Fire and the naughty little squirrel

From: Glen Gordon
Message: 5624
Date: 2001-01-18

I was thinking some more on "Fire-Born", otherwise known as *PerkWnos, and
have come to my senses regarding the meaning of my hypothetical *PexwrGene:s
(or something along those lines). The real meaning would have to have been
"Fire-Maker". It was suggested by someone else on this list before (Chris?
Joao?) that *PerkWnos was the "father" of fire, but it had settled in my
subconscious for a while only to resurface last week when I discovered
something interesting when flipping through a book about North Asian
mythology.

Stepping back for a moment, let me re-explain that I view IE mythology to be
a result of the "EuroAnatolian mythos" radiating out of the Balkans from
about 6000 BCE or even earlier, which itself was a product of the
hybridisation of three sources: PreIE European, Semitoid and Steppe. So, I'm
working slowly but surely to arrive at describing these three different
mythological traditions in a satisfying way.

I've got Old European figured out... Nothing but a triaspectual goddess,
here. How hard is that? :P

The Semitoid mythos needs some work and all I know is that *Alu and *Ba`lu
were only a small part of this polytheistic mythology. It was these two
above that survived so well only because they became hopelessly entangled
into the European Creatrix/Destructrix opposition that served as the core of
EuroAnatolian mythos.

As for Steppe or Early IndoTyrrhenian mythology, I only knew of a possible
god named *T:eian or *T:eieu, a non-descript formless sky god who was never
represented in human form. That's all I knew... until now. I now suspect
strongly that there was in fact another deity, a Steppe storm god, totally
different from the EuroAnatolian concept involving a strong, male rival
opposing the sky god with his double-axe in hand with which he created his
lightning and thunder. Instead, it appears that storms in Asia were
represented from prehistoric times as a great eagle made of stone, the
archetypal "Thunderbird", as in North American religion. It was with his
stone claws that lightening was sparked.

"So what's up with the naughty little squirrel?", you ask. Interesting
question, thanks for asking :) It would appear that some Asian traditions
talk about some small creature, usually a squirrel in association with the
great stone eagle. The small creature is invariably the prey because that's
what eagles do - they hunt squirrels, rats... y'know, eagle-food? This
observation of nature led to the myth that a lightening strike was due to
the Thunderbird trying to catch Squirrel.

Who the hell's this Squirrel? Well duh! Squirrel is the mischievous critter
who stole one of the fire-eyes of the sky. These eyes are the sun and the
moon. So, the squirrel stole the fire from the moon and the Thunderbird was
chasing him down to try and get it back. The squirrel in this myth serves as
the "fire god". He has in a sense harnessed the fire of the sky and is
therefore the embodiment of fire itself. So the squirrel (or any small
critter of a similar ilk) is portrayed to be like fire, which can be both an
aid and a tool of destruction. Thus the squirrel was seen similarly as a
healer and a bringer of plague. Sound familiar? The myth is alot like Agni
and the mouse. I will let you all simmer on that a while. It would appear
then that Squirrel became entangled in the new EuroAnatolian mythos where
*XegWnis the fire god became associated with mice or squirrels by way of
these die-hard Steppe beliefs. If I calculate right, there should be a
little rivalry between *XegWnis and *PerkWnos in IE myth.

I'm further convinced about this Squirrel god because of something I may
have posted a long time ago on this list concerning SinoDene and Steppe.
From what I had already deduced, the word for "squirrel" or "mouse" in
Steppe was *sik:Wru (*k:W is a fortis labiovelar), based on Uralic and
Altaic. I found it interesting in itself that the word might relate to a
SinoDene *c@...?kWu, my own Athabascan-looking reconstruction based on
SinoTibetan and NWC. Now I have a mythological motive for the borrowing...

Teehee! Thoughts? Anyone recommend a good mental asylum?

- gLeN



_________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com