Indigenous Races of the Earth

XGN23N881857 31

44 ON TilE DISTRIDUTION AND similar to that of which the Rig-veda is the most ancient monument. It cannot, of cour. e, be expected that I should hero onurnomto all these names. I will, however, select out of their multitude, sornc of a nature suited to canso these analogies to be understood. Tho God of IIeavon (or of the sky) is called by the Gree] s Zeus Pater ; and let us here notice that tho I renunciation of Z resembles very much that of D, inasmuch as tho word Zeus becomes in the geni­tive JJ'ioa. 'l'he Latins termed the same god JJiea-piter· or Jt~piter. Now, in the Veda, the God of Heaven is called Dyaushpitar. The Greeks designated the sky as Ou1·anoa, and invoked it as a snpromc god. And, it must all"ain be noted that, in their tongue, tho V docs not exiRt, but is always rendered by OU. In the Veda, on the other baml, it is termed Varouna. Tho Earth always receives- among tho Greeks, the Latins, and the Oermans,-the epithet of" mother;" and likewise under this surname is it invoked in the V odic hymns. But these arc, after all, only similitudes of names: some complete myths connect amongst each other an the Germanic populations. These myths, too, have become invested, amid each one of the latter, with a physiognomy slightly distinct; because every thing in mytlws is shifting and changeable: and, even among the same people, myths mqdify and transform themselves according to times and according to places ; but, a basis,-a substratum, of ideas in common remains; and it is this residue which permits us to grasp the orill"inal relationship of b lief's. Wcll,-wo might cite a host of these iables that have run over the whole of Europe, but ever preserving the same traits. I will give one of them, just by way of specimen:_ Grecian antiquity has recorded various legends concen.linll" a mar­vellous artisan yclept .6.al&a"Aos (the "inventive") who occasioJ1ally becomes confounded With tho God of fire, personification of light­ning (and tho thunderbolt), Hepluestos; whom we call, after the Latins, Vulca~. Tho Aryas (proper name of those Ariana who composed tho Sanscnt Vedas) also adored, as a blacksmith-god, the personified th~nclorbolt. They termed him Twachtr·ei; and the physiognomy of tlus personage possesses tho greatest analogies with that of Vulcan. 'l'wacltt1·ei is called tho "author of all worl s ;" because fire is the gmnd. agent of human inJ.u.stry; and he is Ignipotena, as says Virgil speakmg of Vulcan. And, m the same manner that this divinity bad ~orged the thun~crbolt of Jupiter, and executed the cup out of which Immortals quafl:ed ambrosia, Twacltter' had forged the thunderbolt of Indra, god of the sky (or Heaven) in the Vedic pantheon· and was tl1e maker of that divine cup whence was poured out tho' h. h soma, -w Ic was, at one and the same tim?, ambrosia and the libation. CLASSIFICATION OF TONGUES. 45 Twacltter' has for assistants, or fol' rivals, the Ribhavas, 1~- other divine artists, who play a considerable part in the songr:; of the Veda ancl in IIinclostanic hist ry; wherein one r c gnizcs numberless traits common to the H llonic legend of tho Cyclopinns, tl10 Cabiri, the Tel ·hines, and in particular to that of JJmdalus. Now, these same legends are picked up here and there from diHcr nt points of Eut'OI o, in localities the mo t distant, and between which no i.ntcr•lHLilgc of id eas could anci utly have oc urrcd. The celebrated blacksmith "Wieland," or Velant, so famous in the traditions of northern 1cr­many,- who, in Scandinavia, is termed Volund-is a compound of Vulcan ancl JJredalus, no loss than au other heir to the V c<lic tradi­tions about Twacltter'. The a lvonturc so classically-renowned of the Cretan hero, and of his son Icarus, reproduces itself, with but trifling variations, in that of Viilund. IIe is also shut up within th labyrinth; but Scandi­navian tradition no longer places in Crete (Candia) this marv llous edifice. It is on an island named " iivarstadr." 'l'hc Gr ck falJlc gives to JJredalua wings, in orclcr that he may escape from his prison. In the story of the people of the north, it is a shirt of feathers with which ho cl thcs himself. llis brother Eigil, hore substituted for Icarus, wishes to try tho power of this feathery dross; and perishes like the son of JJmdalus-victim of bis raslmcss. A. scholiast teaches us, tbat the celebrated rook voyager Pytheas bad found at the islands of LEolus, now tho Lipal'i-islcs, the singular custom of exposing, neat· the volcano (StromlJoli) in which it was believed that Vulcan made his residence, the iron that ono desired to sec fashioned into some weapon or instrument. 'l'hc rough metal was left dming tho night thus disposed, and upon returning ou the morrow, the sword, or other implement, was found newly nutnnfac­turcd. An usage of this kind, founded upon a similar credence, is spread through a number of Germanic countries. It is no longer Vulcan, but Wieland, a cripple like him moreover, who becomes the mysterious blacksmith. In Berkshire (England) they used .formerly to show, ncar a place called White-Horse hill, a stone, whereupon, accordinll" to the popular notion, it was enough to deposit a horse­shoe with a piece of silver, and to tic ncar it tho animal to be shod; and, on coming back, tho operation was found done. The marvel­lous farrier Wayland-Smith, as he was called, had paid him. elf with tho silver money; and the shoddcn brute was ready to be led away. In many cantons of Germany, analogous stories used. to be told: only, ~~On this point consult tho lon.rnod work of M. F. NEVE, entitlou Eaaai &ur le mvthe de& Ribhavaa, Pn.ris, 1847.