CHAPTER IV.

ELEMENTS.

A Scottish Munasa--Rudra--Siva's lightning eye--The flaming
sword--Limping demons--Demons of the storm--Helios, Elias,
Perun--Thor arrows--The Bob-tailed Dragon--Whirlwind--Japanese
thunder god--Christian survivals--Jinni--Inundations--Noah--Nik,
Nicholas, Old Nick--Nixies--Hydras--Demons of the
Danube--Tides--Survivals in Russia and England.


During some recent years curious advertisements have appeared in a
journal of Edinburgh, calling for pious persons to occupy certain
hours of the night with holy exercises. It would appear that they
refer to a band of prayerful persons who provide that there shall
be an unbroken round of prayers during every moment of the day and
night. Their theory is, that it is the usual cessation of christian
prayers at night which causes so many disasters. The devils being then
less restrained, raise storms and all elemental perils. The praying
circle, which hopes to bind these demons by an uninterrupted chain of
prayers, originated, as I am informed, in the pious enthusiasm of a
lady whose kindly solicitude in some pre-existent sister was no doubt
personified in the Hindu Munasa, who, while all gods slept, sat in the
shape of a serpent on a branch of Euphorbia to preserve mankind from
the venom of snakes. It is to be feared, however, that it is hardly
the wisdom of the serpent which is on prayerful watch at Edinburgh,
but rather a vigilance of that perilous kind which was exercised by
'Meggie o' the Shore,' anno 1785, as related by Hugh Miller. [52]
On a boisterous night, when two young girls had taken refuge in her
cottage, they all heard about midnight cries of distress mingling
with the roar of the sea, 'Raise the window curtain and look out,'
said Meggie. The terrified girls did so, and said, 'There is a bright
light in the middle of the Bay of Udall. It hangs over the water about
the height of a ship's mast, and we can see something below it like
a boat riding at anchor, with the white sea raging around her.' 'Now
drop the curtain,' said Meggie; 'I am no stranger, my lasses, to
sights and noises like these--sights and noises of another world;
but I have been taught that God is nearer to me than any spirit can
be; and so have learned not to be afraid.' Afterwards it is not
wonderful that a Cromarty yawl was discovered to have foundered,
and all on board to have been drowned; though Meggie's neighbours
seemed to have preserved the legend after her faith, and made the
scene described a premonition of what actually occurred. It was in
a region where mariners when becalmed invoke the wind by whistling;
and both the whistling and the praying, though their prospects in
the future may be slender, have had a long career in the past.

In the 'Rig-Veda' there is a remarkable hymn to Rudra (the Roarer),
which may be properly quoted here:--

1. Sire of the storm gods, let thy favour extend to us; shut us not
out from the sight of the sun; may our hero be successful in the
onslaught. O Rudra, may we wax mighty in our offspring.

2. Through the assuaging remedies conferred by thee, O Rudra, may
we reach a hundred winters; drive away far from us hatred, distress,
and all-pervading diseases.

3. Thou, O Rudra, art the most excellent of beings in glory, the
strongest of the strong, O wielder of the bolt; bear us safely through
evil to the further shore; ward off all the assaults of sin.

4. May we not provoke thee to anger, O Rudra, by our adorations,
neither through faultiness in praises, nor through wantonness in
invocations; lift up our heroes by thy remedies; thou art, I hear,
the chief physician among physicians.

5. May I propitiate with hymns this Rudra who is worshipped with
invocations and oblations; may the tender-hearted, easily-entreated,
tawny-haired, beautiful-chinned god not deliver us up to the plotter
of evil [literally, to the mind meditating 'I kill'].

6. The bounteous giver, escorted by the storm-gods, hath gladdened
me, his suppliant, with most invigorating food; as one distressed by
heat seeketh the shade, may I, free from harm, find shelter in the
good-will of Rudra.

7. Where, O Rudra, is that gracious hand of thine, which is healing
and comforting? Do thou, removing the evil which cometh from the gods,
O bounteous giver, have mercy upon me.

8. To the tawny, the fair-complexioned dispenser of bounties, I send
forth a great and beautiful song of praise; adore the radiant god
with prostrations; we hymn the illustrious name of Rudra.

9. Sturdy-limbed, many-shaped, fierce, tawny, he hath decked himself
with brilliant ornaments of gold; truly strength is inseparable from
Rudra, the sovereign of this vast world.

10. Worthy of worship, thou bearest the arrows and the bow; worthy of
worship, thou wearest a resplendent necklace of many forms; worthy
of worship, thou rulest over this immense universe; there is none,
O Rudra, mightier than thou.

11. Celebrate the renowned and ever-youthful god who is seated on a
chariot, who is, like a wild beast, terrible, fierce, and destructive;
have mercy upon the singer, O Rudra, when thou art praised; may thy
hosts strike down another than us.

12. As a boy saluteth his father who approacheth and speaketh to him,
so, O Rudra, I greet thee, the giver of much, the lord of the good;
grant us remedies when thou art praised.

13. Your remedies, O storm-gods, which are pure and helping, O
bounteous givers, which are joy-conferring, which our father Manu
chose, these and the blessing and succour of Rudra I crave.

14. May the dart of Rudra be turned aside from us, may the great
malevolence of the flaming-god be averted; unbend thy strong bow
from those who are liberal with their wealth; O generous god, have
mercy upon our offspring and our posterity (i.e., our children and
children's children).

15. Thus, O tawny Rudra, wise giver of gifts, listen to our cry,
give heed to us here, that thou mayest not be angry with us, O god,
nor slay us; may we, rich in heroic sons, utter great praise at the
sacrifice. [53]

In other hymns the malevolent character of Rudra is made still more
prominent:--

7. Slay not our strong man nor our little child, neither him who
is growing nor him who is grown, neither our father nor our mother;
hurt not, O Rudra, our dear selves.

8. Harm us not in our children and children's children, nor in our men,
nor in our kine, nor in our horses. Smite not our heroes in thy wrath;
we wait upon thee perpetually with offerings. [54]

In this hymn (verse 1) Rudra is described as 'having braided hair;'
and in the 'Yajur-veda' and the 'Atharva-veda' other attributes
of Siva are ascribed to him, such as the epithet nîla-grîva, or
blue-necked. In the 'Rig-veda' Siva occurs frequently as an epithet,
and means auspicious. It was used as a euphemistic epithet to appease
Rudra, the lord of tempests; and finally, the epithet developed into
a distinct god.

The parentage of Siva is further indicated in the legends that
his glance destroyed the head of the youthful deity Ganesa,
who now wears the elephant head, with which it was replaced; and
that the gods persuaded him to keep his eyes perpetually winking
(like sheet-lightning), lest his concentrated look (the thunderbolt)
should reduce the universe to ashes. With the latter legend the gaze
of the evil eye in India might naturally be associated, though in
the majority of countries this was rather associated with the malign
influences ascribed to certain planets, especially Saturn; the charms
against the evil eye being marked over with zodiacal signs. The very
myth of Siva's eye survives in the Russian demon Magarko ('Winker')
and the Servian Vii, whose glance is said to have power to reduce men,
and even cities, to ashes.

The terrible Rudra is represented in a vast number of beliefs, some
of them perhaps survivals; in the rough sea and east-wind demon Oegir
of the northern world, and Typhon in the south; and in Luther's faith
that 'devils do house in the dense black clouds, and send storms,
hail, thunder and lightning, and poison the air with their infernal
stench,' a doctrine which Burton, the Anatomist of Melancholy, too,
maintained against the meteorologists of his time.

Among the ancient Aryans lightning seems to have been the supreme type
of divine destructiveness. Rudra's dart, Siva's eye, reappear with
the Singhalese prince of demons Wessamonny, described as wielding a
golden sword, which, when he is angry, flies out of his hand, to which
it spontaneously returns, after cutting off a thousand heads. [55]
A wonderful spear was borne by Odin, and was possibly the original
Excalibur. The four-faced Sviatevit of Russia, whose mantle has fallen
to St. George, whose statue was found at Zbrucz in 1851, bore a horn
of wine (rain) and a sword (lightning).

In Greece similar swords were wielded by Zeus, and also by the
god of war. Through Zeus and Ares, the original wielders of the
lightning--Indra and Siva--became types of many gods and semi-divine
heroes. The evil eye of Siva glared from the forehead of the Cyclopes,
forgers of thunderbolts; and the saving disc of Indra flashed in the
swords and arrows of famous dragon-slayers--Perseus, Pegasus, Hercules,
and St. George. The same sword defended the Tree of Life in Eden,
and was borne in the hand of Death on the Pale Horse (a white horse
was sacrificed to Sviatevit in Russia within christian times). And,
finally, we have the wonderful sword which obeys the command 'Heads
off!' delighting all nurseries by the service it does to the King of
the Golden Mountain.

'I beheld Satan as lightning falling out of heaven.' To the Greeks
this falling of rebellious deities out of heaven accounted, as we
have seen explained, for their lameness. But a universal phenomenon
can alone account for the many demons with crooked or crippled legs
(like 'Diable Boiteux') [56] all around the world. The Namaquas of
South Africa have a 'deity' whose occupation it is to cause pain
and death; his name is Tsui'knap, that is 'wounded knee.' [57]
Livingstone says of the Bakwains, another people of South Africa,
'It is curious that in all their pretended dreams or visions of
their god he has always a crooked leg, like the Egyptian Thau.' [58]
In Mainas, South America, they believe in a treacherous demon,
Uchuella-chaqui, or Lame-foot, who in dark forests puts on a friendly
shape to lure Indians to destruction; but the huntsmen say they can
never be deceived if they examine this demon's foot-track, because
of the unequal size of the two feet. [59] The native Australians
believed in a demon named Biam; he is black and deformed in his lower
extremities; they attributed to him many of their songs and dances,
but also a sort of small-pox to which they were liable. [60] We have
no evidence that these superstitions migrated from a common centre;
and there can be little doubt that many of these crooked legs are
traceable to the crooked lightning. [61] At the same time this is by
no means inconsistent with what has been already said of the fall of
Titans and angels from heaven as often accounting for their lameness
in popular myths. But in such details it is hard to reach certainty,
since so many of the facts bear a suspicious resemblance to each
other. A wild boar with 'distorted legs' attacked St. Godric, and
the temptation is strong to generalise on the story, but the legs
probably mean only to certify that it was the devil.

