64 A BOOK OF MORTALS 



mystery of " the way of a man with a maid." Perhaps 

 because both have the whole round world as the fulcrum 

 of their power. 



But beyond even this is the mystery of that promise to 

 the seed of the woman — " Thou shalt bruise his head " ; a 

 promise which, invariably associated with immaculate con- 

 ception, or in other words with pure motherhood, lingers 

 still unfulfilled for us of these later days ; since none can 

 say that the evil which came with Eve has left the world. 

 So the promise remains to womanhood, and the know- 

 ledge that this is so may be traced by the thoughtful in 

 many quaint customs and dim imaginings. In none more 

 than in the widespread belief even amongst semi-civilised 

 races that serpents flee from the foot of a man bearing a 

 light or that of a woman bearing a child. 



