Page:Modern Greek folklore and ancient Greek religion - a study in survivals.djvu/148

 birth,' as Hesiod knew, 'both good and ill '; the functions of Clotho who spun the thread of life, of Lachesis who apportioned destiny, and of Atropos whom none might turn from her purpose, are still the joint functions of the great Three; the book, the spindle, and an instrument for cutting the thread of life are still their attributes.

There is little new therefore to be learnt from the study of the Fates in modern folk-lore. The lesson which it teaches rather is the continuity of the present with the past. But there is one point to which special attention may perhaps be directed—the belief that the Fates invariably visit each child that is born in order to decree its lot. I do not wish to engage in the controversy which has raged round the identification of the figures in the east pediment of the Parthenon; but those who would recognise among them the three Fates may fairly draw a fresh argument from the strength of this popular belief. It is only fitting that at the birth of Athena from the head of Zeus the Fates should be present; for even Zeus himself, said Aeschylus , might not escape their decree.

§ 9.

Of all the supernatural beings who haunt the path and the imagination of the modern Greek peasant by far the most common are the Nymphs or 'Nereids ' ([Greek: Neraïdes]). The name itself occurs in a multitude of dialectic varieties, but its meaning is everywhere uniform, and more comprehensive than that of the ancient word. It is no longer confined to nymphs of the sea, but embraces also their kindred of mountain, river, and woodland. There is noas then in use. He himself (ibid. cap. xix.) employs the form [Greek: Naragides] which was probably the dialectic form of his native Chios. Bern. Schmidt (Das Volksleben der Neugriechen, pp. 98-9) has brought together a large number of variants now in use, in which the accent fluctuates between the [Greek: a] and the [Greek: i], the first vowel is indifferently [Greek: a], [Greek: e] or [Greek: ê], the two consecutive vowels [Greek: aï] are sometimes contracted to [Greek: a], sometimes more distinctly separated by the faintly pronounced letter [Greek: g], and lastly an euphonetic [Greek: a] is occasionally prefixed to the word. Hence forms as widely distinct as [Greek: anerades] and [Greek: naragides] often occur. Du Cange, it may be added, gives the form [Greek: Nagarides] (with interchange of the [Greek: r] and the inserted [Greek: g]); but since his information is seemingly drawn entirely from Leo Allatius, there is reason to regard it as merely his own error in transcribing [Greek: Naragides].]