Romulus

The original version of the story of Romulus and Remus, as told by the most ancient Roman annalist, Quintus Fabius Pictor, is rendered as follows by Mommsen 32 (1871, 93ff., and 1879, 2:1ff.):

The twins borne by Ilia, the daughter of the preceding king Numitor, from the embrace of the war god Mars, are condemned by King Amulius, the present ruler of Alba, to be cast into the river. The king’s servants take the children and carry them from Alba as far as the Tiber, to the Palatine Hill; but when they try to descend the hill to the river, to carry out the command, they find that the river has risen, and they are unable to reach its bed. They therefore thrust the tub with the children into the shallow water at the shore. It floats for a while, but the water soon recedes, and knocking against a stone, the tub capsizes. The crying infants lie in the mud. They are heard by a she-wolf who has just brought forth and has her udders full of milk. She comes and gives her teats to the boys, to nurse them, and while they are drinking she licks them clean with her tongue. Above them flies a woodpecker, which guards the children and also brings them food. Thus, the father provides for his sons: the wolf and the woodpecker are animals consecrated to the father, Mars. This is seen by one of the royal herdsmen, who is driving his pigs back to the pasture from which the water had receded. Startled by the spectacle, he summons his comrades. They find the she-wolf attending like a mother to the children; the children treat her as their mother. The men make loud noises to scare the animal away; but the wolf is not afraid. She leaves the children, but not from fear. Slowly, without heeding the herdsmen, she disappears into the forest at the holy site of Faunus, where the water gushes from a mountain gully. Meanwhile the men pick up the boys and carry them to the chief swineherd of the king, Faustulus, for they believe that the gods do not wish the children to perish. But the wife of Faustulus has just given birth to a dead child and is full of sorrow. Her husband gives her the twins, and she nurses them. The couple raises the children, and names them Romulus and Remus. When Rome has been founded, King Romulus builds himself a house not far from the place where the tub had stood. The gully in which the she-wolf disappeared has been known ever since as the Lupercal (wolf’s gully). The bronze statue of the she-wolf with the twins was subsequently erected at this spot, and the she-wolf herself, Lupa, was worshiped by the Romans as a deity. 33

The Romulus legend later on underwent numerous revisions, distortions, expansions, and interpretations (cf. Schwegler 1870, 1:384ff.) It is best known in the form transmitted by Livy (Libri historiarum ab urbe condita [History since the founding of Rome] 1.3ff.), where we learn something about the ancestry and subsequent fate of the twins. Numitor, the firstborn son of King Proca, inherits the throne. But his younger brother, Amulius, drives him from the throne and becomes king himself. So that no scion of Numitor’s family may arise as an avenger, he kills the male descendants of his brother. Under the semblance of a most honorable distinction, he elects his brother’s daughter, Rhea Silvia, as a vestal; through the perpetual virginity enjoined upon her, he thus deprives her of the hope of progeny. But the vestal maiden is taken by force and, having brought forth twins, she names Mars as the father of her illegitimate offspring, either from conviction or because a god seemed more worthy to her as the perpetrator of the crime. The narrative of the exposure in the Tiber goes on to relate that the floating tub in which the boys had been exposed was left on dry land by the receding waters and that a thirsty wolf, attracted from the surrounding mountains by the children’s cries, offered them her teats. The boys are said to have been found by the chief royal herder, Faustulus, who took them to the homestead of his wife, Larentia, to be raised. Some believe that Larentia was called Lupa (she-wolf) by the herders because she offered her body and that this was the origin of the strange legend. Grown to manhood, the youths Romulus and Remus protect the herds against the attacks of wild animals and robbers. One day Remus is taken prisoner by robbers, who accuse him of having stolen from Numitor’s flocks. But Numitor, to whom he is brought for punishment, is touched by his tender age, and when he hears about the twin brothers, he suspects that they might be his exposed grandsons. While he is anxiously pondering the resemblance with the features of his daughter, and the boy’s age, which corresponds to the time of the exposure, Faustulus arrives with Romulus. After Numitor learns of the boys’ origin from the herdsmen, a conspiracy is planned: the youths arm themselves for vengeance, and Numitor also takes up arms to defend his claim to the throne usurped from him. After Amulius has been assassinated, Numitor is reinstated as the ruler, and the youths resolve to found a city in the place where they had been exposed and raised. A furious dispute arises as to which brother will rule the newly erected city, for it is unclear which twin has the right of primogeniture, and the outcome of the bird oracle is equally doubtful. The legend relates that Remus jumps over the new city wall to deride his twin, and that Romulus is so enraged that he slays his brother. Romulus thus gained sole rulership, and the city was named Rome after him.