Dr. Schliemann has unearthed among his other treasures the remarkable
fact that a temple of Helios (the sun) once stood near the site of
the present Church of Elias, at Mycenæ, which has from time immemorial
been the place to which people repair to pray for rain. [62] When the
storm-breeding Sun was succeeded by the Prophet whose prayer evoked
the cloud, even the name of the latter did not need to be changed. The
discovery is the more interesting because it has always been a part
of the christian folklore of that region that, when a storm with
lightning occurs, it is 'Elias in his chariot of fire.' A similar
phrase is used in some part of every Aryan country, with variation
of the name: it is Woden, or King Waldemar, or the Grand Veneur,
or sometimes God, who is said to be going forth in his chariot.

These storm-demons in their chariots have their forerunner in Vata
or Vayu, the subject of one of the most beautiful Vedic hymns. 'I
celebrate the glory of Vata's chariot; its noise comes rending and
resounding. Touching the sky he moves onward, making all things ruddy;
and he comes propelling the dust of the earth.

'Soul of the gods, source of the universe, this deity moves as he
lists. His sounds have been heard, but his form is not seen; this
Vata let us worship with an oblation.' [63]

This last verse, as Mr. Muir has pointed out, bears a startling
resemblance to the passage in John, 'The Wind bloweth where it listeth,
and thou canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth; so is
every one that is born of the Wind.' [64]

But an equally striking development of the Vedic idea is represented
in the Siamese legend of Buddha, and in this case the Vedic Wind-god
Vayu reappears by name for the Angels of Tempests, or Loka Phayu. The
first portent which preceded the descent of Buddha from the Tushita
heavens was 'when the Angels of the Tempest, clothed in red garments,
and with streaming hair, travel among the abodes of mankind crying,
'Attend all ye who are near to death; repent and be not heedless! The
end of the world approaches, but one hundred thousand years more
and it will be destroyed. Exert yourselves, then, exert yourselves
to acquire merit. Above all things be charitable; abstain from doing
evil; meditate with love to all beings, and listen to the teachings of
holiness. For we are all in the mouth of the king of death. Strive then
earnestly for meritorious fruits, and seek that which is good.' [65]

Not less remarkable is the Targum of Jonathan Ben Uzziel to 1 Kings
xix., where around Elias on the mountain gather 'a host of angels of
the wind, cleaving the mountain and breaking the rocks before the
Lord;' and after these, 'angels of commotion,' and next 'of fire,'
and, finally, 'voices singing in silence' preceded the descent of
Jehovah. It can hardly be wondered that a prophet of whom this story
was told, and that of the storm evoked from a small cloud, should
be caught up into that chariot of the Vedic Vayu which has rolled on
through all the ages of mythology.

Mythologic streams seem to keep their channels almost as steadfastly
as rivers, but as even these change at last or blend, so do the old
traditions. Thus we find that while Thor and Odin remain as separate
in survivals as Vayu and Parjanya in India, in Russia Elias has
inherited not the mantle of the wind-god or storm-breeding sun,
but of the Slavonic Thunderer Perun. There is little doubt that
this is Parjanya, described in the 'Rig-Veda' as 'the thunderer,
the showerer, the bountiful,' [66] who 'strikes down trees' and 'the
wicked.' 'The people of Novgorod,' says Herberstein, 'formerly offered
their chief worship and adoration to a certain idol named Perun. When
subsequently they received baptism they removed it from its place,
and threw it into the river Volchov; and the story goes that it swam
against the stream, and that near the bridge a voice was heard saying,
'This for you, O inhabitants of Novgorod, in memory of me;' and at
the same time a certain rope was thrown upon the bridge. Even now
it happens from time to time on certain days of the year that this
voice of Perun may be heard, and on these occasions the citizens run
together and lash each other with ropes, and such a tumult arises
therefrom that all the efforts of the governor can scarcely assuage
it.' [67] The statue of Perun in Kief, says Mr. Ralston, had a trunk
of wood, while the head was of silver, with moustaches of gold, and
among its weapons was a mace. Afanasief states that in White-Russian
traditions Perun is tall and well-shaped, with black hair and a long
golden beard. This beard relates him to Barbarossa, and, perhaps,
though distantly, with the wood-demon Barbatos, the Wild Archer,
who divined by the songs of birds. [68] Perun also has a bow which is
'sometimes identified with the rainbow, an idea which is known also to
the Finns. From it, according to the White Russians, are shot burning
arrows, which set on fire all things that they touch. In many parts of
Russia (as well as of Germany) it is supposed that these bolts sink
deep into the soil, but that at the end of three or seven years they
return to the surface in the shape of longish stones of a black or dark
grey colour--probably belemnites, or masses of fused sand--which are
called thunderbolts, and considered as excellent preservations against
lightning and conflagrations. The Finns call them Ukonkiwi--the stone
of thunder-god Ukko, and in Courland their name is Perkuhnsteine, which
explains itself. In some cases the flaming dart of Perun became, in the
imagination of the people, a golden key. With it he unlocked the earth,
and brought to light its concealed treasures, its restrained waters,
its captive founts of light. With it also he locked away in safety
fugitives who wished to be put out of the power of malignant conjurors,
and performed various other good offices. Appeals to him to exercise
these functions still exist in the spells used by the peasants,
but his name has given way to that of some christian personage. In
one of them, for instance, the Archangel Michael is called upon to
secure the invoker behind an iron door fastened by twenty-seven locks,
the keys of which are given to the angels to be carried to heaven. In
another, John the Baptist is represented as standing upon a stone in
the Holy Sea [i.e., in heaven], resting upon an iron crook or staff,
and is called upon to stay the flow of blood from a wound, locking
the invoker's veins 'with his heavenly key.' In this case the myth has
passed into a rite. In order to stay a violent bleeding from the nose,
a locked padlock is brought, and the blood is allowed to drop through
its aperture, or the sufferer grasps a key in each hand, either plan
being expected to prove efficacious. As far as the key is concerned,
the belief seems to be still maintained among ourselves.' [69]

