Cox, George - Aryan Mythology Vol 2.pdf

SKYLLA. 261
shoots out her hungry hands from her dismal dens, than CHAP.
to have the ships knocked to pieces in the whirlpool where .
Charybdis thrice in the day drinks in the waters of the sea,
and thrice spouts them forth again. The peril may seem to
be less. The sides of the rock beneath which she dwells are
not so rugged, and on it blooms a large wild fig-tree, 1 with
dense foliage ; but no ship that ever came within reach of
the whirling eddies ever saw the light again. In other
words, Skylla is the one who tears her prey, while Charybdis
swallows them ;
the one is the boiling surf beating against a
precipitous and iron-bound coast, the other the treacherous
back-currents of a gulf full of hidden rocks. The name Kra-
taiis also given to her in the Odyssey denotes simply her
irresistible power. This horrid being is put to death in
many ways. In one version she is slain by Herakles, and
brought to life again by her father Phorkys as he burns her
body. In another she is a beautiful princess, who is loved
by Zeus, and who, being robbed of her children by the jealous
Here, hides herself in a dismal cavern, and is there changed
into a terrific goblin which preys upon little children. This
Skylla, who is called a daughter of Lamia the devourer, is in
fact the hobgoblin of modern tales, and was manifestly used
by nurses in the days of Euripides much as nurses may use
such names now to quiet or frighten their charges. 2 In
another version she refuses her love to the sea-god Glaukos,
who betakes himself to Kirke ; but Kirke instead of aiding
him to win her, threw some herbs into the well where Skylla
bathed and changed her into the form of Echidna. It is need-
less to cite other legends which are much to the same effect.
The Meo-arian tradition brings before us another Skylla, The
who is probably only another form of the being beloved by skylla.
Glaukos or Triton. Here the beautiful maiden gives her
love to the Cretan Minos, who is besieging Megara to
revenge the death of Androgeos, and in order to become his
wife she steals the purple lock on the head of her father
Nisos, on which depended her own life and the safety of the
1 Preller here suspects a play between ovk oTSe Aa^ias rrjs Aifiv(TTi.Kr\s yevos ;
the words ipivebs and ipivvs. quoted from Euripides by Diodoros
2 rls t ovvopa rb eiroveiZiarov jSpoToTs xx. 41. Preller, Gr. Myth, i. 484.
r J—