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+Project Gutenberg's The Science of Fairy Tales, by Edwin Sidney Hartland
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Science of Fairy Tales
+       An Inquiry into Fairy  Mythology
+
+Author: Edwin Sidney Hartland
+
+Release Date: February 14, 2008 [EBook #24614]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SCIENCE OF FAIRY TALES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by R. Cedron, Marcia Brooks, Henry Craig and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE SCIENCE
+
+OF
+
+FAIRY TALES
+
+AN INQUIRY INTO FAIRY MYTHOLOGY.
+
+
+BY
+EDWIN SIDNEY HARTLAND,
+FELLOW OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES.
+
+
+LONDON:
+WALTER SCOTT,
+24, WARWICK LANE, PATERNOSTER ROW.
+1891.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+The chief object of this volume is to exhibit, in a manner acceptable to
+readers who are not specialists, the application of the principles and
+methods which guide investigations into popular traditions to a few of
+the most remarkable stories embodying the Fairy superstitions of the
+Celtic and Teutonic peoples. Some of the subjects discussed have already
+been dealt with by more competent inquirers. But even in these cases I
+have sometimes been able to supply additional illustrations of the
+conclusions previously arrived at, and occasionally, I hope, to carry
+the argument a step or two further than had been done before. I have
+thus tried to render the following pages not wholly valueless to
+students.
+
+A portion of the book incorporates the substance of some articles which
+I contributed to "The Archæological Review" and "Folk-Lore." But these
+have been to a considerable extent re-written; and it is hoped that in
+the process wider and more accurate generalizations have been attained.
+
+My hearty thanks are due to the various friends whose generous
+assistance has been recorded in the footnotes, and especially to
+Professor Dr. George Stephens, the veteran antiquary of the North, and
+Mr. W. G. Fretton, who have not measured their pains on behalf of one
+whose only claim on them was a common desire to pry into the recesses of
+the past. I am under still deeper obligations to Mr. G. L. Gomme,
+F.S.A., who has so readily acceded to my request that he would read the
+proof-sheets, and whose suggestions have repeatedly been of the greatest
+value; and to Mr. Havelock Ellis for the counsel and suggestions which
+his experience has more than once enabled him to give as the book was
+passing through the press.
+
+I have been anxious to enable the reader who cares to do so to verify
+every statement made; but some of them no doubt have escaped reference.
+Many books are cited again and again, and in similar cases the reader's
+time is frequently wasted in searching for the first mention of a book,
+so as to ascertain its title and other particulars. To avoid the trouble
+I have so many times experienced in this way, I have put together in an
+Appendix a list of the principal authorities made use of, indicating
+them by the short title by which they are cited in the footnotes, and
+giving sufficient bibliographical details to enable them to be
+identified. Classics and works which are in every one's hands I have not
+thought it necessary to include in the list.
+
+E. S. H.
+
+BARNWOOD COURT, GLOUCESTER,
+
+_24th October, 1890._
+
+
+[Transcriber's Note: Any transcriber's notes are abbreviated in the
+text as TN: The caret (^) is used to indicate superscript.]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                                                 Page
+   CHAPTER I.
+   THE ART OF STORY-TELLING                                         1
+
+   CHAPTER II.
+   SAVAGE IDEAS                                                    22
+
+   CHAPTER III.
+   FAIRY BIRTHS AND HUMAN MIDWIVES                                 37
+
+   CHAPTER IV.
+   FAIRY BIRTHS AND HUMAN MIDWIVES (_continued_)                   59
+
+   CHAPTER V.
+   CHANGELINGS                                                     93
+
+   CHAPTER VI.
+   ROBBERIES FROM FAIRYLAND                                       135
+
+   CHAPTER VII.
+   THE SUPERNATURAL LAPSE OF TIME IN FAIRYLAND                    161
+
+   CHAPTER VIII.
+   THE SUPERNATURAL LAPSE OF TIME IN FAIRYLAND (_continued_)      196
+
+   CHAPTER IX.
+   THE SUPERNATURAL LAPSE OF TIME IN FAIRYLAND (_continued_)      222
+
+   CHAPTER X.
+   SWAN-MAIDENS                                                   255
+
+   CHAPTER XI.
+   SWAN-MAIDENS (_continued_)                                     283
+
+   CHAPTER XII.
+   CONCLUSION                                                     333
+
+   APPENDIX                                                       353
+
+   INDEX                                                          367
+
+
+
+
+THE SCIENCE OF FAIRY TALES.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE ART OF STORY-TELLING.
+
+     The art of story-telling--Unity of human imagination--Definition
+     of Fairy Tales--Variable value of Tradition--Story-telling and
+     the story-teller among various peoples--The connection of
+     folk-tales with folk-songs--Continuity of Tradition--Need of
+     accuracy and good faith in reporting stories.
+
+
+The art of story-telling has been cultivated in all ages and among all
+nations of which we have any record; it is the outcome of an instinct
+implanted universally in the human mind. By means of a story the savage
+philosopher accounts for his own existence and that of all the phenomena
+which surround him. With a story the mothers of the wildest tribes awe
+their little ones into silence, or rouse them into delight. And the
+weary hunters beguile the long silence of a desert night with the mirth
+and wonders of a tale. The imagination is not less fruitful in the
+higher races; and, passing through forms sometimes more, sometimes less,
+serious, the art of story-telling unites with the kindred arts of dance
+and song to form the epic or the drama, or develops under the complex
+influences of modern life into the prose romance and the novel. These in
+their various ways are its ultimate expression; and the loftiest genius
+has found no fitter vehicle to convey its lessons of truth and beauty.
+
+But even in the most refined products of the imagination the same
+substances are found which compose the rudest. Something has, of course,
+been dropped in the process; and where we can examine the process stage
+by stage, we can discern the point whereat each successive portion has
+been purged away. But much has also been gained. To change the figure,
+it is like the continuous development of living things, amorphous at
+first, by and by shooting out into monstrous growths, unwieldy and
+half-organized, anon settling into compact and beautiful shapes of
+subtlest power and most divine suggestion. But the last state contains
+nothing more than was either obvious or latent in the first. Man's
+imagination, like every other known power, works by fixed laws, the
+existence and operation of which it is possible to trace; and it works
+upon the same material,--the external universe, the mental and moral
+constitution of man and his social relations. Hence, diverse as may seem
+at first sight the results among the cultured Europeans and the debased
+Hottentots, the philosophical Hindoos and the Red Indians of the Far
+West, they present, on a close examination, features absolutely
+identical. The outlines of a story-plot among savage races are wilder
+and more unconfined; they are often a vast unhidebound corpse, but one
+that bears no distant resemblance to forms we think more reasonable only
+because we find it difficult to let ourselves down to the level of
+savage ignorance, and to lay aside the data of thought which have been
+won for us by the painful efforts of civilization. The incidents, making
+all due allowance for these differences and those of climate and
+physical surroundings, are not merely alike; they are often
+indistinguishable. It cannot, of course, be expected that the characters
+of the actors in these stories will be drawn with skill, or indeed that
+any attention will be paid to them. Character-study is a late
+development. True: we ought not to overlook the fact that we have to do
+with barbarous ideals. In a rudimentary state of civilization the
+passions, like the arts, are distinguished not by subtlety and
+complexity, but by simplicity and violence of contrast. This may account
+to some extent for what seems to us repulsive, inconsistent or
+impossible. But we must above all things beware of crediting the
+story-teller with that degree of conscious art which is only possible in
+an advanced culture and under literary influences. Indeed, the
+researches which are constantly extending the history of human
+civilization into a remoter and remoter past, go everywhere to show that
+story-telling is an inevitable and wholly unconscious growth, probably
+arising, as we shall see in the next chapter, out of narratives believed
+to record actual events.
+
+I need not stop now to illustrate this position, which is no new one,
+and the main lines of which I hope will be rendered apparent in the
+course of this volume. But it is necessary, perhaps, to point out that,
+although these are the premises from which I start, the limitations
+imposed by a work of the size and pretensions of this one will not allow
+me to traverse more than a very small corner of the field here opened to
+view. It is, therefore, not my intention to attempt any formal proof of
+the foregoing generalizations. Rather I hope that if any reader deem it
+proper to require the complete evidence on which they rest, he will be
+led to further investigations on his own behalf. His feet, I can promise
+him, will wander along flowery paths, where every winding will bring him
+fresh surprises, and every step discover new sources of enjoyment.
+
+The stories with which we shall deal in the following pages are vaguely
+called Fairy Tales. These we may define to be: Traditionary narratives
+not in their present form relating to beings held to be divine, nor to
+cosmological or national events, but in which the supernatural plays an
+essential part. It will be seen that literary tales, such as those of
+Hans Andersen and Lord Brabourne, based though they often are upon
+tradition, are excluded from Fairy Tales as thus defined. Much no doubt
+might be said both interesting and instructive concerning these
+brilliant works. But it would be literary criticism, a thing widely
+different from the scientific treatment of Fairy Tales. The Science of
+Fairy Tales is concerned with tradition, and not with literature. It
+finds its subjects in the stories which have descended from mouth to
+mouth from an unknown past; and if reference be occasionally made to
+works of conscious literary art, the value of such works is not in the
+art they display, but the evidence they yield of the existence of given
+tales in certain forms at periods and places approximately capable of
+determination: evidence, in a word, which appropriates and fixes a
+pre-existing tradition. But even in this they are inferior in importance
+to historical or topographical works, where we frequently meet with
+records of the utmost importance in considering the origin and meaning
+of Folk-tales.
+
+Literature, in short, of whatever kind, is of no value to the student of
+Fairy Tales, as that phrase is here used, save as a witness to
+Tradition. Tradition itself, however, is variable in value, if regard be
+had alone to purity and originality. For a tribe may conceivably be so
+isolated that it is improbable that any outside influence can have
+affected its traditions for a long series of generations; or on the
+other hand it may be in the highway of nations. It may be physically of
+a type unique and unalloyed by foreign blood; or it may be the progeny
+of a mingling of all the races on the earth. Now it is obvious that if
+we desire to reason concerning the wide distribution, or the innate and
+necessary character of any idea, or of any story, the testimony of a
+given tribe or class of men will vary in proportion to its segregation
+from other tribes and classes: where we can with most probability
+exclude outside influence as a factor in its mental evolution, there we
+shall gather evidence of the greatest value for the purpose of our
+argument.
+
+Again: some nations have developed the art of story-telling more highly
+than others, since some stages of civilization are more favourable to
+this development than others, and all nations are not in the same stage.
+The further question may, therefore, be put whether these various stages
+of development may not produce differences of manner in
+story-telling--differences which may indicate, if they do not cause,
+deep-seated differences in the value of the traditions themselves. To
+make my meaning clear: a people which requires its story-tellers to
+relate their stories in the very words in which they have been conveyed
+from time immemorial, and allows no deviation, will preserve its
+traditions with the least possible blemish and the least possible
+change. In proportion as latitude in repetition is permitted and
+invention is allowed to atone for want of memory, tradition will change
+and become uncertain. Such latitude may be differently encouraged by
+different social states. A social state is part of, and inseparable
+from, the sum total of arts, knowledge, organization and customs which
+we call the _civilization_, or the _stage of civilization_, of a people.
+It may be worth while to spend a short time in examining the mode of
+story-telling and the requirements of a story-teller among nations in
+different stages of civilization. We shall thus endeavour to appreciate
+the differences in the manner of telling, and to ascertain in general
+terms how far these differences affect the value of the traditions.
+
+If we turn first to some of the Celtic nations, we find a social state
+in which the art of story-telling has received a high degree of
+attention. The late Mr. J. F. Campbell, to whom the science of Folklore
+owes an incalculable debt, describes a condition of things in the
+Western Highlands extremely favourable to the cultivation of
+folk-tales. Quoting from one of his most assiduous collectors, he says
+that most of the inhabitants of Barra and South Uist are Roman
+Catholics, unable to speak English or to read or write. Hence it is
+improbable that they can have borrowed much from the literature of other
+nations. Among these people in the long winter nights the recitation of
+tales is very common. They gather in crowds at the houses of those who
+are reputed to be good tale-tellers. Their stories frequently relate to
+the exploits of the Ossianic heroes, of whose existence they are as much
+convinced as ordinary English folk are of the existence and deeds of the
+British army in its most recent wars. During the tales "the emotions of
+the reciters are occasionally very strongly excited, and so also are
+those of the listeners, almost shedding tears at one time, and giving
+way to loud laughter at another. A good many of them firmly believe in
+all the extravagance of these stories." Another of his collectors, a
+self-educated workman in the employ of the Duke of Argyll, writing more
+than thirty years ago to him, speaks of what used to take place about
+Loch Lomond upwards of fifty years before--that is to say, about the
+beginning of the present century. The old people then would pass the
+winter evenings telling each other traditional stories. These chiefly
+concerned freebooters, and tribal raids and quarrels, and included
+descriptions of the manners, dress and weapons of their ancestors and
+the hardships they had to endure. The youngsters also would gather, and
+amuse themselves with games or the telling of tales of a more romantic
+cast. But the chief story-tellers appear to have been the tailors and
+shoemakers, who were literally journeymen, going from house to house in
+search of work. As they travelled about, they picked up great numbers of
+tales, which they repeated; "and as the country people made the telling
+of these tales, and listening to hear them, their winter night's
+amusement, scarcely any part of them would be lost." In these tales
+Gaelic words were often used which had dropped out of ordinary
+parlance, giving proof of careful adherence to the ancient forms; and
+the writer records that the previous year he had heard a story told
+identical with one he had heard forty years before from a different man
+thirty miles away; and this story contained old Gaelic words the meaning
+of which the teller did not know. A gamekeeper from Ross-shire also
+testified to similar customs at his native place: the assemblies of the
+young to hear their elders repeat, on winter nights, the tales they had
+learned from their fathers before them, and the renown of the travelling
+tailor and shoemaker. When a stranger came to the village it was the
+signal for a general gathering at the house where he stayed, to listen
+to his tales. The goodman of the house usually began with some favourite
+tale, and the stranger was expected to do the rest. It was a common
+saying: "The first tale by the goodman, and tales to daylight by the
+guest." The minister, however, came to the village in 1830, and the
+schoolmaster soon followed, with the inevitable result of putting an end
+to these delightful times.[1]
+
+Not very different is the account given by M. Luzel of the _Veillées_ in
+which he has often taken part in Brittany. In the lonely farmhouse after
+the evening meal prayers are said, and the life in Breton of the saint
+of the day read, all the family assemble with the servants and labourers
+around the old-fashioned hearth, where the fire of oaken logs spirts and
+blazes, defying the wind and the rain or snow without. The talk is of
+the oxen and the horses and the work of the season. The women are at
+their wheels; and while they spin they sing love ditties, or ballads of
+more tragic or martial tone. The children running about grow tired of
+their games, and of the tedious conversation of their elders, and demand
+a tale, it matters not what, of giants, or goblins, or witches--nay,
+even of ghosts. They are soon gratified; and if an old man, as
+frequently happens, be the narrator, he is fortified and rewarded for
+the toil by a mug of cider constantly replenished. One such depositary
+of tradition is described as a blind beggar, a veritable Homer in wooden
+shoon, with an inexhaustible memory of songs and tales of every kind. He
+was welcome everywhere, in the well-to-do farmhouse as in the humble
+cottage. He stayed as long as he pleased, sometimes for whole weeks; and
+it was with reluctance that he was allowed to leave in order to become
+for a time the charm of another fireside, where he was always awaited
+with impatience.[2]
+
+M. Braga, the Portuguese scholar, quotes an old French writer, Jean le
+Chapelain, as recording a custom in Normandy similar to that of
+Ross-shire, that the guest was always expected to repay hospitality by
+telling tales or singing songs to his host. And he states that the
+emigrants from Portugal to Brazil took this custom with them. In Gascony
+M. Arnaudin formed his collection of tales a few years ago by assisting
+at gatherings like those just described in Brittany, as well as at
+marriages and at various agricultural festivals.[3]
+
+Similar customs existed in Wales within living memory, and in remote
+districts they probably exist to-day. If they do not now continue in
+England, it is at least certain that our forefathers did not differ in
+this respect from their neighbours. A writer of the seventeenth century,
+in enumerating the causes of upholding "the damnable doctrine of
+witchcraft," mentions: "Old wives' fables, who sit talking and chatting
+of many false old stories of Witches and Fairies and Robin Goodfellow,
+and walking spirits and the dead walking again; all of which lying
+fancies people are more naturally inclined to listen after than to the
+Scriptures." And if we go further back we find in chapter clv. of the
+printed editions of the "Gesta Romanorum" an interesting picture of
+domestic life. The whole family is portrayed gathering round the fire in
+the winter evenings and beguiling the time by telling stories. Such we
+are informed was the custom among the higher classes. It was, indeed,
+the custom among all classes, not only in England but on the Continent,
+throughout the Middle Ages. The eminent French antiquary, Paul Lacroix,
+speaks of wakes, or evening parties, where fairy tales and other
+superstitions were propagated, as having a very ancient origin. He
+states that they are still (as we have already seen in Brittany and
+Gascony) the custom in most of the French provinces, and that they
+formed important events in the private lives of the peasants.[4]
+
+It is difficult to sever the occasion and mode of the tale-telling from
+the character of the teller; nor would it be wise to do so. And in this
+connection it is interesting to pause for a moment on Dr. Pitré's
+description of Agatuzza Messia, the old woman from whom he derived so
+large a number of the stories in his magnificent collection, and whom he
+regarded as a model story-teller. I am tempted to quote his account at
+length. "Anything but beautiful," he says, "she has facile speech,
+efficacious phrases, an attractive manner of telling, whence you divine
+her extraordinary memory and the sallies of her natural wit. Messia
+already reckons her seventy years, and is a mother, grandmother, and
+great grandmother. As a child, she was told by her grandmother an
+infinity of tales which she had learned from her mother, and _she_ in
+turn from her grandfather; she had a good memory and never forgot them.
