Phrygian

Attis is the son of Cybele in her form as the virgin, Nana, who is impregnated by the divine force in the form of a pomegranate. Like his mother and so many other heroes, he is exposed to the elements and nourished by a beast.

The Agdos rock—so the story runs—had assumed the shape of the Great Mother. [The Phrygian sky-god. Papas]... fell asleep upon it. As he slept, or as he strove with the goddess, his semen fell upon the rock. In the tenth month the Agdos rock bellowed and brought forth an untamable, savage being, of twofold sex and twofold lust, named Agdistis. With cruel 5 joy Agdistis plundered, murdered and destroyed whatever it chose, cared for neither gods nor men, and held nothing mightier on earth or in heaven than itself. The gods often consulted together as to how this insolence could be tamed. When they all hesitated, Dionysos took over the task. There was a certain spring to which Agdistis came to assuage its thirst lo

When it was overheated with sport and hunting. Dionysos turned the springwater into wine. Agdistis came running up, impelled by thirst, greedily drank the strange liquor and fell perforce into deepest sleep. Dionysos was on the watch. He adroitly made a cord of hair, and with it bound 5 Agdistis’s male member to a tree. Awakened from its drunkenness, the monster sprang up and castrated itself by its own strength. The earth drank the flowing blood, and with it the torn-off parts. From these at once arose a fruit-bearing tree: an almond-tree or-according to another tale—a pomegranate-tree. Nana, the daughter of the king or river-god Sangarios (Nana to is another name for the great goddess of Asia Minor), saw the beauty of the fruit, plucked it and hid it in her lap. The fruit vanished, and Nana conceived a child of it. Her father imprisoned her, as a woman deflowered, and condemned her to death by starvation. The Great Mother fed her on fruits and on the foods of the gods. She gave birth to a little boy. Sangarios had 15 the child left out in the open to perish. A hegoat tended the suckling, who, when he was found, was fed upon a liquor called “he-goat’s milk.” He was named Attis, either because attis is Lydian for a handsome boy or because attagus was Phrygian for a he-goat.

(C. Kerenyi, The Gods of the Greeks, pp. 89-90.)

WATER JAR BOY Tewa Indian

This hero’s mother receives the god as a piece of clay, the traditional substance of life. The “illegitimate” child is miraculously protected by his temporary form as a water jar.

The people were living at Sikyatki. There was a fine looking girl who refused to get married. Her mother made water jars all the time. One day as she was using her foot to mix some clay, she told her daughter to go on with this while she went for water. The girl tried to mix the clay on a flat stone by stepping on it. Somehow some of it entered her. This made her pregnant, and after a time she gave birth. The mother was angry about this, but when she looked she saw it was not a baby that had been born, but a little jar. When the mother asked where it came from the girl just cried. Then the father came in. He said he was very glad his daughter had a baby. When he found out that it was a water jar, he became very fond of it.

He watched it and saw it move. It grew, and in twenty days it had become big. It could go about with the other children and was able to talk. The children also became fond of it. They found out from his talk that he was Water Jar Boy. His mother cried, because he had no legs or arms or eyes. But they were able to feed him through the jar mouth.

When snow came the boy begged his grandfather to take him along

With the men to hunt rabbits. “My poor grandson, you can’t hunt rabbits; you have no arms or legs.”

“Take me anyway,” said the boy. “You are so old, you can’t kill anything.” His grandfather took him down under the mesa where he rolled along. Pretty soon he saw a rabbit track and followed it. Then a rabbit ran out, and he began to chase it. He hit himself against a rock. The jar broke, and up jumped a boy.

He was very glad his skin had been broken and that he was a big boy. He had lots of beads around his neck, earstrings of turquoise, a dance kilt and moccasins, and a buckskin shirt. He was fine-looking and handsomely dressed. He killed four jackrabbits before sunset, because he was a good runner.

His grandfather was waiting for him at the foot of the mesa, but did not know him. He asked the fine looking boy, “Did you see my grandson anywhere?”

“No, I did not see him.”

“That’s too bad; he’s late.”

“I didn’t see anyone anywhere,” said the boy. Then he said, “I am your grandson.” He said this because his grandfather looked so disappointed.

“No, you are not my grandson.” “Yes, I am.”

“You are only teasing me. My grandson is a round jar and has no arms and legs.”

Then the boy said, “I am telling you the truth. I am your grandson. This morning you carried me down here. I looked for rabbits and chased one, just rolling along. Pretty soon I hit myself on a rock. My skin was broken, and I came out of it. I am the very one who is your grandson. You must believe me.” Then the old man believed him, and they went home together.

When the grandfather came to the house with a fine looking man, the girl was ashamed, thinking the man was a suitor. The old man said, “This is Water Jar Boy, my grandson. The grandmother then asked how the water jar became a boy, and the two men told her. Finally, the women were convinced.

The boy went about with the other boys of the village. One day he said to his mother, “Who is my father?”

“I don’t know,” she replied. He kept on asking, but it just made her cry. Finally he said, “I am going to find my father, tomorrow.”

“You can’t find him. I have never been with any man so there is no place for you to look for a father,” she said.

“But I know I have one,” the boy said. “I know where he lives. I am going to see him.”

The mother begged him nor to go, but he insisted. The next day she fixed food for him, and he went off toward the southwest to a place called Horse Mesa Point. There was a spring at this place. As he approached he saw a man walking a little way from the spring. He said to the boy, “Where are you going?”

“To the spring,” the boy answered.

“Well, I want to go to the spring. My father is living in it,” said the boy. “Who is your father?” asked the man again. “Well, I think you are my father.” “How do you know that?” “I just know, that’s all.”

Then the man stared hard at the boy, trying to scare him. The boy just 10 kept on saying, “You are my father.” At last the man said, “Yes, I am your father. I came out of the spring to meet you.” He put his arms around the boy’s neck. He was very glad his boy had come, and he took him down to the spring.

There were many people living there. The women and the girls ran up to 15 the boy and put their arms around him, because they were glad he had come. This way he found his father and his father’s relatives. He stayed there one night. The next day he went to his own home and told his mother he had found his father.

Soon his mother got sick and died. The boy thought to himself, “It’s no 20 use for me to stay with these people,” so he went to the spring. There he found his mother among the other women. He learned that his father was Red Water Snake. He told his boy that he could not live over at Sikyatki, so he had made the boy’s mother sick so she would die and come to live with him. After that they all lived together.

(T. P. Coffin, ed., Indian Tales of North America, pp. 99-101.)