s here been shown how uncultured man, by the best use he can
make of his rude common sense, must inevitably come, and has invariably
come, to regard all objects as endowed with souls, and all nature as
peopled with supra-human entities shaped after the general pattern of
the human soul, I am inclined to suspect that we have got very near to
the root of the whole matter. We can certainly find no difficulty in
seeing why a water-spout should be described in the "Arabian Nights" as
a living demon: "The sea became troubled before them, and there arose
from it a black pillar, ascending towards the sky, and approaching the
meadow,.... and behold it was a Jinni, of gigantic stature." We can see
why the Moslem camel-driver should find it most natural to regard the
whirling simoom as a malignant Jinni; we may understand how it is that
the Persian sees in bodily shape the scarlet fever as "a blushing maid
with locks of flame and cheeks all rosy red"; and we need not consider
it strange that the primeval Aryan should have regarded the sun as a
voyager, a climber, or an archer, and the clouds as cows driven by the
wind-god Hermes to their milking. The identification of William Tell
with the sun becomes thoroughly intelligible; nor can we be longer
surprised at the conception of the howling night-wind as a ravenous
wolf. When pots and kettles are thought to have souls that live
hereafter, there is no difficulty in understanding how the blue sky can
have been regarded as the sire of gods and men. And thus, as the elves
and bogarts of popular lore are in many cases descended from ancient
divinities of Olympos and Valhalla, so these in turn must acknowledge
their ancestors in the shadowy denizens of the primeval ghost-world.

August, 1872.

NOTE.

THE following are some of the modern works most likely to be of use to
the reader who is interested in the legend of William Tell.

HISELY, J. J. Dissertatio historiea inauguralis de Oulielmo Tellio, etc.
Groningae, 1824.

IDELER, J. L. Die Sage von dem Schuss des Tell. Berlin, 1836.

HAUSSER, L. Die Sage von Tell aufs Neue kritisch untersucht. Heidelberg,
1840.

HISELY, J. J. Recherches critiques sur l'histoire de Guillaume Tell.
Lausanne, 1843.

LIEBENAU, H. Die Tell-Sage zu dem Jahre 1230 historisoh nach neuesten
Quellen. Aarau, 1864.

VISCHER, W. Die Sage von der Befreinng der Waldstatte, etc. Nebst einer
Beilage: das alteste Tellensehauspiel. Leipzig, 1867.

BORDIER, H