The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion

«When I first set myself to solve the problem more than thirty years ago, I thought that the solution could be propounded very briefly, but I soon found that to render it probable or even intelligible it was necessary to discuss certain more general questions, some of which had hardly been broached before.» — Frazer cuenta el desborde de su propio plan: creyó que la solución cabía en poco y tuvo que discutir cuestiones generales apenas tratadas antes

«While the bulk of the book has been greatly reduced, I have endeavoured to retain its leading principles, together with an amount of evidence sufficient to illustrate them clearly. The language of the original has also for the most part been preserved, though here and there the exposition has been somewhat condensed.» — declara qué conserva la abreviación: los principios rectores, evidencia bastante para ilustrarlos y, en lo esencial, la lengua del original

«Readers who desire to ascertain the source of any particular statement must therefore consult the larger work, which is fully documented and provided with a complete bibliography.» — y remite al lector que quiera la fuente de un dato a la obra mayor, la única documentada y con bibliografía completa

«In the abridgment I have neither added new matter nor altered the views expressed in the last edition; for the evidence which has come to my knowledge in the meantime has on the whole served either to confirm my former conclusions or to furnish fresh illustrations of old principles.» — Frazer declara no haber añadido materia nueva ni cambiado las opiniones de la última edición, porque la evidencia posterior le sirvió de confirmación o de ilustración

«Thus, for example, on the crucial question of the practice of putting kings to death either at the end of a fixed period or whenever their health and strength began to fail, the body of evidence which points to the wide prevalence of such a custom has been considerably augmented in the interval.» — y pone por caso la cuestión que tiene por crucial —dar muerte al rey al cabo de un plazo fijo o cuando flaquea su salud—, cuya evidencia dice muy aumentada en el intervalo

«Among them the most notable perhaps is the custom formerly observed in Bunyoro of choosing every year from a particular clan a mock king, who was supposed to incarnate the late king, cohabited with his widows at his temple-tomb, and after reigning for a week was strangled.» — según Frazer, en Bunyoro se escogía cada año de un clan un rey simulado que encarnaba al rey muerto, cohabitaba con sus viudas en el templo-tumba y era estrangulado tras reinar una semana

«The custom presents a close parallel to the ancient Babylonian festival of the Sacaea, at which a mock king was dressed in the royal robes, allowed to enjoy the real king’s concubines, and after reigning for five days was stripped, scourged, and put to death.» — traza el paralelo con la fiesta babilonia de las Saceas, donde un rey simulado vestía la ropa real, gozaba de las concubinas del rey verdadero y a los cinco días era desnudado, azotado y muerto

«That festival in its turn has lately received fresh light from certain Assyrian inscriptions, 3 which seem to confirm the interpretation which I formerly gave of the festival as a New Year celebration and the parent of the Jewish festival of Purim.» — y añade que ciertas inscripciones asirias parecen sostener su lectura de esa fiesta como celebración de Año Nuevo y como madre del Purim judío

«With these and other instances of like customs before us it is no longer possible to regard the rule of succession to the priesthood of Diana at Aricia as exceptional; it clearly exemplifies a widespread institution, of which the most numerous and the most similar cases have thus far been found in Africa.» — de ahí concluye que la regla de Aricia no es excepcional sino ejemplo de una institución extendida, cuyos casos más numerosos y parecidos se han hallado hasta ahora en África

«How far the facts point to an early influence of Africa on Italy, or even to the existence of an African population in Southern Europe, I do not presume to say. The prehistoric relations between the two continents are still obscure and still under investigation.» — y ahí se detiene: no presume decir hasta dónde los hechos apuntan a una influencia africana temprana sobre Italia o a una población africana en el sur de Europa, porque las relaciones prehistóricas entre los dos continentes siguen oscuras

«Whether the explanation which I have offered of the institution is correct or not must be left to the future to determine. I shall always be ready to abandon it if a better can be suggested.» — Frazer deja a la posteridad decidir si su explicación es correcta y se declara dispuesto a abandonarla si se propone otra mejor

«But I am so far from regarding the reverence for trees as of supreme importance for the evolution of religion that I consider it to have been altogether subordinate to other factors, and in particular to the fear of the human dead, which, on the whole, I believe to have been probably the most powerful force in the making of primitive religion.» — y fija su propia jerarquía: la reverencia por los árboles le parece subordinada a otros factores, y sobre todo al miedo a los muertos humanos, que tiene por la fuerza más poderosa en la formación de la religión primitiva

«I hope that after this explicit disclaimer I shall no longer be taxed with embracing a system of mythology which I look upon not merely as false but as preposterous and absurd.» — rechaza que se le atribuya un sistema de mitología, que dice tener no solo por falso sino por descabellado y absurdo

«But I am too familiar with the hydra of error to expect that by lopping off one of the monster’s heads I can prevent another, or even the same, from sprouting again.» — y no se hace ilusiones sobre el efecto del desmentido: conoce demasiado la hidra del error para creer que cortando una cabeza impedirá que brote otra

«A striking instance of a limited monarchy of this sort is furnished by the powerful mediaeval kingdom of the Khazars in Southern Russia,» — según Frazer, el poderoso reino medieval de los jázaros del sur de Rusia es caso llamativo de esa monarquía limitada; la frase sigue en la plana siguiente, donde dice que a sus reyes se les daba muerte al expirar un plazo o cuando una calamidad pública —sequía, hambre, derrota en guerra— parecía señalar el fallo de sus poderes naturales

«worship of trees, it is not, I trust, because I exaggerate its importance in the history of religion, still less because I would deduce from it a whole system of mythology; it is simply because I could not ignore the subject in attempting to explain the significance of a priest who bore the title of King of the Wood, and one of whose titles to office was the plucking of a bough – the Golden Bough – from a tree in the sacred grove.» — explica por qué el culto de los árboles ocupa tanto espacio en el libro: no porque exagere su importancia en la historia de la religión ni porque deduzca de él un sistema de mitología, sino porque no podía ignorarlo al explicar a un sacerdote que llevaba el título de Rey del Bosque y cuyo título de oficio era arrancar una rama —la rama dorada— de un árbol del bosque sagrado. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«In antiquity this sylvan landscape was the scene of a strange and recurring tragedy. On the northern shore of the lake, right under the precipitous cliffs on which the modern village of Nemi is perched, stood the sacred grove and sanctuary of Diana Nemorensis, or Diana of the Wood.» — Frazer abre el capítulo I situando la escena: en la orilla norte del lago de Nemi estaban el bosque y el santuario de Diana Nemorensis, Diana del Bosque

«A candidate for the priesthood could only succeed to office by slaying the priest, and having slain him, he retained office till he was himself slain by a stronger or a craftier.» — la regla del santuario, tal como Frazer la enuncia: solo se accedía al sacerdocio matando al sacerdote, y se conservaba hasta ser muerto por uno más fuerte o más astuto

«The post which he held by this precarious tenure carried with it the title of king; but surely no crowned head ever lay uneasier, or was visited by more evil dreams, than his.» — y el precio de esa tenencia precaria: el cargo traía el título de rey, pero ninguna cabeza coronada durmió peor

«No one will probably deny that such a custom savours of a barbarous age, and, surviving into imperial times, stands out in striking isolation from the polished Italian society of the day, like a primaeval rock rising» — sostiene que la costumbre sabe a edad bárbara y, sobreviviendo en tiempos imperiales, destaca aislada de la sociedad italiana pulida del día; la comparación sigue, cortada por el cambio de plana, con la roca primigenia que se alza de un césped recién segado

«It is the very rudeness and barbarity of the custom which allow us a hope of explaining it.» — y hace de esa misma rudeza la condición de que pueda explicarse

«Such an inference, in default of direct evidence as to how the priesthood did actually arise, can never amount to demonstration.» — Frazer acota de entrada el alcance de su método: a falta de evidencia directa sobre cómo nació el sacerdocio, la inferencia no llegará nunca a demostración

«But it will be more or less probable according to the degree of completeness with which it fulfils the conditions I have indicated.» — y fija el único criterio que se concede: será más o menos probable según cumpla las condiciones que ha indicado

«The object of this book is, by meeting these conditions, to offer a fairly probable explanation of the priesthood of Nemi.» — con lo que el objeto declarado del libro es ofrecer una explicación razonablemente probable del sacerdocio de Nemi, no una cierta

«Here the sacred fire would seem to have been tended by Vestal Virgins, for the head of a Vestal in terra-cotta was found on the spot, and the worship of a perpetual fire, cared for by holy maidens, appears to have been common in Latium from the earliest to the latest times.» — según Frazer, el fuego sagrado de Nemi lo atendían vírgenes vestales —se halló allí una cabeza de vestal en terracota— y el culto del fuego perpetuo cuidado por doncellas santas parece común en el Lacio de punta a punta de su historia

«The purling of the stream as it ran over the pebbles is mentioned by Ovid, who tells us that he had often drunk of its water.» — según Frazer, Ovidio menciona el murmullo del arroyo de Egeria sobre los guijarros y dice haber bebido a menudo de su agua

«According to some, the trysting-place of the lovers was not in the woods of Nemi but in a grove outside the dripping Porta Capena at Rome, where another sacred spring of Egeria gushed from a dark cavern.» — consigna la versión rival sin arbitrar: para algunos la cita de los amantes no era en los bosques de Nemi sino en un bosquecillo fuera de la Porta Capena de Roma, donde otra fuente sagrada de Egeria brotaba de una caverna oscura

«Legend had it that Virbius was the young Greek hero Hippolytus, chaste and fair, who learned the art of venery from the centaur Chiron, and spent all his days in the greenwood chasing wild beasts with the virgin huntress Artemis (the Greek counterpart of Diana) for his only comrade.» — según Frazer, la leyenda identificaba a Virbio con Hipólito, el joven héroe griego casto y hermoso que aprendió la caza del centauro Quirón y pasaba los días en el bosque con Artemisa —la contraparte griega de Diana— por única compañera

«It needs no elaborate demonstration to convince us that the stories told to account for Diana’s worship at Nemi are unhistorical.» — Frazer descarta como ahistóricos los relatos que explican el culto de Diana en Nemi

«The incongruity of these Nemi myths is indeed transparent, since the foundation of the worship is traced now to Orestes and now to Hippolytus, according as this or that feature of the ritual has to be accounted for.» — y da su razón: la fundación del culto se remite ora a Orestes ora a Hipólito según qué rasgo del rito haya que explicar

«In the latter respect these Nemi legends are probably more to be trusted than the apparently historical tradition, vouched for by Cato the Elder, that the sacred grove was dedicated to Diana by a certain Egerius Baebius or Laevius of Tusculum, a Latin dictator, on behalf of the peoples of Tusculum, Aricia, Lanuvium, Laurentum, Cora, Tibur, Pometia, and Ardea.» — según Frazer, Catón el Viejo avala la tradición de que el bosque lo dedicó a Diana un dictador latino de Túsculo, Egerio Bebio o Levio, en nombre de los pueblos de Túsculo, Aricia, Lanuvio, Laurento, Cora, Tíbur, Pometia y Ardea

«But we cannot suppose that so barbarous a rule as that of the Arician priesthood was deliberately instituted by a league of civilised communities, such as the Latin cities undoubtedly were.» — y objeta esa versión: una regla tan bárbara no pudo instituirla deliberadamente una liga de comunidades civilizadas como eran las ciudades latinas

«It must have been handed down from a time beyond the memory of man, when Italy was still in a far ruder state than any known to us in the historical period.» — de donde infiere que la regla venía de un tiempo anterior a toda memoria, cuando Italia estaba en estado mucho más rudo que el del periodo histórico

«He and the image of the Tauric Diana, which could only be appeased with human blood, were dragged in to render intelligible the murderous rule of succession to the Arician priesthood.» — según Frazer, a Orestes y a la imagen de la Diana Táurica, que solo con sangre humana se aplacaba, se los trajo al relato para volver inteligible la regla homicida de sucesión

«In regard to Hippolytus the case is not so plain.» — y reconoce que con Hipólito el caso no es tan llano

«It is some confirmation of this view that within the precinct of Hippolytus at Troezen there were worshipped two female powers named Damia and Auxesia, whose connexion with the fertility of the ground is unquestionable.» — aduce como confirmación parcial que en el recinto de Hipólito en Trecén se veneraba a dos potencias femeninas, Damia y Auxesia, cuya relación con la fertilidad del suelo tiene por incuestionable

«When Epidaurus suffered from a dearth, the people, in obedience to an oracle, carved images of Damia and Auxesia out of sacred olivewood, and no sooner had they done so and set them up than the earth bore fruit again.» — según Frazer, ante la carestía los de Epidauro tallaron por orden de un oráculo imágenes de Damia y Auxesia en madera de olivo sagrada, y al plantarlas la tierra volvió a dar fruto

«Moreover, at Troezen itself, and apparently within the precinct of Hippolytus, a curious festival of stone-throwing was held in honour of these maidens, as the Troezenians called them; and it is easy to show that similar customs have been practised in many lands for the express purpose of ensuring good crops.» — y añade la fiesta de apedreo que se celebraba en Trecén en honor de esas doncellas, con la comparación que le interesa: costumbres parecidas se han practicado en muchas tierras con el fin expreso de asegurar la cosecha

«There is at least nothing absurd in the supposition, since even in the time of Pliny a noble Roman used thus to treat a beautiful beech-tree in another sacred grove of Diana on the Alban hills.» — según Frazer, en tiempos de Plinio un noble romano trataba así a un hermoso haya de otro bosque sagrado de Diana en los montes Albanos, lo que le quita absurdo a la suposición del árbol venerado

«He embraced it, he kissed it, he lay under its shadow, he poured wine on its trunk.» — y lo detalla: lo abrazaba, lo besaba, se echaba a su sombra y derramaba vino en su tronco

«the shrouds: we shake out our sails to it, and leave the coast of Italy behind us for a time.» — Frazer cierra el capítulo con la metáfora del viaje: despliega las velas y deja atrás por un tiempo la costa de Italia. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«The union of a royal title with priestly duties was common in ancient Italy and Greece.» — abre el capítulo II sosteniendo que la unión de título real con deberes sacerdotales era común en la Italia y la Grecia antiguas

«At Rome and in other cities of Latium there was a priest called the Sacrificial King or King of the Sacred Rites, and his wife bore the title of Queen of the Sacred Rites.» — y lo apoya en el *rex sacrorum* de Roma y otras ciudades del Lacio, con su mujer por reina de los ritos sagrados

«The Emperors of China offered public sacrifices, the details of which were regulated by the ritual books. The King of Madagascar was high-priest of the realm.» — según Frazer, los emperadores de China ofrecían sacrificios públicos reglados por libros rituales, y el rey de Madagascar era sumo sacerdote del reino

«When we have said that the ancient kings were commonly priests also, we are far from having exhausted the religious aspect of their office. In those days the divinity that hedges a king was no empty form of speech, but the expression of a sober belief.» — sostiene que decir que los reyes antiguos eran a la vez sacerdotes no agota el aspecto religioso del cargo: la divinidad que cerca al rey no era fórmula vacía sino creencia sobria

«Kings were revered, in many cases not merely as priests, that is, as intercessors between man and god, but as themselves gods, able to bestow upon their subjects and worshippers those blessings which are commonly supposed to be beyond the reach of mortals, and are sought, if at all, only by prayer and sacrifice offered to superhuman and invisible beings.» — y sube el grado: en muchos casos se veneraba a los reyes no ya como intercesores sino como dioses ellos mismos, capaces de dar bienes que suelen tenerse por fuera del alcance mortal

«A savage hardly conceives the distinction commonly drawn by more advanced peoples between the natural and the supernatural.» — y da su razón de fondo: el salvaje apenas concibe la distinción entre lo natural y lo sobrenatural que trazan los pueblos más avanzados

«But there is another. Along with the view of the world as pervaded by spiritual forces, savage man has a different, and probably still older, conception in which we may detect a germ of the modern notion of natural law or the view of nature as a series of events occurring in an invariable order without the intervention of personal agency.» — según Frazer, junto a la visión del mundo penetrado de fuerzas espirituales el hombre salvaje tiene otra concepción, probablemente más vieja, donde late el germen de la noción moderna de ley natural

«Hence in order to understand the evolution of the kingship and the sacred character with which the office has commonly been invested in the eyes of savage or barbarous peoples, it is essential to have some acquaintance with the principles of magic and to form some conception of the extraordinary hold which that ancient system of superstition has had on the human mind in all ages and all countries.» — de ahí el plan del libro: para entender la realeza y su carácter sagrado hace falta conocer los principios de la magia y el dominio que ha ejercido sobre la mente humana

«If we analyse the principles of thought on which magic is based, they will probably be found to resolve themselves into two: first, that like produces like, or that an effect resembles its cause; and, second, that things which have once been in contact with each other continue to act on each other at a distance after the physical contact has been severed.» — Frazer reduce el pensamiento mágico a dos principios: que lo semejante produce lo semejante, y que las cosas que estuvieron en contacto siguen actuando una sobre otra a distancia después de cortado el contacto físico

«If my analysis of the magician’s logic is correct, its two great principles turn out to be merely two different misapplications of the association of ideas.» — y los reconduce a un solo origen: los dos grandes principios resultan dos malas aplicaciones distintas de la asociación de ideas

«Homoeopathic magic commits the mistake of assuming that things which resemble each other are the same: contagious magic commits the mistake of assuming that things which have once been in contact with each other are always in contact.» — con el error propio de cada rama: la homeopática supone iguales las cosas que se parecen, la contagiosa supone en contacto perpetuo las que alguna vez lo estuvieron

«For thousands of years ago it was known to the sorcerers of ancient India, Babylon, and Egypt, as well as of Greece and Rome, and at this day it is still resorted to by cunning and malignant savages in Australia, Africa, and Scotland.» — Frazer data la imagen que se hiere para dañar al enemigo en los hechiceros de la India, Babilonia y Egipto antiguos, y en Grecia y Roma, y la dice aún viva en Australia, África y Escocia

«Thus the North American Indians, we are told, believe that by drawing the figure of a person in sand, ashes, or clay, or by considering any object as his body, and then pricking it with a sharp stick or doing it any other injury, they inflict a corresponding injury on the person represented.» — según Frazer, se dice que los indios norteamericanos creen que dibujar la figura de alguien en arena, ceniza o barro y pincharla le inflige a la persona el daño correspondiente

«This charm obviously combines the principles of homoeopathic and contagious magic; since the image which is made in the likeness of an enemy contains things which once were in contact with him, namely, his nails, hair, and spittle.» — y señala el caso mixto: la imagen que además contiene uñas, pelo y saliva del enemigo combina magia homeopática y contagiosa

«Thus among the Bataks of Sumatra a barren woman, who would become a mother, will make a wooden image of a child and hold it in her lap, believing that this will lead to the fulfilment of her wish.» — según Frazer, entre los batak de Sumatra la mujer estéril que quiere ser madre hace una imagen de madera de un niño y la sostiene en su regazo

«To put it otherwise, magic is here blent with and reinforced by religion.» — y consigna la mezcla que su propio esquema evolutivo tiende a separar: ahí la magia va fundida con la religión y reforzada por ella

«Among some of the Dyaks of Borneo, when a woman is in hard labour, a wizard is called in, who essays to facilitate the delivery in a rational manner by manipulating the body of the sufferer.» — según Frazer, entre algunos dayak de Borneo se llama a un brujo que facilita el parto de manera racional, manipulando el cuerpo de la parturienta

«The tie established between the two by this graphic imitation of childbirth is very strict; an offence committed against an adopted child is reckoned more heinous than one committed against a real child.» — Frazer mide la fuerza del lazo que crea la imitación gráfica del parto en la adopción: la ofensa contra el hijo adoptivo se tiene por más grave que contra el propio

«In ancient Greece any man who had been supposed erroneously to be dead, and for whom in his absence funeral rites had been performed, was treated as dead to society till he had gone through the form of being born again.» — según Frazer, en la Grecia antigua a quien se hubiera dado por muerto sin serlo, y se le hubieran hecho funerales, se le tenía por muerto para la sociedad hasta pasar por la forma de nacer de nuevo

«The ancients held that if a person suffering from jaundice looked sharply at a stone-curlew, and the bird looked steadily at him, he was cured of the disease.» — según Frazer, los antiguos tenían que el ictérico sanaba si miraba fijo a un alcaraván y el ave lo miraba a él

«‘Such is the nature,’ says Plutarch, ‘and such the temperament of the creature that it draws out and receives the malady which issues, like a stream, through the eyesight.’» — y cita a Plutarco por la explicación: tal es la naturaleza del animal que extrae y recibe el mal, que sale como una corriente por la vista

«In like manner a Dyak medicine-man, who has been fetched in a case of illness, will lie down and pretend to be dead. He is accordingly treated like a corpse, is bound up in mats, taken out of the house, and deposited on the ground. After about an hour the other medicine-men loose the pretended dead man and bring him to life; and as he recovers, the sick person is supposed to recover too.» — según Frazer, el curandero dayak se finge muerto, se le trata como cadáver y lo devuelven a la vida los otros curanderos, y con él sana el enfermo

«A cure for a tumour, based on the principle of homoeopathic magic, is prescribed by Marcellus of Bordeaux, court physician to Theodosius the First, in his curious work on medicine. It is as follows. Take a root of vervain, cut it across, and hang one end of it round the patient’s neck, and the other in the smoke of the fire. As the vervain dries up in the smoke, so the tumour will also dry up and disappear.» — según Frazer, Marcelo de Burdeos, médico de corte de Teodosio I, receta contra el tumor una raíz de verbena partida, con un cabo al cuello del paciente y el otro al humo: al secarse la verbena se secará el tumor

«If the patient should afterwards prove ungrateful to the good physician, the man of skill can avenge himself very easily by throwing the vervain into water; for as the root absorbs the moisture once more, the tumour will return.» — y añade el reverso vengativo de la misma receta: si el paciente sale ingrato, el médico echa la raíz al agua y, al reabsorber ella la humedad, el tumor vuelve

«Here the tribes are divided into a number of totem clans, each of which is charged with the duty of multiplying their totem for the good of the community by means of magical ceremonies.» — según Frazer, en el centro de Australia las tribus se dividen en clanes totémicos, cada uno encargado de multiplicar su tótem para bien de la comunidad por ceremonias mágicas

«Most of the totems are edible animals and plants, and the general result supposed to be accomplished by these ceremonies is that of supplying the tribe with food and other necessaries.» — y consigna el resultado que se les supone: casi todos los tótems son animales y plantas comestibles, y las ceremonias proveen de alimento a la tribu

«In the island of Nias, when a wild pig has fallen into the pit prepared for it, the animal is taken out and its back is rubbed with nine fallen leaves, in the belief that this will make nine more wild pigs fall into the pit, just as the nine leaves fell from the tree.» — según Frazer, en la isla de Nías se frota el lomo del jabalí caído en la trampa con nueve hojas caídas, para que caigan nueve jabalíes más como cayeron las nueve hojas

«From such a tree he cuts a stout branch and makes of it the principal post in his fish-trap; for he believes that, just as the tree lured many birds to its fruit, so the branch cut from that tree will lure many fish to the trap.» — y el paralelo pesquero: del árbol que atrajo muchas aves a su fruto se corta la rama que hará de poste principal de la nasa, para que atraiga muchos peces

«it seems clear that the sharp-pointed stick on which the bait is skewered would similarly work itself loose, and the crocodile would get off with the bait.» — Frazer explica el tabú del pescador de cocodrilos por la misma lógica de semejanza: si algo se afloja en casa, el palo aguzado del cebo se aflojaría igual y el cocodrilo escaparía con él

«If the supposed evil necessarily followed a breach of taboo, the taboo would not be a taboo but a precept of morality or common sense.» — y define el tabú por oposición al precepto: si el mal siguiera necesariamente a la infracción, no sería tabú sino regla de moral o de sentido común

«It is not a taboo to say, ‘Do not put your hand in the fire’; it is a rule of common sense, because the forbidden action entails a real, not an imaginary evil.» — con el ejemplo que lo fija: no meter la mano en el fuego no es tabú, porque el mal que acarrea es real y no imaginario

«So, too, in most parts of ancient Italy women were forbidden by law to spin on the highroads as they walked, or even to carry their spindles openly, because any such action was believed to injure the crops.» — según Frazer, en casi toda la Italia antigua la ley prohibía a las mujeres hilar por los caminos o llevar el huso a la vista, porque se creía que dañaba las mieses

«Probably the notion was that the twirling of the spindle would twirl the corn-stalks and prevent them from growing straight.» — y propone la razón: que el giro del huso retorcería los tallos del grano y les impediría crecer derechos. Frazer marca la conjetura con *probably*

«Again, a Blackfoot Indian who has set a trap for eagles, and is watching it, would not eat rosebuds on any account; for he argues that if he did so, and an eagle alighted near the trap, the rosebuds in his own stomach would make the bird itch, with the result that instead of swallowing the bait the eagle would merely sit and scratch himself.» — según Frazer, el indio pies negros que vigila una trampa de águilas no come capullos de rosa, porque le darían comezón al ave y en vez de tragar el cebo se rascaría

«Further, the Malagasy soldier must eschew kidneys, because in the Malagasy language the word for kidney is the same as that for ‘shot’; so shot he would certainly be if he ate a kidney.» — según Frazer, el soldado malgache evita los riñones porque en su lengua la palabra para riñón es la misma que para disparo

«thus among the Blackfoot Indians the wives and children of an eagle hunter are forbidden to use an awl during his absence, lest the eagles should scratch the distant husband and father;» — y consigna el tabú que recae sobre los ausentes: entre los pies negros, la mujer y los hijos del cazador de águilas no pueden usar punzón mientras él falta, no sea que las águilas arañen al lejano marido y padre

«Elephant-hunters in East Africa believe that, if their wives prove unfaithful in their absence, this gives the elephant power over his pursuer, who will accordingly be killed or severely wounded.» — según Frazer, los cazadores de elefantes de África oriental creen que la infidelidad de la esposa en su ausencia da al elefante poder sobre su perseguidor

«Hence if a hunter hears of his wife’s misconduct, he abandons the chase and returns home.» — y la consecuencia práctica: al saber de la falta de su mujer el cazador deja la caza y vuelve a casa

«Hence four days after the men have started the women gather and confess to Grandfather Fire with what men they have been in love from childhood till now.» — según Frazer, entre los huicholes las mujeres se reúnen cuatro días después de partir los hombres y confiesan al Abuelo Fuego de qué varones se han enamorado desde la infancia

«They may not omit a single one, for if they did so the men would not find a single cactus.» — y la sanción de callar uno solo: los hombres no hallarían ni un cacto

«If they did, it would cause the boat to pitch and toss; and they may not eat any sticky stuff, such as rice boiled in coco-nut milk, for the stickiness of the food would clog the passage of the boat through the water.» — según Frazer, a las mujeres que quedan en tierra se les prohíbe comer alimentos pegajosos, porque lo pegajoso trabaría el paso de la barca por el agua

«When the sailors are supposed to have reached their destination, the strictness of these rules is somewhat relaxed; but during the whole time that the voyage lasts the girls are forbidden to eat fish which have sharp bones or stings, such as the sting-ray, lest their friends at sea should be involved in sharp, stinging trouble.» — y el resto del tabú alimentario mientras dura el viaje: nada de peces con espinas o aguijones, no sea que los navegantes caigan en apuros punzantes

«Further, they may not cover up their faces, or the men would not be able to find their way through the tall grass or jungle.» — según Frazer, entre esos pueblos las mujeres no pueden cubrirse el rostro, o los hombres no hallarían camino entre la hierba alta o la selva

«Again, the women may not sew with a needle, or the men will tread on the sharp spikes set by the enemy in the path.» — ni coser con aguja, o los hombres pisarían las púas que el enemigo puso en el sendero

«An old historian of Madagascar informs us that ‘while the men are at the wars, and until their return, the women and girls cease not day and night to dance, and neither lie down nor take food in their own houses.» — según Frazer, un viejo historiador de Madagascar cuenta que mientras los hombres están en la guerra las mujeres no cesan de bailar día y noche, ni se acuestan ni comen en sus casas

«And although they are very voluptuously inclined, they would not for anything in the world have an intrigue with another man while their husband is at the war, believing firmly that if that happened, their husband would be either killed or wounded.» — y añade lo que ese testimonio dice de la fidelidad: por nada del mundo tendrían trato con otro hombre mientras el marido guerrea, seguras de que lo matarían o lo herirían

«Throwing the sticks forward was symbolic of piercing or warding off the enemy, and drawing them back was symbolic of drawing their own men from danger.» — según Frazer, en la danza de las mujeres el palo lanzado adelante figuraba herir o rechazar al enemigo y el traído atrás, sacar del peligro a los propios

«They painted their faces red and sang as they danced, and they prayed to the weapons to preserve their husbands and help them to kill many foes.» — y describe el resto: cara pintada de rojo, canto y plegaria a las armas para que guarden a los maridos y les ayuden a matar

«It is believed that this will cause the flax to wave in the wind.» — según Frazer, la danza de las mujeres sobre el sembrado se hace para que el lino ondee al viento

«It began at the time ‘when the plant had attained its full growth, and fibres shooting forth from the top of the green ear indicated that the grain was fully formed.» — y data el rito: comenzaba cuando la planta había alcanzado su pleno crecimiento y las fibras que brotaban de la espiga verde indicaban el grano ya formado

«When a Catholic priest remonstrated with the Indians of the Orinoco on allowing their women to sow the fields in the blazing sun, with infants at their breasts, the men answered, ‘Father, you don’t understand these things, and that is why they vex you.» — según Frazer, ante el reproche de un sacerdote católico por dejar sembrar a las mujeres al sol con los niños al pecho, los indios del Orinoco respondieron que no entendía de esas cosas y por eso le molestaban

«Now why is that? Simply because the women know how to bring forth, and know how to make the seed which they sow bring forth also.» — y la razón que dieron: las mujeres saben parir y saben hacer parir a la semilla que siembran

«In magic, as I believe in physics, action and reaction are equal and opposite.» — Frazer enuncia una simetría de su propio cuño: en la magia, como cree que en la física, acción y reacción son iguales y opuestas

«Thus wiry roots of the catgut plant are so tough that they can almost stop a ploughshare in the furrow.» — según Frazer, las raíces correosas de cierta planta son tan tenaces que casi detienen la reja del arado, y de ahí su uso mágico

«Thus a South Slavonian housebreaker sometimes begins operations by throwing a dead man’s bone over the house, saying, with pungent sarcasm, ‘As this bone may waken, so may these people waken’; after that not a soul in the house can keep his or her eyes open.» — según Frazer, el ladrón eslavo meridional arroja un hueso de muerto sobre la casa diciendo que como ese hueso despierte, despierte la gente, con lo que nadie dentro puede tener los ojos abiertos. Frazer llama sarcasmo punzante a la fórmula

«Similarly, in Java the burglar takes earth from a grave and sprinkles it round the house which he intends to rob; this throws the inmates into a deep sleep.» — según Frazer, en Java el ladrón esparce tierra de tumba alrededor de la casa que va a robar, y los de dentro caen en sueño profundo

«Again, Servian and Bulgarian women who chafe at the restraints of domestic life will take the copper coins from the eyes of a corpse, wash them in wine or water, and give the liquid to their husbands to drink.» — según Frazer, serbias y búlgaras hartas de la vida doméstica toman las monedas de cobre de los ojos de un cadáver, las lavan en vino o agua y dan el líquido a beber al marido

«After swallowing it, the husband will be as blind to his wife’s peccadilloes as the dead man was on whose eyes the coins were laid.» — y el efecto buscado: el marido quedará tan ciego a los deslices de su mujer como lo estuvo el muerto sobre cuyos ojos se pusieron las monedas

«Among the western tribes of British New Guinea, a man who has killed a snake will burn it and smear his legs with the ashes when he goes into the forest; for no snake will bite him for some days afterwards.» — según Frazer, en las tribus occidentales de Nueva Guinea británica quien mata una serpiente la quema y se unta las piernas con la ceniza para que ninguna lo muerda por unos días

«The Greeks thought that a garment made from the fleece of a sheep that had been torn by a wolf would hurt the wearer, setting up an itch or irritation in his skin.» — según Frazer, los griegos tenían que la prenda hecha con lana de oveja desgarrada por el lobo daña a quien la viste, con picor o irritación en la piel

«For they thought that if a man were beaten with anything hollow, his inside would waste away till he died.» — y el tabú correlativo: creían que a quien se golpeara con algo hueco se le consumirían las entrañas hasta morir

«Thus a piece of water-worn coral on the beach often bears a surprising likeness to a bread-fruit.» — según Frazer, el coral desgastado por el agua se parece tanto al fruto del árbol del pan que se le atribuye poder sobre él

«Similarly, a stone with little discs upon it is good to bring in money; and if a man found a large stone with a number of small ones under it, like a sow among her litter, he was sure that to offer money upon it would bring him pigs.» — y el mismo principio en las piedras: la de discos pequeños trae dinero, y la grande con guijarros debajo, como una cerda con su camada, trae cerdos

«Greeks believed in a stone which cured snake-bites, and hence was named the snake-stone; to test its efficacy you had only to grind the stone to powder and sprinkle the powder on the wound.» — según Frazer, los griegos creían en una piedra que curaba la mordedura de serpiente, llamada por eso piedra de serpiente

«which means ‘not drunken,’ because it was supposed to keep the wearer of it sober;» — según Frazer, la amatista debe su nombre —que significa no ebrio— a que se suponía que mantenía sobrio a quien la llevaba. El troceo parte *wine-coloured* en el renglón, y la cita arranca después

«Another ancient belief, attributed to Aristotle, was that no creature can die except at ebb tide.» — según Frazer, se atribuye a Aristóteles la creencia de que ninguna criatura puede morir sino con la marea baja

«The belief, if we can trust Pliny, was confirmed by experience, so far as regards human beings, on the coast of France.» — y Frazer marca su reserva sobre el testimonio: si puede fiarse de Plinio, la experiencia lo confirmó en la costa de Francia por lo que hace a los hombres

«As the garment purports to prolong the life of its owner, he often wears it, especially on festive occasions, in order to allow the influence of longevity, created by the many golden letters with which it is bespangled, to work their full effect upon» — según Frazer, la prenda cubierta de letras doradas que promete alargar la vida se viste sobre todo en días de fiesta, para que la influencia de longevidad obre plenamente; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana

«Another application of the maxim that like produces like is seen in the Chinese belief that the fortunes of a town are deeply affected by its shape, and that they must vary according to the character of the thing which that shape most nearly resembles.» — Frazer extiende el principio de que lo semejante produce lo semejante a la creencia china de que la suerte de una ciudad depende de su forma y varía según la cosa a la que esa forma más se parezca

«However, the genius of the local professors of geomancy, rising to the occasion, triumphantly surmounted the difficulty and obviated the danger.» — según Frazer, los geomantes locales salvaron la dificultad de la ciudad con forma de tortuga

«By filling up two wells, which represented the eyes of the tortoise, they at once blinded that disreputable animal and rendered him incapable of doing further mischief.» — y el remedio: cegaron dos pozos que hacían de ojos del animal y lo dejaron incapaz de más daño

«Its leading principle, as we have seen, is that like produces like, or, in other words, that an effect resembles its cause.» — Frazer recapitula el principio rector de la magia homeopática: lo semejante produce lo semejante, o el efecto se parece a su causa

«which I have called Contagious Magic, proceeds upon the notion that things which have once been conjoined must remain ever afterwards, even when quite dissevered from each other, in such a sympathetic relation that whatever is done to the one must similarly affect the other.» — y define por contraste la contagiosa: lo que estuvo unido queda para siempre, aun separado, en relación simpática, de modo que lo hecho a una parte afecta a la otra. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«But however it was thus conveyed from hand to hand, it might on no account be placed in a bag containing magical substances, for to do so would, they believed, put the owner of the tooth in great danger.» — según Frazer, el diente arrancado podía pasar de mano en mano pero nunca meterse en una bolsa con sustancias mágicas, so pena de gran peligro para su dueño

«They declared that if he did so the magic of the crystals would pass into the teeth, and so injure the boys.» — y la razón que daban: la magia de los cristales pasaría a los dientes y dañaría a los muchachos

«For example, in Germany it is said to be an almost universal maxim among the people that when you have had a tooth taken out you should insert it in a mouse’s hole.» — según Frazer, en Alemania la máxima casi universal manda meter en una ratonera el diente que a uno le han sacado

«To do so with a child’s milk-tooth which has fallen out will prevent the child from having toothache.» — y con el diente de leche caído, la misma operación libra al niño del dolor de muelas

«In Ponape, one of the Caroline Islands, the navel-string is placed in a shell and then disposed of in such a way as shall best adapt the child for the career which the parents have chosen for him; for example, if they wish to make him a good climber, they will hang the navel-string on a tree.» — según Frazer, en Ponapé el cordón umbilical se guarda en una concha y se dispone según la carrera que los padres eligen para el niño: si lo quieren buen trepador, lo cuelgan de un árbol

«The Kei islanders regard the navel-string as the brother or sister of the child, according to the sex of the infant.» — según Frazer, los isleños de Kei tienen el cordón umbilical por hermano o hermana del niño, según el sexo de la criatura

«In Berlin the midwife commonly delivers the dried navel-string to the father with a strict injunction to preserve it carefully, for so long as it is kept the child will live and thrive and be free from sickness.» — según Frazer, en Berlín la partera entrega el cordón seco al padre con orden de guardarlo, porque mientras se conserve el niño vivirá sano

«In Beauce and Perche the people are careful to throw the navel-string neither into water nor into fire, believing that if that were done the child would be drowned or burned.» — y en Beauce y Perche se cuida de no echarlo al agua ni al fuego, no sea que el niño se ahogue o se queme

«‘It is constantly received and avouched,’ says Bacon, ‘that the anointing of the weapon that maketh the wound will heal the wound itself.» — según Frazer, Bacon consigna como cosa recibida y atestiguada que ungir el arma que hizo la herida cura la herida misma

«In this experiment, upon the relation of men of credit (though myself, as yet, am not fully inclined to believe it), you shall note the points following:» — y Frazer conserva la reserva del propio Bacon dentro de la cita: lo da por relación de hombres de crédito aunque él mismo no se incline aún del todo a creerlo

«Similarly Essex rustics opine that, if a man has been stabbed with a knife, it is essential to his recovery that the knife should be greased and laid across the bed on which the sufferer is lying.» — según Frazer, los campesinos de Essex tienen por esencial a la curación del apuñalado que se engrase el cuchillo y se ponga cruzado sobre su cama

«Similarly in the Harz Mountains they say that if you cut yourself, you ought to smear the knife or the scissors with fat and put the instrument away in a dry place in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.» — según Frazer, en el Harz mandan untar de grasa el cuchillo o las tijeras con que uno se cortó y guardarlos en sitio seco en nombre del Padre, del Hijo y del Espíritu Santo

«In this last case it is clear that we have passed wholly out of the region of contagious magic and into the region of homoeopathic or imitative magic; the chair-leg, which is treated instead of the beast’s leg, in no sense belongs to the animal, and the application of bandages to it is a mere simulation of the treatment which a more rational surgery would bestow on the real patient.» — Frazer marca el paso de una rama a la otra: tratar la pata de una silla en vez de la del animal ya no es magia contagiosa sino homeopática, porque la pata de la silla no pertenece en ningún sentido al animal

«The sympathetic connexion supposed to exist between a man and the weapon which has wounded him is probably founded on the notion that the blood on the weapon continues to feel with the blood in his body.» — y propone el fundamento de la cura del arma: que la sangre del arma sigue sintiendo con la sangre del cuerpo. Frazer lo da como *probably*

«In Prussia they say that if you cannot catch a thief, the next best thing you can do is to get hold of a garment which he may have shed in his flight; for if you beat it soundly, the thief will fall sick.» — según Frazer, en Prusia dicen que a falta del ladrón basta con apalear una prenda que haya perdido en la huida para que enferme

«An old Danish mode of concluding a treaty was based on the same idea of the sympathetic connexion between a man and his footprints: the covenanting parties sprinkled each other’s footprints with their own blood, thus giving a pledge of fidelity.» — según Frazer, un viejo modo danés de cerrar un tratado descansaba en el vínculo simpático entre el hombre y sus huellas: las partes rociaban con su propia sangre las pisadas de la otra

«for it was thought that if a horse stepped on the track of a wolf he was seized with numbness;» — según Frazer, se tenía que el caballo que pisaba el rastro del lobo quedaba entumecido; el tramo arranca a media frase y se corta antes de la máxima que sigue

