Cox, George - Aryan Mythology Vol 2.pdf

26
BOOK
II.
Phoibos
and
Hermes.
MYTHOLOGY OF THE ARYAN NATIONS.
which cannot be taken by itself. Phoibos here traverses the
sea in the form of a fish, and imparts lessons of wisdom and
goodness when he has come forth from the green de}:)ths.
He can assume many forms, and appear or vanish as he
pleases. All these powers or qualities are shared by Proteus
in Hellenic story, as well as by the fish-god, Dagon or Onnes,
of Syria ; and the wisdom which these beings possess is that
hidden wisdom of Zeus which, in the Homeric hymn, Phoibos
cannot impart even to Hermes. So in the Yishnu Purana
the demon Sambara casts Pradyumna, the son of Yishnu,
into the sea, where he is swallowed by a fish, but he dies not
and is born anew from' its belly. 1 The story must be taken
along with those of the Frog prince, of Bheki, and of the
Fish-rajah in Hindu fairy tales. 2 Doubtless it is the same
dolphin which appears in the story of Arion, but the fish not
less than the harp has lost something of its ancient power. 3
In this myth Phoibos acts from his own proper force.
Here, as in the hymn to Hermes, he is emphatically the
wise and the deep or far-seeing god. The lowest abyss of
the sea is not hidden from his eye, but the wind can never
stir their stormless depths. His gift of music was not, how-
ever, his own from the first. His weapons are irresistible,
and nothing can withstand the splendour of his unveiled
form ; but he must live in a world of absolute stillness,
without mist and without clouds, until the breath of the
wind stirs the stagnant air. Hermes then is the maker of
the harp and the true lord of song ; and the object of the
hymn is to account for the harmony existing between himself
and Phoibos, from whom he receives charge over the bright
and radiant clouds which float across the blue seas of heaven.
It is impossible to lay too much stress on this difference of
1 Translation of H. II. Wilson,
p. 575.
2 See vol. i. pp. 165, 400. The story of
the Frog-prince agrees closely wi I h the
Gaelic tale of the Sick Queen (Campbell,
ii. 131), for whom none but the Frog can
supply the water of life.
3 The power of Phoibos and Protous
is shared by Thetis, and again in Grimm's
story of Poland, by the maiden, who
changes her lover into a lake, and
herself into a duck ; or who becomes a
lily in a hedge, while Roland plays on
his flute a tune which makes the witch,
like the Jew on the thorns, dance till
she drops down dead. The same transformations
occur in the stories of Fir-
Apple and the Two Kings' Children, in
Grimm's collection, and in the Norse
tales of Dapplegrim and Farmer
Weathersky.