“There is a Hindoo legend that the Lord of Time dwells on a transcendent mountain whose summit glows like a tongue of flame at sunset, and towards which the Seven Stars of the Great Bear turn their eyes. The Slav peasants, who have a fairy-tale about this crystal mountain, say that a fire burns without ceasing upon its summit. Around this fire sit twelve Great Beings - the twelve months - and in the centre of the flame is an aged man with long white beard and bald head. “Man,” said the Ancient of Days, addressing an inquisitive human visitor, “waste not thy life here; return to thy cottage; work, and live honestly. Take as many embers as thou wilt; we have more than we need.” Then having said theis he disappeared, and the twelve Beings filled a sack with embers, which they put on the poor man’s shoulders and advised him to hasten home. [Note1 - Slav tales, 7.]
Bayley, Harold, The Lost Language of Symbolism, Bracken Books,
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