BOOK II.
Holda.
and sunset — the Asvins or the Dioskouroi, who carry away Aithra
from Athens, the swan-maidens of Teutonic folk-lore, the Erinyes and
Harpyiai of Hellenic legend. The nest is the secret place where
Persephone is hidden, whether Hades, or the lonely heath where
Brynhild sleeps, or the gloomy Niflheini where Fafnir guards the
stolen treasures. But dreary though it may be, it is not without fire
to keep up the maiden's life, as that of Demophoon is strengthened
by the fiery bath of Demeter. The journey of Surya to the Rakshas'
country denotes the blight and frost which may nip and chill the first
vegetation of spring. From this slumber she is roused by the Raja,
who, like Sigurd, is the sun. The jealousy of the elder queen is
matched, not only by that of Here, but more precisely by that of Eos,
the rival of Prokris. Thus Surya, exposed to countless dangers, is
yet imperishable. If thrown into the water, she rises like Aphrodite
in renewed beauty : if consumed by fire, the fruit-tree rises from her
ashes, until at last the mango falls into the milkwoman's can as the
ripe fruit must fall into the lap of the earth, its mother.
The idea of Demeter finds an expression in the Teutonic Holda, the benignant goddess or lady, who reappears as Frau Berchta, the bright maiden, the Phaethousa or Lampetie of the Odyssey. The few details which we have of these beings agree strictly with the meaning of their names. Thus Holda gently wraps the earth in a mantle of snow, and when the snow falls she is said to be making her bed, of which the feathers fly about, reminding us of the Scythian statement made by Herodotos that the air in the northernmost part of Europe is always full of feathers. This Frau Holda (verelde) is transformed into Pharaildis, a name said to have been given to Herodias, who in the medieval myth was confounded with her daughter, and of whom the story was told that she loved the Baptist, and determined never to wed any man if she could not be his wife ; that Herod, discovering this, ordered John to be put to death, and that the bringing of the head on a charger was not for any purposes of insult, but that she might bathe it with her tears.^ The head flies from her kisses, and she is left mourning like Aphrodite for Adonis. A third part of the human race is made subject to her by way of atonement for her sufferings. The same myth is told of dame
Habonde in the Roman de la Rose.^ passages quoted are from the Atharva Veda, but these are perhaps more valu- aV)le for the purpose of illustrating the current folk-lore than if they occurred in the Kig Veda. We see, however, a conception as early as that of the Ge Pammetor of ylischylos in the invocation "May the Earth which the Asvins meted out, on which V'ishnu hath step- ped, which the mighty Indra has rid of all his enemies, may Earth pour out her milk — mother Earth to me her son." ' Grimm, D. M. 262. "" lb. 2O5.
