it divine nourishment. He moulded vessels in
clay, and out of the flint he fashioned various tools.

"In fine, taking up our abode among mankind, we consoled them and taught
them. We were not always visible to them, but of an evening, at the turn
of the road, we would appear to them under forms often strange and
weird, at times dignified and charming, and we adopted at will the
appearance of a monster of the woods and waters, of a venerable old man,
of a beautiful child, or of a woman with broad hips. Sometimes we would
mock them in our songs or test their intelligence by some cunning
prank. There were certain of us of a rather turbulent humour who loved
to tease their women and children, but though lowly folk, they were our
brothers, and we were never loath to come to their aid. Through our care
their intelligence developed sufficiently to attain to mistaken ideas,
and to acquire erroneous notions of the relations of cause and effect.
As they supposed that some magic bond existed between the reality and
its counterfeit presentment, they covered the walls of their caves with
figures of animals and carved in ivory images of the reindeer and the
mammoth in order to secure as prey the creatures they represented.
Centuries passed by with infinite slowness while their genius was coming
to birth. We sent them happy thoughts in dreams, inspired them to tame
the horse, to castrate the bull, to teach the dog to guard the sheep.
They created the family and the tribe. It came to pass one day that one
of their wandering tribes was assailed by ferocious hunters. Forthwith
the young men of the tribe formed an enclosed ring with their chariots,
and in it they shut their women, children, old people, cattle, and
treasures, and from the platform of their chariots they hurled murderous
stones at their assailants. Thus was formed the first city. Born in
misery and condemned to do murder by the law of Iahveh, man put his
whole heart into doing battle, and to war he was indebted for his
noblest virtues. He hallowed with his blood that sacred love of country
which should (if man fulfils his destiny to the very end) enfold the
whole earth in peace. One of us, Daedalus, brought him the axe, the
plumb-line, and the sail. Thus we rendered the existence of mortals less
hard and difficult. By the shores of the lakes they built dwellings of
osier, where they might enjoy a meditative quiet unknown to the other
inhabitants of the earth, and when they