de las Cosas de Yucatan_, p. 65).
[97-2] Squier, _The Serpent Symbol in America_, p. 98.
CHAPTER IV.
THE SYMBOLS OF THE BIRD AND THE SERPENT.
Relations of man to the lower animals.--Two of these, the BIRD and
the SERPENT, chosen as symbols beyond all others.--The Bird
throughout America the symbol of the Clouds and Winds.--Meaning of
certain species.--The symbolic meaning of the Serpent derived from
its mode of locomotion, its poisonous bite, and its power of
charming.--Usually the symbol of the Lightning and the Waters.--The
Rattlesnake the symbolic species in America.--The war charm.--The
Cross of Palenque.--The god of riches.--Both symbols devoid of
moral significance.
Those stories which the Germans call _Thierfabeln_, wherein the actors
are different kinds of brutes, seem to have a particular relish for
children and uncultivated nations. Who cannot recall with what delight
he nourished his childish fancy on the pranks of Reynard the Fox, or the
tragic adventures of Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf? Every nation
has a congeries of such tales, and it is curious to mark how the same
animal reappears with the same imputed physiognomy in all of them.
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