And shortly there appeared, in the town and
the country round about, a legend to explain this altar and its
decoration. It was commonly said that a huge serpent had laid waste
that region in the olden time, until a wise and benevolent baker
had rid the world of the monster by means of a poisoned biscuit.
So, too, but a few years since, in the heart of the State of New
York, a swindler of genius having made and buried a "petrified
giant," one theologian explained it by declaring it a Phoenician
idol, and published the Phoenician inscription which he thought he
had found upon it; others saw in it proofs that "there were giants
in those days," and within a week after its discovery myths were
afloat that the neighbouring remnant of the Onondaga Indians had
traditions of giants who frequently roamed through that region.[[218]]
To the same stage of thought belongs the conception of human beings
changed into trees. But, in the historic evolution of religion and
morality, while changes into stone or rock were considered as
punishments, or evidences of divine wrath, those into trees and
shrubs were frequently looked upon as rewards, or evidences of
divine favour.
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