The Key has a holy sense in various religions, and consequently an
infernal key is its natural counterpart. The Vedic hymns, which say
so much about the shutting and opening, imprisoning and releasing,
of heavenly rains and earthly fruits by demons and deities, interpret
many phenomena of nature, and the same ideas have arisen in many
lands. We cannot be certain, therefore, that Calmet is right in
assigning an Indian origin to the subjoined Figure 5, an ancient
Persian medal. The signs of the zodiac on its body show it to be one
of those celestial demons believed able to bind the beneficent or
loose the formidable powers of nature. The Key is of especial import
in Hebrew faith. It was the high-priest Eliakim's symbol of office,
as being also prefect in the king's house. 'The key of the house of
David will I lay upon his shoulder: he shall open and none shall shut;
he shall shut and none shall open.' [70] The Rabbins had a saying
that God reserves to himself four keys, which he will intrust not
even to the angels: the key of rain, the key of the grave, the key of
fruitfulness, and the key of barrenness. It was the sign of one set
above angels when Christ was seen with the keys of Hell and Death,
or when he delivered the keys of heaven to Peter, [71]--still thrust
down the backs of protestant children to cure nose-bleed.

The ubiquitous superstition which attributes the flint arrows of
pre-historic races to gods, shot by them as lightning, and, as some
said, from a rainbow, is too childlike a theory to call for elaborate
treatment. We need not, ethnographically, connect our 'Thor arrows'
and 'Elf shots' with the stones hurled at mortals by the Thunder-Duke
(Lui-tsz) of China. The ancient Parthians, who used to reply to the
thunderstorm by shooting arrows at it, and the Turks, who attack an
eclipse with guns, fairly represent the infancy of the human race,
though perhaps with more than its average pluck. Dr. Macgowan relates,
concerning the Lei-chau (Thunder District) of China, various myths
which resemble those which surround the world. After thunderstorms,
black stones, it is believed, may be found which emit light and
peculiar sounds on being struck. In a temple consecrated to the
Thunder Duke the people annually place a drum for that stormy demon
to beat. The drum was formerly left on a mountain-top with a little
boy as a sacrifice. [72] Mr. Dennys [73] speaks of the belief in the
same country that violent winds and typhoons are caused by the passage
through the air of the 'Bob-tailed Dragon,' and also of the rain-god
Yü-Shüh. A storm-god connected with the 'Eagre,' or bore of the river
Tsien-tang, presents a coincidence of name with the Scandinavian
Oegir, which would be hardly noticeable were it not for the very close
resemblance between the folklore concerning the 'Bob-tailed Dragon'
and the storm-dragons of several Aryan races. Generally, in both
China and Japan the Dragon is regarded with a veneration equal to
the horror with which the serpent is visited. Of this phenomenon and
its analogies in Britain I shall have an explanation to submit when
we come to consider Dragon-myths more particularly. To this general
rule the 'Bob-tailed Dragon' of China is a partial exception. His
fidelity as a friend led to the ill return of an attack by which his
tail was amputated, and ever since his soured temper has shown itself
in raising storms. When a violent tempest arises the Cantonese say,
'The Bob-tailed Dragon is passing,' in the same proverbial way as the
Aryan peasantries attribute the same phenomenon to their storm-gods.

The notion is widely prevalent in some districts of France that
all whirlwinds, however slight, are caused by wizards or witches,
who are in them, careering through the air; and it is stated by the
Melusine that in the department of the Orne storms are attributed
to the clergy, who are supposed to be circling in them. The same
excellent journal states that some years ago, in that department, a
parishioner who saw his crops threatened by a hail-storm fired into
the cloud. The next day he heard that the parish priest had broken
his leg by a fall for which he could not account.

The following examples are given by Kuhn. Near Stangenhagen is a
treasure hid in a mountain which Lord von Thümen tried to seek,
but was caught up with his horse by a whirlwind and deposited at
home again. The Devil is believed to be seated at the centre of
every whirlwind. At Biesenthal it is said a noble lady became the
Wind's bride. She was in her time a famous rider and huntress, who
rode recklessly over farmers' fields and gardens; now she is herself
hunted by snakes and dragons, and may be heard howling in every storm.

I suspect that the bristling hair so frequently portrayed in the
Japanese Oni, Devils, refers to their frequent residence at the
centre of a gale of wind. Their demon of the storm is generally
pictured throned upon a flower of flames, his upraised and extended
fingers emitting the most terrific lightnings, which fall upon his
victims and envelop them in flames. Sometimes, however, the Japanese
artists poke fun at their thunder-god, and show him sprawling on the
ground from the recoil of his own lightnings. The following extract
from The Christian Herald (London, April 12, 1877) will show how
far the dread of this Japanese Oni extends: 'A pious father writes,
'A few days ago there was a severe thunderstorm, which seemed to
gather very heavily in the direction where my son lived; and I had
a feeling that I must go and pray that he might be protected, and
not be killed by the lightning. The impression seemed to say, 'There
is no time to be lost.' I obeyed, and went and knelt down and prayed
that the Lord would spare his life. I believe he heard my prayer. My
son called on me afterwards, and, speaking of the shower, said,
'The lightning came downwards and struck the very hoe in my hands,
and numbed me.' I said, 'Perhaps you would have been killed if some
one had not been praying for you.' Since then he has been converted,
and, I trust, will be saved in God's everlasting kingdom.''

