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106 EELIGION OF THE NOETHMEN.
from them ; but how this purer primitive Iranic re-
ligion originated^—whether by immediate revelation
or by the continual development of the human soul
—;is not taken into consideration. Others . assume
that the Asa doctrine, as an independent whole, was
developed among the Germanic classes from the
very lowest point of polytheism into a religious system
in which polytheism was inclining to yield
before monotheistic ideas, which the. clearer heads
among the people had gradually risen up to by their
own strength of mind and by the natural progress
of polytheism.
In regard to the real object of the Asa myths,
some have sought it in the history of the Germanic
race, especially of the Norraana branch, others
in the general phenomena of ^Nature, others again
in man's peculiar nature, especially in a moral
point of view. There has thus been developed
a historical, a physical, and an ethical interpre-
tation ; but seldom has any interpreter followed one
of these directions exclusively, the greater number
have united them, with one or another of them the
predominant.
Finally, in regard to the outer form of the Asa
doctrine, some consider it a complete allegory,
whose images, even in the minutest particulars,
they strive to trace back to reality, •
—
while others
seek only to unravel the prominent ideas of the
myths from their poetic dress, believing it in vain
to attempt to trace the images through all the mazes
of fantasy.
As to the first theory, we find a certsiin funda-