According to historians and linguists, all of whom support the claim that there is a model for these mythological traditions, the Romulus legend is based on Tyro by Sophocles and was borrowed and taken to Rome in the third century B.C. (These scholars include Ranke, Ribbeck, Trieber, Reich, Meyer, and Soltau [1909].) Tyro, the daughter of King Salomoneus, bears Poseidon two sons—Neleus and Pelias. Tyro’s stepmother induces the cruel king to expose them in a tub in Enipeus, but they are miraculously rescued by a bitch or a mare and are found by herders and raised by them. Their mother is cast into the dungeon by her father, Salomoneus. There she is tormented by her stepmother, Sidero, until she is freed by her two grown sons, who overthrow her tyrannical father and kill Sidero to avenge the sufferings of their mother.

The Roman tale of Romulus and Remus has a close counterpart in the Greek myth of the founding of a city by the twin brothers Amphion and Zethus, who were the first to found a city at the site of Thebes of the Seven Gates. The enormous rocks Zethus brings from the mountains are drawn together by the music Amphion draws from his lyre strings, thus forming the walls that later became so famous. Amphion and Zethus are considered the children of Zeus and Antiope, daughter of King Nykteus. She flees punishment by her father, who dies of grief. On his deathbed he implores his brother and successor, Lykos, to punish Antiope’s wrongdoing. Meanwhile she has married Epopeus, king of Sikyon, who is killed by Lykos; he leads Antiope away in fetters. She gives birth to twin sons in Kithairon, where she leaves them. A herder raises the boys and names them Amphion and Zethus. Later, Antiope manages to escape from the torments of Lykos and his wife, Dirke. She happens to seek shelter in Kithairon at the home of the twin brothers, now youths. The herder reveals to them that Antiope is their mother. Then they cruelly kill Dirke and deprive Lykos of his rulership.

The remaining twin legends, 34 which are extremely numerous, cannot be discussed in detail here. Apparently they represent a complication of the birth myth by another very ancient and widely distributed myth complex, that of the hostile brothers. Detailed discussion is found elsewhere (cf. Rank 1912a, pt. 2, and Rank 1919, chs. 11–13). The apparently late and secondary character of the twin legends among the birth myths justifies the separation of this aspect of mythology from our present theme. As for the Romulus legend, Mommsen (1881) considers it highly probable that it originally mentioned only Romulus, while the figure of Remus was added subsequently, and somewhat loosely, when it became desirable to vest the two Roman consuls with a solemnity founded on old tradition.

