These storm-demons in their chariots have their forerunner in Vata or Vayu, the subject of one of the most beautiful Vedic hymns. "I celebrate the glory of Vata"s chariot; its noise comes rending and resounding. Touching the sky he moves onward, making all things ruddy; and he comes propelling the dust of the earth.
"Soul of the G.o.ds, source of the universe, this deity moves as he lists. His sounds have been heard, but his form is not seen; this Vata let us worship with an oblation." [63]
This last verse, as Mr. Muir has pointed out, bears a startling resemblance to the pa.s.sage in John, "The Wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Wind." [64]
But an equally striking development of the Vedic idea is represented in the Siamese legend of Buddha, and in this case the Vedic Wind-G.o.d Vayu reappears by name for the Angels of Tempests, or Loka Phayu. The first portent which preceded the descent of Buddha from the Tus.h.i.ta heavens was "when the Angels of the Tempest, clothed in red garments, and with streaming hair, travel among the abodes of mankind crying, "Attend all ye who are near to death; repent and be not heedless! The end of the world approaches, but one hundred thousand years more and it will be destroyed. Exert yourselves, then, exert yourselves to acquire merit. Above all things be charitable; abstain from doing evil; meditate with love to all beings, and listen to the teachings of holiness. For we are all in the mouth of the king of death. Strive then earnestly for meritorious fruits, and seek that which is good." [65]
Not less remarkable is the Targum of Jonathan Ben Uzziel to 1 Kings xix., where around Elias on the mountain gather "a host of angels of the wind, cleaving the mountain and breaking the rocks before the Lord;" and after these, "angels of commotion," and next "of fire,"
and, finally, "voices singing in silence" preceded the descent of Jehovah. It can hardly be wondered that a prophet of whom this story was told, and that of the storm evoked from a small cloud, should be caught up into that chariot of the Vedic Vayu which has rolled on through all the ages of mythology.
Mythologic streams seem to keep their channels almost as steadfastly as rivers, but as even these change at last or blend, so do the old traditions. Thus we find that while Thor and Odin remain as separate in survivals as Vayu and Parjanya in India, in Russia Elias has inherited not the mantle of the wind-G.o.d or storm-breeding sun, but of the Slavonic Thunderer Perun. There is little doubt that this is Parjanya, described in the "Rig-Veda" as "the thunderer, the showerer, the bountiful," [66] who "strikes down trees" and "the wicked." "The people of Novgorod," says Herberstein, "formerly offered their chief worship and adoration to a certain idol named Perun. When subsequently they received baptism they removed it from its place, and threw it into the river Volchov; and the story goes that it swam against the stream, and that near the bridge a voice was heard saying, "This for you, O inhabitants of Novgorod, in memory of me;" and at the same time a certain rope was thrown upon the bridge. Even now it happens from time to time on certain days of the year that this voice of Perun may be heard, and on these occasions the citizens run together and lash each other with ropes, and such a tumult arises therefrom that all the efforts of the governor can scarcely a.s.suage it." [67] The statue of Perun in Kief, says Mr. Ralston, had a trunk of wood, while the head was of silver, with moustaches of gold, and among its weapons was a mace. Afanasief states that in White-Russian traditions Perun is tall and well-shaped, with black hair and a long golden beard. This beard relates him to Barbarossa, and, perhaps, though distantly, with the wood-demon Barbatos, the Wild Archer, who divined by the songs of birds. [68] Perun also has a bow which is "sometimes identified with the rainbow, an idea which is known also to the Finns. From it, according to the White Russians, are shot burning arrows, which set on fire all things that they touch. In many parts of Russia (as well as of Germany) it is supposed that these bolts sink deep into the soil, but that at the end of three or seven years they return to the surface in the shape of longish stones of a black or dark grey colour--probably belemnites, or ma.s.ses of fused sand--which are called thunderbolts, and considered as excellent preservations against lightning and conflagrations. The Finns call them Ukonkiwi--the stone of thunder-G.o.d Ukko, and in Courland their name is Perkuhnsteine, which explains itself. In some cases the flaming dart of Perun became, in the imagination of the people, a golden key. With it he unlocked the earth, and brought to light its concealed treasures, its