242 JOHN FRASEE. 



upon it ; he observes that one worthy man is covered with disaster, while 

 another, not half so worthy, is successful in everything. And so, out of 

 these problems of daily life, comes the doctrine of fate and luck, — blind 

 to merit, inexorable and capricious in the affairs of men. 



The Eomans were keen worshippers of Fortune, who seems to have 

 been viewed as propitious aspects of the Sun and the Moon. And many 

 other Aryan nations have shared in this view ; even we, of the English 

 tongue, often say, " Happy is the bride that the sun shines on," and, on 

 seeing the new moon for the first time in any month, many of us, either 

 playfully or in earnest, will turn the silver coin in our pocket. 



The present myth is Aryan in this respect that it associates Prosperity 

 with the Sun; for, in it, f Alo- f alo, ' Sunbeam/ goes up to the domain of 

 Darkness and Daylight, where the Sun lives, to get the " hook of 

 Prosperity." As with the golden casket in " The Merchant of Venice," 

 so here ; the hook of Calamity is the more tempting article to the eye, 

 but the wise youth, previously instructed thereto, makes his choice 

 according to the advice of those who know, and thus becomes the happy 

 possessor of a hook which has such power over the fishes of the deep 

 that they will come to it in shoals to be caught. But his possession of it 

 is not secured to him until he shall have reached his home in Fiji ; on 

 the way he carries the hook at his back, slung there by a string round 

 his neck ; all the way home he must not attempt to look at the hook ; 

 but, alas ! as he approaches the boat-opening and is almost home, curiosity 

 becomes too strong, lust for the forbidden overpowers him; he brings the 

 hook round in front to see it ; it pricks his neck ; he dies at once and 

 falls down into the bottom of the sea. How like this is to the Grecian 

 story of Orpheus and Eurydice ! That incomparable musician loses his 

 wife, who is carried off to Hades ; lyre in hand, Orpheus goes down to seek 

 her ; his music charms even the hard heart of the Queen of the Shades, 

 and Eurydice may follow him to the upper world and to life and light 

 again, but he must not look back as they ascend. The way was long ; 

 just as a faint glimmer of daylight was within reach of his eye, he looked 

 back, and — Eurydice vanished for ever from his view. And so also on the 

 same lines are other myths drawn, all the world over. 



Then again, in our myth, to be successful in fishing, the hook must be 

 fastened on to the line with a punctilious observance of all due rites. 

 There are three brothers who try, but it is only the youngest of these, 

 small and despised by the others, that succeeds. Here we have a counter- 

 part to the nursery tale of Cinderella and many similar stories. 