«Wherever ceremonies of this sort are observed for the common good, it is obvious that the magician ceases to be merely a private practitioner and becomes to some extent a public functionary.» — Frazer da aquí el gozne de su argumento: donde el rito se hace por el bien común, el mago deja de ser practicante privado y se vuelve en alguna medida funcionario público

«For when the welfare of the tribe is supposed to depend on the performance of these magical rites, the magician rises into a position of much influence and repute, and may readily acquire the rank and authority of a chief or king.» — y el paso siguiente: si el bienestar de la tribu depende de esos ritos, el mago sube a posición de influencia y puede adquirir el rango y la autoridad de jefe o de rey

«The honest wizard always expects that his charms and incantations will produce their supposed effect; and when they fail, not only really, as they always do, but conspicuously and disastrously, as they often do, he is taken aback:» — Frazer distingue al hechicero honrado, que espera de veras el efecto de sus ensalmos y se desconcierta cuando fallan de manera visible y desastrosa

«The general result is that at this stage of social evolution the supreme power tends to fall into the hands of men of the keenest intelligence and the most unscrupulous character.» — y saca la consecuencia que le interesa: en ese estadio el poder supremo tiende a caer en manos de los hombres de inteligencia más aguda y carácter menos escrupuloso

«No human being is so hide-bound by custom and tradition as your democratic savage; in no state of society consequently is progress so slow and difficult.» — sostiene que nadie está tan atado por la costumbre y la tradición como el salvaje democrático, y que en ningún estado social es el progreso tan lento

«The old notion that the savage is the freest of mankind is the reverse of the truth.» — y niega la idea vieja de que el salvaje sea el más libre de los hombres, que tiene por lo contrario de la verdad

«Intellectual progress, which reveals itself in the growth of art and science and the spread of more liberal views, cannot be dissociated from industrial or economic progress, and that in its turn receives an immense impulse from conquest and empire.» — liga el progreso intelectual al económico y este al impulso de la conquista y el imperio

«It is no mere accident that the most vehement outbursts of activity of the human mind have followed close on the heels of victory, and that the great conquering races of the world have commonly done most to advance and spread civilisation, thus healing in peace the wounds they inflicted in war.» — y lo dice sin atenuantes: no es accidente que los estallidos más vehementes de la actividad humana sigan de cerca a la victoria, ni que las grandes razas conquistadoras hayan hecho más por difundir la civilización

«The magician does not doubt that the same causes will always produce the same effects, that the performance of the proper ceremony, accompanied by the appropriate spell, will inevitably be attended by the desired result, unless,» — Frazer define la magia por su determinismo: el mago no duda de que las mismas causas producen siempre los mismos efectos y de que el rito propio con el ensalmo propio dará el resultado, salvo que otro hechicero se le cruce

«He supplicates no higher power: he sues the favour of no fickle and wayward being: he abases himself before no awful deity.» — y por lo que le falta frente a la religión: el mago no suplica a poder superior, no corteja a ser caprichoso, no se humilla ante deidad terrible

«The fatal flaw of magic lies not in its general assumption of a sequence of events determined by law, but in its total misconception of the nature of the particular laws which govern that sequence.» — sitúa el defecto fatal de la magia no en suponer una secuencia de sucesos regida por ley, sino en equivocar del todo la naturaleza de esas leyes

«If we analyse the various cases of sympathetic magic which have been passed in review in the preceding pages, and which may be taken as fair samples of the bulk, we shall find, as I have already indicated, that they are all mistaken applications of one or other of two great fundamental laws of thought, namely, the association of ideas by similarity and the association of ideas by contiguity in space or time.» — y reconduce todos los casos de magia simpática a malas aplicaciones de una u otra ley de asociación de ideas

«There is probably no subject in the world about which opinions differ so much as the nature of religion, and to frame a definition of it which would satisfy every one must obviously be impossible.» — Frazer reconoce que en nada difieren tanto las opiniones como en la naturaleza de la religión, y da por imposible una definición que satisfaga a todos

«All that a writer can do is, first, to say clearly what he means by religion, and afterwards to employ the word consistently in that sense throughout his work.» — y se limita a lo que sí puede hacer un escritor: decir con claridad qué entiende por religión y usar la palabra en ese sentido a lo largo de la obra

«‘Pure religion and undefiled,’ says St James, ‘before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.’» — según Frazer, Santiago define la religión pura y sin mácula como visitar a huérfanos y viudas en su aflicción y guardarse sin mancha del mundo

«But if religion involves, first, a belief in superhuman beings who rule the world, and, second, an attempt to win their favour, it clearly assumes that the course of nature is to some extent elastic or variable, and that we can persuade or induce the mighty beings who control it to deflect, for our benefit, the current of events from the channel in which they would otherwise flow.» — Frazer define la religión por dos notas —creer en seres sobrehumanos que rigen el mundo e intentar ganárselos— y deduce de ahí que supone el curso de la naturaleza elástico o variable

«In ancient Egypt, for example, the magicians claimed the power of compelling even the highest gods to do their bidding, and actually threatened them with destruction in case of disobedience.» — según Frazer, los magos del antiguo Egipto se arrogaban el poder de forzar aun a los dioses más altos y llegaban a amenazarlos con la destrucción

«There is a saying everywhere current in India: ‘The whole universe is subject to the gods; the gods are subject to the spells (mantras ); the spells to the Brahmans; therefore the Brahmans are our gods.’» — y cita el dicho corriente en la India: el universo está sujeto a los dioses, los dioses a los *mantras*, los *mantras* a los brahmanes, luego los brahmanes son nuestros dioses

«To serve his purpose man wooed the good-will of gods or spirits by prayer and sacrifice, while at the same time he had recourse to ceremonies and forms of words which he hoped would of themselves bring about the desired result without the help of god or devil.» — Frazer consigna la mezcla que su esquema separa: el hombre cortejaba a dioses o espíritus con plegaria y sacrificio y a la vez usaba ceremonias y fórmulas que por sí solas debían obrar el efecto

«Instances of this fusion or confusion of magic with religion have already met us in the practices of Melanesians and of other peoples.» — y llama a eso fusión o confusión de magia y religión, ya vista en melanesios y otros pueblos

«perhaps are still, persuaded that the priests could celebrate, with certain special rites, a Mass of the Holy Spirit, of which the efficacy was so miraculous that it never met with any opposition from the divine will; God was forced to grant whatever was asked of Him in this form, however rash and importunate might be the petition.» — según Frazer, el campesinado católico tenía por cierto que los sacerdotes podían decir una Misa del Espíritu Santo de eficacia tan milagrosa que la voluntad divina no podía oponérsele. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«He makes the sign of the cross, but it is on the ground and with his left foot.» — según Frazer, en la misa de difuntos dicha contra un vivo el sacerdote hace la señal de la cruz en el suelo y con el pie izquierdo

«But the man for whom the mass is said withers away little by little, and nobody can say what is the matter with him;» — y el efecto que se le atribuye: aquel por quien se dice la misa se va secando poco a poco sin que nadie sepa qué tiene

«The conclusion which we have thus reached deductively from a consideration of the fundamental ideas of magic and religion is confirmed inductively by the observation that among the aborigines of Australia, the rudest savages as to whom we possess accurate information, magic is universally practised, whereas religion in the sense of a propitiation or conciliation of the higher powers seems to be nearly unknown.» — Frazer dice su conclusión, deducida de las ideas fundamentales de magia y religión, sostenida por inducción en los aborígenes de Australia, donde la religión le parece casi desconocida

«Roughly speaking, all men in Australia are magicians, but not one is a priest; everybody fancies he can influence his fellows or the course of nature by sympathetic magic, but nobody dreams of propitiating gods by prayer and sacrifice.» — y lo formula a grandes rasgos: en Australia todos los hombres son magos y ninguno sacerdote, todos creen poder influir por magia simpática y a nadie se le ocurre propiciar dioses con plegaria y sacrificio

«One of the great achievements of the nineteenth century was to run shafts down into this low mental stratum in many parts of the world, and thus to discover its substantial identity everywhere.» — Frazer cuenta entre los grandes logros del siglo XIX haber hundido pozos hasta ese estrato mental bajo en muchas partes del mundo y hallarlo sustancialmente idéntico

«It is beneath our feet – and not very far beneath them – here in Europe at the present day, and it crops up on the surface in the heart of the Australian wilderness and wherever the advent of a higher civilisation has not crushed it underground.» — y lo sitúa bajo los pies del europeo de su día, no muy hondo, aflorando donde la civilización superior no lo ha aplastado

«But whether the influences that make for further progress, or those that threaten to undo what has already been accomplished, will ultimately prevail; whether the impulsive energy of the minority or the dead weight of the majority of mankind will prove the stronger force to carry us up to higher heights or to sink us into lower depths, are questions rather for the sage, the moralist, and the statesman, whose eagle vision scans the future, than for the humble student of the present» — Frazer se abstiene de pronosticar si vencerán las influencias del progreso o las que amenazan deshacerlo; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana

«Here we are only concerned to ask how far the uniformity, the universality, and the permanence of a belief in magic, compared with the endless variety and the shifting character of religious creeds, raises a presumption that the former represents a ruder and earlier phase of the human mind, through which all the races of mankind have passed or are passing on their way to religion and science.» — y acota la pregunta del capítulo: hasta qué punto la uniformidad y permanencia de la creencia mágica, frente a la variedad cambiante de los credos, da presunción de que la magia sea la forma más rudimentaria

«Thus cut adrift from his ancient moorings and left to toss on a troubled sea of doubt and uncertainty, his old happy confidence in himself and his powers rudely shaken, our primitive philosopher must have been sadly perplexed and agitated» — Frazer narra la crisis que supone en el filósofo primitivo: cortadas sus amarras antiguas y sacudida su confianza en sus poderes, hubo de quedar perplejo y agitado

«If the great world went on its way without the help of him or his fellows, it must surely be because there were other beings, like himself, but far stronger, who, unseen themselves, directed its course and brought about all the varied series of events which he had hitherto believed to be dependent on his own magic.» — y la salida que le atribuye: si el mundo seguía su curso sin él, sería porque otros seres como él pero más fuertes lo dirigían sin ser vistos

«For the recognition of man’s powerlessness to influence the course of nature on a grand scale must have been gradual; he cannot have been shorn of the whole of his fancied dominion at a blow.» — acota el proceso: el reconocimiento de la impotencia humana ante la naturaleza tuvo que ser gradual, sin despojo de golpe

«Now it would be the wind, now the rain, now the sunshine, now the thunder, that he confessed himself unable to wield at will; and as province after province of nature thus fell from his grasp, till what had once seemed a kingdom threatened to shrink into a prison, man must have been more and more profoundly impressed with a sense of his own helplessness and the might of the invisible beings by whom he believed himself to be surrounded.» — y lo detalla provincia por provincia —el viento, la lluvia, el sol, el trueno— hasta que el reino se le encogió al hombre

«and his highest virtue is to submit his will to theirs: In la sua volontade è nostra pace .» — Frazer cifra la virtud suprema del hombre religioso en someter su voluntad a la de los dioses, y lo remata con el verso de Dante sobre que en su voluntad está nuestra paz

«Small minds cannot grasp great ideas; to their narrow comprehension, their purblind vision, nothing seems really great and important but themselves.» — y su juicio sobre la mente estrecha: no alcanza ideas grandes, y a su vista corta nada parece grande e importante salvo ella misma

«The fallacy of this reasoning is obvious to us, because it happens to deal with facts about which we have long made up our minds.» — Frazer advierte que la falacia del razonamiento salvaje nos resulta obvia solo porque trata de hechos sobre los que ya nos decidimos

«But let an argument of precisely the same calibre be applied to matters which are still under debate, and it may be questioned whether a British audience would not applaud it as sound, and esteem the speaker who used it a safe man – not brilliant or showy, perhaps, but thoroughly sensible and hardheaded.» — y vuelve el espejo sobre su propio público: aplicado a asuntos aún en disputa, el mismo argumento sería aplaudido por sólido en un auditorio británico. El troceo parte *hard-headed* en el renglón y el extractor la devuelve unida

«On the other hand, a man-god of the magical sort is nothing but a man who possesses in an unusually high degree powers which most of his fellows arrogate to themselves on a smaller scale; for in rude society there is hardly a person who does not dabble in magic.» — Frazer distingue el dios-hombre de tipo mágico: no es sino un hombre con un grado inusual de poderes que casi todos en la sociedad ruda se arrogan en menor escala

«Thus, whereas a man-god of the former or inspired type derives his divinity from a deity who has stooped to hide his heavenly radiance behind a dull mask of earthly mould, a man-god of the latter type draws his extraordinary power from a certain physical sympathy with nature.» — y opone los dos tipos: el inspirado recibe su divinidad de una deidad que se esconde tras una máscara de barro terrenal, y el otro la saca de cierta simpatía física con la naturaleza

«The examples cited in preceding pages prove that the purveyors of food – the hunter, the fisher, the farmer – all resort to magical practices in the pursuit of their various callings; but they do so as private individuals for the benefit of themselves and their families, rather than as public functionaries acting in the interest of the whole people.» — según Frazer, los ejemplos ya citados muestran que cazador, pescador y labrador recurren a la magia en su oficio, pero como particulares

«It is otherwise when the rites are performed, not by the hunters, the fishers, the farmers themselves, but by professional magicians on their behalf.» — y marca el cambio de escala: otra cosa es cuando los ritos los hacen magos profesionales en nombre de aquéllos

«The views of natural causation embraced by the savage magician no doubt appear to us manifestly false and absurd; yet in their day they were legitimate hypotheses, though they have not stood the test of experience.» — Frazer concede a las teorías del mago salvaje el rango de hipótesis legítimas en su día, por falsas y absurdas que nos parezcan, con el límite de no haber resistido la experiencia

«Ridicule and blame are the just meed, not of those who devised these crude theories, but of those who obstinately adhered to them after better had been propounded.» — y reparte el reproche: no a quienes idearon esas teorías crudas sino a quienes se aferraron a ellas cuando ya había mejores

«If they wish to make rain they simulate it by sprinkling water or mimicking clouds: if their object is to stop rain and cause drought, they avoid water and resort to warmth and fire for the sake of drying up the too abundant moisture.» — Frazer resume la magia del tiempo por imitación: para llamar la lluvia se la simula rociando agua o fingiendo nubes, y para detenerla se evita el agua y se recurre al calor y al fuego

«Such attempts are by no means confined, as the cultivated reader might imagine, to the naked inhabitants of those sultry lands like Central Australia and some parts of Eastern and Southern Africa, where often for months together the pitiless sun beats down out of a blue and cloudless sky on the parched and gaping earth.» — y niega que esos intentos sean cosa solo de tierras tórridas, contra lo que el lector culto podría imaginar

«One of them drinks some of the water and spirts it into the air, making a fine spray in imitation of a mist or drizzling rain.» — según Frazer, uno de los oficiantes bebe agua y la escupe al aire en rocío fino, a imitación de la neblina o la llovizna

«Then he upsets the vessel, spilling the water on the ground; whereupon the dancers fall down and drink up the water, getting mud all over their faces.» — y el cierre del rito: vuelca la vasija, y los danzantes caen y beben el agua del suelo con la cara embarrada

«Some of the Eastern Angamis of Manipur are said to perform a somewhat similar ceremony for the opposite purpose, in order, namely, to produce rain.» — según Frazer, se dice que algunos angami orientales de Manipur hacen una ceremonia semejante con el fin contrario, producir lluvia

«The head of the village puts a burning brand on the grave of a man who has died of burns, and quenches the brand with water, while he prays that rain may fall.» — y el rito: el jefe del pueblo pone un tizón encendido sobre la tumba de un muerto por quemaduras y lo apaga con agua mientras reza por la lluvia

«During the ceremony two large stones are placed in the middle of the hut; they stand for gathering clouds and presage rain.» — según Frazer, en la ceremonia dos piedras grandes puestas en medio de la choza figuran las nubes que se juntan y presagian lluvia

«‘The piercing of the hut with their heads symbolizes the piercing of the clouds; the fall of the hut, the fall of the rain.’» — y cita la interpretación de su fuente: horadar la choza con la cabeza figura horadar las nubes, y la caída de la choza, la caída de la lluvia

«Some years ago the emperor Menelik forbade the custom. However, the following year the rain was deficient, and the popular outcry so great that the emperor yielded to it, and allowed the murderous fights to be resumed, but for two» — según Frazer, el emperador Menelik prohibió la costumbre y al año siguiente, escasa la lluvia y grande el clamor, cedió y permitió reanudar las peleas mortales; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana

«The writer who mentions the custom regards the blood shed on these occasions as a propitiatory sacrifice offered to spirits who control the showers; but perhaps, as in the Australian and Javanese ceremonies, it is an imitation of» — y Frazer discrepa con su propia fuente sin arbitrar: el autor que refiere la costumbre tiene la sangre por sacrificio propiciatorio a los espíritus de la lluvia, y él propone que acaso sea imitación de la lluvia

«They produce rain by spilling water from a basket in the air; they make fine weather by shaking a small flat piece of wood attached to a stick by a string; they raise storms by strewing down on the ends of spruce branches.» — según Frazer, esos pueblos hacen llover derramando agua de un cesto al aire, traen buen tiempo agitando una tablilla atada a un palo y levantan tormentas esparciendo plumón en las ramas del abeto

«The same power of influencing the weather is attributed to twins by the Baronga, a tribe of Bantu negroes who inhabit the shores of Delagoa Bay in South-eastern Africa.» — según Frazer, los baronga de la bahía de Delagoa atribuyen a los gemelos ese mismo poder sobre el tiempo

«Some of the foregoing facts strongly support an interpretation which Professor Oldenberg has given of the rules to be observed by a Brahman who would learn a particular hymn of the ancient Indian collection known as the Samaveda.» — Frazer apoya en esos hechos la interpretación que el profesor Oldenberg dio de las reglas del brahmán que quiere aprender cierto himno del Samaveda

«It is clear, as Professor Oldenberg well points out, that ‘all these rules are intended to bring the Brahman into union with water, to make him, as it were, an ally of the water powers, and to guard him against their hostility.» — y cita a Oldenberg: todas esas reglas buscan poner al brahmán en unión con el agua, hacerlo aliado de las potencias acuáticas y guardarlo de su hostilidad

«The lime, being so very dry, is obviously well adapted to disperse the damp clouds.» — según Frazer, la cal, por sequísima, se juzga apta para dispersar las nubes húmedas

«Should rain afterwards be wanted, he has only to pour water on his fire, and immediately the rain will descend in sheets.» — y la operación inversa: basta echar agua sobre su fuego para que la lluvia caiga a mares

«The reader will observe how exactly the Javanese and Toradja observances, which are intended to prevent rain, form the antithesis of the Indian observances, which aim at producing it.» — Frazer hace notar la simetría: las observancias javanesa y toradja para impedir la lluvia son la antítesis exacta de las indias para producirla

«The Indian sage is commanded to touch water thrice a day regularly as well as on various special occasions; the Javanese and Toradja wizards may not touch it at all.» — y la muestra en el detalle: al sabio indio se le manda tocar agua tres veces al día, y a los brujos javanés y toradja no tocarla en absoluto

«Thus disguised she is called the Dodola and goes through the village with a troop of girls.» — según Frazer, la muchacha disfrazada de hojas se llama Dódola y recorre la aldea con un grupo de niñas

«They stop before every house; the Dodola keeps turning herself round and dancing, while the other girls form a ring about her singing one of the Dodola songs, and the housewife pours a pail of water over her.» — y el rito casa por casa: la Dódola gira y baila, las otras cantan en corro y el ama de casa le vacía encima un cubo de agua

«Women are sometimes supposed to be able to make rain by ploughing, or pretending to plough. Thus the Pshaws and Chewsurs of the Caucasus have a ceremony called ‘ploughing the rain,’ which they observe in time of drought.» — según Frazer, se supone a veces que las mujeres pueden traer lluvia arando o fingiendo arar, como en la ceremonia del *arado de la lluvia* de pshavos y jevsures del Cáucaso

«In the Caucasian province of Georgia, when a drought has lasted long, marriageable girls are yoked in couples with an ox-yoke on their shoulders, a priest holds the reins, and thus harnessed they wade through rivers, puddles, and marshes, praying, screaming, weeping, and laughing.» — según Frazer, en Georgia se unce por parejas a las muchachas casaderas con yugo de buey y, llevadas por un sacerdote, vadean ríos, charcos y pantanos rezando, gritando, llorando y riendo

«Thus, in the village of Kalingooa there is the grave of a famous chief, the grandfather of the present ruler.» — según Frazer, en la aldea de Kalingooa está la tumba de un jefe famoso, abuelo del que gobierna

«Here, as in New Caledonia, we find religion blent with magic, for the prayer to the dead chief, which is purely religious, is eked out with a magical imitation of rain at his grave.» — y Frazer vuelve a consignar la mezcla que su esquema separa: la plegaria al jefe muerto, puramente religiosa, se completa con una imitación mágica de la lluvia sobre su tumba

«The Anula tribe of Northern Australia associate the dollar-bird with rain, and call it the rain-bird.» — según Frazer, los anula del norte de Australia enlazan con la lluvia al pájaro que llaman por eso pájaro de la lluvia

«A man who has the bird for his totem can make rain at a certain pool.» — y quien tiene ese pájaro por tótem puede hacer llover en cierta charca

«Custom has prescribed that on these occasions the colour of the victim shall be black, as an emblem of the wished-for rain-clouds. But if fine weather is wanted, the victim must be white, without a spot.» — según Frazer, la costumbre manda que la víctima sea negra como emblema de las nubes deseadas, y blanca sin mancha si lo que se quiere es buen tiempo

«It is said that the Aymara Indians often make little images of frogs and other aquatic animals and place them on the tops of the hills as a means of bringing down rain.» — según Frazer, se dice que los aimaras hacen figurillas de ranas y otros animales de agua y las ponen en lo alto de los cerros para atraer la lluvia

«Thus, when rain is wanted they make a huge dragon of paper or wood to represent the rain-god, and carry it about in procession; but if no rain follows, the mock-dragon is execrated and torn to pieces.» — según Frazer, en China se pasea en procesión un dragón enorme de papel o madera que representa al dios de la lluvia, y si no llueve se le execra y se le despedaza

«On the other hand, if the wished-for rain falls, the god is promoted to a higher rank by an imperial decree.» — y el reverso del trato: si la lluvia llega, un decreto imperial asciende al dios de rango

«All the most approved methods of procuring rain had been tried without effect.» — según Frazer, en aquella sequía se habían probado sin fruto todos los métodos acreditados para traer lluvia

«In ordinary years these holy sweepings preserve the crops; but that year, if you will believe me, they had no effect whatever.» — y recoge el testimonio con su inflexión propia: los barridos santos guardan las cosechas en años ordinarios y aquel año no surtieron efecto alguno

«They say that they call to ‘the lord above’ and ask him to send rain.» — según Frazer, dicen que llaman al señor de arriba y le piden que mande lluvia

«If it comes they declare that ‘Usondo rains.’» — y si llega, declaran que llueve Usondo

«But customs of this sort are not confined to the wilds of Africa and Asia or the torrid deserts of Australia and the New World.» — Frazer subraya que esas costumbres no se limitan a África, Asia o los desiertos de Australia y el Nuevo Mundo

«Catholic countries do not enjoy a monopoly of making rain by ducking holy images in water.» — y añade que los países católicos no tienen el monopolio de hacer llover zambullendo imágenes santas en agua

«Indeed he declared that he was actually Zeus, and caused sacrifices to be offered to himself as such.» — según Frazer, aquel rey se declaró Zeus él mismo e hizo que se le ofrecieran sacrificios como tal

«In time of drought the stone was dragged into Rome, and this was supposed to bring down rain immediately.» — según Frazer, en la sequía se arrastraba la piedra hasta Roma y se suponía que la lluvia caía en el acto

«Here he deposits three sorts of plants on a flat stone, places a branch of dry coral beside them, and hangs the bundle of charms over the stone.» — según Frazer, el hacedor de sol deja tres clases de plantas sobre una piedra plana, pone al lado una rama de coral seco y cuelga el manojo de amuletos sobre la piedra

«Next morning he returns to the spot and sets fire to the bundle at the moment when the sun rises from the sea.» — y al alba vuelve y prende fuego al manojo en el momento en que el sol sale del mar

«The Spartans performed the sacrifice on the top of Mount Taygetus, the beautiful range behind which they saw the great luminary set every night.» — según Frazer, los espartanos sacrificaban al sol en la cumbre del Taigeto, tras cuya sierra lo veían ponerse cada noche

«As some people think they can light up the sun or speed him on his way, so others fancy they can retard or stop him.» — y la simetría que le interesa: quien cree poder encender el sol o apresurarlo, cree también poder retrasarlo o detenerlo

«Hence in spring, when these Indians are travelling over the snow on high ground, they burn splinters of such wood in the fire in order that the crust of the snow may not melt.» — según Frazer, en primavera esos indios queman astillas de cierta madera para que no se derrita la costra de nieve

«When the day is hot and a Yakut has a long way to go, he takes a stone which he has chanced to find in an animal or fish, winds a horse-hair several times round it, and ties it to a stick.» — según Frazer, el yakuto que ha de andar mucho en día caluroso toma una piedra hallada dentro de un animal o un pez, la envuelve en crin y la ata a un palo

«Constantine, a certain Sopater suffered death at Constantinople on a charge of binding the winds by magic, because it happened that the corn-ships of Egypt and Syria were detained afar off by calms or head-winds, to the rage and disappointment of the hungry Byzantine rabble.» — según Frazer, en tiempos de Constantino un tal Sópatro murió en Constantinopla acusado de atar los vientos por magia, porque las naves de grano de Egipto y Siria se demoraban por calmas o vientos contrarios. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«Indeed the Esthonians, whose country is divided from Finland only by an arm of the sea, still believe in the magical powers of their northern neighbours.» — según Frazer, los estonios siguen creyendo en los poderes mágicos de sus vecinos del norte, de quienes solo los separa un brazo de mar

«On the top of Mount Agu in Togo, a district of West Africa, resides a fetish called Bagba, who is supposed to control the wind and the rain.» — según Frazer, en la cima del monte Agu, en Togo, reside un fetiche llamado Bagba al que se supone dueño del viento y la lluvia

«His priest is said to keep the winds shut up in great pots.» — y se dice que su sacerdote guarda los vientos encerrados en grandes ollas

«He says, without however vouching for the truth of the tale, that once in the land of the Psylli, the modern Tripoli, the wind blowing from the Sahara had dried up all the water-tanks.» — Frazer conserva la reserva de su fuente dentro del relato: lo cuenta sin salir garante de que sea verdad

«If that has been so, the practitioners of the art must necessarily be personages of importance and influence in any society which puts faith in their extravagant pretensions, and it would be no matter for surprise if, by virtue of the reputation which they enjoy and of the awe which they inspire, some of them should attain to the highest position of authority over their credulous fellows.» — Frazer razona que los practicantes del arte debieron ser personajes de peso en toda sociedad que dé fe a sus pretensiones

«In point of fact magicians appear to have often developed into chiefs and kings.» — y afirma que de hecho los magos parecen haberse convertido a menudo en jefes y reyes

«Thus Sir William MacGregor tells us that in British New Guinea no one has ever arisen wise enough, bold enough, and strong enough to become the despot even of a single district.» — según Frazer, Sir William MacGregor cuenta que en Nueva Guinea británica nadie llegó a ser bastante sabio, audaz y fuerte para hacerse déspota ni de un solo distrito

«According to a native account, the origin of the power of Melanesian chiefs lies entirely in the belief that they have communication with mighty ghosts, and wield that supernatural power whereby they can bring the influence of the ghosts to bear.» — según Frazer, un relato nativo hace nacer todo el poder de los jefes melanesios de la creencia en su trato con espíritus poderosos

«Again, among the Wagogo of East Africa the main power of the chiefs, we are told, is derived from their art of rain-making.» — según Frazer, entre los wagogo de África oriental se dice que el poder principal de los jefes viene de su arte de hacer llover

«The great dispenser, he who has absolute and uncontrollable power over the rain, is the king; but he can depute his power to other persons, so that the benefit may be distributed and the heavenly water laid on over the various parts of the kingdom.» — según Frazer, el rey es el gran dispensador con poder absoluto sobre la lluvia, y puede delegarlo para repartir el agua celeste por las partes del reino

«The chief is also a medicine-man and a smith to boot; for the Fans esteem the smith’s craft sacred, and none but chiefs may meddle with it.» — según Frazer, entre los fang el jefe es además curandero y herrero, porque tienen el oficio de la fragua por sagrado y solo los jefes lo tocan

«But if the career of a magician and especially of a rain-maker offers great rewards to the successful practitioner of the art, it is beset with many pitfalls into which the unskilful or unlucky artist may fall.» — Frazer pone el reverso del oficio: la carrera del mago y sobre todo la del hacedor de lluvia da grandes premios y está sembrada de trampas para el torpe o el desafortunado

«But if long drought or rain threatens to spoil the crops, they insult and beat him till the weather changes.» — y el castigo concreto: si la sequía o la lluvia larga amenazan la cosecha, lo insultan y lo apalean hasta que el tiempo cambia

«people commonly attack him by night, rob him of all he possesses, and drive him away. But often they kill him.» — según Frazer, al hacedor de lluvia que falla lo asaltan de noche, lo despojan y lo echan, y a menudo lo matan. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«In ancient Egypt the sacred kings were blamed for the failure of the crops, but the sacred beasts were also held responsible for the course of nature.» — según Frazer, en el Egipto antiguo se culpaba a los reyes sagrados del fracaso de las cosechas y se tenía también a las bestias sagradas por responsables del curso de la naturaleza

«But sometimes if it happens that these pages do not tell the truth, and things turn out otherwise than they predicted, the people make no scruple of killing them as unworthy of the title and dignity of pages .» — según Frazer, si esos pajes no dicen verdad y las cosas salen de otro modo, la gente no tiene escrúpulo en matarlos por indignos del título

«Throughout the Malay region the rajah or king is commonly regarded with superstitious veneration as the possessor of supernatural powers, and there are grounds for thinking that he too, like apparently so many African chiefs, has been developed out of a simple magician.» — según Frazer, en todo el ámbito malayo se venera al rajá o rey como dueño de poderes sobrenaturales, y hay motivos para pensar que también él salió de un simple mago

«Thus in Selangor, one of the native states of the Malay Peninsula, the success or failure of the rice crops is often attributed to a change of district officers.» — según Frazer, en Selangor se atribuye a menudo el éxito o el fracaso del arroz al cambio de los oficiales de distrito

«In the Middle Ages, when Waldemar I., King of Denmark, travelled in Germany, mothers brought their infants and husbandmen their seed for him to lay his hands on, thinking that children would both thrive the better for the royal touch, and for a like reason farmers asked him to throw the seed for them.» — según Frazer, en la Edad Media las madres llevaban sus niños y los labradores su simiente para que Valdemar I de Dinamarca les impusiera las manos

«It was the belief of the ancient Irish that when their kings observed the customs of their ancestors, the seasons were mild, the crops plentiful, the cattle fruitful, the waters abounded with fish, and the fruit trees had to be propped up on account of the weight of their produce.» — según Frazer, los irlandeses antiguos creían que cuando sus reyes guardaban las costumbres de los mayores las estaciones eran suaves, las cosechas ricas y los frutales había que apuntalarlos

«But the great social revolution which thus begins with democracy and ends in despotism is attended by an intellectual revolution which affects both the conception and the functions of royalty.» — Frazer enuncia el arco de su relato político: la gran revolución social que empieza en democracia y acaba en despotismo va con una revolución intelectual que cambia la idea y las funciones de la realeza

«The instances which in the preceding chapters I have drawn from the beliefs and practices of rude peoples all over the world, may suffice to prove that the savage fails to recognise those limitations to his power over nature which seem so obvious to us.» — Frazer recapitula el capítulo VII: los ejemplos de pueblos rudos de todo el mundo bastan, dice, para probar que el salvaje no reconoce los límites de su poder sobre la naturaleza que a nosotros nos parecen obvios

«In a society where every man is supposed to be endowed more or less with powers which we should call supernatural, it is plain that the distinction between gods and men is somewhat blurred, or rather has scarcely emerged.» — y saca la consecuencia: donde a cada hombre se le suponen poderes que llamaríamos sobrenaturales, la distinción entre dioses y hombres apenas ha emergido

«With the advance of knowledge, therefore, prayer and sacrifice assume the leading place in religious ritual; and magic, which once ranked with them as a legitimate equal, is gradually relegated to the background and sinks to the level of a black art.» — traza el descenso de la magia: con el avance del conocimiento la plegaria y el sacrificio toman la delantera y la magia, antes igual legítimo, baja al rango de arte negra

«It is now regarded as an encroachment, at once vain and impious, on the domain of the gods, and as such encounters the steady opposition of the priests, whose reputation and influence rise or fall with those of their gods.» — y nombra a quién beneficia esa degradación: pasa por intrusión vana e impía en el terreno de los dioses y encuentra la oposición constante de los sacerdotes, cuya fama sube y baja con la de sus dioses

«If we civilised men insist on limiting the name of God to that particular conception of the divine nature which we ourselves have formed, then we must confess that the savage has no god at all.» — Frazer plantea el dilema de la definición: si los civilizados reservamos el nombre de Dios a nuestra propia idea de lo divino, hay que confesar que el salvaje no tiene dios alguno

«But we shall adhere more closely to the facts of history if we allow most of the higher savages at least to possess a rudimentary notion of certain supernatural beings who may fittingly be called gods, though not in the full sense in which we use the word.» — y escoge la otra salida por fidelidad a los hechos: conceder a los salvajes superiores una noción rudimentaria de seres sobrenaturales que cabe llamar dioses, aunque no en el sentido pleno

«Not conceiving the existence of natural law, primitive man cannot conceive a breach of it.» — y de ahí su definición negativa del milagro entre primitivos: quien no concibe la ley natural no puede concebir su quebranto

«The belief in temporary incarnation or inspiration is world-wide. Certain persons are supposed to be possessed from time to time by a spirit or deity;» — sostiene que la creencia en la encarnación o inspiración temporal es universal: se supone a ciertas personas poseídas de tiempo en tiempo por un espíritu o deidad

«The god did not, however, always leave him as soon as the communication had been made.» — según Frazer, el dios no siempre dejaba al sacerdote en cuanto había hecho la comunicación

«When uruhia , (under the inspiration of the spirit,) the priest was always considered as sacred as the god, and was called, during this period, atua , god, though at other times only denominated taura or priest.’» — según Frazer, la fuente tahitiana dice que bajo la inspiración del espíritu se tenía al sacerdote por tan sagrado como el dios y se le llamaba *atua*, dios, aunque el resto del tiempo fuera solo *taura*

«The Bacchanals ate ivy, and their inspired fury was by some believed to be due to the exciting and intoxicating properties of the plant.» — según Frazer, las bacantes comían hiedra, y algunos atribuían su furor inspirado a las propiedades excitantes y embriagantes de la planta

«In Uganda the priest, in order to be inspired by his god, smokes a pipe of tobacco fiercely till he works himself into a frenzy; the loud excited tones in which he then talks are recognized as the voice of the god speaking through him.» — según Frazer, en Uganda el sacerdote fuma tabaco con furia hasta el frenesí, y el tono alto con que habla entonces se reconoce por voz del dios

«knowledge and power of the indwelling deity. From beliefs like these it is an easy step to the conviction that certain men are permanently possessed by a deity, or in some other undefined way are endued with so high a degree of supernatural power as to be ranked as gods and to receive the homage of prayer and sacrifice.» — Frazer marca el paso decisivo: de la inspiración ocasional a la convicción de que ciertos hombres están permanentemente poseídos por una deidad y merecen el homenaje de plegaria y sacrificio. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«Thus in the Marquesas or Washington Islands there was a class of men who were deified in their lifetime.» — según Frazer, en las Marquesas había una clase de hombres deificados en vida

«He asserted that he could teach his disciples how to make the wind to blow or be still, the rain to fall and the sun to shine, how to banish sickness and old age and to raise the dead.» — según Frazer, aquel hombre-dios afirmaba poder enseñar a sus discípulos a hacer soplar o callar el viento, caer la lluvia y brillar el sol, a desterrar enfermedad y vejez y a resucitar muertos

«Altars were set up to the Saviours, and a priest appointed to attend to their worship.» — según Frazer, se levantaron altares a los Salvadores y se nombró un sacerdote para su culto

«The ancient Germans believed that there was something holy in women, and accordingly consulted them as oracles.» — según Frazer, los antiguos germanos tenían a las mujeres por algo santo y las consultaban como oráculos

«For example, in the reign of Vespasian a certain Veleda, of the tribe of the Bructeri, was commonly held to be a deity, and in that character reigned over her people, her sway being acknowledged far and wide.» — según Frazer, en tiempos de Vespasiano una tal Veleda, de los brúcteros, pasaba por deidad y como tal reinó sobre su pueblo

«The chief of Urua, a large region to the west of Lake Tanganyika, ‘arrogates to himself divine honours and power and pretends to abstain from food for days without feeling its necessity; and, indeed, declares that as a god he is altogether above requiring food and only eats, drinks, and smokes for the pleasure it affords him.’» — según Frazer, el jefe de Urua se arroga honores y poder divinos, dice abstenerse de comer días enteros sin necesitarlo y sostener que si come es por gusto

«The king of Loango is honoured by his people ‘as though he were a god; and he is called Sambee and Pango, which mean god. They believe that he can let them have rain when he likes; and once a year, in December, which is the time they want rain, the people come to beg of him to grant it to them.’» — según Frazer, al rey de Loango se le honra como a un dios y se le llama Sambee y Pango, que significan dios, con la creencia de que puede darles lluvia cuando quiera

«He occupies a higher post here than the Pope does in Catholic Europe; for he is not only God’s vicegerent upon earth, but a god himself, whose subjects both obey and adore him as such, although I believe their adoration to arise rather from fear than love.’» — y su fuente añade la comparación y la reserva: ocupa puesto más alto que el papa en la Europa católica, porque es vicario de Dios y dios él mismo, aunque el testigo cree que la adoración nace más del miedo que del amor

«The king of Iddah told the English officers of the Niger Expedition, ‘God made me after his own image; I am all the same as God; and he appointed me a king.’» — según Frazer, el rey de Iddah dijo a los oficiales ingleses de la expedición del Níger que Dios lo hizo a su imagen, que es lo mismo que Dios y que lo nombró rey

«There is no word in the Siamese language by which any creature of higher rank or greater dignity than a monarch can be described;» — según Frazer, el siamés no tiene palabra para describir criatura de rango o dignidad mayor que un monarca

«the missionaries, when they speak of God, are forced to use the native word for king.» — y la consecuencia que anota: los misioneros, al hablar de Dios, se ven forzados a usar la palabra nativa para rey

«At Chinchvad, a small town about ten miles from Poona in Western India, there lives a family of whom one in each generation is believed by a large proportion of the Mahrattas to be an incarnation of the elephant-headed god Gunputty.» — según Frazer, en Chinchvad, cerca de Puna, vive una familia de la que buena parte de los maratíes tiene a uno por generación por encarnación del dios con cabeza de elefante

«Seven successive incarnations, transmitted from father to son, manifested the light of Gunputty to a dark world.» — y el relato de la línea: siete encarnaciones sucesivas, de padre a hijo, manifestaron esa luz a un mundo oscuro

«in whom the divine nature mysteriously coexists with the form and even the appetites of true humanity.» — Frazer describe al hombre-dios como aquel en quien la naturaleza divina coexiste misteriosamente con la forma y aun los apetitos de una humanidad verdadera. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«Christianity itself has not uniformly escaped the taint of these unhappy delusions; indeed it has often been sullied by the extravagances of vain pretenders to a divinity equal to or even surpassing that of its great Founder.» — y no exceptúa al cristianismo: dice que no escapó siempre a esas ilusiones y que a menudo lo mancharon los pretendientes vanos a una divinidad igual o superior a la de su Fundador

«Sometimes their progress towards this mystic communion was accelerated by the Inquisition, and they expired in the flames, not merely with unclouded serenity, but with the most triumphant feelings of cheerfulness and joy.» — según Frazer, la Inquisición aceleraba a veces el avance de esos místicos hacia la comunión, y expiraban en las llamas no ya serenos sino con sentimientos triunfantes de alegría

«About the year 1830 there appeared, in one of the States of the American Union bordering on Kentucky, an impostor who declared that he was the Son of God, the Saviour of mankind, and that he had reappeared on earth to recall the impious, the unbelieving, and sinners to their duty.» — según Frazer, hacia 1830 apareció en un estado de la Unión fronterizo con Kentucky un impostor que se declaró Hijo de Dios y Salvador reaparecido en la tierra

«He is regarded as a living god, and at death his divine and immortal spirit is born again in a child.» — según Frazer, se le tiene por dios vivo y a su muerte su espíritu divino e inmortal renace en un niño

«Other accounts speak of an election by drawing lots from a golden jar.» — y Frazer consigna la versión rival sin armonizarla: otros relatos hablan de una elección por sorteo con boletas de una jarra de oro

«From our survey of the religious position occupied by the king in rude societies we may infer that the claim to divine and supernatural powers put forward by the monarchs of great historical empires like those of Egypt, Mexico, and Peru, was not the simple outcome of inflated vanity or the empty expression of a grovelling adulation; it was merely a survival and extension of the old savage apotheosis of living kings.» — infiere de su recorrido que la pretensión de poderes divinos de los monarcas de Egipto, México y Perú no era brote de megalomanía sino supervivencia de la vieja apoteosis salvaje de los reyes vivos

«Thus, for example, as children of the Sun the Incas of Peru were revered like gods; they could do no wrong, and no one dreamed of offending against the person, honour, or property of the monarch or of any of the royal race.» — según Frazer, como hijos del Sol los incas del Perú eran venerados como dioses, no podían obrar mal y a nadie se le ocurría ofender su persona, honor o bienes

«The monarchs of the fourth dynasty of Ur in particular had temples built in their honour; they set up their statues in various sanctuaries and commanded the people to sacrifice to them; the eighth month was especially dedicated to the kings, and sacrifices were offered to them at the new moon and on the fifteenth of each month. Again, the Parthian monarchs of the Arsacid house styled themselves brothers of the sun and moon and were worshipped as deities. It was esteemed sacrilege to strike even a private member of the Arsacid family in a brawl.» — según Frazer, a los monarcas de la cuarta dinastía de Ur se les levantaron templos y estatuas y se mandó al pueblo sacrificarles

«The kings of Egypt were deified in their lifetime, sacrifices were offered to them, and their worship was celebrated in special temples and by special priests.» — según Frazer, los reyes de Egipto eran deificados en vida, se les ofrecían sacrificios y su culto se celebraba en templos propios y por sacerdotes propios

«The men who for one reason or another, because of the strength or the weakness of their natural parts, were supposed to possess these magical powers in the highest degree, were gradually marked off from their fellows and became a separate class, who were destined to exercise a most far-reaching influence on the political, religious, and intellectual evolution of mankind.» — Frazer explica la aparición de la clase mágica por diferenciación: los que por fuerza o por flaqueza de sus partes naturales pasaban por dueños de esos poderes se fueron apartando de sus semejantes

«Social progress, as we know, consists mainly in a successive differentiation of functions, or, in simpler language, a division of labour.» — y lo dice con la categoría que usa: el progreso social consiste sobre todo en una diferenciación sucesiva de funciones, es decir, en división del trabajo

«regarded from the political point of view, it has been from democracy to despotism.» — y su lectura política de ese proceso: visto desde la política, el movimiento ha ido de la democracia al despotismo. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«The preceding investigation has proved that the same union of sacred functions with a royal title which meets us in the King of the Wood at Nemi, the Sacrificial King at Rome, and the magistrate called the King at Athens, occurs frequently outside the limits of classical antiquity and is a common feature of societies at all stages from barbarism to civilisation.» — Frazer da por establecido que la unión de funciones sagradas con título real que se ve en el Rey del Bosque de Nemi, el rey sacrificial de Roma y el arconte rey de Atenas se repite donde quiera que se pase de la barbarie a la civilización

«All this confirms the traditional view of the origin of the titular and priestly kings in the republics of ancient Greece and Italy.» — y lo hace valer como apoyo de la visión tradicional sobre el origen de los reyes titulares y sacerdotales en las repúblicas de Grecia e Italia antiguas

«On a hill at Bomma near the mouth of the Congo dwells Namvulu Vumu, King of the Rain and Storm.» — según Frazer, en un cerro de Bomma, cerca de la desembocadura del Congo, habita Namvulu Vumu, Rey de la Lluvia y la Tormenta

«Among tribes on the outskirts of Abyssinia a similar office exists and has been thus described by an observer: ‘The priesthood of the Alfai, as he is called by the Barea and Kunama, is a remarkable one; he is believed to be able to make rain.» — según Frazer, un observador describe el sacerdocio del Alfai entre barea y kunama como cargo notable de quien se cree capaz de hacer llover

«Down to a few years ago no European, so far as is known, had ever seen either of them;» — según Frazer, hasta pocos años antes ningún europeo había visto, que se sepa, a ninguno de esos dos reyes

«Their royal functions are of a purely mystic or spiritual order; they have no political authority;» — y el deslinde que le importa: sus funciones reales son de orden puramente místico o espiritual, sin autoridad política

«A reason for confining the royal dignity to the same family is that this family is in possession of certain famous talismans which would lose their virtue or disappear if they passed out of the family.» — según Frazer, se da por razón de reservar la dignidad real a una misma familia que ella posee ciertos talismanes famosos que perderían su virtud o desaparecerían al salir de la casa

«The spirit is said to be that of a slave, whose blood chanced to fall upon the blade while it was being forged, and who died a voluntary death to expiate his involuntary offence.» — según Frazer, se dice que el espíritu del talismán es el de un esclavo cuya sangre cayó en la hoja al forjarla y que murió voluntariamente para expiar la ofensa involuntaria

«In the religious history of the Aryan race in Europe the worship of trees has played an important part.» — Frazer abre el capítulo IX del culto de los árboles dándole parte importante en la historia religiosa de la raza aria en Europa

«He declared that he knew nothing like it in the Roman empire.» — según Frazer, aquel testigo declaró no conocer nada semejante en el imperio romano

«From an examination of the Teutonic words for ‘temple’ Grimm has made it probable that amongst the Germans the oldest sanctuaries were natural woods.» — según Frazer, Grimm hizo probable por las palabras germánicas para templo que los santuarios más viejos de los germanos fueran bosques naturales

«However that may be, tree-worship is well attested for all the great European families of the Aryan stock.» — y Frazer se queda con lo que tiene por atestiguado, sea cual sea la etimología: el culto de los árboles en todas las grandes familias europeas de estirpe aria

«But nowhere, perhaps, in the ancient world was this antique form of religion better preserved than in the heart of the great metropolis itself.» — y señala dónde mejor se conservó esa forma antigua de religión: en el corazón de la gran metrópoli misma

«Till lately some of the more credulous old men declared that many of the misfortunes of their people were caused by this modern disregard for the rights of the living cottonwood.» — según Frazer, hasta hace poco los viejos más crédulos atribuían las desgracias de su pueblo a ese desprecio moderno por los derechos del álamo vivo

«The Iroquois believed that each species of tree, shrub, plant, and herb had its own spirit, and to these spirits it was their custom to return thanks.» — según Frazer, los iroqueses creían que cada especie de árbol, arbusto, planta y hierba tenía su espíritu, y acostumbraban darles gracias

«A tree distinguished by a girdle of palm-leaves may not be cut down or injured in any way; and even silk-cotton trees which are not supposed to be animated by Huntin may not be felled unless the woodman first offers a sacrifice of fowls and palm-oil to purge himself of the proposed sacrilege.» — según Frazer, el árbol ceñido con hojas de palma no puede cortarse ni dañarse, y aun los árboles del algodón de seda no animados por Huntin solo se talan tras ofrecer sacrificio

«To omit the sacrifice is an offence which may be punished with death.» — y la pena: omitir el sacrificio es ofensa que puede castigarse con la muerte

«If the man of skill gives leave to proceed, the woodman first offers a fowl and a goat to the tree; then as soon as he has given the first blow with the axe, he applies his mouth to the cut and sucks some of the sap.» — según Frazer, dado el permiso, el leñador ofrece al árbol un ave y una cabra y, al primer hachazo, aplica la boca al corte y chupa la savia

«In this way he forms a brotherhood with the tree, just as two men become blood-brothers by sucking each other’s blood.» — y el sentido que se le da: así se hermana con el árbol, como dos hombres se hacen hermanos de sangre chupándose la sangre

«But whereas in all the higher animals the organs of the two sexes are regularly separated between different individuals, in most plants they exist together in every individual of the species.» — Frazer apunta la asimetría botánica de la que parte: en los animales superiores los órganos de los dos sexos van separados entre individuos y en casi todas las plantas conviven en cada individuo

«Thus in Amboyna, when the rice is in bloom, the people say that it is pregnant and fire no guns and make no other noises near the field, for fear lest, if the rice were thus disturbed, it would miscarry, and the crop would be all straw and no grain.» — según Frazer, en Amboina se dice del arroz en flor que está preñado y no se disparan armas ni se hace ruido cerca del campo, no sea que aborte

«If the settlers require them to hew down the trees, they earnestly protest against it, asserting that were they to do so they would have no luck, and might be punished for not protecting their ancestors.» — según Frazer, aquellos nativos protestan si los colonos les mandan talar los árboles, porque no tendrían suerte y podrían ser castigados por no proteger a sus antepasados

«Their fallen branches cumber the ground, and no one may remove them unless he has first asked leave of the spirit of the tree and offered him a sacrifice.» — y el tabú que ampara hasta lo caído: nadie retira las ramas sin pedir antes licencia al espíritu del árbol y ofrecerle sacrificio

«But, according to another and probably later opinion, the tree is not the body, but merely the abode of the tree-spirit, which can quit it and return to it at pleasure.» — Frazer distingue dos estados de la creencia y fecha uno como probablemente posterior: el árbol ya no es el cuerpo sino la morada del espíritu, que puede dejarlo y volver a su gusto

«Thus when a man is cutting a road through a forest and has to fell a tall tree which blocks the way, he will not begin to ply his axe until he has said: ‘Spirit who lodgest in this tree, take it not ill that I cut down thy dwelling, for it is done at no wish of mine but by order of the Controller.’» — según Frazer, el que abre camino en el bosque no maneja el hacha sin decir antes al espíritu que mora en el árbol que no lo tome a mal, porque corta por orden del Controlador

«And when he wishes to clear a piece of forest-land for cultivation, it is necessary that he should come to a satisfactory understanding with the woodland spirits who live there before he lays low their leafy dwellings.» — y para desbrozar un trecho hace falta entenderse antes con los espíritus del bosque que allí viven

«The Kayans of Borneo are of opinion that tree-spirits stand very stiffly on the point of honour and visit men with their displeasure for any injury done to them.» — según Frazer, los kayan de Borneo tienen a los espíritus de los árboles por muy puntillosos en el honor, y castigan cualquier daño

«Hence after building a house, whereby they have been forced to ill-treat many trees, these people observe a period of penance for a year, during which they must abstain from many things, such as the killing of bears, tiger-cats, and serpents.» — y de ahí la penitencia de un año tras construir una casa, con abstinencias que incluyen no matar osos, gatos-tigre ni serpientes

«the grove deities are held responsible for the crops, and are especially honoured at all the great agricultural festivals.» — según Frazer, a las deidades del bosquecillo se las tiene por responsables de las cosechas y se las honra sobre todo en las grandes fiestas agrícolas. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«the coco-nut is esteemed one of the most sacred fruits, and is called Sriphala, or the fruit of Sri, the goddess of prosperity.» — según Frazer, el coco pasa por uno de los frutos más sagrados y se llama *Sriphala*, fruto de Sri, la diosa de la prosperidad. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«In the town of Qua, near Old Calabar, there used to grow a palm-tree which ensured conception to any barren woman who ate a nut from its branches.» — según Frazer, en Qua, cerca de Old Calabar, crecía una palmera que aseguraba concebir a la mujer estéril que comiera un fruto de sus ramas

«Among the South Slavonians a barren woman, who desires to have a child, places a new chemise upon a fruitful tree on the eve of St George’s Day.» — según Frazer, la eslava meridional estéril que quiere hijo pone una camisa nueva en un árbol fructífero la víspera de San Jorge

«From the foregoing review of the beneficent qualities commonly ascribed to tree-spirits, it is easy to understand why customs like the May-tree or May-pole have prevailed so widely and figured so prominently in the popular festivals of European peasants.» — Frazer enlaza el culto del árbol con el folclore europeo: las cualidades benéficas que se atribuyen a los espíritus de los árboles explican por qué el Mayo y el palo de mayo han prevalecido tanto

«In spring or early summer or even on Midsummer Day, it was and still is in many parts of Europe the custom to go out to the woods, cut down a tree and bring it into the village, where it is set up amid general rejoicings, or the people cut branches in the woods, and fasten them on every house.» — y describe la costumbre: ir al bosque en primavera o el día de San Juan, cortar un árbol y plantarlo en el pueblo entre regocijos, o cortar ramas y fijarlas en cada casa

«The balls, which are sometimes covered with gold and silver paper, are said to have originally represented the sun and moon.» — según Frazer, se dice que las bolas del Mayo, a veces forradas de papel de oro y plata, representaban en origen el sol y la luna

«In some villages of the Vosges Mountains on the first Sunday of May young girls go in bands from house to house, singing a song in praise of May, in which mention is made of the ‘bread and meal that come in May.’» — según Frazer, el primer domingo de mayo las muchachas de los Vosgos van de casa en casa cantando al mayo y al pan y la harina que en mayo vienen

«In some parts of Sweden on the eve of May Day lads go about carrying each a bunch of fresh birch twigs wholly or partly in leaf.» — según Frazer, en partes de Suecia los mozos salen la víspera del primero de mayo con un manojo de ramas frescas de abedul

«Bonfires are lit on the hills, and the people dance round them and jump over them.» — y el rito de fuego que las acompaña: se encienden hogueras en los cerros y la gente baila en torno y las salta

«It would be needless to illustrate at length the custom, which has prevailed in various parts of Europe, such as England, France, and Germany, of setting up a village May-tree or May-pole on May Day.» — Frazer da por innecesario ilustrar largo la costumbre del árbol o palo de mayo en Inglaterra, Francia y Alemania

«The puritanical writer Phillip Stubbes in his Anatomie of Abuses , first published at London in 1583, has described with manifest disgust how they used to bring in the May-pole in the days of good Queen Bess.» — y cita al escritor puritano Phillip Stubbes, que describió con asco manifiesto en su *Anatomie of Abuses* de 1583 cómo se traía el palo de mayo en tiempos de Isabel

«In Swabia on the first of May a tall fir-tree used to be fetched into the village, where it was decked with ribbons and set up; then the people danced round it merrily to music.» — según Frazer, en Suabia se traía al pueblo un abeto alto el primero de mayo, se le ponían cintas y se bailaba en torno

«In Saxony ‘people were not content with bringing the summer symbolically (as king or queen) into the village; they brought the fresh green itself from the woods even into the houses:» — según Frazer, en Sajonia no bastaba traer el verano simbólicamente como rey o reina: se traía el verde mismo del bosque hasta dentro de las casas

«We can hardly doubt that originally the practice everywhere was to set up a new May-tree every year.» — Frazer sostiene que la práctica original era plantar un árbol de mayo nuevo cada año

«When, however, the meaning of the custom had been forgotten, and the May-tree was regarded simply as a centre for holiday merry-making, people saw no reason for felling a fresh tree every year, and preferred to let the same tree stand permanently, only decking it with fresh flowers on May Day.» — y explica el cambio por olvido del sentido: vuelto el Mayo simple centro de fiesta, se dejó el mismo palo en pie y se le renovaron las flores

«The evidence for this anthropomorphic representation of the tree-spirit is largely to be found in the popular customs of European peasantry.» — y declara dónde está su evidencia para la figura humana del espíritu del árbol: sobre todo en las costumbres populares del campesinado europeo

«There is an instructive class of cases in which the tree-spirit is represented simultaneously in vegetable form and in human form, which are set side by side as if for the express purpose of explaining each other.» — y destaca el caso que tiene por instructivo: aquel en que el espíritu del árbol se representa a la vez en forma vegetal y humana, puestas lado a lado como para explicarse una a la otra

«In the course of the song a wish is expressed that those who give nothing may lose their fowls by the marten, that their vine may bear no clusters, their tree no nuts, their field no corn; the produce of the year is supposed» — según Frazer, el canto de los mayos desea al que nada da que la marta le mate las gallinas y que no den fruto su viña, su árbol ni su campo; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana

«Here and in the cases mentioned above, where children go about with green boughs or garlands on May Day singing and collecting money, the meaning is that with the spirit of vegetation they bring plenty and good luck to the house, and they expect to be paid for the service.» — y da el sentido que atribuye a esas rondas: los niños que van con ramos verdes cantando y pidiendo traen con el espíritu de la vegetación la abundancia y la buena suerte, y esperan paga por el servicio

«Here we see that the same powers of making rain and fostering the cattle, which are ascribed to the tree-spirit regarded as incorporate in the tree, are also attributed to the tree-spirit represented by a living man.» — Frazer marca el paso del árbol al hombre: los mismos poderes de hacer llover y criar el ganado que se dan al espíritu encarnado en el árbol se dan al espíritu representado por un hombre vivo

«same spirit which animates the tree and is active in the inferior plants and which we have recognised in the May-tree and the Harvest-May.» — y afirma la identidad del espíritu que anima el árbol, obra en las plantas menores y se reconoce en el Mayo y en el Mayo de la cosecha. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«Quite consistently the spirit is also supposed to manifest his presence in the first flower of spring and reveals himself both in a girl representing a May-rose, and also, as giver of harvest, in the person of the Walber» — y extiende esa coherencia: el mismo espíritu se manifiesta en la primera flor de la primavera, en la muchacha que hace de rosa de mayo y, como dador de cosecha, en la figura del *Walber*

«All who take part in the ceremony then sit down around the fire and divide the pie among them.» — según Frazer, terminada la ceremonia todos se sientan en torno al fuego y se reparten el pastel

«In this custom the Green George dressed in leaves and flowers is plainly identical with the similarly disguised Green George who is associated with a tree in the Carinthian, Transylvanian, and Roumanian customs observed on the same day.» — y Frazer identifica al Jorge Verde vestido de hojas y flores con el Jorge Verde disfrazado que va con un árbol en las costumbres carintia, transilvana y rumana del mismo día

«In the class of cases of which the foregoing are specimens it is obvious that the leaf-clad person who is led about is equivalent to the May-tree, May-bough, or May-doll, which is carried from house to house by children begging.» — y enuncia la equivalencia que le sirve de eje: la persona cubierta de hojas que se pasea equivale al árbol, la rama o la muñeca de mayo que los niños llevan de casa en casa

«These titles, as Mannhardt observes, imply that the spirit incorporate in vegetation is a ruler, whose creative power extends far and wide.» — según Frazer, Mannhardt observa que esos títulos —rey, reina— implican que el espíritu encarnado en la vegetación es un soberano cuyo poder creador se extiende a lo lejos

«If they guess wrong, the May King rings his bell by shaking his head, and a forfeit of beer or the like must be paid by the unsuccessful guesser.» — según Frazer, si yerran, el Rey de Mayo hace sonar su campanilla moviendo la cabeza y el que falló paga prenda en cerveza

«In this custom the high-steward appears, for some reason, to have usurped the insignia of the king.» — y Frazer consigna la anomalía sin explicarla: en esa costumbre el mayordomo mayor parece haber usurpado, por alguna razón, las insignias del rey

«The pinching and beheading of the frog are doubtless, as Mannhardt observes, a rain-charm.» — según Frazer, Mannhardt tiene el pellizco y la decapitación de la rana por ensalmo de lluvia

«We have seen that some Indians of the Orinoco beat frogs for the express purpose of producing rain, and that killing a frog is a European rain-charm.» — y lo apoya en lo ya visto: los indios del Orinoco apalean ranas para producir lluvia, y matar una rana es ensalmo de lluvia europeo

«Again the spirit of vegetation is sometimes represented by a king and queen, a lord and lady, or a bridegroom and bride.» — Frazer añade la forma de pareja: el espíritu de la vegetación se representa a veces por un rey y una reina, un señor y una señora o un novio y una novia

«Here again the parallelism holds between the anthropomorphic and the vegetable representation of the tree-spirit, for we have seen above that trees are sometimes married to each other.» — y vuelve al paralelismo que le sirve de prueba: como los árboles se casan entre sí, la figura humana repite la vegetal

«He who first reached the pole was the Whitsuntide King, and the rest had to obey his orders for that day.» — según Frazer, el primero en llegar al poste era el Rey de Pentecostés y los demás obedecían sus órdenes ese día

«If on their arrival the clown had already disposed of the rolls and the brandy, and greeted the king with a speech and a glass of beer, his score was paid by the king; otherwise he had to settle it himself.» — y el detalle del bufón: si ya había dado cuenta de los panecillos y el aguardiente y saludado al rey con un discurso y una cerveza, pagaba el rey; si no, pagaba él

«But they must marry within the year, or they are treated as old bachelor and old maid, and are debarred the company of the young folk.» — según Frazer, los así emparejados debían casarse dentro del año o se les trataba de solterón y solterona y se les excluía de la compañía de los jóvenes

«All this is now a thing of the past.» — y Frazer cierra esa costumbre consignando que ya pasó

«But it is not easy to assign their respective parts to the forsaken bridegroom and to the girl who wakes him from his slumber.» — Frazer reconoce que no es fácil repartir los papeles entre el novio abandonado y la muchacha que lo despierta

«It is hardly possible, on the evidence before us, to answer these questions.» — y se abstiene: con la evidencia que tiene delante, dice, apenas puede responderse

«Probably she is no other than Brigit, the Celtic goddess of fire and apparently of the crops.» — y avanza una identificación marcada como probable: que aquella figura no sea otra que Brígida, diosa celta del fuego y al parecer de las mieses

«Often the marriage of the spirit of vegetation in spring, though not directly represented, is implied by naming the human representative of the spirit, ‘the Bride,’ and dressing her in wedding attire.» — según Frazer, la boda primaveral del espíritu de la vegetación va a menudo implícita en llamar *la Novia* a su representante humana y vestirla de boda

«From the preceding examination of the spring and summer festivals of Europe we may infer that our rude forefathers personified the powers of vegetation as male and female, and attempted, on the principle of homoeopathic or imitative magic, to quicken the growth of trees and plants by representing the marriage of the sylvan deities in the persons of a King and Queen of May, a Whitsun Bridegroom and Bride, and so forth.» — Frazer resume su tesis sobre las fiestas europeas de primavera y verano: los antepasados rudos personificaron las potencias de la vegetación como macho y hembra y trataron de propagarlas por magia homeopática, con bodas simuladas

«Such representations were accordingly no mere symbolic or allegorical dramas, pastoral plays designed to amuse or instruct a rustic audience.» — y niega expresamente que fueran dramas simbólicos o alegóricos hechos para divertir o instruir a un público rústico

«The only possible explanation of this custom seems to be that the Indians confused the process by which human beings reproduce their kind with the process by which plants discharge the same function, and fancied that by resorting to the former they were simultaneously forwarding the latter.» — Frazer da por única explicación posible de la costumbre que aquellos indios confundieran la reproducción humana con la de las plantas y creyeran adelantar esta al practicar aquella

«In some parts of Java, at the season when the bloom will soon be on the rice, the husbandman and his wife visit their fields by night and there engage in sexual intercourse for the purpose of promoting the growth of» — según Frazer, en partes de Java el labrador y su mujer visitan de noche sus campos cuando el arroz va a florecer y allí se unen para favorecer el crecimiento; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana

«The same means which are thus adopted to stimulate the growth of the crops are naturally employed to ensure the fruitfulness of trees.» — y extiende el mismo recurso de los campos a los árboles frutales

«In some parts of Amboyna, when the state of the clove plantation indicates that the crop is likely to be scanty, the men go naked to the plantations by night, and there seek to fertilise the trees precisely as they would impregnate women, while at the same time they call out for ‘More cloves!’ This is supposed to make the trees bear fruit more abundantly.» — según Frazer, en partes de Amboina los hombres van desnudos de noche a los clavares cuando la cosecha promete escasa

«In some parts of Germany at harvest the men and women, who have reaped the corn, roll together on the field.» — según Frazer, en partes de Alemania los segadores y segadoras ruedan juntos por el campo en la cosecha

«This again is probably a mitigation of an older and ruder custom designed to impart fertility to the fields by methods like those resorted to by the Pipiles of Central America long ago and by the cultivators of rice in Java at the present time.» — y lo lee como atenuación probable de una costumbre más vieja y ruda, del tipo de la de los pipiles de Centroamérica y la de los cultivadores de arroz

«Thus from the same crude philosophy, the same primitive notions of nature and life, the savage may derive by different channels a rule either of profligacy or of asceticism.» — Frazer consigna que de la misma filosofía cruda y las mismas nociones de naturaleza y vida el salvaje puede sacar por vías distintas una regla de libertinaje o una de ascetismo

«To readers bred in a religion which is saturated with the ascetic idealism of the East, the explanation which I have given of the rule of continence observed under certain circumstances by rude or savage peoples may seem far-fetched and improbable.» — y advierte a su lector que su explicación de la continencia entre pueblos rudos puede parecer traída de los pelos a quien se crió en una religión saturada del idealismo ascético de Oriente

«The fallacy of such a belief, like the belief that the chastity of the sower conduces to the growth of the seed, is plain enough to us; yet perhaps the self-restraint which these and the like beliefs, vain and false as they are, have imposed on mankind, has not been without its utility in bracing and strengthening the breed.» — y Frazer tempera su propio juicio: la falacia de esas creencias nos resulta clara, y acaso el autodominio que impusieron, vanas y falsas como son, tuvo su parte en templar la raza

«For strength of character in the race as in the individual consists mainly in the power of sacrificing the present to the future, of disregarding the immediate temptations of» — con la razón que da: la fuerza de carácter, en la raza como en el individuo, está sobre todo en el poder de sacrificar el presente al futuro; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana

«Such magical dramas have played a great part in the popular festivals of Europe, and based as they are on a very crude conception of natural law, it is clear that they must have been handed down from a remote antiquity.» — Frazer abre el capítulo XII declarando que esos dramas mágicos tuvieron gran parte en las fiestas populares de Europa y que, por descansar en una noción cruda de la ley natural, vienen de una antigüedad remota

«We shall hardly, therefore, err in assuming that they date from a time when the forefathers of the civilised nations of Europe were still barbarians, herding their cattle and cultivating patches of corn in the clearings of the vast forests, which then covered the greater part of the continent, from the Mediterranean to the Arctic Ocean.» — y data esa herencia: de cuando los antepasados de las naciones civilizadas de Europa eran aún bárbaros que apacentaban ganado y sembraban claros en los bosques inmensos del continente

«Direct evidence that it was so there is none, but analogy pleads in favour of the view, as I shall now endeavour to show.» — y declara el estatuto de su prueba sobre Nemi: evidencia directa no hay ninguna, y lo que alega en su favor es la analogía

«Diana was essentially a goddess of the woodlands, as Ceres was a goddess of the corn and Bacchus a god of the vine.» — sostiene que Diana era en lo esencial diosa de los bosques, como Ceres del grano y Baco de la vid

«But Diana was not merely a patroness of wild beasts, a mistress of woods and hills, of lonely glades and sounding rivers; conceived as the moon, and especially, it would seem, as the yellow harvest moon, she filled the farmer’s grange with goodly fruits, and heard the prayers of women in travail.» — según Frazer, Diana no era solo patrona de las fieras y dueña de bosques y montes: concebida como luna, y al parecer sobre todo como luna llena de la cosecha, oía las plegarias de las parturientas

«Thus Diana, like the Greek Artemis, with whom she was constantly identified, may be described as a goddess of nature in general and of fertility in particular.» — y la describe, como a la Ártemis griega con que se la identificaba, por diosa de la naturaleza en general y de la fertilidad en particular

«They said that the deity himself came into the temple at night and slept in the great bed; and the woman, as a consort of the god, might have no intercourse with mortal man.» — según Frazer, se decía que la propia deidad entraba de noche en el templo y dormía en el gran lecho, y que la mujer, por consorte del dios, no podía tener trato con varón mortal

«For, according to the Egyptians, their monarchs were actually begotten by the god Ammon, who assumed for the time being the form of the reigning king, and in that disguise had intercourse with the queen.» — según Frazer, los egipcios tenían a sus monarcas por engendrados por el dios Amón, que tomaba por un tiempo la forma del rey reinante y con ese disfraz se unía a la reina

«the throng of worshippers awaited in anxious suspense the result of the mystic congress, on which they believed their own salvation to depend.» — según Frazer, la multitud de fieles aguardaba con ansia el resultado del connubio místico, del que creía depender su salvación. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«Thus through the glamour shed round these rites by the poetry and philosophy of later ages there still looms, like a distant landscape through a sunlit haze, a simple rustic festival designed to cover the wide Eleusinian plain with a plenteous harvest by wedding the goddess of the corn to the sky-god, who fertilised the bare earth with genial showers.» — y propone lo que se ve tras el brillo que la poesía y la filosofía posteriores echaron sobre los misterios de Eleusis: una fiesta rústica simple para cubrir de grano los campos

«This presumption is strengthened when we find rites of a similar kind in vogue among the lower races.» — y refuerza su presunción con ritos del mismo tipo entre las razas que llama inferiores

«They did not know what to do, but at last concluded that their powerful but mischievous god Keremet must be angry at being unmarried.» — según Frazer, aquel pueblo concluyó al fin que su dios poderoso y travieso estaba enojado por seguir soltero

«The origin of the custom is said to have been this.» — según Frazer, así se contaba el origen de aquella costumbre

«They did so, and the fishing turned out all that could be wished.» — y el desenlace del relato: lo hicieron y la pesca salió cuanto podía desearse

«Baganda every time they undertook a long voyage, had virgins provided for him to serve as his wives.» — según Frazer, los baganda proveían de vírgenes al dios del lago cada vez que emprendían un viaje largo, para que le sirvieran de esposas. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«Like the Vestals they were bound to chastity, but unlike the Vestals they seem to have been often unfaithful.» — y la diferencia que anota con las vestales: obligadas a castidad como ellas, parece que faltaban a menudo

«A certain country is infested by a many-headed serpent, dragon, or other monster, which would destroy the whole people if a human victim, generally a virgin, were not delivered up to him periodically.» — Frazer resume el cuento tipo de la doncella y el dragón: un país plagado por una serpiente o monstruo de muchas cabezas que destruiría al pueblo entero si no se le entregara periódicamente una víctima humana, casi siempre una virgen

«It would probably be a mistake to dismiss all these tales as pure inventions of the story-teller.» — y avisa contra despachar esos cuentos por invención pura del narrador

«1. Numa and Egeria . From the foregoing survey of custom and legend we may infer that the sacred marriage of the powers both of vegetation and of water has been celebrated by many peoples for the sake of promoting the fertility of the earth, on which the life of animals and men ultimately depends, and that in such rites the part of the divine bridegroom or bride is often sustained by a man or woman.» — Frazer abre el capítulo XIII infiriendo de su recorrido que muchos pueblos han celebrado la boda sagrada de las potencias de la vegetación y del agua para promover la fertilidad de la tierra, con un hombre o una mujer en el papel divino

«The evidence may, therefore, lend some countenance to the conjecture that in the sacred grove at Nemi, where the powers of vegetation and of water manifested themselves in the fair forms of shady woods, tumbling cascades, and glassy lake, a marriage like that of our King and Queen of May was annually celebrated between the mortal King of the Wood and the immortal Queen of the Wood, Diana.» — y mide su propia conjetura sobre Nemi con esa cautela: la evidencia puede dar algún respaldo a suponer que allí se casaba cada año el mortal Rey del Bosque con la inmortal Reina del Bosque, Diana

«In this connexion an important figure in the grove was the water-nymph Egeria, who was worshipped by pregnant women because she, like Diana, could grant them an easy delivery.» — y pone en el bosque a la ninfa Egeria, venerada por las embarazadas porque, como Diana, podía darles parto fácil

«In the first place, then, it would seem that the Roman king personated no less a deity than Jupiter himself.» — sostiene que el rey romano no personificaba a deidad menor que el propio Júpiter

«it has been held with a high degree of probability both by ancients and moderns that in so doing they copied the traditionary attire and insignia of the Roman kings.» — y lo apoya en la opinión de antiguos y modernos, marcada por él como de alto grado de probabilidad, de que el atuendo triunfal copiaba el de los reyes de Roma. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«This does not imply that the Roman kings ever served as Kings of the Wood in the Arician grove, but only that they may originally have been invested with a sacred character of the same general kind,» — Frazer acota su propia analogía: no implica que los reyes de Roma sirvieran de Reyes del Bosque en Aricia, sino solo que pudieron estar investidos de un carácter sagrado del mismo género

«it is possible that they reigned, not by right of birth, but in virtue of their supposed divinity as representatives or embodiments of a god,» — y deja la hipótesis en lo posible: que reinaran no por derecho de nacimiento sino en virtud de su supuesta divinidad como representantes o encarnaciones de un dios. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«Now the Alban dynasty bore the name of Silvii or Wood, and it can hardly be without significance that in the vision of the historic glories of Rome revealed to Aeneas in the underworld, Virgil, an antiquary as well as a poet, should represent all the line of Silvii as crowned with oak.» — según Frazer, la dinastía albana llevaba el nombre de Silvii, del bosque, y Virgilio, anticuario además de poeta, corona de roble a esos reyes

«A chaplet of oak leaves would thus seem to have been part of the insignia of the old kings of Alba Longa as of their successors the kings of Rome; in both cases it marked the monarch as the human representative of the oak-god.» — de donde infiere que la corona de hojas de roble fue insignia de los viejos reyes de Alba Longa y de sus sucesores romanos, señal del monarca como representante humano del dios roble

«If the kings of Rome aped Capitoline Jove, their predecessors the kings of Alba probably laid themselves out to mimic the great Latian Jupiter, who had his seat above the city on the summit of the Alban Mountain.» — y extiende la conjetura: si los reyes de Roma remedaban al Jove Capitolino, los de Alba remedarían al gran Júpiter Lacial de la cumbre del monte Albano

«The natives say that Circe dwelt there, and they show the grave of Elpenor, from which grow myrtles such as wreaths are made of, whereas the other myrtle-trees are tall.’» — según Frazer, su fuente antigua dice que los naturales tenían allí la morada de Circe y mostraban la tumba de Elpénor, de la que brotan mirtos de hacer coronas, mientras los demás mirtos son altos

«but instead of the desolate brown expanse of the fever-stricken Campagna, spanned by its long lines of ruined aqueducts, like the broken arches of the bridge in the vision of Mirza, the eye must have ranged over woodlands that stretched away, mile after mile, on all sides, till their varied hues of green or autumnal scarlet and gold melted insensibly into the blue of the distant mountains» — Frazer contrapone la Campania febril y parda de su día al paisaje boscoso que el rey albano habría tenido a la vista; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana

«That the Roman king and queen should act the parts of Jupiter and Juno would seem all the more natural because these deities themselves bore the title of King and Queen.» — y cierra el argumento: que el rey y la reina de Roma hicieran de Júpiter y Juno le parece tanto más natural porque esas deidades llevaban ellas mismas el título de Rey y Reina

«He represented and indeed personated Jupiter, the great god of the sky, the thunder, and the oak, and in that character made rain, thunder, and lightning for the good of his subjects, like many more kings of the weather in other parts of the world.» — Frazer resume el cargo del rey romano: representaba y de hecho personificaba a Júpiter, dios del cielo, el trueno y el roble, y en ese carácter hacía lluvia, trueno y relámpago para bien de sus súbditos

«All these conclusions, which we have reached mainly by a consideration of the Roman evidence, may with great probability be applied to the other Latin communities.» — y extiende con probabilidad alta las conclusiones sacadas de la evidencia romana a las demás comunidades latinas

«If these principles regulated descent of the kingship among the ancient Latins, the state of things in this respect would be somewhat as follows.» — Frazer plantea en condicional el cuadro de la sucesión latina si esos principios la regían

«The king would be a man of another clan, perhaps of another town or even of another race, who had married a daughter of his predecessor and received the kingdom with her.» — y lo describe: el rey sería hombre de otro clan, de otra ciudad o aun de otra raza, casado con la hija de su predecesor y con el reino recibido por ella

«In this connexion it may be significant that a festival of jollity and drunkenness was celebrated by the plebeians and slaves at Rome on Midsummer Day, and that the festival was specially associated with the fireborn King Servius Tullius, being held in honour of Fortuna, the goddess who loved Servius as Egeria loved Numa.» — según Frazer, puede ser significativo que plebeyos y esclavos celebraran en Roma una fiesta de holgorio y embriaguez el día de San Juan, asociada al agua

«The hypothesis that the Latin kings may have been begotten at an annual festival of love is necessarily a mere conjecture, though the traditional birth of Numa at the festival of the Parilia, when shepherds leaped across the spring bonfires, as lovers leap across the Midsummer fires, may perhaps be thought to lend it a faint colour of probability.» — y Frazer marca el grado de su propia hipótesis: que los reyes latinos fueran engendrados en una fiesta anual de amor es mera conjetura, con un tenue color de probabilidad

«The final apotheosis, which represented the kings not merely as sprung from gods but as themselves deities incarnate, would be much facilitated if in their lifetime, as we have seen reason to think, they had actually laid claim to divinity.» — y hace fácil la apoteosis final —los reyes no ya nacidos de dioses sino deidades encarnadas— si en vida se habían arrogado divinidad

«In a state of society where nobility is reckoned only through women – in other words, where descent through the mother is everything, and descent through the father is nothing – no objection will be felt to uniting girls of the highest rank to men of humble birth, even to aliens or slaves, provided that in themselves the men appear to be suitable mates.» — Frazer explica el matrimonio con extranjeros por el cómputo de la nobleza: donde la descendencia se cuenta por la madre y no por el padre, no hay reparo en unir a la heredera con un forastero

«A common one is that the king’s son had been banished for murder.» — según Frazer, la razón que más se aduce en esas tradiciones es que el hijo del rey había sido desterrado por homicidio

«We may suspect that such reasons are afterthoughts devised by writers, who, accustomed to the rule that a son should succeed to his father’s property and kingdom, were hard put to it to account for so many traditions of kings’ sons who quitted the land of their birth to reign over a foreign kingdom.» — y Frazer sospecha que son razones añadidas después por escritores acostumbrados a la herencia de padre a hijo y apurados para explicar tantas tradiciones de lo contrario. El troceo parte *after-thoughts* en el renglón y el extractor la devuelve unida

«The statement is all the more significant because it appears to reflect the actual practice of the Pictish kings.» — y apoya su lectura en que la afirmación parece reflejar la práctica de los reyes pictos

«We know from the testimony of Bede that, whenever a doubt arose as to the succession, the Picts chose their kings from the female rather than the male line.» — según Frazer, Beda atestigua que los pictos, en duda de sucesión, escogían a sus reyes por la línea femenina antes que por la masculina

«Thus it appears that the right to marry a girl, and especially a princess, has often been conferred as a prize in an athletic contest.» — sostiene que el derecho a casarse con una muchacha, y en especial con una princesa, se ha concedido a menudo por premio en una prueba atlética

«There would be no reason, therefore, for surprise if the Roman kings, before bestowing their daughters in marriage, should have resorted to this ancient mode of testing the personal qualities of their future sons-in-law and successors.» — y de ahí que no le sorprenda que los reyes de Roma probaran así las cualidades personales de sus futuros yernos y sucesores

«It is far more likely that in acting thus the King of the Sacred Rites was merely keeping up an ancient custom which in the regal period had been annually observed by his predecessors the kings.» — según Frazer, es mucho más probable que el Rey de los Ritos Sagrados solo mantuviera una costumbre antigua observada cada año por los reyes en la época regia

«What the original intention of the rite may have been must probably always remain more or less a matter of conjecture.» — y declara que la intención original del rito seguirá siendo siempre, probablemente, cosa de conjetura

«It is said that he was at Lavinium offering a public sacrifice to the ancestral gods, when some men, to whom he had given umbrage, despatched him with the sacrificial knives and spits which they had snatched from the altar.» — según Frazer, se cuenta que estaba en Lavinio ofreciendo sacrificio público a los dioses patrios cuando unos hombres a quienes había ofendido lo remataron con los cuchillos y asadores del altar

«The occasion and the manner of his death suggest that the slaughter may have been a sacrifice rather than an assassination.» — y Frazer lee la ocasión y el modo de esa muerte como indicio de sacrificio antes que de asesinato

«The worship of the oak tree or of the oak god appears to have been shared by all the branches of the Aryan stock in Europe.» — sostiene que el culto del roble o del dios roble fue común a todas las ramas de la estirpe aria en Europa

«Both Greeks and Italians associated the tree with their highest god, Zeus or Jupiter, the divinity of the sky, the rain, and the thunder.» — y lo liga al dios supremo: griegos e itálicos asociaron el árbol con Zeus o Júpiter, divinidad del cielo, la lluvia y el trueno

