A Guide to Mythology

by Helen A. Clarke

But of all the animals, the ox kind received the highest honors. Bulls were occasionally sacrificed, but cows never. They were sacred to Isis, the Moon Goddess. There were special individuals of the species, however, who were looked upon with the utmost veneration. They were called Apis and Mnevis. Apis was a black bull, but had a white star on his forehead, the figure of an eagle on his back, a crescent on his right side, with a knot under his tongue, resembling the Scarabeus or sacred beetle. Apis is described as living twenty-five years, when he jumped into a well or into the river Nile. Upon the discovery of a new Apis the Egyptians celebrated a joyful festival.

According to an ancient account, as soon as a report had been spread abroad that the Egyptian god had been brought to light, certain sacred scribes, who were well versed in the mystic marks, which they had learned by tradition, approached the divine calf. They fed it during four months with milk, in a house that fronted the rising sun. After this the sacred scribes carried him in a vessel prepared for the purpose to Memphis, where he had a convenient and delightful abode, with pleasure grounds and ample space for salubrious exercise. Companions were provided for him. He drank from a well or fountain of clean water.

Dances and festivities and joyful assemblies were held in honor of this animal at the rising of the Nile, and the man from whose flock the divine beast sprang was the happiest of mortals and was looked upon with admiration by all the people. According to some, Apis was dedicated to Isis or the Moon. Next to Apis the highest honors were paid to the sacred bull of Heliopolis, called Mnevis. This bull was black and was dedicated to Osiris. He was kept in a stable in the Temple of the Sun and was worshipped as a god. The warring principle in nature, Typhon, was identified with various hideous animals, such as the crocodile and hippopotamus. The most sacred of beetles was the Scarabeus, the symbol either of the sun or immortality. Even the higher gods were frequently represented as animals, or in part animals, while to those gods imaged in human form, like Osiris and Isis, animals were sacred. There was also an important bird, which was itself mythical, called the Phœnix. This wonderful bird was said to rise from time to time out of its own ashes.

Animals occupy a somewhat different position in Norse mythology. They are also survivals, very likely, from an earlier stage of life when animals were worshipped, but when we meet with them in the Norse myths they have become symbols of the various ideas of mankind in regard to the mind and spirit, and no longer appear simply as personifications of the events of nature like Indra and the cows in Hindoo mythology.

The Norse gods appear galloping into view on their wonderful steeds across the rainbow bridge, Bifrost, from Heaven to Earth. Their names are very significant: Odin rides Sleipner; Heimdal, Goldtop. The other horses are Glad (Bright), Gyller (Gilder), Gler (the Shining One), Skeidbrimer (Fleetfoot), Silfrintop (Silvertop), Siner (Sinews), Gisl (the Sunbeam), Falhofner (Palehoof), Letfet (Lightfoot).

Thor, the thunderer, unlike Indra, who often drove two bay steeds, had no horse upon which to ride over the rainbow bridge. He would destroy it with his thunder-bolts, so he had to wade through three rivers every day in order to reach the council of the gods. Odin’s horse, Sleipner, is the most wonderful—a genuine cosmic animal, with eight legs that symbolize the eight winds of heaven.

The maiden Sol drove two gentle and beautiful steeds which were harnessed to the car of the sun. She drove in great haste, for she as well as her brother, who watches over the moon, are pursued by two wolves, by which is probably meant eclipses of the sun and moon. Day and Night also drive round the sky after each other. Night first with his steed Rine-fax. Every morning, as he ends his course, Rine-fax bedews the earth with the foam from his bit. Then Day follows with her steed, Shining-fax, from whose mane all the sky and earth glisten. The god Frey rides on a boar named Golden-bristle, and his sister, Freyja, the goddess of love, is drawn by two cats.

The Midgard serpent or the worm which supported the earth with its tail in its mouth, is another most interesting mythical animal, whose story will be found in this chapter.

Finally, there is a Norse cow, still more remarkable than the Hindoo cow. She was made of frozen vapor, and four rivers of milk ran from her and fed the giant Yiner, or the earth. It is easy to recognize these rivers of milk as mountain streams of melted snow. This poor cow had only rime stones to live on, which she licked because of the salt. After she had licked them for some time, two magical, godlike beings sprang out of the stones and became the parents of Odin. The name of this strange cow was Audhumbla.

In the Norse Heaven, Valhalla, there are two more strange animals. The food of the Gods of Valhalla, Mead, is supplied by the milk of a she-goat who feeds upon the leaves of an extraordinary tree. Upon this same tree feeds a stag, and from his antlers fall so many drops of dew that water is supplied to thirty-six rivers, twelve of which flow to the abodes of the gods, twelve to the abodes of men, and twelve to Niflheim.