Scholars have noted the impressive fact that the ancient Aryan people had the same name for cloud and mountain; in the Old Norse, ‘klakkr’ means both cloud and rock, and indeed the English word cloud has been identified with the Anglo-Saxon ‘clûd,’ rock.[194] Equally significant here is the fact that in the Welsh language ‘draig’ means both lightning and dragon.
Primeval man, ignorant that the cloud was in any way different in structure from the solid mountains whose peaks it emulated in appearance, started back aghast and trembling when with crashing thunders the celestial rocks opened, displaying for an instant the glowing cavern whose splendour haunted his dreams. From this phenomenon, whose goblins modern science has tamed and taught to run errands along a wire, came a host of glittering legends, the shining hammer of Thor, the lightning spear of Odin, the enchanted arrow of Prince Ahmed, and the forked trident of Poseidon, as well as the fire-darting dragons of our modern folk-lore.
FOOTNOTE:
[194] Max Müller, ‘Rig-Veda,’ i. 44. And see Mr. Baring-Gould’s ‘Curious Myths of the Middle Ages,’ etc.
INDEX
[A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [Y]