«Thus when ancient Greek kings claimed to be descended from Zeus, and even to bear his name, we may reasonably suppose that they also attempted to exercise his divine functions by making thunder and rain for the good of their people or the terror and confusion of their foes.» — según Frazer, cuando los reyes griegos antiguos se decían descendientes de Zeus y aun llevaban su nombre, cabe suponer que intentaran también ejercer sus funciones divinas haciendo trueno y lluvia

«In this respect the legend of Salmoneus probably reflects the pretensions of a whole class of petty sovereigns who reigned of old, each over his little canton, in the oak-clad highlands of Greece.» — y lee la leyenda de Salmoneo como reflejo probable de las pretensiones de toda una clase de soberanos pequeños de las tierras altas de Grecia

«In the religion of the ancient Germans the veneration for sacred groves seems to have held the foremost place, and according to Grimm the chief of their holy trees was the oak.» — según Frazer, en la religión de los germanos antiguos el primer lugar lo tuvo la veneración de los bosques sagrados, y según Grimm el principal de sus árboles santos era el roble

«It appears to have been especially dedicated to the god of thunder, Donar or Thunar, the equivalent of the Norse Thor; for a sacred oak near Geismar, in Hesse, which Boniface cut down in the eighth century, went among the heathen by the name of Jupiter’s oak (robur Jovis ), which in old German would be Donares-eih , ‘the oak of Donar.’» — y lo dedica al dios del trueno, Donar o Thunar, equivalente del Thor nórdico, con el roble sagrado de Geismar que Bonifacio taló en el siglo VIII

«Men sacrificed to oak-trees for good crops, while women did the same to lime-trees; from which we may infer that they regarded oaks as male and lime-trees as female.» — según Frazer, los hombres sacrificaban a los robles por la cosecha y las mujeres a los tilos, de donde infiere que tenían el roble por macho y el tilo por hembra

«Thus the chief Lithuanian deity presents a close resemblance to Zeus and Jupiter, since he was the god of the oak, the thunder, and the rain.» — y ve en la deidad principal lituana un parecido estrecho con Zeus y Júpiter, por dios del roble, del trueno y de la lluvia

«Thus the springs which set the vast machine in motion, though they lie far beyond our ken, shrouded in a mystery which we can never hope to penetrate, appear to ignorant man to lie within his reach: he fancies he can touch them and so work by magic art all manner of good to himself and evil to his foes.» — y la imagen con que cierra: los resortes que mueven la máquina inmensa quedan fuera de nuestro alcance, pero al ignorante le parecen al suyo, y cree poder tocarlos para hacerse bien y dañar a sus enemigos

«If they bear the names and display the pomp of deities, the powers which they are supposed to wield are commonly those of their predecessor the magician.» — Frazer marca la continuidad entre mago y rey divino: aunque lleven nombre y pompa de deidades, los poderes que se les suponen son los del mago que los precedió

«Men who are credited with powers so lofty and far-reaching naturally hold the highest place in the land, and while the rift between the spiritual and the temporal spheres has not yet widened too far, they are supreme in civil as well as religious matters: in a word, they are kings as well as gods.» — y sitúa a esos hombres en el lugar más alto mientras no se ensanche la grieta entre lo espiritual y lo temporal

«If the priest of Nemi posed not merely as a king, but as a god of the grove, we have still to ask, What deity in particular did he personate?» — Frazer formula la pregunta que le queda: si el sacerdote de Nemi posaba no solo de rey sino de dios del bosque, qué deidad personificaba

«But this does not help us much, for of Virbius we know little more than the name.» — y reconoce el límite del dato: de Virbio no se sabe apenas más que el nombre

«The hypothesis that in later times at all events the King of the Wood played the part of the oak-god Jupiter, is confirmed by an examination of his divine partner Diana.» — y apoya su hipótesis —que al menos en tiempos tardíos el Rey del Bosque hiciera de Júpiter dios del roble— en el examen de su compañera divina

«For two distinct lines of argument converge to show that if Diana was a queen of the woods in general, she was at Nemi a goddess of the oak in particular.» — con dos líneas de argumento que convergen: reina de los bosques en general, en Nemi Diana era diosa del roble en particular

«But the view mentioned by Varro that Janus was the god of the sky is supported not only by the etymological identity of his name with that of the sky-god Jupiter, but also by the relation in which he appears to have stood to Jupiter’s two mates, Juno and Juturna.» — según Frazer, la opinión que Varrón menciona de que Jano fuera dios del cielo se apoya en la identidad etimológica de su nombre con el de Júpiter y en la relación con sus dos parejas

«Indeed, he was identified with Jupiter not merely by the logic of the learned St Augustine, but by the piety of a pagan worshipper who dedicated an offering to Jupiter Dianus.» — y añade la prueba epigráfica: se identificó a Jano con Júpiter no solo por la lógica de San Agustín sino por la piedad de un adorador pagano que dedicó una ofrenda a Júpiter Diano

«This duplication of deities, the result of the final fusion of kindred tribes who had long lived apart, would account for the appearance of Janus beside Jupiter, and of Diana or Jana beside Juno in the Roman religion.» — Frazer explica el doblete divino por fusión de tribus emparentadas largo tiempo separadas, de donde Jano al lado de Júpiter y Diana o Jana al lado de Juno

«At least this appears to be a more probable theory than the opinion, which has found favour with some modern scholars, that Janus was originally nothing but the god of doors.» — y opone su teoría, marcada como más probable, a la que favorecen algunos modernos: que Jano no fuera en origen sino el dios de las puertas

«This explanation of the double-headed Janus at Rome is confirmed by the double-headed idol which the Bush negroes in the interior of Surinam regularly set up as a guardian at the entrance of a village.» — y la apoya en un paralelo etnográfico: el ídolo bicéfalo que los negros cimarrones del interior de Surinam ponen de guardián a la entrada de la aldea

«Their union, however consummated, would be deemed essential to the fertility of the earth and the fecundity of man and beast.» — y da por esencial esa unión, comoquiera que se consumase, para la fertilidad de la tierra y la fecundidad de hombres y animales

«The reputed possessor of powers so exalted must have been a very important personage; and the remains of buildings and of votive offerings which have been found on the site of the sanctuary combine with the testimony of classical writers to prove that in later times it was one of the greatest and most popular shrines in Italy.» — según Frazer, las ruinas y los exvotos del santuario concuerdan con el testimonio de los antiguos en hacer de Nemi uno de los templos más famosos y populares de Italia

«1. Royal and Priestly Taboos . At a certain stage of early society the king or priest is often thought to be endowed with supernatural powers or to be an incarnation of a deity, and consistently with this belief the course of nature is supposed to be more or less under his control, and he is held responsible for bad weather, failure of the crops, and similar calamities.» — Frazer abre el capítulo XVII de la carga de la realeza: en cierto estadio se tiene al rey o al sacerdote por dotado de poderes sobrenaturales o por encarnación de una deidad, y se le hace responsable del mal tiempo y de la pérdida de las cosechas

«To some extent it appears to be assumed that the king’s power over nature, like that over his subjects and slaves, is exerted through definite acts of will; and therefore if drought, famine, pestilence, or storms arise, the people attribute the misfortune to the negligence or guilt of their king, and punish him accordingly with stripes and bonds, or, if he remains obdurate, with deposition and death.» — y el precio de esa responsabilidad: si vienen sequía, hambre, peste o tormentas, el pueblo atribuye la desgracia a la negligencia o la culpa del rey y lo castiga con azotes y prisión o, si se obstina, con deposición y muerte

«It will not be improper to give a few instances of it.» — Frazer anuncia que no está de más dar unos cuantos ejemplos de esa carga

«He thinks that it would be very prejudicial to his dignity and holiness to touch the ground with his feet;» — según Frazer, aquel personaje sagrado tiene por muy dañoso a su dignidad y santidad tocar el suelo con los pies

«It was considered as a shameful degradation for him even to touch the ground with his foot.» — según Frazer, se tenía por degradación vergonzosa que el mikado tocara el suelo con el pie

«The sun and moon were not even permitted to shine upon his head.» — y ni al sol ni a la luna se les permitía alumbrarle la cabeza

«It is impossible, we are told, to overrate the reverence in which he was held.» — según Frazer, se dice que no cabe exagerar la reverencia en que se tenía a aquel rey

«He was looked on as a god whom the earth was not worthy to hold nor the sun to shine upon.» — y la fórmula que la mide: se le miraba como a un dios a quien la tierra no era digna de sostener ni el sol de alumbrar

«And if nature may be disturbed by the slightest involuntary act of the king, it is easy to conceive the convulsion which his death might provoke.» — Frazer saca la consecuencia que organiza el libro entero: si el menor acto involuntario del rey puede trastornar la naturaleza, fácil es concebir la convulsión que provocaría su muerte

«The natural death of the Chitomé, as we have seen, was thought to entail the destruction of all things.» — según Frazer, se creía que la muerte natural del Chitomé acarrearía la destrucción de todas las cosas

«more powerful a king is, the more taboos is he bound to observe; they regulate all his actions, his walking and his standing, his eating and drinking, his sleeping and waking.» — Frazer enuncia la proporción: cuanto más poderoso el rey, más tabúes le obligan, y regulan su andar y su estar, su comer y su beber, su dormir y su despertar. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«To these restraints the heir to the throne is subject from infancy; but as he advances in life the number of abstinences and ceremonies which he must observe increases, ‘until at the moment that he ascends the throne he is lost in the ocean of rites and taboos.’» — y cita el remate de su fuente: el heredero vive sujeto a esas trabas desde niño y al subir al trono queda perdido en el océano de ritos y tabúes

«‘On no account will the chief cross the river. If it is absolutely necessary for him to do so, he is blindfolded and carried across with shouting and singing.» — según Frazer, aquel jefe no cruza el río por nada del mundo, y si es forzoso lo pasan con los ojos vendados entre gritos y cantos

«Should he walk across, he will go blind or die and certainly lose the chieftainship.» — y la sanción que se le supone: si lo cruzara andando quedaría ciego o moriría, y perdería sin falta la jefatura

«If the kings of Ireland strictly observed these and many other customs, which were enjoined by immemorial usage, it was believed that they would never meet with mischance or misfortune, and would live for ninety years without experiencing the decay of old age; that no epidemic or mortality would occur during their reigns; and that the seasons would be favourable and the earth yield its fruit in abundance; whereas, if they set the ancient usages at naught, the country would be visited with plague, famine, and bad weather.» — según Frazer, se creía que los reyes de Irlanda que guardaran estrictamente esas costumbres inmemoriales no sufrirían desgracia y su reino se vería libre de peste, hambre y mal tiempo

«‘The life of the kings of Egypt,’ says Diodorus, ‘was not like that of other monarchs who are irresponsible and may do just what they choose; on the contrary, everything was fixed for them by law, not only their official duties, but even the details of their daily life» — según Frazer, Diodoro dice que la vida de los reyes de Egipto no era como la de otros monarcas irresponsables que hacen lo que quieren, sino fijada por ley hasta en el detalle cotidiano

«They were such as the following: The Flamen Dialis might not ride or even touch a horse, nor see an army under arms, nor wear a ring which was not broken, nor have a knot on any part of his garments;» — según Frazer, al *Flamen Dialis* no le era lícito montar ni tocar caballo, ni ver un ejército en armas, ni llevar anillo que no estuviera roto, ni tener nudo en parte alguna de su ropa

«His wife, the Flaminica, had to observe nearly the same rules, and others of her own besides.» — y la *Flaminica* debía observar casi las mismas reglas y otras propias

«Thus he may not sleep in any house but his own official residence, which is called the ‘anointed house’ with reference to the ceremony of anointing him at inauguration.» — según Frazer, aquel rey no puede dormir sino en su residencia oficial, llamada la casa ungida por la ceremonia de su unción

«He may not drink water on the highway.» — y otro de sus tabúes: no puede beber agua en el camino real

«In some countries this rift in the supreme power deepened into a total and permanent separation of the spiritual and temporal powers, the old royal house retaining their purely religious functions, while the civil government passed into the hands of a younger and more vigorous race.» — Frazer describe cómo la grieta del poder supremo se ahonda hasta separar del todo lo espiritual y lo temporal, con la casa real vieja en lo religioso y el mando civil en manos de una estirpe más joven

«it is often necessary to force the kingships of Fire and Water upon the reluctant successors,» — y consigna el reverso del cargo sagrado: a menudo hay que forzar las realezas del Fuego y del Agua sobre sucesores que no las quieren. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«Down to the latter half of the sixteenth century the Tycoons were active and efficient rulers; but the same fate overtook them which had befallen the Mikados.» — según Frazer, los tycoon fueron gobernantes activos y eficaces hasta la segunda mitad del siglo XVI, y luego corrieron la misma suerte que los mikados

«But the king’s brother Tring put down the usurper and restored the king, retaining, however, for himself and his descendants the dignity of general of all the forces.» — según Frazer, el hermano del rey derribó al usurpador y lo restauró, quedándose para sí y los suyos con la dignidad de general de todas las fuerzas

«In some parts of Western Africa two kings reign side by side, a fetish or religious king and a civil king, but the fetish king is really supreme.» — según Frazer, en partes de África occidental reinan a la vez un rey fetiche o religioso y un rey civil, y el supremo de veras es el fetiche

«This division of power between a sacred and a secular ruler is to be met with wherever the true negro culture has been left unmolested, but where the negro form of society has been disturbed, as in Dahomey and Ashantee, there is a tendency to consolidate the two powers in a single king.» — y mide dónde se conserva ese reparto: donde la cultura negra quedó sin perturbar, mientras que donde se alteró los dos poderes vuelven a juntarse en un solo rey

«If an animal lives and moves, it can only be, he thinks, because there is a little animal inside which moves it:» — Frazer expone la teoría primitiva del alma como animalillo interior: si un animal vive y se mueve, piensa el salvaje, es porque hay dentro otro pequeño que lo mueve

«The animal inside the animal, the man inside the man, is the soul.» — y da la fórmula: el animal dentro del animal, el hombre dentro del hombre, es el alma

«The great body dies, and is buried, but the little body flies away when the great one dies.» — según Frazer, aquellos informantes decían que el cuerpo grande muere y se entierra, y el cuerpo pequeño vuela cuando el grande muere

«On being asked where the little body went after death, some said it went behind the bush, others said it went into the sea, and some said they did not know.» — y Frazer consigna el desacuerdo entre los testimonios sin armonizarlo: preguntados adónde va el cuerpo pequeño, unos decían que tras el matorral, otros que al mar y algunos que no lo sabían

«Sometimes, however, as we shall see, the human soul is conceived not in human but in animal form.» — y añade la variante que examinará: a veces el alma humana se concibe no en forma humana sino animal

«The soul is commonly supposed to escape by the natural openings of the body, especially the mouth and nostrils.» — según Frazer, se supone comúnmente que el alma escapa por las aberturas naturales del cuerpo, sobre todo boca y narices

«Before leaving a corpse the Wakelbura of Australia used to place hot coals in its ears in order to keep the ghost in the body, until they had got such a good start that he could not overtake them.» — según Frazer, los wakelbura de Australia ponían brasas en los oídos del cadáver para retener al espíritu hasta llevarle bastante ventaja

«And lest the soul of a babe should escape and be lost as soon as it is born, the Alfoors of Celebes, when a birth is about to take place, are careful to close every opening in the house, even the keyhole; and they stop up every chink and cranny in the walls.» — según Frazer, los alfuros de Célebes cierran ante un parto toda abertura de la casa, hasta el ojo de la cerradura, para que el alma del recién nacido no se pierda

«Here the intention clearly is to decoy back the loitering bird-soul and replace it in the head of its owner.» — y Frazer da la intención que le atribuye: atraer de vuelta al alma-pájaro rezagada y devolverla a la cabeza de su dueño

«The soul of a sleeper is supposed to wander away from his body and actually to visit the places, to see the persons, and to perform the acts of which he dreams.» — según Frazer, se supone que el alma del que duerme sale del cuerpo y visita de veras los lugares, ve a las personas y hace los actos que sueña

«When a Dyak dreams of falling into the water, he supposes that this accident has really befallen his spirit, and he sends for a wizard, who fishes for the spirit with a hand-net in a basin of water till he catches it and restores it to its owner.» — según Frazer, el dayak que sueña que cae al agua da por real el accidente de su espíritu y manda llamar a un brujo, que lo pesca con red de mano en una jofaina

«The Santals tell how a man fell asleep, and growing very thirsty, his soul, in the form of a lizard, left his body and entered a pitcher of water to drink.» — según Frazer, los santal cuentan que a un hombre dormido y con mucha sed el alma le salió en forma de lagartija y se metió en un cántaro a beber

«Thus a man of the Wurunjeri tribe in Australia lay at his last gasp because his spirit had departed from him.» — según Frazer, un hombre de los wurunjeri agonizaba porque su espíritu lo había dejado

«A medicine-man went in pursuit and caught the spirit by the middle just as it was about to plunge into the sunset glow, which is the light cast by the souls of the dead as they pass in and out of the under-world, where the sun goes to rest.» — y el desenlace: un curandero lo persiguió y lo agarró por la cintura cuando iba a zambullirse en el arrebol del ocaso, que es la luz que echan las almas de los muertos al entrar y salir del inframundo

«Some of the Congo tribes believe that when a man is ill, his soul has left his body and is wandering at large.» — según Frazer, algunas tribus del Congo creen que el enfermo lo está porque su alma dejó el cuerpo y anda suelta

«Generally the physician declares that he has successfully chased the soul into the branch of a tree.» — y el desenlace usual: el médico declara haber acorralado el alma en la rama de un árbol

«But one day the false king, who played for high stakes, was watching a combat of rams, and it happened that the animal on which he had laid his money fell down dead.» — según Frazer, el rey falso que jugaba fuerte miraba una pelea de carneros y cayó muerto el animal por el que había apostado

«Hence, when a funeral is passing the house, the Karens tie their children with a special kind of string to a particular part of the house, lest the souls of the children should leave their bodies and go into the corpse which is passing.» — según Frazer, los karen atan a sus niños a una parte de la casa con un cordel especial cuando pasa un entierro, no sea que sus almas dejen el cuerpo y se metan en el cadáver

«This is done to prevent the soul of the living from staying behind with the soul of the dead.» — y el fin del rito: impedir que el alma del vivo se quede con la del muerto

«This she does in order to drive away the souls of the survivors, for if one of these souls happened to slip into the grave and to be covered up with earth, its owner would die.» — según Frazer, la mujer espanta las almas de los sobrevivientes para que ninguna resbale a la fosa y quede cubierta de tierra, con lo que su dueño moriría

«A sorcerer having pointed out the devil’s abode, the friends of the patient carry thither cooked rice, fruit, fish, raw eggs, a hen, a chicken, a silken robe, gold, armlets, and so forth.» — según Frazer, señalada por el hechicero la morada del demonio, los allegados del enfermo llevan allí arroz cocido, fruta, pescado, huevos crudos, una gallina, un pollo, una túnica de seda, oro y brazaletes

«Having set out the food in order they pray, saying: ‘We come to offer to you, O devil, this offering of food, clothes, gold, and so on; take it and release the soul of the patient for whom we pray.» — y la fórmula del rescate: puesta la comida en orden, ruegan al demonio que tome la ofrenda y suelte el alma del enfermo

«The name of the man who has lost his soul is revealed in a dream to the medicine-man, who hastens to inform the sufferer of his loss.» — según Frazer, el nombre del que ha perdido el alma se le revela en sueños al curandero, que corre a avisarle de su pérdida

«Generally a number of men have sustained a like loss at the same time; all their names are revealed to the medicine-man, and all employ him to recover their souls.» — y la economía del oficio: suelen ser varios a la vez los que pierden el alma, y todos le pagan por recobrarla

«The wizard does not care whose soul he has captured, and will readily restore it to its owner, if only he is paid for doing so.» — según Frazer, al brujo le da igual de quién sea el alma que atrapó y la devuelve de buen grado con tal de que le paguen

«No blame whatever attaches to men who keep these private asylums or set traps for passing souls; it is their profession, and in the exercise of it they are actuated by no harsh or unkindly feelings.» — y Frazer consigna la ausencia de reproche moral: a nadie se culpa de tener esos asilos ni de poner trampas a las almas que pasan, porque es su profesión

«The Indians of the Nass River, in British Columbia, are impressed with a belief that a physician may swallow his patient’s soul by» — según Frazer, los indios del río Nass, en Columbia Británica, creen que el médico puede tragarse el alma de su paciente; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana

«If the soul is not in him after all, and if the same process has been repeated upon all the medical men without success, it is concluded that the soul must be in the head-doctor’s box.» — y el procedimiento cuando falla la busca en todos los médicos: se concluye que el alma está en la caja del médico mayor

«No doubt the lost soul is in the water.» — según Frazer, en aquel pueblo se da por seguro que el alma perdida está en el agua

«for a person’s health is believed to be endangered by allowing his shadow to be enclosed in a coffin.» — según Frazer, se cree que la salud de una persona peligra si su sombra queda encerrada en un ataúd. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«lest their shadows should fall into the grave and harm should thus be done to their persons.» — y el cuidado correlativo en el entierro: que las sombras no caigan en la fosa y dañen a sus dueños

«The most solemn form of oath a New Briton can take is, ‘Sir, if I am not telling the truth, I hope I may shake hands with my mother-in-law.’» — según Frazer, el juramento más solemne de un habitante de Nueva Bretaña es desear, si miente, tener que dar la mano a su suegra

«In Amboyna and Uliase, two islands near the equator, where necessarily there is little or no shadow cast at noon, the people make it a rule not to go out of the house at midday, because they fancy that by doing so a man may lose the shadow of his soul.» — según Frazer, en Amboina y Uliase, donde a mediodía casi no hay sombra, se tiene por regla no salir de casa a esa hora por miedo a perder la sombra del alma

«The Roumanians of Transylvania think that he whose shadow is thus immured will die within forty days;» — según Frazer, los rumanos de Transilvania tienen por muerto en cuarenta días a aquel cuya sombra se empareda en un muro

«Not long ago there were still shadow-traders whose business it was to provide architects with the shadows necessary for securing their walls.» — y consigna el oficio que de ahí salía: hasta hace poco había tratantes de sombras que proveían a los arquitectos de las que necesitaban para asegurar sus muros

«Further, we can now explain the widespread custom of covering up mirrors or turning them to the wall after a death has taken place in the house.» — Frazer explica por la misma doctrina del alma la costumbre extendida de cubrir los espejos o volverlos a la pared tras una muerte en la casa

«It is feared that the soul, projected out of the person in the shape of his reflection in the mirror, may be carried off by the ghost of the departed, which is commonly supposed to linger about the house till the burial.» — y el temor concreto: que el alma, proyectada fuera en el reflejo, se la lleve el fantasma del difunto, que suele rondar la casa hasta el entierro

«When Dr Catat and some companions were exploring the Bara country on the west coast of Madagascar, the people suddenly became hostile.» — según Frazer, el doctor Catat y sus compañeros exploraban el país bara, en la costa oeste de Madagascar, cuando la gente se les volvió hostil de pronto

«Denial was vain; in compliance with the custom of the country they were obliged to catch the souls, which were then put into a basket and ordered by Dr Catat to return to their respective owners.» — y el desenlace: de nada valió negarlo, y hubieron de cazar las almas, meterlas en un cesto y mandarlas volver a sus dueños

«These conceptions are not limited to one people or country; with variations of detail they are found all over the world, and survive, as we have seen, in modern Europe.» — Frazer abre el capítulo XIX declarando universales, con variantes de detalle, esas concepciones del alma, y vivas todavía en la Europa moderna

«For if every person was at such pains to save his own soul from the perils which threatened it on so many sides, how much more carefully must he have been guarded upon whose life hung the welfare and even the existence of the whole people, and whom therefore it was the common interest of all to preserve?» — y de ahí deriva la realeza tabuada: si cada cual se afanaba por salvar su propia alma, con cuánto más cuidado habría de guardarse a aquel de cuya vida pendía el bienestar y aun la existencia del pueblo

«Amongst the Ot Danoms of Borneo it is the custom that strangers entering the territory should pay to the natives a certain sum, which is spent in the sacrifice of buffaloes or pigs to the spirits of the land and water, in order to reconcile them to the presence of the strangers, and to induce them not to withdraw their favour from the people of the country, but to bless the rice-harvest, and so forth.» — según Frazer, entre los ot danom de Borneo el forastero que entra en el territorio paga a los naturales una suma que se gasta en sacrificar búfalos o cerdos a los espíritus de la tierra

«‘More dreaded,’ says a traveller in Central Borneo, ‘than the evil spirits of the neighbourhood are the evil spirits from a distance which accompany travellers.» — según Frazer, un viajero por el Borneo central dice que se temen más los espíritus malignos de lejos que acompañan a los viajeros que los de la vecindad

«The poor child naturally screams with pain, but the mother hardens her heart in the belief that the demon is suffering equally.» — según Frazer, la criatura grita de dolor y la madre se endurece creyendo que el demonio sufre otro tanto

«It is probable that the same dread of strangers, rather than any desire to do them honour, is the motive of certain ceremonies which are sometimes observed at their reception, but of which the intention is not directly stated.» — y Frazer marca como probable su propia lectura: que ciertas ceremonias de recepción se hagan por miedo al forastero y no por honrarlo, aunque la intención no se declare

«When Baron Miklucho-Maclay was approaching a village on the Maclay Coast of New Guinea, one of the natives who accompanied him broke a branch from a tree and going aside whispered to it for a while; then stepping up to each member of the party, one after another, he spat something upon his back and gave him some blows with the branch. Lastly, he went into the forest and buried the branch under withered leaves in the thickest part of the jungle.» — según Frazer, al acercarse el barón Miklucho-Maclay a una aldea de la costa que lleva su nombre en Nueva Guinea, uno de sus acompañantes quebró una rama y le susurró aparte un rato

«The Afghan Boundary Mission, in passing by villages in Afghanistan, was often met with fire and incense.» — según Frazer, a la comisión de límites afgana la recibían a menudo con fuego e incienso al pasar por las aldeas

«When precautions like these are taken on behalf of the people in general against the malignant influence supposed to be exercised by strangers, it is no wonder that special measures are adopted to protect the king from the same» — Frazer enlaza el tabú del forastero con el del rey: si el pueblo entero se protege así del influjo maligno del extraño, no extraña que se tomen medidas especiales con el rey; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana

«Two Hindoo ambassadors, who had been sent to England by a native prince and had returned to India, were considered to have so polluted themselves by contact with strangers that nothing but being born again could restore them to purity.» — según Frazer, a dos embajadores hindúes vueltos de Inglaterra se los tuvo por tan contaminados por el contacto con extranjeros que solo un nuevo nacimiento podía devolverles la pureza

«The reason assigned for the custom was that the fire purged away any magic influence which the strangers might mean to exercise over the Khan.» — según Frazer, la razón que se daba de pasar por el fuego a los enviados era que purgaba todo influjo mágico que pretendieran ejercer sobre el kan

«When subject chiefs come with their retinues to visit Kalamba (the most powerful chief of the Bashilange in the Congo Basin) for the first time or after being rebellious, they have to bathe, men and women together, in two brooks on two successive days, passing the nights under the open sky in the market-place.» — según Frazer, los jefes sujetos que visitan por primera vez a Kalamba, o tras haberse rebelado, han de bañarse hombres y mujeres al raso en la plaza del mercado

«The king of Loango may not be seen eating or drinking by man or beast under pain of death.» — según Frazer, al rey de Loango no puede verlo comer ni beber hombre ni animal, so pena de muerte

«When the king has a mind to drink, he has a cup of wine brought; he that brings it has a bell in his hand, and as soon as he has delivered the cup to the king, he turns his face from him and rings the bell, on which all present fall down with their faces to the ground, and continue so till the king has drunk» — y el ceremonial de su bebida: quien le lleva la copa toca una campanilla, vuelve el rostro y la hace sonar hasta que el rey ha bebido

«This certainly is the motive of some drinking customs observed by natives of the Congo region.» — Frazer atribuye ese motivo —el miedo a la magia por los restos de comida— a ciertas costumbres de beber en la región del Congo

«Thus we are told of these people that ‘there is hardly a native who would dare to swallow a liquid without first conjuring the spirits.» — según Frazer, se dice de esa gente que apenas hay nativo que se atreva a tragar un líquido sin conjurar antes a los espíritus

«The kings of Ethiopia were worshipped as gods, but were mostly kept shut up in their palaces.» — según Frazer, a los reyes de Etiopía se los adoraba como dioses y se los tenía casi siempre encerrados en sus palacios

«Here he dispensed justice to his people; but if he offended them, they punished him by stopping his rations for a whole day, or even starving him to death.» — y el reverso del encierro: si ofendía a los suyos lo castigaban cortándole la ración un día entero, o dejándolo morir de hambre

«In strict logic, however, the sympathetic bond lasts only so long as the food is in the stomach of each of the parties.» — Frazer lleva el principio hasta su consecuencia estricta: el lazo simpático que crea comer juntos dura solo mientras la comida está en el estómago de cada uno

«Hence the covenant formed by eating together is less solemn and durable than the covenant formed by transfusing the blood of the covenanting parties into each other’s veins, for this transfusion seems to knit them together for life.» — de donde el pacto de la mesa es menos solemne y duradero que el de la transfusión de sangre, que parece unir de por vida

«potency by contact with corruption, the magical implement is set up in the ground near the fire, and as the ball melts, so the person against whom the charm is directed wastes with disease; if the ball is melted quite away, the victim will die.» — según Frazer, se clava en tierra junto al fuego el instrumento mágico, y conforme la bola se derrite, la persona contra quien va el ensalmo se consume de enfermedad. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«When the bewitched man learns of the spell that is being cast upon him, he endeavours to buy the bone from the sorcerer, and if he obtains it he breaks the charm by throwing the bone into a river or lake.» — y la defensa que se le concede: el hechizado trata de comprar el hueso al hechicero y, si lo consigue, rompe el ensalmo echándolo a un río o un lago

«We have seen that the Mikado’s food was cooked every day in new pots and served up in new dishes; both pots and dishes were of common clay, in order that they might be broken or laid aside after they had been once used.» — según Frazer, la comida del mikado se cocía cada día en ollas nuevas y se servía en platos nuevos de barro común, para poder romperlos o apartarlos tras un solo uso

«They were generally broken, for it was believed that if any one else ate his food out of these sacred dishes, his mouth and throat would become swollen and inflamed.» — y el motivo: se creía que a quien comiera en esos platos sagrados se le hincharían e inflamarían boca y garganta

«they would die if they entered the house of their priestly king; however, they can evade the penalty of their intrusion by baring the left shoulder and getting the king to lay his hand on it.» — según Frazer, aquellos súbditos morirían si entraran en la casa de su rey sacerdotal, aunque pueden eludir la pena descubriéndose el hombro izquierdo y haciendo que el rey ponga la mano en él. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«And were any man to sit on a stone which the king has consecrated to his own use, the transgressor would die within the year.» — y el tabú del asiento: quien se sentara en una piedra que el rey consagró a su uso moriría dentro del año

«The king of Tonga could not refuse to play his part in the rite by presenting his foot to such as desired to touch it, even when they applied to him at an inconvenient time.» — según Frazer, el rey de Tonga no podía negarse a ofrecer el pie a quien quisiera tocarlo, aun a deshora

«A fat unwieldy king, who perceived his subjects approaching with this intention, while he chanced to be taking his walks abroad, has been sometimes seen to waddle as fast as his legs could carry him out of their way, in order to escape the importunate and not wholly disinterested expression of their homage.» — y la escena que su fuente cuenta: a un rey gordo y torpe se le vio alejarse a toda prisa en cuanto vio acercarse a sus súbditos con esa intención

«Thus in the Polynesian race, to which the Maoris belong, superstition erected round the persons of sacred chiefs a real, though at the same time purely imaginary barrier, to transgress which actually entailed the death of the transgressor whenever he became aware of what he had done.» — según Frazer, en la raza polinesia la superstición levantó en torno a los jefes sagrados una barrera real y a la vez puramente imaginaria, cuya transgresión acarreaba la muerte del infractor

«This fatal power of the imagination working through superstitious terrors is by no means confined to one race; it appears to be common among savages.» — y generaliza: ese poder fatal de la imaginación por el terror supersticioso no es cosa de una sola raza

«Thus regarding his sacred chiefs and kings as charged with a mysterious spiritual force which so to say explodes at contact, the savage naturally ranks them among the dangerous classes of society, and imposes upon them the same sort of restraints that he lays on manslayers, menstruous women, and other persons whom he looks upon with a certain fear and horror.» — Frazer resume el mecanismo: teniendo a sus jefes y reyes sagrados por cargados de una fuerza espiritual misteriosa que estalla al contacto, el salvaje los pone entre las clases peligrosas de la sociedad

«For example, sacred kings and priests in Polynesia were not allowed to touch food with their hands, and had therefore to be fed by others; and as we have just seen, their vessels, garments, and other property might not be used by others on pain of disease and death.» — según Frazer, en Polinesia los reyes y sacerdotes sagrados no podían tocar el alimento con las manos y había que darles de comer

«And when, the dismal term of his seclusion being over, the mourner was about to mix with his fellows once more, all the dishes he had used in his seclusion were diligently smashed, and all the garments he had worn were carefully thrown away, lest they should spread the contagion of his defilement among others, just as the vessels and clothes of sacred kings and chiefs are destroyed or cast away for a similar reason.» — según Frazer, acabado el plazo lúgubre del luto se rompían diligentemente todos los platos que el doliente había usado en su reclusión

«The rule which forbids persons who have been in contact with the dead to touch food with their hands would seem to have been universal in Polynesia.» — y Frazer da por universal en Polinesia la regla que prohíbe tocar el alimento con las manos a quien ha tocado a un muerto

«No hunter would come near such mourners, for their presence is unlucky.» — según Frazer, ningún cazador se acerca a esos dolientes, porque su presencia trae mala suerte

«If their shadow were to fall on any one, he would be taken ill at once.» — y el alcance del contagio: si su sombra cayera sobre alguien, ese caería enfermo en el acto

«‘Among all the Déné and most other American tribes, hardly any other being was the object of so much dread as a menstruating woman.» — según Frazer, su fuente dice que entre los dené y casi todas las demás tribus americanas apenas hubo ser tan temido como la mujer con la regla

«As soon as signs of that condition made themselves apparent in a young girl she was carefully segregated from all but female company, and had to live by herself in a small hut away from the gaze of the villagers or of the male members of the roving band.» — y el aislamiento consiguiente: apenas aparecían las señales, se segregaba a la muchacha de toda compañía que no fuera femenina y había de vivir sola en una choza

«After her delivery the medicine-man purifies her by breathing on her and laying an animal, it matters not what, upon her.» — según Frazer, tras el parto el curandero purifica a la mujer soplándole encima y poniéndole un animal, cualquiera que sea

«But even this ceremony only mitigates her uncleanness into a state considered to be equivalent to that of a menstruous woman; and for a full lunar month she must live apart from her housemates, observing the same rules with regard to eating and drinking as at her monthly periods.» — y el alcance limitado del rito: solo rebaja su impureza al grado de la mujer con la regla, y aún ha de vivir aparte un mes lunar entero

«That blood is taboo. It should never drip on the road!» — según Frazer, la fuente lo dice sin rodeos: esa sangre es tabú y no debe gotear nunca en el camino

«No member of the party was permitted to step over the legs, hands, or body of any other member who chanced to be sitting or lying on the ground; and it was equally forbidden to step over his blanket, gun, tomahawk, or anything that belonged to him.» — según Frazer, en aquella partida nadie podía pasar por encima de las piernas, manos o cuerpo de otro que estuviera sentado o tendido, ni de su manta, su fusil o cosa suya

«If this rule was inadvertently broken, it became the duty of the member whose person or property had been stepped over to knock the other member down,» — y la reparación prescrita: el ofendido debía derribar al infractor. El tramo se corta en el cambio de plana

«The rule not to scratch their heads with their fingers, but to use a stick for the purpose instead, was regularly observed by Ojebways on the war-path.» — según Frazer, los ojibwa en pie de guerra observaban la regla de no rascarse la cabeza con los dedos sino con un palito

«Why exactly many savages have made it a rule to refrain from women in time of war, we cannot say for certain, but we may conjecture that their motive was a superstitious fear lest, on the principles of sympathetic magic, close contact with women should infect them with feminine weakness and cowardice.» — y Frazer marca su propia ignorancia y su conjetura: no puede decir con certeza por qué tantos salvajes se abstienen de mujer en la guerra, y supone un miedo supersticioso a contagiarse por simpatía de flaqueza y cobardía femeninas

«Thus among the hill tribes of Assam, not only are men forbidden to cohabit with their wives during or after a raid, but they may not eat food cooked by a woman;» — según Frazer, en las tribus de las colinas de Assam el guerrero no solo se abstiene de su mujer durante y después de la incursión: tampoco come alimento cocinado por mujer

«In such cases one motive for the inconvenient restrictions laid on the victors in their hour of triumph is probably a dread of the angry ghosts of the slain; and that the fear of the vengeful ghosts does influence the behaviour of the slayers is often expressly affirmed.» — y Frazer propone como motivo probable de esas trabas impuestas al vencedor el miedo a los fantasmas airados de los muertos, miedo que a veces se afirma expresamente

«that sacrifices are offered on this occasion to appease the soul of the man whose head had been taken; the people think that some misfortune would befall the victor were such offerings omitted.» — según Frazer, se ofrecen sacrificios para aplacar el alma del hombre cuya cabeza se tomó, y se cree que al vencedor le vendría desgracia si se omitieran. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«Moreover, a part of the ceremony consists of a dance accompanied by a song, in which the death of the slain man is lamented and his forgiveness is entreated.» — y la parte de la ceremonia que le interesa: una danza con canto en que se lamenta la muerte del hombre y se le pide perdón

«So the Yabim of New Guinea believe that the spirit of a murdered man pursues his murderer and seeks to do him a mischief.» — según Frazer, los yabim de Nueva Guinea creen que el espíritu del asesinado persigue a su matador para hacerle daño

«Hence they drive away the spirit with shouts and the beating of drums.» — y el remedio: lo ahuyentan con gritos y tambores

«This costume they wear for three days after their return, and rising at break of day they run through the village uttering frightful yells to drive away the ghosts of the slain, which, if they were not thus banished from the houses, might bring sickness and misfortune on the inmates.» — según Frazer, llevan ese atuendo tres días a la vuelta y corren al alba por la aldea dando alaridos para espantar a los fantasmas de los muertos

«Three days after his return from the fight the warrior shaves his head. But before he may enter his village he has to hang a live fowl, head uppermost, round his neck; then the bird is decapitated and its head left hanging round his neck.» — según Frazer, tres días después de volver del combate el guerrero se rapa, y antes de entrar en la aldea ha de colgarse un ave viva al cuello, que luego se decapita

«If they broke these rules, they believed that the soul of the man they had killed would work their death by magic, that they would gain no more successes over the enemy, and that the least wound inflicted on them would prove mortal.» — y la sanción que se temía: rota la regla, el alma del muerto los mataría por magia, no volverían a vencer y la menor herida les sería mortal

«murderers, who have imbrued their hands in the blood of a fellow-tribesman, had at first the same significance, and that the idea of a moral or spiritual regeneration symbolised by the washing, the fasting, and so on, was merely a later interpretation put upon the old custom by men who had outgrown the primitive modes of thought in which the custom originated.» — Frazer propone que las reglas impuestas al homicida de un miembro de la tribu tuvieron al principio ese mismo sentido, y que la idea de regeneración moral o espiritual vino después. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«The conjecture will be confirmed if we can show that savages have actually imposed certain restrictions on the murderer of a fellow-tribesman from a definite fear that he is haunted by the ghost of his victim.» — y dice qué haría falta para sostener su conjetura: mostrar que los salvajes imponen restricciones al homicida por miedo definido a que lo ronde el fantasma de su víctima

«Thus the Indians of Nootka Sound prepared themselves for catching whales by observing a fast for a week, during which they ate very little, bathed in the water several times a day, sang, and rubbed their bodies, limbs, and faces with shells and bushes till they looked as if they had been severely torn with briars.» — según Frazer, los indios de Nootka se preparaban para cazar ballenas con una semana de ayuno, baños varias veces al día y cantos

«A chief who failed to catch a whale has been known to attribute his failure to a breach of chastity on the part of his men.» — según Frazer, un jefe que no cobró ballena atribuyó el fracaso a una falta de castidad de sus hombres

«It should be remarked that the conduct thus prescribed as a preparation for whaling is precisely that which in the same tribe of Indians was required of men about to go on the war-path.» — y Frazer hace notar la identidad de las dos preparaciones: la prescrita para la caza de la ballena es exactamente la exigida en esa tribu para ir a la guerra

