when he was plotting to get a draught of the precious mead of which the latter was the owner. Jason, at the bidding of Medea, threw a stone among the armed sons of the dragon's teeth, and they fought for it—nobody tells us why—until they all fell by one another's hands; while in the case of Woden the stone was a marvellous hone, with which he had sharpened the scythes of Suptung's men with such satisfactory results that each of them was anxious to possess such a treasure, and Woden, consenting to part with it, threw it up into the air, whereupon a scramble followed in which each of the mowers swung his scythe about his fellow's neck.[1] The Jason myth and those which mythologists are wont to connect with it bring us face to face with a most fascinating and difficult question of origin;[2] but we may pass it by for the present and proceed to inquire whether the religion and mythology of any other Aryan people afford any kind of parallel to Gwydion and Woden. Without much trouble we come across what we want in Sanskrit literature. The god to whom I wish to direct your special attention is Indra: it is needless here to trouble you with extracts from the Rig-Veda, speaking of him as a supreme divinity of the Indian pantheon; it is nevertheless noteworthy that Indra was not supposed to be one of the uncreated gods, but one who had been born, one who had obtained his position by sacrifice and prayer. Vedic scholars are wont to take for granted that Indra was, like most of the ancient gods of the Vedas, a personification of something in nature; they
- ↑ Vigfusson and Powell, i. 465.
- ↑ See Lang's chapter on A far-travelled Tale in his Custom and Myth, pp. 87 & seq.
