Myths and legends as forms of entertainment

By Amal HEWAVISSENTI

How the earth was formed or how other natural phenomena came into being baffled people since prehistoric times. People have exclusively invented myths or legends to explicate the existence of things that were far beyond their capacity to understand. The questions are identical all around the world but the tales are different as they represent varying groups of people with different cultures and beliefs and who live in different corners of the world.

Legends often bear affinities with myths but they appear to be tales on real places or people that have become exaggerated as generations have narrated and renarrated them for centuries. The legends generally deal with adventures and bravado of specially skilled or heroic people. Many myths describe gods and goddesses, or of outlandish creatures such as giants, dragons or monsters with terrible and magical powers. This is the basic contrast between the legend and the myth.

Thus, myths and legends are varieties of stories which early people told about their religious beliefs and heroes and to explain the unknown that surrounded their world. During the earliest phase of human civilisation when people had little exposure to science and the workings of nature, they explained phenomena such as how the world began or how the sun rose and set through myths and tales.

It is evident that prior to the development of writing as a system, myths were passed down orally from generation to generation. However, myths and legends largely reflect the ethics, customs and lifestyles of the people they describe and the overall setup of the contemporary society.

Unlike myths which earlier people regarded as sacred and true, legends stand out to be a certain form of folktale woven round the imaginary exploits of a hero who really existed in history. The earliest recorded literature in the world is the Sumerian legend "The epic of Gilgamesh. The legend is based on king Gilgamesh who flourished around 2700 BC but the hero Gilgamesh in the legend is represented as being half-god.

Origin of myths

Most people possessed their own myths to illustrate how the world began and many myths open with darkness or water. According to an Indian myth the world had its origin when a creature resembling a man divided into man and woman. And from the marriage of the man and woman, came the entire human race and subsequently animals. Most myths have the atmosphere of darkness and from it a God appears and sets the process of creation in motion.

The "creation myths" mainly deal with how the world was formed and how the human race came into existence. Such myths were created among all people in the world even though a people had no communication with another group of people living in another corner of the world.

All early peoples had their own reservoir of myths to explain how natural events occurr. The ancient Egyptian legends spellout the exceptional journey of Sun God "Ra" who sailed across the sky in a boat.

Place of gods

At the centre of most myths were placed people's Gods who manipulate the events of the particular myth and thereby command a great respect from people.

The functions of the Gods of a particular nation depended very much upon things that were absolutely indispensable for people. For instance, the gods of the Vikings who were notorious for their piracy, were predominantly concerned with military activities. The Aztecs of Mexico, an outstanding agricultural community, adoned a special God called 'Maize God.'

Greek myth describes a period when only gods and titans were governing the universe. Once, Prometheus a famous titan sat making tiny models of gods out of clay.

It is said that the Goddess Athene appeared before him and breathed life into these mud dolls and the human race was thus born.

According to a Japanese myth, Isanami and Isanagi, the twin Gods first created the world from a sea of lifeless mud.

The myth continues to say that the twin Gods took a long spear with a tip made of stars and sturned the mud until it thickened and stuck to the point of the spear. Bits of mud that fell back into the sea were later shaped into islands and continents where trees and flowers grew with the gradual passage of time.

According to Greek mythology, God Appollo was the Sun God for Greeks who believed that Appollo was driving a flaming chariot across the sky. In Hindu mythology, the Garuda (a half-man, half-eagle creature) was said to be the sun appearing in the shape of a bird. In the myth, the Garuda carries God Vishnu and his wife Lakshmi on his back.

The Zuni tribe of the American Southwest believed that the first people came from underground and were black and hideous. The mythology says that they were guided by the medicine man Yanauluha.

In Slavic mythology, Baba Laga is a witch who keeps watch over the gate of the other world and possesses power over day and night, animals and birds.

Dragons

Dragons deserve a particular notice with regard to myths and legends. In the simplest definition, dragons are mythical creatures with a mixture of snake and bird representing both good and evil.

One of the most famous dragons is the Nidhogg, the 'Dread Biter' found in Norse myths. The Nidhogg is said to threaten the existence of universe and he gnaws the roots of the giant tree, Yggdrasil which the people of the time believed to be the Universe.

For Christians, the dragon represented evil forces - Satan and Archangel Michael defeated the dragon proving the power of good over evil. The ancient Egyptians had a similar myth in which their dragon (Apophis) spread chaos and darkness over the earth each night and was overcome by the Sun-God Ra every morning.

The dragon that Saint George of England is supposed to have destroyed was white, with bat-like wings and it terrorised the people Lydia in the Middle East.

The daughter of the King of Lydia was offered to the dragon as a sacrifice, but Saint George killed the dragon and rescued the Princess.

Legends

Many legends are in fact, well-known folk tales that have become attached to one person. For instance, the legend of Robin Hood was probably based on the adventures of several outlaws who lived in Sherwood in England in the 12th and 13th centuries.

In this legend, Robin Hood plundered from the rich and divided what was plundered to the poor.

The legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin speaks of a period when the town of Hamelin in Germany was overrun by rats.

There is a legend about a marks man who is compelled to shoot an apple from his son's head. This is a folk tale but now it is considered to be about the Swiss hero William Tell.