Animal Myths and their Origin. 39
Besides Jonah, with his adventures in the belly of the whale, an- other instance of such atavism may be that of the viper temporarily swallowing its young in times of danger. Sir Thomas Browne * relates this ancient supposition, while Cuvier 2 denies that the viper has such a habit. However, Cuvier quotes M. Palisot de Beauvois as having seen a rattlesnake, 3 in Martinique, when about to be struck, open its mouth and receive its young, and then later, when the danger had passed, disgorge them unharmed. There is a current superstition in Japan 4 that the harmless snake Uwavami thus pro- tects its young. Most zoological authorities conclude that none of the snakes have this power. In the Bahaman story of De Big Wor- rum, 5 this dragon-like animal swallows many people, including at the last two boys, whose father follows them and cuts open "de worrum " with his lance, thus liberating all the people, who made "a big city right dere."
In line with the temporary disappearance of animals is this item from Swedish folk-lore. 6 The birds of the crow family, particularly the raven 7 and the magpie, 8 are "Odin's birds." Since Odin was deposed as the God "Allfather," upon the introduction of the Christian religion, he became gradually identified with the biblical Satanas. So the crows are now consecrated to the Devil, though still often called "Odin's birds." It is the popular impression that these birds visit " Blokulla," 9 the headquarters of Satanas Odin, one week in every year, when they must appear before this poten- tate to be inspected and to give him their tribute in feathers. The fattest bird must remain as a choice piece for Satan's broth, and the others return deprived of a considerable portion of their feathers. This visit to Blokulla coincides with the regular molting season in the summer. While the members of the crow family are vociferous and active during the other weeks of the year, they keep silent in their retreats during the first days of their molting. When again showing themselves they have only partially developed the new growth of feathers and look much worse than before the molting took place. The week of their retirement is thus noticed by the people, who explain it in accordance with tradition.
Considering again the transformations of ancient mythology, we find the toad an animal famous in the lore of the folk. The toad
1 L. c, book iii. chap. xvi. 2 Transl. by Griffith, vol. ix. pp. 344, 356.
3 Crotalus horridus. 4 Mrs. Etsu I. Sugimoto.
5 Edwards, C. L., " Bahama Songs and Stories," Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, vol. iii. p. 72, 1895.
6 Dr. Josua Lindahl. 7 Corvus corax. 8 Pica candata.
9 Blokulla — in Swedish spelled Blakulla and pronounced Blow4cullah — is equivalent to the German Hartz, the rendezvous of the witches in Easter week.
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