The Hero with a Thousand Faces

[1] Viṣṇu Puraṇa, 23; Bhagavata Puraṇa, 10:51; Harìvansha, 114. The above is based on the rendering by Heinrich Zimmer, Maya, der indische Mythos (Stuttgart and Berlin, 1936), pp. 89–99.

Compare with Kṛṣṇa, as the World Magician, the African Edshu. Compare, also, the Polynesian trickster, Maui.

[2] “Taliesin,” translated by Lady Charlotte Guest in The Mabinogion (Everyman’s Library, No. 97, pp. 263–64).

[3] See Gertrude Schoepperle, Tristan and Isolt: A Study of the Sources of the Romance, (London and Frankfurt-am-Main, 1913).

[4] Harva, op cit., pp. 543–44; quoting “Pervyi buryatsii šaman Morgon-Kara,” Isvestiya Vostočno Siberskago Otdela Russkago Geografičeskago Obščestva, XI, 1–2 (Irkutsk, 1880), pp. 87 ff.

[5] John White, The Ancient History of the Maori, His Mythology and Traditions (Wellington, 1886–89), vol. II, pp. 167–71.

[6] Grimm's Fairy Tales, No. 79.

[7] C.G. Jung, The Integration of the Personality (New York, 1939), p. 59.

[8] See Apollonios of Rhodes, Argonautika: the flight is recounted in Book IV.

[9] Ko-ji-ki, “Records of Ancient Matters” (a.d. 712), adapted from the translation by C.H. Chamberlain, Transactions of The Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. X, Supplement (Yokohama, 1882), pp. 24–28.

[10] Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa, 3.28.5.

[11] Frobenius, Das Zeitalter des Sonnengottes, pp. 85–87.

[12] Tomobe-no-Yasutaka, Shintō-Shoden-Kuju.

[13] Shintō-Gobusho.

[14] Izawa-Nagahide, Shintō-Ameno-Nuboko-no-Ki.

[15] Ichijo-Kaneyoshi, Nihonshoki-Sanso.

[16] Urabe-no-Kanekuni.

[17] All of the quotations above will be found in Genchi Kato, What Is Shintō? (Tokyo: Maruzen Company Ltd., 1935); see also Lafcadio Hearn, Japan, an Attempt at Interpretation (New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1904).

[18] Ko-ji-ki, after Chamberlain, op cit., pp. 52–59.

[19] Kramer, op cit., pp. 87, 95. The conclusion of the poem, this valuable document of the sources of the myths and the symbols of our civilization, is forever lost.

[20] Gospel According to Matthew, 26:51; Gospel According to Mark, 14:47; Gospel According to John, 18:10.

[21] Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad, 5.

[22] Washington Irving, The Sketch Book, “Rip van Winkle.”

[23] Book of Genesis, 5.

[24] Curtin, op cit., pp. 332–33.

[25] From Sir James G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, one-volume edition, pp. 593–94. Copyright 1922 by the Macmillan Company and used with their permission.

[26] Ibid., pp. 594–95. By permission of the Macmillan Company, publishers.

[27] Adapted from Burton, op cit., III, pp. 231–56.

[28] Gospel According to Matthew, 17:1–9.

[29] A certain element of comic relief can be felt in Peter’s immediate project (announced even while the vision was before his eyes) to convert the ineffable into a stone foundation. Only six days before, Jesus had said to him: “Thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church,” then a moment later: “Thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men” (Matthew, 16:18, 23).

[30] Bhagavad Gītā, 11; 1:45–46; 2:9. From the translation by Swami Nikhilananda (New York, 1944).

[31] Bṛhadāranyaka Upaniṣad, 1.1.1: translated by Swami Madhavananda (Mayavati, 1934).

[32] Robinson Jeffers, Cawdor, p. 116. Copyright 1928 by Robinson Jeffers. Reprinted by permission of Random House, Inc.

[33] Summa contra Gentiles, I, 5, par. 3.

[34] Kena Upaniṣad, 2:3.

[35] Bhagavad Gītā, 11: 53–55.

[36] Gospel According to Matthew, 16:25.

[37] Shankaracharya, Vivekachudamani, 542 and 555.

[38] Bhagavad Gītā, 2:22–24.

[39] Ibid., 3:19 and 3:30.

[40] “Taliesin,” op cit., pp. 264–74.

[41] Gospel According to John, 8:58.

[42] Ovid, Metamorphoses, XV, 252–55.

[43] Grimm's Fairy Tales, No. 50, “Little Briar-rose” (better known as “Sleeping Beauty”); conclusion.

CHAPTER IVThe Keys

The adventure can be summarized in this diagram: