The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1910-08-10
SHADOW LEGENDS
zulus Believe the Bodily Shade Is
~ the Future Spirit.
TAKING AWAY ONES SHADOW.
Why Some Races Are Forbidden TO
Look Into a Dark Pool OF Water.
yThs Way Donald Mckay Managed to
Escape the Clutches Of the Devil.


Look Into a Dark Pool Of Water.
yThs 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 imagl-
nation of man. 1t has played promi-
nent part IN primitive superstition and
IN hter folklore. Shadows or shades
wns 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 disembodled 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 a 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 1t.
phe long shadow becomes an ances-
tral 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
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 king,
OF 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 1t Is unlucky TO cross the
path of newly married man as he
leaves the altar: and in another rural
belief that II 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,
aud languished thereafter TIL 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 giver
The reason for the prohibition Is to
be found In the beliefs of man In u
primitive state of civilization. The
Melanesians of the Pacific. says
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 NarissuS legend
The Zulus explain why 1t Is Ill to
look into the water OF II pool by story
Of a great beast In the water which
can seize the shadow of a 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 inhdbits 1t. So, says Bishop
Galloway. "men are forbidden to lean
over and look into a dark pool, 1t be-
ing feared that their shadow should be
taken away"
There are other ways in which a