οὐδὲν δέομεθ’, ὦνθρωπε, τῆς σῆς μόρμονος.[[250]]
ὀφρῦς ἔχοντα καὶ λόφους, δείν’ ἄττα μορμορωπὰ.[[251]]
ὡς δὴ καταπιόμενός με. μορμὼ τοῦ θράσους.[[252]]
Such were the tales told by nurses to frighten children into good behavior. We cannot but think that these stories, although they secured obedience for the time being, must have had a deleterious effect on the children. This view is substantiated by a passage of Lucian: “If you do not want to fill these boys’ heads with ghosts and hobgoblins, postpone your grotesque horrors for a more suitable occasion. Have some mercy on the lads: do not accustom them to listen to a tangle of superstitious stuff that will cling to them for the rest of their lives and make them start at their own shadow.”[[253]]
What the children naturally preferred to these threats were the stories told to put them to sleep or to amuse them—the protreptic tales. The nurses had a store of such tales, and γραῶν or τιτθῶν μῦθοι have grown into a proverb.[[254]]
The subject matter of these tales was the actions of the gods and heroes of mythology: γεγονὼς αὐτὸς ἐκ Διός τε καὶ τῆς τοῦ δήμου ἀρχηγέτου θυγατρός· ἅπερ αἱ γραῖαι ᾄδουσι.[[255]] Hence the telling of them might have the greatest influence on the moral education of the children. Plato, therefore, enlarges on the care to be taken in their selection, so that the children might not receive immoral impressions and false ideas: ἆρ’ οὖν ῥᾳδίως οὕτω παρήσομεν τοὺς ἐπιτυχόντας ὑπὸ τῶν ἐπιτυχόντων μύθους πλασθέντας ἀκούειν τοὺς παῖδας καὶ λαμβάνειν ἐν ταῖς ψυχαῖς ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ ἐναντίας δόξας ἐκείναις, ἄς ἐπειδὰν τελεωθῶσιν, ἔχειν οἰησόμεθα δεῖν αὐτούς;[[256]] He therefore establishes a censorship of the writers of fiction, and rejects even Hesiod and Homer: πρῶτον δὴ ἡμῖν, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἐπιστατητέον τοῖς μυθοποιοῖς, καὶ ὃν μὲν ἂν καλὸν ποιήσωσιν, ἐγκριτέον, ὃν δ’ ἂν μή, ἀποκριτέον. τοὺς δ’ ἐγκριθέντας πείσομεν τὰς τροφούς τε καὶ μητέρας λέγειν τοῖς παισί.[[257]] As a matter of fact, all sins that men could commit were imputed to the gods by these poets.[[258]]
The story of Zeus who thrust his father from the throne would teach children disloyalty to parents,[[259]] while his amorous connections with goddesses and mortals could not but have a pernicious effect on young minds. Plutarch thinks nurses should be restrained in the selection of these tales: μὴ τοὺς τυχόντας μύθους τοῖς παιδίοις λέγειν, ἵνα μὴ τὰς τούτων ψυχὰς ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἀνοίας καὶ διαφθορᾶς ἀναπίμπλασθαι συμβαίνῃ,[[260]] and Aristotle wishes to place these matters under the supervision of the Paedonomoi: καὶ περὶ λόγων τε καὶ μύθων ποίους τινὰς ἀκούειν δεῖ τοὺς τηλικούτους ἐπιμελὲς ἔστω τοῖς ἄρχουσιν, οὓς καλοῦσι παιδονόμους.[[261]]
On the other hand, ancient mythology is so full of humor and imagination and so rich in amusing adventures, that many of these same stories might do excellent service to-day as nursery tales. For example, the story of the inventiveness of Hermes even in his cradle, the adventures of Odysseus, the labors of Hercules, and many others would furnish enjoyment to many a child.[[262]]
Philostratus records that nurses made use of the tale of Theseus and Ariadne: ὅτι τὴν Ἀριάδνην ὁ Θησεὺς ἄδικα δρῶν κατέλιπεν ἐν Δίᾳ τῇ νήσῳ καθεύδουσα τάχαν, του καὶ τίτθης διάκησας, σοφαὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖναι τὰ τοιαῦτα καὶ δακρύουσεν ἐπ’ αὐτοῖς ὅταν ἐθελωσιν.[[263]]
The magic rings which Timolous wishes for in Lucian, seem to have been borrowed from a nursery tale,[[264]] and the story of the ring of Gyges, which rendered its wearer invisible, contains elements of the nursery tale.[[265]] Stories told for comfort and consolation are alluded to by Euripides, where Amphitryon counsels Megara to tell tales to the children disturbed over their father’s absence: