All the villagers, clustering round, took up the cry, and shook
their heads. Ten-jo's reputation had increased wonderfully by this
accident. Poor Abdul was on his back for eleven weeks, and numbers of
Japanese--for he was a general favourite amongst them--went to see him,
and to express their regret and horror at Ten-jo's behaviour. [143]
It is obvious that to a demon dwelling in a high mountain a
long nose would be variously useful to poke into the affairs of
people dwelling in the plains, and also to enjoy the scent of
their sacrifices offered at a respectful distance. That feature
of the face which Napoleon I. regarded as of martial importance,
and which is prominent in the warriors marked on the Mycenæ pottery,
has generally been a physiognomical characteristic of European ogres,
who are blood-smellers. That the significance of Ten-jo's long nose
is this, appears probable when we compare him with the Calmuck
demon Erlik, whose long nose is for smelling out the dying. The
Cossacks believed that the protector of the earth was a many-headed
elephant. The snouted demon (figure 15) is from a picture of Christ
delivering Adam and Eve from hell, by Lucas Van Leyden, 1521.
The Chinese Mountains also have their demons. The demon of the mountain
T'ai-shan, in Shantung, is believed to regulate the punishments
of men in this world and the next. Four other demon princes rule
over the principal mountain chains of the Empire. Mr. Dennys remarks
that mountainous localities are so regularly the homes of fairies in
Chinese superstition that some connection between the fact and the
relation of 'Elf' to 'Alp' in Europe is suggested. [144] But this
coincidence is by no means so remarkable as the appearance among
these Chinese mountain sprites of the magical 'Sesame,' so familiar
to us in Arabian legend. The celebrated mountain Ku'en Lun (usually
identified with the Hindoo Kush) is said to be peopled with fairies,
who cultivate upon its terraces the 'fields of sesamum and gardens
of coriander seeds,' which are eaten as ordinary food by those who
possess the gift of longevity.
In the superstitions of the American Aborigines we find gigantic demons
who with their hands piled up mountain-chains as their castles, from
whose peak-towers they hurled stones on their enemies in the plains,
and slung them to the four corners of the earth. [145] Such was the
terrible Apocatequil, whose statue was erected on the mountains, with
that of his mother on the one hand and his brother on the other. He
was Prince of Evil and the chief god of the Peruvians. From Quito
to Cuzco every Indian would give all he possessed to conciliate
him. Five priests, two stewards, and a crowd of slaves served his
image. His principal temple was surrounded by a considerable village,
whose inhabitants had no other occupation than to wait on him. [146]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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