«He vows to Singarmati Devi that, if the worms are duly born, he will make her an offering.» — según Frazer, el criador de gusanos de seda promete ofrenda a Singarmati Devi si nacen bien las crías

«Thus the silkworms are treated as far as possible like human beings.» — y el trato que reciben: se cuida a los gusanos, en lo posible, como a seres humanos

«The Masai believe that were the couple to commit a breach of chastity, not only would the wine be undrinkable but the bees which made the honey would fly away.» — según Frazer, los masái creen que si la pareja faltara a la castidad el vino quedaría imbebible y las abejas de la miel se irían volando

«In this last case it is obvious that a rationalistic explanation of the taboo is impossible.» — y Frazer saca de ese caso lo que le sirve contra las lecturas utilitarias: ahí es imposible una explicación racionalista del tabú

«For they think that a breach of chastity would spoil the village which was growing up, that the chief would grow lean and perhaps die, and that the guilty woman would never bear another child.» — según Frazer, creen que una falta de castidad echaría a perder la aldea que nace, adelgazaría y aun mataría al jefe y dejaría estéril a la culpable

«Here, it is plain, there can be no idea of maintaining the mere bodily vigour of the chief for the accomplishment of a task in which he does not even bear a hand.» — y su argumento: ahí no cabe pensar en conservar el vigor corporal del jefe para una tarea en la que ni siquiera echa una mano

«the dead bodies of various animals must be treated very carefully by the hunter who obtains them, so that their shades may not be offended and bring bad luck or even death upon him or his people.’» — según Frazer, el cazador ha de tratar con mucho tiento los cuerpos de los animales que cobra, para que sus sombras no se ofendan y le traigan mala suerte o la muerte. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«no one in the village may use any sharp or pointed instrument for fear of wounding the whale’s shade,» — y el tabú que alcanza a toda la aldea: nadie puede usar instrumento afilado o puntiagudo por miedo a herir la sombra de la ballena

«because they believe that punishment overtakes the transgressor who sins against the soul of a bear far more speedily than him who sins» — según Frazer, creen que el castigo alcanza mucho más aprisa a quien peca contra el alma de un oso; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana

«When the Kayans have shot one of the dreaded Bornean panthers, they are very anxious about the safety of their souls,» — según Frazer, los kayan que abaten una de las temidas panteras de Borneo quedan muy inquietos por la seguridad de sus almas

«But the leader of the party must still abstain from cohabitation with his wife for two days more.» — según Frazer, el jefe de la partida ha de abstenerse aún dos días más de su mujer

«In Madras it is considered a great sin to kill a cobra.» — según Frazer, en Madrás se tiene por gran pecado matar una cobra

«When a dead whale is washed ashore, the people accord it a solemn burial.» — según Frazer, cuando una ballena muerta vara en la playa la gente le da sepultura solemne

«The man who first caught sight of it acts as chief mourner, performing the rites which as chief mourner and heir he would perform for a human kinsman.» — y el papel que asume el primero en verla: hace de doliente principal y cumple los ritos que haría por un pariente humano

«The danger, however, is not less real because it is imaginary; imagination acts upon man as really as does gravitation, and may kill him as certainly as a dose of prussic acid.» — Frazer sostiene que el peligro del tabú no es menos real por ser imaginario: la imaginación obra sobre el hombre tan de veras como la gravitación y puede matarlo como una dosis de ácido prúsico

«To seclude these persons from the rest of the world so that the dreaded spiritual danger shall neither reach them nor spread from them, is the object of the taboos which they have to observe.» — y da con eso la función del tabú: aislar a esas personas del resto del mundo para que el peligro espiritual temido ni las alcance ni se propague desde ellas

«Thus it was unlawful to lay hands on the person of a Spartan king: no one might touch the body of the king or queen of Tahiti: it is forbidden to touch the person of the king of Siam under pain of death; and no one may touch the king of Cambodia, for any purpose whatever, without his express command.» — según Frazer, era ilícito poner la mano sobre un rey de Esparta, nadie podía tocar el cuerpo del rey o la reina de Tahití y tocar al rey de Siam se castigaba con la muerte

«In July 1874 the king was thrown from his carriage and lay insensible on the ground, but not one of his suite dared to touch him;» — y el caso que lo mide: en julio de 1874 el rey cayó del carruaje y quedó sin sentido en el suelo, y nadie de su séquito se atrevió a tocarlo

«Amongst the Jews no iron tool was used in building the Temple at Jerusalem or in making an altar.» — según Frazer, entre los judíos no se usó herramienta de hierro para construir el Templo de Jerusalén ni para hacer un altar

«The old wooden bridge (Pons Sublicius ) at Rome, which was considered sacred, was made and had to be kept in repair without the use of iron or bronze.» — según Frazer, el viejo puente de madera de Roma, tenido por sagrado, se hizo y hubo de repararse sin hierro ni bronce

«the metal furnishes men with a weapon which may be turned against the spirits when occasion serves.» — y da la otra cara del tabú del hierro: el metal da a los hombres un arma que puede volverse contra los espíritus. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«As their dislike of iron is supposed to be so great that they will not approach persons and things protected by the obnoxious metal, iron may obviously be employed as a charm for banning ghosts and other dangerous spirits.» — y de ahí su uso como amuleto: se supone tal la aversión de los espíritus al hierro que no se acercan a lo protegido por él

«We can now understand why no cutting instrument may be taken into the house of the Burmese pontiff.» — Frazer explica así el tabú del instrumento cortante en la casa del pontífice birmano

«Like so many priestly kings, he is probably regarded as divine, and it is therefore right that his sacred spirit should not be exposed to the risk of being cut or wounded whenever it quits his body to hover invisible in the air or to fly on some distant mission.» — y da la razón, marcada por él como probable: se le tiene por divino y no conviene exponer su espíritu sagrado a ser cortado o herido cuando sale del cuerpo

«Jewish hunters poured out the blood of the game they had killed and covered it up with dust.» — según Frazer, los cazadores judíos derramaban la sangre de la caza y la cubrían con polvo

«It is a common rule that royal blood may not be shed upon the ground.» — y la regla que le interesa: es común que la sangre real no se derrame en el suelo

«That is admittedly the reason why people in West Africa stamp out any blood of theirs which has dropped on the ground or cut out any wood that has been soaked with it.» — según Frazer, esa es la razón reconocida de que en África occidental se pisotee la sangre propia caída al suelo o se recorte la madera empapada por ella

«The same fear explains the curious duties discharged by a class of men called ramanga or ‘blue blood’ among the Betsileo of Madagascar.» — y con el mismo miedo explica los oficios curiosos de los llamados *ramanga* o sangre azul entre los betsileo de Madagascar

«The general explanation of the reluctance to shed blood on the ground is probably to be found in the belief that the soul is in the blood, and that therefore any ground on which it may fall necessarily becomes taboo or sacred.» — Frazer propone como explicación general de esa repugnancia la creencia de que el alma está en la sangre, con lo que todo suelo donde caiga queda tabú

«In New Zealand anything upon which even a drop of a high chief’s blood chances to fall becomes taboo or sacred to him.» — según Frazer, en Nueva Zelanda cuanto reciba una gota de sangre de un jefe alto queda tabú y sagrado para él

«3. Sharp Weapons Tabooed . There is a priestly king to the north of Zengwih in Burma, revered by the Sotih as the highest spiritual and temporal authority, into whose house no weapon or cutting instrument may be brought.» — según Frazer, al norte de Zengwih, en Birmania, hay un rey sacerdotal a cuya casa no puede entrar arma ni instrumento cortante

«This rule may perhaps be explained by a custom observed by various peoples after a death; they refrain from the use of sharp instruments so long as the ghost of the deceased is supposed to be near, lest they should wound it.» — y Frazer marca su explicación como conjetura: acaso se entienda por la costumbre de abstenerse de instrumentos afilados mientras se supone cerca el fantasma del muerto, para no herirlo

«The kwun is very sensitive on points of honour, and would feel mortally insulted if the head in which he resides were touched by the hand of a stranger.» — según Frazer, el *kwun* es susceptible en materia de honor y se tendría por ofendido de muerte si mano extraña tocara la cabeza donde reside

«The Cambodians esteem it a grave offence to touch a man’s head; some of them will not enter a place where anything whatever is suspended over their heads; and the meanest Cambodian would never consent to live under an inhabited room.» — según Frazer, los camboyanos tienen por ofensa grave tocar la cabeza de un hombre, y ni el más humilde consentiría vivir bajo una habitación ocupada

«So sacred was the head of a Maori chief that ‘if he only touched it with his fingers, he was obliged immediately to apply them to his nose, and snuff up the sanctity which they had acquired by the touch, and thus restore it to the part from whence it was taken.’» — según Frazer, tan sagrada era la cabeza de un jefe maorí que si él mismo se la tocaba con los dedos debía llevárselos en seguida a la nariz y aspirar la santidad que habían cobrado

«On account of the sacredness of his head a Maori chief ‘could not blow the fire with his mouth, for the breath being sacred, communicated his sanctity to it, and a brand might be taken by a slave, or a man of another tribe, or the fire might be used for other purposes, such as cooking, and so cause his death.’» — y otro efecto del mismo tabú: el jefe no podía soplar el fuego con la boca, porque el aliento sagrado comunicaba su santidad a la brasa

«The proud queen replied that if her grandchildren were not to come to the throne she would rather see them dead than shorn.» — según Frazer, la reina orgullosa respondió que, si sus nietos no habían de reinar, prefería verlos muertos antes que trasquilados

«The king of Ponape, one of the Caroline Islands, must wear his hair long, and so must his grandees.» — según Frazer, el rey de Ponapé ha de llevar el pelo largo, y sus nobles también

«The chief of Namosi in Fiji always ate a man by way of precaution when he had had his hair cut.» — según Frazer, el jefe de Namosi, en Fiyi, se comía siempre a un hombre por precaución cuando se cortaba el pelo

«‘There was a certain clan that had to provide the victim, and they used to sit in solemn council among themselves to choose him.» — y el testimonio añade cómo se proveía la víctima: cierto clan debía darla y se reunía en consejo solemne para elegirla

«His life, however, might be saved by discovering and digging up the buried hair, spittle, or what not; for as soon as this was done the power of the charm ceased.» — según Frazer, la vida del hechizado podía salvarse hallando y desenterrando el pelo o la saliva escondidos, porque entonces cesaba el poder del ensalmo

«Again it is thought that cut or combed-out hair may disturb the weather by producing rain and hail, thunder and lightning.» — y otra virtud que se atribuye al pelo cortado o peinado: que puede alterar el tiempo trayendo lluvia, granizo, trueno y relámpago

«The Romans seem to have held similar views, for it was a maxim with them that no one on shipboard should cut his hair or nails except in a storm, that is, when the mischief was already done.» — según Frazer, los romanos tenían por máxima que nadie a bordo se cortara pelo ni uñas sino en la tormenta, es decir, cuando el daño ya estaba hecho

«In West Africa, when the Mani of Chitombe or Jumba died, the people used to run in crowds to the corpse and tear out his hair, teeth, and nails, which they kept as a rain-charm, believing that otherwise no rain would fall.» — según Frazer, al morir el Mani de Chitombe la gente corría al cadáver a arrancarle pelo, dientes y uñas, que guardaba como ensalmo de lluvia

«The long hairs are kept till the child makes a pilgrimage to the holy Footprint of Buddha on the sacred hill at Prabat.» — según Frazer, los cabellos largos se guardan hasta que el niño peregrina a la Huella sagrada de Buda en el cerro de Prabat

«They are then presented to the priests, who are supposed to make them into brushes with which they sweep the Footprint; but in fact so much hair is thus offered every year that the priests cannot use it all, so they quietly burn the superfluity as soon as the pilgrims’ backs are turned.» — y lo que el testimonio añade sobre el destino real de esas ofrendas: se dan a los sacerdotes para hacer escobillas, pero es tanto el pelo que no pueden usarlo todo

«We, therefore, in order that we may not have to search for our hair and nails at a time when there will be much hurry and confusion, place them in one place, that they may be brought together more conveniently, and, whenever it is possible, we are also careful to spit in one place.» — según Frazer, aquellos creyentes guardan pelo y uñas en un solo sitio para no tener que buscarlos en la prisa y confusión de la resurrección

«Similarly the Turks never throw away the parings of their nails, but carefully stow them in cracks of the walls or of the boards, in the belief that they will be needed at the resurrection.» — y el paralelo turco: no tiran los recortes de uñas y los guardan en las grietas de muros o tablas, para tenerlos en la resurrección

«But the possibility of their being so used depends upon the supposed sympathetic connexion between them and the man» — Frazer razona que el uso mágico de esos despojos depende del supuesto lazo simpático con la persona; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana

«And if this sympathetic connexion still exists, clearly these severed portions cannot be destroyed without injury to the man.» — y saca la consecuencia que explica el cuidado con ellos: si el lazo simpático persiste, esas porciones cortadas no pueden destruirse sin daño del hombre

«As might have been expected, the superstitions of the savage cluster thick about the subject of food; and he abstains from eating many animals and plants, wholesome enough in themselves, which for one reason or another he fancies would prove dangerous or fatal to the eater.» — y abre la sección de los alimentos tabuados: las supersticiones del salvaje se apiñan en torno a la comida, y se abstiene de animales y plantas sanos en sí

«We have already seen that the Flamen Dialis was forbidden to eat or even name several plants and animals, and that the flesh diet of Egyptian kings was restricted to veal and goose.» — y recuerda sus casos: al *Flamen Dialis* se le prohibía comer y aun nombrar varias plantas y animales, y la carne de los reyes egipcios se reducía a ternera y ganso

«These rules are probably of kindred significance, and may conveniently be considered together.» — y junta las reglas de los nudos y los anillos por parecerle de significación emparentada

«The Lapps think that a lying-in woman should have no knot on her garments, because a knot would have the effect of making the delivery difficult and painful.» — según Frazer, los lapones tienen que la parturienta no debe llevar nudo en la ropa, porque haría el parto difícil y doloroso

«For that purpose he orders them to fetch a tough creeper from the forest, and with it he binds the hands and feet of the sufferer on her back.» — según Frazer, el oficiante manda traer del bosque una liana recia y con ella ata las manos y los pies de la parturienta a la espalda

«Then he takes a knife and calls out the woman’s name, and when she answers he cuts through the creeper with a knife, saying, ‘I cut through to-day thy bonds and thy child’s bonds.’» — y la fórmula con que se deshace el nudo: la llama por su nombre y, al responder ella, corta la liana diciendo que corta hoy sus ataduras y las de su hijo

«Again, we have seen that a Toumbuluh man abstains not only from tying knots, but also from sitting with crossed legs during his wife’s pregnancy.» — según Frazer, el hombre toumbuluh se abstiene durante el embarazo de su mujer no solo de hacer nudos sino de sentarse con las piernas cruzadas

«Whether you cross threads in tying a knot, or only cross your legs in sitting at your ease, you are equally, on the principles of homoeopathic magic, crossing or thwarting the free course of things, and your action cannot but check and impede whatever may be going forward in your neighbourhood.» — y la razón única que da a los dos tabúes: por los principios de la magia homeopática, cruzar hilos o cruzar las piernas es estorbar el curso libre de las cosas

«and in 1705 two persons were condemned to death in Scotland for stealing certain charmed knots which a woman had made, in order thereby to mar the wedded happiness of Spalding of Ashintilly.» — según Frazer, en 1705 se condenó a muerte en Escocia a dos personas por robar ciertos nudos encantados hechos por una mujer para malograr la dicha conyugal de Spalding de Ashintilly

«The belief in the efficacy of these charms appears to have lingered in the Highlands of Perthshire down to the end of the eighteenth century, for at that time it was still customary in the beautiful parish of Logierait, between the river Tummel and the river Tay, to unloose carefully every knot in the clothes of the bride and bridegroom before the celebration of the marriage ceremony.» — y la persistencia que le atribuye: en las Tierras Altas de Perthshire la creencia duró hasta fines del siglo XVIII

«If knots are supposed to kill, they are also supposed to cure.» — Frazer marca la ambivalencia del nudo: si se supone que mata, se supone también que cura

«But apart from this negative virtue of maleficent knots, there are certain beneficent knots to which a positive power of healing is ascribed.» — y distingue la virtud negativa de deshacer el nudo maléfico del poder positivo de curar que se atribuye a ciertos nudos benéficos

«But often a Russian amulet is merely a knotted thread.» — según Frazer, el amuleto ruso es a menudo un simple hilo con nudos

«Knots and locks may serve to avert not only wizards and wolves but death itself.» — y el alcance que se les da: nudos y cerraduras sirven para apartar no solo a brujos y lobos sino a la muerte misma

«Thus in the island of Carpathus people never button the clothes they put upon a dead body and they are careful to remove all rings from it; ‘for the spirit, they say, can even be detained in the little finger, and cannot rest.’» — según Frazer, en Cárpatos no se abotona la ropa del cadáver y se le quitan los anillos, porque dicen que el espíritu puede quedar retenido hasta en el meñique y no descansar

«Here it is plain that even if the soul is not definitely supposed to issue at death from the finger-tips, yet the ring is conceived to exercise a certain constrictive influence which detains and imprisons the immortal spirit in spite of its efforts to escape from the tabernacle of clay; in short the ring, like the knot, acts as a spiritual fetter.» — y la lectura que propone: aunque no se suponga que el alma sale por las yemas, al anillo se le atribuye una influencia constrictiva que la aprisiona

«Unable to discriminate clearly between words and things, the savage commonly fancies that the link between a name and the person or thing denominated by it is not a mere arbitrary and ideal association, but a real and substantial bond which unites the two in such a way that magic may be wrought on a man just as easily through his name as through his hair, his nails, or any other material part of his person.» — Frazer abre el capítulo de las palabras tabuadas: incapaz de distinguir con claridad entre palabras y cosas, el salvaje tiene el lazo entre el nombre y la persona por real y no por asociación arbitraria

«Thus, for example, the North American Indian ‘regards his name, not as a mere label, but as a distinct part of his personality, just as much as are his eyes or his teeth, and believes that injury will result as surely from the malicious handling of his name as from a wound inflicted on any part of his physical organism.» — y el caso con que lo ilustra: el indio norteamericano tiene su nombre no por etiqueta sino por parte distinta de su persona, como los ojos o los dientes

«Whereas, so these primitive philosophers may have argued, when a man lets his own name pass his lips, he is parting with a living piece of himself, and if he persists in so reckless a course he must certainly end by dissipating his energy and shattering his constitution.» — y Frazer marca como reconstrucción suya el razonamiento que atribuye a esos filósofos primitivos: quien deja pasar su nombre por los labios se desprende de un pedazo vivo de sí

«However we may explain it, the fact is certain that many a savage evinces the strongest reluctance to pronounce his own name, while at the same time he makes no objection at all to other people pronouncing it, and will even invite them to do so for him in order to satisfy the curiosity of an inquisitive stranger.» — y deslinda la explicación del hecho: comoquiera que se explique, muchos salvajes se resisten a pronunciar su propio nombre y no se oponen a que lo digan otros

«As a general rule no one will utter his own name.» — la regla general que registra: nadie dice su propio nombre

«The superstition is current all over the East Indies without exception, and it is found also among the Motu and Motumotu tribes, the Papuans of Finsch Haven in North New Guinea, the Nufoors of Dutch New Guinea, and the Melanesians of the Bismarck Archipelago.» — y el mapa que le da: la superstición corre por todas las Indias Orientales sin excepción, y se halla también entre motu y motumotu, papúes de Finsch Haven, nufoor y gente del archipiélago Bismarck

«them by their proper name, believing that were they to do so, their foes would attack and slay them.» — según Frazer, aquellos hombres no llaman a sus enemigos por su nombre propio, creyendo que si lo hicieran los atacarían y matarían. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«This example illustrates the extremely materialistic view which these savages take of the nature of words;» — y Frazer nombra lo que el caso ilustra: la visión extremadamente materialista que esos pueblos tienen de la naturaleza de las palabras

«The widespread custom of naming a father after his child has sometimes been supposed to spring from a desire on the father’s part to assert his paternity, apparently as a means of obtaining those rights over his children which had previously, under a system of mother-kin, been possessed by the mother.» — según Frazer, se ha supuesto que la costumbre de nombrar al padre por su hijo nace del deseo de afirmar la paternidad

«But this explanation does not account for the parallel custom of naming the mother after her child,» — y la objeta: esa explicación no da cuenta de la costumbre paralela de nombrar a la madre por su hijo

«The persons who are thus mutually debarred from mentioning each other’s names are especially husbands and wives, a man and his wife’s parents, and a woman and her husband’s father.» — según Frazer, los que tienen vedado nombrarse son sobre todo marido y mujer, el hombre y los padres de su mujer, y la mujer y el padre de su marido

«For example, among the Caffres a woman may not publicly pronounce the birth-name of her husband or of any of his brothers, nor may she use the interdicted word in its ordinary sense.» — según Frazer, entre los cafres la mujer no puede pronunciar en público el nombre de nacimiento de su marido ni de sus hermanos, ni usar la palabra vedada en su sentido corriente

«This secret name is never mentioned except upon the most solemn occasions; to utter it in the hearing of women or of men of another group would be a most serious breach of tribal custom, as serious as the most flagrant case of sacrilege among ourselves.» — según Frazer, el nombre secreto solo se dice en las ocasiones más solemnes, y pronunciarlo ante mujeres o ante hombres de otro grupo sería quiebra gravísima de la costumbre tribal

«The same fear seems to have led to a custom of the same sort amongst the ancient Egyptians, whose comparatively high civilisation was strangely dashed and chequered with relics of the lowest savagery.» — y Frazer aplica el mismo miedo a los egipcios antiguos, cuya civilización comparativamente alta dice salpicada de reliquias del salvajismo más bajo

«To make confusion worse confounded, the names of persons are often the names of common things, such as moon, bridge, barley, cobra, leopard; so that when any of a man’s many fathers-in-law and mothers-in-law are called by such names, these common words may not pass his lips.» — según Frazer, los nombres de persona suelen ser nombres de cosas comunes —luna, puente, cebada, cobra, leopardo—, con lo que el tabú arrastra consigo palabras de uso diario

«It is especially the name of a father-in-law which is thus laid under an interdict.» — y el nombre que más se veda: el del suegro

«A brother-in-law might be spoken of as the husband or brother of some one whose name it was lawful to mention; and similarly a sister-in-law might be called the wife of So-and-so.» — según Frazer, al cuñado se le nombraba como marido o hermano de alguien a quien sí era lícito nombrar, y a la cuñada como mujer de Fulano

«If a man by chance used the personal name of his brother-in-law, he was ashamed and hung his head.» — y la sanción interior de la falta: quien decía por azar el nombre de su cuñado se avergonzaba y bajaba la cabeza

«Thus we are told that one of the customs most rigidly observed and enforced amongst the Australian aborigines is never to mention the name of a deceased person, whether male or female;» — según Frazer, se dice que una de las costumbres más rígidamente observadas entre los aborígenes australianos es no mencionar nunca el nombre de un difunto

«to name aloud one who has departed this life would be a gross violation of their most sacred prejudices, and they carefully abstain from it.» — y el peso que le dan: nombrar en voz alta a quien dejó esta vida sería violación grosera de sus prejuicios más sagrados

«that his kinsfolk are not mourning for him properly; if their grief were genuine they could not bear to bandy his name about.» — según Frazer, se entiende que si los deudos anduvieran repitiendo el nombre del muerto es que no lo lloran de veras. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«The same reluctance to utter the names of the dead appears to prevail among all the Indian tribes of America from Hudson’s Bay Territory to Patagonia.» — y el mapa de esa reticencia: parece corriente en todas las tribus indias de América, del territorio de la bahía de Hudson a la Patagonia

«Thus we are told that in the Adelaide and Encounter Bay tribes of South Australia the repugnance to mentioning the names of those who have died lately is carried so far, that persons who bear the same name as the deceased abandon it, and either adopt temporary names or are known by any others that happen to belong to them.» — según Frazer, en las tribus de Adelaida y Encounter Bay la repugnancia a nombrar a los muertos recientes llega a alcanzar a los vivos que llevan el mismo nombre

«A similar custom prevails among some of the Queensland tribes; but the prohibition to use the names of the dead is not permanent, though it may last for many years.» — y el alcance temporal en Queensland: la prohibición no es perpetua, aunque puede durar muchos años

«Death, though he has got them all on his list, will not be able to identify them under their new names, and will depart to pursue the search elsewhere.» — según Frazer, se cree que la Muerte, aun teniéndolos a todos en su lista, no podrá identificarlos bajo sus nombres nuevos y se irá a buscar a otra parte

«Nicobarese mourners take new names in order to escape the unwelcome attentions of the ghost; and for the same purpose they disguise themselves by shaving their heads so that the ghost is unable to recognise them.» — según Frazer, los dolientes nicobareses toman nombres nuevos para escapar a las atenciones del fantasma, y se rapan para que no los reconozca

«A similar custom used to be constantly transforming the language of the Abipones of Paraguay, amongst whom, however, a word once abolished seems never to have been revived.» — según Frazer, una costumbre semejante transformaba de continuo la lengua de los abipones del Paraguay, donde la palabra abolida no parece haber vuelto nunca

«This extraordinary custom not only adds an element of instability to the language, but destroys the continuity of political life, and renders the record of past events precarious» — Frazer mide el costo del tabú del nombre: añade inestabilidad a la lengua, destruye la continuidad de la vida política y vuelve precario el registro del pasado

«That a superstition which suppresses the names of the dead must cut at the very root of historical tradition has been remarked by other workers in this field.» — y da el crédito a quienes lo advirtieron antes: que una superstición que suprime los nombres de los muertos corta la raíz misma de la tradición histórica

«In this tribe the taboo is not much observed at any time except by the relations of the dead.» — según Frazer, en esa tribu el tabú apenas lo guardan sino los parientes del muerto

«Similarly the Jesuit missionary Lafitau tells us that the name of the departed and the similar names of the survivors were, so to say, buried with the corpse until, the poignancy of their grief being abated, it pleased the relations to ‘lift up the tree and raise the dead.’» — según Frazer, el jesuita Lafitau cuenta que el nombre del difunto y los nombres semejantes de los vivos se enterraban, por así decir, con el cadáver hasta que, calmado el dolor, se los levantaba

«The appellations by which the different kings of Dahomey have been known to Europeans are not their true names, but mere titles, or what the natives call ‘strong names.’» — según Frazer, los nombres con que los europeos conocieron a los reyes de Dahomey no son los verdaderos sino títulos, lo que los nativos llaman nombres fuertes

«In Siam it used to be difficult to ascertain the king’s real name, since it was carefully kept secret from fear of sorcery; any one who mentioned it was clapped into gaol.» — según Frazer, en Siam era difícil averiguar el nombre real del rey, guardado en secreto por miedo a la hechicería, y quien lo pronunciaba iba a la cárcel

«These substitutions are not, however, carried so far by the men as by the women, who omit every sound even remotely resembling one that occurs in a tabooed name.» — según Frazer, las mujeres llevan la sustitución más lejos que los hombres: omiten todo sonido que recuerde siquiera de lejos a uno del nombre vedado

«Hence the Zulu language at the present day almost presents the appearance of being a double one; indeed, for multitudes of things it possesses three or four synonyms, which through the blending of tribes are known all over Zululand.» — y el efecto sobre la lengua: el zulú parece hoy casi doble, con tres o cuatro sinónimos para multitud de cosas

«However, these changes of vocabulary are confined to the district over which the deceased king reigned; in the neighbouring districts the old words continue to be employed in the old sense.» — y el límite geográfico del cambio: solo alcanza al distrito donde reinó el difunto, y en los vecinos las palabras viejas siguen en su sentido viejo

«Thus in New Zealand the name of a chief is held so sacred that, when it happens to be a common word, it may not be used in the language, and another has to be found to replace it.» — según Frazer, en Nueva Zelanda el nombre de un jefe se tiene por tan sagrado que si es palabra común queda fuera de la lengua y hay que hallar otra

«custom and to use the forbidden words, not only he but all his relations were immediately put to death.» — según Frazer, quien usaba las palabras prohibidas era muerto en el acto con todos sus parientes. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«In ancient Greece the names of the priests and other high officials who had to do with the performance of the Eleusinian mysteries might not be uttered in their lifetime.» — según Frazer, en la Grecia antigua no podían pronunciarse en vida los nombres de los sacerdotes y altos oficiales de los misterios de Eleusis

«But he could not answer; his jaws rattled, his limbs shook, the poison ran through his flesh as the Nile floweth over the land.» — según Frazer, el relato egipcio dice que el dios no pudo responder: le castañeteaban las mandíbulas, le temblaban los miembros y el veneno le corría por la carne como el Nilo por la tierra

«From this story it appears that the real name of the god, with which his power was inextricably bound up, was supposed to be lodged, in an almost physical sense, somewhere in his breast, from which Isis extracted it by a sort of surgical operation and transferred with all its supernatural powers to herself.» — y la lectura que le da: el nombre verdadero del dios, con el que su poder iba trabado, se suponía alojado en sentido casi físico en su pecho

«For it was believed that he who possessed the true name possessed the very being of god or man, and could force even a deity to obey him as a slave obeys his master.» — y la consecuencia: se creía que quien tenía el nombre verdadero tenía el ser mismo del dios o del hombre y podía forzar a una deidad a obedecer como esclavo

«Hence the name of the guardian deity of Rome was kept a profound secret, lest the enemies of the republic might lure him away, even as the Romans themselves had induced many gods to desert, like rats, the falling fortunes of cities that had sheltered them in happier days.» — según Frazer, el nombre de la deidad tutelar de Roma se guardaba en secreto profundo, no fueran los enemigos a atraerla fuera como los propios romanos hicieron con muchos dioses

«Nay, the real name, not merely of its guardian deity, but of the city itself, was wrapt in mystery and might never be uttered, not even in the sacred rites.» — y el secreto llegaba más lejos: también el nombre verdadero de la ciudad estaba envuelto en misterio y no se decía ni en los ritos sagrados

«It would be easy to extend the list of royal and priestly taboos, but the instances collected in the preceding pages may suffice as specimens.» — Frazer cierra el catálogo de tabúes regios y sacerdotales dando por bastantes las muestras reunidas

«We have seen that in savage or barbarous society there are often found men to whom the superstition of their fellows ascribes a controlling influence over the general course of nature.» — y recapitula el capítulo XXIII: en la sociedad salvaje o bárbara se hallan a menudo hombres a quienes la superstición de sus semejantes atribuye influjo sobre el curso general de la naturaleza

«Thus to students of the past the life of the old kings and priests teems with instruction.» — y declara el interés que tiene para él esa vida: al estudioso del pasado la del viejo rey sacerdote le rebosa de enseñanza

«It was the perfect pattern after which every man strove to shape his life; a faultless model constructed with rigorous accuracy upon the lines laid down by a barbarous philosophy.» — porque fue, dice, el patrón perfecto según el cual cada hombre trataba de conformar su vida, modelo sin falla construido con rigor sobre las líneas de una filosofía bárbara

«We are like heirs to a fortune which has been handed down for so many ages that the memory of those who built it up is lost, and its possessors for the time being regard it as having been an original and unalterable possession of their race since the beginning of the world.» — y la imagen con que mide nuestra deuda con ese pasado: somos como herederos de una fortuna transmitida por tantas edades que se ha perdido la memoria de quienes la hicieron

«Man has created gods in his own likeness and being himself mortal he has naturally supposed his creatures to be in the same sad predicament.» — Frazer abre el capítulo de la muerte del rey divino: el hombre creó dioses a su semejanza y, mortal él mismo, supuso mortales a sus criaturas

«Thus the Greenlanders believed that a wind could kill their most powerful god, and that he would certainly die if he touched a dog.» — según Frazer, los groenlandeses creían que un viento podía matar a su dios más poderoso y que moriría sin falta si tocaba un perro

«The high gods of Babylon also, though they appeared to their worshippers only in dreams and visions, were conceived to be human in their bodily shape, human in their passions, and human in their fate; for like men they were born into the world, and like men they loved and fought and died.» — según Frazer, los dioses altos de Babilonia, aunque solo se aparecían en sueños y visiones, se concebían humanos de cuerpo, de pasiones y de destino

«If the high gods, who dwell remote from the fret and fever of this earthly life, are yet believed to die at last, it is not to be expected that a god who lodges in a frail tabernacle of flesh should escape the same fate, though we hear of African kings who have imagined themselves immortal by virtue of their sorceries.» — y la consecuencia que le importa: si hasta los dioses remotos mueren al fin, no cabe esperar que escape a la muerte el dios alojado en un frágil tabernáculo de carne

«Every purpose, therefore, was answered, and all dangers averted by thus killing the man-god and transferring his soul, while yet at its prime, to a vigorous successor.» — Frazer da la lógica con que se justifica matar al hombre-dios: así se atendía a todo y se conjuraba todo peligro, pasando su alma aún en sazón a un sucesor vigoroso

«The mystic kings of Fire and Water in Cambodia are not allowed to die a natural death.» — según Frazer, a los reyes místicos del Fuego y del Agua en Camboya no se les permite morir de muerte natural

«It is a fundamental article of the Shilluk creed that the spirit of the divine or semi-divine Nyakang is incarnate in the reigning king, who is accordingly himself invested to some extent with the character of a divinity.» — según Frazer, es artículo fundamental del credo shilluk que el espíritu de Nyakang encarna en el rey reinante

«But while the Shilluk hold their kings in high, indeed religious reverence and take every precaution against their accidental death, nevertheless they cherish ‘the conviction that the king must not be allowed to become ill or senile, lest with his diminishing vigour the cattle should sicken and fail to bear their increase, the crops should rot in the fields, and man, stricken with disease, should die in ever-increasing numbers.’» — y la tensión que consigna sin armonizar: los shilluk rodean al rey de reverencia religiosa y de cuidados contra la muerte accidental, y a la vez sostienen que no debe enfermar ni envejecer

«the right thus to fight the king in possession and, if he succeeded in killing him, to reign in his stead.» — según Frazer, el aspirante tenía derecho a combatir al rey en posesión y a reinar en su lugar si lograba matarlo. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«But the attack on him could only take place with any prospect of success at night; for during the day the king surrounded himself with his friends and bodyguards, and an aspirant to the throne could hardly hope to cut his way through them and strike home.» — y la condición práctica del duelo: solo de noche había posibilidad de éxito, porque de día el rey se rodeaba de amigos y guardias

«These are believed to be animated by a single divine spirit, which has been transmitted from the semi-mythical, but probably in substance historical, founder of the dynasty through all his successors to the present day.» — según Frazer, se cree que a esos reyes los anima un solo espíritu divino transmitido desde el fundador semimítico de la dinastía

«On the whole the theory and practice of the divine kings of the Shilluk correspond very nearly to the theory and practice of the priests of Nemi, the Kings of the Wood, if my view of the latter is correct.» — Frazer cierra el paralelo que buscaba, con su condicional dentro: la teoría y la práctica de los reyes divinos shilluk corresponden muy de cerca a las de los sacerdotes de Nemi, si su visión de estos es correcta

«In both we see a series of divine kings on whose life the fertility of men, of cattle, and of vegetation is believed to depend, and who are put to death, whether in single combat or otherwise, in order that their divine spirit may be transmitted to their successors in full vigour, uncontaminated by the weakness and decay of sickness or old age, because any such degeneration on the part of the king would, in the opinion of his worshippers, entail a corresponding degeneration on mankind, on cattle, and on the crops.» — y lo desglosa: en ambos casos, reyes divinos de cuya vida se hace depender la fertilidad de hombres, ganado y vegetación, y a los que se da muerte para pasar su espíritu a un sucesor vigoroso

«such an untoward event were to happen, the tribe would suffer from disease and famine, and the herds would not yield their increase.» — según Frazer, se cree que si tal cosa ocurriera la tribu padecería enfermedad y hambre y los rebaños no darían cría. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«The Khor-Adar Dinka told Dr Seligman that when they have dug the grave for their rain-maker they strangle him in his house.» — según Frazer, los dinka khor-adar dijeron al doctor Seligman que, cavada la fosa de su hacedor de lluvia, lo estrangulan en su casa

«Thus each Juko king knows that he cannot have very many more years to live, and that he is certain of his predecessor’s fate. This, however, does not seem to frighten candidates.» — según Frazer, cada rey juko sabe que le quedan pocos años y que le espera la suerte de su antecesor, cosa que no parece asustar a los candidatos

«‘It has been customary,’ he said, ‘for our Matiamvos to die either in war or by a violent death, and the present Matiamvo must meet this last fate, as, in consequence of his great exactions, he has lived long enough.» — y cita la fórmula con que se anunciaba la muerte del Matiamvo: es costumbre que mueran en guerra o de muerte violenta, y a este le toca porque ha vivido bastante

«It will be seen that it is one of the barbarous customs of the Zoolas in their choice or election of their kings that he must neither have wrinkles nor grey hairs, as they are both distinguishing marks of disqualification for becoming a monarch» — según Frazer, entre los zulúes el rey electo no debía tener arrugas ni canas, por ser señales que descalifican para el cargo

«It is also equally indispensable that their king should never exhibit those proofs of having become unfit and incompetent to reign; it is therefore important that they should conceal these indications so long as they possibly can.» — y la consecuencia práctica: siendo igual de indispensable que el rey no muestre esas pruebas de decadencia, importa ocultarlas mientras se pueda

«But the Quiteve (king) who reigned when I was in those parts would not imitate his predecessors in this, being discreet and dreaded as he was; for having lost a front tooth he caused it to be proclaimed throughout the kingdom that all should be aware that he had lost a tooth and should recognise him when they saw him without it, and if his predecessors killed themselves for such things they were very foolish, and he would not do so;» — según Frazer, el Quiteve que reinaba cuando su testigo estuvo allí no imitó a sus predecesores: perdido un diente delantero, lo hizo proclamar en vez de matarse

«It is some confirmation of this conjecture that the kings of Ethiopia were chosen for their size, strength, and beauty long before the custom of killing them was abolished.» — y aduce como confirmación parcial de su conjetura que los reyes de Etiopía se eligieran por tamaño, fuerza y belleza mucho antes de abolirse la costumbre de matarlos

«According to the Book of Acaill and many other authorities no king who was afflicted with a personal blemish might reign over Ireland at Tara.» — según Frazer, el Libro de Acaill y otras autoridades niegan el reinado en Tara a todo rey con tacha corporal

«In the cases hitherto described, the divine king or priest is suffered by his people to retain office until some outward defect, some visible symptom of failing health or advancing age, warns them that he is no longer equal to the discharge of his divine duties; but not until such symptoms have made their appearance is he put to death.» — Frazer marca el paso a la otra forma: hasta ahí el rey divino conserva el cargo hasta que una tacha visible avisa de su decadencia

«Some peoples, however, appear to have thought it unsafe to wait for even the slightest symptom of decay and have preferred to kill the king while he was still in the full vigour of life.» — y la variante que sigue: hay pueblos que tuvieron por inseguro esperar a la menor señal de decadencia y prefirieron matar al rey en pleno vigor

«He ‘pretends to be of a higher rank than the Brahmans, and to be inferior only to the invisible gods; a pretention that was acknowledged by his subjects, but which is held as absurd and abominable by the Brahmans, by whom he is only treated as a Sudra.’» — según Frazer, aquel príncipe se arrogaba rango superior al de los brahmanes e inferior solo al de los dioses invisibles, pretensión que sus súbditos reconocían y los brahmanes tenían por absurda

«Whether that custom was a religious or a civil ceremony, I know not, but it is now laid aside.» — y la reserva del testigo que Frazer conserva: no sabe si aquella costumbre era ceremonia religiosa o civil, y consigna que ya se dejó

«I believe, the same Samorin reigns yet.» — el cierre del testimonio inglés que cita: cree que el mismo Samorín reina todavía

«The English traveller, whose account I have quoted, did not himself witness the festival he describes, though he heard the sound of the firing in the distance.» — y Frazer declara el límite de esa fuente: el viajero inglés no presenció la fiesta que describe, aunque oyó de lejos los disparos

«However that may be, the ceremony was observed with great pomp at the Tirunavayi temple, on the north bank of the Ponnani River.» — según Frazer, la ceremonia se celebraba con gran pompa en el templo de Tirunavayi, en la orilla norte del río Ponnani

«From the western gateway of the temple a perfectly straight road, hardly raised above the level of the surrounding rice-fields and shaded by a fine avenue, runs for half a mile to a high ridge with a precipitous bank, on which the outlines of three or four terraces can still be traced.» — y la topografía del rito: desde la puerta oeste del templo una calzada recta, apenas alzada sobre los arrozales y sombreada por una avenida, corre media milla hasta una loma

