She was
frightened, for Dame Bear was by far the better man of the two. So she
cried out, "Bless me! what a mistake I've made! Why, I gave you the
wrong dish. You know, my dear sister, that I always give you the best
because you are blind."
My grandfather said that after this Mrs. Bear kept her eyes open on
people in two ways. And it always made us laugh, _that_ did.
The Spirit of Mischief in these stories is sometimes Lox, the
Wolverine; at others the Raccoon, or the Badger. Their adventures are
interchangeable. But the character is always the same, and it is much
like that of Loki. Now Loki is Fire; and it may be observed in this
legend that the wolverine or raccoon comes to life when thrown into
scalding water, and that in another narrative Lox dies for want of
fire; in another he is pricked by thorns and stung by ants. "We must,"
says C. F. Keary, in his Mythology of the Eddas, "admit that the
constant appearance of thorn-hedges, pricking with a sleep-thorn (Lox's
thorns are his bed), in German and Norse legends, is a mythical way of
expressing the idea of the funeral _fire_."
The first thing that the Lox-Raccoon does in this tale, on coming to
life, is to upset a pot into the ashes for mischief's sake. And the
very first exploit of the magic deer, made by the evil spirits and
sorcerers in the Kalevala (Runes XIII.), is thus set forth:--
"Then the Husi stag went bounding,
Bounding to the land of Pohja,
Till he reached the fields of Lapland.
Pages:
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205