CHAP. III
streriGfth and aided by new friends : but the incidents which went
before this strife they could not see. All that was before their eyes
reminded them of the hosts of vapours, some bright, some murky,
which had been marshalled round the dying sun; and the same
forms are now seen, the dark clouds being gradually driven away
or being even changed from foes into friends as the sunlight turns
their blackness into gold. But the bright clouds, sailing along in
unsullied purity, are especially the children of Helios, the offspring
of the union of Ixion and the lovely Nephele. These then have
sought him through the long hours of the night, and at length
have rescued him from the gloomy prison-house. There is thus
the daily taking away in the West of all that gives life its value, of
all on which life itself depends; and it must be taken away by robbers
utterly malignant and hateful. Thus there is also the nightly search
for these thieves, — a search which must be carried on in darkness
amidst many dangers and against almost insurmountable obstacles ;
and this search must end in a terrible battle, for how should the demons
yield up their prey until their strength is utterly broken ? But even
when the victory is won, the task is but half achieved. The beautiful
light must be brought back to the Western home from which the
plunderers had stolen it ; and there will be new foes to be encoun-
tered on the way, storm-clouds and tempests, black vapours glaring
down with their single eye, fierce winds, savage whirlpools. But at
length all is done, and the radiant maiden, freed from all real or
fancied stains of guilt, gladdens her husband's house once more,
before the magic drama of plunder, rescue, and return is acted over
again ; and it is precisely this magic round which furnishes all the
materials for what may be called the mythical history not only of
Greece but of all the Aryan nations. If the features are the same
in all, if there is absolutely no political motive or interest in any one
which may not be found more or less prominent in all the rest, if it
is everywhere the same tale of treasure stolen, treasure searched for
and fought for, treasure recovered and brought back, why are we to
suppose that we are dealing in each case with a different story ? Why
are we to conjure up a hundred local conflicts each from precisely
the same causes, each with precisely the same incidents and the same
results ? Why are we to think that the treasures of Eos are not the
treasures of Helen, that Helen's wealth is not the wealth of Brynhild,
and that Brynhild's riches are not the dower of the wife of V^ilthar
of Aquitaine .? Why, when myth after myth of the Hellenic tribes
exhibits the one ceaseless series of precious things taken away and
after fearful toils recovered, and after not less terrible labours brought
