The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1910-09-27
SHADOW LEGENDS
ZuIus Believe the Bodily Shade Is
the Future Spirit.
TAKING AWAY ONES SHADOW.
Why Some Races Arc Forbidden to
Look Into Dark Pool Of Water.
The Way Donald Mckay Managed to
Escape tho Clutches Of the Devil.

4
The Way Donald Mckay Managed t
Escape tho Clutches of tho Devil.
That mysterious counterpart Of
human being which lengthens viii
the day and disappears with the sun
to reappear more family with tn,
rising of the moon. which we call {
shadow, has always struck the imagi
nation of man. 1t has played a promi
nent part in primitive superstition ant
in later folklore. Shadows or shade.
was the classical name or figure fol
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 thai
the Zulus connect the bodily shade
with the future disembodied spirit
They believe that the shadow cast by
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 a man is dead, and it is that
which is meant when it is said, The
shadow has departed" There is, how
n cl1nrt Sh WIZ oI, ,f,,-
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 q
chief is an insult to the chief himself.
In the Institutes of Manu-, the ancient
Hindu law giyer. the law runs:
Let him not Intentionally pass over
the shadow of sacred images, Of a
natural or spiritual father, of 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
path of newly married man as he
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 1t 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" COM
mands Manu-. the Hindu law giyer.
The reason for the prohibition is to
be found in the beliefs of man in a
primitive state of civilization. The
of the Pacific, says a
learned observer. say: There is
stream in Saddle island, or rather.
pool in q 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 ill to
look into the water of a pool by story
Of great beast In the water which
can seize the shadow Of man and
when his shadow is gone man no
onger wishes to turn back, but de-
sires to enter the pool. He goes in,
lies, and is eaten by the great beast
which inhabits it. So. says Bishop
Galloway. men are forbidden to lean
over and look into a dark pool, it be-
ng feared that their shadow should be
aiken away
There are other ways in which
nan may lose his shadow. There was
/ temple of Jupiter in Arcadia which.
{ entered by those who were for
hidden to do so, robbed them Of their
hadows
In the north of Scotland there are
ONE quaint legends of folk who lost
his usual attendant. In Sutherland
hey tell more than one story of a
wizard named Donald-Duival Mckay.
Donald went to school in Italy where
he black art was taught by the devil
rho sat in the professors chair. and
t the end of each term claimed as his
wn the last scholar to depart Break
lg up at this academy was naturally
scramble. none wishing TO be last.
On one occasion Donald was really
he last. but just as the devil was
bout to seize him. the resourceful
Donald pointed to his own shadow, |
fhich fell behind him, saying. Take
hou the bindmost" Accordingly, his
hadow was seized. while he himself |
scapes. and after his return to Scot
md was never seen to have I