restrained waters, its captive founts of light. With it also he locked away in safety fugitives who wished to be put out of the power of malignant conjurors, and performed various other good offices. Appeals to him to exercise these functions still exist in the spells used by the peasants, but his name has given way to that of some christian personage. In one of them, for instance, the Archangel Michael is called upon to secure the invoker behind an iron door fastened by twenty-seven locks, the keys of which are given to the angels to be carried to heaven. In another, John the Baptist is represented as standing upon a stone in the Holy Sea [i.e., in heaven], resting upon an iron crook or staff, and is called upon to stay the flow of blood from a wound, locking the invoker"s veins "with his heavenly key." In this case the myth has pa.s.sed into a rite. In order to stay a violent bleeding from the nose, a locked padlock is brought, and the blood is allowed to drop through its aperture, or the sufferer grasps a key in each hand, either plan being expected to prove efficacious. As far as the key is concerned, the belief seems to be still maintained among ourselves." [69]
The Key has a holy sense in various religions, and consequently an infernal key is its natural counterpart. The Vedic hymns, which say so much about the shutting and opening, imprisoning and releasing, of heavenly rains and earthly fruits by demons and deities, interpret many phenomena of nature, and the same ideas have arisen in many lands. We cannot be certain, therefore, that Calmet is right in a.s.signing an Indian origin to the subjoined Figure 5, an ancient Persian medal. The signs of the zodiac on its body show it to be one of those celestial demons believed able to bind the beneficent or loose the formidable powers of nature. The Key is of especial import in Hebrew faith. It was the high-priest Eliakim"s symbol of office, as being also prefect in the king"s house. "The key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder: he shall open and none shall shut; he shall shut and none shall open." [70] The Rabbins had a saying that G.o.d reserves to himself four keys, which he will intrust not even to the angels: the key of rain, the key of the grave, the key of fruitfulness, and the key of barrenness. It was the sign of one set above angels when Christ was seen with the keys of h.e.l.l and Death, or when he delivered the keys of heaven to Peter, [71]--still thrust down the backs of protestant children to cure nose-bleed.
The ubiquitous superst.i.tion which attributes the flint arrows of pre-historic races to G.o.ds, shot by them as lightning, and, as some said, from a rainbow, is too childlike a theory to call for elaborate treatment. We need not, ethnographically, connect our "Thor arrows"
and "Elf shots" with the stones hurled at mortals by the Thunder-Duke (Lui-tsz) of China. The ancient Parthians, who used to reply to the thunderstorm by shooting arrows at it, and the Turks, who attack an eclipse with guns, fairly represent the infancy of the human race, though perhaps with more than its average pluck. Dr. Macgowan relates, concerning the Lei-chau (Thunder District) of China, various myths which resemble those which surround the world. After thunderstorms, black stones, it is believed, may be found which emit light and peculiar sounds on being struck. In a temple consecrated to the Thunder Duke the people annually place a drum for that stormy demon to beat. The drum was formerly left on a mountain-top with a little boy as a sacrifice. [72] Mr. Dennys [73] speaks of the belief in the same country that violent winds and typhoons are caused by the pa.s.sage through the air of the "Bob-tailed Dragon," and also of the rain-G.o.d Yu-Shuh. A storm-G.o.d connected with the "Eagre," or bore of the river Tsien-tang, presents a coincidence of name with the Scandinavian Oegir, which would be hardly noticeable were it not for the very close resemblance between the folklore concerning the "Bob-tailed Dragon"
and the storm-dragons of several Aryan races. Generally, in both China and j.a.pan the Dragon is regarded with a veneration equal to the horror with which the serpent is visited. Of this phenomenon and its a.n.a.logies in Britain I shall have an explanation to submit when we come to consider Dragon-myths more particularly. To this general rule the "Bob-tailed Dragon" of China is a partial exception. His fidelity as a friend led to the ill return of an attack by which his tail was amputated, and ever since his soured temper has shown itself in raising storms. When a violent tempest arises the Cantonese say, "The Bob-tailed Dragon is pa.s.sing," in the same proverbial way as the Aryan peasantries attribute the same phenomenon to their storm-G.o.ds.
