ceeded in the end in all that he set his mind on achieving, as when, for example, he cheated them of the dog that was to be the hunter's friend and servant; also of the other animals he stole from them as likely to be of use to his kindred. It was from the same nether country that he likewise obtained by craft and falsehood the strong drink that was to cheer man, to give him the dreams of poets and the visions of prophets. These and other boons, too many to name one by one, made him very famous and beloved, more so in some lands than even the king of the gods himself.
Thus far the summary of the creed of the earliest Celts: if approximately correct, it would require scarcely any important modification in order to apply equally to the Aryans in the distant epoch of their pro-ethnic unity. It errs mostly, perhaps, in not leaving more inconsistencies and contradictions on the surface; for it is hard to place one's mind on the low level of the infantile intelligence of a savage such as early man must have been. But some aid to that end may be found in the perusal of what the savages of modern times think. The widely spread occurrence of a story more or less like that of Uranus has already been alluded to (p. 114); and one may also borrow illustrations from the animistic ideas which certain savages have entertained of the sun, the moon and the stars. "In early philosophy throughout the world," says Dr. Tylor,[1] "the Sun and Moon are alive and as it were human in their nature. Usually contrasted as male and female, they nevertheless differ in the sex assigned to each, as well as in their relations to one
- ↑ Primitive Culture2, i. 288.
