Bible Myths and their Parallels in other Religions Being...

[553:1] This picture would give us the story of Hercules, who strangled the serpent in his cradle, and who, in after years, in the form of a giant, ran his course.

[553:2] This would give us St. George killing the Dragon.

[553:3] This would give us the story of the monster who attempted to devour the Sun, and whom the "untutored savage" tried to frighten away by making loud cries.

[553:4] This would give us the story of Samson, whose strength was renewed at the end of his career, and who slew the Philistines—who had dimmed his brilliance—and bathed his path with blood.

[553:5] This would give us the story of Oannes or Dagon, who, beneath the clouds of the evening sky, plunged into the sea.

[553:6] This would give us the story of Hercules and his bride Iôle, or that of Christ Jesus and his mother Mary, who were at their side at the end of their career.

[553:7] This would give us the story of the labors of Hercules.

[553:8] This is the Sun as Seva.

[553:9] Here again we have the Sun as Siva the Destroyer.

[553:10] Here we have Apollo, Achilleus, Bellerophon and Odysseus.

[553:11] This would give us the story of Samson, who was "the friend of the children of men, and the remorseless foe of those powers of darkness" (the Philistines), who had stolen away his bride. (See Judges, ch. xv.)

[554:1] This would give us the stories of Thor, the mighty warrior, the terror of his enemies, and those of Cadmus, Romulus or Odin, the wise chieftains, who founded nations, and taught their people knowledge.

[554:2] This would give us the story of Christ Jesus, and other Angel-Messiahs; Saviours of men.

[554:3] This would give us the stories of spellbound maidens, who sleep for years.

[554:4] This is Hercules and his counterparts.

[554:5] This again is Hercules.

[554:6] This would depend upon whether his light was obscured by clouds, or not.

[554:7] This again is Hercules.

[554:8] This is Apollo, Siva and Ixion.

[554:9] Rev. G. W. Cox.

[555:1] Who has not heard it said that the howling or whining of a dog forebodes death?

[555:2] Bunce: Fairy Tales, Origin and Meaning.

[556:1] Quoted by Bunce: Fairy Tales.

[557:1] See Bunce: Fairy Tales, p. 34.

[558:1] "The Sun," said Gaugler, "speeds at such a rate as if she feared that some one was pursuing her for her destruction." "And well she may," replied Har, "for he that seeks her is not far behind, and she has no way to escape but to run before him." "And who is he," asked Gaugler, "that causes her this anxiety?" "It is the Wolf Sköll," answered Har, "who pursues the Sun, and it is he that she fears, for he shall one day overtake and devour her." (Scandinavian Prose Edda. See Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 407). This Wolf is, as we have said, a personification of Night and Clouds, we therefore have the almost universal practice among savage nations of making noises at the time of eclipses, to frighten away the monsters who would otherwise devour the Sun.

[558:2] Aryan Mythology, vol. i. p. 103.

[559:1] Tylor: Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 308.

[559:2] Müller: The Science of Religion, p. 65.

[559:3] Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 1.

[560:1] As the hand of Hector is clasped in the hand of the hero who slew him. There, as the story ran, the lovely Helen "pardoned and purified," became the bride of the short-lived, yet long-suffering Achilleus, even as Iole comforted the dying Hercules on earth, and Hebe became his solace in Olympus. But what is the meeting of Helen and Achilleus, of Iole and Hebe and Hercules, but the return of the violet tints to greet the Sun in the West, which had greeted him in the East in the morning? The idea was purely physical, yet it suggested the thoughts of trial, atonement, and purification; and it is unnecessary to say that the human mind, having advanced thus far, must make its way still farther. (Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 822.)

[560:2] The black storm-cloud, with the flames of lightning issuing from it, was the original of the dragon with tongues of fire. Even as late as A. D. 1600, a German writer would illustrate a thunder-storm destroying a crop of corn by a picture of a dragon devouring the produce of the field with his flaming tongue and iron teeth. (Baring-Gould: Curious Myths, p. 342.)