The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 03 of 12)Frazer, James George
Religion
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 03 of 12)
Frazer, James George
Magic; Mythology; Religion; Superstition
instead of creeping along the grass stalks and over the sward, as before,
it re-entered the mouth of the sleeper, just as he was in the act of
awakening. ‘What is the matter with you?’ said the watcher, greatly
alarmed, ‘what ails you?’ ‘Nothing ails me,’ replied the other; ‘but you
have robbed me of a most delightful dream. I dreamed I was walking through
a fine rich country, and came at length to the shores of a noble river;
and, just where the clear water went thundering down a precipice, there
was a bridge all of silver, which I crossed; and then, entering a noble
palace on the opposite side, I saw great heaps of gold and jewels; and I
was just going to load myself with treasure, when you rudely awoke me, and
I lost all.’ ”(138)
(M29) Still more dangerous is it in the opinion of primitive man to move a
sleeper or alter his appearance, for if this were done the soul on its
return might not be able to find or recognise its body, and so the person
would die. The Minangkabauers of Sumatra deem it highly improper to
blacken or dirty the face of a sleeper, lest the absent soul should shrink
from re-entering a body thus disfigured.(139) Patani Malays fancy that if
a person’s face be painted while he sleeps, the soul which has gone out of
him will not recognise him, and he will sleep on till his face is
washed.(140) In Bombay it is thought equivalent to murder to change the
aspect of a sleeper, as by painting his face in fantastic colours or
giving moustaches to a sleeping woman. For when the soul returns it will
not know its own body and the person will die.(141) The Coreans are of
opinion that in sleep “the soul goes out of the body, and that if a piece
of paper is put over the face of the sleeper he will surely die, for his
soul cannot find its way back into him again.”(142) The Servians believe
that the soul of a sleeping witch often leaves her body in the form of a
butterfly. If during its absence her body be turned round, so that her
feet are placed where her head was before, the butterfly soul will not
find its way back into her body through the mouth, and the witch will
die.(143) The Esthonians of the island of Oesel think that the gusts which
sweep up all kinds of trifles from the ground and whirl them along are the
souls of old women, who have gone out in this shape to seek what they can
find. Meantime the beldame’s body lies as still as a stone, and if you
turn it round her soul will never be able to enter it again, until you
have replaced the body in its original position. You can hear the soul
whining and whimpering till it has found the right aperture.(144)
Similarly in Livonia they think that when the soul of a were-wolf is out
on his hateful business, his body lies like dead; and if meanwhile the
body were accidentally moved, the soul would never more find its way into
it, but would remain in the body of a wolf till death.(145) In the
picturesque but little known Black Mountain of southern France, which
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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