XXXll. 



however, the fascinating sway, long held by superstition, is slowly but surely 

 retreating, like the morning clouds, dispersed by the rising sun, behind the 

 firm onward march of education. 



The actual origin of many of the erroneous views still held by some, it 



is impossible to ascertain ; but in order to illustrate the antiquity of many 



widely known myths, which have actually forced their way into history, and 



passed without question for a long time, just as bad coins will now and then 



pass among good ones, we may quote a few passages from Edward Clodd's 



" Childhood of Religion." First, with regard to the ancient myth of William 



Tell, this author writes — "The story is well known how in the 1307th year 



after Christ, the cruel Gessler set a hat upon a pole as a symbol of the ruling 



power, and ordered everyone who passed by to bow before it ; a mountaineer, 



named Tell, refused to obey the order, and was at once brought before 



Gessler. As Tell was known to be an expert archer, he was sentenced by 



way of punishment to shoot an apple off the head of his own son. The 



apple was placed on the boy's head, and the father bent his bow. The arrow 



sped, and went through the apple. Gessler saw that Tell, before shooting. 



had stuck another bow in his belt, and asked the reason. Tell replied ; 'To 



shoot you, tyrant, had I slain my child.' Now, although the crossbow, which 



Tell is said to have used, is shown at Zurich, the event never took place. 



One poor man was condemned to be burnt alive for daring to question the 



story ; but the poor man was right. The story is told not only in Iceland, 



Denmark, Norway, Finland, Russia, Persia, and perhaps India, but it is 



common to the Turks and Mongolians, ' while a legend of the wild Samojedes, 



who never heard of Tell, or saw a book in their lives, relates it, chapter and 



verse, of one of their marksmen.' In its English form, it occurs in the ballad 



' William of Cloudeslee.' The bold archer says : — 



I have a sonne seven years old, 



He is to me full deere ; 



I will tye him to a stake — 



All shall see him that bee here- - 



And lay an apple upon his head, 



And goe six paces him froe, 



And I myself with a broad arrowe 



Shall cleave the apple in towe. 



The story is an old Aryan sun-myth. Tell is the sun-god whose arrows 

 (light rays), never miss their mark, and likewise kill their foes. There is 

 another old tale, over which I have cried as a boy. You have heard how the 

 faithful dog, Gellert, killed the wolf which had come to destroy Llewellyn's 

 child, and how, when the prince came home, and found the cradle empty, and 

 the dog's mouth smeared with blood, he quickly slew the brave creature, 

 and then found the child safe, and the wolf dead beside it. At Beddgelert, 

 in North Wales, you may see the dog's grave neatly railed round. 



" Now this story occurs in all sorts of forms in the folklore of nearly 

 every Aryan people, and is found in China and Egypt. In India, a black 



