Page:The Mythology of the Aryan Nations.djvu/121

Rh CHAP. tree trunk for Volsung to draw out and wield, with the lion's skin of Herakles, with the jackal's skin worn by the enchanted rajas of - Hindu story, with the spear of Achilleus and the deadly arrows of Philoktetes, with the invincible sword of Perseus and the sandals which bear him through the air like a dream, with the magic shoes in the story of King Putraka and of the Lad who went to the North Wind, with the spear of Artemis and the unerring darts of Meleagros.^ Whether under the guise of spears or fleece or arrows, it is the golden hair on the head of Phoibos Akersekomes, which no razor has ever touched; the wonderful carpet of Solomon, which figures in the Arabian Nights as the vehicle for relieving distressed lovers from their difficulties.

In the Hindu story, the bride of Rama is won after an exploit The sleep which in its turn carries us away to the deeds of Hellenic or Teutonic °l o*^^^'^ ^ 01 bum- heroes. When the prmce tells Luxman of the peerless beauty whom mer. he has seen in his dream, his friend tells him that the princess lives far away in a glass palace.^ " Round this palace runs a large river, and round the river is a garden of flowers. Round the garden are four thick groves of trees. The princess is twenty-four years old, but she is not married, for she has determined only to marry whoever can jump across the river and greet her in her crystal palace ; and though many thousand kings have assayed to do so, they have all perished miserably in the attempt, having either been drowned in the river or broken their necks by falling." The frequent recurrence of this idea in these Hindu tales might of itself lead any one who knew nothing of the subject previously to doubt whether such images could refer to any actual facts in the history of any given man or woman. In the story of Rama it has lost much of its old significance. The death-like cold of a northern winter gives place to the mere notion of solitude and seclusion. Running streams and luxuriant gardens show that the myth has been long transferred to a more genial climate ; but it is scarcely necessary to say that the changes in the story indefinitely enhance its value, so long as the idea remains the same. In some form or other this idea may be said to run through almost all these legends. In the story of " Brave Seventee Bai" it

• In a number of little Russian songs his foes and gain his bright bride. " — this invincible hero is represented as Ralston, Soij^rs of the J^tissian people, besieging a town, and gaining from 191. The search of this hero for the it a bride. _ " He is tall and radiant ; peerless maiden is described in another he sits within a tent made of white silk, song. — Ibid. 223. or rides on a horse with a mane of * The glass or marble of the Hindu gold ; his sabre flashes like the sun, tale answers to the ice of the Norse and so do the sworfis of his trusty com- legends. rades, who enable him to drive away