+There are women who have heard hundreds of tales and remember none; and
+there are others who, though they remember them, have not the grace of
+narration. Among her companions of the Borgo, a quarter of Palermo,
+Messia enjoyed the reputation of a fine story-teller; and the more one
+heard her, the more one desired to hear. Almost half a century ago she
+was obliged to go with her husband to Messina, and lived there some
+time: a circumstance, this, worthy of note, since our countrywomen never
+go away from their own district save from the gravest necessity.
+Returning to her native home, she spoke of things of which the gossips
+of the neighbourhood could not speak: she spoke of the Citadel, a
+fortress which no one could take, not even the Turks themselves; she
+spoke of the Pharos of Messina, which was beautiful, but dangerous for
+sailors; she spoke of Reggio in Calabria, which, facing the walls of
+Messina, seemed to wish to touch hands with them; and she remembered and
+mimicked the pronunciation of the Milazzesi, who spoke, Messia said, so
+curiously as to make one laugh. All these reminiscences have remained
+most vivid in her memory. She cannot read, but she knows so many things
+that no one else knows, and repeats them with a propriety of tongue that
+is a pleasure to hear. This is a characteristic to which I call my
+readers' attention. If the tale turns upon a vessel which has to make a
+voyage, she utters, without remarking it, or without seeming to do so,
+sailors' phrases, and words which only seamen and those who have to do
+with seamen are acquainted with. If the heroine arrives, poor and
+desolate, at a baker's and takes a place there, Messia's language is so
+completely that of the trade that you would believe that the baking of
+bread had been her business, whereas at Palermo this occupation, an
+ordinary one in the families of the large and small communes of the
+island, is that of professional bakers alone.... As a young woman Messia
+was a tailoress; when through toil her sight became weakened, she turned
+to sewing winter quilts. But in the midst of this work, whereby she
+earns her living, she finds time for the fulfilment of her religious
+duties; every day, winter and summer, in rain or snow, in the gloaming
+she goes to her prayers. Whatever feast is celebrated in the church, she
+is solicitous to attend: Monday, she is at the Ponte dell' Ammiraglio
+praying for the Souls of the Beheaded; Wednesday, you find her at San
+Giuseppe keeping the festival of the Madonna della Providenza; every
+Friday she goes to San Francesco di Paola, reciting by the way her
+accustomed beads; and if one Saturday pass when she ought to go to the
+Madonna dei Cappuccini, another does not; and there she prays with a
+devotion which none can understand who has not experienced it. Messia
+witnessed my birth and held me in her arms: hence I have been able to
+collect from her mouth the many and beautiful traditions to which her
+name is appended. She has repeated to the grown man the tales she had
+told to the child thirty years before; nor has her narration lost a
+shade of the old sincerity, vivacity, and grace. The reader will only
+find the cold and naked words; but Messia's narration consists, more
+than in words, in the restless movement of the eyes, in the waving of
+the arms, in the gestures of the whole person, which rises, walks around
+the room, bends, and is again uplifted, making her voice now soft, now
+excited, now fearful, now sweet, now hoarse, as it portrays the voices
+of the various personages, and the action which these are
+performing."[5]
+
+Such a woman as is here described is a born story-teller; and her art,
+as exhibited in the tales attributed to her in Dr. Pitré's collection,
+reaches perhaps the highest point possible in tradition. Women are
+usually the best narrators of nursery tales. Most of the modern
+collections, from that of the brothers Grimm downwards, owe their
+choicest treasures to women. In the Panjab, however, Captain Temple
+ascribes to children marvellous power of telling tales, which he states
+they are not slow to exercise after sunset, when the scanty evening meal
+is done and they huddle together in their little beds beneath the
+twinkling stars, while the hot air cools, the mosquito sings, and the
+village dogs bark at imaginary foes. The Rev. Hinton Knowles' collection
+was gathered in Cashmere apparently from men and boys only; but all
+classes contributed, from the governor and the pandit down to the barber
+and the day-labourer, the only qualification being that they should be
+entirely free from European influence.[6]
+
+But nursery tales told simply for amusement are far from being the only
+kind of traditional narrative. Savage and barbarous races, to whom the
+art of writing is unknown, are dependent upon memory for such records as
+they have of their past; and sometimes a professional class arises to
+preserve and repeat the stories believed to embody these records. Among
+the Maories and their Polynesian kinsmen the priests are the great
+depositaries of tradition. It is principally from them that Mr. White
+and the Rev. W. W. Gill have obtained their collections. But the orators
+and chiefs are also fully conversant with the narratives; and their
+speeches are filled with allusions to them, and with quotations from
+ancient poems relating the deeds of their forefathers. The difficulty of
+following such allusions, and consequently of understanding the meaning
+of the chiefs when addressing him on behalf of their fellow-countrymen,
+first induced, or compelled, Sir George Grey, when Governor of New
+Zealand, to make the inquiries whose results are embodied in his work on
+Polynesian Mythology. The Eskimo of Greenland, at the other end of the
+world, divide their tales into two classes: the ancient and the modern.
+The former may be considered, Dr. Rink says, as more or less the
+property of the whole nation, while the latter are limited to certain
+parts of the country, or even to certain people who claim to be akin to
+one another. The art of telling these tales is "practised by certain
+persons specially gifted in this respect; and among a hundred people
+there may generally be found one or two particularly favoured with the
+art of the _raconteur_, besides several tolerable narrators." It is the
+narrators of the ancient tales "who compose the more recent stories by
+picking up the occurrences and adventures of their latest ancestors,
+handed down occasionally by some old members of the family, and
+connecting and embellishing them by a large addition of the
+supernatural, for which purpose resort is always had to the same
+traditional and mystic elements of the ancient folklore."[7]
+
+But the art of story-telling has not everywhere given rise to a
+professional class. When the Malagasy receive friends at their houses,
+they themselves recount the deeds of their ancestors, which are handed
+down from father to son, and form the principal topic of conversation.
+So, too, the savage Ahts of Vancouver Island sit round their fires
+singing and chatting; "and the older men, we are told, lying and
+bragging after the manner of story-tellers, recount their feats in war,
+or the chase, to a listening group." Mr. Im Thurn has drawn an
+interesting picture of the habits at night of the Indian tribes of
+Guiana. The men, if at home, spend the greater part of the day in their
+hammocks, smoking, "and leisurely fashioning arrowheads, or some such
+articles of use or of ornament.... When the day has at last come to an
+end, and the women have gathered together enough wood for the fires
+during the night, they, too, throw themselves into their hammocks; and
+all talk together. Till far into the night the men tell endless stories,
+sometimes droning them out in a sort of monotonous chant, sometimes
+delivering them with a startling amount of emphasis and gesticulation.
+The boys and younger men add to the noise by marching round the houses,
+blowing horns and playing on flutes. There is but little rest to be
+obtained in an Indian settlement by night. These people sleep, as dogs
+do, without difficulty, for brief periods, but frequently and
+indifferently by day or night as may be convenient. The men, having
+slept at intervals during the day, do not need night-rest; the women are
+not considered in the matter. At last, in the very middle of their
+stories, the party drops off to sleep; and all is quiet for a short
+while. Presently some woman gets up to renew the fires, or to see to
+some other domestic work. Roused by the noise which she makes, all the
+dogs of the settlement break into a chorus of barks and yelps. This
+wakes the children, who begin to scream. The men turn in their hammocks,
+and immediately resume their stories, apparently from the point at which
+they left off, and as if they had never ceased. This time it is but a
+short interruption to the silence of the night; and before long
+everything again becomes quiet, till some new outbreak is caused, much
+as was the last. In the very middle of the night there are perhaps some
+hours of quiet. But about an hour before dawn, some of the men having to
+go out to hunt, effectually wake everybody about them by playing flutes,
+or beating drums, as they go to bathe before leaving the settlement."[8]
+
+But the folk-tale cannot be separated in this inquiry from the folk-song
+with which, in its origin and development, it is so closely connected.
+In India there are, or were until recent years, everywhere professional
+bards; and the stories told in Indian villages are frequently the
+substance of the chants of these bards. More than this, the line between
+singing and narration is so faintly drawn, that the bards themselves
+often interpose great patches of prose between the metrical portions of
+their recitations. Fairs, festivals, and marriages all over India are
+attended by the bards, who are always ready to perform for pay and
+drink. Mr. Leland believes the stories he obtained from the Christian
+Algonkins of New England, concerning the ancient heroes of the race and
+other mythical personages, to have once been delivered as poems from
+generation to generation and always chanted. The deeds of Maori warriors
+are handed down in song; just as we find in Beowulf, the story of
+Hrothgar's ancestors was sung before his own companions-in-arms by his
+gleemen to the accompaniment of some instrument after the mead cup had
+gone round. The Roman historian attests the prevalence among the German
+tribes of ancient songs, which he expressly mentions as their only kind
+of memory or record,--thus showing that all their tales, whether
+mythologic or heroic, were for better preservation cast into metrical
+form. Some of these, enshrining the deeds of their heroes, were chanted
+on going into battle, in order to arouse the warriors' courage. And as
+far back as the light of history, or of literature, penetrates, not only
+the Teutonic, but also the Celtic nations loved to have their actions
+celebrated thus. To a Welsh king his household bard was as necessary as
+his domestic chaplain, or his court physician, and in the ancient laws
+his duties, his precedence, his perquisites, and even the songs he was
+expected to sing, are minutely prescribed. The bards were organized into
+a regular order, or college, with an official chief. They were not
+merely singers or poets, but also tale-tellers; and from the Mabinogion
+we gather that listening to songs and tales was one of the habitual, if
+not daily pastimes, of a court.[9]
+
+It is needless to follow through the Middle Ages the history of the
+troubadour, the minstrel and the jongleur, who played so large part in
+the social life of those times. Many of them were retainers of noblemen
+and kings; but others roamed about from place to place, singing their
+lays and reciting their stories (for they dealt in prose as well as
+verse), very much in the manner of the Indian bards just mentioned.
+Their stock-in-trade must have been partly traditional and partly of
+their own composition. In this respect they were probably less
+hide-bound than their Indian brethren are. For the latter, whether
+retainers of the native grandees, as many of them are, or members of the
+humbler class of wandering minstrels, are expected to repeat their lays
+as they have received them. But, although in the main these professional
+gentlemen adhere to the traditional words which they know by heart, the
+temptation must be very strong to foist at suitable pauses into their
+tales impromptu passages--best described in stage language as
+"gag"--which they think will be acceptable to their audience. And
+whether or not this be actually the case with the Indian bards, we are
+expressly told that it is so with the Arab story-teller, and that it
+accounts for much of the ribaldry and filth which have become embedded
+in the immortal "Nights." A viol having only one string accompanies the
+passages in verse with which the stories are interlarded; and a similar
+instrument seems to be used for the like purpose among the orthodox
+Guslars of Bosnia and Herzegovina.[10] A description given by Sir
+Richard Burton of a story-teller at the bazaar at Tangier may stand,
+except as to the external details, for that of an Arab reciter
+throughout Northern Africa and the Moslem East. "The market people," he
+says, "form a ring about the reciter, a stalwart man, affecting little
+raiment besides a broad waist-belt into which his lower chiffons are
+tucked, and noticeable only for his shock hair, wild eyes, broad grin,
+and generally disreputable aspect. He usually handles a short stick;
+and, when drummer and piper are absent, he carries a tiny tomtom shaped
+like an hour-glass, upon which he taps the periods. This Scealuidhe, as
+the Irish call him, opens the drama with an extempore prayer, proving
+that he and the audience are good Moslems; he speaks slowly and with
+emphasis, varying the diction with breaks of animation, abundant action
+and the most comical grimace: he advances, retires, and wheels about,
+illustrating every point with pantomime; and his features, voice and
+gestures are so expressive that even Europeans who cannot understand a
+word of Arabic, divine the meaning of his tale. The audience stands
+breathless and motionless, surprising strangers by the ingenuousness and
+freshness of feeling hidden under their hard and savage exterior. The
+performance usually ends with the embryo actor going round for alms, and
+flourishing in the air every silver bit, the usual honorarium being a
+few _f'lús_, that marvellous money of Barbary, big coppers worth
+one-twelfth of a penny." Another writer, who has published modern Arab
+folk-tales, obtained eleven out of twelve from his cook, a man who could
+neither read nor write, but possessed an excellent memory. His stories
+were derived from his mother and aunts, and from old women who
+frequented his early home. The remaining tale was dictated by a sheikh
+with some, though small, pretensions to education, and this tale, though
+at bottom a genuine folk-tale, presented traces of literary
+manipulation.[11]
+
+The literary touches here spoken of were probably not impromptu. But it
+must be admitted that the tendency to insert local colouring and "gag"
+is almost irresistible amongst the Arabs. Dr. Steere notices it as a
+characteristic of the story-tellers of the Swahili, a people of mixed
+Arab and Negro descent at Zanzibar;[12] and it is perhaps inevitable in
+a professional reciter whose audience, like himself, is restless and
+vivacious in so high a degree. The only case in which any restraint
+would be certain to be felt is where a narrative believed to be of
+religious import is given. Under the influence of religious feeling the
+most mobile of races become conservative; and traditions of a sacred
+character are the most likely of all to be handed down unchanged from
+father to son. Directly we get outside the charmed circle of religious
+custom, precept, and story, the awe which has the most powerful effect
+in preserving tradition intact ceases to work; and we are left to a
+somewhat less conservative force of habit to retain the old form of
+words and the time-honoured ceremonies. Still this force is powerful;
+the dislike of voluntary change forbids amendment even of formularies
+which have long ceased to be understood, and have often become
+ridiculous because their meaning has been lost. It is by no means an
+uncommon thing for the rustic story-teller to be unable to explain
+expressions, and indeed whole episodes, in any other way than Uncle
+Remus, when called upon to say who Miss Meadows was: "She wuz in de
+tale, Miss Meadows en de gals wuz, en de tale I give you like hi't wer'
+gun ter me." Dr. Steere, speaking of a collection of Swahili tales by M.
+Jablonsky which I think has never been published, tells us that almost
+all of the tales had "sung parts," and of some of these even they who
+sang them could scarcely explain the meaning. Here we may observe the
+connection with the folk-song; and it is a strong evidence of adherence
+to ancient tradition. Frequently in Dr. Steere's own experience the
+skeleton of the story seemed to be contained in these snatches of song,
+which were connected together by an account, apparently extemporized, of
+the intervening history. In these latter portions, if the hypothesis of
+extemporization were correct, the words of course would be different,
+but the substance might remain untouched. I suspect, however, that the
+extemporization was nothing like so complete as the learned writer
+imagined, but rather that the tale, as told with song and narrative
+mingled, was in a state of gradual decay or transition from verse to
+prose, and that the prose portions were, to almost as great an extent as
+the verse, traditional.
