Ragnarok : the age of fire and gravel

132 ‘THE LEGENDS.

CHAPTER III. LEGENDS OF THE COMING OF THE COMET.

We turn now to the legends of mankind.

I shall try to divide them, so as to represent, in their order, the several stages of the great event. This, of course, will be difficult to do, for the same legend may detail several different parts of the same common story ; and hence there may be more or less repetition ; they will more or less overlap each other.

And, first, I shall present one or two legends that most clearly represent the first coming of the monster, the dragon, the serpent, the wolf, the dog, the Evil One, the Comet.

The second Hindoo “ Avatar” gives the following description of the rapid advance of some dreadful object out of space, and its tremendous fall upon the earth:

“By the power of God there issued from the essence of Brahma a being shaped like a boar, white and exceeding small ; this being, in the space of an hour, grew to the size of an elephant of the largest size, and remained in the air.”

That is to say, it was an atmospheric, not a terrestrial creature.

‘Brahma was astonished on beholding this figure, and discovered, by the force of internal penetration, that it could be nothing but the power of the Omnipotent which had assumed a body and become visible. He now felt that God is all in all, and all is from him, and all in him ;