Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 3, 1892.djvu/344

336 During a time of great drought three men used to climb up a fir-tree in an old and sacred grove. One of them drummed with a hammer on a kettle or a small cask, to imitate thunder ; another knocked two firebrands together to make the sparks fly ; the third, the rain-maker, sprinkled water from a bucket with a bunch of twigs in all directions. If rain actually fell after this mimic representation of a thunderstorm accompanied with rain, the above belief and practice might be formulated thus. S. (rain) originated from several actions (imitating, thunder, lightning and rain). There is a likeness, direct and indirect, between S. and the actions. Descriptive points in the narrative hint at the nature and accompaniments of S. Examples such as these could be multiplied to any extent. But from those given we readily perceive how uniform is the mental process, whether employed in imagining the origins of things or in evolving what we coldly term superstitious beliefs and practices. Author:John Abercromby