440 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Among the Arabs we have an addition to our sacred account 

 of Adam the legend of the black stone of the Caaba at Mecca, 

 into which the angel was changed who was charged by the Al- 

 mighty to keep Adam away from the forbidden fruit, and who 

 neglected his duty. 



Similar old transformation legends are abundant among the 

 Indians of America, the negroes of Africa, and the natives of 

 Australia and the Pacific islands. 



Nor has this making of myths to account for remarkable ap- 

 pearances yet ceased, even in civilized countries. 



About the beginning of this century the Grand Duke of Wei- 

 mar, smitten with the classical mania of his time, placed in the 

 public park near his palace a little altar, and upon this was carved, 

 after the manner so frequent in classical antiquity, a serpent 

 taking a cake from it. 



And shortly there appeared, in the town and the country 

 around about, a legend to explain this altar and its decoration. It 

 was commonly said that a huge serpent had laid waste that region 

 in the olden time, until a wise and benevolent baker had rid the 

 world of the monster by means of a poisoned biscuit. 



So, too, but a few years since, in the heart of the State of New 

 York, a swindler of genius having made and buried a " petrified 

 giant," one theologian explained it by declaring it a Phoenician 

 idol, and published the Phoenician inscription which he thought 

 he had found upon it ; others saw in it proofs that " there were 

 giants in those days," and within a week after its discovery myths 

 were afloat that the neighboring remnant of the Onondaga Indians 

 had traditions of giants who frequently roamed through that 

 region.* 



* For transformation myths and legends, identifying rocks and stones with gods and 

 heroes, see Welcker, " Gotterlehre," pp. 218 et seq. For recent and more accessible state- 

 ments for the general reader, see Robertson Smith's admirable " Lectures on the Religion 

 of the Semites," Edinburgh, 1889, pp. 86 et seq. For some thoughtful remarks on the ancient 

 adoration of stones rather than statues, with reference to the anointing of the stones at Bethel 

 by Jacob, see Dodwell, " Tour through Greece," vol. ii, p. 1*72 ; also Robertson Smith as above, 

 Lecture V. For Chinese transformation legends, see Denny's " Folklore of China," pp. 96 

 and 128. For Hindu and other ancient legends of transformations, see Dawson, "Diction- 

 ary of Hindu Mythology," also Coleman as above, also Cox, " Mythology of the Aryan Na- 

 tions," pp. 81-97, etc. For such transformations in Greece, see the "Iliad," and Ovid as 

 above ; also Stark, " Niobe und die Niobiden," p. 444 and elsewhere ; also Preller, " Griech- 

 ische Mythologie," ii, 383 ; also Baumeister, " Denkmaler des classischen Altcrthums," Art. 

 " Niobe " ; also Botticher as above ; also Curtius, " Griechische Geschichte," vol. i, pp. 71, 72. 

 For Pausanius's naive confession regarding the Sipylos rock, see Book I, 215. See also 

 Texier, " Asie Mineure," pp. 265 et seq. ; also Chandler, " Travels in Greece," vol. ii, p. 80, 

 who seems to hold to the later origin of the statue. At the end of Baumeister there is an 

 engraving copied from Stuart which seems to show that, as to the Niobe legend, at a later 

 period Art was allowed to help Nature. For the general subject, see Scheiffle, " Program 

 des K. Gymnasiums," in Ell wangen, " Mythologische Parallelen," 1865. For Scandinavian 

 and Teutonic transformation legends, see Grimm, " Deutsche Mythologie," vierte Ausg., i, 



