[14] Hence a text of the Veda can say in a similar mood: "May Day
and Night procure for us long life" (House-book of [=A]cval[=a]yana, ii.
4. 14). Conversely it is a commonplace of the Veda to say that day and
night destroy the lives of men. One text says that, "day and night are
the encircling arms of death" (Br[=a]hmana of the _K[=a]ush[=i]takin_,
ii. 9). Another, more explicitly, "the year is death"; by means of day
and night does it destroy the life of mortals (_Catapatha-Br[=a]hmana_,
x. 4. 3. 1). He who wishes to be released from the grim grip of day and
night sacrifices (symbolically) white and black rice, and pronounces the
words: "Hail to Day; hail to Night; hail to Release" (Br[=a]hmana of the
_T[=a]ittiriya_, iii. 1. 6. 2). Who does not remember in this connection
the parable widely current in the Orient, in which two rats, one white,
the other black, gnaw alternately, but without let-up, the plant or tree
of life?[15]
THE CERBERI IN THE NORSE MYTH.
Norse mythology also contains certain animal pairs which seem to reflect
the two dualities, sun and moon, and day and night.
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