A STUDY OF TRADITION IN STORY
CUSTOM AND BELIEF: BY
Edwin Sidney Hartland
F.S.A.
VOL. I.
THE SUPERNATURAL BIRTH
Published by David Nutt
in the Strand, London
1894
Edinburgh: T. and A. Constable, Printers to Her Majesty
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The classical myth of Perseus belongs to a group of folktalesranking among the foremost in interest for the student of theevolution of human thought and human institutions. It is compounded,like other folktales, of incidents which have varied in their orderand prominence, as well as in their mode of presentment, at differenttimes and in different lands. What constitutes its importance is thefact that certain of these incidents are grounded upon ideas,universal in their range, and found fully developed in the depths ofsavagery, which, rising with mankind from plane to plane ofcivilisation, have at last been embodied in the faith and symbolism ofthe loftiest and most spiritual of the great religions of theworld—the religion of civilised Europe. The figure of Perseus, thegod-begotten, the dragon-slayer, very early became a type of theSaviour of the World; while the conception underlying the Life-token(an incident not extant in classical sources) obtained its ultimateexpression in the most sacred rite of Christian worship.
In these volumes I have attempted an examination of the myth uponscientific principles. The first three {vi} chapters of the presentvolume are devoted to an account of the story, as given by the poetsand historians of antiquity, and in modern folklore. Taking, then, thefour chief incidents in order, the remaining chapters comprise aninquiry into analogous forms of the Supernatural Birth, alike in taleand custom, throughout the world. They will be followed by similarinquiries into the incidents of the Life-token, the Rescue ofAndromeda, and the Quest of the Gorgon’s Head. Having thus analysedthe incidents, and determined, so far as the means at my command willpermit, their foundation in belief and custom, and the large partplayed by some of the conceptions in savage life, I shall return tothe story as a whole, and, treating it as an artistic work, I shallinquire whether it be possible to ascertain what was its primitiveform, where it originated, and how it became diffused over the Easterncontinent.
I am deeply sensible of the difficulties of the task I haveundertaken, and of the very imperfect way in which I have hithertoperformed it. Unfortunately, I cannot hope to succeed better in thatportion which has yet to be laid before the reader. All I can hope isthat I may have exhibited, however inadequately (if further exhibitionwere needful), the advantage for psychological purposes of researchinto the ideas and the usages of uncultured peoples and of the lesscultured classes in civilised communities.
My sincere thanks are due to many friends who have rendered mevaluable assistance from time to time; among others to Miss MarianRoalfe Cox, who has been kind {vii} enough to supply me with abstractsof several variants of the tale—some of them not readily accessible;to Mr. W. H. D. Rouse, M.A., and Mr. G. L. Gomme, F.S.A., President ofthe Folklore Society, to whom I am indebted for help on some importantpoints; to Dr. Oscar W. Clark for calling my attention to variousinteresting superst