Such paragraphs may now strike even many christians as 'survivals.' But
it is not so very long since some eminent clergymen looked upon
Benjamin Franklin as the heaven-defying Ajax of Christendom, because
he undertook to show people how they might divert the lightnings
from their habitations. In those days Franklin personally visited a
church at Streatham, whose steeple had been struck by lightning, and,
after observing the region, gave an opinion that if the steeple were
again erected without a lightning-rod, it would again be struck. The
audacious man who 'snatched sceptres from tyrants and lightnings
from heaven,' as the proverb ran, was not listened to: the steeple
was rebuilt, and again demolished by lightning.

The supreme god of the Quichuas (American), Viracocha ('sea foam'),
rises out of Lake Titicaca, and journeys with lightnings for
all opposers, to disappear in the Western Ocean. The Quichua is
mentally brother of the Arab camel-driver. 'The sea,' it is said
in the 'Arabian Nights,'--'the sea became troubled before them, and
there arose from it a black pillar, ascending towards the sky, and
approaching the meadow,' and 'behold it was a Jinn [74] of gigantic
stature.' The Jinn is sometimes helpful as it is formidable; it repays
the fisherman who unseals it from the casket fished up from the sea,
as fruitfulness comes out of the cloud no larger than a man's hand
evoked by Elijah. The perilous Jinn described in the above extract is
the waterspout. Waterspouts are attributed in China to the battles
of dragons in the air, and the same country recognises a demon of
high tides. The newest goddess in China is a canonised protectress
against the shipwrecking storm-demons of the coast, an exaltation
recently proclaimed by the Government of the empire in obedience,
as the edict stated, to the belief prevailing among sailors. In this
the Chinese are a long way behind the mariners and fishermen of the
French coast, who have for centuries, by a pious philology, connected
'Maria' with 'La Marée' and 'La Mer;' and whenever they have been
saved from storms, bring their votive offerings to sea-side shrines
of the Star of the Sea.

The old Jewish theology, in its eagerness to claim for Jehovah the
absolutism which would make him 'Lord of lords,' instituted his
responsibility for many doubtful performances, the burthen of which
is now escaped by the device of saying that he 'permitted' them. In
this way the Elohim who brought on the Deluge have been identified
with Jehovah. None the less must we see in the biblical account
of the Flood the action of tempestuous water-demons. What power a
christian would recognise in such an event were it related in the
sacred books of another religion may be seen in the vision of the
Apocalypse--'The Serpent cast out of his mouth a flood of water after
the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away with the flood;
and the earth helped the woman and opened its mouth and swallowed up
the flood.' This Demon of Inundation meets the explorer of Egyptian
and Accadian inscriptions at every turn. The terrible Seven, whom
even the God of Fire cannot control, 'break down the banks of the
Abyss of Waters.' [75] The God of the Tigris, Tourtak (Tartak of the
Bible), is 'the great destroyer.' [76] Leviathan 'maketh the deep to
boil like a pot:' 'when he raises up himself the mighty are afraid;
by reason of breakings they purify themselves.' [77]

In the Astronomical Tablets, which Professor Sayce dates about
B.C. 1600, we have the continual association of eclipse and flood:
'On the fifteenth day an eclipse takes place. The king dies; and rains
in the heaven, floods in the channels are.' 'In the month of Elul
(August), the fourteenth day, an eclipse takes place.... Northward
... its shadow is seen; and to the King of Mullias a crown is
given. To the king the crown is an omen; and over the king the eclipse
passes. Rains in heaven, floods in the channels flow. A famine is
in the country. Men their sons for silver sell.' 'After a year the
Air-god inundates.' [78]

In the Chaldæo-Babylonian cosmogony the three zones of the universe
were ruled over by a Triad as follows: the Heaven by Anu; the surface
of the earth, including the atmosphere, by Bel; the under-world by
Nouah. [79] This same Nouah is the Assyrian Hea or Saviour; and it
is Noah of the Bible. The name means a rest or residence,--the place
where man may dwell. When Tiamat the Dragon, or the Leviathan, opens
'the fountains of the great deep,' and Anu 'the windows of Heaven,'
it is Hea or Noah who saves the life of man. M. François Lenormant
has shown this to be the probable sense of one of the most ancient
Accadian fragments in the British Museum. In it allusion is made
to 'the serpent of seven heads ... that beats the sea.' [80] Hea,
however, appears to be more clearly indicated in a fragment which
Professor Sayce appends to this:--



