Page:Curious myths of the Middle Ages (1876).djvu/441

 has other atmospheric characteristics: the flying cloak, a symbol of the drifting cloud,—as Odin, the rushing of storm, is also Hekluberandi, the mantle-bearer; the winged Talaria, emblems of the swiftness of his flight; and the lyre, wherewith he closes the thousand eyes of Argos, the starry firmament, signifying the music of the blast

The very names given to the soul, animus, ἄνεμος or spiritus, and athem, signify wind or breath, and point to the connexion which w r as supposed to exist between them. Our word Ghost, the German Geist, is from a root “gisan,” to gush and blow, as does the wind.

In the classic Sirens we cannot fail to detect the wailing of the rising storm in the cordage, which is J likely to end in shipwrecks. The very name of Siren is from συρίζω, to pipe or whistle, just as their representatives in Vedic mythology, the Ribhus, draw their name from rebh, to sound, to which the Greek ῥοιβδέω is akin. The Sirens are themselves winged beings, rushing over the earth, seeking every where the lost Persephone.

But the piping wind does not merely carry with it the souls of the dead, and give the mariner