Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 3, 1892.djvu/322

314 being so, while origination fron:i fish-spawn is unique in Finnish origin-stories, it is fair to assume that the latter, in spite of its apparent antiquity, is only a variant, and was purposely substituted for the commoner version. The first question to solve, then, is, What connection in idea exists between rubbing the hands and a fish spawning? The second is to explain how the substitution of one mode of origination by the other took place. The association of ideas between handrubbing and a fish spawning lay in this: that one suggested the notion of grinding with a mill, while the other gave the idea of churning. It will be allowed that these two actions are not so very dissimilar; at least, that there is no antithesis between them. That rubbing the hands in the way I have suggested is not at all unlike rubbing two small millstones together is obvious. That a fish spawning evoked the notion of churning is proved by three Finnish riddles, which run as follows: "A golden salmon spawns on a narrow knoll, the spawn splutters on the top." "A salmon spawns among rapids, the milt splatters on the top." "A golden bream is spawning, the spawn plashes on the top." The answer to all is the same : " The butter which rises to the top in churning." (Arvoituksia, Nos. 754, 755, 662.) The full meaning is this : The butterdash inside a churn full of milk is compared to a golden salmon or bream plashing about in the water, and discharging spawn, which is likened to butter. From this it is evident that, to anyone who knew the riddles — and riddles are very numerous and popular in Finland — churning and spawning were distinctly associated. Hence, to see anyone at work churning, might recall the idea of a fish milting. An objection may be raised that in the origin-story three maiden brides are produced from spawn as an additional action, while in the riddles the action ends with producing spawn, which is used metaphorically as the equivalent of butter. The answer is, that the author of the salmon-spawn variant could not change the final