«Yet perhaps no sacrifice is wholly useless which proves that there are men who prefer honour to life.» — y Frazer añade su propio juicio sobre esos asaltantes suicidas: acaso ningún sacrificio sea del todo inútil si prueba que hay hombres que prefieren el honor a la vida

«‘It is a singular custom in Bengal,’ says an old native historian of India, ‘that there is little of hereditary descent in succession to the sovereignty …. Whoever kills the king, and succeeds in placing himself on that throne, is immediately acknowledged as king; all the amirs, wazirs , soldiers, and peasants instantly obey and submit to him, and consider him as being as much their sovereign as they did their former prince, and obey his orders implicitly.» — según Frazer, un viejo historiador nativo de la India llama costumbre singular de Bengala que la soberanía apenas se herede y que quien mate al rey y logre sentarse en el trono sea aceptado

«But the flying regicides turned a deaf ear to promises which they regarded as mere baits to lure them back to destruction; they continued their flight, and the shouts and clamour of the barbarians gradually died away in the distance.» — según Frazer, los regicidas en fuga hicieron oídos sordos a las promesas, que tomaron por cebo para atraerlos a su perdición

«When kings were bound to suffer death, whether at their own hands or at the hands of others, on the expiration of a fixed term of years, it was natural that they should seek to delegate the painful duty, along with some of the privileges of sovereignty, to a substitute who should suffer vicariously in their stead.» — Frazer marca el gozne del rey temporal: obligados los reyes a morir al cabo de un plazo fijo, era natural que buscaran delegar en otro el deber doloroso

«we may conjecture that this Norse legend preserves a confused reminiscence of ancient Swedish kings who reigned for nine or ten years together, then abdicated, delegating to others the privilege of dying for their country.» — y marca la conjetura como tal: que la leyenda nórdica conserve un recuerdo confuso de reyes suecos que reinaban nueve o diez años y luego abdicaban, delegando el privilegio de morir por su país

«We know that human sacrifices formed part of the rites.» — y el dato que da por sabido: que los sacrificios humanos formaban parte de aquellos ritos

«Now an octennial cycle is the shortest period at the end of which sun and moon really mark time together after overlapping, so to say, throughout the whole of the interval.» — Frazer explica el plazo de ocho años por astronomía: el ciclo octenal es el más corto al cabo del cual sol y luna vuelven a marcar el tiempo juntos

«No wonder, therefore, that the king as the chief priest of the state, or as himself a god, should be liable to deposition or death at the end of an astronomical period.» — y de ahí que no le extrañe que el rey, sumo sacerdote del Estado o dios él mismo, quedara expuesto a deposición o muerte al cerrarse un periodo astronómico

«Without being unduly rash we may surmise that the tribute of seven youths and seven maidens whom the Athenians were bound to send to Minos every eight years had some connexion with the renewal of the king’s power for another octennial cycle.» — y con la misma cautela conjetura que el tributo de siete mozos y siete doncellas que Atenas mandaba a Minos cada ocho años tenía que ver con la renovación del poder del rey

«Traditions varied as to the fate which awaited the lads and damsels on their arrival in Crete; but the common view appears to have been that they were shut up in the labyrinth, there to be devoured by the Minotaur, or at least to be imprisoned for life.» — y consigna la divergencia de las tradiciones sobre la suerte de los muchachos en Creta sin arbitrar entre ellas

«Mr John Parkinson was informed that in former times this subordinate chief used to be killed with ceremony after a rule of three years.» — según Frazer, a John Parkinson le informaron que antaño se mataba con ceremonia a aquel jefe subordinado tras tres años de mando

«At Babylon, within historical times, the tenure of the kingly office was in practice lifelong, yet in theory it would seem to have been merely annual.» — según Frazer, en Babilonia el cargo real era vitalicio en la práctica dentro de tiempos históricos y en teoría parece haber sido solo anual

«The rule that the king must be put to death either on the appearance of any symptom of bodily decay or at the end of a fixed period is certainly one which, sooner or later, the kings would seek to abolish or modify.» — Frazer da por descontado el movimiento contrario: la regla de matar al rey por señal de decadencia o al cabo de un plazo es de las que los reyes buscarían abolir o modificar

«The king must open this festival wherever he is.» — según Frazer, el rey ha de abrir esa fiesta dondequiera que esté

«His answer always is, that he is as able to catch a spear as any one on the island is to throw it at him.» — y la respuesta que aquel rey da siempre: que él es tan capaz de atrapar una lanza como cualquiera de la isla de arrojársela

«In some places the modified form of the old custom of regicide which appears to have prevailed at Babylon has been further softened down.» — y el grado siguiente de atenuación: en algunos sitios la forma modificada del viejo regicidio babilonio se ha suavizado más

«The king still abdicates annually for a short time and his place is filled by a more or less nominal sovereign;» — con lo que queda: el rey abdica cada año por poco tiempo y ocupa su lugar un soberano más o menos nominal

«As soon as the nine furrows are drawn, the crowd of spectators rushes in and scrambles for the seed which has just been sown, believing that, mixed with the seed-rice, it will ensure a plentiful crop.» — según Frazer, trazados los nueve surcos la multitud se abalanza a rebañar la simiente recién sembrada, creyendo que mezclada con el arroz de siembra asegura cosecha abundante

«whatever they eat first will, it is thought, be dear in the year following, though some people interpret the omen in the opposite sense.» — y Frazer consigna el desacuerdo dentro del propio augurio: se cree que lo que coman primero encarecerá al año siguiente, aunque algunos leen el presagio al revés

«he is believed to have gained a victory over evil spirits, and he has moreover the privilege, ostensibly at least, of seizing any ship which may enter the harbour during these three days, and taking its contents, and also of entering any open shop in the town and carrying away what he chooses.’» — según Frazer, al rey temporal se le tiene por vencedor de los espíritus malignos y se le concede, al menos en apariencia, apresar cualquier nave que entre en el puerto esos tres días

«although public opinion still expects him to keep his right foot on his left knee during the whole of the ceremony, he would incur no legal penalty were he, to the great chagrin of the people, to put his weary foot to the ground.» — y el resto de coacción que queda en el rito: la opinión pública sigue esperando que mantenga el pie derecho sobre la rodilla izquierda, pero ya no hay pena legal si lo baja

«The custom perhaps points to an old practice of burning a real king in grim earnest.» — y Frazer marca la conjetura: acaso la costumbre apunte a una vieja práctica de quemar de veras a un rey

«In Uganda the brothers of the king used to be burned, because it was not lawful to shed the royal blood.» — según Frazer, en Uganda se quemaba a los hermanos del rey porque no era lícito derramar sangre real

«The narrative has all the air of a fiction devised to explain an old custom, of which the real meaning and origin had been forgotten.» — Frazer lee aquel relato como ficción hecha para explicar una costumbre vieja cuyo sentido y origen se habían olvidado

«A custom of annually appointing a mock king for a single day was observed at Lostwithiel in Cornwall down to the sixteenth century.» — según Frazer, en Lostwithiel, en Cornualles, se nombró cada año un rey simulado por un solo día hasta el siglo XVI

«The same or a similar custom is believed to obtain among the hill states about Kangra.» — según Frazer, se cree que la misma costumbre o una parecida rige en los estados de las colinas en torno a Kangra

«Some points about these temporary kings deserve to be specially noticed before we pass to the next branch of the evidence.» — y anuncia que ciertos rasgos de esos reyes temporales merecen nota antes de pasar a la rama siguiente de la evidencia

«The rule that the mock king must stand on one foot upon a raised seat in the rice-field was perhaps originally meant as a charm to make the crop grow high; at least this was the object of a similar ceremony observed by the old Prussians.» — y propone, marcándolo como quizá, que la regla de tenerse en un pie sobre asiento alto en el arrozal fuera en origen ensalmo para que la mies creciera alta

«If she remained steady on one foot throughout the ceremony, it was an omen that the flax crop would be good; but if she let her foot down, it was feared that the crop might fail.» — y el augurio prusiano paralelo: si la mujer se mantenía firme en un pie, buena cosecha de lino; si bajaba el pie, se temía que fallara

«If the view here taken of the origin of these temporary kingships is correct, we can easily understand why the king’s substitute should sometimes be of the same race as the king.» — Frazer deriva de su propia hipótesis por qué el sustituto del rey había de ser a veces de su misma estirpe

«When the king first succeeded in getting the life of another accepted as a sacrifice instead of his own, he would have to show that the death of that other would serve the purpose quite as well as his own would have done.» — y el argumento: al lograr por primera vez que se aceptara otra vida en lugar de la suya, el rey había de mostrar que esa muerte servía igual

«When Xerxes was marching through Thessaly at the head of his mighty host to attack the Spartans at Thermopylae, he came to the town of Alus.» — según Frazer, Jerjes llegó a la ciudad de Alos marchando por Tesalia con su hueste contra los espartanos de las Termópilas

«Here he was shown the sanctuary of Laphystian Zeus, about which his guides told him a strange tale.» — y allí le mostraron el santuario de Zeus Lafistio, sobre el que sus guías le contaron un relato extraño

«But because King Athamas had not been sacrificed as a sin-offering for the whole country, it was divinely decreed that the eldest male scion of his family in each generation should be sacrificed without fail, if ever he set foot in the town-hall, where the offerings were made to Laphystian Zeus by one of the house of Athamas.» — según Frazer, por no haber sido sacrificado Atamante como ofrenda por el país entero se decretó que en cada generación se sacrificara al varón primogénito de su casa

«These instances appear to have been notorious, if not frequent; for the writer of a dialogue attributed to Plato, after speaking of the immolation of human victims by the Carthaginians, adds that such practices were not unknown among the Greeks, and he refers with horror to the sacrifices offered on Mount Lycaeus and by the descendants of Athamas.» — y el testimonio que aduce: el autor de un diálogo atribuido a Platón menciona esos casos junto a las inmolaciones cartaginesas

«The substitute was accordingly crowned, and for three days, if we may trust the Persian historians, he enjoyed not only the name and the state but the power of the king.» — según Frazer, se coronó al sustituto y, si cabe fiarse de los historiadores persas, gozó tres días no solo del nombre y el estado sino del poder del rey

«At the end of his brief reign he was put to death: the decree of the stars was fulfilled by this sacrifice; and Abbas, who reascended his throne in a most propitious hour, was promised by his astrologers a long and glorious reign.» — y el desenlace: acabado el breve reinado se le dio muerte, con lo que se cumplió el decreto de los astros y a Abbás le prometieron sus astrólogos un reinado largo y glorioso

«Now this practice of taking human victims from a family of royal descent at Orchomenus is all the more significant because Athamas himself is said to have reigned in the land of Orchomenus even before the time of Minyas,» — según Frazer, la práctica de tomar las víctimas humanas de una familia de estirpe real en Orcómeno cobra relieve porque se dice que el propio Atamante reinó en esa tierra

«On the whole, comparing the traditions about Athamas with the custom that obtained with regard to his descendants in historical times, we may fairly infer that in Thessaly and probably in Boeotia there reigned of old a dynasty of which the kings were liable to be sacrificed for the good of the country to the god called Laphystian Zeus,» — y la inferencia que declara justa: que en Tesalia y probablemente en Beocia se diera muerte a los reyes de esa casa como víctimas para el dios llamado Zeus Lafistio

«We have seen that this presumptuous mortal professed to be no other than Zeus himself, and to wield the thunder and lightning, of which he made a trumpery imitation by the help of tinkling kettles and blazing torches.» — según Frazer, aquel mortal presuntuoso se decía Zeus mismo y blandía el rayo, del que hacía una imitación de pacotilla con calderos que sonaban y antorchas encendidas

«Thus Philo of Byblus, in his work on the Jews, says: ‘It was an ancient custom in a crisis of great danger that the ruler of a city or nation should give his beloved son to die for the whole people, as a ransom offered to the avenging demons; and the children thus offered were slain with mystic rites.» — según Frazer, Filón de Biblos dice en su obra sobre los judíos que era costumbre antigua que en crisis de gran peligro el gobernante de una ciudad o nación diera a su hijo amado a morir por todos

«The objection may be met by observing, first, that the kingship is often not confined to one family, but may be shared in turn by several; second, that the office is frequently not hereditary, but is open to men of any family, even to foreigners, who may fulfil the requisite conditions, such as marrying a princess or vanquishing the king in battle; and, third, that even if the custom did tend to the extinction of a dynasty, that is not a consideration which would prevent its observance among people less provident of the future and less heedful of human life than ourselves.» — Frazer responde a la objeción de que matar reyes extinguiría la estirpe: la realeza no siempre se ciñe a una familia, el cargo no siempre es hereditario y esos pueblos tienen la vida humana en menos que nosotros

«In some parts of East Africa the proportion of infants massacred at birth is said to be the same.» — y el dato con que lo apoya: en partes de África oriental se dice que la proporción de recién nacidos muertos es la misma

«About half perished on the spot, and the remnant, we are told, still continuing their superstitious practice, must soon become extinct.» — según Frazer, cerca de la mitad murió en el acto y se dice que el resto, si sigue con su práctica supersticiosa, se extinguirá pronto

«The explanation here given of the custom of killing divine persons assumes, or at least is readily combined with, the idea that the soul of the slain divinity is transmitted to his successor.» — Frazer declara el supuesto de su propia explicación: que el alma de la divinidad muerta se transmite a su sucesor

«When the chief has no son, his soul is caught in a bag, which is fastened to an image made to represent the deceased; the soul is then believed to pass into the image.» — según Frazer, si el jefe no tiene hijo se le atrapa el alma en una bolsa atada a una imagen que lo representa, y se cree que el alma pasa a la imagen

«In Southern Celebes the regalia often consist of corporeal portions of deceased rajahs, which are treasured as sacred relics and confer the right to the throne.» — según Frazer, en el sur de Célebes las insignias reales suelen ser partes corporales de rajás difuntos, atesoradas como reliquias y portadoras del derecho al trono

«In point of fact, among the Shilluk of the White Nile, who regularly kill their divine kings, every king on his accession has to perform a ceremony which appears designed to convey to him the same sacred and worshipful spirit which animated all his predecessors, one after the other, on the throne.» — según Frazer, entre los shilluk del Nilo Blanco cada rey ha de cumplir al acceder una ceremonia que parece destinada a pasarle el mismo espíritu sagrado que animó a todos sus predecesores

«The rule that he held office till a stronger should slay him might be supposed to secure both the preservation of his divine life in full vigour and its transference to a suitable successor as soon as that vigour began to be impaired.» — y lo aplica al sacerdote de Nemi: la regla de conservar el cargo hasta que uno más fuerte lo matara aseguraría a la vez la vida divina en pleno vigor y su traspaso en cuanto ese vigor menguara

«But as the leave granted to the King of Calicut to reign so long as he could defend himself against all comers was a mitigation of the old rule which set a fixed term to his life, so we may conjecture that the similar permission granted to the King of the Wood was a mitigation of an older custom of putting him to death at the end of a definite period.» — Frazer lee el duelo de Nemi como atenuación, igual que el permiso al rey de Calicut de reinar mientras pudiera defenderse fue atenuación del plazo fijo

«In both cases the new rule gave to the god-man at least a chance for his life, which under the old rule was denied him; and people probably reconciled themselves to the change by reflecting that so long as the god-man could maintain himself by the sword against all assaults, there was no reason to apprehend that the fatal decay had set in.» — y lo que la regla nueva concede: al hombre-dios, al menos una posibilidad de salvar la vida que la vieja le negaba

«His legs, however, are encased separately, so that he may be able to mount his horse again.» — según Frazer, al muñeco del rito se le enfundan las piernas por separado para que pueda volver a montar

«The executioner announces that the leaf-clad man has been condemned to death, and cuts off his false head.» — y el desenlace simulado: el verdugo anuncia la condena a muerte del hombre cubierto de hojas y le corta la cabeza falsa

«The executioner runs up and stabs with his sword a bladder filled with blood which the Wild Man wears round his body; so the Wild Man dies, while a stream of blood reddens the ground.» — según Frazer, el verdugo acuchilla una vejiga llena de sangre que el Hombre Salvaje lleva al cuerpo, y así muere entre un chorro de sangre que enrojece el suelo

«The ceremony is called ‘burying the Carnival.’» — y el nombre de la ceremonia: enterrar el Carnaval

«The judge then pronounces the word ‘Guilty’ thrice in a loud voice, and orders the crier to behead the King.» — según Frazer, el juez pronuncia tres veces en voz alta la palabra culpable y manda al pregonero decapitar al Rey

«But perhaps, for our purpose, the most instructive of these mimic executions is the following Bohemian one.» — y Frazer señala cuál de esas ejecuciones simuladas le parece más instructiva para su propósito

«The divine life, incarnate in a material and mortal body, is liable to be tainted and corrupted by the weakness of the frail medium in which it is for a time enshrined;» — Frazer da la razón doctrinal de matar al dios: la vida divina encarnada en cuerpo material y mortal está expuesta a mancharse y corromperse por la flaqueza del medio frágil que la aloja

«The killing of the god, that is, of his human incarnation, is therefore merely a necessary step to his revival or resurrection in a better form.» — y la consecuencia: matar al dios, es decir, a su encarnación humana, es solo paso necesario para su renacimiento o resurrección en forma mejor

«In these northern maskers we see kings, whose dress of bark and leaves along with the hut of green boughs and the fir-trees, under which they hold their court, proclaim them unmistakably as, like their Italian counterpart, Kings of the Wood.» — y el enlace con Nemi: en esos enmascarados del norte ve reyes cuyo traje de corteza y hojas los proclama Reyes del Bosque como su contraparte italiana

«Like him they die a violent death, but like him they may escape from it for a time by their bodily strength and agility;» — y el paralelo completo: mueren de muerte violenta como él y como él pueden escapar por un tiempo gracias a su fuerza y agilidad

«The explanation claims to be no more than probable; our scanty knowledge of the custom and of its history forbids it to be more.» — Frazer acota el valor de su propia explicación: no pretende más que probabilidad, porque el poco saber sobre la costumbre y su historia no permite más

«But its probability will be augmented in proportion to the extent to which the motives and modes of thought which it assumes can be proved to have operated in primitive society.» — y el criterio con que se mediría esa probabilidad: cuanto se pruebe que los motivos y modos de pensar supuestos obraron en la sociedad primitiva

«Grimm thought it was a festival of the New Year with the old Slavs, who began their year in March.» — según Frazer, Grimm tuvo aquella fiesta por un Año Nuevo de los antiguos eslavos, que empezaban el año en marzo

«Any one who ventured into the crowd without such a leaf would be unceremoniously hustled out of it, unless indeed he bore as a substitute a large cabbage at the end of a long stick or a bunch of grass curiously plaited.» — según Frazer, al que se metía en la multitud sin la hoja de rigor lo echaban sin miramientos, salvo que llevara en su lugar una col grande en un palo largo

«A few moments of suspense and then a storm of cheers and hand-clapping salutes the appearance of the dignitaries, as they file out and, descending the staircase, take their place in the procession.» — y la escena del cortejo: unos momentos de suspenso y una tormenta de vítores y aplausos saluda a los dignatarios que salen y bajan la escalera

«At Lerida, in Catalonia, the funeral of the Carnival was witnessed by an English traveller in 1877.» — según Frazer, un viajero inglés presenció en 1877 el funeral del Carnaval en Lérida

«For three days the revelry ran high, and then at midnight on the last day of the Carnival the same procession again wound through the streets, but under a different aspect and for a different end.» — y el vuelco del tercer día: a medianoche del último de Carnaval la misma procesión volvía a recorrer las calles con otro aspecto y otro fin

«Throughout nearly the whole of the Ardennes it was and still is customary on Ash Wednesday to burn an effigy which is supposed to represent the Carnival, while appropriate verses are sung round about the blazing figure.» — según Frazer, en casi todas las Ardenas se quema el Miércoles de Ceniza una efigie que representa al Carnaval, con versos cantados en torno a la figura ardiendo

«Very often an attempt is made to fashion the effigy in the likeness of the husband who is reputed to be least faithful to his wife of any in the village.» — y el sesgo local que consigna: a menudo se procura que la efigie se parezca al marido que pasa por menos fiel de la aldea

«From time to time the procession halted, and a champion of morality accused the broken-down old sinner of all the excesses he had committed and for which he was now about to be burned alive.» — según Frazer, la procesión se detenía de trecho en trecho y un campeón de la moral acusaba al viejo pecador de todos sus excesos, por los que iba a ser quemado vivo

«The final scene has been graphically described by Madame Octave Feuillet as she witnessed it in her childhood some sixty years ago.» — y la fuente de la escena final: Madame Octave Feuillet la describió tal como la vio de niña unos sesenta años antes

«An official then makes a speech in which he declares that the Carnival was condemned to death because he had done them harm, by wearing out their shoes and making them tired and sleepy.» — según Frazer, un oficial declara en su discurso que el Carnaval fue condenado a muerte por el daño hecho: gastarles los zapatos y dejarlos cansados y soñolientos

«Thus at Braller on Ash Wednesday or Shrove Tuesday two white and two chestnut horses draw a sledge on which is placed a straw-man swathed in a white cloth; beside him is a cart-wheel which is kept turning round.» — según Frazer, en Braller dos caballos blancos y dos castaños tiran de un trineo con un hombre de paja envuelto en un paño blanco y una rueda de carro que gira sin parar

«Thus, in some parts of Swabia on Shrove Tuesday Dr Iron-Beard professes to bleed a sick man, who thereupon falls as dead to the ground; but the doctor at last restores him to life by blowing air into him through a tube.» — según Frazer, en partes de Suabia el Doctor Barba de Hierro finge sangrar a un enfermo que cae como muerto y al fin lo devuelve a la vida soplándole aire por un tubo

«In the Harz Mountains, when Carnival is over, a man is laid on a baking-trough and carried with dirges to a grave; but in the grave a glass of brandy is buried instead of the man.» — según Frazer, en el Harz se lleva a un hombre en una artesa con endechas hasta una fosa, y en la fosa se entierra un vaso de aguardiente en lugar del hombre

«This was done to ensure a fruitful and prosperous year; further, it was considered a safeguard against pestilence and sudden death.» — según Frazer, el rito se hacía para asegurar un año fructífero y próspero y se tenía además por resguardo contra la peste y la muerte súbita

«In some parts of Bavaria down to 1780 it was believed that a fatal epidemic would ensue if the custom of ‘Carrying out Death’ were not observed.» — según Frazer, en partes de Baviera se creyó hasta 1780 que sobrevendría una epidemia mortal si no se observaba la costumbre de sacar a la Muerte

«They also took care not to touch it, lest it should dry them up.» — y el tabú del contacto: cuidaban de no tocarla, no fuera a secarlos

«By this ceremony they professed to make the young wives fruitful, to purify the city, and to protect the inhabitants for that year» — y lo que decían obtener con la ceremonia: hacer fecundas a las recién casadas, purificar la ciudad y proteger a sus habitantes por aquel año

«In some German villages of Moravia, as in Jassnitz and Seitendorf, the young folk assemble on the third Sunday in Lent and fashion a straw-man, who is generally adorned with a fur cap and a pair of old leathern hose, if such are to be had.» — según Frazer, en aldeas alemanas de Moravia los jóvenes se juntan el tercer domingo de Cuaresma y hacen un hombre de paja tocado con gorro de piel

«The preceding evidence shows that the effigy of Death is often regarded with fear and treated with marks of hatred and abhorrence.» — Frazer resume lo que su evidencia muestra: a la efigie de la Muerte se la mira con miedo y se la trata con odio y aborrecimiento

«Thus the anxiety of the villagers to transfer the figure from their own to their neighbours’ land, and the reluctance of the latter to receive the ominous guest, are proof enough of the dread which it inspires.» — y la prueba que aduce: el afán de pasar la figura al término vecino y la resistencia de los vecinos a recibirla

«The people believe that the village from which Death has been thus carried out will be safe from any infectious disease for the whole year.» — según Frazer, se cree que la aldea de donde se sacó a la Muerte queda libre de enfermedad contagiosa todo el año

«In the preceding ceremonies the return of Spring, Summer, or Life, as a sequel to the expulsion of Death, is only implied or at most announced.» — y Frazer marca el límite de lo visto hasta ahí: el regreso de la Primavera, el Verano o la Vida tras expulsar a la Muerte solo va implícito o, a lo más, anunciado

«Whoever hits it will be sure to live through the year.» — según Frazer, quien acierte a darle vivirá sin falta todo el año

«In this way Death is carried out of the village and thrown into the water or over the boundary of the next village.» — y el destino de la figura: se la saca de la aldea y se la echa al agua o al otro lado del término vecino

«Death must be ready in time to be placed at the open window, that all the people may see it on their way to church.» — según Frazer, la Muerte ha de estar lista a tiempo para ponerla en la ventana abierta y que todos la vean camino de la iglesia

«When vespers are over, the longed-for moment has come for the first procession with the Death to begin; it is a privilege that belongs to the schoolgirls alone.» — y a quién toca abrir el cortejo: acabadas las vísperas, la primera procesión con la Muerte es privilegio de las colegialas

«But the transference of the shirt worn by the effigy of Death to the tree clearly indicates that the tree is a kind of revivification, in a new form, of the destroyed effigy.» — Frazer lee el traspaso de la camisa de la efigie al árbol como señal clara de que el árbol es una revivificación de la efigie destruida

«These examples therefore suggest that the Death whose demolition is represented in these ceremonies cannot be regarded as the purely destructive agent which we understand by Death.» — y la consecuencia que saca: la Muerte que se destruye en esas ceremonias no puede tenerse por el agente puramente destructivo que nosotros entendemos por muerte

«Arrived at its destination – a field outside the village – the figure is stripped of its clothes and ornaments; then the crowd rushes at it and tears it to bits, scuffling for the fragments.» — según Frazer, llegada la figura al campo fuera de la aldea se la desnuda de ropa y adornos y la multitud se abalanza a despedazarla a rebatiña

«Or the straw is put in the hens’ nest, it being supposed that this prevents the hens from carrying away their eggs, and makes them brood much better.» — y el uso que se da a la paja: puesta en el nidal impide que las gallinas se lleven los huevos y las hace empollar mejor

«But we have seen that the Summer-tree is in some cases a revivification of the effigy of Death.» — Frazer encadena su argumento: el árbol del Verano es en algunos casos una revivificación de la efigie de la Muerte

«It follows, therefore, that in these cases the effigy called Death must be an embodiment of the tree-spirit or spirit of vegetation.» — y la conclusión: en esos casos la efigie llamada Muerte ha de ser encarnación del espíritu del árbol o de la vegetación

«But this general idea of vegetation would readily be confounded with the season in which it manifests itself; hence the substitution of Spring, Summer, or May for the tree-spirit or spirit of vegetation would be easy and natural.» — y explica el deslizamiento de nombres: la idea general de la vegetación se confundiría con la estación en que se manifiesta, de donde Primavera, Verano o Mayo por espíritu de la vegetación

«Again, the concrete notion of the dying tree or dying vegetation would by a similar process of generalisation glide into a notion of death in general; so that the practice of carrying out the dying or dead vegetation in spring, as a preliminary to its revival, would in time widen out into an attempt to banish Death in general from the village or district.» — y el otro deslizamiento, hacia la Muerte: la noción concreta del árbol o la vegetación que muere pasaría por generalización a la de muerte en general

«All over Bavaria the same drama used to be acted on the same day, and it was still kept up in some places down to the middle of the nineteenth century or later.» — según Frazer, el mismo drama se representaba en toda Baviera el mismo día y en algunos sitios siguió hasta mediados del siglo XIX o después

«While Summer appeared in blossom or a little tree hung with apples and pears, Winter was muffled up in cap and mantle of fur and bore in his hand a snow-shovel or a flail.» — y los dos personajes: el Verano en flor o con un arbolito de manzanas y peras, y el Invierno embozado en gorro y manto de piel con una pala de nieve o un mayal

«If the ptarmigans get the worst of it, then summer has won the game and fine weather may be expected to prevail through the winter.» — según Frazer, si pierden las perdices blancas gana el verano y se espera buen tiempo todo el invierno

«Thus ‘in Little Russia it used to be the custom at Eastertide to celebrate the funeral of a being called Kostrubonko, the deity of the spring.» — según Frazer, en la Pequeña Rusia se celebraba en Pascua el funeral de un ser llamado Kostrubonko, deidad de la primavera

«A bonfire was kindled on the twenty-eighth of June, and on the next day the maidens chose one of their number to play the part of Kostroma. Her companions saluted her with deep obeisances, placed her on a board, and carried her to the bank of a stream. There they bathed her in the water, while the oldest girl made a» — según Frazer, se encendía una hoguera el veintiocho de junio y al día siguiente las muchachas elegían a una para hacer de Kostroma, la saludaban con reverencias y la llevaban en una tabla a bañarla al río

«In the Murom district Kostroma was represented by a straw figure dressed in woman’s clothes and flowers. This was laid in a trough and carried with songs to the bank of a lake» — y la variante del distrito de Múrom: allí Kostroma era una figura de paja vestida de mujer y con flores, llevada en una artesa entre cantos

«The revival as a sequel to the death is enacted in the first of the ceremonies described, the death and resurrection of Kostrubonko.» — Frazer señala dónde el renacer sigue a la muerte de manera expresa: en la ceremonia de Kostrubonko

«The reason why in some of these Russian ceremonies the death of the spirit of vegetation is celebrated at midsummer may be that the decline of summer is dated from Midsummer Day, after which the days begin to shorten, and the sun sets out on his downward journey:» — y propone por qué esas ceremonias rusas ponen la muerte del espíritu de la vegetación en pleno verano: porque el declive del verano se data del solsticio

«That in this Indian ceremony the deities Siva and Pârvatî are conceived as spirits of vegetation seems to be proved by the placing of their images on branches over a heap of grass and flowers.» — según Frazer, poner las imágenes de Siva y Parvatí sobre ramas encima de un montón de hierba y flores prueba que se los concibe como espíritus de la vegetación

«The marriage of these Indian deities in spring corresponds to the European ceremonies in which the marriage of the vernal spirits of vegetation is represented by the King and Queen of May, the May Bride, Bridegroom of the May, and so forth.» — y el paralelo europeo: esa boda primaveral corresponde a las ceremonias del Rey y la Reina de Mayo

«Again, in India, as often in Europe, the rite is performed exclusively by females.» — y otro rasgo común: como a menudo en Europa, en la India el rito lo hacen solo mujeres

«The notion that the ceremony helps to procure husbands for the girls can be explained by the quickening and fertilising influence which the spirit of vegetation is believed to exert upon the life of man as well as of plants.» — y explica la creencia de que la ceremonia procura maridos por el influjo vivificante que se atribuye al espíritu de la vegetación sobre animales y plantas

«But it was far otherwise with the annual cycle of the seasons. To any man a year is a considerable period, seeing that the number of our years is but few at the best.» — Frazer contrapone el ciclo anual a los cambios lentos: un año es periodo considerable para cualquiera, siendo pocos los años de una vida

«The speed or slowness of his recognition of such periodic or cyclic changes in nature will depend largely on the length of the particular cycle.» — y hace depender de la duración del ciclo la prontitud con que el hombre reconoce esos cambios periódicos de la naturaleza. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«We may smile at his vain endeavours if we please, but it was only by making a long series of experiments, of which some were almost inevitably doomed to failure, that man learned from experience the futility of some of his attempted methods and the fruitfulness of others.» — Frazer defiende el valor de los intentos vanos del primitivo: solo con una larga serie de experimentos, algunos condenados de antemano al fracaso, aprendió el hombre por experiencia

«We may feel some natural regret at the disappearance of quaint customs and picturesque ceremonies, which have preserved to an age often deemed dull and prosaic something of the flavour and freshness of the olden time, some breath of the springtime of the world; yet our regret will be lessened when we remember that these pretty pageants, these now innocent diversions, had their origin in ignorance and superstition; that if they are a record of human endeavour, they are also a monument of fruitless ingenuity, of wasted labour, and of blighted hopes; and that for all their gay trappings — their flowers, their ribbons, and their music — they partake far more of tragedy than of farce.» — y confiesa la nostalgia que le producen esas costumbres pintorescas, sin ocultar lo que tuvieron de tragedia

«Mannhardt, I have attempted to give of these ceremonies has been not a little confirmed by the discovery, made since this book was first written, that the natives of Central Australia regularly practise magical ceremonies for the purpose of awakening the dormant energies of nature at the approach of what may be called the Australian spring.» — Frazer declara confirmada en buena parte, por el descubrimiento posterior a la primera edición, la explicación que dio de esas ceremonias siguiendo a Mannhardt. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«Nowhere apparently are the alternations of the seasons more sudden and the contrasts between them more striking than in the deserts of Central Australia, where at the end of a long period of drought the sandy and stony wilderness, over which the silence and desolation of death appear to brood, is suddenly, after a few days of torrential rain, transformed into a landscape smiling with verdure and peopled with teeming multitudes of insects and lizards, of frogs and birds.» — según Frazer, en ningún sitio parecen las estaciones alternarse tan de golpe ni contrastar tanto como en los desiertos de Australia central

«Only in autumn days, as summer slowly faded, would their confidence again be dashed by doubts and misgivings at symptoms of decay, which told how vain were all their efforts to stave off for ever the approach of winter and of death.» — y el vaivén anímico que atribuye a aquellos hombres: solo en el otoño, al apagarse el verano, volvían las dudas ante los síntomas de decadencia

«The spectacle of the great changes which annually pass over the face of the earth has powerfully impressed the minds of men in all ages, and stirred them to meditate on the causes of transformations so vast and wonderful.» — Frazer abre el ciclo de los dioses que mueren con el espectáculo de los grandes cambios anuales de la faz de la tierra, que en toda edad movió a los hombres a meditar sobre sus causas

«Their curiosity has not been purely disinterested; for even the savage cannot fail to perceive how intimately his own life is bound up with the life of nature, and how the same processes which freeze the stream and strip the earth of vegetation menace him with extinction.» — y el interés que hay debajo: ni el salvaje deja de percibir cuán trabada va su propia vida con la de la naturaleza

«If mankind had always been logical and wise, history would not be a long chronicle of folly and crime.» — y su juicio sobre la historia: si el género humano hubiera sido siempre lógico y sabio, la historia no sería una larga crónica de locura y crimen

«The inconsistency of acting on two opposite principles, however it may vex the soul of the philosopher, rarely troubles the common man;» — y la observación con que explica la convivencia de magia y religión: la inconsistencia de obrar por dos principios opuestos rara vez inquieta al hombre común, por mucho que atormente al filósofo

«The worship of Adonis was practised by the Semitic peoples of Babylonia and Syria, and the Greeks borrowed it from them as early as the seventh century before Christ.» — según Frazer, el culto de Adonis lo practicaron los pueblos semitas de Babilonia y Siria y los griegos lo tomaron de ellos ya en el siglo VII antes de Cristo

«The true name of the deity was Tammuz: the appellation of Adonis is merely the Semitic Adon , ‘lord,’ a title of honour by which his worshippers addressed him.» — y el nombre verdadero que le atribuye: Tammuz, siendo Adonis el semítico *adon*, señor, título de honor con que lo invocaban sus fieles

«Bitterly did Aphrodite lament her loved and lost Adonis.» — según Frazer, Afrodita lloró amargamente a su amado y perdido Adonis

«the decision of Zeus that Adonis is to spend one part of the year under ground and another part above ground is merely a Greek version of the annual disappearance and reappearance of Tammuz.» — y lee el fallo de Zeus que reparte el año de Adonis entre el mundo de abajo y el de arriba como versión griega de la desaparición y el retorno anuales de Tammuz. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«The myth of Adonis was localised and his rites celebrated with much solemnity at two places in Western Asia.» — según Frazer, el mito de Adonis se localizó y sus ritos se celebraron con gran solemnidad en dos lugares de Asia occidental

«Both were great seats of the worship of Aphrodite, or rather of her Semitic counterpart, Astarte; and of both, if we accept the legends, Cinyras, the father of Adonis, was king.» — y lo que los une: ambos fueron sedes mayores del culto de Afrodita, o más bien de su contraparte semítica Astarté, y en ambos reinó, según las leyendas, Cíniras

«It was here that, according to the legend, Adonis met Aphrodite for the first or the last time, and here his mangled body was buried.» — según Frazer, allí, según la leyenda, se encontraron Adonis y Afrodita por primera o por última vez, y allí se enterró su cuerpo destrozado

«A fairer scene could hardly be imagined for a story of tragic love and death.» — y su juicio sobre el paisaje: apenas cabe imaginar escena más hermosa para una historia de amor trágico y muerte

«His death appears to have been annually mourned, to the shrill music of flutes, by men and women about midsummer in the month named after him, the month of Tammuz.» — según Frazer, la muerte de Tammuz se lloraba cada año al son agudo de las flautas, por hombres y mujeres, hacia el solsticio, en el mes que lleva su nombre

«The dirges were seemingly chanted over an effigy of the dead god, which was washed with pure water, anointed with oil, and clad in a red robe, while the fumes of incense rose into the air, as if to stir h» — y el rito que describe: las endechas parecen haberse cantado sobre una efigie del dios muerto, lavada con agua pura, ungida con aceite y vestida de rojo entre humo de incienso. El tramo se corta en el cambio de plana

«Every year, in the belief of his worshippers, Adonis was wounded to death on the mountains, and every year the face of nature itself was dyed with his sacred blood.» — según Frazer, sus fieles creían que Adonis era herido de muerte cada año en los montes y que la faz misma de la naturaleza se teñía con su sangre sagrada

«The island of Cyprus lies but one day’s sail from the coast of Syria.» — según Frazer, Chipre queda a un solo día de navegación de la costa de Siria

«Indeed, on fine summer evenings its mountains may be described looming low and dark against the red fires of sunset.» — y la vista que consigna: en tardes claras de verano se divisan sus montes bajos y oscuros contra los fuegos rojos del ocaso

«According to Herodotus, it was founded by Phoenician colonists from Ascalon; but it is possible that a native goddess of fertility was worshipped on the spot before the arrival of the Phoenicians, and that the newcomers identified her with their own Baalath or Astarte, whom she may have closely resembled.» — según Frazer, Heródoto la hace fundación de colonos fenicios de Ascalón, aunque él admite que antes pudo venerarse allí una diosa nativa de la fertilidad

«In like manner, a cone was the emblem of Astarte at Byblus, of the native goddess whom the Greeks called Artemis at Perga in Pamphylia, and of the sun-god Heliogabalus at Emesa in Syria.» — según Frazer, el cono fue emblema de Astarté en Biblos, de la diosa nativa que los griegos llamaron Ártemis en Perge y del dios sol Heliogábalo en Emesa

«The emperor Constantine abolished the custom, destroyed the temple, and built a church in its stead.» — según Frazer, el emperador Constantino abolió la costumbre, destruyó el templo y levantó una iglesia en su lugar

«‘It was a law of the Amorites, that she who was about to marry should sit in fornication seven days by the gate.’» — y cita la fórmula rabínica sobre la ley de los amorreos: que la que iba a casarse se sentara siete días a la puerta

«At Paphos the custom of religious prostitution is said to have been instituted by King Cinyras, and to have been practised by his daughters, the sisters of Adonis, who, having incurred the wrath of Aphrodite, mated with strangers and ended their days in Egypt.» — según Frazer, en Pafos se atribuía la institución de la prostitución religiosa al rey Cíniras y su práctica a sus hijas, las hermanas de Adonis

«In this form of the tradition the wrath of Aphrodite is probably a feature added by a later authority, who could only regard conduct which shocked his own moral sense as a punishment inflicted by the goddess instead of as a sacrifice regularly enjoined by her on all her devotees.» — y Frazer marca lo que tiene por añadido tardío: la ira de Afrodita, puesta ahí por una autoridad posterior que solo podía ver castigo en lo que ofendía su moral

«Cinyras is said to have been famed for his exquisite beauty and to have been wooed by Aphrodite herself.» — según Frazer, se decía que Cíniras fue de belleza exquisita y que la propia Afrodita lo cortejó

«Thus it would appear, as scholars have already observed, that Cinyras was in a sense a duplicate of his handsome son Adonis, to whom the inflammable goddess also lost her heart.» — y la observación que recoge de otros estudiosos: que Cíniras venía a ser un doblete de su hermoso hijo Adonis

«If that was so, there is more truth than has commonly been supposed in the reproach cast by the Christian fathers that the Aphrodite worshipped by Cinyras was a common whore.» — y una consecuencia que consigna sin suavizarla: habría más verdad de lo que suele suponerse en el reproche de los padres cristianos a la Afrodita de Cíniras

