The myth of the birth of the hero : a psychological interpretation of mythology / by Otto Rank ; authorized translation by Drs. F. Robbins and Smith Ely Jelliffe.

  • Otto Rank
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The myth of the birth of the hero : a psychological interpretation of mythology / by Otto Rank ; authorized translation by Drs. F. Robbins and Smith Ely Jelliffe. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    to carry lances; one he made the king's watchman, the other was charged with the bearing of messages; briefly, each received his appointed task. One of the boy's playmates, however, was the son of Artembares, a respected man among the Medes, and when he did not do as Kyros ordained, the latter made the other boys seize him. The boys obeyed, and Kyros chastised him with severe blows. After they let him go, he became furiously angry, as if he had been treated improperly. He ran into the city and com- plained to his father of what Kyros had done to him. He did not mention the name of Kyros for he was not yet called so, but said the cattle herder's son. Artembares went wrathfully with his son to Astyages, complained of the disgraceful treatment, and spoke thus: Great king, we suffer such outrageous treatment from thy servant, the herder's son, and he showed him his own son's shoulders. When Astyages heard and saw this, he wished to vindicate the boy for the sake of Artembares, and he sent for the cattle herder with his son. When both were present, Astyages looked at Kyros and said: Thou, a lowly man's son, hast had the effrontery to treat so disgracefully the son of a man whom I greatly honor! But he made answer: Lord, he has only re- ceived his due. For the boys in the village, he being among them, were at play, and made me their king, believing me to be the best adapted thereto. And the other boys did as they were told, but he was disobedient, and did not mind me at all. For this he has received his reward. If I have deserved punishment, here I am at your service. When the boy spoke in this way, Astyages knew him at once. For the features of the face appeared to him as his own, and the and raised him. Later on he came to a hunter, where he as cow- herder played king with the other boys, and as king ordered that the hands and feet of the great criminals be chopped off. [The mutilation motive occurs also in the Kyros saga, and is generally widely distributed.] At his command, the separated limbs returned to their proper position. Kanakja, who once looked on as they were at play, admired the boy, and bought him from the hunter for one thousand Karshapana; at home he discovered that the boy was a Maurja. (After Lassen's Indische Alter- tumskunde, II, 196, Annotation i.)