+
+Be this as it may, the tenacity with which the illiterate story-teller
+generally adheres to the substance and to the very words of his
+narrative is remarkable--and this in spite of the freedom sometimes
+taken of dramatic illustration, and the license to introduce occasional
+local and personal allusions and "gag." These are easily separable from
+the genuine tale. What Dr. Rink says of the Eskimo story-telling holds
+good, more or less, all over the world. "The art," he states, "requires
+the ancient tales to be related as nearly as possible in the very words
+of the original version, with only a few arbitrary reiterations, and
+otherwise only varied according to the individual talents of the
+narrator, as to the mode of recitation, gesture, &c. The only real
+discretionary power allowed by the audience to the narrator is the
+insertion of a few peculiar passages from other traditions; but even in
+that case no alteration of these original or elementary materials used
+in the composition of tales is admissible. Generally, even the smallest
+deviation from the original version will be taken notice of and
+corrected, if any intelligent person happens to be present. This
+circumstance," he adds, "accounts for their existence in an unaltered
+shape through ages; for had there been the slightest tendency to
+variation on the part of the narrator, or relish for it on that of the
+audience, every similarity of these tales, told in such widely-separated
+countries, would certainly have been lost in the course of centuries."
+Here the audience, wedded to the accustomed formularies, is represented
+as controlling any inclination to variation on the reciter's part. How
+far such an attitude of mind may have been produced by previous
+repetitions in the same words we need not inquire. Certain it is that
+accuracy would be likely to generate the love of accuracy, and _that_
+again to react so as to compel adherence to the form of words which the
+ear had been led to expect. Readers of Grimm will remember the anxiety
+betrayed by a peasant woman of Niederzwehr, near Cassel, that her very
+words and expressions should be taken down. They who have studied the
+records collectors have made of the methods they have adopted, and the
+assistance they have received from narrators who have understood and
+sympathized with their purpose, will not find anything exceptional in
+this woman's conduct.[13]
+
+Nor must we overlook the effect of dramatic and pantomimic action. At
+first sight action, like that of Messia or the Arab reciter, might seem
+to make for freedom in narration. But it may well be questioned if this
+be so to any great extent. For in a short time certain attitudes, looks,
+and gestures become inseparably wedded, not only in the actor's mind,
+but also in the minds of the audience who have grown accustomed to them,
+with the passages and the very words to which they are appropriate. The
+eye as well as the ear learns what to expect, with results proportioned
+to the comparative values of those two senses as avenues of knowledge.
+The history of the stage, the observation of our own nurseries, will
+show with how much suspicion any innovation on the mode of interpreting
+an old favourite is viewed.
+
+To sum up: it would appear that national differences in the manner of
+story-telling are for the most part superficial. Whether told by men to
+men in the bazaar or the coffee-house of the East, or by old men or
+women to children in the sacred recesses of the European home, or by men
+to a mixed assembly during the endless nights of the Arctic Circle, or
+in the huts of the tropical forest, and notwithstanding the license
+often taken by a professional reciter, the endeavour to render to the
+audience just that which the speaker has himself received from his
+predecessors is paramount. The faithful delivery of the tradition is the
+principle underlying all variation of manner; and it is not confined to
+any one race or people. It is not denied that changes do take place as
+the story passes from one to another. This indeed is the inevitable
+result of the play of the two counteracting forces just described--the
+conservative tendency and the tendency to variation. It is the condition
+of development; it is what makes a science of Folk-tales both necessary
+and possible. Nor can it be denied that some changes are voluntary. But
+the voluntary changes are rare; and the involuntary changes are only
+such as are natural and unavoidable if the story is to continue its
+existence in the midst of the ever-shifting social organism of humanity.
+The student must, therefore, know something of the habits, the natural
+and social surroundings, and the modes of the thought of the people
+whose stories he examines. But this known, it is not difficult to
+decipher the documents.
+
+There is, however, one caution--namely, to be assured that the documents
+are gathered direct from the lips of the illiterate story-teller, and
+set down with accuracy and good faith. Every turn of phrase, awkward or
+coarse though it may seem to cultured ears, must be unrelentingly
+reported; and every grotesquery, each strange word, or incomprehensible
+or silly incident, must be given without flinching. Any attempt to
+soften down inconsistencies, vulgarities or stupidities, detracts from
+the value of the text, and may hide or destroy something from which the
+student may be able to make a discovery of importance to science.
+Happily the collectors of the present day are fully alive to this need.
+The pains they take to ensure correctness are great, and their
+experiences in so doing are often very interesting. Happily, too, the
+student soon learns to distinguish the collections whose sincerity is
+certain from those furbished up by literary art. The latter may have
+purposes of amusement to serve, but beyond that they are of
+comparatively little use.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Campbell, vol. i. pp. xii. xiv. lvii.
+
+[2] Luzel, "Veillées," _passim_.
+
+[3] Introduction to Romero, p. x.; Arnaudin, p. 5.
+
+[4] Thomas Ady, "A Candle in the Dark" (1656) (_Cf._ Aubrey, "Remaines,"
+p. 67); "Gesta Romanorum," Introd., p. xxv. (E.E.T.S.); Lacroix, p. 100.
+
+[5] Pitré, vol. iv. p. xvii.
+
+[6] "Wide-awake Stories," p. 1; Knowles, p. ix.
+
+[7] White, vol. i. p. vi.; Sir G. Grey, p. vii.; Gill, p. xx.; Rink, pp.
+83, 85.
+
+[8] Ellis, "History of Madagascar," vol. i. p. 264; Sproat, "Scenes and
+Studies of Savage Life," p. 51; Im Thurn, pp. 215, 216.
+
+[9] Temple, "Legends of the Panjab," vol. i. p. v.; Thorburn, p. 172;
+Leland, p. 12; Taylor, p. 306; "Beowulf," lay 16; Tacitus, "Germania,"
+cc., 2, 3; "Ancient Laws and Institutions of Wales" (Public Record
+Commission, 1841), pp. 15, 35, &c.
+
+[10] Burton, "Nights," vol. x. p. 163; "Revue des Trad. Pop." vol. iv.
+p. 6. In Greece and Albania, however, the viol would seem not to be
+used. Women are the chief reciters. Von Hahn, vol. i. p. ix.
+
+[11] Spitta Bey, p. viii.
+
+[12] Steere, pp. v., vii.
+
+[13] Rink, p. 85; Grimm, "Märchen," p. vii.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+SAVAGE IDEAS.
+
+     Sagas and _Märchen_--Fairy Tales based upon ideas familiar to
+     savages--The Doctrine of Spirits--The Doctrine of
+     Transformation--Totemism--Death--Witchcraft--The predominance of
+     imagination over reason in savages--Method of the inquiry.
+
+
+Fairy Tales, as defined in the previous chapter, fall under two heads.
+Under the first we may place all those stories which relate to definite
+supernatural beings, or definite orders of supernatural beings, held
+really to exist, and the scenes of which are usually laid in some
+specified locality. Stories belonging to this class do not necessarily,
+however, deal with the supernatural. Often they are told of historical
+heroes, or persons believed to have once lived. For instance, the
+legends of Lady Godiva and Whittington and his Cat, which, however
+improbable, contain nothing of the supernatural, must be reckoned under
+this head equally with the story of the Luck of Edenhall, or the Maori
+tale of the Rending asunder of Heaven and Earth. In other words, this
+class is by no means confined to Fairy Tales, but includes all stories
+which are, or at all events have been up to recent years, and in the
+form in which they come to us, looked upon as narratives of actual
+occurrences. They are called _Sagas_. The other class of tales consists
+of such as are told simply for amusement, like Jack and the Beanstalk,
+Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, and Puss in Boots. They may embody
+incidents believed in other countries, or in other stages of
+civilization, to be true in fact; but in the form in which we have them
+this belief has long since been dropped. In general, the reins are
+thrown upon the neck of the imagination; and, marvellous though the
+story be, it cannot fail to find acceptance, because nobody asserts that
+its events ever took place, and nobody desires to bring down its flights
+to the level either of logic or experience. Unlike the saga, it binds
+the conscience neither of teller nor of listener; its hero or heroine
+has no historical name or fame, either national or local; and being
+untrammelled either by history or probability, the one condition the tale
+is expected to fulfil is to end happily. Stories of this class are
+technically called _Märchen_: we have no better English name for them
+than _Nursery Tales_.
+
+If we inquire which of these two species of tales is the earlier in the
+history of culture, it seems that the priority must be given to sagas.
+The matter, indeed, is not quite free from doubt, because low down in
+the scale of civilization, as among the Ainos of Japan, stories are told
+which appear to be no more than _märchen_; and because, on the other
+hand, it is at all times easier, even for experienced collectors, to
+obtain sagas than _märchen_. But among the lower races, a vastly
+preponderating number of tales recorded by Europeans who have lived with
+them on the terms of the greatest intimacy is told to account for the
+phenomena of nature, or their own history and organization. From many
+savage peoples we have no other stories at all; and it is not uncommon
+to find narratives at bottom identical with some of these told as
+_märchen_ among nations that have reached a higher plane. In these
+cases, at all events, it looks as if the tales, or tales from which they
+had been derived, had been originally believed as true, and, having
+ceased to be thus received, had continued to be repeated, in a shape
+more or less altered, for mere amusement. If we may venture to affirm
+this and to generalize from such cases, this is the way in which
+_märchen_ have arisen.
+
+But sagas are not only perhaps the most ancient of tales, they are
+certainly the most persistent. By their attachment to places and to
+persons, a religious sanction is frequently given to them, a local and
+national pride is commonly felt in preserving them. Thus they are
+remembered when nursery tales are forgotten; they are more easily
+communicated to strangers; they find their way into literature and so
+are rendered imperishable.
+
+Fairy Tales of both these classes are compounded of incidents which are
+the common property of many nations, and not a few whereof are known all
+over the habitable globe. In some instances the whole plot, a more or
+less intricate one, is found among races the most diverse in
+civilization and character. Where the plot is intricate, or contains
+elements of a kind unlikely to have originated independently, we may be
+justified in suspecting diffusion from one centre. Then it is that the
+history and circumstances of a nation become important factors in the
+inquiry; and upon the purity of blood and the isolation from
+neighbouring races may depend our decision as to the original or
+derivative character of such a tradition. Sometimes the passage of a
+story from one country to another can be proved by literary evidence.
+This is markedly the case with Apologues and Facetious Tales, two
+classes of traditions which do not come within the purview of the
+present work. But the story has then passed beyond the traditional
+stage, or else such proof could not be given. In tracing the history of
+a folk-tale which has entered into literature, the problem is to
+ascertain how far the literary variations we meet with may have been
+influenced by pre-existing traditional tales formed upon similar lines.
+In general, however, it may be safely said of Fairy Tales (with which we
+are more immediately concerned) that the argument in favour of their
+propagation from a single centre lacks support. The incidents of which
+they are composed are based upon ideas not peculiar to any one people,
+ideas familiar to savages everywhere, and only slowly modified and
+transformed as savagery gives way to barbarism, and barbarism to modern
+civilization and scientific knowledge of the material phenomena of the
+universe. The ideas referred to are expressed by races in the lower
+culture both in belief and in custom. And many of the tales which now
+amuse our children appear to have grown out of myths believed in the
+most matter-of-fact way by our remote forefathers; while others enshrine
+relics of long-forgotten customs and modes of tribal organization.
+
+There is one habit of thought familiar to savage tribes that to us,
+trained through long centuries of progressive knowledge, seems in the
+highest degree absurd and even incomprehensible. As a matter of
+every-day practice we cannot, if we would, go back to that infantine
+state of mind which regards not only our fellow men and women, but all
+objects animate and inanimate around us, as instinct with a
+consciousness, a personality akin to our own. This, however, is the
+savage philosophy of things. To a large proportion of human beings at
+the present day beasts and birds, trees and plants, the sea, the
+mountains, the wind, the sun, the moon, the clouds and the stars, day
+and night, the heaven and the earth, are alive and possessed of the
+passions and the cunning and the will they feel within themselves. The
+only difference is that these things are vastly cleverer and more
+powerful than men. Hence they are to be dreaded, to be appeased--if
+possible, to be outwitted--even, sometimes, to be punished. We may
+observe this childish habit of thought in our nurseries to-day when one
+of our little ones accidentally runs against the table, and forthwith
+turns round to beat the senseless wood as if it had voluntarily and
+maliciously caused his pain; or when another, looking wistfully out of
+window, adjures the rain in the old rhyme:
+
+    "Rain, rain, go away!
+    Come again another day!"
+
+Poets, too, and orators in their loftiest moods revert to language and
+modes of expression which have no meaning apart from this belief in the
+conscious animation of every object in the world. They may move us for
+the moment by their utterances; but we never take their raptures
+literally. To the savage, however, it is no figure of speech to call
+upon the sun to behold some great deed, or to declare that the moon
+hides her face; to assert that the ocean smiles, or that the river
+swells with rage, and overwhelms a wayfarer who is crossing it, or an
+unsuspecting village on its banks. These phrases for him fit the facts
+of nature as closely as those which record that the man eats or the boy
+runs. Nay, what would seem incredible to him would be to deny that the
+sun can see or the moon hide her face, the ocean smile or the river
+become enraged. Conscious personality and human emotions are visible to
+him everywhere and in all things.
+
+It matters not to the savage that human form and speech are absent.
+These are not necessary, or, if they are, they can be assumed either at
+will or under certain conditions. For one of the consequences, or at
+least one of the accompaniments, of this stage of thought is the belief
+in change of form without loss of individual identity. The bear whom the
+savage meets in the woods is too cunning to appear and do battle with
+him as a man; but he could if he chose. The stars were once men and
+women. Sun and moon, the wind and the waters, perform all the functions
+of living beings: they speak, they eat, they marry and have children.
+Rocks and trees are not always as immovable as they appear: sometimes
+they are to be seen as beasts or men, whose shapes they still, it may
+be, dimly retain.
+
+It follows that peoples in this stage of thought cannot have, in theory
+at all events, the repugnance to a sexual union between man and the
+lower animals with which religious training and the growth of
+civilization have impressed all the higher races. Such peoples admit
+the possibility of a marriage wherein one party may be human and the
+other an animal of a different species, or even a tree or plant. If they
+do not regard it as an event which can take place in their own time and
+neighbourhood, it does not seem entirely incredible as an event of the
+past; and sometimes customs are preserved on into a higher degree of
+culture--such as that of wedding, for special purposes, a man to a
+tree--unmistakably bespeaking former, if not present, beliefs. Moreover,
+tribes in the stage of thought here described, hold themselves to be
+actually descended from material objects often the most diverse from
+human form. These are not only animals (beasts, birds, fishes, reptiles,
+and even insects) or vegetables, but occasionally the sun, the sea, the
+earth, and other things unendowed with life. Such mythic ancestors are
+worshipped as divine. This superstition is called _Totemism_, and the
+mythic ancestor is known as the _Totem_. As a people passes gradually
+into a higher stage of culture, greater stress is constantly laid on the
+human qualities of the Totem, until it becomes at length an
+anthropomorphic god. To such deity the object previously reverenced as a
+Totem is attached, and a new and modified legend grows up to account for
+the connection.
+
+The belief in metamorphosis involves opinions on the subject of death
+which are worth a moment's pause. Death is a problem to all men, to the
+savage as to the most civilized. Least of any can the savage look upon
+it as extinction. He emphatically believes that he has something within
+him that survives the dissolution of his outward frame. This is his
+spirit, the seat of his consciousness, his real self. As he himself has
+a spirit, so every object in the world has a spirit. He peoples the
+universe, as he knows it, with spirits akin to his own. It is to their
+spirits that all the varied objects around him, all the phenomena
+observable by day or by night, owe the consciousness, the personality, I
+have already tried to describe. These spirits are separable from the
+material form with which they are clad. When the savage sleeps, his
+spirit goes forth upon various adventures. These adventures he remembers
+as dreams; but they are as veritable as his waking deeds; and he awakes
+when his spirit returns to him. In his dreams he sees his friends, his
+foes; he kills imaginary bears and venison. He knows therefore that
+other men's spirits travel while their bodies sleep and undergo
+adventures like his own, and in company often with his spirit. He knows
+that the spirits of wild animals range abroad and encounter his spirit.
