Page:Mythology Among the Hebrews.djvu/69

Rh and the sun as a cow. In Excursus E we shall speak of the mythological conception of rays of light as fluids. Palestine, which the writer wished to pourtray as possessed of every blessing, thus receives attributes which the myth gave to a place above the earth, whence the blessings of light streamed down to it. It is noteworthy that in the Çatapatha Brâhmaṇa the same mythic conception which is employed poetically in Hebrew meets us tinged already with an eschatological colour. This work (XI. 5. 6. 4) makes milk and honey flow in the abodes of the Blest. We also see from this that the notion of a 'poetical figure' requires frequent limitation. Many apparently poetical figures have their origin in an ancient mythical conception. Not everything that has the look of a poetical or rhetorical figure is one. Who would doubt, for instance, on a superficial glance, that such a phrase as nâr al-ḥarb, 'the fire of war,' was a figure of poetry or rhetoric? Yet it is not; it is not derived from what only exists in the fancy of the speaker, but from something which has a concrete, objective existence. We learn this from the Arabic commentary on the proverb Nâr al-ḥarb as‘aru, 'the fire of war is burning.' The scholiast says 'When the ancient Arabs began a war, they used to light a fire, to serve as a beacon for those eager for the fight.' It is also said (of the Jews): 'As often as they light a fire for war, Allâh extinguishes it.' Thus the fire of war of which the ancient Arabs spoke was only a material or natural one.

§7. f.) The Hebrew mythic tradition is not contained exclusively in the Old Testament. This canon, indeed, was very far from receiving all the remains of the old myths that were current among the people in an historical transformation. Much of it is contained in the tradition