The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 10.0234  Thursday, 11 February 1999.

[1]     From:   Arthur Abel <
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        Date:   Wednesday, 10 Feb 99 10:37:43 -0500
        Subj:   SHK 10.0228 Re: Early Myth

[2]     From:   Robin Hamilton <
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        Date:   Wednesday, 10 Feb 1999 18:23:12 -0000
        Subj:   Re: SHK 10.0228 Re: Early Myth

[3]     From:   Stephanie Hughes <
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        Date:   Wednesday, 10 Feb 1999 12:30:45 +0000
        Subj:   Re: SHK 10.0228 Re: Early Myth


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Arthur Abel <
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Date:           Wednesday, 10 Feb 99 10:37:43 -0500
Subject: Re: Early Myth
Comment:        SHK 10.0228 Re: Early Myth

>Sinbad, Proteus, Friar Tuck, animal myths (there is also one about a
>scorpion who hitches a ride across a river and then stings her host,
>because its her nature).   There a lot of recurrent themes and
>situations in mythology (cf. the recent thread re: camels and needles'
 >eyes).

Of course, we can even cite the children's story of "The Gingerbread
Man" in which the fox gives the gingerbread man a ride across a river
only to flip him in the air and eat him when they get to the other
side.  It was a favorite of my twin granddaughters when they were
pre-schoolers.  I never thought of it as an early introduction to these
myths.

Great sport!

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Robin Hamilton <
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Date:           Wednesday, 10 Feb 1999 18:23:12 -0000
Subject: 10.0228 Re: Early Myth
Comment:        Re: SHK 10.0228 Re: Early Myth

Larry Weiss writes:

>(there is also one about a
>scorpion who hitches a ride across a river and then stings her host,
>because its her nature).

Maybe associated with the medieval Scottish poem by Robert Henryson,
"The Puddock [frog] and the Mouse".  The mouse hitches a lift from the
puddock, and half-way across is dumped in.  Being Scottish, and medieval
to boot, the tale is Deeply Moral-the puddock promptly gets it's
comeuppance by being ingested by a passing kite.

Henryson took his sources from traditional fables, either the Reynard
cycle or the Aesop cycle -- I +think+ this one draws on the Aesopet
material.

Robin Hamilton

[3]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Stephanie Hughes <
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Date:           Wednesday, 10 Feb 1999 12:30:45 +0000
Subject: 10.0228 Re: Early Myth
Comment:        Re: SHK 10.0228 Re: Early Myth

> Helen Ostovich

>Hercules' wrestling match was with
>Antaeus, whose strength came from contact with the earth, and I don't
>think a river was involved there.

Yes, it was Antaeus who wrestled Hercules, not Proteus. Proteus was a
sea god who could change his shape at will, and apparently it was
Menelaus with whom he had a wrestling bout, though my source isn't
in-depth enough to resolve whether it included the god's refusal to let
the hero go. Sorry for the mistake.

Stephanie Hughes