«In this manner Paphos, and perhaps all sanctuaries of the great Asiatic goddess where sacred prostitution was practised, might be well stocked with human deities, the offspring of the divine king by his wives, concubines, and temple harlots.» — y la lectura que propone: así Pafos y acaso todos los santuarios de la gran diosa asiática con prostitución sagrada quedarían bien surtidos de deidades humanas

«Certainly at Jerusalem the regular clergy of the temple prophesied to the music of harps, of psalteries, and of cymbals; and it appears that the irregular clergy also, as we may call the prophets, depended on some such stimulus for inducing the ecstatic state which they took for immediate converse with the divinity.» — según Frazer, en Jerusalén el clero regular del templo profetizaba con arpas, salterios y címbalos

«Thus we read of a band of prophets coming down from a high place with a psaltery, a timbrel, a pipe, and a harp before them, and prophesying as they went.» — y el pasaje bíblico que recuerda: una banda de profetas que baja de un lugar alto con salterio, pandero, flauta y arpa, profetizando mientras andan

«For we cannot doubt that this, the most intimate and affecting of all the arts, has done much to create as well as to express the religious emotions, thus modifying more or less deeply the fabric of belief to which at first sight it seems only to minister.» — Frazer da a la música parte constitutiva en la religión: la más íntima y conmovedora de las artes ha hecho mucho por crear, y no solo por expresar, las emociones religiosas

«The musician has done his part as well as the prophet and the thinker in the making of religion.» — y lo dice sin rodeos: el músico ha puesto lo suyo, como el profeta y el pensador, en la hechura de la religión

«But at different places the ceremonies varied somewhat in the manner and apparently also in the season of their celebration.» — y consigna la variación sin unificarla: las ceremonias de Adonis diferían de un lugar a otro en el modo y al parecer en la estación

«Yet they sorrowed not without hope, for they sang that the lost one would come back again.» — y el rasgo que hace del duelo un ciclo: no se dolían sin esperanza, porque cantaban que el perdido volvería

«and if he had any presentiment of coming evil, the voices of lamentation which struck upon his ear must have seemed to sound his knell.» — según Frazer, si aquel rey tuvo algún presentimiento de su mal venidero, las voces de lamentación debieron sonarle a doble propio. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«The name of the flower is probably derived from Naaman (‘darling’) which seems to have been an epithet of Adonis.» — y propone, como probable, que el nombre de la flor venga de *Naaman*, término que el propio texto glosa como *darling* y que parece haber sido epíteto de Adonis

«Hence, if the explanation which I have adopted of the latter is correct, the ceremony of the death and resurrection of Adonis must also have been a dramatic representation of the decay and revival of plant life.» — Frazer encadena la inferencia con su condicional dentro: si su explicación de aquellas otras ceremonias es correcta, la muerte y resurrección de Adonis fue también representación dramática de la decadencia y el renacer de la vida vegetal

«The inference thus based on the resemblance of the customs is confirmed by the following features in the legend and ritual of Adonis.» — y dice en qué se apoya además: en rasgos de la leyenda y del ritual mismos, no solo en el parecido de las costumbres

«It is no wonder that a phenomenon so important, so striking, and so universal should, by suggesting similar ideas, have given rise to similar rites in many lands.» — y por qué el fenómeno se repite: siendo tan importante, llamativo y universal, sugirió ideas semejantes y ritos semejantes en muchas tierras

«We may, therefore, accept as probable an explanation of the Adonis worship which accords so well with the facts of nature and with the analogy of similar rites in other lands.» — y el grado que concede a su propia explicación: aceptable como probable por concordar con los hechos de la naturaleza y con la analogía de ritos semejantes

«It was no vague poetical sentiment which prompted them to hail with joy the rebirth of vegetation and to mourn its decline.» — y desecha la lectura estetizante: no era un vago sentimiento poético lo que los movía a saludar el renacer de la vegetación y a llorar su decadencia

«Hunger, felt or feared, was the mainspring of the worship of Adonis.» — sino el hambre, sentida o temida, que llama resorte principal del culto de Adonis

«Only we must bear in mind that the savage hunter and herdsman of those early days had probably not yet attained to the abstract idea of vegetation in general; and that accordingly, so far as Adonis existed for them at all, he must have been the Adon or lord of each individual tree and plant rather than a personification of vegetable life as a whole.» — y la reserva que añade: aquellos cazadores y pastores no habían llegado aún, probablemente, a la idea abstracta de la vegetación en general

«Thus there would be as many Adonises as there were trees and shrubs and each of them might expect to receive satisfaction for any damage done to his person or property.» — de donde habría tantos Adonis como árboles y arbustos, cada uno con derecho a satisfacción por el daño recibido

«In the summer after the battle of Landen, the most sanguinary battle of the seventeenth century in Europe, the earth, saturated with the blood of twenty thousand slain, broke forth into millions of poppies, and the traveller who passed that vast sheet of scarlet might well fancy that the earth had indeed given up her dead.» — según Frazer, el verano siguiente a la batalla de Landen la tierra, saturada con la sangre de veinte mil muertos, rompió en flores

«At Athens the great Commemoration of the Dead fell in spring about the middle of March, when the early flowers are in bloom.» — según Frazer, en Atenas la gran conmemoración de los muertos caía en primavera, hacia mediados de marzo, cuando florecen las primeras flores

«Perhaps the best proof that Adonis was a deity of vegetation, and especially of the corn, is furnished by the gardens of Adonis, as they were called.» — Frazer señala cuál tiene por la mejor prueba de que Adonis fuera deidad de la vegetación y sobre todo del grano: los llamados jardines de Adonis

«These were baskets or pots filled with earth, in which wheat, barley, lettuces, fennel, and various kinds of flowers were sown and tended for eight days, chiefly or exclusively by women.» — y los describe: cestas o macetas con tierra donde se sembraban trigo, cebada, lechugas, hinojo y flores, cuidadas ocho días por mujeres casi en exclusiva

«and amongst the Roumanians in Transylvania, when a girl is bringing home a crown made of the last ears of corn cut at harvest, all who meet her hasten to throw water on her, and two farm-servants are placed at the door for the purpose; for they believe that if this were not done, the crops next year would perish from drought.» — según Frazer, entre los rumanos de Transilvania se moja a la muchacha que trae la corona de las últimas espigas, y quien no lo hiciera vería perecer la cosecha por sequía. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«At the spring ploughing in Prussia, when the ploughmen and sowers returned in the evening from their work in the fields, the farmer’s wife and the servants used to splash water over them. The ploughmen and sowers retorted by seizing every one, throwing them into the pond, and ducking them under the water. The farmer’s wife might claim exemption on payment of a forfeit, but every one else had to be ducked.» — según Frazer, en la arada de primavera en Prusia la mujer del granjero y los criados rociaban de agua a los aradores y sembradores al volver del campo

«Trees are supposed to exercise a quickening influence upon the growth of crops, and amongst the very people in question – the Mundas or Mundaris – ‘the grove deities are held responsible for the crops.’» — según Frazer, se supone que los árboles ejercen influjo vivificante sobre el crecimiento de las mieses, y entre los munda se tiene a las deidades del bosquecillo por responsables de la cosecha

«Therefore, when at the season for planting out the rice the Mundas bring in a tree and treat it with so much respect, their object can only be to foster thereby the growth of the rice which is about to be planted out; and the custom of causing barley blades to sprout rapidly and then presenting them to the tree must be intended to subserve the same purpose, perhaps by reminding the tree-spirit of his duty towards the crops, and stimulating his activity by this visible example of rapid vegetable growth.» — y la lectura que propone: al traer un árbol y tratarlo con tanto respeto en la época del trasplante del arroz, los munda no pueden buscar sino fomentar el crecimiento con ese ejemplo visible

«The invitation is considered as an honour by the girl’s family, and is gladly accepted.» — según Frazer, la familia de la muchacha tiene la invitación por honor y la acepta de buen grado

«The pot being placed in the sun and often watered, the corn sprouts rapidly and has a good head by Midsummer Eve (St John’s Eve, the twenty-third of June).» — según Frazer, puesta la maceta al sol y regada a menudo, el grano brota aprisa y espiga para la víspera de San Juan

«itself deeply tinged by passionate memories, memories of the slumber akin to death which sealed his own eyes on the slopes of the Lebanon, memories of the sister who sleeps in the land of Adonis never again to wake with the anemones and the roses.» — Frazer cierra el capítulo con una cadencia personal sobre Renan: recuerdos del sueño afín a la muerte que le selló los ojos en el Líbano y de la hermana que duerme en la tierra de Adonis. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«The correspondence of these Sardinian pots of grain to the gardens of Adonis seems complete, and the images formerly placed in them answer to the images of Adonis which accompanied his gardens.» — según Frazer, la correspondencia de esas macetas sardas con los jardines de Adonis parece completa, y las imágenes que antes se ponían en ellas responden a las de Adonis

«This seals their relationship to each other.» — y el sentido del rito sardo: con eso queda sellado el parentesco entre las comadres

«Nor are these Sicilian and Calabrian customs the only Easter ceremonies which resemble the rites of Adonis.» — y Frazer extiende el paralelo: las costumbres siciliana y calabresa no son las únicas ceremonias de Pascua que se parecen a los ritos de Adonis

«Thus the community solemnly buries its Christ as if he had just died.» — y lo dice de la liturgia cristiana que describe: la comunidad entierra solemnemente a su Cristo como si acabara de morir

«Jerome seems to have thought that the grove of Adonis had been planted by the heathen after the birth of Christ for the purpose of defiling the sacred spot.» — según Frazer, Jerónimo parece haber creído que el bosquecillo de Adonis lo plantaron los paganos tras el nacimiento de Cristo para profanar el lugar sagrado

«If Adonis was indeed, as I have argued, the spirit of the corn, a more suitable name for his dwelling-place could hardly be found than Bethlehem, ‘the House of Bread,’ and he may well have been worshipped there at his House of Bread long ages before the birth of Him who said, ‘I am the bread of life.’» — y la inferencia que saca con su condicional dentro: si Adonis fue el espíritu del grano, mal podría hallarse nombre más adecuado a su morada que Belén, la Casa del Pan

«Hence we may conjecture that the festival of Adonis was regularly timed to coincide with the appearance of Venus as the Morning or Evening Star.» — y conjetura que la fiesta de Adonis se ajustaba con regularidad a la aparición de Venus como estrella de la mañana o de la tarde

«If that were so, we may surmise that it was the Morning Star which guided the wise men of the East to Bethlehem, the hallowed spot which heard, in the language of Jerome, the weeping of the infant Christ and the lament for Adonis.» — y lleva la conjetura hasta el final, marcándola dos veces como tal: que fuera la estrella de la mañana la que guió a los magos de Oriente a Belén

«Attis was said to have been a fair young shepherd or herdsman beloved by Cybele, the Mother of the Gods, a great Asiatic goddess of fertility, who had her chief home in Phrygia.» — según Frazer, se decía que Atis fue un hermoso pastor amado por Cibeles, la Madre de los Dioses, gran diosa asiática de la fertilidad con casa principal en Frigia

«Some held that Attis was her son.» — y Frazer consigna la divergencia sin arbitrar: algunos tenían a Atis por hijo de la diosa

«For their drooping spirits had been opportunely cheered by a prophecy, alleged to be drawn from that convenient farrago of nonsense, the Sibylline Books, that the foreign invader would be driven from Italy if the great Oriental goddess were brought to Rome.» — según Frazer, a los romanos los animó a tiempo una profecía sacada de los Libros Sibilinos, que él llama fárrago de sinsentidos, sobre cómo echar al invasor extranjero

«Accordingly ambassadors were despatched to her sacred city Pessinus in Phrygia.» — y la consecuencia: se despacharon embajadores a Pesinunte, ciudad sagrada de la diosa en Frigia

«The duty of carrying the sacred tree was entrusted to a guild of Tree-bearers.» — según Frazer, llevar el árbol sagrado tocaba a un gremio de portadores de árbol

«The trunk was swathed like a corpse with woollen bands and decked with wreaths of violets, for violets were said to have sprung from the blood of Attis, as roses and anemones from the blood of Adonis;» — y el rito del pino: se fajaba el tronco como un cadáver con vendas de lana y se le ponían coronas de violetas, porque las violetas habrían nacido de la sangre de Atis como las rosas y las anémonas de la de Adonis

«These feminine deities required to receive from their male ministers, who personated the divine lovers, the means of discharging their beneficent functions: they had themselves to be impregnated by the life-giving energy before they could transmit it to the world.» — según Frazer, esas deidades femeninas habían de recibir de sus ministros varones —que hacían de amantes divinos— los medios de ejercer sus funciones benéficas

«Now the unsexed priests of this Syrian goddess resembled those of Cybele so closely that some people took them to be the same.» — y el parecido que anota: los sacerdotes castrados de la diosa siria se asemejaban tanto a los de Cibeles que algunos los tomaban por los mismos

«At all events, we can hardly doubt that the Day of Blood witnessed the mourning for Attis over an effigy of him which was afterwards buried.» — según Frazer, apenas cabe dudar de que el Día de la Sangre se llorara a Atis sobre una efigie suya que luego se enterraba

«The resurrection of the god was hailed by his disciples as a promise that they too would issue triumphant from the corruption of the grave.» — y la promesa que se leía en el rito: sus discípulos saludaban la resurrección del dios como prenda de que también ellos saldrían triunfantes de la corrupción del sepulcro

«Our information as to the nature of these mysteries and the date of their celebration is unfortunately very scanty, but they seem to have included a sacramental meal and a baptism of blood.» — y Frazer declara escasa su información sobre esos misterios y su fecha, aunque parecen haber incluido una comida sacramental y un bautismo de sangre

«The fast which accompanied the mourning for the dead god may perhaps have been designed to prepare the body of the communicant for the reception of the blessed sacrament by purging it of all that could defile by contact the sacred elements.» — y propone, marcándolo como quizá, que el ayuno del duelo preparara el cuerpo del comulgante para recibir el sacramento

«From the Vatican as a centre this barbarous system of superstition seems to have spread to other parts of the Roman empire.» — según Frazer, desde el Vaticano como centro ese sistema de superstición, que él llama bárbaro, parece haberse extendido por el imperio romano

«Inscriptions found in Gaul and Germany prove that provincial sanctuaries modelled their ritual on that of the Vatican.» — y la prueba epigráfica: inscripciones de Galia y Germania muestran santuarios provinciales que modelaron su ritual sobre el del Vaticano

«The original character of Attis as a tree-spirit is brought out plainly by the part which the pine-tree plays in his legend, his ritual, and his monuments.» — Frazer hace del pino de la leyenda, el rito y los monumentos la prueba del carácter original de Atis como espíritu de árbol

«The story that he was a human being transformed into a pine-tree is only one of those transparent attempts at rationalising old beliefs which meet us so frequently in mythology.» — y el relato de su transformación en pino lo toma por uno de esos intentos transparentes de racionalizar creencias viejas

«Like tree-spirits in general, Attis was apparently thought to wield power over the fruits of the earth or even to be identical with the corn.» — y extiende su poder al grano: como los espíritus de árbol en general, a Atis se le creyó dueño de los frutos de la tierra o idéntico al grano

«One of his epithets was ‘very fruitful’: he was addressed as the ‘reaped green (or yellow) ear of corn’; and the story of his sufferings, death, and resurrection was interpreted as the ripe grain wounded by the reaper, buried in the granary, and coming to life again when it is sown in the ground.» — y los epítetos que lo apoyan: muy fructífero, la espiga verde o amarilla segada, con sus padecimientos leídos como los del grano

«At Celaenae, if we can trust tradition, the piper Marsyas, hanging in his cave, had a soul for harmony even in death; for it is said that at the sound of his native Phrygian melodies the skin of the dead satyr used to thrill, but that if the musician struck up an air in praise of Apollo it remained deaf and motionless.» — según Frazer, y con su reserva sobre la tradición, se decía que en Celenas el odre de Marsias colgado en su cueva se estremecía al son de la música frigia

«We may conjecture that in old days the priest who bore the name and played the part of Attis at the spring festival of Cybele was regularly hanged or otherwise slain upon the sacred tree, and that this barbarous custom was afterwards mitigated into the form in which it is known to us in later times, when the priest merely drew blood from his body under the tree and attached an effigy instead of himself to its trunk.» — y la conjetura central del capítulo, declarada como tal: que antiguamente el sacerdote que hacía de Atis en la fiesta primaveral fuera colgado o muerto en el pino sagrado

«From inscriptions it appears that both at Pessinus and Rome the high-priest of Cybele regularly bore the name of Attis. It is therefore a reasonable conjecture that he played the part of his namesake, the legendary Attis, at the annual festival.» — según Frazer, las inscripciones muestran que en Pesinunte y en Roma el sumo sacerdote de Cibeles llevaba el nombre de Atis, de donde tiene por conjetura razonable que hiciera el papel de su homónimo legendario

«The sacrifice was presented to certain powerful spirits as payment for the good year which the people had enjoyed, and to ensure the favour of the spirits for the coming season.» — según Frazer, el sacrificio se ofrecía a ciertos espíritus poderosos en pago del buen año pasado y para asegurar su favor en el venidero

«While he thus hung by the arms, he was slain by a spear thrust through his body at the level of the armpits.» — y el modo de la muerte: colgado por los brazos, se le mataba con una lanza pasada por el cuerpo a la altura de las axilas

«At Hierapolis also the victims were hung on trees before they were burnt.» — según Frazer, también en Hierápolis se colgaba de árboles a las víctimas antes de quemarlas

«With these Greek and Scandinavian parallels before us we can hardly dismiss as wholly improbable the conjecture that in Phrygia a man-god may have hung year by year on the sacred but fatal tree.» — y con esos paralelos griegos y escandinavos delante da por no del todo improbable su conjetura de un hombre-dios colgado año tras año en el árbol sagrado de Frigia

«The worship of the Great Mother of the Gods and her lover or son was very popular under the Roman Empire.» — según Frazer, el culto de la Gran Madre y de su amante o hijo fue muy popular bajo el Imperio romano

«Inscriptions prove that the two received divine honours, separately or conjointly, not only in Italy, and especially at Rome, but also in the provinces, particularly in Africa, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, and Bulgaria.» — y la extensión que documentan las inscripciones: honores divinos en Italia y sobre todo en Roma, y también en las provincias

«All this was changed by the spread of Oriental religions which inculcated the communion of the soul with God and its eternal salvation as the only objects worth living for, objects in comparison with which the prosperity and even the existence of the state sank into insignificance.» — Frazer atribuye a la difusión de las religiones orientales el cambio de los fines: la comunión del alma con Dios y su salvación eterna por únicos objetos dignos, ante los que el servicio al Estado se hundió en la insignificancia

«The inevitable result of this selfish and immoral doctrine was to withdraw the devotee more and more from the public service, to concentrate his thoughts on his own spiritual emotions, and to breed in him a contempt for the present life which he regarded merely as a probation for a better and an eternal.» — y lo califica sin rodeos: llama egoísta e inmoral a esa doctrina y le atribuye el apartar al devoto del servicio público

«The immense popularity of his worship is attested by the monuments illustrative of it which have been found scattered in profusion all over the Roman Empire.» — según Frazer, la enorme popularidad de aquel culto la atestiguan los monumentos hallados en profusión por todo el Imperio romano

«The Gospels say nothing as to the day of Christ’s birth, and accordingly the early Church did not celebrate it.» — según Frazer, los evangelios nada dicen del día del nacimiento de Cristo y por eso la Iglesia primitiva no lo celebraba

«But at the end of the third or the beginning of the fourth century the Western Church, which had never recognised the sixth of January as the day of the Nativity, adopted the twenty-fifth of December as the true date, and in time its decision was accepted also by the Eastern Church.» — y data el cambio: a fines del siglo III o principios del IV la Iglesia occidental adoptó el veinticinco de diciembre, y con el tiempo la oriental también

«Now the Easter rites still observed in Greece, Sicily, and southern Italy bear in some respects a striking resemblance to the rites of Adonis, and I have suggested that the Church may have consciously adapted the new festival to its heathen predecessor for the sake of winning souls to Christ.» — según Frazer, los ritos pascuales que aún se observan en Grecia, Sicilia y el sur de Italia se parecen en algo a los de Adonis, y él propone que la Iglesia los adaptó para ganar almas

«But this adaptation probably took place in the Greek-speaking rather than in the Latin-speaking parts of the ancient world; for the worship of Adonis, while it flourished among the Greeks, appears to have made little impression on Rome and the West.» — y acota dónde: probablemente en la parte de habla griega antes que en la latina del mundo antiguo

«we can hardly be thought rash or unreasonable in conjecturing that the other cardinal festival of the Christian church – the solemnisation of Easter – may have been in like manner, and from like motives of edification, adapted to a similar celebration of the Phrygian god Attis at the vernal equinox.» — y su conjetura sobre la Pascua, medida de nuevo por él mismo: no parece temerario conjeturar que la solemnidad cristiana se acomodara a la fiesta del dios frigio en el equinoccio de primavera. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«At least it is a remarkable coincidence, if it is nothing more, that the Christian and the heathen festivals of the divine death and resurrection should have been solemnised at the same season and in the same places.» — y el mínimo que reclama: coincidencia notable, si no es más, que las fiestas cristiana y pagana de la muerte y la resurrección divinas se solemnizaran en los mismos sitios

«the pagans contending that the resurrection of Christ was a spurious imitation of the resurrection of Attis, and the Christians asserting with equal warmth that the resurrection of Attis was a diabolical counterfeit of the resurrection of Christ.» — y consigna la disputa antigua sin arbitrarla: los paganos tenían la resurrección de Cristo por imitación espuria de la de Atis y los cristianos sostenían lo contrario. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«They admitted, indeed, that in point of time Christ was the junior deity, but they triumphantly demonstrated his real seniority by falling back on the subtlety of Satan, who on so important an occasion had surpassed himself by inverting the usual order of nature.» — y el argumento que registra de parte cristiana: admitido que Cristo era posterior en el tiempo, demostraban su anterioridad real apelando a la sutileza de Satanás

«In ancient Egypt the god whose death and resurrection were annually celebrated with alternate sorrow and joy was Osiris, the most popular of all Egyptian deities; and there are good grounds for classing him in one of his aspects with Adonis and Attis as a personification of the great yearly vicissitudes of nature, especially of the corn.» — según Frazer, en el Egipto antiguo el dios cuya muerte y resurrección se celebraban cada año con duelo y con gozo era Osiris, el más popular de sus deidades

«But the immense vogue which he enjoyed for many ages induced his devoted worshippers to heap upon him the attributes and powers of many other gods; so that it is not always easy to strip him, so to say, of his borrowed plumes and to restore them to their proper owners.» — y la dificultad que ese éxito le crea al estudioso: sus fieles le amontonaron los atributos y poderes de muchos otros dioses

«Afterwards Set married his sister Nephthys, and Osiris married his sister Isis.» — según Frazer, el relato hace casar a Set con su hermana Neftis y a Osiris con su hermana Isis

«Reigning as a king on earth, Osiris reclaimed the Egyptians from savagery, gave them laws, and taught them to worship the gods.» — y las obras que le atribuye: reinando en la tierra, Osiris sacó a los egipcios del salvajismo, les dio leyes y les enseñó a adorar a los dioses

«But when Isis heard the mother’s lamentation, her heart was touched, and she laid her hands on the child and uttered her powerful spells; so the poison was driven out of the child and he lived.» — según Frazer, Isis se conmovió al oír el llanto de la madre, puso las manos sobre el niño y pronunció sus ensalmos poderosos, con lo que el veneno salió y el niño vivió

«Then Isis prayed to the sun-god Ra for help. The god hearkened to her and staid his bark in the sky, and sent down Thoth to teach her the spell by which she might restore her son to life.» — y el otro episodio: Isis pidió ayuda a Ra, que detuvo su barca en el cielo y mandó a Thot a enseñarle el ensalmo para devolver la vida a su hijo

«If such faiths were to be nominally accepted by whole nations or even by the world, it was essential that they should first be modified or transformed so as to accord in some measure with the prejudices, the passions, the superstitions of the vulgar.» — según Frazer, para que esas fes fueran aceptadas de nombre por naciones enteras hubo que modificarlas o transformarlas hasta acordarlas en alguna medida con los prejuicios, las pasiones y las supersticiones del vulgo

«However, the genital member of Osiris had been eaten by the fishes, so Isis made an image of it instead, and the image is used by the Egyptians at their festivals to this day.» — según Frazer, los peces se habían comido el miembro de Osiris, así que Isis hizo una imagen de él, y esa imagen la usan los egipcios en sus fiestas hasta hoy

«She moulded human images out of wax and spices, corresponding to the stature of Osiris, round each one of the parts of his body.» — y la estratagema de Isis: moldeó imágenes humanas de cera y especias, del tamaño de Osiris, en torno a cada una de las partes de su cuerpo

«Accordingly it is said that the priests, mindful of the benefits of Osiris, desirous of gratifying the queen, and moved by the prospect of gain, carried out all the injunctions of Isis.» — según Frazer, se dice que los sacerdotes cumplieron todo lo que Isis mandaba, movidos por el recuerdo de los beneficios de Osiris, por complacer a la reina y por la perspectiva de ganancia

«Wherefore to this day each of the priests imagines that Osiris is buried in his country, and they honour the beasts that were consecrated in the beginning, and when the animals die the priests renew at their burial the mourning for Osiris.» — y el efecto que se le atribuye: por eso cada sacerdote imagina que Osiris está enterrado en su tierra y honra a las bestias consagradas al principio

«In pity for her sorrow the sun-god Ra sent down from heaven the jackal-headed god Anubis, who, with the aid of Isis and Nephthys, of Thoth and Horus, pieced together the broken body of the murdered god, swathed it in linen bandages, and observed all the other rites which the Egyptians were wont to perform over the bodies of the departed.» — según Frazer, Ra, apiadado, mandó del cielo a Anubis, que con Isis, Neftis, Thot y Horus recompuso el cuerpo roto de Osiris

«Then Isis fanned the cold clay with her wings: Osiris revived, and thenceforth reigned as king over the dead in the other world.» — y la resurrección: Isis abanicó con sus alas el barro frío, Osiris revivió y desde entonces reinó sobre los muertos en el otro mundo

«Thus according to what seems to have been the general native tradition Osiris was a good and beloved king of Egypt, who suffered a violent death but rose from the dead and was henceforth worshipped as a deity.» — Frazer resume la tradición nativa: Osiris fue un rey bueno y amado de Egipto que murió de muerte violenta, resucitó y desde entonces recibió culto como deidad

«It was the wish of every pious man that his dead body should rest in hallowed earth near the grave of the glorified Osiris.» — y el deseo que de ahí nacía: que el cuerpo del piadoso reposara en tierra santa cerca de la tumba del Osiris glorificado

«holy sepulchre that they caused their surviving friends to convey their mortal remains to Abydos, there to tarry for a short time, and then to be brought back by river and interred in the tombs which had been made ready for them in their native land.» — y hasta dónde llegaba: algunos hacían llevar sus restos a Abidos para que estuvieran allí un tiempo y volvieran luego por el río a las tumbas de su tierra. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«Unfortunately, in dealing with the Egyptian gods we are in a great measure precluded from making use of this clue.» — Frazer declara el muro de su propio método: con los dioses egipcios queda en buena medida privado de usar la pista de la fecha de las fiestas

«The reason is not that the dates of the festivals are always unknown, but that they shifted from year to year» — y la razón: no que se ignoren siempre las fechas, sino que se corrían de año en año

«The water begins to rise early in June, but it is not until the latter half of July that it swells to a mighty tide.» — según Frazer, el agua del Nilo empieza a subir a principios de junio y no se hincha en marea poderosa hasta la segunda mitad de julio

«Hence the rise of the river has always been watched by the inhabitants with the utmost anxiety; for if it either falls short of or exceeds a certain height, dearth and famine are the inevitable consequences.» — y por qué se vigila con tanta ansiedad: si la crecida queda corta o se pasa de cierta altura, la carestía y el hambre son consecuencia inevitable

«The rites of the husbandman were stable because they rested on direct observation of nature: the rites of the priest were unstable because they were based on a false calculation.» — Frazer opone dos calendarios: el rito del labrador era estable por descansar en la observación directa de la naturaleza y el del sacerdote inestable por descansar en un cálculo falso

«Yet many of the priestly festivals may have been nothing but the old rural festivals disguised in the course of ages by the pomp of sacerdotalism and severed, by the error of the calendar, from their roots in the natural cycle of the seasons.» — y propone que muchas fiestas sacerdotales no fueran sino las viejas fiestas rurales disfrazadas por la pompa del sacerdocio y desprendidas de su sitio en el ciclo natural

«Tradition runs that the old custom was to deck a young virgin in gay apparel and throw her into the river as a sacrifice to obtain a plentiful inundation.» — según Frazer, la tradición cuenta que la vieja costumbre era engalanar a una virgen y echarla al río en sacrificio para obtener buena inundación

«Whether that was so or not, the intention of the practice appears to have been to marry the river, conceived as a male power, to his bride the cornland, which was so soon to be fertilised by his water.» — y Frazer se abstiene sobre el hecho y se queda con la intención: casar al río, concebido como potencia macho, con su novia la tierra de labor

«For it was that time of year when they saw some of the fruits vanishing and failing from the trees, while they sowed others grudgingly and with difficulty, scraping the earth with their hands and huddling it up again, on the uncertain chance that what they deposited in the ground would ever ripen and come to maturity.» — según Frazer, era la época en que veían desaparecer los frutos de los árboles y sembraban con dificultad, sin saber si el grano llegaría a madurar

«Yet if the old Egyptian farmer felt a secret joy at reaping and garnering the grain, it was essential that he should conceal the natural emotion under an air of profound dejection.» — y el disimulo que se exigía en la siega: aunque el labrador egipcio sintiera gozo secreto, había de cubrirlo con aire de honda aflicción

«Even the priests are now unable to give a reason for this performance, which may have been a lament for the bloody death of Selu,» — según Frazer, ni los sacerdotes saben ya dar razón de aquella ceremonia, que pudo ser un lamento por la muerte sangrienta de Selu

«Further, the Cherokee precaution of leaving a clear path from the field to the house resembles the Egyptian invitation to Osiris, ‘Come to thy house.’» — y el paralelo que traza: la precaución cheroqui de dejar despejado el camino del campo a la casa se parece a la invitación egipcia a Osiris, ven a tu casa

«From that time onward, apparently, the dates of the festivals were determined by the new calendar, and so ceased to rotate throughout the length of the solar year.» — según Frazer, desde entonces el calendario nuevo fijó las fechas de las fiestas y estas dejaron de correrse a lo largo del año solar

«Plutarch, writing about the end of the first century, implies that they were then fixed, not movable;» — y el testimonio que aduce: Plutarco, a fines del siglo I, da a entender que ya eran fijas y no movibles

«Herodotus, who briefly describes the festival, omits to mention its date, but we can determine it with some probability from other sources.» — según Frazer, Heródoto describe la fiesta sin dar su fecha, que él dice poder determinar con alguna probabilidad por otras fuentes

«Thus Plutarch tells us that Osiris was murdered on the seventeenth of the month Athyr, and that the Egyptians accordingly observed mournful rites for four days from the seventeenth of Athyr.» — según Frazer, Plutarco fecha el asesinato de Osiris el diecisiete de Athyr y hace observar a los egipcios cuatro días de duelo desde esa fecha

«It is probable that the boy who figured in the sacred drama played the part, not of Osiris, but of his son Horus; but as the death and resurrection of the god were celebrated in many cities of Egypt, it is also possible that in some places the part of the god come to life was played by a living actor instead of by an image.» — y su lectura, marcada como probable: que el niño del drama sagrado hiciera de Horus y no de Osiris, representado este por una imagen

«However the details of the ceremony may have varied in different places, the pretence of finding the god’s body, and probably of restoring it to life, was a great event in the festal year of the Egyptians.» — y lo que da por firme pese a las variantes locales: fingir que se halla el cuerpo del dios, y probablemente que se le devuelve la vida, era gran acontecimiento del año

«This defect of the document, however, is amply compensated by a remarkable series of bas-reliefs which accompany and illustrate the inscription.» — según Frazer, el defecto del documento queda compensado por una notable serie de bajorrelieves que acompañan e ilustran la inscripción

«Even more instructive, however, is another representation of the same event in a chamber dedicated to Osiris in the great temple of Isis at Philae.» — y señala cuál le parece más instructivo: otra representación del mismo suceso en una cámara dedicada a Osiris en el templo de Isis en File

«This, according to the inscription, was the kernel of the mysteries, the innermost secret revealed to the initiated.» — y lo que la inscripción dice de ello: que era el núcleo de los misterios, el secreto más interior revelado a los iniciados

«These corn-stuffed figures were bandaged like mummies with patches of gilding here and there, as if in imitation of the golden mould in which the similar figures of Osiris were cast at the festival of sowing.» — según Frazer, esas figuras rellenas de grano iban vendadas como momias y con dorados, a imitación del molde de oro en que se hacían las de Osiris

«Finally, we are told by Professor Erman that between the legs of mummies ‘there sometimes lies a figure of Osiris made of slime; it is filled with grains of corn, the sprouting of which is intended to signify the resurrection of the god.’» — según Frazer, el profesor Erman refiere que entre las piernas de las momias yace a veces una figura de Osiris de limo llena de granos, cuyo brotar significaría la resurrección del dios

«The foregoing survey of the myth and ritual of Osiris may suffice to prove that in one of his aspects the god was a personification of the corn, which may be said to die and come to life again every year.» — Frazer da por probado, con su acotación dentro, que en uno de sus aspectos Osiris era personificación del grano, que puede decirse que muere y revive cada año

«Through all the pomp and glamour with which in later times the priests had invested his worship, the conception of him as the corn-god comes clearly out in the festival of his death and resurrection, which was celebrated in the month of Khoiak and at a later period in the month of Athyr.» — y dónde se ve mejor: bajo toda la pompa con que los sacerdotes revistieron su culto, la concepción de dios del grano sale clara en la fiesta de Athyr

«In modern Europe the figure of Death is sometimes torn in pieces, and the fragments are then buried in the ground to make the crops grow well, and in other parts of the world human victims are treated in the same way.» — según Frazer, en la Europa moderna se despedaza a veces la figura de la Muerte y se entierran los trozos para que crezcan las mieses

«With regard to the ancient Egyptians we have it on the authority of Manetho that they used to burn red-haired men and scatter their ashes with winnowing fans, and it is highly significant that this barbarous sacrifice was offered by the kings at the grave of Osiris.» — según Frazer, Manetón es la autoridad de que los egipcios quemaban hombres pelirrojos y esparcían sus cenizas con bieldos

«Further, we read of a Norwegian king, Halfdan the Black, whose body was cut up and buried in different parts of his kingdom for the sake of ensuring the fruitfulness of the earth.» — según Frazer, se lee de un rey noruego, Halfdan el Negro, cuyo cuerpo se descuartizó y se enterró en distintas partes del reino para asegurar la fecundidad de la tierra

«He is said to have been drowned at the age of forty through the breaking of the ice in spring.» — y el modo de su muerte: se dice que se ahogó a los cuarenta años al romperse el hielo en primavera

«the oxen which were sacrificed had also to be red; a single black or white hair found on the beast would have disqualified it for the sacrifice.» — según Frazer, los bueyes del sacrificio habían de ser rojos, y un solo pelo negro o blanco descalificaba a la res. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«human sacrifices were intended to promote the growth of the crops – and the winnowing of their ashes seems to support this view – red-haired victims were perhaps selected as best fitted to personate the spirit of the ruddy grain.» — y su conjetura sobre el pelirrojo: si los sacrificios humanos buscaban el crecimiento de las mieses, se elegirían víctimas rojas por representar al espíritu del grano rojizo

«According to one legend, he taught men to train the vine to poles, to prune its superfluous foliage, and to extract the juice of the grape.» — según Frazer, una leyenda hace de Dioniso quien enseñó a los hombres a guiar la vid en rodrigones, a podar el follaje sobrante y a extraer el zumo de la uva

«The ivy was sacred to him, and was called his plant because it is always green.» — y la planta que le era sagrada: la hiedra, llamada suya por estar siempre verde

«We have seen that in one of his aspects Osiris was the ruler and judge of the dead.» — Frazer recuerda el otro aspecto de Osiris: señor y juez de los muertos

«We may assume that in the faith of his worshippers the two provinces of the god were intimately connected.» — y lo que supone en la fe de sus fieles: que las dos provincias del dios iban íntimamente trabadas

«He says that Isis made the discovery of barley at the moment when she was sacrificing to the common ancestors of her husband and herself, all of whom had been kings, and that she showed the newly discovered ears of barley to Osiris and his councillor Thoth or Mercury, as Roman writers called him.» — según Frazer, aquel autor dice que Isis descubrió la cebada mientras sacrificaba a los antepasados comunes suyos y de su marido, todos reyes

«That is why, adds Augustine, they identify Isis with Ceres.» — y la consecuencia que Agustín saca: por eso identifican a Isis con Ceres

«Thus chastened and transfigured she won many hearts far beyond the boundaries of her native land.» — según Frazer, así templada y transfigurada, Isis ganó muchos corazones mucho más allá de las fronteras de su tierra

«And however the religion of Isis may, like any other, have been often worn as a cloak by men and women of loose life, her rites appear on the whole to have been honourably distinguished by a dignity and composure» — y su juicio matizado sobre ese culto: como cualquier otro, pudo servir de capa a gente de vida suelta, y con todo sus ritos parecen haberse distinguido por dignidad y compostura

«And to Isis in her later character of patroness of mariners the Virgin Mary perhaps owes her beautiful epithet of Stella Maris , ‘Star of the Sea,’ under which she is adored by tempest-tossed sailors.» — según Frazer, la Virgen María debe acaso a la Isis patrona de navegantes su epíteto *Stella Maris*, estrella del mar

«The attributes of a marine deity may have been bestowed on Isis by the sea-faring Greeks of Alexandria.» — y de dónde vendrían esos atributos marinos: se los habrían dado a Isis los griegos navegantes de Alejandría

«Osiris has been sometimes interpreted as the sun-god, and in modern times this view has been held by so many distinguished writers that it deserves a brief examination.» — y consigna la interpretación rival: a Osiris se le ha tenido a veces por dios solar, y tantos autores distinguidos lo han sostenido que merece examen

«it will be found on analysis to be minute in quantity and dubious, where it is not absolutely worthless, in quality.» — y su medida de esa evidencia: escasa en cantidad y dudosa cuando no del todo inservible en calidad. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«A strong reason for interpreting the death of Osiris as the decay of vegetation rather than as the sunset is to be found in the general, though not unanimous, voice of antiquity, which classed together the worship and myths of Osiris, Adonis, Attis, Dionysus and Demeter, as religions of essentially the same type.» — y la razón que opone: la voz general, aunque no unánime, de la antigüedad, que tenía esos cultos por religiones del mismo tipo

«The consensus of ancient opinion on this subject seems too great to be rejected as a mere fancy.» — y el peso que le da: el acuerdo de la opinión antigua le parece demasiado grande para desecharlo por capricho

«But if the celebration was in form dramatic, it was in substance magical; that is to say, it was intended, on the principles of sympathetic magic, to ensure the vernal regeneration of plants and the multiplication of animals, which had seemed to be menaced by the inroads of winter.» — Frazer distingue forma y sustancia en esas fiestas: dramáticas en la forma y mágicas en la sustancia, destinadas por magia simpática a asegurar el retorno de la vegetación

«We need not, with some enquirers in ancient and modern times, suppose that these Western peoples borrowed from the older civilisation of the Orient the conception of the Dying and Reviving God, together with the solemn ritual, in which that conception was dramatically set forth before the eyes of the worshippers.» — y objeta la hipótesis del préstamo: no hace falta suponer que los pueblos occidentales tomaran de Oriente la idea del dios que muere y resucita

«The resemblance which his story and his ceremonies present to those of Osiris have led some enquirers both in ancient and modern times to hold that Dionysus was merely a disguised Osiris, imported directly from Egypt into Greece.» — y consigna la opinión ajena sobre Dioniso: el parecido con Osiris llevó a algunos, antiguos y modernos, a tenerlo por un Osiris traído de Egipto

«But the great preponderance of evidence points to his Thracian origin, and the similarity of the two worships is sufficiently explained by the similarity of the ideas and customs on which they were founded.» — y su propia lectura: la evidencia se inclina con mucho por su origen tracio, y el parecido se explica por la semejanza de las ideas de fondo