The notion is widely prevalent in some districts of France that all whirlwinds, however slight, are caused by wizards or witches, who are in them, careering through the air; and it is stated by the Melusine that in the department of the Orne storms are attributed to the clergy, who are supposed to be circling in them. The same excellent journal states that some years ago, in that department, a parishioner who saw his crops threatened by a hail-storm fired into the cloud. The next day he heard that the parish priest had broken his leg by a fall for which he could not account.
The following examples are given by Kuhn. Near Stangenhagen is a treasure hid in a mountain which Lord von Thumen tried to seek, but was caught up with his horse by a whirlwind and deposited at home again. The Devil is believed to be seated at the centre of every whirlwind. At Biesenthal it is said a n.o.ble lady became the Wind"s bride. She was in her time a famous rider and huntress, who rode recklessly over farmers" fields and gardens; now she is herself hunted by snakes and dragons, and may be heard howling in every storm.
I suspect that the bristling hair so frequently portrayed in the j.a.panese Oni, Devils, refers to their frequent residence at the centre of a gale of wind. Their demon of the storm is generally pictured throned upon a flower of flames, his upraised and extended fingers emitting the most terrific lightnings, which fall upon his victims and envelop them in flames. Sometimes, however, the j.a.panese artists poke fun at their thunder-G.o.d, and show him sprawling on the ground from the recoil of his own lightnings. The following extract from The Christian Herald (London, April 12, 1877) will show how far the dread of this j.a.panese Oni extends: "A pious father writes, "A few days ago there was a severe thunderstorm, which seemed to gather very heavily in the direction where my son lived; and I had a feeling that I must go and pray that he might be protected, and not be killed by the lightning. The impression seemed to say, "There is no time to be lost." I obeyed, and went and knelt down and prayed that the Lord would spare his life. I believe he heard my prayer. My son called on me afterwards, and, speaking of the shower, said, "The lightning came downwards and struck the very hoe in my hands, and numbed me." I said, "Perhaps you would have been killed if some one had not been praying for you." Since then he has been converted, and, I trust, will be saved in G.o.d"s everlasting kingdom.""
Such paragraphs may now strike even many christians as "survivals." But it is not so very long since some eminent clergymen looked upon Benjamin Franklin as the heaven-defying Ajax of Christendom, because he undertook to show people how they might divert the lightnings from their habitations. In those days Franklin personally visited a church at Streatham, whose steeple had been struck by lightning, and, after observing the region, gave an opinion that if the steeple were again erected without a lightning-rod, it would again be struck. The audacious man who "s.n.a.t.c.hed sceptres from tyrants and lightnings from heaven," as the proverb ran, was not listened to: the steeple was rebuilt, and again demolished by lightning.
The supreme G.o.d of the Quichuas (American), Viracocha ("sea foam"), rises out of Lake t.i.ticaca, and journeys with lightnings for all opposers, to disappear in the Western Ocean. The Quichua is mentally brother of the Arab camel-driver. "The sea," it is said in the "Arabian Nights,"--"the sea became troubled before them, and there arose from it a black pillar, ascending towards the sky, and approaching the meadow," and "behold it was a Jinn [74] of gigantic stature." The Jinn is sometimes helpful as it is formidable; it repays the fisherman who unseals it from the casket fished up from the sea, as fruitfulness comes out of the cloud no larger than a man"s hand evoked by Elijah. The perilous Jinn described in the above extract is the waterspout. Waterspouts are attributed in China to the battles of dragons in the air, and the same country recognises a demon of high tides. The newest G.o.ddess in China is a canonised protectress against the shipwrecking storm-demons of the coast, an exaltation recently proclaimed by the Government of the empire in obedience, as the edict stated, to the belief prevailing among sailors. In this the Chinese are a long way behind the mariners and fishermen of the French coast, who have for centuries, by a pious philology, connected "Maria" with "La Maree" and "La Mer;" and whenever they have been saved from storms, bring their votive offerings to sea-side shrines of the Star of the Sea.
