THUNDERBOLTS 147 



which our northern ancestors formed to themselves, by 

 compounding the idea of thunder and lightning with the 

 idea of the polished stone hatchets they dug up among 

 the fields and meadows. 



Flint arrowheads of the stone age are less often taken 

 for thunderbolts, no doubt because they are so much 

 smaller that they look quite too insignificant for the 

 weapons of an angry god. They are more frequently 

 described as fairy-darts or fairy-bolts. Still, I have known 

 even arrow-heads regarded as thunderbolts, and preserved 

 superstitiously under that belief. In Finland, stone arrows 

 are universally so viewed ; and the rainbow is looked upon 

 as the bow of Tiermes, the thunder-god, who shoots with 

 it the guilty sorcerers. 



But why should thunderbolts, whether stone axes or 

 flint arrowheads, be preserved, not merely as curiosities, 

 but from motives of superstition ? The reason is a simple 

 one. Everybody knows that in all magical ceremonies it 

 is necessary to have something belonging to the person 

 you wish to conjure against, in order to make your spells 

 effectual. A bone, be it but a joint of the little finger, is 

 sufficient to raise the ghost to which it once belonged ; 

 cuttings of hair or clippings of nails are enough to put 

 their owner magically in your power; and that is the 

 reason why, if you are a prudent person, you will always 

 burn all such off-castings of your body, lest haply an enemy 

 should get hold of them, and cast the evil eye upon you 

 with their potent aid. In the same way, if you can lay 

 hands upon anything that once belonged to an elf, such as 

 a fairy-bolt or flint arrowhead, you can get its former 

 possessor to do anything you wish by simply rubbing it 

 and calling upon him to appear. This is the secret of half 

 the charms and amulets in existence, most of which are 

 either real old arrowheads, or carnelians cut in the same 



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