Page:Curious myths of the Middle Ages (1876).djvu/582

 Kesel Djibäk (red silk); the elder evil disposed and in league with the powers of darkness, a friend of the raging swan-woman; the younger beautiful and good. “Kesel Djibäk often riseth, In a dress of snowy swan, To the realm where reign the Kudai. There the Kudai’s daughters seven Fly on wings of snowy swan; With them sporteth Kesel Djibäk, Swimming on the golden lake.” The seven Kudai, or gods of the Tatars, are the planets. Kara Kuruptju is the evening twilight, Kesel Djibäk the morning dawn which ascends to the heavens, and there lingers among the floating feathery clouds. But Kara Kuruptju descends to the gloomy realm of the evil-hearted swan-women, where she marries their son Djidar Mös (bronzen), the thunder-cloud. These grimly swanlike damsels of the Tatars irresistibly remind us of the Phorcydæ; κνκνόμορΦοι, as Æschylus calls them.

The classic swan myths must be considered in greater detail. They are numerous, for each Greek tribe had its own favourite myths, and additional fables were being constantly imported into