohibition Is to
be found in the beliefs Of man in
primitive state of civilization. The
Melanesians Of the Pacific, says a
learned observer, say: There Is a
stream in Saddle island. or, rather. a
pool in stream, into which If any
one looks he dies; the malignant spirit
takes hold upon his life by means Of
his reflection in the water" Some
such idea as this was probably the
root Of the Narcissus legend.
The Zulus explain why it is i'll to
look into the water Of pool by story
of great beast in the water which
can seize the shadow Of man and
when his shadow is gone a man no
longer wishes to turn back. but de-
sires to enter the pool. He goes in.
dies, and is eaten by the great beast
which 1nhabits it. So, says Bishop
Galloway, men are forbidden to lean
over and look into dark pool, it be-
ing feared that their shadow should be
taken away"
There are other ways in which
man may lose his shadow. There was
a temple of Jupiter in Arcadia which,
If entered by those who were for
hidden to do so. robbed them of their
shadows.
In the north Of Scotland there are
some quaint legends of folk who lost
this usual attendant. In Sutherland
they tell more than one story Of
wizard named Donald-Duival Mckay.
Donald went to a school in Italy where
the black art was taught by the devil.
who sat in the professors chair, and
at the end Of each term claimed as his