The old Jewish theology, in its eagerness to claim for Jehovah the absolutism which would make him "Lord of lords," inst.i.tuted his responsibility for many doubtful performances, the burthen of which is now escaped by the device of saying that he "permitted" them. In this way the Elohim who brought on the Deluge have been identified with Jehovah. None the less must we see in the biblical account of the Flood the action of tempestuous water-demons. What power a christian would recognise in such an event were it related in the sacred books of another religion may be seen in the vision of the Apocalypse--"The Serpent cast out of his mouth a flood of water after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away with the flood; and the earth helped the woman and opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood." This Demon of Inundation meets the explorer of Egyptian and Accadian inscriptions at every turn. The terrible Seven, whom even the G.o.d of Fire cannot control, "break down the banks of the Abyss of Waters." [75] The G.o.d of the Tigris, Tourtak (Tartak of the Bible), is "the great destroyer." [76] Leviathan "maketh the deep to boil like a pot:" "when he raises up himself the mighty are afraid; by reason of breakings they purify themselves." [77]
In the Astronomical Tablets, which Professor Sayce dates about B.C. 1600, we have the continual a.s.sociation of eclipse and flood: "On the fifteenth day an eclipse takes place. The king dies; and rains in the heaven, floods in the channels are." "In the month of Elul (August), the fourteenth day, an eclipse takes place.... Northward ... its shadow is seen; and to the King of Mullias a crown is given. To the king the crown is an omen; and over the king the eclipse pa.s.ses. Rains in heaven, floods in the channels flow. A famine is in the country. Men their sons for silver sell." "After a year the Air-G.o.d inundates." [78]
In the Chaldaeo-Babylonian cosmogony the three zones of the universe were ruled over by a Triad as follows: the Heaven by Anu; the surface of the earth, including the atmosphere, by Bel; the under-world by Nouah. [79] This same Nouah is the a.s.syrian Hea or Saviour; and it is Noah of the Bible. The name means a rest or residence,--the place where man may dwell. When Tiamat the Dragon, or the Leviathan, opens "the fountains of the great deep," and Anu "the windows of Heaven,"
it is Hea or Noah who saves the life of man. M. Francois Lenormant has shown this to be the probable sense of one of the most ancient Accadian fragments in the British Museum. In it allusion is made to "the serpent of seven heads ... that beats the sea." [80] Hea, however, appears to be more clearly indicated in a fragment which Professor Sayce appends to this:--
Below in the abyss the forceful mult.i.tudes may they sacrifice.
The overwhelming fear of Anu in the midst of Heaven encircles his path.
The spirits of earth, the mighty G.o.ds, withstand him not.
The king like a lightning-flash opened.
Adar, the striker of the fortresses of the rebel band, opened.
Like the streams in the circle of heaven I besprinkled the seed of men.
His marching in the fealty of Bel to the temple I directed, (He is) the hero of the G.o.ds, the protector of mankind, far (and) near....
O my lord, life of Nebo (breathe thy inspiration), incline thine ear.
O Adar, hero, crown of light, (breathe) thy inspiration, (incline) thine ear.
The overwhelming fear of thee may the sea know....
Thy setting (is) the herald of his rest from marching, In thy marching Merodach (is) at rest [81]....
Thy father on his throne thou dost not smite.
