Page:The Mythology of the Aryan Nations.djvu/172

140 BOOK I. Later mediaeval epics and romances.

It is unnecessary to examine the poems or romances which some writers are fond of arranging under sub-cycles of the main cycle of the Carolingian epics. These epics Mr. Ludlow^ pronounces " historical." The sort of history contained in them we may take at his own estimate of it. " The history of them is popular history, utterly unchronological, attributing to one age or hero the events and deeds of quite another." In other words, it is a history from which, if we had no other sources of evidence, we could not by any possibility learn anything. Possessing the genuine contem- porary history of the time, the critic has a clue which may here and there furnish some guidance through the labyrinth ; but it is the genuine history which enables him in whatever measure to account for the perversions of the poems, not the perversions which add a jot to our knowledge of the facts. But it is more important to remember that these poems are of a quite different class from the general epics of the Aryan nations. They are the result of book- work — in other words, they are not organic ; and to the stories spun by men sitting down at their desks, and mingling mythical or historical traditions at their will, there is literally no end. Yet even in these poems it is remarkable that some of the most prominent or momentous incidents belong to the common inheritance of the Aryan nations. The story of Garin the Lorrainer repeats in great part the story of Odysseus. Thierry's daughter, the White Flower (Blanche Flor), is the Argive Helen. " That maiden," says the poet, " in an evil hour was born, for many a worthy man shall yet die through her." The death of Bego, after the slaying of the boar, is the death of Achilleus after the fall of Hektor. But whatever travesty of real history there may be in parts of this poem, or in the epics of William of Orange and Ogier the Dane, there is next to none in the story of Bertha Largefoot, which simply reflects the myth of Cinderella, Penelope, Punchkin, and perhaps one or two more.'^ In short, it is mere patchwork. As in the case of Cinderella and Rhodopis, the true queen is made known by her feet ; ^ the only difference being that

have been woven into popular tales almost ever since men began to speak ; that they are Celtic only because Celts are men, and only peculiarly Celtic be- cause Celts arc admitted by all to be a very ancient offshoot from the common root." For the epical cycles in the Arthur myth, see Introduction to Com- parative Mythology^ 310-339; and for the story of Bevis of Ham])ton, see ibid, 340. For Guy of ^Varwick, ibid. 341-

' Popular Epics of the Middle Ages, vol. ii. p. 13.

goddess, who in another form a])pears as Frau Holle or Hokla, the benignant earth, and who, like Penelope, has mar- vellous skill in spinning. Gaelic story of " The King who wished to marry his Daughter." Mr. Campbell {Tales of the West JJighlands, i. 227) mentions other instances, and remarks
 * Bertha is in name the Teutonic
 * This myth occurs again in the