Cox, George - Aryan Mythology Vol 2.pdf

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MYTHOLOGY OF THE ARYAN NATIONS.
BOOK sented in the English ballad by the hope which the king ex-
_ IL
, presses that he may never serve as a mark for Cloudeslee's
arrows. Here also Cloudeslee is one of a trio (along with
Adam Bell and Clym of the Clough), which answers to the
and Grimm is fully justified in remarking
Swiss triumvirate ;
that Cloudeslee's Christian name and Bell's surname exhibit
the two names of the great Swiss hero. 1 By Saxo Gramma-
ticus, a writer of the twelfth century, the story is told of Palnatoki,
who performs the same exploit at the bidding of King
Harold Gormson, and who when asked by the king why he
had taken three arrows from his quiver when he was to have
only one shot, replies, ' That I might avenge on thee the
swerving of the first by the points of the rest.' In the
Vilkina Saga the tale is related, and almost in the same
terms, of Egill, ' the fairest of men,' the brother of Volundr,
our Wayland Smith, while in the Malleus Maleficarum it is
told of Puncher, a magician on the Upper Ehine. 2 Another
version is seen in the Saga of Saint Olaf, who challenges
Eindridi, a heathen whom he wishes to convert, to the same
task, only leading the way himself. Olaf's arrow grazes the
child's head, and the pleading of Eindridi's wife then induces
the king to put an end to the contest. With some differences
of detail the legend reappears in the story of another Harold
(Sigurdarson), in the eleventh century. Here the rival or
opponent of the king is Heming, whose arrows, as Harold
remarks, are all inlaid with gold, like the arrows of Phoibos.
Enraged at many defeats, the king at last dares Heming
to shoot a nut on the head not of his son but of his brother.
Not less significant in some of its touches is the Earoese
tradition, which attributes TelFs achievement to Geyti,
Aslak's son, the king being the same who is confronted by
Heming. Learning that Geyti is his match in strength,
Harold rides to the house of Aslak, and asking where his
1 ' Ausser den angefiihrten deutschen dcm Konig, seinem siebenjahrigen Sohn
und nordischen Erziihlungen lasst sich einen Apfel auss haupt zulegen und 120
noeh eino altenglische in dem northuni- Schritte weit herab zu schiessen.'
brischenLiedevondendreiWildschiitzen Grimm, D. Myth. 35o.
Adam Bell, Clym, und William of " The passages from these three
Cloudesle aufweisen ; der letzte, desscn works are quoted at length by Dr.
Vorname, wie der Zuname des ersten, Dasent, Norse Tales, introduction xxxv.-
Brll, an Tell gemahnt, erbietet sich vor xxxix.
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