Cox, George - Aryan Mythology Vol 2.pdf

POLYPIIEMOS. 365
of Warwickshire tradition. 1 Other myths were subjected to CHAP.
the same process of degradation. The kindly Demeter be- -
comes the devil's mother, 2 grandmother, or sister, who still
shows something of her ancient character in the part which
she plays towards those who throw themselves on her pro-
tection. Thus she shields Thor and Tyr in the house of
Hymir, as the giant's mother shelters Jack in the nursery
story. In the lay of Beowulf Grendel's mother is less complying,
and avenges on the hero the death of her son. The
binding of the devil, like that of Prometheus and Ahriman,
is implied in the phrase ' the devil is loose/ the sequel being
' the devil is dead.'
One legend of the devil's death furnishes some singular The
*^
points of comparison with the myth of Polyphemos, although p 1
it seems rash to infer any direct derivation of the story
from the Odyssey. The devil asks a man who is moulding
buttons what he may be doing ; and when the man answers
that he is moulding eyes, asks him further whether he can
give him a pair of new eyes. He is told to come again
another day ; and when he makes his appearance accord-
ingly, the man tells him that the operation cannot be per-
formed rightly unless he is first tightly bound with his back
fastened to a bench. While he is thus pinioned, he asks the
man's name. The reply is Issi ('himself'). When the lead
is melted, the devil opens his eyes wide to receive the deadly
stream. As soon as he is blinded he starts up in agony,
bearing away the bench to which he had been bound,
1 Dasent, Norse Taks, introd. lxxxiv. devil therefore has a beard of that colour,
Grimm, D. M. 900, 958. In other and the thunderbolts are his followers,
legends it is Herodias, who, confounded Many expressions common to England
with her daughter, is made to dance on and Germany come from the same
fur ever; or Satia, Bertha, Abundia, source. The compassionate phrase ' der
(names denoting kindliness, brightness, arme Teufel was formerly 'der arme
'
;
or plenty), who, with Frigga, and Freya, Donner ' and the expletives 'Hagel'
'
Artemis and Diana, are degraded into 'Donner-wetter' and unser Herr-I
leaders of midnight troops. point to the time when the heathen
* Here Dionvsos is lowered to the Donar was lord of the atmospl
same level with Orion or Wuotan, (i&. 965). His conduct to his wife also
Grimm, D. M. 961. The devil, of carries us back to some ot the oldest
course, has his children, ' devil's brood,' mythical phrases. He is said to beat
'devil's imps.' Grimm remarks that his wife when the rain falls in snn-
Teufelskind is synonymous with Don- shine, and the rapid alternation of sunnerskind
and that here again we are shine and shower is said to be caused
confronted with old mythical expres- by his blanching his grandmother.
sions. Thunder is red- bearded, and the
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