There he played with so
irresistible an effect that he entranced whatever came within hearing of
his music. Men and animals listened, enraptured; the wildest beasts of
the forests lost their ferocity; the birds of the air were drawn toward
him; the fishes rose to the surface of the water and remained immovable;
the trees ceased to wave their branches; the brook retarded its course
and the wind its haste; even the mocking echo approached stealthily, and
listened with the utmost attention to the heavenly sounds. Soon the
women began to cry; then the old men and the children also began to cry,
and the girls and the young men--all cried for delight. At last
Vainamoinen himself wept, and his big tears ran over his beard and
rolled into the water and became beautiful pearls at the bottom of the
sea.
"Several other musical gods, or godlike musicians, could be cited; and,
moreover, innumerable minor spirits, all bearing evidence that music is
of divine origin.
"True, people who think themselves more enlightened than their
forefathers, smile at these old traditions, and say that the original
home of music is the human heart. Be it so. But do not the purest and
most beautiful conceptions of man partake of a divine character? Is not
the art of music generally acknowledged to be one of these? And is it
not, therefore, even independently of myths and mysteries, entitled to
be called the divine art?"
THE RELATION OF MUSIC TO WORK AND BLESSEDNESS.
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