Other knights of learning, both ancient and modern, have carried lances with the sounding name, “natural phenomena.” When they look into the castle they see myths as personifications of natural phenomena. Everything that we see happening in nature comes under the head of natural phenomena. The rising and setting of the sun, the moon and the stars each day, the clouds that drift across the sky, storms and whirlwinds, the lightning flash and the loud roar of the thunder, as well as the gentle rain, the tinkling of waterfalls, and the light morning breezes. When all these objects and events in nature are talked about as if they had the same powers as human beings, they are said to be personified. Here is a very pretty example of a myth in which the dawn is personified. It is taken from one of the most ancient books in the world, the “Rig Veda,” about which you will hear more later. “The lovely Dawn arousing man goes before the sun preparing practicable paths, riding in a spacious chariot, expanding everywhere, she diffuses light at the commencement of the days.” Among the ancient knights of learning who thought that all myths were started in this way was the great Thucydides; and Cicero also believed that the exalted beings in mythology who were worshipped as gods were in reality personifications of the objects in nature which struck the imagination of primitive mankind. There are also many modern knights of learning who hold the same view, among the most distinguished of whom is the English scholar, Max Müller. About him and his followers Sir George Cox and John Fiske, the American historian and thinker, you will one day know more if you continue your studies in mythology. When Max Müller came to write his learned books upon what he saw in the castle of myths, he supported his learning upon many interesting facts which he had discovered when he was studying the languages of different races.