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THE FALL.
157 of species, the migrations of nations and the like are not founded on a general or special revelation which cannot be altered or interfered with ; they are the outcome of human speculation, hastily formed, and must yield to truth whenever good reason ordains it thus.
As for the interpretation of these myths, some of them are too plain to need elucidation ; others may be solved with a little thought; there be others still that seem to defy the unravelling skill, but are sure to yield to perseverance and study.
As an instance of the first kind may be mentioned the story of Echo and Narcissus from the Greek Mythology, in which the personifications are of the plainest possible type, though by no means inelegant in a literary sense. The wood-nymph whose power of speech had been taken away from her ‘unless in answer to some other voice,' is as plain a description of the phenomenon of echo, as Narcissus, who, in love with himself, comes to grief in the foolish endeavour to be embraced in the arms of his own reflection in water, is of personal vanity. The Hindu conception of Lakshmi, the wife of Vishnu, is another instance of this type. She represents wealth which is a consort of Wisdom, though, in evil times, so runs the curse of Gayatri, she is not to remain stationary in one place and to abide constantly by the vile, the inconstant, the contemptible, the simple, the cruel, the foolish and the barbarian.' It would be superfluous to say that the description is not of a person, much less of a goddess, the wife of one of the greatest divinities of the Hindu Pantheon, but a pure and simple rendering
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