Page:The Mythology of the Aryan Nations.djvu/548

516 BOOK II. The ill- tempered Princess. Story of Surya Bai.

she becomes the bride of the prince. The Norse tale of the Old Dame and her Hen repeats the same myth. Here the maiden who falls down into the cave within the hill is disconsolate because she cannot get back to her mother, " who is hard pinched, she knows, for meat and drink, and has no one with her," a true picture of the lonely Demeter on the Eleusinian plain. The Rinkrank (Hades) of the German story is here a Troll, who is cheated in the same way, the sisters whom the Maiden sends back to the upper world before herself being the less genial spring-days which precede the return of the true summer.

In the Spanish story Jungfrau Maleen assumes a less attractive form. She is here the ill-tempered princess, who is shut up in a castle which has no door. To this stronghold comes a poor young knight in search of adventures, the Odysseus, Sigurd, Boots, or Beggar, of Greek and Teutonic legends ; and he and his three companions for a long time strive in vain to make a breach in the wall. The grip of winter is too strong to be overcome, and the hill of ice cannot yet be scaled. At last they hear a cry which seems to come from an old well overgrown with creeping plants ; but on opening the cover of the well, they find that the hole seems to go down to the very depths of the earth, — in short, to Hades. They then set to work to twist a rope by which to descend for the rescue of the maiden who is im- prisoned in this dismal dungeon ; but when it is ready, his companions draw off from further share in the enterprise. Sigurd alone can ride through the flames to awaken Brynhild, and the young knight alone has the courage to go down into the black abyss. The maiden who has been carried off by a horned demon becomes, of course, the knight's wife. For awhile she behaves fairly, but at length her ill- temper so far gets the better of her that the knight is heartily glad when the demon takes her away once more. In other words, the worn-out summer puts on the sorry garb of autumn, and is again carried away into the winter-land.

But far more noteworthy is the Hindu story of Little Surya Bai, or the sun-child, as exhibiting a developement of the myth far more elaborate than that of either Hellenic or Teutonic legends. This beautiful child, the daughter of a poor milk woman, is stolen by two eagles, who bear her to a nest made of wood hooped with iron, and having seven doors. Here, having lavished upon her all the costliest treasures of the earth, they leave her, to go and fetch a diamond ring for her little finger. While they are still away, the fire in the nest, without which the maiden could not cook her food, is put out ; and

' Patraiias, or Spanish Stories, legendary and traditional.