+What is death but the spirit going forth to return no more? Rocks and
+rivers perhaps cannot die, or at least their life immeasurably exceeds
+that of men. But the trees of the forest may, for he can cut them down
+and burn them. Yet, inasmuch as it is the nature of a body to have an
+indwelling spirit, death--the permanent severing of body and
+spirit--cannot occur naturally: it must be due to the machination of
+some enemy, by violence, by poison, or by sorcery.
+
+The spirit that has gone forth for ever is not, by quitting its bodily
+tenement, deprived of power offensive and defensive. It is frequently
+impelled by hostile motives to injure those yet in the flesh; and it
+must, therefore, be appeased, or deceived, or driven away. This is the
+end and aim of funeral rites: this is the meaning of many periodical
+ceremonies in which the whole tribe takes part. For the same reason,
+when the hunter slays a powerful animal, he apologizes and lays the
+blame on his arrows or his spear, or on some one else. For the same
+reason the woodman, when he cuts down a tree, asks permission to do so
+and offers sacrifices, and he provides a green sprig to stick into the
+stump as soon as the tree falls, that it may be a new home for the
+spirit thus dislodged. For since the spirit is neither slain, nor
+deprived of power, by destruction of the body, or by severance from the
+body, it may find another to dwell in. Spirits of dead men, like other
+spirits, may assume fresh bodies, new forms, and forms not necessarily
+human. A favourite form is that of a snake: it was as a snake that the
+spirit of Anchises appeared and accepted the offerings made by his pious
+son. In their new forms the spirits of the dead are sometimes, as in
+this case, kindly, at other times malicious, but always to be treated
+with respect, always to be conciliated; for their power is great. They
+can in their turn cause disease, misfortune, death.
+
+Another characteristic of the mental condition I am describing must not
+be omitted. Connection of thought, even though purely fortuitous, is
+taken to indicate actual connection of the things represented in
+thought. This connection is, of course, often founded on association of
+time or place, and once formed it is not easily broken. For example, any
+object once belonging to a man recalls the thought of him. The
+connection between him and that object is therefore looked upon as still
+existing, and he may be affected by the conduct shown towards it. This
+applies with special force to such objects as articles of clothing, and
+still more to footprints and to spittle, hair, nail-parings and
+excrement. Injury to these with malicious intent will hurt him from whom
+they are derived. In the same way a personal name is looked upon as
+inseparable from its owner; and savages are frequently careful to guard
+the knowledge of their true names from others, being content to be
+addressed and spoken of by a nickname, or a substituted epithet. The
+reason of this is that the knowledge of another's name confers power
+over that other: it is as though he, or at least an essential part of
+him, were in the possession of the person who had obtained the knowledge
+of his name. It is perhaps not an unfair deduction from the same
+premises that endows an image with the properties of its prototype--nay,
+identifies it with its prototype. This leads on the one hand to
+idol-worship, and on the other hand to the rites of witchcraft wherein
+the wizard is said to make a figure of a man, call it by his name, and
+then transfix it with nails or thorns, or burn it, with the object of
+causing pain and ultimately death to the person represented. Nor is a
+very different process of thought discernible in the belief that by
+eating human or other flesh the spirit (or at any rate some of the
+spiritual qualities) formerly animating it can be transferred to the
+eater. So a brave enemy is devoured in the hope of acquiring his
+bravery; and a pregnant woman is denied the flesh of hares and other
+animals whose qualities it is undesirable her children should have.
+
+To minds guiltless of inductive reasoning an accidental coincidence is a
+sure proof of cause and effect. Travellers' tales are full of examples
+of misfortunes quite beyond foresight or control, but attributed by the
+savages among whom the narrators have sojourned to some perfectly
+innocent act on their part, or merely to their presence, or to some
+strange article of their equipment. Occasionally the anger of the gods
+is aroused by these things; and missionaries, in particular, have
+suffered much on this account. But sometimes a more direct causation is
+imagined, though it is probably not always easy to distinguish the two
+cases. Omens also are founded upon accidental coincidences. The most
+lively imagination may fail to trace cause and effect between the
+meeting of a magpie at setting out and a fruitless errand following, or
+between a certain condition of the entrails of an animal sacrificed and
+a victory or defeat thereafter. But the imagination is not to be beaten
+thus. If the magpie did not cause failure, at all events it foretold it;
+and the look of the entrails was an omen of the gain or loss of the
+battle.
+
+Again, a merely fanciful resemblance is a sufficient association to
+establish actual connection. Why do the Bushmen kindle great fires in
+time of drought, if not because of the similarity in appearance between
+smoke and rain-clouds? Such resemblances, to give a familiar instance,
+have fastened on certain rocks and stones many legends of transformation
+in conformity with the belief already discussed; and they account for a
+vast variety of symbolism in the rites and ceremonies of nations all
+over the world.
+
+The topic is well nigh endless; but enough has been said to enable the
+reader to see how widely pervasive in human affairs is the belief in
+real connection founded on nothing more substantial than association of
+thought, however occasioned. Nothing, indeed, is too absurd for this
+belief. It is one of the most fruitful causes of superstition; and it
+only disappears very gradually from the higher civilization as the
+reasoning powers become more and more highly trained. In magic, or
+witchcraft, we find it developed into a system, with professional
+ministers and well-established rules. By these rules its ministers
+declare themselves able to perform all the wonders of transformation
+referred to above, to command spirits, to bring distant persons and
+things into their immediate presence, to inflict injury and death upon
+whom they please, to bestow wealth and happiness, and to foretell the
+future. The terror they have thus inspired, and the horrors wrought
+under the influence of that terror, form one of the saddest chapters of
+history.[14]
+
+I do not of course pretend that the foregoing is a complete account of
+the mental processes of savage peoples. Still less have I attempted to
+trace the history of the various characteristics mentioned, or to show
+the order of their evolution. To attempt either of these things would
+be beyond the scope of the present work. I have simply enumerated a few
+of the elements in the psychology of men in a low state of culture which
+it is needful to bear in mind in order to understand the stories we are
+about to examine. In those stories we shall find many impossibilities,
+many absurdities and many traces of customs repulsive to our modes of
+thought and foreign to our manners. The explanation is to be obtained,
+not by speculations based on far-fetched metaphors supposed to have
+existed in the speech of early races, nor in philological puzzles, but
+by soberly inquiring into the facts of barbarian and savage life and
+into the psychological phenomena of which the facts are the outcome. The
+evidence of these facts and phenomena is to be found scattered up and
+down the pages of writers of every age, creed and country. On hardly any
+subject have men of such different degrees of learning, such various and
+opposite prejudices, left us their testimony--testimony from the nature
+of the subject more than ordinarily liable to be affected by prejudice,
+and by the limitations of each witness's powers of observation and
+opportunities of ascertaining the truth. But after all deductions for
+prejudice, mistake, inaccuracy and every other shortcoming, there is
+left a strong, an invincible consensus of testimony, honest, independent
+and full of undesigned corroborations, to the development of the mind of
+all races in the lower culture along the lines here indicated. Nay,
+more; the numerous remains of archaic institutions, as well as of
+beliefs among the most advanced nations, prove that they too have passed
+through the very same stages in which we find the most backward still
+lingering--stages which the less enlightened classes even of our own
+countrymen at the present day are loth to quit. And the further we
+penetrate in these investigations, the more frequent and striking are
+the coincidences between the mental phenomena already described which
+are still manifested by savage peoples, and those of which the evidence
+has not yet disappeared from our own midst.
+
+Nor need we be surprised at this, for the root whence all these
+phenomena spring is the predominance of imagination over reason in the
+uncivilized. Man, while his experience is limited to a small tract of
+earth, and his life is divided between a struggle with nature and his
+fellow-man for the permission and the means to live, on the one hand,
+and seasons of idleness, empty perforce of every opportunity and every
+desire for improving his condition, on the other, cannot acquire the
+materials of a real knowledge of his physical environment. His only data
+for interpreting the world and the objects it contains, so far as he is
+acquainted with them, are his own consciousness and his own emotions.
+Upon these his drafts are unbounded; and if he have any curiosity about
+the origin and government of things, his hypotheses take the shape of
+tales in which the actors, whatever form they bear, are essentially
+himself in motive and deed, but magnified and distorted to meet his
+wishes or his fears, or the conditions of the problem as presented to
+his limited vision. The thought which is the measure of his universe is
+as yet hardly disciplined by anything beyond his passions.
+
+Nor does the predominance of the imagination issue only in these tales
+and in songs--the two modes of expression we most readily attribute to
+the imagination. In practical life it issues in superstitious
+observances, and in social and political institutions. Social
+institutions are sometimes of great complexity, even in the depth of
+savagery. Together with political institutions they supply the model on
+which are framed man's ideas of the relationship to one another and to
+himself of the supernatural beings whom he creates; and in turn they
+reflect and perpetuate those ideas in ceremonial and other observances.
+The student of Fairy Tales, therefore, cannot afford to neglect the
+study of institutions; for it often throws a light altogether
+unexpected on the origin and meaning of a story. Tradition must, indeed,
+be studied as a whole. As with other sciences, its division into parts
+is natural and necessary; but it should never be forgotten that none of
+its parts can be rightly understood without reference to the others. By
+Tradition I mean the entire circle of thought and practice, custom as
+well as belief, ceremonies, tales, music, songs, dances and other
+amusements, the philosophy and the superstitions and the institutions,
+delivered by word of mouth and by example from generation to generation
+through unremembered ages: in a word, the sum total of the psychological
+phenomena of uncivilized man. Every people has its own body of
+Tradition, its own Folklore, which comprises a slowly diminishing part,
+or the whole, of its mental furniture, according as the art of writing
+is, or is not, known. The invention of writing, by enabling records to
+be made and thoughts and facts to be communicated with certainty from
+one to another, first renders possible the accumulation of true
+knowledge and ensures a constantly accelerating advance in civilization.
+But in every civilized nation there are backward classes to whom reading
+and writing are either quite unknown, or at least unfamiliar; and there
+are certain matters in the lives even of the lettered classes which
+remain more or less under the dominion of Tradition. Culture, in the
+sense of a mode of life guided by reason and utilizing the discoveries
+and inventions that are the gift of science, finds its way but slowly
+among a people, and filters only sluggishly through its habits, its
+institutions and its creeds. Surely, however, though gradually it
+advances, like a rising tide which creeps along the beach, here
+undermining a heap of sand, there surrounding, isolating, and at last
+submerging a rock, here swallowing up a pool brilliant with living
+creatures and many-coloured weed, there mingling with and overwhelming a
+rivulet that leaps down to its embrace, until all the shore is covered
+with its waters. Meanwhile, he who would understand its course must know
+the conformation of the coast,--the windings, the crags (their
+composition as well as their shape), the hollows, the sands, the
+streams; for without these its currents and its force are alike
+inexplicable. The analogy must not be pressed too far; but it will help
+us to understand why we find a fragment of a custom in one place, a
+portion of a tale jumbled up with portions of dissimilar tales in
+another place, a segment of a superstition, and again a worn and broken
+relic of a once vigorous institution. They are the rocks and the sands
+which the flood of civilization is first isolating, then undermining,
+and at last overwhelming, and hiding from our view. They are (to change
+the figure) survivals of an earlier state of existence, unintelligible
+if regarded singly, made to render up their secret only by comparison
+with other survivals, and with examples of a like state of existence
+elsewhere. Taken collectively, they enable us to trace the evolution of
+civilization from a period before history begins, and through more
+recent times by channels whereof history gives no account.
+
+These are the premises whence we set out, and the principles which will
+guide us, in the study on which we are about to enter. The name of Fairy
+Tales is legion; but they are made up of incidents whose number is
+comparatively limited. And though it would be impossible to deal
+adequately with more than a small fraction of them in a work like the
+present, still a selection may be so treated as to convey a reasonably
+just notion of the application of the principles laid down and of the
+results to be obtained. In making such a selection several interesting
+groups of stories, unconnected as between themselves, might be chosen
+for consideration. The disadvantage of this course would be the
+fragmentary nature of the discussions, and consequently of the
+conclusions arrived at. It is not wholly possible to avoid this
+disadvantage in any mode of treatment; but it is possible to lessen it.
+I propose, therefore, to deal with a few of the most interesting sagas
+relative to the Fairy Mythology strictly so called. We shall thus
+confine our view to a well-defined area, in the hope that we may obtain
+such an idea of it as in its main lines at all events may be taken to be
+fairly true to the facts, and that we may learn who really were these
+mysterious beings who played so large a part in our fathers'
+superstitions. As yet, however, we must not be disappointed if we find
+that the state of scientific inquiry will not admit of many conclusions,
+and such as we may reach can at present be stated only tentatively and
+with caution. Science, like Mr. Fox in the nursery tale, writes up over
+all the doors of her palace:
+
+    "Be bold, be bold, but not too bold."
+
+Many a victim has found to his cost what it meant to disregard this
+warning.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[14] I have not thought it necessary to illustrate at length the
+characteristics of savage thought enumerated above. They are
+exhaustively discussed by Dr. Tylor in "Primitive Culture," Sir John
+Lubbock in "The Origin of Civilization," Mr. Andrew Lang in "Myth Ritual
+and Religion," and some of them by Mr. J. G. Frazer in "Totemism," and
+more recently in "The Golden Bough," published since these pages were
+written.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+FAIRY BIRTHS AND HUMAN MIDWIVES.
+
+     Stories of midwives who have been summoned to the birth of
+     fairies--Human visitors to Fairyland must not eat there--The
+     reason--Fairies' gratitude--The conditions of fairy gifts.
+
+
+A tale, the scene of which is laid near Beddgelert, runs, as translated
+by Professor Rhys, in this way:--"Once on a time, when a midwife from
+Nanhwynan had newly got to the Hafodydd Brithion to pursue her calling,
+a gentleman came to the door on a fine grey steed and bade her come with
+him at once. Such was the authority with which he spoke, that the poor
+midwife durst not refuse to go, however much it was her duty to stay
+where she was. So she mounted behind him, and off they went, like the
+flight of a swallow, through Cwmllan, over the Bwlch, down Nant yr Aran,
+and over the Gadair to Cwm Hafod Ruffydd before the poor woman had time
+even to say Oh! When they got there, she saw before her a magnificent
+mansion, splendidly lit up with such lamps as she had never before seen.
+They entered the court, and a crowd of servants in expensive liveries
+came to meet them, and she was at once led through the great hall into a
+bed-chamber, the like of which she had never seen. There the mistress of
+the house, to whom she had been fetched, was awaiting her. She got
+through her duties successfully, and stayed there until the lady had
+completely recovered, nor had she spent any part of her life so merrily;
+there was naught but festivity day and night: dancing, singing, and
+endless rejoicing reigned there. But merry as it was, she found she
+must go, and the nobleman gave her a large purse, with the order not to
+open it until she had got into her own house; then he bade one of his
+servants escort her the same way she had come. When she reached home she
+opened the purse, and, to her great joy, it was full of money; and she
+lived happily on those earnings to the end of her life."[15]
+
+It is a long leap from Carnarvonshire to Lapland, where this story is
+told with no great variation. A clergyman's wife in Swedish Lappmark,
+the cleverest midwife in all Sweden, was summoned one fine summer's
+evening to attend a mysterious being of Troll race and great might,
+called Vitra. At this unusual call she took counsel with her husband,
+who, however, deemed it best for her to go. Her guide led her into a
+splendid building, the rooms whereof were as clean and elegant as those
+of very illustrious folk; and in a beautiful bed lay a still more
+beautiful woman, for whom her services were required, and who was no
+other than Vitra herself. Under the midwife's care Vitra speedily gave
+birth to a fair girl, and in a few minutes had entirely recovered, and
+fetched all sorts of refreshments, which she laid before her
+benefactress. The latter refused to eat, in spite of Vitra's reassuring
+persuasion, and further refused the money which the Troll-wife pressed
+upon her. Vitra then sent her home, bidding her look on the table when
+next she entered her cowherd's hut and see what she would find there.
