Page:The Mythology of the Aryan Nations.djvu/390

358 BOOK of Leuktra justified the hopes of Aristomenes, the Argive Epiteles saw a vision which bade him recover the old woman who was well- nigh at her last gasp beneath the sods of Ithome. His search was rewarded by the discovery of a water-jar, in which was contained a plate of the finest tin. On this plate were inscribed the mystic rites for the worship of the great gods.^ The same wonderful ewer or goblet of the sun was bestowed in the Persian legend on Jemshid, and explained the glories of his magnificent reign. The same vessel is the divining cup of Joseph;- and in late traditions it reappears in the tale which relates how Rehoboam inclosed the book containing his father's supernatural knowledge in an ivory ewer and placed it in his tomb. The fortunes of this vessel are related by Flegetanis, who is said to have traced up his genealogy on the mother's side to Solomon; nor need it be a " matter of surprise to those who remember the talismanic eftect of a name in the general history of fiction, that a descendant of this distinguished sovereign should be found to write its history, or that another Joseph should be made the instrument of conveying it to the kingdoms of Western Europe."^ This mystic vessel, the Sangreal of Arthurian legend, is at once a storehouse of food as inexhaustible as the table of the Ethiopians, and a talismanic test as effectual as the goblets of Oberon and Tristram. The good Joseph of Arimathaea, who had gathered up in it the drops of blood which fell from the side of Jesus when pierced by the centurion's spear, was nourished by it alone through his weary imprisonment of two and forty years; and when at length, having either been brou^-ht by him to Britain, or preserved in heaven, it was carried by angels to the pure Titurel and shrined in a magnificent temple, it supplied to its worshippers the most delicious food, and preserved them in perpetual youth. As such, it differs in no way from the horn of

be compared the legend of the great in fact the counterpart of the .Sangreal. wizard .Michael Scott. In this case the The cruder form of the myth is seen in Mighty Book is found not in an ewer, the legend of the Caldron of Ccridwen, but in the hand of the magician. Still the Keltic Demeter. This story is "iven the boat-shaped vessel is not wanting. by Mr. Gould {Curious Myths, ii. 335), The magic lamp (it is a lamp in the who adds that " this vessel of the liquor- story of Allah-ud-deen) is at his knee ; of wisdom had a prominent place in and as the sepulchre is opened, the light British mytholog)-." Sir Walter Scott bursting forth, remarks, that in many Scottish legends Streamed upward to the chancel roof, ^ drinking horn will prove a cornu- And through the galleries far aloof. ^OP'''^ o' good fortune to any one who No earthly flame blazed e'er so bright, ?=i" ^"^tch it from the fairies and bear It shone like heaven's own blessed light. it across a runnmg stream. As an emblem this cup is combined with the %coX, Lay of the Last Minstrel, . 18. serpent in the representations of St. to its possessor the wisdom of lamos. ' hit rod. to IVartoti's Hist, of En^. It healed all the evils to which flesh is Poetry.
 * Paus. iv. 20, 26. With this may heir, and even raised the dead. It was
 * Thesame vessel in Taliesin imparts John,