Bel on his throne thou dost not smite.
The spirits of earth on their throne may he consume.
May thy father into the hands of thy valour cause (them) to go forth.
May Bel into the hands of thy valour cause (them) to go forth.
(The king, the proclaimed) of Anu, the firstborn of the G.o.ds.
He that stands before Bel, the heart of the life of the House of the Beloved. [82]
The hero of the mountain (for those that) die in mult.i.tudes.... the one G.o.d, he will not urge. [83]
In this primitive fragment we find the hero of the mountain (Noah), invoking both Bel and Nebo, aerial and infernal Intelligences, and Adar the Chaldaean Hercules, for their "inspiration"--that breath which, in the biblical story, goes forth in the form of the Dove ("the herald of his rest" in the Accadian fragment), and in the "wind" by which the waters were a.s.suaged (in the fragment "the spirits of the earth"
which are given into the hand of the violent "hero of the mountain,"
whom alone the G.o.ds "will not urge").
The Hydra may be taken as a type of the destructive water-demon in a double sense, for its heads remain in many mythical forms. The Syrian Dagon and Atergatis, fish-deities, have bequeathed but their element to our Undines of romance. Some nymphs have so long been detached from aqueous a.s.sociations as to have made their names puzzling, and their place in demonology more so. To the Nixy (necho) of Germany, now merely mischievous like the British Pixy, many philologists trace the common phrase for the Devil,--"Old Nick." I believe, however, that this phrase owes its popularity to St. Nicholas rather than to the Norse water-G.o.d whose place he was a.s.signed after the christian accession. This saintly Poseidon, who, from being the patron of fishermen, gradually became a.s.sociated with that demon whom, Sir Walter Scott said, "the British sailor feared when he feared nothing else," was also of old the patron of pirates; and robbers were called "St. Nicholas" clerks." [84] In Norway and the Netherlands the ancient belief in the demon Nikke was strong; he was a kind of Wild Huntsman of the Sea, and has left many legends, of which "The Flying Dutchman"
is one. But my belief is that, through his legendary relation to boys, St. Nicholas gave the name Old Nick its modern moral accent. Because of his reputation for having restored to life three murdered children St. Nicholas was made their patron, and on his day, December 6, it was the old custom to consecrate a Boy-Bishop, who held office until the 28th of the month. By this means he became the moral appendage of the old Wodan G.o.d of the Germanic races, who was believed in winter time to find shelter in and shower benefits from evergreens, especially firs, on his favourite children who happened to wander beneath them. "Bartel," "Klaubauf," or whatever he might be called, was reduced to be the servant of St. Nicholas, whose name is now jumbled into "Santaclaus." According to the old custom he appeared attended by his Knecht Klaubauf--personated by those who knew all about the children--bringing a sort of doomsday. The gifts having been bestowed on the good children, St. Nicholas then ordered Klaubauf to put the naughty ones into his pannier and carry them off for punishment. The terror and shrieks thus caused have created vast misery among children, and in Munich and some other places the authorities have very properly made such tragedies illegal. But for many centuries it was the custom of nurses and mothers to threaten refractory children with being carried off at the end of the year by Nicholas; and in this way each year closed, in the young apprehension, with a Judgment Day, a Weighing of Souls, and a Devil or Old Nick as agent of retribution.
Nick has long since lost his aquatic character, and we find his name in the Far West (America) turning up as "The Nick of the Woods,"--the wild legend of a settler who, following a vow of vengeance for his wrongs, used to kill the red men while they slept, and was supposed to be a demon. The j.a.panese have a water-dragon--Kappa--of a retributive and moral kind, whose office it is to swallow bad boys who go to swim in disobedience to their parents" commands, or at improper times and places. It is not improbable that such dangers to the young originated some of the water-demons,--probably such as are thought of as diminutive and mischievous,--e.g., Nixies. The Nixa was for a long time on the Baltic coast the female "Old Nick," and much feared by fishermen. Her malign disposition is represented in the Kelpie of Scotland,--a water-horse, believed to carry away the unwary by sudden floods to devour them. In Germany there was a river-G.o.ddess whose temple stood at Magdeburg, whence its name. A legend exists of her having appeared in the market there in christian costume, but she was detected by a continual dripping of water from the corner of her ap.r.o.n. In Germany the Nixies generally played the part of the naiads of ancient times. [85] In Russia similar beings, called Rusalkas, are much more formidable.