Hercules

After the loss of his numerous sons in battle, Elektryon betroths his daughter, Alkmene, to Amphitryon, the son of his brother, Alkeus. But through an unfortunate accident, Amphitryon causes the death of Elektryon and flees to Thebes with his betrothed. 35 The union has not yet been consummated, for she has made Amphitryon solemnly swear not to touch her until he has taken revenge on the Teleboans for the death of her brothers. He therefore starts out from Thebes, defeats the enemy king, Pterelaos, and conquers all the enemy islands. He sets out for Thebes, but Zeus, in the form of Amphitryon, 36 comes to Alkmene and presents her with a golden goblet as a token of victory. He remains with the charming maiden for three nights, according to the later poets, having held back the sun by one day. In the same night Amphitryon arrives, exultant in victory and yearning for love. In due course, the fruit of the divine and the human embrace is brought forth, 37 and Zeus announces to the gods that his son will be the mightiest future ruler. But his jealous wife, Hera, manages to obtain from him the pernicious oath that the firstborn grandson of Perseus is to have power over all the other descendants of Perseus. Hera hurries to Mycenae to deliver the wife of Sthenelos, Perseus’ third son, of Eurystheus, whom she has carried in her womb for seven months. At the same time she impedes and hinders Alkmene’s delivery through all sorts of wicked sorcery, just as with the birth of Apollo, the god of light. Alkmene finally gives birth to Hercules and Iphicles. 38 Iphicles is in no way the equal of Hercules in courage or strength, but he later becomes the father of his faithful friend, Iolaos. In conformity with the oath of Zeus, Eurystheus becomes king in Mycenae, in the land of the Argives, and the later-born Hercules is his subject .

The oldest literature relates that Hercules, like all the children of Thebes, was raised on the strength-giving waters of the Fountain of Dirke. Later, though, another version was told: fearing the jealousy of Hera, Alkmene exposes the child she had borne in a place known subsequently as the Field of Hercules. About this time, Athena arrives with Hera. She marvels at the beautiful form of the child and persuades Hera to put him to her breast. But the boy takes the breast with far greater strength than his age would seem to warrant; in pain, Hera angrily flings the child to the ground. Athena, however, not knowing that Alkmene is his mother, carries him to the nearby city and takes him to her as a poor foundling; she asks her to raise him for the sake of charity. This peculiar coincidence is quite remarkable. The child’s own mother is willing to let the child perish, disregarding the duty of maternal love, whereas the stepmother, filled with natural hatred toward the child, saves her enemy without knowing it (Diodorus 4.9). Hercules draws only a few drops from Hera’s breast, but the divine milk is sufficient to endow him with immortality. An attempt by Hera to kill the boy, asleep in his cradle, by means of two serpents, is also unsuccessful: the child awakens and crushes the snakes with a single squeeze of his hands. One day, angered over an unjust beating, Hercules, while still a boy, kills his tutor, Linos. Amphitryon, fearing the boy’s wildness, sends him to tend his ox herds “in the mountains, with the herders, among whom he is said by some to have spent his entire childhood, like Amphion and Zethus, Cyrus, and Romulus. Here he lived for the hunt, in the freedom of nature” (Preller 1854, 2:123).

H. Schmidt (1907) sees in Hercules (Melkart) the hero of the rescue stories in their original form: after the destruction of his ship, the hero is swallowed by a sea monster and then rescued. Arion, the dolphin rider, will be discussed later with related material.

The myth of Hercules is resembled in certain features by the Indian legend of the hero Krishna, who like many heroes escapes a general infanticide and is then brought up by a herder’s wife, Jasodha. A wicked demon appears; she has been sent by King Kansa to kill the boy. She takes the post of wet nurse in the home but is recognized by Krishna, who bites her so severely in suckling that she dies. Hera, who similarly wishes to destroy Hercules, is also bitten by the suckling child. The story of the youth of the shepherd god Krishna is related in the Karivamsa.

Jesus

The Gospel according to Luke (1:26–35) relates the prophecy of the birth of Jesus, as follows .

And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel [was] sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said: “Hail! thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women.” And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her: “Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God.

And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” Then said Mary unto the angel: “How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?” And the angel answered and said unto her: “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”

This report is supplemented by the Gospel according to Matthew 39 (1:18–25), in the narrative of the birth and childhood of Jesus.

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: when as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. But, while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying: “Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife; for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.” Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying: “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him and took unto him his wife, and knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus.

Here we add the detailed account of the birth of Jesus from the Gospel of Luke (2:4–20).

