The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 2 of 2)Frazer, James George
ReligionComparative
The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 2 of 2)
Frazer, James George
Magic; Mythology; Religion; Superstition
In a Celtic tale a giant says, “There is a great flagstone under the
threshold. There is a wether under the flag. There is a duck in the
wether’s belly, and an egg in the belly of the duck, and it is in the egg
that my soul is.” The egg is crushed, and the giant falls down dead.(838)
In another Celtic tale, a sea beast has carried off a king’s daughter, and
an old smith declares that there is no way of killing the beast but one.
“In the island that is in the midst of the loch is Eillid Chaisthion—the
white-footed hind, of the slenderest legs, and the swiftest step, and,
though she should be caught, there would spring a hoodie out of her, and
though the hoodie should be caught, there would spring a trout out of her,
but there is an egg in the mouth of the trout, and the soul of the beast
is in the egg, and if the egg breaks, the beast is dead.” As usual the egg
is broken and the beast dies.(839) In a Breton story there figures a giant
whom neither fire nor water nor steel can harm. He tells a princess whom
he has just married, “I am immortal, and no one can hurt me, unless he
crushes on my breast an egg which is in a pigeon, which is in the belly of
a hare; this hare is in the belly of a wolf, and this wolf is in the belly
of my brother, who dwells a thousand leagues from here. So I am quite easy
on that score.” A soldier gets the egg and crushes it on the breast of the
giant, who immediately expires.(840) In another Breton tale a giant is
called Body-without-Soul because his life does not reside in his body. It
resides in an egg, the egg is in a dove, the dove is in a hare, the hare
is in a wolf, and the wolf is in an iron chest at the bottom of the sea.
The hero kills the animals one after another, and at the death of each
animal the giant grows weaker, as if he had lost a limb. When at last the
hero comes to the giant’s castle bearing the egg in his hand, he finds
Body-without-Soul stretched on his bed at the point of death. So he dashes
the egg against the giant’s forehead, the egg breaks, and the giant
straightway dies.(841)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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