Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 261, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 November 1918 — Myths Hard to Down. [ARTICLE]

Myths Hard to Down.

Many details of the pig myths of Ireland, Scotland and Wales reveal the fact that the ancient Stories of the dragon have been preserved with remarkable completeness, even though they have been kept alive by verbal currency for a vast number of years. The efficacy of a one-eyed man as a plg-sltoyer in Ireland is a case in point. Ip the earliest version of the dragon myth the monster is killed by the “Eye of Re”—4. e., the moon or sun. The Greeks interpreted this literally and created a being with a destructive eye, and In Ireland this belief is still potent to influence the conduct of our contemporaries. Ever since the time when the human spirit first began to seek for an elixir of life these myths have been circulating among mankind. In the visions of the small children of Roscommon we are catching glimpses of the thoughts of people who lived long before the Pyramids of Egypt were dreamed of. This helps us also to understand how profoundly our actions and beliefs are influenced by the remote history bf mankind.