304 KOSHCHEI THE DEATHLESS 
life depends on the integrity of an egg, or some other 
such object, outside of him. In the legends we have 
been considering, it is the fiend of darkness who is 
thus conditioned, but, originally, it is beyond all ques- 
tion that the circumstance refers to the sun. Out of 
a hundred legends of this class, it is safe to say that 
ninety represent the career of the hero as bound up 
with the duration of an egg. And here, I think, we 
come close to the primitive form of the myth. This 
mysterious egg is the roc’s egg which the malign 
African Efreet asked Aladdin to hang up in the dome 
of his palace. It is the sun; and when the life of the 
sun is destroyed, as when he goes down, the life of the 
hero who represents him is also destroyed. From this 
mythical source we have the full explanation of the 
singular fate of such personages as Meleagros, and 
Punchkin, and Koshchei the Deathless. 
It is an odd feature of Koshchei that, while invari- 
ably distinguished as immortal, he is invariably slain 
by his solar adversary. But herein what have we to 
note save the fact that the night demon, though per- 
petually slain, yet rises again, and presents a bold front, 
as before, to the solar hero? In the mythology of the 
American Indians we have this everlasting conflict 
between the dark and the bright deities. The West, 
or the spirit of darkness, contends with the East, or 
the spirit of light. The struggle begins on the moun- 
tains, and the West is forced to give ground. The 
East drives him across rivers and over mountains and 
lakes, until at last they come to the brink of this 
world. “Hold!” cries the West; “hold, my son! 
You know my power and that it is impossible to kill 
me!” Nothing can be more transparent than the 