In many regions of Christendom it is related that these demons, relatives of the Swan-maidens, considered in another chapter, have been converted into friendly or even pious creatures, and baptized into saintly names. Sometimes there are legends which reveal this transition. Thus it is related that in the year 1440, the dikes of Holland being broken down by a violent tempest, the sea overflowed the meadows; and some maidens of the town of Edam, in West Friesland, going in a boat to milk their cows, espied a mermaid embarra.s.sed in the mud, the waters being very shallow. They took it into their boat and brought it to Edam, and dressed it in women"s apparel, and taught it to spin. It ate as they did, but could not be brought to speak. It was carried to Haarlem, where it lived for some years, though showing an inclination to water. Parival, who tells the story, relates that they had conveyed to it some notions of the existence of a deity, and it made its reverences devoutly whenever it pa.s.sed a crucifix.
Another creature of the same species was in the year 1531 caught in the Baltic, and sent as a present to Sigismund, King of Poland. It was seen by all the persons about the court, but only lived three days.
The Hydra--the torrent which, cut off in one direction, makes many headways in others--has its survivals in the many diabolical names a.s.signed to boiling springs and to torrents that become dangerously swollen. In California the boiling springs called "Devil"s Tea-kettle"
and "Devil"s Mush-pot" repeat the "Devil"s Punch-bowls" of Europe, and the innumerable Devil"s Dikes and Ditches. St. Gerard"s Hill, near Pesth, on which the saint suffered martyrdom, is believed to be crowded with devils whenever an inundation threatens the city; they indulge in fiendish laughter, and play with the telescopes of the observatory, so that they who look through them afterwards see only devils" and witches" dances! [86] At Buda, across the river from Pesth, is the famous "Devil"s Ditch," which the inhabitants use as a sewer while it is dry, making it a Gehenna to poison them with stenches, but which often becomes a devastating torrent when thaw comes on the Blocksberg. In 1874 the inhabitants vaulted it over to keep away the normal stench, but the Hydra-head so lopped off grew again, and in July 1875 swallowed up a hundred people. [87]
The once perilous Strudel and Wirbel of the Danube are haunted by diabolical legends. From Dr. William Beattie"s admirable work on "The Danube" I quote the following pa.s.sages:--"After descending the Greinerschwall, or rapids of Grein above mentioned, the river rolls on for a considerable s.p.a.ce, in a deep and almost tranquil volume, which, by contrast with the approaching turmoil, gives increased effect to its wild, stormy, and romantic features. At first a hollow, subdued roar, like that of distant thunder, strikes the ear and rouses the traveller"s attention. This increases every second, and the stir and activity which now prevail among the hands on board show that additional force, vigilance, and caution are to be employed in the use of the helm and oars. The water is now changed in its colour--chafed into foam, and agitated like a seething cauldron. In front, and in the centre of the channel, rises an abrupt, isolated, and colossal rock, fringed with wood, and crested with a mouldering tower, on the summit of which is planted a lofty cross, to which in the moment of danger the ancient boatmen were wont to address their prayers for deliverance. The first sight of this used to create no little excitement and apprehension on board; the master ordered strict silence to be observed, the steersman grasped the helm with a firmer hand, the pa.s.sengers moved aside, so as to leave free s.p.a.ce for the boatmen, while the women and children were hurried into the cabin, there to await, with feelings of no little anxiety, the result of the enterprise. Every boatman, with his head uncovered, muttered a prayer to his patron saint; and away dashed the barge through the tumbling breakers, that seemed as if hurrying it on to inevitable destruction. All these preparations, joined by the wildness of the adjacent scenery, the terrific aspect of the rocks, and the tempestuous state of the water, were sufficient to produce a powerful sensation on the minds even of those who had been all their lives familiar with dangers; while the shadowy phantoms with which superst.i.tion had peopled it threw a deeper gloom over the whole scene."
