Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 3, 1892.djvu/329

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An Analysis of certain Finnish Origins.
321

and new Kalevala[1]. In the Vafthrudnis-mal the earth is made from Ymir's flesh, the mountains from his bones, the heavens from his skull, the sea from his blood, the clouds from his brains[2]. A legend from Mähren in Austria relates that rivers take their origin from the tears shed by a giant's wife as she lamented his death.[3] In a Tatar story the hop-plant originates from the bowstring of a man that had been turned into a bear.[4] The Andaman islanders relate that trees originated from the arrows which Tomo, the first man, shot off after stringing flies to them[5] (9). Though there is a narrative attached to some of these examples, it has no bearing upon the final dénouement.

8. S. originated from O. No external or other likeness between them. (No proper narrative.)

There is only one example. Pleurisy, fever, inflammation — for all these are covered by the Finnish word — originated from the mist and fog sifted out by the Mist and Fog maiden at the end of a misty promontory (35e). If this means that long exposure to fog and damp induces inflammation of the internal organs, a recent date must be assigned to the origin, especially as the ailment is not even personified, as is always the case with other maladies.

Substituting L. S. for S., the Amazulu have a legend that the first man and woman sprang from a reed in the water,[6] and the Ainos of Japan that rotten branches or roots of trees sometimes turn into bears.[7] A sub-group of this would be : L. S. originated from L. O., no likeness. This includes many metamorphoses. For instance, the Mongols say the woodpecker was formerly a man, and was transformed into a bird for theft.[8] Some West African people

  1. O. K., i, 270-315 ; N. K., i, 201-244.
  2. Vigfusson and Powell, Corpus poet. Boreale, i, p. 64.
  3. Vemaleken, Myth. u. Braüche in Oesterreich, p. 363.
  4. Radloff, Proben der Volkslitt. der Türk. Siberiens, i, p. 286.
  5. Man, J. of Anthrop. Institute, xii, No. 2, p. 165.
  6. Callaway, Relig. System of the Amazulu, p. 42.
  7. Chamberlain, Aino Folk-tales, p. 54.
  8. Gardner, F.-L. J., iii, p. 328.