The folk-poet lives out of doors; he is acquainted with the home life
of the sun and stars, and day-break is his daily luxury. The Eskimo
tell a story of a stay-at-home man who dwelt in an island near the
coast of East Greenland. It was his chief joy to see the sun rising
in the morning, out of the sea, and with that he was content. But when
his son had come to years of discretion, he persuaded his father to
set out in a boat, so that he might see a little of the world. The
man started from the island; no sooner, however, had he passed Cape
Farewell than he saw the sun beginning to rise behind the land. It
was more than he could bear; and he set off at once for his home. Next
morning very early he went out of his tent; he did not come back. When
he was sought after, he was found quite dead. The joy of seeing the
sun rising again out of the sea had killed him. Most likely the story
is based on a real incident. The Aztec goes out upon his roof to see
the sunrise; it is his one religious observance. But of the cult of
the sun I must not begin to speak. It belongs to an immense subject
that cannot be touched here: the wide range of the unconscious
appreciation of nature which was worship.
There is nothing more graceful in all folk-poesy than a little Czech
star-poem:--
Star, pale star,
Didst thou know love,
Hadst thou a heart, my golden star,
Thou wouldst weep sparks.
Further north men do not willingly stay out abroad at night, but those
whose calling obliges them to do so are looked upon as wise in strange
lore. The first tidings of war coming reached the Esthonian shepherd
boy, the keeper of the lambs, "who knew the sun, and knew the moon,
and knew the stars in the sky." In Neo-Sanskrit speaking Lithuania
there abound star-legends which differ from the southern tales of the
same order, by reason of the pagan good faith that clings to them,
The Italian is aware that he is romancing when he speaks of the moon
travelling through the night to meet the morning star, or when he
describes her anger at the loss of one of her stars; the Lithuanian
has a suspicion that there may be a good deal of truth in his poets'
account of the sun's domestic arrangements--how the morning star
lights the fire for him to get up by, and the evening star makes his
bed. He will tell you that once there was a time when sun and moon
journeyed together, but the moon fell in love with the morning star,
which brought about sad mischief. "The moon went with the sun in the
early spring; the sun got up early; the moon went away from him. The
moon walked alone, fell in love with the morning star. Perkun, greatly
angered, stabbed her with a sword. 'Why wentest thou away from the
sun? Why walk alone in the night? Why fall in love with the morning
star? Your heart is full of sorrow.'" The Lithuanians have not wholly
left that stage in man's development when what is imagined seems
_prima facie_ quite as likely to be real as what is seen. The
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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