+She thought no more of the matter until the following spring, when on
+entering the hut she found on the table half a dozen large spoons of
+pure silver with her name engraved thereon in neat letters. These spoons
+long remained an heirloom in the clergyman's family to testify the truth
+of the story. A Swedish book, published in 1775, contains a tale,
+narrated in the form of a legal declaration solemnly subscribed on the
+12th April 1671 by the fortunate midwife's husband, whose name was Peter
+Rahm, and who also seems to have been a clergyman. On the authority of
+this declaration we are called on to believe that the event recorded
+actually happened in the year 1660. Peter Rahm alleges that he and his
+wife were at their farm one evening late when there came a little man,
+swart of face and clad in grey, who begged the declarant's wife to come
+and help his wife then in labour. The declarant, seeing that they had to
+do with a Troll, prayed over his wife, blessed her, and bade her in
+God's name go with the stranger. She seemed to be borne along by the
+wind. After her task was accomplished she, like the clergyman's wife
+just mentioned, refused the food offered her, and was borne home in the
+same manner as she had come. The next day she found on a shelf in the
+sitting-room a heap of old silver pieces and clippings, which it is to
+be supposed the Troll had brought her.[16]
+
+Apart from the need of human aid, common to all the legends with which
+we are dealing, the two points emphasized by these Swedish tales are the
+midwife's refusal of food and the gratitude of the Troll. In a Swabian
+story the Earthman, as he is called, apologizes for omitting to offer
+food. In this case the midwife was afraid to go alone with her summoner,
+and begged that her husband might accompany her. This was permitted; and
+the Earthman showed them the way through the forest with his lantern,
+for it was of course night. They came first to a moss door, then to a
+wooden door, and lastly to a door of shining metal, whence a staircase
+went down into the earth, and led them into a large and splendid chamber
+where the Earthwife lay. When the object of their visit was accomplished
+the Earthman thanked the woman much, and said: "You do not relish our
+meat and drink, wherefore I will bestow something else upon thee." With
+these words he gave her a whole apronful of black coals, and taking his
+lantern again he lighted the midwife and her husband home. On the way
+home she slily threw away one coal after another. The Earthman said
+nothing until he was about to take his leave, when he observed merely:
+"The less you scattered the more you might have." After he had gone the
+woman's husband remonstrated with her, bidding her keep the coals, for
+the Earthman appeared in earnest with his gift. When they reached home,
+however, she shook out her apron on the hearth, and behold! instead of
+coals, glittering true gold pieces. The woman now sought eagerly enough
+after the coals she had thrown away, but she found them not.[17]
+
+Confining our attention for the moment to the refusal of food, it would
+seem that the Earthman's apology in the foregoing narrative is, as too
+many human apologies are, a mere excuse. The real reason for the
+midwife's abstention was not that fairy food was distasteful, but that
+she durst not touch it, under penalty of never again returning to the
+light of day. A Danish tradition tells of a woman who was taken by an
+elf on Christmas Eve down into the earth to attend his wife. As soon as
+the elfwife was delivered her husband took the child away; for if he
+could find two newly married persons in the bridal bed, before they had
+repeated their Paternoster, he could, by laying the child between them,
+procure for it all the good fortune intended for the newly wedded pair.
+During his absence the elfwife took the opportunity of instructing her
+helper as to her conduct when he returned; and the first and chief point
+of her advice was to eat nothing that was offered her. The elfwife was
+herself a Christian woman who had been inveigled down into the dwellings
+of the elves; she had eaten, and therefore had never escaped again. On
+the elf's return, accordingly, the midwife refused food, and he said:
+"They did not strike thee on the mouth who taught thee that." Late
+rabbinical writings contain a similar legend of a Mohel, a man whose
+office it was to circumcise, who was summoned one winter's night by a
+stranger to perform the ceremony upon a child who would be eight days
+old the following day. The stranger led him to a lofty mountain, into
+the bowels of which they passed, and after descending many flights of
+steps found themselves in a great city. Here the Mohel was taken to a
+palace, in one of whose apartments was the child's mother lying. When
+she saw the Mohel she began to weep, and told him that he was in the
+land of the Mazikin, but that she was a human being, a Jewess, who had
+been carried away when little from home and brought thither. And she
+counselled him to take good heed to refuse everything whether of meat or
+drink that might be offered him: "For if thou taste anything of theirs
+thou wilt become like one of them, and wilt remain here for ever."[18]
+
+We touch here upon a very ancient and widespread superstition, which we
+may pause to illustrate from different parts of the world. A Manx tale,
+which can be traced back to Waldron, narrates the night adventure of a
+farmer who lost his way in returning home from Peel, and was led by the
+sound of music into a large hall where were a great number of little
+people feasting. Among them were some faces he seemed to know; but he
+took no notice of them until the little folk offered him drink, when one
+of them, whose features seemed not unknown to him, plucked him by the
+coat and forbade him, whatever he did, to taste anything he saw before
+him; "for if you do", he added, "you will be as I am, and return no more
+to your family."[19]
+
+It is necessary for the hero of a Picard story to go and seek the devil
+in his own abode. The devil of popular imagination, though a terrific
+ogre, is not the entirely Evil One of theologians; and one of his good
+points in the story referred to is that he has three fair daughters, the
+fairest of whom is compelled by the hero to help him in overcoming her
+father. She accordingly instructs him to eat no meat and to drink no
+wine at the devil's house, otherwise he will be poisoned. This may
+remind us of Kan Püdäi, who in the Altaic ballad descends with his steed
+to the middle of the earth and encounters various monsters. There the
+grass and the water of the mountain forest through which he rode were
+poison. In both cases, what is probably meant is, that to eat or drink
+is to return no more from these mysterious abodes; and it may be to the
+intent to obviate any such consequence that Saint Peter, in sending a
+certain king's son down through a black and stinking hole a hundred
+toises deep underground, in a Gascon tale, to fetch Saint Peter's own
+sword, provides him with just enough bread in his wallet every morning
+to prevent his bursting with hunger. An extension of this thought
+sometimes even prohibits the hero from accepting a seat or a bed offered
+by way of hospitality on the part of the devil, or the sorceress, to
+whose dwelling his business may take him, or even to look at the fair
+temptress who may seek to entice him to eat.[20]
+
+The meaning of the superstition is not easy to trace, but it should be
+remembered that in the lower stages of human civilization no distinction
+is drawn between supernatural or spiritual beings who have never been
+enclosed in human bodies, and the spirits of the dead. Savage philosophy
+mingles them together in one phantasmagoria of grotesquery and horror.
+The line which separates fairies and ogres from the souls of men has
+gradually grown up through ages of Christian teaching; and, broad as it
+may seem to us, it is occasionally hardly visible in these stories.
+Every now and then it is ignored, as in the case of the old friends
+found among the "little people" by the Manx farmer. Less startling than
+these, but quite as much in point, are the women, like some already
+mentioned, who are carried off into Fairyland, where they become wives
+and mothers. They can never come back to their old life, though they
+retain enough of the "mortal mixture" to require the adventurous human
+midwife to relieve their pains. Accordingly, we need not be surprised if
+the same incidents of story or fibres of superstition attach at one time
+to ghosts and at another to the non-human creatures of imagination, or
+if Hades and Fairyland are often confounded. Both are equally the realm
+of the supernatural. We may therefore inquire whether eating is
+forbidden to the chance sojourner in the place of the dead equally as to
+the sojourner in Fairyland, if he wish to return to the upper air. And
+we shall find that it is.
+
+Proserpine ate seven grains of a pomegranate which grew in the Elysian
+Fields, and so was compelled to remain in the Shades, the wife of "the
+grisly king." Thus, too, when Morgan the Fay takes measures to get Ogier
+the Dane into her power she causes him to be shipwrecked on a loadstone
+rock near to Avalon. Escaping from the sea, he comes to an orchard, and
+there eats an apple which, it is not too much to say, seals his fate.
+Again, when Thomas of Erceldoune is being led down by the Fairy Queen
+into her realm, he desires to eat of the fruit of certain trees.
+
+    "He presed to pul the frute with his honde,
+    As man for fode was nyhonde feynte;
+    She seid, Thomas, lat them stande,
+    Or ellis the fiend will the ateynte.
+    If thou pulle the sothe to sey,
+    Thi soule goeth to the fyre of hell
+    Hit cummes never out til doomsday,
+    But ther ever in payne to dwelle."
+
+An old story preserved for us by Saxo Grammaticus describes the visit of
+some Danish heroes to Guthmund, a giant who rules a delightful land
+beyond a certain river crossed by a golden bridge. Thorkill, their
+conductor, a Scandinavian Ulysses for cunning, warns his companions of
+the various temptations that will be set before them. They must forbear
+the food of the country, and be satisfied with that which they had
+brought with them; moreover, they must keep apart from the natives,
+taking care not so much as to touch them. In spite, however, of
+Thorkill's warnings to them, and his excuses in their behalf to the
+king, some of the heroes fell and were left behind when their friends
+were at last allowed to depart.[21] So far we see that the prohibition
+and the danger we found extant in the Fairyland of modern folk-tales
+apply also to the classic Hades; and we have traced them back a long way
+into the Middle Ages in French, British, and Danish traditions relating
+to fairies and other supernatural existences, with a special threat of
+Hell in the case of Thomas of Erceldoune.
+
+On the other side of the globe the Banks' islanders believe, like the
+Greeks, in an underground kingdom of the dead, which they call Panoi.
+Only a few years ago a woman was living who professed to have been down
+there. Her object had been to visit her brother, who had recently died.
+To do this she perfumed herself with water in which a dead rat had been
+steeped, so as to give herself a death-like smell. She then pulled up a
+bird's nest and descended through the hole thus made. Her brother, whom
+of course she found, cautioned her to eat nothing, and by taking his
+advice she was able to return. A similar tale is told of a New Zealand
+woman of rank, who was lucky enough to come back from the abode of
+departed spirits by the assistance of her father and his repeated
+commands to avoid tasting the disgusting food of the dead. Wäinämöinen,
+the epic hero of the Finns, determined to penetrate to Manala, the
+region of the dead. We need not follow in detail his voyage; it will
+suffice to say that on his arrival, after a long parley with the maiden
+daughter of Tuoni, the king of the island, beer was brought to him in a
+two-eared tankard.
+
+    "Wäinämöinen, old and trusty,
+    Gaz'd awhile upon the tankard;
+    Lo! within it frogs were spawning,
+    Worms about its sides were laying.
+    Words in this wise then he utter'd:
+    'Not to drink have I come hither
+    From the tankard of Manala,
+    Not to empty Tuoni's beaker;
+    They who drink of beer are drowned,
+    Those who drain the can are ruin'd.'"[22]
+
+The hero's concluding words might form a motto for our teetotallers; and
+in any case his abstinence enabled him to succeed in his errand and
+return. A point is made in the poem of the loathsome character of the
+beverage offered him, which thus agrees with the poison referred to in
+some of the narratives I have previously cited. The natives of the
+Southern Seas universally represent the sustenance of spirits as filthy
+and abominable. A most remarkable coincidence with the description of
+Tuoni's beer occurs in a curious story told on one of the Hervey
+Islands, concerning a Mangaian Dante. Being apparently near death, this
+man directed that, as soon as the breath was out of his body, a
+cocoa-nut should be cracked, and its kernel disengaged from the shell
+and placed upon his stomach under the grave-clothes. Having descended
+to the Shades, he beheld Miru, the horrible hag who rules them, and
+whose deformities need not now be detailed. She commanded him to draw
+near. "The trembling human spirit obeyed, and sat down before Miru.
+According to her unvarying practice she set for her intended victim a
+bowl of food, and bade him eat it quite up. Miru, with evident anxiety,
+waited to see him swallow it. As Tekanae took up the bowl, to his horror
+he found it to consist of living centipedes. The quick-witted mortal now
+recollected the cocoa-nut kernel at the pit of his stomach, and hidden
+from Miru's view by his clothes. With one hand he held the bowl to his
+lips, as if about to swallow its contents; with the other he secretly
+held the cocoa-nut kernel, and ate it--the bowl concealing the nut from
+Miru. It was evident to the goddess that Tekanae was actually swallowing
+_something_: what else could it be but the contents of the fatal bowl?
+Tekanae craftily contrived whilst eating the nourishing cocoa-nut to
+allow the live centipedes to fall on the ground one or two at a time. As
+the intended victim was all the time sitting on the ground it was no
+difficult achievement in this way to empty the bowl completely by the
+time he had finished the cocoa-nut. Miru waited in vain to see her
+intended victim writhing in agony and raging with thirst. Her practice
+on such occasions was to direct the tortured victim-spirit to dive in a
+lake close by, to seek relief. None that dived into that water ever came
+up alive; excessive anguish and quenchless thirst so distracting their
+thoughts that they were invariably drowned. Miru would afterwards cook
+and eat her victims at leisure. Here was a new event in her history: the
+bowl of living centipedes had been disposed of, and yet Tekanae
+manifested no sign of pain, no intention to leap into the cooling, but
+fatal, waters. Long did Miru wait; but in vain. At last she said to her
+visitor, 'Return to the upper world' (_i.e._, to life). 'Only remember
+this--do not speak against me to mortals. Reveal not my ugly form and
+my mode of treating my visitors. Should you be so foolish as to do so,
+you will certainly at some future time come back to my domains, and I
+will see to it that you do not escape my vengeance a second time!'
+Tekanae accordingly left the Shades, and came back to life"; but he, it
+is needless to say, carefully disregarded the hag's injunction, or we
+should not have had the foregoing veracious account of what happens
+below.[23]
+
+The tortures reserved for Miru's victims cast a weird light on the
+warning in the Picard story against eating and drinking what the devil
+may offer. But whether poisoning in the latter case would have been the
+preliminary to a hearty meal to be made off the unlucky youth by his
+treacherous host, or no, it is impossible to determine. What the tales
+do suggest, however, is that the food buried with the dead by
+uncivilized tribes may be meant to provide them against the contingency
+of having to partake of the hospitality of the Shades, and so afford
+them a chance of escaping back to the upper air. But, putting this
+conjecture aside, we have found the supposition that to eat of fairy
+food is to return no more, equally applicable to the world of the dead
+as to Fairyland. In seeking its meaning, therefore, we must not be
+satisfied without an explanation that will fit both. Almost all over the
+earth the rite of hospitality has been held to confer obligations on its
+recipient, and to unite him by special ties to the giver. And even where
+the notion of hospitality does not enter, to join in a common meal has
+often been held to symbolize, if not to constitute, union of a very
+sacred kind. The formation of blood relationship, or brotherhood, and
+formal adoption into a tribe or family (ceremonies well known in the
+lower culture), are usually, if not always, cemented in this way. The
+modern wedding breakfast, with its bridecake, is a survival from a very
+ancient mode of solemnizing the closest tie of all; and when Proserpine
+tasted a pomegranate she partook of a fruit of a specially symbolic
+character to signify acceptance of her new destiny as her captor's wife.
+Hence to partake of food in the land of spirits, whether they are human
+dead, or fairies, is to proclaim one's union with them and to renounce
+the fellowship of mortals.
+
+The other point emphasized in the Swedish tales quoted just now is the
+Troll's gratitude, as evidenced by his gifts to the successful midwife.
+Before considering this, however, let us note that these supernatural
+beings do not like to be imposed upon. A German midwife who was summoned
+by a Waterman, or Nix, to aid a woman in labour, was told by the latter:
+"I am a Christian woman as well as you; and I was carried off by a
+Waterman, who changed me. When my husband comes in now and offers you
+money, take no more from him than you usually get, or else he will twist
+your neck. Take good care!" And in another tale, told at Kemnitz of the
+Nicker, as he is there called, when he asks the midwife how much he owes
+her, she answers that she will take no more from him than from other
+people. "That's lucky for thee," he replies; "hadst thou demanded more,
+it would have gone ill with thee!" But for all that he gave her an apron
+full of gold and brought her safely home.[24]
+
+A Pomeranian story marks the transition to a type of tale wherein one
+special characteristic of elfin gifts is presented. For in this case,
+when the mannikin asked the midwife what her charge was, she modestly
+replied: "Oh, nothing; the little trouble I have had does not call for
+any payment." "Now then, lift up thy apron!" answered he; and it was
+quickly filled with the rubbish that lay in the corner of the room.