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem (because he was of the house and lineage of David) to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. 40 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them: “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying: “Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another: “Let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.” And they came with haste and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things which they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

We now continue the account according to the second chapter of Matthew.

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying: “Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.” When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him: “In Bethlehem of Judaea. For thus it is written by the prophet: ‘And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda, for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.’” Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said: “Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.” When they had heard the king, they departed, and lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshiped him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts: gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. And being warned of God in a dream, that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way. And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying: “Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.” When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, that it might he fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying: “Out of Egypt have I called my son.” Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. … But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying: “Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel, for they are dead which sought the young child’s life.” And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither. Notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee, and he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets: “He shall be called a Nazarene.” 41

Birth legends similar to those of Jesus have also been transmitted concerning other founders of religions, such as Zoroaster, said to have lived about 1000 B.C. In the sixth month of her pregnancy, his mother, Dughda, dreams that the wicked and the good spirits are fighting over the embryonic Zoroaster. In her dream, a monster tears the future Zoroaster from his mother’s womb, but a light god fights the monster with his horn of light, replaces the embryo in the mother’s womb, and blows upon Dughda, who becomes pregnant again. On awakening, she hurries fearfully to a wise dream interpreter, who is able to explain the strange dream only after three days. He then declares that the child she is carrying is destined to become a man of great importance; the dark cloud and the mountain of light signify that she and her son will at first have to undergo numerous afflictions through tyrants and other enemies, but at last they will overcome all perils. Dughda at once returns to her home and informs her husband, Pourushacpa, of everything that has happened. Immediately after his birth, the boy laughs. This is the first miracle through which he draws attention to himself. The magicians announce the birth of the child as a portent of disaster to the prince of the realm, Durānsarūn, who hastily goes to Pourushacpa’s home in order to stab the child. But his hand falls paralyzed, and he must leave without completing the task. This is the second miracle. Soon after, the wicked demons steal the child from his mother and carry him into the desert in order to kill him, but Dughda finds the unharmed child, calmly sleeping. This is the third miracle. Later, in a narrow road, Zoroaster is to be trampled by a herd of oxen, at the king’s command. 42 But the largest ox takes the child between its feet and preserves him from harm. This is the fourth miracle. The fifth is merely a repetition of the preceding one: what the oxen had refused to do is to be accomplished by horses. But again, one horse protects the child from the hoofs of the others. Durānsarūn next has the cubs in a den of wolves killed during the absence of the parents; Zoroaster is laid down in the cubs’ place. But a god closes the jaws of the furious wolves so that they cannot harm the child. Two divine cows then arrive and present their udders to the child, allowing him to drink. This is the sixth miracle through which Zoroaster’s life is preserved (cf. Spiegel 1871, 1:688ff., and Brodbeck 1893). Related themes are also found in the story of Buddha, who lived in the sixth century B.C. (cf. Hardy 1853, 501). 43 These include the long sterility of the parents, the dream, the birth of the boy under the open sky, 44 the death of the mother and her substitution by a foster mother, the report of the birth to the ruler of the realm, and later the losing of the boy in the temple (as with Jesus; cf. Luke 2:40–52).

Concerning the birth of Mithra there is no extensive literary tradition, but representations in stone fortunately allow us to perceive clear remains of the tradition. According to Roscher (1900, 3048), they depict how Mithra was born from a cliff (or cave),

a Phrygian cap on his head, encased up to the knees or groin in a block of stone, which is sometimes surrounded by a snake. … With one hand the god is usually lifting a hammer, his usual weapon, and with the other he holds a torch. … Sometimes the head of a river god is depicted on a cliff face, or the entire figure of a river god may be depicted beside Mithra, probably because he is said to have been born beside a river. In a number of reliefs, herders are seen hiding behind a cliff to observe the miracle—doubtless also suggesting the content of the legend. Two further interesting depictions which regularly appear together seem to be connected with the Iranian legend of the great flood and the world fire. A bull stands in a boat supported by the water; among animals, the bull played the greatest role in the cult of Mithra. In the second image, a hut is being set on fire by a man in Asian garments (Mithra?), and the bull is rushing out through the door. The mythical bull thus escapes the perils of the two disasters.

