Page:The Mythology of the Aryan Nations.djvu/585

Rh legend ; but in the discomfiture of the Sphinx, who dashes herself from the rock when her riddle is solved, we have the sudden downfall of the waters when the thundercloud has been pierced by the lance of Indra. The issue of the Boiotian story was determined by an explanation given of the name of Oidipous. According to some, the name denoted the swelling of the child's feet as he lay exposed on the slopes of Kithairon ; by others who rejected the derivation from the verb otSew, to swell, it was referred to his wisdom in solving the enigma of the feet. That the unintelligible muttering of the thunder should suggest the introduction of some popular riddle into the old myth, was natural and perhaps inevitable ; and the time at which it was engrafted into the legend is a matter of little or no importance. Wisdom is among the most prominent attributes of the beings who do battle with the powers of darkness. Whether it be Helios possessed of a knowledge which he cannot impart even to Hermes, or of a robe which makes Medeia the wonder of all for her sagacity and her power, or whether it be Tantalos, or Sisyphos, or Ixion, whose wisdom is no security against their downfall, whether it be Phoibos endowing his ministers at Delphoi wnth the gift of prophecy, or Kadmos instructing his people in all art and learning, we see in one and all the keenness of wit and strength of purpose which do their work while gods and men think little of the dwarfs Vishnu and Hari, the halting Hephaistos, or ApoUon wrapped in his swaddling clothes at Delos. Their career begins in weakness to end in strength, in defeat to be crowned by victory. Tn three strides the child Vishnu traverses the heaven; and the despised Oidipous, "who knows nothing," solves the riddle of the Sphinx as surely as Indra and Herakles discover the hiding-places of their cattle. It is but another version of the story of Odysseus flouted as a beggar in his own hall, or Boots sitting among the ashes while his elders laugh him to scorn, but each winning a victory which is due rather to their wisdom than to their power.

But if the riddle was introduced into the story at a comparatively The Voice late stage, the idea which suggested it is essential to the myth. It ^ Thunder. is that of the fatal voice of the thunder,^ the utterances of Typhaon, which even the gods can only sometimes understand,^ and which cease when the cloud has been pierced by the lightning and the rain has fallen upon the earth. Thus, in two or three mythical phrases, we have the framework of the whole myth. The first, " Oidipous is talking with the Sphinx," indicates the struggle of Indra with the Panis, of Zeus with Typhon, of ApoUon with the Delphian dragon ;

' $poyTviatfT'ov<p6eyfia. — Vind. Fj'i A. iv. 350. * lies. Theog. 837.