+Taking his lantern, the elf then politely guided her home. When she
+shook out the contents of her apron, lo! it was no rubbish which fell
+on the ground, but pure, shining minted gold. Hitherto she and her
+father had been very poor; thenceforth they had no more want their whole
+lives long. This gift of an object apparently worthless, which turns
+out, on the conditions being observed, of the utmost value, is a
+commonplace of fairy transactions. It is one of the most obvious
+manifestations of superhuman power; and as such it has always been a
+favourite incident in the stories of all nations. We have only to do
+here with the gift as it appears in the group under analysis; and in
+these cases it presents little variety. In a tale told on the lake of
+Zug the dwarf fills the woman's apron with something at which he bids
+her on no account look before she is in her own house. Her curiosity,
+however, is uncontrollable; and the moment the dwarf vanishes she peeps
+into her apron, to find simply black coals. She, in a rage, flings them
+away, keeping only two as evidence of the shabby treatment she had met
+with; but when she got home these two were nothing less than precious
+stones. She at once ran back to where she had shaken out the supposed
+coals; but they were all gone. So a recompense of straws, dust, birch
+leaves, or shavings becomes, as elsewhere told, pure gold, pure silver,
+or thalers. Nor is the story confined to Europe. In Dardistan it is
+related that a boy, taken down by a Yatsh, or demon, into an underground
+palace, is allowed to be present at a Yatsh wedding. He finds the
+Yatshes assembled in great force and in possession of a number of
+valuables belonging to the dwellers in his own village. On his return
+his guide presents him with a sack full of coals, which he empties as
+soon as he is out of sight. One little piece, however, remains, and is
+transformed into a gold coin when he reaches home.[25]
+
+Conversely, when the midwife is rewarded with that which seems valuable
+it turns out worthless. An Irishwoman, in relating a professional
+experience among the Good People, wound up her story as follows: "The
+king slipped five guineas into my hand as soon as I was on the ground,
+and thanked me, and bade me good-night. I hope I'll never see his face
+again. I got into bed, and couldn't sleep for a long time; and when I
+examined my five guineas this morning, that I left in the table-drawer
+the last thing, I found five withered leaves of oak--bad scran to the
+giver!" This incident recalls the Barber's tale of his fourth brother in
+the "Arabian Nights." This unlucky man went on selling meat to a
+sorcerer for five months, and putting the bright new money in which the
+latter paid him into a box by itself; but when he came to open the box
+he found in it nothing but a parcel of leaves, or, as Sir Richard Burton
+has it, bits of white paper cut round to look like coin. Chinese
+folklore is full of similar occurrences, which we cannot now stay to
+discuss. But, returning to western traditions, there is a way of
+counteracting the elves' transforming magic. The wife of a farmer named
+Niels Hansen, of Uglerup, in Denmark, was summoned to attend a
+troll-wife, who told her that the troll, her husband, would offer her a
+quantity of gold; "but," she said, "unless you cast this knife behind
+you when you go out, it will be nothing but coal when you reach home".
+The woman followed her patient's advice, and so continued to carry
+safely home a costly present of gold.[26]
+
+The objection of supernatural beings to iron, and its power of undoing
+their charms, will be considered in a future chapter. The good luck of
+Niels Hansen's wife offers meantime another subject of interest; for it
+was due to her own kindness of heart. A short time before she had been
+raking hay in a field, when she caught a large and fat toad between the
+teeth of her rake. She gently released it, saying: "Poor thing! I see
+that thou needest help; I will help thee." That toad was the troll-wife,
+and as she afterwards attended her she was horrified to see a hideous
+serpent hanging down just above her head. Her fright led to explanations
+and an expression of gratitude on the part of the troll-wife. This
+incident is by no means uncommon; but a very few examples must suffice
+here. Generally the woman's terror is attributed to a millstone hanging
+over her head. At Grammendorf, in Pomerania, a maid saw, every time she
+went to milk the cows, a hateful toad hopping about in the stable. She
+determined to kill it, and would have seized it one day had it not, in
+the very nick of time, succeeded in creeping into a hole, where she
+could not get at it. A few days after, when she was again busy in the
+stable, a little Ulk, as the elves there are called, came and invited
+her to descend with him into Fairyland. On reaching the bottom of a
+staircase with her conductor, she found her services were required for
+an Ulkwife, whose time was at hand. Entering the dwelling she was
+frightened to observe a huge millstone above her, suspended by a silken
+thread; and the Ulk, seeing her terror, told her she had caused him
+exactly the same, when she chased the poor toad and attempted to kill
+it. The girl was compelled to share in the feast which followed. When it
+was over she was given a piece of gold, that she was carefully to
+preserve; for so long as she did so she would never be in want of money.
+But her guide warned her at parting never to relate her experience,
+otherwise the elves would fetch her again, and set her under the
+millstone, which would then fall and crush her. Whether this was indeed
+the consequence of her narrating this very true story we do not know.
+After some of the beliefs we have been considering in the foregoing
+pages it is, however, interesting to note that no ill attended her
+eating and drinking in Fairyland, and that the gold she received did not
+turn to dross, though it possessed other miraculous qualities which
+might very well have led her to the bad end threatened by the Ulk.
+Perhaps a portion of the story has been lost.[27]
+
+Sometimes a different turn is given to the tale. A Swabian peasant-woman
+was once in the fields with her servant-maid, when they saw a big toad.
+The woman told her maid to kill it. The latter replied: "No; I won't do
+that, and I will stand sponsor for it yet once more." Not long
+afterwards she was sent for to become sponsor, and was conducted into
+the lake, where she found the toad now in guise of a woman. After the
+ceremony was over, the lake-woman rewarded her with a bushel of straw,
+and sent by her hand a girdle for her mistress. On the way home the girl
+tried the girdle on a tree to see how it would look, and in a moment the
+tree was torn into a thousand pieces. This was the punishment devised by
+the lake-woman for her mistress, because she had wished to put her to
+death while in the form of a toad. The straw was, of course, pure gold;
+but the girl foolishly cast it all away except a few stalks which clung
+to her dress. So a countryman who accidentally spilt some hot broth on a
+witch, disguised as a toad, is presented by her another day with a
+girdle for his little son. Suspecting something wrong, he tries it on
+his dog, which at once swells up and bursts. This is a Saxon saga from
+Transylvania; an Irish saga brings us to the same catastrophe. There a
+girl meets a frog which is painfully bloated, and kicks it unfeelingly
+aside, with the words: "May you never be delivered till I am midwife to
+you!" Now the frog was a water-fairy dwelling in a lake, into which the
+girl soon after was conveyed and compelled to become the fairy's
+midwife. By way of reward she is presented with a red cloak, which, on
+her way home, she hangs up in admiration on a tree. Well was it for her
+that she did so, for it set the tree on fire; and had she worn it, as
+she meant to do, on the following Sunday at Mass, the chapel itself
+would have been in a blaze.[28]
+
+The fairies' revenge here missed its mark, though calculated on no
+trifling scale. Indeed, the rewards they bestowed were never nicely
+balanced with the good or ill they intended to requite, but were
+showered in open-handed fashion as by those who could afford to be
+lavish. Of this we have already had several instances; a few more may be
+given. At Palermo a tale is told of a midwife who was one day cooking in
+her own kitchen when a hand appeared and a voice cried: "Give to me!"
+She took a plate and filled it from the food she was preparing.
+Presently the hand returned the plate full of golden money. This was
+repeated daily; and the woman, seeing the generous payment, became more
+and more free with her portions of food. At the end of nine months a
+knocking was heard at the door; and, descending, she found two giants,
+who caught her up on their shoulders, and unceremoniously ran off with
+her. They carried her to a lady who needed her offices, and she assisted
+to bring into the world two fine boys. The lady evidently was fully
+alive to her own dignity, for she kept the woman a proper human month,
+to the distress of her husband, who, not knowing what had become of her,
+searched the city night and day, and at last gave her up for dead. Then
+the lady (a fairy princess she was) asked her if she wished to go, and
+whether she would be paid by blows or pinches. The poor midwife deemed
+her last hour was come, and said to herself that if she must die it
+would be better to die quickly; so she chose blows. Accordingly the
+princess called the two giants, and sent her home with a large sack of
+money, which enabled her to relinquish business, set up her carriage,
+and become one of the first ladies in Palermo. Ten years passed; and one
+day a grand carriage stopped at her door. A lady alighted and entered
+her palace. When she had her face to face, the lady said: "Gossip, do
+you know me?" "No, madam." "What! do you not remember that I am the lady
+to whom you came ten years ago, when these children were born? I, too,
+am she who held out her hand and asked for food. I was the fairies'
+captive; and if you had not been generous enough to give me to eat, I
+should have died in the night. And because you were generous you have
+become rich. Now I am freed, and here I am with my sons." The quondam
+midwife, with tears in her eyes, looked at her, and blessed the moment
+she had done a generous act. So they became lifelong friends.[29]
+
+I have given the foregoing tale almost at full length because it has
+not, so far as I know, appeared before in any other than its native
+Sicilian dress, and because analogous stories are not common in
+collections from Mediterranean countries. This rarity is not, I need
+hardly say, from any absence of the mythological material, and perhaps
+it may be due to accident in the formation of the collections. If the
+story were really wanting elsewhere in Southern Europe, we might be
+permitted the conjecture that its presence in Sicily was to be accounted
+for by the Norman settlements there. One such story, however, is
+recorded from the Island of Kimolos, one of the Cyclades, but without
+the human captivity in Elfland, without the acts of charity, and without
+the gratitude. The Nereids of the Kimoliote caves are of a grimmer
+humour than the kindly-natured underground folk of Celtic and Teutonic
+lands, or than the heroine of Palermo. The payment to their human help
+is no subject of jest to them. A woman whom they once called in was
+roundly told: "If it be a boy you shall be happy; but if it be a girl we
+will tear you in four parts, and hang you in this cave." The unhappy
+midwife of course determined that it should be a boy; and when a girl
+arrived she made believe it was a boy, swaddled it up tightly, and went
+home. When, eight days afterwards, the child was unpacked, the Nereids'
+rage and disappointment were great; and they sent one of their number to
+knock at her door in the hope that she would answer the first summons.
+Now to answer the first summons of a Nereid meant madness. Of this the
+woman was fully aware; and her cunning cheated them even of their
+revenge.[30]
+
+Sometimes these supernatural beings bestow gifts of a more distinctly
+divine character than any of the foregoing. A midwife in Strathspey, on
+one such occasion, was desired to ask what she would, and it should be
+granted if in the power of the fairies. She asked that success might
+attend herself and her posterity in all similar operations. The gift was
+conferred; and her great-grandson still continued to exercise it when
+Mr. Stewart was collecting the materials for his work on the
+superstitions of the Highlanders, published in 1823. In like manner the
+Mohel, to whose adventure I have already referred, and who was
+originally an avaricious man, received the grace of benevolence to the
+poor, which caused him to live a long and happy life with his family, a
+pattern unto the whole world. The gift was symbolized by the
+restoration to him of his own bunch of keys, which he found with many
+others in the possession of his uncanny conductor. This personage had
+held the keys by virtue of his being lord over the hearts of those who
+never at any time do good: in other words, he was the demon of
+covetousness. Here we have an instance, more or less conscious, of the
+tendency, so marked in Jewish literature, to parable. But the form of
+the parable bears striking testimony to its origin in a myth common to
+many races. The keys in particular probably indicate that the recompense
+at one time took the shape of a palladium. This is not at all uncommon
+in the tales. The Countess Von Ranzau was once summoned from her castle
+of Breitenburg in Schleswig to the help of a dwarf-woman, and in return
+received, according to one account, a large piece of gold to be made
+into fifty counters, a herring and two spindles, upon the preservation
+of which the fortunes of the family were to depend. The gifts are
+variously stated in different versions of the tale, but all the versions
+agree in attaching to them blessings on the noble house of Ranzau so
+long as they were kept in the family. The Frau Von Hahnen, in a Bohemian
+legend, receives for her services to a water-nix three pieces of gold,
+with the injunction to take care of them, and never to let them go out
+of the hands of her own lineage, else the whole family would fall into
+poverty. She bequeathed the treasures to her three sons; but the
+youngest son took a wife, who with a light heart gave the fairy gold
+away. Misery, of course, resulted from her folly; and the race of Hahnen
+speedily came to an end.[31]
+
+It is quite possible that the spoons bestowed by Vitra upon the
+clergyman's wife in Lappmark were once reputed to be the subject of a
+similar proviso. So common, forsooth, was the stipulation, that in one
+way or other it was annexed to well-nigh all fairy gifts: they brought
+luck to their possessor for the time being. Examples of this are
+endless: one only will content us in this connection; and, like Vitra's
+gift, we shall find it in Swedish Lappmark. A peasant who had one day
+been unlucky at the chase, was returning disgusted, when he met a fine
+gentleman who begged him to come and cure his wife. The peasant
+protested in vain that he was not a doctor. The other would take no
+denial, insisting that it was no matter, for if he would only put his
+hands upon the lady she would be healed. Accordingly the stranger led
+him to the very top of a mountain, where was perched a castle he had
+never seen before. On entering it he found the walls were mirrors, the
+roof overhead of silver, the carpets of gold-embroidered silk, and the
+furniture of the purest gold and jewels. The stranger took him into a
+room where lay the loveliest of princesses on a golden bed, screaming
+with pain. As soon as she saw the peasant she begged him to come and put
+his hands upon her. Almost stupefied with astonishment he hesitated to
+lay his coarse hands upon so fair a dame. But at length he yielded; and
+in a moment her pain ceased, and she was made whole. She stood up and
+thanked him, begging him to tarry awhile and eat with them. This,
+however, he declined to do, for he feared that if he tasted the food
+which was offered him he must remain there. The stranger whom he had
+followed then took a leathern purse, filled it with small round pieces
+of wood, and gave it to the peasant with these words: "So long as thou
+art in possession of this purse money will never fail thee. But if thou
+shouldst ever see me again, beware of speaking to me; for if thou speak
+thy luck will depart." When the man got home he found the purse filled
+with dollars; and by virtue of its magical property he became the
+richest man in the parish. As soon as he found the purse always full,
+whatever he took out of it, he began to live in a spendthrift manner
+and frequented the alehouse. One evening as he sat there he beheld the
+stranger with a bottle in his hand going round and gathering the drops
+which the guests shook from time to time out of their glasses. The rich
+peasant was surprised that one who had given him so much did not seem
+able to buy himself a single dram, but was reduced to this means of
+getting a drink. Thereupon he went up to him and said: "Thou hast shown
+me more kindness than any other man ever did, and I will willingly treat
+thee to a little." The words were scarce out of his mouth when he
+received such a blow on his head that he fell stunned to the ground; and
+when again he came to himself the stranger and his purse were both gone.
+From that day forward he became poorer and poorer, until he was reduced
+to absolute beggary.[32]
+
+This story exemplifies every point that had had interested us in this
+discussion: the need of the Trolls for human help, the refusal of food,
+fairy gratitude, and the conditions involved in the acceptance of
+supernatural gifts. It mentions one further characteristic of fairy
+nature--the objection to be recognized and addressed by men who are
+privileged to see them. But the consideration of this requires another
+chapter.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[15] "Y Cymmrodor," vol. v. p. 70, translated from "Y Brython," vol. iv.
+p. 251.
+
+[16] Poestion, p. 111; Grimm, "Teut. Myth." p. 457, note, quoting at
+length the declaration from Hülpher, "Samlingen om Jämtland." A
+translation will be found in Keightley, p. 122.
+
+[17] Meier, p. 59.
+
+[18] Thorpe, vol. ii. p. 128, from Thiele, "Danmark's Folkesagn";
+Keightley, p. 506.
+
+[19] Waldron, p. 28.
+
+[20] "Mélusine," vol. i. p. 446; Radloff, vol. i. p. 78; Bladé, vol. i.
+p. 161; Cosquin, vol. ii. p. 10; Cavallius, p. 281; "Revue des Trad.
