in; the frog, croaking,
announces or brings the rain; and at this point the frog, which we
have seen identified at first with the cloud, is also identified with the
pluvial moon." [251] This myth is not lacking in involution.

In China "the moon is regarded as chief and director of everything
subject in the kosmic system to the Yin [feminine] principle, such as
darkness, the earth, female creatures, water, etc. Thus Pao P'ah Tsze
declares with reference to the tides: 'The vital essence of the moon
governs water: and hence, when the moon is at its brightest, the
tides are high.'" [252] According to the Japanese fairy tale the moon
was to "rule over the new-born earth and the blue waste of the sea,
with its multitudinous salt waters." [253] Thus we see that
throughout Asia, "as lord of moisture and humidity, the moon is
connected with growth and the nurturing power of the peaceful
night." [254]

Of the kindred of the Pharaohs, Plutarch observes: "The sun and
moon were described by the Egyptians as sailing round the world in
boats, intimating that these bodies owe their power of moving, as
well as their support and nourishment, to the principle of humidity"
(Plut. de Isid. s. 34): which statement Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson says
is confirmed by the sculptures. The moon-god Khons bears in his
hands either a palm-branch or "the Nilometer." When the Egyptians
sacrificed a pig to the moon, "the first sacred emblem they carried
was a _hydria_, or water-pitcher." At another festival the Egyptians
"marched in procession towards the sea-side, whither likewise the
priests and other proper officers carried the sacred chest, inclosing a
small boat or vessel of gold, into which they first poured some fresh
water; and then all present cried out with a loud voice 'Osiris is
found.' This ceremony being ended, they threw a little fresh mould,
together with rich odours and spices, into the water, mixing the
whole mass together, and working it up into a little image in the
shape of a crescent. The image was afterwards dressed and adorned
with a proper habit, and the whole was intended to intimate that they
looked upon these gods as the essence and power of earth and
water." [255]

The Austro-Hungarians have a man in the moon who is a sort of
aquarius. Grimm says: "Water, an essential part of the Norse myth,
is wanting in the story of the man with the thorn bush, but it
reappears in the Carniolan story cited in Bretano's Libussa (p. 421):