Chapter I: Front Matter

The Legend of Perseus

A STUDY OF TRADITION IN STORY CUSTOM AND BELIEF: BY

Edwin Sidney Hartland F.S.A.

VOL. III. ANDROMEDA. MEDUSA

Published by David Nutt in the Strand, London 1896

[IMPRINT]

Edinburgh: T. and A. Constable, Printers to Her Majesty

[DEDICATION]

_TO DAVID BRYNMÔR JONES, Q.C., M.P._

_If any worth be found within these pages,_
_If any skill, however poor, have traced_
_Man’s thoughts and purposes down the long ages_
_Where thought is dim and purpose half-effaced--_

_To you the opportunity be reckon’d,_
_To you the worth. You flung the portals wide_
_Which guard enchanted palaces, and beckon’d_
_To new adventures life had else denied--_

_Enchanted palaces, where gods forgotten_
_Dream through an afternoon of endless years;_
_Adventures follow’d, far from fields erst foughten,_
_’Neath wilder heav’ns, aflame with mightier spheres._

_Yours be the spoils, then, from that realm of glamour;_
_At least some gracious memories they will bring,_
_When husht the forum, husht is party clamour,_
_And you can listen to their whispering._

NOTE

This volume contains, in addition to the final instalment of the inquiry sketched at the beginning of the first volume, a Supplementary List of Works referred to in volumes ii. and iii., and the Dedication and General Index for the whole.

Since the publication of the second volume local inquiries have satisfied me that the account of the ceremony at Market Drayton (or rather at Wollerton, near that town), mentioned on p. 292 of the volume in question, is inaccurate. The wine and biscuits were handed to the bearers, but not _across_ the coffin; and the minister merely reprobated in general terms the custom of drinking at funerals.

Corrigenda of a minor character are, in volume i. p. 57, note 1, for 217 read 178, and p. 61, last line but one, for _fisherman_ read _merchant_; in volume ii. p. 147, note, after _letter xxviii._ insert _to Daines Barrington_, and p. 271, note 4, for 68 read 57.

I cannot lay down the pen without reiterating my very inadequate thanks to Mr. Rouse and Mr. Alfred Nutt for the unstinted and invaluable aid I have received in various ways from them: aid which, beginning with the opening chapter, has been continued to the latest pages of this effort to solve the problem of the Legend of Perseus.

Highgarth, Gloucester,
_June_ 1896.

CONTENTS

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CHAPTER XVI

The Rescue of Andromeda in Märchen

Simplest form of the incident--Strong Jack--The Herdsman type--Menial hero in other tales--Punishment of impostors--Attacking the monster from inside--Faithless Sister type--Stolen Sister type--Underworld type--Fearless Johnny type--Helpful Animals--Change of sex--Rescue of youth--Omaha tale--Its European origin--Vira, the Tuscan forest-sprite.

CHAPTER XVII

The Rescue of Andromeda in Sagas

Classical stories--Saint George--The Pollard Worm--Cuchulainn and Devorgoil--Susa No and Inada--The Dragon of Deerhurst--Other British legends--Variants in the East and Africa--The Maiden her own deliverer--Christian legends--Chinese tale--Rescue of youth--Maiden rescued from thraldom only--Ragnar Lodbrog.

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CHAPTER XVIII

The Rescue of Andromeda: its Relation to Human Sacrifices

Legends of the slaughter of a monster are widespread--Origin of the conception of the monster--Totemism--Animal gods--The incident of the Rescue a record of the abolition of human sacrifices to animal gods--Examples of such sacrifices in Africa and the East--Relics of the same among the South Sea Islanders, the Greeks and Romans--Tales of dragons inhabiting springs and lakes--Human sacrifices to water in India, America, Europe--Legends pointing to the same practice in various parts of the world--Legends of rescue of human sacrifices to other divinities.

CHAPTER XIX

The Medusa-witch in Märchen

The Tzitzinæna--Petrifaction by the witch--Petrifaction on breach of various taboos--Power of the witch’s hair--Játaka containing the incident, its relations with the European tales--Petrifaction for preservation--The witch’s hair.

CHAPTER XX

The Medusa-witch in Saga and Superstition

The witch’s hair--Other examples of the power of a hair--The Magical Fetter--The Magical Word--Power of a curse--Magical effect of an incautious word--The Magical Blow--Petrifaction by divine vengeance--Petrifaction as transformation--The Gorgonian power of petrifying by a look--The Evil Eye.

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CHAPTER XXI

The Story as a Whole. The Problem of its place of origin. Conclusion

The origin of the story to be sought for among nations who have passed beyond human sacrifices to brutes--The story as a whole confined to certain parts of the Eastern Hemisphere--Differences between classical and modern stories--Relation between them--Traditional selection in classical times--The Helpful Animals--The Gift of Weapons--Cambodian _märchen_--Modern variants independent of the classical tale--The Impostor and the Tokens--Legend of Saint George--The Deliverer’s Sleep--Result of the inquiry--Bearing of some of the subjects discussed upon matters of Christian controversy--Conclusion.

APPENDIX

Table A. Helpful Animals

Table B. Weapons

Table C. The Impostor and the Tokens

Table D. The Deliverer’s Sleep

Supplementary List of Works referred to

Endnotes

THE LEGEND OF PERSEUS

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