Below in the abyss the forceful multitudes may they sacrifice.
The overwhelming fear of Anu in the midst of Heaven encircles his path.
The spirits of earth, the mighty gods, withstand him not.
The king like a lightning-flash opened.
Adar, the striker of the fortresses of the rebel band, opened.
Like the streams in the circle of heaven I besprinkled the seed of men.
His marching in the fealty of Bel to the temple I directed,
(He is) the hero of the gods, the protector of mankind, far (and)
near....
O my lord, life of Nebo (breathe thy inspiration), incline thine ear.
O Adar, hero, crown of light, (breathe) thy inspiration, (incline)
thine ear.
The overwhelming fear of thee may the sea know....
Thy setting (is) the herald of his rest from marching,
In thy marching Merodach (is) at rest [81]....
Thy father on his throne thou dost not smite.
Bel on his throne thou dost not smite.
The spirits of earth on their throne may he consume.
May thy father into the hands of thy valour cause (them) to go forth.
May Bel into the hands of thy valour cause (them) to go forth.
(The king, the proclaimed) of Anu, the firstborn of the gods.
He that stands before Bel, the heart of the life of the House of the
Beloved. [82]
The hero of the mountain (for those that) die in multitudes.... the
one god, he will not urge. [83]



In this primitive fragment we find the hero of the mountain (Noah),
invoking both Bel and Nebo, aerial and infernal Intelligences, and Adar
the Chaldæan Hercules, for their 'inspiration'--that breath which, in
the biblical story, goes forth in the form of the Dove ('the herald
of his rest' in the Accadian fragment), and in the 'wind' by which
the waters were assuaged (in the fragment 'the spirits of the earth'
which are given into the hand of the violent 'hero of the mountain,'
whom alone the gods 'will not urge').

The Hydra may be taken as a type of the destructive water-demon in a
double sense, for its heads remain in many mythical forms. The Syrian
Dagon and Atergatis, fish-deities, have bequeathed but their element
to our Undines of romance. Some nymphs have so long been detached
from aqueous associations as to have made their names puzzling, and
their place in demonology more so. To the Nixy (nêchô) of Germany,
now merely mischievous like the British Pixy, many philologists trace
the common phrase for the Devil,--'Old Nick.' I believe, however,
that this phrase owes its popularity to St. Nicholas rather than to
the Norse water-god whose place he was assigned after the christian
accession. This saintly Poseidon, who, from being the patron of
fishermen, gradually became associated with that demon whom, Sir
Walter Scott said, 'the British sailor feared when he feared nothing
else,' was also of old the patron of pirates; and robbers were called
'St. Nicholas' clerks.' [84] In Norway and the Netherlands the ancient
belief in the demon Nikke was strong; he was a kind of Wild Huntsman
of the Sea, and has left many legends, of which 'The Flying Dutchman'
is one. But my belief is that, through his legendary relation to boys,
St. Nicholas gave the name Old Nick its modern moral accent. Because
of his reputation for having restored to life three murdered children
St. Nicholas was made their patron, and on his day, December 6, it
was the old custom to consecrate a Boy-Bishop, who held office until
the 28th of the month. By this means he became the moral appendage
of the old Wodan god of the Germanic races, who was believed in
winter time to find shelter in and shower benefits from evergreens,
especially firs, on his favourite children who happened to wander
beneath them. 'Bartel,' 'Klaubauf,' or whatever he might be called, was
reduced to be the servant of St. Nicholas, whose name is now jumbled
into 'Santaclaus.' According to the old custom he appeared attended
by his Knecht Klaubauf--personated by those who knew all about the
children--bringing a sort of doomsday. The gifts having been bestowed
on the good children, St. Nicholas then ordered Klaubauf to put the
naughty ones into his pannier and carry them off for punishment. The
terror and shrieks thus caused have created vast misery among children,
and in Munich and some other places the authorities have very properly
made such tragedies illegal. But for many centuries it was the custom
of nurses and mothers to threaten refractory children with being
carried off at the end of the year by Nicholas; and in this way
each year closed, in the young apprehension, with a Judgment Day,
a Weighing of Souls, and a Devil or Old Nick as agent of retribution.

Nick has long since lost his aquatic character, and we find his name in
the Far West (America) turning up as 'The Nick of the Woods,'--the wild
legend of a settler who, following a vow of vengeance for his wrongs,
used to kill the red men while they slept, and was supposed to be a
demon. The Japanese have a water-dragon--Kappa--of a retributive and
moral kind, whose office it is to swallow bad boys who go to swim
in disobedience to their parents' commands, or at improper times
and places. It is not improbable that such dangers to the young
originated some of the water-demons,--probably such as are thought
of as diminutive and mischievous,--e.g., Nixies. The Nixa was for a
long time on the Baltic coast the female 'Old Nick,' and much feared
by fishermen. Her malign disposition is represented in the Kelpie
of Scotland,--a water-horse, believed to carry away the unwary by
sudden floods to devour them. In Germany there was a river-goddess
whose temple stood at Magdeburg, whence its name. A legend exists of
her having appeared in the market there in christian costume, but she
was detected by a continual dripping of water from the corner of her
apron. In Germany the Nixies generally played the part of the naiads
of ancient times. [85] In Russia similar beings, called Rusalkas,
are much more formidable.

In many regions of Christendom it is related that these demons,
relatives of the Swan-maidens, considered in another chapter, have
been converted into friendly or even pious creatures, and baptized
into saintly names. Sometimes there are legends which reveal this
transition. Thus it is related that in the year 1440, the dikes of
Holland being broken down by a violent tempest, the sea overflowed
the meadows; and some maidens of the town of Edam, in West Friesland,
going in a boat to milk their cows, espied a mermaid embarrassed in
the mud, the waters being very shallow. They took it into their boat
and brought it to Edam, and dressed it in women's apparel, and taught
it to spin. It ate as they did, but could not be brought to speak. It
was carried to Haarlem, where it lived for some years, though showing
an inclination to water. Parival, who tells the story, relates that
they had conveyed to it some notions of the existence of a deity,
and it made its reverences devoutly whenever it passed a crucifix.

