Swallows water and wood,
But is afraid of the wind? &c.

Or we find,

What is the gold spun from one window to another?

The answers, the obvious answers, are (1) 'mist' and (2) 'sunshine.'

In Mr. Max Muller's opinion these riddles 'could not but lead to what we
call popular myths or legends.' Very probably; but this does not aid us
to accept the philological method. The very essence of that method is
the presumed absolute loss of the meaning of, e.g. 'the Dark One.' Before
there can be a myth, ex hypothesi the words Dark One must have become
hopelessly unintelligible, must have become a proper name. Thus suppose,
for argument's sake only, that Cronos once meant Dark One, and was
understood in that sense. People (as in the Norse riddle just cited)
said, 'Cronos [i.e. the Dark One--meaning mist] swallows water and wood.'
Then they forgot that Cronos was their old word for the Dark One, and was
mist; but they kept up, and understood, all the rest of the phrase about
what mist does. The expression now ran, 'Cronos [whatever that may be]
swallows water and wood.' But water comes from mist, and water nourishes
wood, therefore 'Cronos swallows his children.' Such would be the
development of a myth on Mr. Max Muller's system. He would interpret
'Cronos swallows his children,' by finding, if he could, the original
meaning of Cronos. Let us say that he did discover it to mean 'the Dark
One.' Then he might think Cronos meant 'night;' 'mist' he would hardly
guess.

That is all very clear, but the point is this--in devinettes, or riddles,
the meaning of 'the Dark One' is _not_ lost:--

'Thy riddle is _easy_
Blind Gest,
To read'--

Heidrick answers.

What the philological method of mythology needs is to prove that such
poetical statements about natural phenomena as the devinettes contain
survived in the popular mouth, and were perfectly intelligible except
just the one mot d'enigme--say, 'the Dark One.' That (call it
Cronos='Dark One'), and that alone, be

Martha Finley (1828 - 1909) was a teacher and author of numerous works, the most well known being the 28 volume Elsie Dinsmore series which was published over a span of 38 years. The daughter of Presbyterian minister Dr. James Brown Finley and his wife and cousin Maria Theresa Brown Finley, she was born on April 26th, 1828 in Chillicothe, Ohio. Finley wrote many of her books under the psodonym Martha Farquharson. She died in 1909 in Elkton, Maryland, where she moved in 1876.

Anonymous may refer to: Anonymus, the Latin spelling, may refer to: