e magic that may be connected
with an early cult. Wind is said to be regarded as a divine being in
some American tribes.[604] But generally it is the spirit or god of a wind
(and usually of a definite wind) that is invoked. Examples of wind-gods
are found in all parts of the world.[605] A wind may be the vehicle or
the messenger of a deity.[606]

+327+. As in the cases of other elements, referred to above, it is often
hard to say whether it is the thing or the deity that is invoked:
Achilles's appeal, for instance, seems to be to the physical winds, but
Iris, who goes to summon them, finds them carousing like men, and they
act like gods.[607] It must be borne in mind, however, that in early
thought all active things are conceived of as being anthropomorphic, and
there is the difficulty, just mentioned, of determining where the
anthropomorphic object stops and the spirit or god begins.

HEAVENLY BODIES

+328+. The heavenly bodies seem to have been regarded at first merely as
objects somehow thrown up into the sky or in some other way fixed there
by gods or men.[608] Later, under the general anthropomorphizing
tendency, they are conceived of as manlike beings, and their characters
and histories are worked out in accordance with local ideas. Their
origin is ascribed at first to such creative beings as appear in the
various early communities; for example, among the Navahos to the First
Man, the First Woman, and the coyote.[609]

+329+. In half-civilized peoples elaborate cosmogonies arise, in which
the sky is introduced along with sun, moon, and stars. The most
noteworthy of these representations of the origin of the sky is one that
occurs in almost identical forms in Egypt and New Zealand, among the
Masai of Central East Africa, and elsewhere: two beings lie in marriage
embrace--one is lifted up and stretches from horizon to horizon as the
sky, the other remains as the earth.[610] The sun is commonly male but
sometimes female,[611] and there is also diversity of views as to the
sex of the moon. The stars are often called the children of the sun and
moon.

+330+. Savage fancy sees in the groups of stars resemblances to human
persons and objects.[612] Such resemblances are worked out by civilized
peoples, a descriptive science of constellations arises, and stories are
invented to explain the origin of their names. These stellar myths,
brought into connection with others, play a great part in developed
mythologies.