among the naked flying swan-maidens, an adventure
familiar to the Red Men as to Persian legends of the Peris.

To end our comparison of myths like the tale of 'Cupid and Psyche,' we
find an example among the Zulus. Here {84b} the mystic lover came in
when all was dark, and felt the damsel's face. After certain rites, 'in
the morning he went away, he speaking continually, the girl not seeing
him. During all those days he would not allow the girl (sic), when she
said she would light a fire. Finally, after a magical ceremony, he said,
"Light the fire!" and stood before her revealed, a shining shape.' This
has a curious resemblance to the myth of Cupid and Psyche; but a more
curious detail remains. In the Zulu story of Ukcombekcansini, the
friends of a bride break a taboo and kill a tabooed animal. Instantly,
like Urvasi and her companions in the Yajur Veda, the bride and her
maidens disappear _and are turned into birds_! {84c} They are afterwards
surprised in human shape, and the bride is restored to her lover.

Here we conclude, having traced parallels to Cupid and Psyche in many non-
Aryan lands. Our theory of the myth does not rest on etymology. We have
seen that the most renowned scholars, Max Muller, Kuhn, Roth, all analyse
the names Urvasi and Pururavas in different ways, and extract different
interpretations. We have found the story where these names were probably
never heard of. We interpret it as a tale of the intercourse between
mortal men and immortal maids, or between men and metamorphosed animals,
as in India and North America. We explain the separation of the lovers
as the result of breaking a taboo, or law of etiquette, binding among men
and women, as well as between men and fairies.

* * * * *

The taboos are, to see the beloved unveiled, to utter his or her name, to
touch her with a metal 'terrible to ghosts and spirits,' or to do some
action which will revive the associations of a former life. We have
shown that rules of nuptial etiquette resembling these in character do
exist, and have existed, even among Greeks--as where the Milesian, like
the Zulu, women made a law not to utter their husbands' names. Finally,
we think it a reasonable hypothesis that tales on the pattern of 'Cupid
and Psyche' might have been evolved wherever a curious nuptial taboo
required to be sanctioned, or explained, by a myth. On this hypothesis,
the stories may have been separately invented in different lands;