+Pop." vol. iv. p. 222.
+
+[21] Child, vol. i. p. 319; "Thomas of Erceldoune," p. 11 (Cambridge
+Text); Saxo, "Gesta Dan." l. viii.
+
+[22] _Journal of Anthrop. Inst._ vol. x. p. 282; Shortland, p. 150;
+"Kalewala," rune xvi. l. 293.
+
+[23] Gill, p. 172.
+
+[24] Keightley, p. 261; Kuhn und Schwartz, p. 93.
+
+[25] Jahn, p. 72; Keightley, p. 275, quoting Müller, "Bilder und Sagen
+aus der Schweiz," p. 119; Birlinger, "Volksthümliches," vol. i. p. 42;
+Kuhn, p. 82; Thorpe, vol. ii. p. 128; vol. iii. p. 54, quoting
+Müllenhoff, "Sagen, &c., der Herzogthümer Schleswig, Holstein und
+Lauenburg"; Kuhn und Schwartz, p. 173; Wratislaw, p. 40; Wenzig, p. 198;
+Liebrecht, p. 100, citing "Results of a Tour in Dardistan", part iii. p.
+3.
+
+[26] Kennedy, p. 106; Thorpe, vol. ii. p. 130, quoting Thiele,
+"Danmark's Folkesagn."
+
+[27] Jahn, p. 64; _cf._ p. 74, where there are two maidens, one of whom
+had saved the toad when the other desired to kill it. They stand
+sponsors for the fairy child, and are rewarded with sweepings which turn
+to gold; also Bartsch, vol. i. p. 50, where a sword is suspended.
+
+[28] Meier, p. 69; Müller, p. 140; "N. and Q.," 7th ser. vol. v. p. 501.
+
+[29] Pitré, vol. v. p. 23. The story in its present form does not say
+that the human food enabled the lady to return from Fairyland, but only
+that it saved her life. Probably, however, an earlier version may have
+shown the incident in a more primitive form.
+
+[30] Bent, p. 46.
+
+[31] Keightley, p. 388, citing Stewart; Thorpe, vol. iii. p. 50 _et
+seq._, quoting Müllenhoff and Thiele; Grohmann, p. 145; see also Thorpe,
+vol. iii. p. 51.
+
+[32] Poestion, p. 119.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+FAIRY BIRTHS AND HUMAN MIDWIVES (_continued_).
+
+     The magical ointment--Human prying punished by fairies, and by
+     other supernatural beings--Dame Berchta--Hertha--Lady
+     Godiva--Analogous stories in Europe--In the East--Religious
+     ceremonies performed by women only--Lady Godiva a pagan goddess.
+
+
+Before we quit the subject of fairy births, we have a few more stories
+to discuss. They resemble in their general tenor those already noticed;
+but instead of one or other of the incidents considered in the previous
+chapter we are led to a different catastrophe by the introduction of a
+new incident--that of the Magical Ointment. The plot no longer hinges
+upon fairy gratitude, but upon human curiosity and disobedience.
+
+The typical tale is told, and exceedingly well told--though, alas! not
+exactly in the language of the natives--by Mrs. Bray in her Letters to
+Southey, of a certain midwife of Tavistock. One midnight, as she was
+getting into bed, this good woman was summoned by a strange,
+squint-eyed, little, ugly old fellow to follow him straightway, and
+attend upon his wife. In spite of her instinctive repulsion she could
+not resist the command; and in a moment the little man whisked her, with
+himself, upon a large coal-black horse with eyes of fire, which stood
+waiting at the door. Ere long she found herself at the door of a neat
+cottage; the patient was a decent-looking woman who already had two
+children, and all things were prepared for her visit. When the child--a
+fine, bouncing babe--was born, its mother gave the midwife some
+ointment, with directions to "strike the child's eyes with it." Now the
+word _strike_ in the Devonshire dialect means not to give a blow, but to
+rub, or touch, gently; and as the woman obeyed she thought the task an
+odd one, and in her curiosity tried the effect of the ointment upon one
+of her own eyes. At once a change was wrought in the appearance of
+everything around her. The new mother appeared no longer as a homely
+cottager, but a beautiful lady attired in white; the babe, fairer than
+before, but still witnessing with the elvish cast of its eye to its
+paternity, was wrapped in swaddling clothes of silvery gauze; while the
+elder children, who sat on either side of the bed, were transformed into
+flat-nosed imps, who with mops and mows were busied to no end in
+scratching their own polls, or in pulling the fairy lady's ears with
+their long and hairy paws. The nurse, discreetly silent about what she
+had done and the wonderful metamorphoses she beheld around her, got away
+from the house of enchantment as quickly as she could; and the
+sour-looking old fellow who had brought her carried her back on his
+steed much faster than they had come. But the next market-day, when she
+sallied forth to sell her eggs, whom should she see but the same
+ill-looking scoundrel busied in pilfering sundry articles from stall to
+stall. So she went up to him, and with a nonchalant air addressed him,
+inquiring after his wife and child, who, she hoped, were both as well as
+could be expected. "What!" exclaimed the old pixy thief, "do you _see_
+me to-day?" "See you! to be sure I do, as plain as I see the sun in the
+skies; and I see you are busy into the bargain," she replied. "Do you
+so?" cried he; "pray, with which eye do you see all this?" "With the
+right eye, to be sure." "The ointment! the ointment!" exclaimed the old
+fellow; "take that for meddling with what did not belong to you: you
+shall see me no more." He struck her eye as he spoke, and from that
+hour till the day of her death she was blind on the right side, thus
+dearly paying for having gratified an idle curiosity in the house of a
+pixy.[33]
+
+In this tale the midwife acquired her supernatural vision through
+gratifying her curiosity; but perhaps in the larger number of instances
+it is acquired by accident. Her eye smarts or itches; and without
+thinking, she rubs it with a finger covered with the Magical Ointment.
+In a Breton variant, however, a certain stone, perfectly polished, and
+in the form of an egg, is given to the woman to rub the fairy child's
+eyes. In order to test its virtue she applies it to her own right eye,
+thus obtaining the faculty of seeing the elves when they rendered
+themselves invisible to ordinary sight. Sometimes, moreover, the
+eye-salve is expressly given for the purpose of being used by the nurse
+upon her own eyes. This was the case with a doctor who, in a north
+country tale, was presented with one kind of ointment before he entered
+the fairy realm and another when he left it. The former gave him to
+behold a splendid portico in the side of a steep hill, through which he
+passed into the fairies' hall within; but on anointing one eye with the
+latter ointment, to that eye the hill seemed restored to its natural
+shape. Similarly in Nithsdale a fairy rewards the kindness of a young
+mother, to whom she had committed her babe to suckle, by taking her on a
+visit to Fairyland. A door opened in a green hillside, disclosing a
+porch which the nurse and her conductor entered. There the lady dropped
+three drops of a precious dew on the nurse's left eyelid, and they were
+admitted to a beautiful land watered with meandering rivulets and yellow
+with corn, where the trees were laden with fruits which dropped honey.
+The nurse was here presented with magical gifts, and when a green dew
+had baptized her right eye she was enabled to behold further wonders.
+On returning, the fairy passed her hand over the woman's eye and
+restored its normal powers; but the woman had sufficient address to
+secure the wonder-working balm. By its means she retained for many years
+the gift of discerning the earth-visiting spirits; but on one occasion,
+happening to meet the fairy lady who had given her the child, she
+attempted to shake hands with her. "What ee d' ye see me wi'?" whispered
+she. "Wi' them baith," answered the matron. The fairy accordingly
+breathed on her eyes; and even the power of the box failed afterwards to
+restore their enchanted vision. A Carnarvonshire story, probably
+incomplete, makes no mention of the ointment conferring supernatural
+sight; but when the midwife is to be dismissed she is told to rub her
+eyes with a certain salve, whereupon she at once finds herself sitting
+on a tuft of rushes, and not in a palace: baby and all had disappeared.
+The sequel, however, shows that by some means she had retained the power
+of seeing fairies, at least with one eye; for when she next went to the
+town, lo and behold! busily buying was the elf whose wife she had
+attended. He betrayed the usual annoyance at being noticed by the woman;
+and on learning with which eye she saw him he vanished, never more to be
+looked upon by her. A tale from Guernsey attributes the magical faculty
+to some of the child's saliva which fell into the nurse's eye. And a
+still more extraordinary cause is assigned to it in a tradition from
+Lower Brittany, where it is said to be due to the sacred bond formed
+between the woman and a masculine elf when she became godmother and he
+godfather to the babe.[34]
+
+The effect of the wonder-working salve or water is differently described
+in different tales. The fairy maiden Rockflower speaks of it to her
+lover, in a Breton tale from Saint Cast, as "clearing his eyes like her
+own." And this is evidently to be understood in all cases. Accordingly,
+we find the invariable result is that the favoured mortal beholds swarms
+of fairies who were invisible before. But their dwellings, their
+clothing, and their surroundings in general suffer a transformation by
+no means always the same. A hovel or a cavern becomes a palace, whose
+inhabitants, however ugly they may be, are attired like princesses and
+courtiers, and are served with vessels of silver and gold. On the other
+hand a castle is changed by the magical balm into "a big rough cave,
+with water oozing over the edges of the stones, and through the clay;
+and the lady, and the lord, and the child, weazened, poverty-bitten
+crathurs--nothing but skin and bone, and the rich dresses were old
+rags." This is an Irish picture; but in the north of England it is much
+the same. Instead of a neat cottage the midwife perceives the large
+overhanging branches of an ancient oak, whose hollow and moss-grown
+trunk she had before mistaken for the fireplace, where glow-worms
+supplied the place of lamps. And in North Wales, when Mrs. Gamp
+incautiously rubbed an itching eye with the finger she had used to rub
+the baby's eyes, "then she saw with that eye that the wife lay on a
+bundle of rushes and withered ferns, in a large cave of big stones all
+round her, with a little fire in one corner of it; and she also saw that
+the lady was only Eilian, her former servant-girl, whilst with the other
+eye she beheld the finest place she had ever seen." More terrible still,
+in another story, evidently influenced by the Welsh Methodist revival,
+the unhappy woman beheld "herself surrounded by fearful flames; the
+ladies and gentlemen looked like devils, and the children appeared like
+the most hideous imps of hell, though with the other parts of her eyes
+all looked grand and beautiful as before."[35]
+
+However disturbing these visions may have been, the nurse was generally
+discreet enough to maintain perfect silence upon them until she got back
+to the safety of her own home. But it is not very surprising if her
+tongue sometimes got the better of her, as in a story obtained by
+Professor Rhys at Ystrad Meurig. There the heroine said to the elf-lady
+in the evening, as she was dressing the infant: "You have had a great
+many visitors to-day." To this the lady sharply replied: "How do you
+know that? Have you been putting the ointment to your eyes?" Thereupon
+she jumped out of bed, and blew into her eyes, saying: "Now you will see
+no more." The woman could never afterwards see the fairies, nor was the
+ointment entrusted to her again. So in the Cornish tale of Cherry of
+Zennor, that young damsel, being hired by a fairy widower to keep house
+for him, has the assurance to fall in love with him. She touches her own
+eyes with the unguent kept for anointing the eyes of her master's little
+boy, and in consequence catches her master kissing a lovely lady. When
+he next attempts to kiss Cherry herself she slaps his face, and, mad
+with jealousy, lets slip the secret. No fairy widower with any
+self-respect could put up with such conduct as this; and Cherry has to
+quit Fairyland. Her parents had supposed her dead; and when she returned
+they believed at first it was her ghost. Indeed, it is said she was
+never afterwards right in her head; and on moonlight nights, until she
+died, she would wander on to the Lady Downs to look for her master.[36]
+
+The earliest writer who mentions a story of this type is Gervase of
+Tilbury, marshal of the kingdom of Arles, who wrote about the beginning
+of the thirteenth century. He professes to have himself met with a woman
+of Arles who was one day washing clothes on the banks of the Rhone, when
+a wooden bowl floated by her. In trying to catch it, she got out of her
+depth and was seized by a Drac. The Dracs were beings who haunted the
+waters of rivers and dwelt in the deep pools, appearing often on the
+banks and in the towns in human form. The woman in question was carried
+down beneath the stream, and, like Cherry of Zennor, made nurse to her
+captor's son. One day the Drac gave her an eel pasty to eat. Her fingers
+became greasy with the fat; and she happened to put them to one of her
+eyes. Forthwith she acquired a clear and distinct vision under the
+water. After some years she was allowed to return to her husband and
+family; and going early one morning to the market-place of Beaucaire,
+she met the Drac. Recognizing him at once, she saluted him and asked
+after the health of his wife and child. "With which eye do you see me?"
+inquired the Drac. The woman pointed to the eye she had touched with the
+eel-fat; and thrusting his finger into it, the Drac vanished from
+sight.[37]
+
+The only punishment suffered in these cases is the deprivation of the
+power of seeing fairies, or banishment from their society. This seems
+mild enough: much more was generally inflicted. The story first quoted
+relates what seems to be the ordinary form of vengeance for disregard of
+the prohibition to use the fairy eye-salve, namely, loss of sight in the
+offending eye. Spitting or striking is usually the means adopted by the
+elves to effect this end. Sometimes, however, the eye is torn from its
+socket. Whether there is much to choose between these different ways of
+undergoing the punishment is doubtful; but it should be noted that the
+last-mentioned mode is a favourite one in Brittany, and follows not so
+much on recognition as on denunciation by the virtuous mortal of the
+elf's thieving propensities. "See what thieves these fairies are!" cried
+a woman who watched one of them putting her hand into the pocket of a
+country woman's apron. The fairy instantly turned round and tore out her
+eye. "Thieves!" bawled another on a similar occasion, with the same
+result. In a Cornish tale a woman is entrusted in her own house with the
+care of an elf-child. The child brought remarkable prosperity to the
+house, and his foster-mother grew very fond of him. Finding that a
+certain water in which she was required to wash his face made it very
+bright, she determined to try it on her own, and splashed some of it
+into her eye. This conferred the gift of seeing the little people, who
+played with her boy, but had hitherto been invisible to her; and one day
+she was surprised to meet her nursling's father in the market--stealing.
+Recognition followed, and the stranger exclaimed:
+
+    "Water for elf, not water for self,
+    You've lost your eye, your child, and yourself."
+
+From that hour she was blind in the right eye. When she got home the boy
+was gone; and she and her husband, who had once been so happy, became
+poor and wretched.[38]
+
+Here poverty and wretchedness, as well as the loss of an eye, were
+inflicted. In a Northumbrian case the foster-parent lost his charge and
+both eyes. So in a story from Guernsey, the midwife, on the Saturday
+following her attendance on the lady, meets the husband and father in a
+shop filling his basket to right and left. She at once comprehends the
+plenty that reigned in his mysterious dwelling. "Ah, you wicked thief, I
+see you!" she cried. "You see me; how?" he inquired. "With my eyes," she
+replied. "In that case I will soon put you out of power to play the
+spy," he answered. So saying, he spat in her face, and she became blind
+on the spot. A Danish story also relates that a midwife, who had
+inadvertently anointed her eyes with the salve handed to her by the
+elf-folk for the usual purpose, was going home afterwards and passed by
+a rye-field. The field was swarming with elves, who were busy clipping
+off the ears of rye. Indignantly she cried out: "What are you doing
+there?" The little people thronged round her, and angrily answered: "If
+thou canst see us, thus shalt thou be served;" and suiting the action to
+the word, they put out her eyes.[39]
+
+Human beings, however, betray their meddling with fairy ointment in
+other ways than by speech. The following curious story was related as
+current at his native place, by Dr. Carré of St. Jacut-de-la-Mer, to M.
+Sébillot. A fisherman from St. Jacut was the last to return one evening
+at dusk from the scene of his labours; and as he walked along the wet
+sand of the seashore, he suddenly came upon a number of sea-fairies in a
+cavern, talking and gesticulating with vivacity, though he could not
+hear what they said. He beheld them rub their eyes and bodies with a
+sort of pomade, when, lo! their appearance changed, and they were
+enabled to walk away in the guise of ordinary women. Hiding carefully
+behind a large rock, he watched them out of sight; and then, impelled by
+curiosity, he made straight for the cave. There he found what was left
+of the pomade, and taking a little on his finger, he smeared it around
+his left eye. By this means he found himself able to penetrate the
+various disguises assumed by the fairies for the purpose of robbing or
+annoying mankind. He recognized as one of that mischievous race a
+beggar-woman whom he saw a few days afterwards going from door to door
+demanding charity. He saw her casting spells on certain houses, and
+peering eagerly into all, as if she were seeking for something to steal.
