46 A PAPER ON EGGS, 



it was peculiarly Pha?niciaii : in each of these cases the Serpent, 

 no doubt, represents the creative and protecting power of the 

 primal Deity." 



In Littre (Diction, do lalang. Fran^aisc) we find the following : 

 " L'oeuf primitif, ou oouf d'Orphee, est la symbole de certains 

 philosophcs anciens pour designer le principe inteneur de la fe- 

 condite." 



With regard to Egg-worship, the following passage from De 

 Gubematis' Zoological Mythology may be of interest. He says, 

 * ' Part of the worship which was offered to the cock and to the 

 hen was also rendered to the egg : the Latin proverb, Gallus m 

 sterquiUnio suo plurimum potesV^ shows the great value of the 

 egg. The pearl which the fowl searches for in the dunghill is 

 nought else but its own egg ; and the q^^ of the hen in the sky 

 is the sun itself. During the night the celestial hen is black, 

 but it becomes white in the morning ; and being white on account 

 of the snow, it is the hen of winter. The white hen is propiti- 

 ous, on account of the golden chickens hatched by it. 



''In the Monfcrrato it is believed that the eggs of a white 

 hen laid on Ascension Day, in a new nest, are a good remedy for 

 pains in the stomach, head, and ears, and that when taken into 

 a cornfield they prevent the blight, or black evil, from entering 

 among the crops, or when taken into a -sineyard they save it 

 from hail. 



" Tlie eggs which are eaten at Easter, and concerning which, 

 accompanied sometimes by songs and proverbs, so many popular 

 customs, mythologically in accordance, are cuiTcnt in the various 

 countries of Europe, celebrate the resurrection of the celestial 

 egg, a symbol of abundance, the sun of spring. 



'*Thc hen of the fable and the fairy tales, wliidi lays golden 

 eggs, is the mythical hen, the earth or the sky, which gives birth 

 every day to the sun. The golden egg is the beginning of life 

 in Orpliic and Hindoo cosmogony ; by the golden egg tlie world 

 begins to move, and movement is the principle of good. The 

 golden egg brings forth tlio luminous, hiborious, and beneficent 

 day. Hence it i-- "' 'excellent augury to begin witli the q^^ 



