The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1910-08-25
SHADOW LEGENDS
ZuIus Believe the Bodily Shade Is
the Future Spirit.

ZuIuS believe the bO0lly Sndue Is
the Future Spirit.
TAKING AWAY ONES SHADOW.
Why Some Races Are Forbidden to
Look Into a Dark Pool of Water.
The Way Donald Mckay Managed to
Escape the Clutches of the Devil.
That mysterious counterpart Of a
human being which lengthens with
the day and disappears with the sun,
to reappear 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
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.
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 Il 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 man is dead, and it is that
which is meant when it is said. The
shadow has departed There is. how
| ever, Il 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 4
natural or spiritual father, OF king
of a Brahmin who keeps house, or OF
any reverend parsonage, nor of one
who has just performed a 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 it represented in the water
and languished thereafter till he died
has its origin in the belief that troubl.
follows from beholding the watery
image.
LET him not look at his own image
in water; that is settled rule" com
/ nN,Tc, Nfnvn he, vs,,r1,r 1nx SrsV.
The reason for the prohibition is tC
| be found in the beliefs of man in q
primitive state of civilization. The
Melanesians of the Pacific, says q
learned observer, say: "There Is q
stream in Saddle island, or. rather, &
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 tt
look into the water of pool by story
of great beast in the water which
can seize the shadow of man ani
when his shadow is gone a man III
longer wishes to turn back, but lie
sires to enter the pool. He goes in
dies, and is eaten by the great beast
which inhabits 1t. So, says Bishop
Galloway, "men are forbidden to lear
over and look into a dark pool, it be
ing feared that their shadow should b.
taken away"
There are other ways in which 8
man may lose his shadow. There wa.
temple Of Jupiter in Arcadia which
| If entered by those who We're for
hidden to do so, robbed them of theil
i shadows.
In the north of Scotland there are
some quaint legends of folk who los
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. ant
at the end of each term claimed as hi.
own the last scholar to depart. Break
ing up at this academy was naturally
a scramble, none wishing to be last.
On one occasion Donald was real!,
the last, but just as the devil wa.
about to seize him, the resOurcefu
Donald pointed to his own shadow
which fell behind him, saying Take
thou the hindmost!' Accordingly, hi.
| shadow wac Soizad Uhilo ho himSolt