Page:Origin and Growth of Religion (Rhys).djvu/47

Rh portions of the story of the Teutonic conqueror; but it has never been satisfactorily shown why such and such mythic stories should have attached themselves to this particular man. The inscription alluded to yields the key: the historical Teuton bore one of the names of the Gaulish Apollo, and the eventual confusion of myth and history was thereby made easy. This is borne out by the general similarity between the mythic statements made about Dietrich and what is known in Celtic literature about Celtic sun-gods. Among other things may be mentioned his riding, like Mabon, into the sea after an enemy, who was only enabled to escape by the intervention of a mermaid, who was his ancestress. As one of Dietrich's solar peculiarities may probably be mentioned his breathing fire whenever he was made angry; and, like more than one of the Celtic sun-heroes, he is made to fight with giants and all manner of wild beasts. One of the localities associated with his story is the well-known Drachenfels above Bonn; nor is it beside the mark to mention that Verona was the name not only of a city in Italy, but also one of the ancient names of Bonn, a town which is, like Wiesbaden, situated in the neighbourhood of the Rhine. It has puzzled historians that Theodoric, the grandest figure in the history of the migration of the Teutonic peoples, should appear