Concerning the whirlpool called Wirbel, and the surrounding ruins, the same author writes: "Each of these mouldering fortresses was the subject of some miraculous tradition, which circulated at every hearth. The sombre and mysterious aspect of the place, its wild scenery, and the frequent accidents which occurred in the pa.s.sage, invested it with awe and terror; but above all, the superst.i.tions of the time, a belief in the marvellous, and the credulity of the boatmen, made the navigation of the Strudel and the Wirbel a theme of the wildest romance. At night, sounds that were heard far above the roar of the Danube issued from every ruin. Magical lights flashed through their loopholes and cas.e.m.e.nts, festivals were held in the long-deserted halls, maskers glided from room to room, the waltzers maddened to the strains of an infernal orchestra, armed sentinels paraded the battlements, while at intervals the clash of arms, the neighing of steeds, and the shrieks of unearthly combatants smote fitfully on the boatmen"s ear. But the tower on which these scenes were most fearfully enacted was that on the Longstone, commonly called the "Devil"s Tower," as it well deserved to be--for here, in close communion with his master, resided the "Black Monk," whose office it was to exhibit false lights and landmarks along the gulf, so as to decoy the vessels into the whirlpool, or dash them against the rocks. He was considerably annoyed in his quarters, however, on the arrival of the great Soliman in these regions; for to repel the turbaned host, or at least to check their triumphant progress to the Upper Danube, the inhabitants were summoned to join the national standard, and each to defend his own hearth. Fortifications were suddenly thrown up, even churches and other religious edifices were placed in a state of military defence; women and children, the aged and the sick, as already mentioned in our notice of Schaumburg, were lodged in fortresses, and thus secured from the violence of the approaching Moslem. Among the other points at which the greatest efforts were made to check the enemy, the pa.s.sage of the Strudel and Wirbel was rendered as impregnable as the time and circ.u.mstances of the case would allow. To supply materials for the work, patriotism for a time got the better of superst.i.tion, and the said Devil"s Tower was demolished and converted into a strong breastwork. Thus forcibly dislodged, the Black Monk is said to have p.r.o.nounced a malediction on the intruders, and to have chosen a new haunt among the recesses of the Harz mountains."
When the glaciers send down their torrents and flood the Rhone, it is the immemorial belief that the Devil may be sometimes seen swimming in it, with a sword in one hand and a golden globe in the other. Since it is contrary to all orthodox folklore that the Devil should be so friendly with water, the name must be regarded as a modern subst.i.tute for the earlier Rhone demon. We probably get closer to the original form of the superst.i.tion in the Swiss Oberland, which interprets the noises of the Furka Glacier, which feeds the Rhone, as the groans of wicked souls condemned for ever to labour there in directing the river"s course; their mistress being a demoness who sometimes appears just before the floods, floating on a raft, and ordering the river to rise.
There is a tidal demonolatry also. The author of "Rambles in Northumberland" gives a tradition concerning the river Wansbeck: "This river discharges itself into the sea at a place called Cambois, about nine miles to the eastward, and the tide flows to within five miles of Morpeth. Tradition reports that Michael Scott, whose fame as a wizard is not confined to Scotland, would have brought the tide to the town had not the courage of the person failed upon whom the execution of this project depended. This agent of Michael, after his princ.i.p.al had performed certain spells, was to run from the neighbourhood of Cambois to Morpeth without looking behind, and the tide would follow him. After having advanced a certain distance he became alarmed at the roaring of the waters behind him, and forgetting the injunction, gave a glance over his shoulder to see if the danger was imminent, when the advancing tide immediately stopped, and the burgesses of Morpeth thus lost the chance of having the Wansbeck navigable between their town and the sea. It is also said that Michael intended to confer a similar favour on the inhabitants of Durham, by making the Wear navigable to their city; but his good intentions, which were to be carried into effect in the same manner, were also frustrated by the cowardice of the person who had to guide the tide."
