sociation of the
spiral with thunder, which was confirmed when the ram with its spiral
horn became the God of Thunder.

[230: _Op. cit._, vol. i., pp. 212-27.]

The Pig.

The relationship of the pig to the dragon is on the whole analogous to
that of the cow and the stag, for it can play either a beneficent or a
malevolent part. But the nature of the special circumstances which gave
the pig a peculiar notoriety as an unclean animal are so intimately
associated with the "Birth of Aphrodite" that I shall defer the
discussion of them for my lecture on the history of the goddess.

Certain Incidents in the Dragon Myth.

Throughout the greater part of the area which tradition has peopled with
dragons, iron is regarded as peculiarly lethal to the monsters. This
seems to be due to the part played by the "smiths" who forged iron
weapons with which Horus overcame Set and his followers,[231] or in the
earlier versions of the legend the metal weapons by means of which the
people of Upper Egypt secured their historic victory over the Lower
Egyptians. But the association of meteoric iron with the thunderbolt,
the traditional weapon for destroying dragons, gave added force to the
ancient legend and made it peculiarly apt as an incident in the story.

But though the dragon is afraid of iron, he likes precious gems and
_k'ung-ts'ing_ ("The Stone of Darkness") and is fond of roasted
swallows.

The partiality of dragons for swallows was due to the transmission of a
very ancient story of the Great Mother, who in the form of Isis was
identified with the swallow. In China, so ravenous is the monster for
this delicacy, that anyone who has eaten of swallows should avoid
crossing the water, lest the dragon whose home is in the deep should
devour the traveller to secure the dainty morsel of swallow. But those
who pray for rain use swallows to attract the beneficent deity. Even in
England swallows flying low are believed to be omens of coming rain--a
tale which is about as reliable as the Chinese variant of the same
ancient legend.

"The beautiful gems remind us of the Indian dragons; the pearls of the
sea were, of course, in India as well as China and Japan, considered to
be in the special possession of the dragon-shaped sea-gods" (de Visser,
p. 69). The cultural drift from West to East along the southern coast of
India was effected mainly by sailors who were searching for pearls.
Sharks constituted the special dangers the divers