the same. For the story has
been retained by the three races alike, in all its principal features;
though the Veda has left it in the sky where it originally belonged,
while the Iliad and the Nibelungenlied have brought it down to earth,
the one locating it in Asia Minor, and the other in Northwestern Europe.
[153]

In the Rig-Veda the Panis are the genii of night and winter,
corresponding to the Nibelungs, or "Children of the Mist," in the
Teutonic legend, and to the children of Nephele (cloud) in the Greek
myth of the Golden Fleece. The Panis steal the cattle of the Sun (Indra,
Helios, Herakles), and carry them by an unknown route to a dark cave
eastward. Sarama, the creeping Dawn, is sent by Indra to find and
recover them. The Panis then tamper with Sarama, and try their best to
induce her to betray her solar lord. For a while she is prevailed
upon to dally with them; yet she ultimately returns to give Indra the
information needful in order that he might conquer the Panis, just
as Helena, in the slightly altered version, ultimately returns to her
western home, carrying with her the treasures (ktemata, Iliad, II. 285)
of which Paris had robbed Menelaos. But, before the bright Indra and his
solar heroes can reconquer their treasures they must take captive the
offspring of Brisaya, the violet light of morning. Thus Achilleus,
answering to the solar champion Aharyu, takes captive the daughter of
Brises. But as the sun must always be parted from the morning-light, to
return to it again just before setting, so Achilleus loses Briseis,
and regains her only just before his final struggle. In similar wise
Herakles is parted from Iole ("the violet one"), and Sigurd from
Brynhild. In sullen wrath the hero retires from the conflict, and his
Myrmidons are no longer seen on the battle-field, as the sun hides
behind the dark cloud and his rays no longer appear about him. Yet
toward the evening, as Briseis returns, he appears in his might, clothed
in the dazzling armour wrought for him by the fire-god Hephaistos, and
with his invincible spear slays the great storm-cloud, which during his
absence had wellnigh prevailed over the champions of the daylight. But
his triumph is short-lived; for having trampled on the clouds that had
opposed him, while yet crimsoned with the fierce carnage, the sharp
arrow of the night-demon Paris slays him at the Western Gates. We have
not space to go into further details. In Mr. Cox's "Mythology of the