Cook, Arthur B.: Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 3,1): Zeus god of the dark sky (earthquake, clouds, wind, dew, rain, meteorits): Text and notes (Cambridge, 1940)

The holed vessel elsewhere

alleged examples of rain-charms in Scripture1 do not, however,
illustrate the actual usage of a holed vessel or sieve2.

A remarkable instance of rain-making through a celestial sieve
is recorded by Major S. C. Macpherson in his account of the
Khonds' religion. A great Janni with two smaller priests and some
of the principal elders address the following prayer to the rain-g°d
Pidzu Pennu:

' Oh, give us abundant rain, enough to melt the hill-tops. Go and fetch wate1
for us, if need be, by force or fraud, from the stores of your friends the gods o
rain. Bring it in brass vessels, and in hollow gourds, and resting on the sky
above our land, pour the water down on it through your sieve until the sarnbur,
unable to live in the forests, shall seek shelter in our houses, and till the soil o
the mountains shall be washed into our valleys3.' Etc.

In the Finnish Kalevala Louhi, the lady of the north country
Pohjola, prays thus:

Maiden of the Clouds, Mist-Maiden,
Scatter from thy sieve the cloudlets,
And the mists around thee scatter,
Send the thick clouds down from heaven,
Sink thou from the air of vapour,
O'er the broad lake's shining surface,
Out upon the open water,
On the head of Vainamoinen,
Falling on Uvantolainen4.

ti of a

Over a great part of Germany we find the recognition
supernatural and commonly beneficent being called Frau H° _
(Hulda, Holle, Hulk, Holl, etc.5). She is a sky-power of some soi

1 D. B. Stade Biblische Theologie des Allen Testaments Tubingen 1905 l-

l9°' n xi*-

2 A. Marmorstein 'Das Sieb im Volksglauben' in the Archivf. Pel. 19'^ j^0Pu^al
235—238 shows that the sieve plays a considerable part in Rabbinic literature ai
Jewish custom. 0f the

3 W. Macpherson Memorials of Service in India. From the correspondence .R
late Major Samuel Charters Macpherson, C.B. London 1865 p. 355 ff-> E- ^- J

J. Hastings Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics Edinburgh 1918 x. 564s- fill

4 Kalevala trans. W. F. Kirby 42. 338 ff. According to the Hon. J. AberC[°"ghter °f
Pre- and Proto-historic Finns London 1898 i. 306f. (cp. ii. 341 f-)> 'The ^ ^e en"

nature {hwnto), Udutar, and the sharp maiden Terhetar sifted mist in a sieve
of a misty promontory, thereby giving origin to fevers and pleurisy.' .. a sie

ve

In Languedoc it is said that the Drac or water-spirit has hands pierced 1 ^ cjted
(F. Liebrecht Des Gervasius von Tilbury Otia Imperialia Hannover 1856 p- '39
by F. L. W. Schwartz Der Ursprung der Mythologie Berlin i860 p. 7 »• jO" ; 265'

rr

J. Grimm Teutonic Mythology trans. J. S. StaUybrass London '>> ,.'by tllC

(■Holdd_ is the kind, benignant, merciful goddess or lady, from hold (Pr°Pltl"Su'b'terra»ea"
side of our dame Holde there are also /widen, i.e., friendly spirits, a silent S jyje)'eI

. . . „ , , .... .. nnn :.. .ofilf.,!"1 . ii,<.»-

people, of whom dame Holde, so to speak, is the princess'), 1888 iv. 13^7 ■' ' \Vol^e!'
Germanische Mythologie Berlin 1891 pp. 272 ff. ('Der Mythus der d6"'^* freundliC
gottxa'...'Frau Hoick, Holle, Hulle, mile, Wnlle, Holkel von hold, g- hu p