Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 29, 1918.djvu/230

 2 20 'Prentice Pillars :

idea suggested to him by the backbone of a fish or the teeth of a serpent ; the chisel ; the compasses ; the potter's wheel. His skill aroused the envy of Daedalus, who flung him headlong from the summit of the temple of Athena on the Acropolis at Athens ; but the goddess caught him as he fell, and changed him into a partridge [perdix]} This legend has been fully discussed by Sir James Frazer, who considers the suggestion that through the Cretan story of Talos, the Attic legend is connected with the Phoenician cult of Baal-Moloch ; he dismisses as fanciful the theory of Bachofen that the murder of Talos by his maternal uncle embodies a reminiscence of an attempt to renounce and abolish the ancient matriarchal system in favour of the patriarchal type.^

Tales of the second group, in which the successful builder or architect falls a victim to the jealousy of his master, who fears that he may lose reputation if a like or better building is erected for a rival prince, seem to be more common. The following are some examples :

" Nemedius built two royal seats in the island [Ireland], which were called Cinneich, at Joubhniallain, and Raith Ciombhaoith, in Seimhne. These places were erected by the four sons of Madain Muinreamhair, who were called Fomhoraice ; their names were Bog, Robhog, Rodin, and Ruibhne. These master builders and their country- men were distinguished by the name Fomhoraice, because they were a sort of pirates or sea-robbers, that came originally from Africa, and settled from that time in the north of Ireland. The next morning after these palaces were finished, Nemedius commanded the four builders to be slain, out of jealousy, lest they should afterwards erect other structures that should exceed his in state and magni- ficence. These brothers were killed at a place called

' Ovid, Metamorphoses, \ iii. 247 et seq.

-Pausanias, ii. 232 lil. ; The Golden Bough, 3rd edition, "The Dving God, 74 f.