“The stupid man went into the mountain,
The stupid man was amazed;
I adjure thee, oh womb,
Be not angry!”
“Which shall also be bound as a writing,” i.e., according to a previous direction that it shall be written on virgin parchment, and bound with a linen cord about the waist of him or of her—quæ patietur de qualibet parte corporis sanguinis fluxum—who suffers anywhere from flow of blood.
It is possible that the Stupidus and his blessing of women has here some remotely derived reference to the reverence amounting to worship of idiots in the East, who are described as being surrounded in some parts of India by matrons seeking for their touch and benediction, and soliciting their embraces. This is effected very often in an almost public manner; that is to say, by a crowd of women closely surrounding the couple, i.e., the idiot or lunatic and one of their number are joined, so that passers-by cannot see what is going on. The children born of these casual matches are not unusually themselves of weak mind, but are considered all the more holy. This recalls the allusion in the charm:—
“Stupid sat in the hill
With a stupid child in arms.”
This obscure myth of the stupid god appears to be very ancient.