THE MYSTIC THREE.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 483, 25 June 1890, Page 3

THE MYSTIC THREE.

A Number Around Which Superstition Clings. There is much superstitious regard for the number three in the popular mind, and the third repetition of anything is generally looked upon as a crisis, observes a writer in ‘ Chambers’ Journal.’ Thus an article may twice be lost and recovered, but the third time that it is lost it is gone for good. Twice a man may pass through some great danger in safety, but the third time he loses his life. If, however, the mystic third can be successfully passed, all is well. Three was called by Pythagoras the perfect number, and we frequently find its use symbolical of Deity. Thus, we might mention the trident of Neptune, the three forked lightning of Jove and the three-headed dog of Pluto. The idea of trinity is not confined to Christianity, but occurs in several religions. In mythology, also, we find three Fates, three Furies, and three Graces, and, coming nearer to our own times, Shakspere introduces his three witches. In publichouse signs three seems to play an important part, for we frequently meet with •Three Cups,’ ‘ Three Jolly Sailors,’ ‘Three Bells,’ ‘Three Tuns,’ ‘Three Feathers,’ in fact thatnumber of almost any thingof which a fertile imagination can conceive a trio. In nursery rhymes and tales this number is not unknown, and if we look back to the days of our childhood most of us will call to mind the three wise men of Gotham, who took a sea voyage in a bowl, not to mention the three blind mice that had their tails cut off by the farmer’s wife. Perhaps there is some occult power in the number which governs the divisions of novels into three volumes and induces doctors to order their medicine to be taken thrice daily. It is said that some tribes of savages cannot count beyond three; but, although they may have'no words to express higher numbers, perhaps we should be scarcely justified in assuming that they are incapable of appreciating the value of the latter.