Mr. Mackenzie
does not claim to have any first-hand knowledge of the subject, but his
exceptionally wide and intimate knowledge of Scottish folk-lore, which
has preserved a surprisingly large part of the same legends, has enabled
him to present the Egyptian stories with exceptional clearness and
sympathetic insight. But I refer to his book specially because he is one
of the few modern writers who has made the attempt to compare the
legends of Egypt, Babylonia, Crete, India and Western Europe. Hence the
reader who is not familiar with the mythology of these countries will
find his books particularly useful as works of reference in following
the story I have to unfold: "Teutonic Myth and Legend," "Egyptian Myth
and Legend," "Indian Myth and Legend," "Myths of Babylonia and Assyria"
and "Myths of Crete and Pre-Hellenic Europe".]

[181: See Leonard W. King, "Babylonian Religion," 1899.]

[182: For a useful collection of data see A. B. Cook, "Zeus".]

[183: Albert J. Carnoy, "Iranian Views of Origins in connexion with
Similar Babylonian Beliefs," _Journal of the American Oriental Society_,
vol. xxxvi., 1916, pp. 300-20; and "The Moral Deities of Iran and India
and their Origins," _The American Journal of Theology_, vol. xxi., No.
i., January, 1917.]

[184: Hopkins, "Religions of India".]

[185: De Groot, "The Religious System of China".]

[186: Perry, "The Megalithic Culture of Indonesia," Manchester, 1918.]

[187: H. Beuchat, "Manuel d' Archeologie Americaine," Paris, 1912; T. A.
Joyce, "Mexican Archaeology," and especially the memoir by Seler on the
"Codex Vaticanus" and his articles in the _Zeitschrift fuer Ethnologie_
and elsewhere.]

[188: I.e. the offspring of the Great Mother of gods and men, Hathor,
the "Eye of Re".]

[189: That is, Hathor, who as the moon is the "Eye of Re".]

[190: Elsewhere in these pages I have used the more generally adopted
spelling "_Sekhet_".]

[191: Mr. F. Ll. Griffith tells me that the translation "flooding the
land" is erroneous and misleading. Comparison of the whole series of
stories, however, suggests that the amount of blood shed rapidly
increased in the development of the narrative: at first the blood of a
single victim; then the blood of mankind; then 7000 jars of a substitute
for blood; then the red inundation of the Nile.]

[192: This version I have quoted mainly from Erman, _op. cit._, pp.
267-9, but with certain alterations which I shall mention later. In
another v