Siegfried The old Norse Thidreksaga, as recorded by an Icelander about 1250 on the basis of oral traditions and ancient poems, relates the story of the birth and youth of Siegfried (Rassmann 1858, 2:7ff.). 45 King Sigmund of Tarlungaland, on his return from an expedition, banishes his wife Sisibe, the daughter of King Nidung of Hispania: she has been accused by Count Hartvin, whose advances she has spurned, of illicit relations with a servant. The king’s counselors advise him to mutilate the innocent queen instead of killing her, and Hartvin is ordered to cut out her tongue in the forest and to bring it to the king as proof. His companion, Count Hermann, opposes the cruel command and proposes that a dog’s tongue be presented to the king. While the two men are engaged in a violent quarrel, Sisibe gives birth to a remarkably beautiful boy. “She then takes a glass vessel from among her mead glasses, which she had with her; after wrapping the boy in linens, she places him in the glass vessel, which she carefully closes again and places beside her” (Rassmann 1858). Count Hartvin falls in the fight, kicking the glass vessel so that it plunges into the river. When the queen sees this she swoons, dying soon afterward. Hermann goes home, tells the king everything, and is banished from the kingdom. “Meanwhile the glass vessel drifts downstream to the sea, and it is not long before the tide begins to ebb. Then the vessel floats onto a rocky cliff, and the water recedes so that the place where the vessel lies is perfectly dry. The boy inside has grown somewhat, and when the vessel strikes the rock, it breaks, and the child begins to cry” (Rassmann 1858). The boy’s whimpering is heard by a doe, which seizes him with her lips and carries him to her lair, where she nurses him together with her young. After the child has lived twelve months in the doe’s lair, he has grown to the height and strength of other boys four years of age. One day he runs into the forest, where the wise and skillful smith Mimir lives; he has lived for nine years in childless wedlock. He sees the boy, who is followed by the faithful doe, takes him home, and resolves to bring him up as his own son. He names him Siegfried. In Mimir’s home, Siegfried soon gains enormous height and strength, but his willfulness brings Mimir to get rid of him. He sends the youth into the forest, having arranged for the dragon Regin, Mimir’s brother, to kill him. But Siegfried conquers the dragon and kills Mimir as well. He then proceeds to Brunhilde, who reveals to him the identity of his parents. 46 Similar to the story of Siegfried’s youth is the Austrasian legend of the birth and youth of Wolfdietrich. 47 His mother, too, is accused of unfaithfulness and of intercourse with the devil, by a vassal whom she has rejected, and who speaks evil of her to the returning king, Hugdietrich of Constantinople. 48 The king hands over the child to the faithful Berchtung, who is to kill him, but Berchtung instead exposes him in the forest, near the water, in the hope that he will fall in of his own accord and thus find his death. But the frolicking child remains unhurt, and even the wild animals— lions, bears, and wolves, which come at night to the water—do not harm him. The astonished Berchtung resolves to save the boy, and brings him to a gamekeeper. With his wife, the gamekeeper raises him and names him Wolfdietrich. (The same emphasis on the animal motif is found in the legend of Shalū, the Indian wolf-child; cf. Jülg 1868.) Three later hero epics may also be cited in this connection. First, there is the thirteenth-century French saga of Horn, the son of Aluf, who, after having been exposed on the sea, finally reaches the court of King Hunlaf. After numerous adventures he wins the king’s daughter, Rimhilt, as his wife. Second, a detail suggestive of Siegfried appears in the saga of the smith Wieland, who, after avenging his insidiously murdered father, floats down the Weser, artfully enclosed in the trunk of a tree, with the tools and treasures of his teachers (Hagen 1846, 524). Finally, the Arthurian legend contains the blending of divine and human paternity, the exposure, and growing up with a man of low station.

