“It is a common rule with primitive people not to waken a sleeper, because his soul is away and might not have time to get back; so if the man wakened without his soul, he would fall sick. If it is absolutely necessary to rouse a sleeper, it must be done very gradually, to allow the soul time to return.”

—  James Frazer , book The Golden Bough

Source: The Golden Bough (1890), Chapter 18, The Perils of the Soul.

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James Frazer 50
Scottish social anthropologist 1854–1941

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