Why should not winter
conquer at last, and shut up the sun, the God of light and warmth and
life, for ever in the place of darkness, cold, and death? So thought
the old Syrians of Canaan, and taught the Jewish women to weep, as
they themselves wept every autumn, over Adonai, the Lord, which was
another name for the sun, slain, as they thought, by the winter cold
and rain: and then, when spring-time came, with its sunshine,
flowers, and birds, rejoiced that the sun had come to life again.
So thought the old Greeks, and told how Persephone, the fair maiden
who was the spring-time, was stolen away by the king of darkness who
lived beneath the earth; and how her mother earth would not be
comforted for her loss, but sent barrenness on all the world till her
daughter, the spring, was given back to her, to dwell for six months
in the upper world of light, and six months in the darkness under
ground.
So thought our old forefathers; and told how Baldur (the Baal of the
Bible), the god of light and heat, who was likewise the sun, was
slain by treachery, and imprisoned for ever below in hell, the
kingdom of darkness and of cold; and how all things on earth, even
the very trees and stones, wept for his death: yet all their tears
could not bring back from death the god of life: nor any of the gods
unlock the gates which held him in.
Pages:
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131