Tristan

The Tristan legend, as related in the epic poem by Gottfried von Strassburg, also belongs to this group of tales. This is especially evident in background events which are later repeated in the adventures of the hero himself (duplication). Rivalen, king of the Parmenians, during a voyage to the court of Mark, king of Cornwall and England, meets Mark’s beautiful sister, Blanchefleur; his heart immediately begins to burn with love for her. While assisting Mark in a campaign, Rivalen is mortally wounded and is carried to Tintagel. Blanchefleur, disguised as a beggar maid, hastens to his sickbed; through her devoted love, she saves the king’s life. She flees with her lover to his homeland (obstacles) and is there proclaimed as his consort. But Morgan, desirous of Blanchefleur, attacks Rivalen’s kingdom. Because she is carrying his child, the king entrusts her to his faithful retainer Rual, who brings her to safety in Kanoel Castle. Here she gives birth to a son and dies, while her husband falls in the battle against Morgan. In order to protect the king’s offspring from Morgan’s pursuits, Rual spreads the rumor that the infant was born dead. He names the boy Tristan because he was conceived and born in sorrow. Under the care of his foster parents, Tristan grows up, equally strong in body and mind, until his fourteenth year, when he is kidnapped by Norwegian merchants. Fearing the wrath of the gods, they put him ashore in Cornwall. Here the boy is found by the soldiers of King Mark, who is so well pleased with the brave and handsome youth that he promptly makes him his master of the chase (career) and holds him in great affection. Meanwhile, the faithful Rual sets out to seek his abducted foster son, begging his way through many realms. He finally finds him in Cornwall and reveals Tristan’s descent to King Mark. The king is delighted to see before him the son of his beloved sister and raises him to the rank of knight. In order to avenge his father, Tristan proceeds with Rual to Parmenia, vanquishes Morgan, the usurper, and gives the kingdom to Rual as liege, while he himself returns to his uncle Mark (cf. Chop 1907). The actual Tristan legend continues with a repetition of the principal themes. In the service of Mark, Tristan kills Morold, the bridegroom of Isolde; wounded and near death, he is healed by Isolde. He asks her hand in marriage on behalf of his uncle Mark. When he fulfills the condition of killing a dragon, she accompanies him reluctantly to Cornwall by ship. On the journey they unwittingly drink a disastrous love potion that binds them together in frenzied passion; they betray King Mark. On Mark’s wedding night, Isolde’s faithful maid, Brangäne, represents the queen, and sacrifices her virginity to the king. Next follow Tristan’s banishment and his several attempts to regain his beloved, although he has meanwhile married another Isolde, Isolde White Hand of Brittany, who resembles the first Isolde. At last he is again wounded and near death, but Isolde arrives too late to save him. 49

A clearer version of the Tristan legend, with respect to the characteristic features of the myth of the birth of the hero, is found in the folktale “The True Bride” (Rittershaus collection, p. 113). A royal pair have no children. The king threatens to kill his wife unless she bears a child by the time he returns from a sea voyage. During the journey, she is brought to him by his zealous maidservant, as the fairest of three harlots. He takes her into his tent without recognizing her (cf. Brangäne’s substituting for Isolde). She returns home without having been discovered, gives birth to a daughter, Isol, and dies. Later, in a chest on the beach, Isol finds a beautiful little boy named Tristan; she raises him and is later engaged to him. The subsequent story, which contains the motif of the true bride, is noteworthy in that here again occur the draft of oblivion, and two Isoldes. The king’s second wife gives a potion to Tristan that makes him entirely forget the blonde Isol; he wishes to marry only the black-haired Isota. In the end, though, he discovers the deception and is united with Isol.