Another creature of the same species was in the year 1531 caught in
the Baltic, and sent as a present to Sigismund, King of Poland. It
was seen by all the persons about the court, but only lived three days.

The Hydra--the torrent which, cut off in one direction, makes many
headways in others--has its survivals in the many diabolical names
assigned to boiling springs and to torrents that become dangerously
swollen. In California the boiling springs called 'Devil's Tea-kettle'
and 'Devil's Mush-pot' repeat the 'Devil's Punch-bowls' of Europe,
and the innumerable Devil's Dikes and Ditches. St. Gerard's Hill,
near Pesth, on which the saint suffered martyrdom, is believed to be
crowded with devils whenever an inundation threatens the city; they
indulge in fiendish laughter, and play with the telescopes of the
observatory, so that they who look through them afterwards see only
devils' and witches' dances! [86] At Buda, across the river from Pesth,
is the famous 'Devil's Ditch,' which the inhabitants use as a sewer
while it is dry, making it a Gehenna to poison them with stenches,
but which often becomes a devastating torrent when thaw comes on the
Blocksberg. In 1874 the inhabitants vaulted it over to keep away the
normal stench, but the Hydra-head so lopped off grew again, and in
July 1875 swallowed up a hundred people. [87]

The once perilous Strudel and Wirbel of the Danube are haunted by
diabolical legends. From Dr. William Beattie's admirable work on
'The Danube' I quote the following passages:--'After descending the
Greinerschwall, or rapids of Grein above mentioned, the river rolls
on for a considerable space, in a deep and almost tranquil volume,
which, by contrast with the approaching turmoil, gives increased
effect to its wild, stormy, and romantic features. At first a hollow,
subdued roar, like that of distant thunder, strikes the ear and
rouses the traveller's attention. This increases every second, and
the stir and activity which now prevail among the hands on board show
that additional force, vigilance, and caution are to be employed
in the use of the helm and oars. The water is now changed in its
colour--chafed into foam, and agitated like a seething cauldron. In
front, and in the centre of the channel, rises an abrupt, isolated,
and colossal rock, fringed with wood, and crested with a mouldering
tower, on the summit of which is planted a lofty cross, to which in
the moment of danger the ancient boatmen were wont to address their
prayers for deliverance. The first sight of this used to create
no little excitement and apprehension on board; the master ordered
strict silence to be observed, the steersman grasped the helm with a
firmer hand, the passengers moved aside, so as to leave free space
for the boatmen, while the women and children were hurried into
the cabin, there to await, with feelings of no little anxiety, the
result of the enterprise. Every boatman, with his head uncovered,
muttered a prayer to his patron saint; and away dashed the barge
through the tumbling breakers, that seemed as if hurrying it on
to inevitable destruction. All these preparations, joined by the
wildness of the adjacent scenery, the terrific aspect of the rocks,
and the tempestuous state of the water, were sufficient to produce a
powerful sensation on the minds even of those who had been all their
lives familiar with dangers; while the shadowy phantoms with which
superstition had peopled it threw a deeper gloom over the whole scene.'

Concerning the whirlpool called Wirbel, and the surrounding ruins,
the same author writes: 'Each of these mouldering fortresses was
the subject of some miraculous tradition, which circulated at every
hearth. The sombre and mysterious aspect of the place, its wild
scenery, and the frequent accidents which occurred in the passage,
invested it with awe and terror; but above all, the superstitions
of the time, a belief in the marvellous, and the credulity of the
boatmen, made the navigation of the Strudel and the Wirbel a theme of
the wildest romance. At night, sounds that were heard far above the
roar of the Danube issued from every ruin. Magical lights flashed
through their loopholes and casements, festivals were held in the
long-deserted halls, maskers glided from room to room, the waltzers
maddened to the strains of an infernal orchestra, armed sentinels
paraded the battlements, while at intervals the clash of arms, the
neighing of steeds, and the shrieks of unearthly combatants smote
fitfully on the boatmen's ear. But the tower on which these scenes
were most fearfully enacted was that on the Longstone, commonly
called the 'Devil's Tower,' as it well deserved to be--for here,
in close communion with his master, resided the 'Black Monk,' whose
office it was to exhibit false lights and landmarks along the gulf,
so as to decoy the vessels into the whirlpool, or dash them against
the rocks. He was considerably annoyed in his quarters, however,
on the arrival of the great Soliman in these regions; for to repel
the turbaned host, or at least to check their triumphant progress to
the Upper Danube, the inhabitants were summoned to join the national
standard, and each to defend his own hearth. Fortifications were
suddenly thrown up, even churches and other religious edifices were
placed in a state of military defence; women and children, the aged
and the sick, as already mentioned in our notice of Schaumburg,
were lodged in fortresses, and thus secured from the violence of
the approaching Moslem. Among the other points at which the greatest
efforts were made to check the enemy, the passage of the Strudel and
Wirbel was rendered as impregnable as the time and circumstances of
the case would allow. To supply materials for the work, patriotism
for a time got the better of superstition, and the said Devil's Tower
was demolished and converted into a strong breastwork. Thus forcibly
dislodged, the Black Monk is said to have pronounced a malediction
on the intruders, and to have chosen a new haunt among the recesses
of the Harz mountains.'