The gentle and just king aeolus, who taught his islanders navigation, in his mythologic transfiguration had to share the wayward dispositions of the winds he was said to rule; but though he wrecked the Trojan fleet and many a ship, his old human heart remained to be trusted on the appearance of Halcyon. His unhappy daughter of that name cast herself into the sea after the shipwreck of her husband (Ceyx), and the two were changed into birds. It was believed that for seven days before and seven after the shortest day of the year, when the halcyon is breeding, aeolus restrains his winds, and the sea is calm. The accent of this fable has been transmitted to some variants of the folklore of swans.
In Russia the Tsar Morskoi or Water Demon"s beautiful daughters (swans) may naturally be supposed to influence the tides which the fair bathers of our time are reduced to obey. In various regions the tides are believed to have some relation to swans, and to respect them. I have met with a notion of this kind in England. On the day of Livingstone"s funeral there was an extraordinary tide in the Thames, which had been predicted and provided for. The crowds which had gathered at the Abbey on that occasion repaired after the funeral to Westminster Bridge to observe the tide, and among them was a venerable disbeliever in science, who announced to a group that there would be no high tide, "because the swans were nesting." This sceptic was speedily put to confusion by the result, and perhaps one superst.i.tion the less remained in the circle that seemed to regard him as an oracle.
The Russian peasantry live in much fear of the Rusalkas and Vodyanuie, water-spirits who, of course, have for their chief the surly Neptune Tsar Morskoi. In deprecation of this tribe, the peasant is careful not to bathe without a cross round the neck, nor to ford a stream on horseback without signing a cross on the water with a scythe or knife. In the Ukrain these water-demons are supposed to be the transformed souls of Pharaoh and his host when they were drowned, and they are increased by people who drown themselves. In Bohemia fishermen are known sometimes to refuse aid to one drowning, for fear the Vodyany will be offended and prevent the fish, over which he holds rule, from entering their nets. The wrath of such beings is indicated by the upheavals of water and foam; and they are supposed especially mischievous in the spring, when torrents and floods are pouring from melted snow. Those undefined monsters which Beowulf slew, Grendel and his mother, are interpreted by Simrock as personifications of the untamed sea and stormy floods invading the low flat sh.o.r.es, whose devastations so filled Faust with horror (II. iv.), and in combating which his own hitherto desolating powers found their task.
The Sea sweeps on in thousand quarters flowing, Itself unfruitful, barrenness bestowing; It breaks, and swells, and rolls, and overwhelms The desert stretch of desolated realms....
Let that high joy be mine for evermore, To shut the lordly Ocean from the sh.o.r.e, The watery waste to limit and to bar, And push it back upon itself afar!
In such brave work Faust had many forerunners, whose art and courage have their monument in the fairer fables of all these elemental powers in which fear saw demons. Pavana, in India, messenger of the G.o.ds, rides upon the winds, and in his forty-nine forms, corresponding with the points of the Hindu compa.s.s, guards the earth. Solomon, too, journeyed on a magic carpet woven of the winds, which still serves the purposes of the Wise. From the churned ocean rose Lakshmi (after the solar origin was lost to the myth), Hindu G.o.ddess of prosperity; and from the sea-foam rose Aphrodite, Beauty. These fair forms had their true worshipper in the Northman, who left on mastered wind and wave his song as Emerson found it--
The gale that wrecked you on the sand, It helped my rowers to row; The storm is my best galley hand, And drives me where I go.