for the sake of her country, but refused. At this juncture
the pregnant sister of the Rajah boldly stepped forward, and
cast herself beneath the prow of the vessel, which instantly
put itself in motion, and again floated on the waves without
injury to the princess. Whereupon the Rajah disinherited the
offspring of his disobedient daughter in favour of the child
of his sister, and caused this to be enrolled in the
records of the empire as the law of succession in time to
come."[240]

[240] Newbold, _Account of the British Settlements in the
Straits of Malacca_, Vol. II, p. 221.

The second illustration is taken from the quarrel between Pallas
Athene and Poseidon to which already I have referred. The myth tells
us--

"A double wonder sprang out of the earth at the same
time--at one place the olive tree and at another water. The
people in terror sent to Delphi to ask what should be done.
The god answered that the olive tree signified the power of
Athene, and the water that of Poseidon; and that it remained
with the burgesses to choose after which of the two they
would name their town. An assembly was called of the
burgesses, both men and women, for it was then the custom to
let the women take part in the public councils. The men
voted for Poseidon, the women for Athene; and as there were
more women than men by one, Athene conquered. Thereupon
Poseidon was enraged, and immediately the sea flowed over
all the lands of Athens. To appease the sea-god, the
burgesses found it necessary to impose a threefold
punishment on their wives. They were to lose their votes;
the children were to receive no more the mother's name, and
they themselves were no longer to be called after the
goddess."[241]

[241] McLennan, _Studies_, "Kinship in Ancient Greece," p.
235.

The origin of these myths is perfectly clear. There is no reason to
force their interpretation by regarding them as historical evidence of
a struggle taking place between the maternal and the paternal custom
of tracing descent;[242] rather they are poetical explanations,
plainly invented to account for women's predominance at a time when
such power had come to be considered as unusual. The same may be said
of many of these old myths. Man's fancy begins to weave poetic
inventions around anything he considers abnormal or is not