Page:Modern Greek folklore and ancient Greek religion - a study in survivals.djvu/115

 contained in it for a later chapter. The main theme of the second of the stories from Zacynthos was the seeking of the Mistress in marriage by a young prince. Now if this story stood alone, it would not be right to lay much stress upon it; for the adventures of a young prince in search of some far-famed bride form the plot of numerous Greek folk-tales; and it would be possible to suppose that the real divine personality of the Mistress had been partially obscured in the popular memory before such a story became connected with her name. But the same motif as it happens is repeated in two stories, one Greek and the other Albanian, in von Hahn's collection. The name of 'the Mistress' does not indeed occur; the deity is called in both 'the beautiful one of the earth .' But her identity is made quite clear in the Albanian story, which evidently must have been borrowed from the Greek and is therefore admissible as good evidence, by the mention of 'a three-headed dog that sleeps not day nor night' by which she is guarded. This is undoubtedly the same monster as the hero of the Zacynthian story was required to kill—the three-headed snake; and while the Albanian story, in making the beast a guardian of the subterranean abode whom the adventurer must slay before he can reach 'the beautiful one,' is better in construction and, incidentally, more faithful to old tradition than the Greek version which makes the slaying an useless task arbitrarily imposed, yet in both portraits of the monster we can recognise Cerberus—half dog, half snake. But of him more anon; 'the beautiful one of the earth' whom he guards can be none other than Persephone.

Thus there are three modern stories which record the winning of Demeter or Persephone in marriage by a mortal lover. Is this a relic of ancient tradition? There was the attempt of Pirithous to seize Persephone for his wife; but that failed, and moreover was judged an impious deed for which he must suffer punishment. Yet there is also the story of Iasion who was deemed worthy of Demeter's love. Wedlock then even with so great a deity as Demeter or her daughter was not beyond mortals' dream or reach., for which the MSS. of von Hahn provided the material.]