When the glaciers send down their torrents and flood the Rhone,
it is the immemorial belief that the Devil may be sometimes seen
swimming in it, with a sword in one hand and a golden globe in the
other. Since it is contrary to all orthodox folklore that the Devil
should be so friendly with water, the name must be regarded as a
modern substitute for the earlier Rhone demon. We probably get closer
to the original form of the superstition in the Swiss Oberland, which
interprets the noises of the Furka Glacier, which feeds the Rhone,
as the groans of wicked souls condemned for ever to labour there
in directing the river's course; their mistress being a demoness
who sometimes appears just before the floods, floating on a raft,
and ordering the river to rise.

There is a tidal demonolatry also. The author of 'Rambles in
Northumberland' gives a tradition concerning the river Wansbeck:
'This river discharges itself into the sea at a place called Cambois,
about nine miles to the eastward, and the tide flows to within five
miles of Morpeth. Tradition reports that Michael Scott, whose fame as a
wizard is not confined to Scotland, would have brought the tide to the
town had not the courage of the person failed upon whom the execution
of this project depended. This agent of Michael, after his principal
had performed certain spells, was to run from the neighbourhood of
Cambois to Morpeth without looking behind, and the tide would follow
him. After having advanced a certain distance he became alarmed at
the roaring of the waters behind him, and forgetting the injunction,
gave a glance over his shoulder to see if the danger was imminent,
when the advancing tide immediately stopped, and the burgesses of
Morpeth thus lost the chance of having the Wansbeck navigable between
their town and the sea. It is also said that Michael intended to
confer a similar favour on the inhabitants of Durham, by making the
Wear navigable to their city; but his good intentions, which were to
be carried into effect in the same manner, were also frustrated by
the cowardice of the person who had to guide the tide.'

The gentle and just king Æolus, who taught his islanders navigation, in
his mythologic transfiguration had to share the wayward dispositions of
the winds he was said to rule; but though he wrecked the Trojan fleet
and many a ship, his old human heart remained to be trusted on the
appearance of Halcyon. His unhappy daughter of that name cast herself
into the sea after the shipwreck of her husband (Ceyx), and the two
were changed into birds. It was believed that for seven days before and
seven after the shortest day of the year, when the halcyon is breeding,
Æolus restrains his winds, and the sea is calm. The accent of this
fable has been transmitted to some variants of the folklore of swans.
In Russia the Tsar Morskoi or Water Demon's beautiful daughters (swans)
may naturally be supposed to influence the tides which the fair bathers
of our time are reduced to obey. In various regions the tides are
believed to have some relation to swans, and to respect them. I have
met with a notion of this kind in England. On the day of Livingstone's
funeral there was an extraordinary tide in the Thames, which had been
predicted and provided for. The crowds which had gathered at the Abbey
on that occasion repaired after the funeral to Westminster Bridge to
observe the tide, and among them was a venerable disbeliever in
science, who announced to a group that there would be no high tide,
'because the swans were nesting.' This sceptic was speedily put to
confusion by the result, and perhaps one superstition the less remained
in the circle that seemed to regard him as an oracle.

The Russian peasantry live in much fear of the Rusalkas and Vodyanuie,
water-spirits who, of course, have for their chief the surly Neptune
Tsar Morskoi. In deprecation of this tribe, the peasant is careful
not to bathe without a cross round the neck, nor to ford a stream
on horseback without signing a cross on the water with a scythe
or knife. In the Ukrain these water-demons are supposed to be the
transformed souls of Pharaoh and his host when they were drowned,
and they are increased by people who drown themselves. In Bohemia
fishermen are known sometimes to refuse aid to one drowning, for
fear the Vodyany will be offended and prevent the fish, over which
he holds rule, from entering their nets. The wrath of such beings is
indicated by the upheavals of water and foam; and they are supposed
especially mischievous in the spring, when torrents and floods are
pouring from melted snow. Those undefined monsters which Beowulf slew,
Grendel and his mother, are interpreted by Simrock as personifications
of the untamed sea and stormy floods invading the low flat shores,
whose devastations so filled Faust with horror (II. iv.), and in
combating which his own hitherto desolating powers found their task.


The Sea sweeps on in thousand quarters flowing,
Itself unfruitful, barrenness bestowing;
It breaks, and swells, and rolls, and overwhelms
The desert stretch of desolated realms....
Let that high joy be mine for evermore,
To shut the lordly Ocean from the shore,
The watery waste to limit and to bar,
And push it back upon itself afar!


In such brave work Faust had many forerunners, whose art and courage
have their monument in the fairer fables of all these elemental powers
in which fear saw demons. Pavana, in India, messenger of the gods,
rides upon the winds, and in his forty-nine forms, corresponding with
the points of the Hindu compass, guards the earth. Solomon, too,
journeyed on a magic carpet woven of the winds, which still serves
the purposes of the Wise. From the churned ocean rose Lakshmí (after
the solar origin was lost to the myth), Hindu goddess of prosperity;
and from the sea-foam rose Aphrodite, Beauty. These fair forms had
their true worshipper in the Northman, who left on mastered wind and
wave his song as Emerson found it--


The gale that wrecked you on the sand,
It helped my rowers to row;
The storm is my best galley hand,
And drives me where I go.