WANTED, THE ORIGIN OF A NURSERY-RHYME.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:9
SIR,—The lines quoted by "M.," in the Spectator of Decem- ber 9th, are of very great interest, for they disclose, for the first time, the names of two English gods. Arthur o' Bower is here the mighty hunter, described by Gervase of Tilbury, who rides in the sky at the head of his nightly host, with his dogs and horses (Grimm's "Tent-Myth," by Stallybrass, p. 942). In Yorkshire, these ghostly hounds are known as the Gabriel hounds, the name of the Christian archangel having been substituted for the old name of the god, which now appears to be "Arthur o' Bower." When the wind howls and moans, the Gabriel hounds are said to be hunting in the sky, and the peasant shudders when he hears their voices.
"Bower" is the Old Norse "Bun," "Burr," the father of Odin; and "Burr," Byr," is the personified name of a fair wind. We may compare the Old English " birr," a strong wind, and the Danish " bor," a fair wind, and also a foul gale. "Bun," according to Grimm, would make a Gothic " Baftra." "Arthur o' Bower," then, in the so-called nursery-rhyme, is a personification or deification of the north wind. The Northern star, Arcturus, appears in some Old English writers as " Arthurus " and " Arturi."
In North Derbyshire, a mythical being called Nicor Bore is remembered, and about him some tales are told. People say —wrongly, of course—that he was a real being, his true name being Nicholas Bower. Now, " Nioor" (Old Nick) is the name of a water-goblin, the English Neptune ; and comparing "Nicholas Bower" with "Arthur Bower," we learn, for the first time, that these two gods were the brothers of Odin, and the sons of Bun; and Bun, according to Grimm, is that first man or human being who was licked out of the rocks by the cow,"—or, in other words, the Adam of the Northern mythology. And this is consistent with the beautiful legend of the winds being imprisoned in a mountain. "Arthur o' Bower," Nicor Bore, and Odin are, it seems, the children of the Wind, or Buri.—I am, Sir, &c.
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