Lohengrin

The widely distributed group of legends woven around the mythical Knight with the Swan (the Old French Chevalier au Cigne) can be traced back to very ancient Celtic traditions. The following is the version made familiar through Wagner’s dramatization of the material—the tale of Lohengrin, the Knight with the Swan, as conveyed in the Middle High German epic (modernized in Junghans 1879) and briefly rendered by the Grimm brothers (1818, 2:306) under the title “Lohengrin in Brabant.” 50 The Duke of Brabant and Limburg dies without heirs except for a young

daughter, Els, or Elsa; on his deathbed, he entrusts her to one of his retainers, Friedrich von Telramund. Friedrich, an intrepid warrior, becomes emboldened and asks for the young duchess’s hand and lands, under the false claim that she has promised to marry him. She steadfastly refuses to do so. Friedrich complains to Emperor Henry I (“the Fowler”), and the verdict is that she must defend herself against him, through some champion, in a so-called divine contest. As no one is ready to take her part, the young duchess prays ardently to God to save her. In faraway Montsalvatsch, in the Council of the Grail, the sound of the bell is heard, indicating that someone is in urgent need of help. The Council of the Grail therefore resolves to dispatch Lohengrin, the son of Parsifal. Just as he is about to place his foot in the stirrup, a swan comes floating on the water, drawing a skiff behind it. As soon as Lohengrin sets eyes on the swan, he exclaims: “Take the steed back to the manger; I shall follow this bird wherever he may lead me.” Trusting in God, he takes no food with him in the skiff. After they have been afloat for five days, the swan dips its bill in the water, catches a fish, eats half, and gives the other half to the prince to eat. Thus the knight is fed by the swan.

Meanwhile Elsa has summoned her princes and retainers to a parliament in Antwerp. Precisely on the day of the assembly, a swan is sighted swimming up the Schelde, drawing a skiff in which Lohengrin lies asleep on his shield. The swan promptly lands on shore, and the prince is joyfully welcomed. Hardly have his helmet, shield, and sword been taken from the skiff, when the swan swims away again. Lohengrin hears of the wrong done to the duchess and willingly consents to become her champion. Elsa then summons all her relatives and subjects. A place is prepared in Mainz for Lohengrin and Friedrich to fight in the emperor’s presence. The Hero of the Grail defeats Friedrich, who confesses having lied to the duchess, and is executed with mallet and axe. Elsa is now Lohengrin’s, and indeed, they have long loved one another, but he secretly insists that she avoid all questions as to his ancestry, or whence he has come, saying that otherwise he will immediately have to leave her and that she will never see him again. For some time, the couple live in peace and happiness. Lohengrin is a wise and mighty ruler and also serves the emperor well in expeditions against the Huns and the heathens. But one day in jousting he throws the Duke of Cleve from his horse, so that the latter breaks an arm. The Duchess of Cleve is angry and speaks out among the women, saying: “Lohengrin may be brave enough, and he seems to be a good Christian; what a pity that his nobility is not of much account, for no one knows whence he has come floating to this land!” These words pierce the heart of the Duchess of Brabant, who blushes and pales with emotion. At night, while her spouse is holding her in his arms, she weeps, and he says: “What is the matter, dear Elsa?” She answers: “The Duchess of Cleve has made me sigh with sorrow.” Lohengrin is silent and asks no more. The second night is the same. But on the third night, Elsa can no longer restrain herself, and she says: “Lord, do not chide me! I wish to know, for our children’s sake, where you were born, for my heart tells me that you are of noble birth.” At daybreak, Lohengrin declares in public whence he has come, that Parsifal is his father, and that God has sent him from the Grail. He then asks for his two sons, whom the duchess has borne him, kisses them, tells them to take good care of his horn and sword, which he leaves behind, and says: “Now, I must go.” To the duchess he leaves a little ring that his mother had given him. Then his friend the swan comes swiftly swimming, and drawing the skiff behind it; the prince steps in and crosses the water, returning to the service of the Grail. Elsa sinks down in a faint. For his father’s sake, the empress resolves to keep the younger of the two boys, named Lohengrin, and to bring him up as her own child. But the widow weeps and mourns the rest of her life for her beloved spouse, who never returns. 51 On inverting the Lohengrin story in such a way that the end is placed first—given the rearrangement and transmutation of motifs often found in myths—we find the type of legend we are now familiar with: the infant Lohengrin, identical with his father of the same name, floats in a skiff upon the sea and is carried ashore by a swan. The empress adopts him as her son, and he becomes a valiant hero. Having married a noble maiden of the land, he forbids her to inquire as to his origin. When the command is broken, he is obliged to reveal his wondrous descent and divine mission, after which the swan carries him back in the skiff to the Grail.

Other versions of the tale of the Knight with the Swan have retained this original arrangement of the motifs, although they appear to be blended with elements of folktales. The tale of the Knight with the Swan, as related in the Flemish Volksboek (Grimm and Grimm 1818, 2:291) begins with the birth of seven children, 52 born to Beatrix, the wife of King Oriant of Flanders. Matabruna, the wicked mother of the absent king, orders that the children be killed and that the queen be given seven young dogs in their stead. But the servant merely exposes the children, who are found by a hermit named Helias and are nourished by a goat until they are grown. Beatrix is thrown into a dungeon. Later, Matabruna learns that the children have been saved. She again commands that they be killed, and as a sign that the command has apparently been carried out, the hunter assigned to do the deed brings her the silver neck chains they had been born with. Only one of the boys, named Helias after his foster father, keeps his chain, and is thereby saved from the fate of his siblings, who are transformed into swans as soon as their chains are removed. Matabruna now wishes to prove that Beatrix has had relations with a dog, and upon her instigation, Beatrix is to be killed unless a champion arises to defend her. In her need, she prays to God, who sends her son Helias as a rescuer. His siblings are also saved by means of the chains—except for one, whose chain has already been melted down. King Oriant now transfers the rulership to his son Helias, who has the wicked Matabruna burned. One day, Helias sees his brother, the swan, drawing a skiff on the lake surrounding the castle. He regards this as a sign from heaven; he arms himself and mounts the skiff. The swan takes him through rivers and lakes to the place where God has ordained that he go. Next follows the liberation of an innocently accused duchess, on analogy with the Lohengrin legend, and his marriage to her daughter Clarissa, who is forbidden to ask about her husband’s ancestry. In the seventh year of their marriage, though, she asks the question, and Helias returns home in the swan’s skiff. Finally, his lost brother swan is likewise released.

Scéaf

The characteristic features of the Lohengrin saga—the disappearance of the divine hero in the same mysterious way he arrived, and the transference of mythical motifs from the life of the older hero to a younger one bearing his name (a universal process in myth formation)—are likewise embodied in the Anglo-Lombard legend of Scéaf, who is mentioned in the introduction to the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf, the oldest Teutonic epic (cf. Wolzogen 1872). He is also called Scyld Scéfing (son of Scéaf) because as a very young boy he was cast ashore, a stranger, asleep in a boat on a sheaf of grain (AngloSaxon: scéaf ). The waves of the sea carried him to the coast of the country he was destined to defend. The inhabitants welcomed his arrival as a miracle, raised him, and later made him their king, considering him a divine emissary (cf. J. Grimm 1875, 1:306 and 3:391; cf. Leo 1839). 53 What was told of Scéaf, the ancestor of the royal family, is transferred to Scyld, the father of Beowulf (cf. J. Grimm 1875, 1:306 and 3:391, and Leo 1839, 24). At his death, his body is exposed, as he had previously ordered, surrounded by kingly splendor, upon a ship without a crew, which is sent out to sea (cf. the introduction to Beowulf ). Thus he vanishes in the same mysterious way his father had arrived ashore. On analogy with the Lohengrin legend, this trait is accounted for by the mythical identity of father and son. 54