«were offered to him that he would make the trees grow; and he was especially honoured by husbandmen, chiefly fruit-growers, who set up an image of him, in the shape of a natural tree-stump, in their orchards.» — según Frazer, se ofrecían votos a Dioniso para que hiciera crecer los árboles, y lo honraban sobre todo los fruticultores, que le ponían una imagen en forma de tocón en sus huertos. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«The Delphic oracle commanded the Corinthians to worship a particular pine-tree ‘equally with the god,’ so they made two images of Dionysus out of it, with red faces and gilt bodies.» — según Frazer, el oráculo de Delfos mandó a los corintios venerar cierto pino a la par del dios, y de él hicieron dos imágenes de Dioniso con la cara roja y el cuerpo dorado

«in art he is represented as an infant so cradled; and from these traditions and representations he derived the epithet of Liknites , that is, ‘He of the Winnowing-fan.’» — según Frazer, el arte representa a Dioniso niño acunado en un harnero, de donde su epíteto *Liknites*, el del bieldo. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«Like other gods of vegetation Dionysus was believed to have died a violent death, but to have been brought to life again;» — y el rasgo que lo pone en la serie: como los otros dioses de la vegetación, se creía que había muerto de muerte violenta y vuelto a la vida

«tells us that ‘Dionysus was the last king of the gods appointed by Zeus. For his father set him on the kingly throne, and placed in his hand the sceptre, and made him king of all the gods of the world.’» — según Frazer, su fuente dice que Dioniso fue el último rey de los dioses nombrado por Zeus, que lo sentó en el trono y le puso el cetro en la mano. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«Such traditions point to a custom of temporarily investing the king’s son with the royal dignity as a preliminary to sacrificing him instead of his father.» — y la costumbre a que apuntan esas tradiciones, según él: investir por un tiempo al hijo del rey con la dignidad real como paso previo a sacrificarlo en lugar del padre

«The local Argive tradition was that he went down through the Alcyonian lake; and his return from the lower world, in other words his resurrection, was annually celebrated on the spot by the Argives, who summoned him from the water by trumpet blasts, while they threw a lamb into the lake as an offering to the warder of the dead.» — según Frazer, la tradición local argiva hacía bajar a Dioniso por la laguna Alciónica, y su regreso del mundo inferior se celebraba cada año

«Whether this was a spring festival does not appear, but the Lydians certainly celebrated the advent of Dionysus in spring; the god was supposed to bring the season with him.» — y Frazer se abstiene sobre su fecha: no consta que fuera fiesta de primavera, aunque los lidios celebraban entonces la llegada del dios

«We need not therefore dismiss as a fable the testimony of antiquity to the observance of similar rites among the frenzied worshippers of Bacchus.» — y su regla de crédito para esos testimonios: no hace falta desechar por fábula lo que la antigüedad dice de los ritos de las bacantes

«The custom of killing a god in animal form, which we shall examine more in detail further on, belongs to a very early stage of human culture, and is apt in later times to be misunderstood.» — según Frazer, matar al dios en forma animal pertenece a un estadio muy temprano de la cultura y se presta a malentendidos en tiempos posteriores

«The origin of the relationship between the deity and the animal or plant having been forgotten, various stories are invented to explain it.» — según Frazer, olvidado el origen del vínculo entre la deidad y el animal o la planta, se inventan relatos para explicarlo

«The sacred animal was habitually spared, and only exceptionally slain; and accordingly the myth might be devised to explain either why it was spared or why it was killed.» — y la ambivalencia que eso deja: al animal sagrado se le perdonaba de ordinario y solo se le mataba por excepción, con lo que el mito puede explicar tanto lo uno como lo otro

«It is probably no mere coincidence that Dionysus himself is said to have been torn in pieces at Thebes, the very place where according to legend the same fate befell King Pentheus at the hands of the frenzied votaries of the vine-god.» — y una coincidencia que marca como probablemente significativa: que al propio Dioniso se le hiciera pedazos en Tebas, el mismo lugar donde la leyenda da esa suerte a un rey

«However, a tradition of human sacrifice may sometimes have been a mere misinterpretation of a sacrificial ritual in which an animal victim was treated as a human being.» — y la cautela contraria: una tradición de sacrificio humano puede haber sido a veces mala lectura de un rito donde la víctima animal se trataba como humana

«Dionysus was not the only Greek deity whose tragic story and ritual appear to reflect the decay and revival of vegetation.» — y el paso al capítulo siguiente: Dioniso no fue la única deidad griega cuya historia trágica y cuyo rito parecen reflejar la decadencia y el renacer de la vegetación

«In another form and with a different application the old tale reappears in the myth of Demeter and Persephone.» — y dónde reaparece el mismo cuento viejo, con otra forma y otra aplicación: en el mito de Deméter y Perséfone

«In her wrath at her bereavement the goddess suffered not the seed to grow in the earth but kept it hidden under ground, and she vowed that never would she set foot on Olympus and never would she let the corn sprout till her lost daughter should be restored to her.» — según Frazer, airada por su pérdida, la diosa no dejó brotar la simiente y la guardó bajo tierra, jurando no volver al Olimpo hasta que le devolvieran a su hija

«The grim lord of the Dead smiled and obeyed, but before he sent back his queen to the upper air on a golden car, he gave her the seed of a pomegranate to eat, which ensured that she would return to him.» — y la prenda del regreso: el torvo señor de los muertos obedeció sonriendo, pero antes dio a su reina un grano de granada que aseguraba su vuelta

«It has been generally recognised, and indeed it seems scarcely open to doubt, that the main theme which the poet set before himself in composing this hymn was to describe the traditional foundation of the Eleusinian mysteries by the goddess Demeter.» — según Frazer, se reconoce generalmente, y apenas cabe dudarlo, cuál fue el tema principal que el poeta se propuso en ese himno

«The revelation of the mysteries is the triumphal close of the piece.» — y dónde culmina la pieza: la revelación de los misterios es su cierre triunfal

«On the whole, then, we may, with many modern scholars, confidently accept the statement of the learned Christian father Clement of Alexandria, that the myth of Demeter and Persephone was acted as a sacred drama in the mysteries of Eleusis.» — Frazer declara aceptar con confianza, y con muchos eruditos modernos, la afirmación de Clemente de Alejandría sobre el mito de Deméter en los misterios de Eleusis

«But if the myth was acted as a part, perhaps as the principal part, of the most famous and solemn religious rites of ancient Greece, we have still to enquire, What was, after all, stripped of later accretions, the original kernel of the myth which appears to later ages surrounded and transfigured by an aureole of awe and mystery, lit up by some of the most brilliant rays of Grecian literature and art?» — y la pregunta que le queda por responder: qué era, para los griegos que la miraban, la doctrina de aquella representación

«He tells us that it was Earth who, in accordance with the will of Zeus and to please Pluto, lured Persephone to her doom by causing the narcissuses to grow which tempted the young goddess to stray far beyond the reach of help in the lush meadow.» — según Frazer, el himno hace a la Tierra, por voluntad de Zeus y para dar gusto a Plutón, quien atrajo a Perséfone a su perdición haciendo crecer los narcisos

«Thus Demeter of the hymn, far from being identical with the Earth-goddess, must have regarded that divinity as her worst enemy, since it was to her insidious wiles that she owed the loss of her daughter.» — y la consecuencia que saca contra la lectura corriente: la Deméter del himno, lejos de ser idéntica a la diosa Tierra, hubo de tenerla por su peor enemiga

«For when the English traveller Dodwell revisited Eleusis, the inhabitants lamented to him the loss of a colossal image of Demeter, which was carried off by Clarke in 1802 and presented to the University of Cambridge, where it still remains.» — según Frazer, los vecinos de Eleusis se lamentaron ante el viajero inglés Dodwell de la pérdida de una imagen colosal de Deméter que Clarke se llevó en 1802

«‘In my first journey to Greece,’ says Dodwell, ‘this protecting deity was in its full glory, situated in the centre of a threshing-floor, amongst the ruins of her temple.» — y cita a Dodwell: en su primer viaje aquella deidad protectora estaba en toda su gloria, en medio de una era y entre las ruinas de su templo

«And if Demeter did not personify the earth, can there be any reasonable doubt that, like her daughter, she personified the corn which was so commonly called by her name from the time of Homer downwards?» — y la conclusión que Frazer propone como fuera de duda razonable: que Deméter, como su hija, personificara el grano al que tan comúnmente se dio su nombre

«No doubt it is easy for us to discern the flimsiness of the logical foundation on which such high hopes were built.» — y su juicio sobre el fundamento de esas esperanzas: fácil nos resulta ver la flojedad del cimiento lógico sobre el que se levantaban

«But drowning men clutch at straws, and we need not wonder that the Greeks, like ourselves, with death before them and a great love of life in their hearts, should not have stopped to weigh with too nice a hand the arguments that told for and against the prospect of human immortality.» — y la comprensión con que lo acompaña: el que se ahoga se agarra a un clavo ardiendo, y no extraña que los griegos, con la muerte delante y mucho amor a la vida, se aferraran a ese consuelo

«But the etymology is open to serious objections, and it is safer therefore to lay no stress on it.» — Frazer retira una etimología propia por objetable y avisa que es más seguro no apoyarse en ella

«Certainly the use of barley in the religious ritual of the ancient Hindoos as well as of the ancient Greeks furnishes a strong argument in favour of the great antiquity of its cultivation, which is known to have been practised by the lake-dwellers of the Stone Age in Europe.» — y el argumento que sí mantiene: el uso ritual de la cebada entre hindúes y griegos antiguos habla a favor de su gran antigüedad

«She is believed to be present in the handful of corn which is left standing last on the field; and with the cutting of this last handful she is caught, or driven away, or killed.» — según Frazer, se cree a la Madre del Grano presente en el último puñado de mieses en pie, y al segarlo se la atrapa, se la ahuyenta o se la mata

«Here the fertilising power of the Corn-mother is plainly brought out by scattering the seed taken from her body (for the wreath is made out of the Corn-mother) among the new corn; and her influence over animal life is indicated by placing the straw in the manger.» — según Frazer, el poder fecundante de la Madre del Grano se ve al esparcir entre la simiente el grano de la corona hecha con ella y poner su paja en el pesebre

«In the district of Tarnow, Galicia, the wreath made out of the last stalks is called the Wheat-mother, Rye-mother, or Pea-mother.» — según Frazer, en el distrito de Tarnów la corona de los últimos tallos se llama Madre del Trigo, del Centeno o del Guisante

«In some parts of Westphalia the last sheaf at the rye-harvest is made especially heavy by fastening stones in it.» — según Frazer, en partes de Westfalia se hace la última gavilla especialmente pesada metiéndole piedras

«They bring it home on the last waggon and call it the Great Mother, though they do not fashion it into any special shape.» — y el nombre que le dan: la traen en el último carro y la llaman Gran Madre, aunque no le dan forma alguna

«In some of these customs, as Mannhardt has remarked, the person who is called by the same name as the last sheaf and sits beside it on the last waggon is obviously identified with it; he or she represents the corn-spirit which has been caught in the last sheaf; in other words, the corn-spirit is represented in duplicate, by a human being and by a sheaf.» — y la observación que recoge de Mannhardt: quien lleva el mismo nombre que la última gavilla y va a su lado en el carro es tenido por una misma cosa con ella

«Thus at Hermsdorf in Silesia it used to be the regular practice to tie up in the last sheaf the woman who had bound it.» — según Frazer, en Hermsdorf, en Silesia, se ataba dentro de la última gavilla a la mujer que la había atado

«Thus the custom of making the last sheaf unusually large or heavy is a charm, working by sympathetic magic, to ensure a large and heavy crop at the following harvest.» — Frazer lee la gavilla grande y pesada como ensalmo que obra por magia simpática para asegurar cosecha abundante al año siguiente

«In Scotland, when the last corn was cut after Hallowmas, the female figure made out of it was sometimes called the Carlin or Carline, that is, the Old Woman.» — según Frazer, en Escocia la figura femenina hecha con el último grano cortado después de Todos los Santos se llamaba a veces *Carlin*, la Vieja

«Great was the excitement among the reapers when the last patch of standing corn was reached.» — según Frazer, cundía la excitación entre los segadores al llegar al último trecho de mies en pie

«This was generally done by the ploughman; but he had to be very careful not to be observed by his neighbours, for if they saw him coming and had the least suspicion of his errand they would soon make him retrace his steps.» — y el sigilo que exigía: lo hacía el arador, con mucho cuidado de que no lo vieran los vecinos

«In some parts of Bohemia the Baba, made out of the last sheaf, has the figure of a woman with a great straw hat.» — según Frazer, en partes de Bohemia la *Baba* hecha con la última gavilla tiene figura de mujer con un gran sombrero de paja

«In binding the sheaves the women strive not to be last, for she who binds the last sheaf will have a child next year.» — y el augurio que rige entre las atadoras: se afanan por no ser las últimas, porque quien ata la última gavilla tendrá hijo al año siguiente

«Thus the last corn to be threshed is called the Mother-Corn or the Old Woman.» — según Frazer, el último grano que se trilla se llama Grano Madre o la Vieja

«In some districts of Bavaria, Thüringen, and elsewhere, the man who threshes the last sheaf is said to have the Old Woman or the Old Corn-woman;» — y de quien trilla la última gavilla se dice que tiene a la Vieja o a la Vieja del Grano

«In these customs the spirit of the ripe corn is regarded as old, or at least as of mature age.» — y la edad que esas costumbres atribuyen al espíritu del grano maduro: viejo o al menos de edad madura

«Sometimes the corn-spirit is conceived as a child who is separated from its mother by the stroke of the sickle.» — y la variante contraria: a veces el espíritu del grano se concibe como niño separado de su madre por el golpe de la hoz

«One of the reapers consented to be blindfolded, and having been given a sickle in his hand and turned twice or thrice about by his fellows, he was bidden to go and cut the kirn.» — según Frazer, uno de los segadores se dejaba vendar los ojos, se le daba una hoz, se le hacía girar dos o tres veces y se le mandaba cortar el último manojo

«His groping about and making wild strokes in the air with his sickle excited much hilarity.» — y el efecto buscado: sus tanteos y sus hoces al aire provocaban mucha risa

«It was divided in two, plaited, and then cut with the sickle by a girl, who, it was thought, would be lucky and would soon be married.» — según Frazer, se partía en dos, se trenzaba y lo cortaba con la hoz una muchacha, que sería afortunada y se casaría pronto

«When it was cut the reapers gathered together and threw their sickles in the air.» — y el gesto que cerraba la siega: cortado el manojo, los segadores lanzaban las hoces al aire

«It is supposed that she will be a real bride that same year.» — según Frazer, se supone que la novia del trigo será novia de veras ese mismo año

«In Austrian Silesia the ceremony of ‘the Wheat-bride’ is celebrated by the young people at the end of the harvest.» — según Frazer, en la Silesia austriaca los jóvenes celebran al acabar la siega la ceremonia de la novia del trigo

«The accounts of this custom are not quite clear and consistent, but the general rule seems to be that, where both a Maiden and an Old Wife (Cailleach ) are fashioned out of the reaped corn at harvest, the Maiden is made out of the last stalks left standing, and is kept by the farmer on whose land it was cut; while the Old Wife is made out of other stalks, sometimes out of the first stalks cut, and is regularly passed on to a laggard farmer who happens to be still reaping after his brisker neighbour has cut all his corn.» — y Frazer consigna que los relatos de esa costumbre no son del todo claros ni concordes, con la regla general que cree poder extraer

«He is thought to be doomed to poverty or to be under the obligation of ‘providing for the dearth of the township’ in the ensuing season.» — y la carga que recae sobre el rezagado: se le tiene por condenado a la pobreza o a proveer la escasez del municipio la temporada siguiente

«The equivalence of the person to the sheaf is shown by giving him or her the same name as the sheaf; by wrapping him or her in it; and by the rule observed in some places, that when the sheaf is called the Mother, it must be made up into human shape by the oldest married woman, but that when it is called the Maiden, it must be cut by the youngest girl.» — y las tres señales de que persona y gavilla son una misma cosa: el nombre compartido, envolver a la persona en la gavilla y la regla de quién la ata

«No special class of persons is set apart for the performance of the rites; in other words, there are no priests.» — Frazer señala lo que falta en esos ritos del grano: ninguna clase de personas apartada para ejecutarlos, es decir, no hay sacerdotes

«As distinguished from gods, spirits are restricted in their operations to definite departments of nature.» — y su deslinde entre espíritu y dios: el espíritu queda restringido a departamentos definidos de la naturaleza

«Their names are general, not proper.» — y la otra nota: sus nombres son genéricos, no propios

«Lastly, in these harvest, as in the spring customs, the ritual is magical rather than propitiatory. This is shown by throwing the Corn-mother into the river in order to secure rain and dew for the crops; by making the Old Woman heavy in order to get a heavy crop next year; by strewing grain from the last sheaf amongst the young crops in spring; and by giving the last sheaf to the cattle to make them thrive.» — y el carácter que atribuye al rito entero: mágico antes que propiciatorio, como muestran echar la Madre del Grano al río para traer lluvia y hacerla pesada para tener cosecha pesada. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«European peoples, ancient and modern, have not been singular in personifying the corn as a mother goddess.» — según Frazer, los pueblos europeos no han sido los únicos en personificar el grano como diosa madre

«The same simple idea has suggested itself to other agricultural races in distant parts of the world, and has been applied by them to other indigenous cereals than barley and wheat.» — y su alcance: la misma idea simple se les ocurrió a otras razas agrícolas y se aplicó a otros cereales

«In this description of the custom there seems to be some error.» — y Frazer marca el defecto de su propia fuente: en esa descripción de la costumbre parece haber algún error

«The Peruvians, we are told, believed all useful plants to be animated by a divine being who causes their growth.» — según Frazer, se dice que los peruanos creían animadas todas las plantas útiles por un ser divino que las hace crecer

«Eastern peoples have not, like our peasantry, advanced beyond the intellectual stage at which the customs originated; their theory and their practice are still in unison;» — y la diferencia que traza con el campesinado europeo: los pueblos orientales no han rebasado el estadio intelectual en que nacieron esas costumbres, y en ellos teoría y práctica siguen al unísono

«But if the timorous feminine soul of the rice can be frightened into a miscarriage even by loud noises, it is easy to imagine what her feelings must be at harvest, when people are under the sad necessity of cutting down the rice with the knife.» — según Frazer, si el alma femenina y medrosa del arroz puede abortar hasta por un ruido fuerte, fácil es figurarse lo que sentirá en la siega

«For that reason the reaping of the seed-rice is done with knives of a peculiar pattern, such that the blades are hidden in the reapers’ hands and do not frighten the rice-spirit till the very last moment, when her head is swept off almost before she is aware;» — y el remedio: el arroz de simiente se siega con cuchillos de hoja escondida en la mano, para no asustar al alma del arroz

«The same need of securing the soul of the rice, if the crop is to thrive, is keenly felt by the Karens of Burma.» — según Frazer, los karen de Birmania sienten con viveza esa misma necesidad de asegurar el alma del arroz

«When a rice-field does not flourish, they suppose that the soul (kelah ) of the rice is in some way detained from the rice.» — y su diagnóstico cuando el arrozal no prospera: que el *kelah*, el alma del arroz, está retenido lejos de él

«Every one believes that she takes care of the rice in the barn and even multiplies it not uncommonly.» — según Frazer, todos creen que la Madre del Arroz cuida el grano en el granero y no pocas veces lo multiplica

«If that spirit is not treated with proper respect, for example if the people who fetch rice from the barn are not decently clad, he is angry and punishes the offenders by eating up twice as much rice in the barn as they have taken out of it;» — y el castigo del espíritu desatendido: si quienes van por arroz al granero no van decentemente vestidos, se enoja y los castiga

«The ceremony of cutting and bringing home the Soul of the Rice was witnessed by Mr W. W. Skeat at Chodoi in Selangor on the twenty-eighth of January 1897.» — según Frazer, W. W. Skeat presenció en Chodoi, en Selangor, el 28 de enero de 1897, la ceremonia de cortar y llevar a casa el Alma del Arroz

«From this sheaf an aged sorceress, with much solemnity, cut a little bundle of seven ears, anointed them with oil, tied them round with parti-coloured thread, fumigated them with incense, and having wrapt them in a white cloth deposited them in a little oval-shaped basket.» — y el rito: una hechicera vieja cortó con solemnidad un hacecillo de siete espigas, las ungió con aceite, las ató con hilo de colores y las sahumó

«In this Rice-mother and Rice-child of the Malay Peninsula we may see the counterpart and in a sense the prototype of the Demeter and Persephone of ancient Greece.» — y el paralelo que le interesa: la Madre y el Hijo del Arroz de la península malaya como contraparte y en cierto sentido prototipo de Deméter y Perséfone

«Once more, the European custom of representing the corn-spirit in the double form of bride and bridegroom has its parallel in a ceremony observed at the rice-harvest in Java.» — y otro: la pareja de novios con que Europa figura el espíritu del grano tiene su paralelo en una ceremonia de la siega del arroz en Java

«The whole arrangement, we are informed, has for its object to induce the rice to increase and multiply in the granary, so that the owner may get more out of it than he put in.» — según Frazer, se le informó que todo el arreglo busca inducir al arroz a crecer y multiplicarse en el granero, para que el dueño saque más de lo que metió

«Hence when the people of Bali bring the two sheaves, the husband and wife, into the barn, they say, ‘Increase ye and multiply without ceasing.’» — y la fórmula de Bali al meter las dos gavillas, marido y mujer, en el granero: creced y multiplicaos sin cesar

«It remains, therefore, to prove that other races besides our European peasantry have conceived the spirit of the crops as incorporate in or represented by living men and women.» — Frazer anuncia lo que le falta probar: que otras razas además del campesinado europeo concibieron el espíritu de las mieses encarnado en hombres y mujeres vivos

«Such a proof, I may remind the reader, is germane to the theme of this book;» — y por qué esa prueba importa a su libro, que él mismo recuerda al lector

«In autumn, when the birds were flying south, the Indians thought that they were going home to the Old Woman and taking to her the offerings that had been hung up on the scaffolds, especially the dried meat, which she ate.» — según Frazer, aquellos indios creían que las aves que iban al sur en otoño volvían a casa de la Vieja llevándole las ofrendas colgadas en los palos

«Here then we have the spirit or divinity of the corn conceived as an Old Woman and represented in bodily form by old women, who in their capacity of representatives receive some at least of the offerings which are intended for her.» — y lo que el caso le da: el espíritu o divinidad del grano concebido como Vieja y representado en cuerpo por mujeres viejas que reciben las ofrendas en su nombre

«Thus if the prototype of Demeter is the Corn-mother of Germany, the prototype of Persephone is the Harvest-maiden, which, autumn after autumn, is still made from the last sheaf on the Braes of Balquhidder.» — Frazer cierra la equivalencia: si el prototipo de Deméter es la Madre del Grano alemana, el de Perséfone es la Doncella de la Cosecha que aún se hace cada otoño con la última gavilla

«Indeed, if we knew more about the peasant-farmers of ancient Greece, we should probably find that even in classical times they continued annually to fashion their Corn-mothers (Demeters) and Maidens (Persephones) out of the ripe corn on the harvest-fields.» — y lo que sospecha del campesinado griego antiguo: que también en época clásica siguiera haciendo cada año su Madre del Grano con la mies madura

«Again, in the Prussian custom just referred to, the woman who plays the part of Corn-mother represents the ripe grain; the child appears to represent next year’s corn, which may be regarded, naturally enough, as the child of this year’s corn, since it is from the seed of this year’s harvest that next year’s crop will spring.» — según Frazer, en esa costumbre prusiana la mujer que hace de Madre del Grano representa la mies madura y el niño, la del año que viene

«Judged by these analogies Demeter would be the ripe crop of this year; Persephone would be the seed-corn taken from it and sown in autumn, to reappear in spring.» — y la lectura que propone por analogía: Deméter sería la cosecha madura del año y Perséfone la simiente tomada de ella y sembrada en otoño

«But if we suppose that the Greek myth started with a single personification, the aftergrowth of a second personification may perhaps be explained as follows.» — y el problema que se plantea, marcándolo como hipótesis: si el mito griego partió de una sola personificación, cómo explicar el brote de una segunda

«Thus when a particular sheaf is called by the name of the corn-spirit, and is dressed in clothes and handled with reverence, the spirit is clearly regarded as immanent in the corn.» — y el estadio primero de esa evolución: cuando una gavilla lleva el nombre del espíritu del grano, se la viste y se la trata con reverencia, el espíritu se tiene por inmanente al grano

«But the popular fancy, intolerant of such a vacuum, in other words, unable to conceive anything as inanimate, immediately creates a fresh mythical being, with which it peoples the vacant object.» — según Frazer, la fantasía popular, incapaz de concebir nada inanimado, crea en seguida un ser mítico nuevo con que poblar el objeto vacío

«When the old spirit or new deity is conceived as creating or producing the object in question, the problem is easily solved.» — y el modo fácil de resolver la relación: concebir al espíritu viejo o deidad nueva como creador o productor del objeto

«1. Songs of the Corn-reapers . In the preceding pages an attempt has been made to show that in the Corn-mother and Harvest-maiden of Northern Europe we have the prototypes of Demeter and Persephone. But an essential feature is still wanting to complete the resemblance.» — Frazer abre el capítulo XLVII reconociendo lo que falta a su paralelo entre la Madre del Grano del norte de Europa y Deméter

«A leading incident in the Greek myth is the death and resurrection of Persephone; it is this incident which, coupled with the nature of the goddess as a deity of vegetation, links the myth with the cults of Adonis, Attis, Osiris, and Dionysus; and it is in virtue of this incident that the myth finds a place in our discussion of the Dying God.» — y nombra ese rasgo: la muerte y la resurrección de Perséfone, que enlaza el mito con los cultos de Adonis, Atis, Osiris y Dioniso

«Hence we may suppose that the cry mââ-ne-hra was chanted by the reapers over the cut corn as a dirge for the death of the corn-spirit (Isis or Osiris) and a prayer for its return.» — y su conjetura sobre el canto de los segadores egipcios: endecha por la muerte del espíritu del grano y plegaria por su vuelta

«We have seen that in the Malay Peninsula and Java the first ears of rice are taken to represent either the Soul of the Rice or the Rice-bride and the Rice-bridegroom.» — y lo que ya tiene visto: en la península malaya y en Java las primeras espigas del arroz representan el Alma del Arroz o la pareja de novios

«According to one story, Lityerses was a bastard son of Midas, King of Phrygia, and dwelt at Celaenae.» — según Frazer, una versión hace de Literses hijo bastardo de Midas, rey de Frigia, con morada en Celenas

«But at last Hercules undertook to reap with him, cut off his head with the sickle, and threw his body into the river.» — y el final del relato: Hércules segó con él, le cortó la cabeza con la hoz y echó su cuerpo al río

«It will be remembered that the person who is last at reaping, binding, or threshing, is regarded as the representative of the corn-spirit, and this idea is more fully expressed by binding him or her in corn-stalks.» — y la equivalencia que ya ha establecido: el último en segar, atar o trillar pasa por representante del espíritu del grano, y se le ata dentro de los tallos

«At Aschbach in Bavaria, when the reaping is nearly finished, the reapers say, “Now, we will drive out the Old Man.”» — según Frazer, en Aschbach los segadores dicen, ya casi acabada la siega, que van a echar fuera al Viejo

«At Kloxin, near Stettin, the harvesters call out to the woman who binds the last sheaf, “You have the Old Man, and must keep him.”» — según Frazer, en Kloxin los segadores gritan a la que ata la última gavilla que tiene al Viejo y ha de quedárselo

«In other villages round Stettin, when the last harvest-waggon is being loaded, there is a regular race amongst the women, each striving not to be last.» — y la carrera que eso desata: al cargar el último carro, cada mujer se afana por no quedar la última

«the corn-spirit is often believed to be killed at reaping or threshing.» — según Frazer, se cree a menudo que al espíritu del grano se le mata en la siega o en la trilla. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«In the Romsdal and other parts of Norway, when the haymaking is over, the people say that ‘the Old Hay-man has been killed.’» — según Frazer, en Romsdal y otras partes de Noruega se dice, acabada la siega del heno, que el Viejo del Heno ha sido muerto

«Whoever thereafter gave the last stroke at threshing ‘struck the Old Woman dead.’» — y la fórmula de la trilla: quien daba el último golpe mataba a la Vieja

«In the East Riding of Yorkshire a custom called ‘burning the Old Witch’ is observed on the last day of harvest.» — según Frazer, en el East Riding de Yorkshire se observa el último día de la siega la costumbre de quemar a la Bruja Vieja

«It is not to be expected that they should complete the parallel by cutting off his head;» — y el límite que Frazer pone a su propio paralelo: no cabe esperar que los segadores modernos lo completen cortando la cabeza al forastero

«Thus, like the ancient Lityerses, modern European reapers have been wont to lay hold of a passing stranger and tie him up in a sheaf.» — y lo que sí hacen: como el antiguo Literses, echar mano del forastero que pasa y atarlo en una gavilla

«The men are ready, The scythes are bent, The corn is great and small, The gentleman must be mowed.» — según Frazer, la copla de los segadores anuncia que los hombres están listos, las guadañas curvadas y que hay que segar al señor

«In some parts of Pomerania every passer-by is stopped, his way being barred with a corn-rope.» — según Frazer, en partes de Pomerania se detiene a todo el que pasa cerrándole el camino con una soga de mies

«Thus in these harvest-customs of modern Europe the person who cuts, binds, or threshes the last corn is treated as an embodiment of the corn-spirit by being wrapt up in sheaves, killed in mimicry by agricultural implements, and thrown into the water.» — Frazer resume el patrón: quien corta, ata o trilla la última mies se trata como encarnación del espíritu del grano, envuelto en gavillas, muerto en efigie o echado al agua

«These coincidences with the Lityerses story seem to prove that the latter is a genuine description of an old Phrygian harvest-custom.» — y lo que esas coincidencias le parecen probar: que el relato de Literses es descripción genuina de una vieja costumbre frigia de la siega

«They thought that an omission of this sacrifice would be followed by the total failure of the crops of maize, beans, and pumpkins.» — según Frazer, creían que omitir aquel sacrificio traería la pérdida total del maíz, el frijol y la calabaza

«According to one trader, the squaws then cut pieces of flesh from the victim’s body, with which they greased their hoes; but this was denied by another trader who had been present at the ceremony.» — y Frazer consigna el desacuerdo entre los dos testigos sin arbitrarlo: un tratante dijo que las mujeres cortaban carne de la víctima para engrasar sus azadas, y otro que estuvo presente lo negó

«Lagos in Guinea it was the custom annually to impale a young girl alive soon after the spring equinox in order to secure good crops.» — según Frazer, en Lagos se empalaba viva cada año a una muchacha poco después del equinoccio de primavera para asegurar la cosecha. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«The victims were bred up for the purpose in the king’s seraglio, and their minds had been so powerfully wrought upon by the fetish men that they went cheerfully to their fate.» — y cómo se las preparaba: criadas para ello en el serrallo del rey, los hombres del fetiche las trabajaban de modo que iban alegres a su suerte

«In spite of the vigilance of the British Government these sacrifices are said to be still secretly perpetrated.» — según Frazer, se dice que pese a la vigilancia del gobierno británico esos sacrificios se siguen perpetrando en secreto

«The goddess takes up her abode in the house of any man who has offered her a sacrifice, and from that time his fields yield a double harvest.» — y la recompensa que se le atribuye: la diosa se instala en la casa del que le ofreció sacrificio y desde entonces sus campos dan cosecha doble

«The victims were often kept for years before they were sacrificed.» — según Frazer, a las víctimas se las guardaba a menudo años antes de sacrificarlas

«Being regarded as consecrated beings, they were treated with extreme affection, mingled with deference, and were welcomed wherever they went.» — y el trato que recibían: tenidas por seres consagrados, se las trataba con extremo cariño mezclado de deferencia

«The crowd danced round the post to music, and, addressing the earth, said, ‘O God, we offer this sacrifice to you; give us good crops, seasons, and health’; then speaking to the victim they said, ‘We bought you with a price, and did not seize you; now we sacrifice you according to custom, and no sin rests with us.’» — según Frazer, la multitud bailaba en torno al poste pidiendo a la tierra buenas cosechas, estaciones y salud, y declarando que ningún pecado recaía sobre ellos

«On the last morning the orgies, which had been scarcely interrupted during the night, were resumed, and continued till noon, when they ceased, and the assembly proceeded to consummate the sacrifice.» — y el ritmo del rito: las orgías, apenas interrumpidas de noche, seguían hasta el mediodía, y entonces la asamblea pasaba a consumar el sacrificio

«The flesh cut from the victim was instantly taken home by the persons who had been deputed by each village to bring it.» — según Frazer, la carne cortada a la víctima se la llevaban en el acto los delegados de cada aldea

«To secure its rapid arrival, it was sometimes forwarded by relays of men, and conveyed with postal fleetness fifty or sixty miles.» — y la prisa que se ponía: a veces se mandaba por postas y se llevaba cincuenta o sesenta millas con presteza de correo

«In these Khond sacrifices the Meriahs are represented by our authorities as victims offered to propitiate the Earth Goddess.» — según Frazer, sus autoridades presentan a los *meriah* de los khond como víctimas ofrecidas para propiciar a la diosa Tierra

«But from the treatment of the victims both before and after death it appears that the custom cannot be explained as merely a propitiatory sacrifice.» — y su objeción: el trato dado a las víctimas antes y después de la muerte no deja explicar la costumbre como mero sacrificio propiciatorio

«Thus their preconceived ideas may unconsciously colour and warp their descriptions of savage rites.» — y la cautela metodológica que de ahí saca: las ideas preconcebidas de los observadores pueden teñir y torcer sin saberlo sus descripciones de ritos salvajes

«If, as we suppose, the victim was regarded as divine, it follows that in eating his flesh his worshippers believed themselves to be partaking of the body of their god.» — y la consecuencia de su propia hipótesis: si la víctima se tenía por divina, al comer su carne los fieles creían participar del cuerpo de su dios

«Further, both the Lityerses story and European harvest-customs agree in indicating that the victim was put to death as a representative of the corn-spirit, and this indication is in harmony with the view which some savages appear to take of the victim slain to make the crops flourish.» — y lo que relato y costumbres concuerdan en indicar: que se daba muerte a la víctima como representante del espíritu del grano

«On the whole, then, we may fairly suppose that both in Phrygia and in Europe the representative of the corn-spirit was annually killed upon the harvest-field.» — y la suposición que declara justa: que en Frigia y en Europa se matara cada año en la era al representante del espíritu del grano

«This suggests that the representative of the corn-spirit may have been selected by means of a competition on the harvest-field, in which the vanquished competitor was compelled to accept the fatal honour.» — y la forma que sugiere para la elección: una competencia en el rastrojo donde el vencido quedaba obligado a aceptar el honor fatal

«Thus the person who was killed on the harvest-field as the representative of the corn-spirit may have been either a passing stranger or the harvester who was last at reaping, binding, or threshing.» — y las dos posibilidades que deja abiertas: el forastero que pasaba o el segador que quedó último

«But there is a third possibility, to which ancient legend and modern folk-custom alike point.» — y anuncia una tercera a la que apuntan por igual la leyenda antigua y la costumbre moderna

«On the whole, then, while we are not justified in regarding Lityerses as the prototype of Attis, the two may be regarded as parallel products of the same religious idea, and may have stood to each other as in Europe the Old Man of harvest stands to the Wild Man, the Leaf Man, and so forth, of spring.» — Frazer acota su propio paralelo: no cabe tener a Literses por prototipo de Atis, y los dos pueden verse como productos paralelos de la misma idea religiosa

«But whereas the Attis worship became elevated into the dignity of a state religion and spread to Italy, the rites of Lityerses seem never to have passed the limits of their native Phrygia, and always retained their character of rustic ceremonies performed by peasants on the harvest-field.» — y la asimetría de destino: el culto de Atis subió a religión de Estado y llegó a Italia, mientras los ritos de Literses no pasaron de la era del campesino

«The similarity of the Bithynian Bormus to the Phrygian Lityerses helps to bear out the interpretation which has been given of the latter.» — y el apoyo que ve en Bormo de Bitinia para la interpretación que ha dado de Literses

«Bormus, whose death or rather disappearance was annually mourned by the reapers in a plaintive song, was, like Lityerses, a king’s son or at least the son of a wealthy and distinguished man.» — según Frazer, Bormo, cuya muerte o más bien desaparición lloraban cada año los segadores en canto plañidero, era como Literses hijo de rey o de hombre rico

«European and savage, suggests that in Phoenicia the slain corn-spirit – the dead Adonis – may formerly have been represented by a human victim; and this suggestion is possibly supported by the Harran legend that Tammuz (Adonis) was slain by his cruel lord, who ground his bones in a mill and scattered them to the wind.» — y la sugerencia que saca de esas costumbres, europeas y salvajes: que en Fenicia el espíritu del grano muerto, el Adonis muerto, se representara antaño con una víctima humana. El tramo arranca a media frase, donde el troceo abre la plana

«For in Mexico, as we have seen, the human victim at harvest was crushed between two stones; and both in Africa and India the ashes or other remains of the victim were scattered over the fields.» — y los casos con que la apuntala: en México se trituraba a la víctima de la cosecha entre dos piedras, y en África y la India se esparcían sus cenizas

«Indeed some high modern authorities believe that Busiris was the original home of Osiris, from which his worship spread to other parts of Egypt.» — según Frazer, algunas autoridades modernas de peso tienen a Busiris por patria original de Osiris

«The human sacrifices were said to have been offered at his grave, and the victims were red-haired men, whose ashes were scattered abroad by means of winnowing-fans.» — y lo que se decía de esos sacrificios: se ofrecían en su tumba, las víctimas eran pelirrojas y sus cenizas se esparcían con bieldos

«The story that the fragments of Osiris’s body were scattered up and down the land, and buried by Isis on the spots where they lay, may very well be a reminiscence of a custom, like that observed by the Khonds, of dividing the human victim in pieces and burying the pieces, often at intervals of many miles from each other, in the fields.» — y Frazer lee el descuartizamiento de Osiris como recuerdo posible de una costumbre de despedazar y enterrar a la víctima en los campos

«Thus, if I am right, the key to the mysteries of Osiris is furnished by the melancholy cry of the Egyptian reapers, which down to Roman times could be heard year after year sounding across the fields, announcing the death of the corn-spirit, the rustic prototype of Osiris.» — y cifra su tesis con la condición dentro: si está en lo cierto, la clave de los misterios de Osiris la da el canto melancólico de los segadores egipcios

«An old man, or some one else well acquainted with the ceremonies used on the occasion (when the labourers are reaping the last field of wheat), goes round to the shocks and sheaves, and picks out a little bundle of all the best ears he can find;» — según Frazer, en el rito de *crying the neck* un viejo, o alguien versado en la ceremonia, va por las gavillas escogiendo las mejores espigas

«The manservant who attended Mrs Bray said “it was only the people making their games, as they always did, to the spirit of harvest .”» — y la explicación que el criado dio a la señora Bray: que era solo la gente haciendo sus juegos, como siempre, al espíritu de la cosecha

«It was plaited together, and the reapers, standing ten or twenty paces off, threw their sickles at it.» — según Frazer, se trenzaba el último manojo y los segadores le tiraban las hoces desde diez o veinte pasos

«Whoever cut it through was said to have cut off the gander’s neck.» — y la fórmula del que acertaba: se decía que había cortado el cuello al ganso

«It is said ‘The Rye-wolf has got hold of him,’ ‘The Harvest-goat has given him a push.’» — según Frazer, se dice que el Lobo del Centeno lo ha agarrado o que la Cabra de la Cosecha le ha dado un empujón

«The person who cuts the last corn or binds the last sheaf gets the name of the animal, as the Rye-wolf, the Rye-sow, the Oats-goat, and so forth, and retains the name sometimes for a year.» — y el nombre que recae en quien corta la última mies o ata la última gavilla: Lobo del Centeno, Cerda del Centeno, Cabra de la Avena, que a veces conserva un año

«If he dragged it on the ground, they went after him, and thanked him for bringing them a blessing, and even set tit-bits before him.» — según Frazer, si el animal arrastraba la cola por el suelo iban tras él a darle gracias por traerles bendición y hasta le ponían golosinas

«But if he carried his tail high, they cursed him and tried to kill him.» — y el reverso: si la llevaba alta, lo maldecían y trataban de matarlo

«In the neighbourhood of Verdun the regular expression for finishing the reaping is, ‘They are going to kill the Dog’;» — según Frazer, cerca de Verdún la expresión corriente para acabar la siega es que van a matar al Perro

«In some places they call out to the reaper, ‘Beware of the Wolf’;» — y en otros sitios avisan al segador que se guarde del Lobo