+He distinguished, too, when out in his boat, fish which were real fish
+from fish which were in reality "ladies of the sea," employed in
+entangling the nets and playing other tricks upon the seamen. Attending
+the fair of Ploubalay, he saw several elves who had assumed the shapes
+of fortune-tellers, showmen, or gamblers, to deceive the country folk;
+and this permitted him to keep clear of their temptations. But as he
+smiled to himself at what was going on around him, some of the elves,
+who were exhibiting themselves on a platform in front of one of the
+booths, caught sight of him; and he saw by the anger in their looks that
+they had divined his secret. Before he had time to fly, one of them,
+with the rapidity of an arrow, struck his clairvoyant eye with a stick
+and burst it. That is what happened to him who would learn the secrets
+of the sea-fairies.[40]
+
+Such was the punishment of curiosity; nor is it by fairies alone that
+curiosity is punished. Cranmere Pool on Dartmoor is, we are told, a
+great penal settlement for refractory spirits. Many of the former
+inhabitants of the parish are supposed to be still there expiating their
+ghostly pranks. Of the spirit of one old farmer it is related that it
+took seven clergymen to secure him. They, however, succeeded at last in
+transforming him into a colt, which was given in charge to a servant-boy
+with directions to take him to Cranmere Pool, and there on the brink of
+the pool to slip off the halter and return instantly without looking
+round. He did look round, in spite of the warning, and beheld the colt
+in the form of a ball of fire plunge into the water. But as the
+mysterious beast plunged he gave the lad a parting kick, which knocked
+out one of his eyes, just as the Calender was deprived of his eye in the
+"Arabian Nights." Still worse was the fate that overtook a woman, who,
+at midnight on New Year's Eve, when all water is turned into wine, was
+foolhardy enough to go to a well. As she bent over it to draw, one came
+and plucked out her eye, saying:
+
+    "All water is wine,
+    And thy two eyes are mine."
+
+A variant of the story relates that the woman herself disappeared, and
+gives the rhyme as
+
+    "All water is wine,
+    And what is thereby is mine."[41]
+
+At the end of the last chapter we noted as a characteristic of fairy
+nature the objection to be recognized and addressed by men who are
+privileged to see them. We are now able to carry the generalization a
+step further. For, from the instances adduced in the foregoing pages, it
+is obviously a common belief that supernatural personages, without
+distinction, dislike not merely being recognized and addressed, but even
+being seen, or at all events being watched, and are only willing to be
+manifested to humanity at their own pleasure and for their own purposes.
+In the stories of the Magical Ointment it is not so much the theft as
+the contravention of the implicit prohibition against prying into fairy
+business that rouses elfin anger. This will appear more clearly from the
+fuller consideration of cases like those mentioned in the last
+paragraph, in which punishment follows directly upon the act of spying.
+In Northamptonshire, we learn that a man whose house was frequented by
+fairies, and who had received many favours from them, became smitten
+with a violent desire to behold his invisible benefactors. Accordingly,
+he one night stationed himself behind a knot in the door which divided
+the living-room of his cottage from the sleeping-apartment. True to
+their custom, the elves came to disport themselves on his
+carefully-swept hearth, and to render to the household their usual good
+offices. But no sooner had the man glanced upon them than he became
+blind; and so provoked were the fairies at this breach of hospitality
+that they deserted his dwelling, and never more returned to it. In
+Southern Germany and Switzerland, a mysterious lady known as Dame
+Berchta is reputed to be abroad on Twelfth Night. She is admittedly the
+relic of a heathen goddess, one of whose attributes was to be a leader
+of the souls of the dead; and as such she is followed by a band of
+children. For her the peasants on Twelfth Night set a repast, of which,
+if she be pleased, she and her troop partake. A servant boy at a
+peasant's farm in the Tirol on one such occasion perceived Lady
+Berchta's approach, and hid himself behind the kneading-trough to watch
+what she would do. She immediately became aware of his presence as he
+peeped through a chink, and called to one of her children to go and stop
+that chink. The child went and blew into it, and the boy became
+stark-blind. Thus he continued for a year, nor could any doctor help
+him, until an old experienced man advised him to go to the same place on
+the following Twelfth-tide, and falling down on his knees behind the
+kneading-trough, to bewail his curiosity. He accordingly did so. Dame
+Berchta came again, and taking pity on him, commanded one of her
+children to restore his sight. The child went and blew once more through
+the chink, and the boy saw. Berchta, however, and her weird troop he saw
+not; but the food set out for them had disappeared.[42]
+
+The tradition of the goddess Hertha lingered until recently, and
+perchance lingers still, in the island of Rügen. She had her dwelling,
+it is believed, in the Herthaburg; and often yet, in the clear
+moonlight, out of the forest which enfolds that hill, a fair lady comes
+surrounded by her maids to bathe in the lake at its foot. After awhile
+they emerge from the waters, and, wrapt again in their long white veils,
+they vanish flickering among the trees. But to the belated wanderer, if
+any such there be, who looks upon this scene, it is a vision of dread;
+for he is drawn by irresistible might to the lake wherein the white lady
+is bathing, to be swallowed up in its depths. And it is said that every
+year the lady must lure one unhappy mortal into the flood. So in the
+classic mythology, if Ovid report aright, Actæon met the fearful fate of
+transformation into a stag by "gazing on divinity disrobed," and was
+torn in pieces by his own hounds. Hertha was, indeed, according to
+Tacitus, more terrible than Diana, since death was the penalty even when
+duty called her slaves to the awful sight.[43]
+
+These traditions have led us away from the Magical Ointment, which thus
+appears to be only one aspect of the larger theme of the objection on
+the part of supernatural beings to human prying. Nor need we regret
+having strayed; for we are brought naturally to one of the most
+interesting of our national legends, namely, that of Lady Godiva; and it
+will well repay a little consideration. As generally told to-day it
+bears an unmistakable resemblance to the foregoing stories; but there
+seems some difficulty in classing it with them, because Peeping Tom is
+wanting in the most ancient version known to us.
+
+Godiva, properly Godgifu, was an undoubted historical personage, the
+wife of Leofric, Earl of the Mercians, and mother of the Earls Morcar
+and Edwin, and of Edith, wife first of Gruffydd, Prince of North Wales,
+and afterwards of King Harold the Second. The earliest mention of her
+famous ride through Coventry is by Roger of Wendover, who wrote in the
+beginning of the thirteenth century, or a hundred and fifty years or
+thereabout after her death. His account of the matter is as follows:
+"The countess Godiva, who was a great lover of God's mother, longing to
+free the town of Coventry from the oppression of a heavy toll, often
+with urgent prayers besought her husband, that from regard to Jesus
+Christ and His mother, he would free the town from that service, and
+from all other heavy burdens; and when the earl sharply rebuked her for
+foolishly asking what was so much to his damage, and always forbade her
+evermore to speak to him on the subject; and while she, on the other
+hand, with a woman's pertinacity, never ceased to exasperate her husband
+on that matter, he at last made her this answer: 'Mount your horse, and
+ride naked before all the people, through the market of the town from
+one end to the other, and on your return you shall have your request.'
+On which Godiva replied: 'But will you give me permission if I am
+willing to do it?' 'I will,' said he. Whereupon the countess, beloved of
+God, loosed her hair and let down her tresses, which covered the whole
+of her body like a veil, and then mounting her horse and attended by two
+knights, she rode through the market place without being seen, except
+her fair legs; and having completed the journey, she returned with
+gladness to her astonished husband, and obtained of him what she had
+asked, for Earl Leofric freed the town of Coventry and its inhabitants
+from the aforesaid service, and confirmed what he had done by a
+charter."[44] According to the more modern version, the inhabitants
+were enjoined to remain within doors, and, in the Laureate's words:
+
+        "one low churl, compact of thankless earth,
+    The fatal byword of all years to come,
+    Boring a little auger-hole in fear,
+    Peep'd--but his eyes, before they had their will,
+    Were shrivell'd into darkness in his head,
+    And dropt before him. So the powers who wait
+    On noble deeds, cancell'd a sense misus'd."
+
+It is not my business now to prove that the legend is untrue in fact, or
+I should insist, first, that its omission by previous writers, who refer
+both to Leofric and Godgifu and their various good deeds, is strong
+negative testimony against it; and I should show, from a calculation
+made by the late Mr. M. H. Bloxam, and founded on the record of Domesday
+Book, that the population of Coventry in Leofric's time could scarcely
+have exceeded three hundred and fifty souls, all in a greater or less
+degree of servitude, and dwelling probably in wooden hovels each of a
+single story, with a door, but no window.[45] There was, therefore, no
+market on the scale contemplated by Roger of Wendover,--hardly, indeed,
+a town through which Godgifu could have ridden; and a mere toll would
+have been a matter of small moment when the people were all serfs. The
+tale, in short, in the form given by the chronicler, could not have been
+told until after Coventry had risen to wealth and importance by means of
+its monastery, whereof Godgifu and her husband were the founders.
+Nobody, however, now asserts that Roger of Wendover's narrative is to be
+taken seriously. What therefore I want to point out in it is that
+Godgifu's bargain was that she should ride naked _before all the
+people_. And this is what the historian understands her to have done;
+for he states that she rode through the market-place without being
+seen, _except her fair legs_, all the rest of her body being covered by
+her hair like a veil. He tells us nothing about a proclamation to the
+inhabitants to keep within doors; and of course Peeping Tom is an
+impossibility in this version of the tale.
+
+Coventry has for generations honoured its benefactress by a periodical
+procession, wherein she is represented by a girl dressed as nearly like
+the countess on her ride as the manners of the day have permitted. When
+this procession was first instituted, is unknown. The earliest mention
+of it seems to be in the year 1678. Its object then was to proclaim the
+Great Fair, and Lady Godiva was merely an incident in it. The Lansdowne
+MSS. in the British Museum contain an account of a visit to Coventry by
+the "captain, lieutenant, and ancient" of the military company of
+Norwich, who travelled in the Midland Counties in August 1634. These
+tourists describe St. Mary's Hall as adorned at the upper end "with rich
+hangings, and all about with fayre pictures, one more especially of a
+noble lady (the Lady Godiva) whose memory they have cause not to forget,
+for that shee purchas'd and redeem'd their lost infringed liberties and
+ffreedomes, and obtained remission of heavy tributes impos'd upon them,
+by undertaking a hard and unseemly task, w'ch was to ride naked openly
+at high noone day through the city on a milk-white steed, w'ch she
+willingly performed, according to her lord's strict injunction. It may
+be very well discussed heere whether his hatred or her love exceeded.
+Her fayre long hayre did much offend the wanton's glancing eye." In this
+record we have no additional fact except the mention of "high noone day"
+as the time of the journey; for the allusion to "the wanton's glancing
+eye" is too vague to be interpreted of Peeping Tom, and the writer does
+not refer to any commemorative procession. It has been supposed,
+therefore, that the carnival times of Charles the Second both begot the
+procession and tacked Peeping Tom to the legend. But it is more likely
+that the procession is as old as the fair, which was held under a
+charter of Henry the Third, granted in 1217. Such pageants were not
+uncommon in municipal life, and were everywhere to the taste of the
+people. Whether Lady Godiva was a primitive part of it is another
+question. The mention of the procession in 1678 occurs in a manuscript
+volume of annals of the city, in a handwriting of the period. The entry
+in question is as follows: "31 May 1678 being the great Fair at Coventry
+there was an extraordinary" [Here the bottom of the page is reached; and
+in turning over the chronicler has omitted a word, for on the top of the
+next page we read:] "Divers of the Companies" [_i.e._, the City Guilds]
+"set out each a follower, The Mayor Two, and the Sheriffs each one and 2
+at the publick charge, there were divers Streamers with the Companies
+arms and Ja. Swinnertons Son represented Lady Godiva."[46]
+
+This brief entry is by no means free from ambiguity. Perhaps all that we
+are warranted in inferring from it is that the annual procession was,
+that year, of unusual splendour. Whether, as has been conjectured, it
+was the first time Lady Godiva had ever made her appearance, there
+seems more doubt. Apart from any evidence, there is no improbability in
+supposing that she may have formed part of earlier processions; though
+it may be that during the period of Puritan ascendency the show had been
+neglected and the lady in particular had been discountenanced. If this
+be so, however, it is difficult to account for the manner in which her
+figure is referred to by the writer, unless there were some personal
+reason connected with James Swinnerton, or his son, undiscoverable by us
+at this distance of time.
+
+But whatever doubt may exist as to Godiva's share in the early
+processions, there appears no less as to the episode of Peeping Tom.
+Looking out of an upper story of the King's Head, at the corner of
+Smithford Street, is an oaken figure called by the name of the notorious
+tailor. It is in reality a statue of a man in armour, dating no further
+back than the reign of Henry the Seventh; and, as a local antiquary
+notes, "to favour the posture of his leaning out of window, the arms
+have been cut off at the elbows."[47] This statue, now generally
+believed to have been intended for St. George, could not have been thus
+appropriated and adapted to its present purpose until its original
+design had been forgotten and the incongruity of its costume passed
+unrecognized. This is said to have been in 1678, when a figure,
+identified with the one in question, was put up in Grey Friars Lane by
+Alderman Owen.
+
+It must not be overlooked that there may have been from the first more
+than one version of the legend, and that a version rejected by, or
+perhaps unknown to, Roger of Wendover and the writers who followed him
+may have always included the order to the inhabitants to keep within
+doors, of which Peeping Tom would seem to be the necessary
+accompaniment. Unfortunately, we have no evidence on this point. The
+earliest record of such a version appears in one of the manuscript
+volumes already alluded to. It has not been hitherto printed; and it is
+so much at variance, alike with the legend preserved in the thirteenth
+century, and the poem of the nineteenth century, that I quote it
+entire:--"The Franchisment and Freedome of Coventry was purchased in
+manner Following. Godiva the wife of Leofric Earle of Chester and Duke
+of March requesting of her Lord freedome for this That Towne, obtained
+the same upon condition that she should ride naked through the same; who
+for the Love she bare to the Inhabitants thereof, and the perpetuall
+remembrance of her Great Affection thereunto, performed the same as
+Followeth. In the forenoone all householders were Commanded to keep in
+their Families shutting their doores and windows close whilst the
+Dutchess performed this good deed, which done she rode naked through the
+midst of the Towne, without any other Coverture save only her hair. But
+about the midst of the Citty her horse neighed, whereat one desirous to
+see the strange Case lett downe a Window, and looked out, for which fact
+or for that the Horse did neigh, as the cause thereof, Though all the
+Towne were Franchised, yet horses were not toll-free to this day."[48]
+
+The manuscript in which this passage occurs is copied from an older
+manuscript which appears to have been compiled in the sixteenth
+century. Unfortunately, however, the latter is imperfect, a leaf having
+been torn out at this very point. We cannot, therefore, say with
+certainty that the account of the famous ride was ever comprised in it.
+But the expressions made use of imply that the windows were closed with
+shutters rather than glass, and that they were opened by letting down
+the shutters, which were either loose or affixed by a hinge to the
+bottom sills. It is a question exactly at what period glass came into
+general use for windows in the burgesses' houses at Coventry. Down
+almost to the middle of the fifteenth century all glass was imported;
+and consequently it was not so common in the midlands as near the coast,
+especially the south-eastern coast. We shall probably be on the safe
+side if we assume that in the early years of the sixteenth century, at
+all events, the ordinary dwelling-house at Coventry was no longer
+destitute of this luxury. It would seem, therefore, that the story, in
+the form here given, cannot be later, and may be much earlier, than the
+latter years of the fifteenth century.
+
+Failing definite evidence to carry us back further, it becomes of
+importance to inquire whether there are any traditions in other places
+from which we may reason. In the "History of Gloucestershire," printed
+by Samuel Rudder of Cirencester in 1779, we read that the parishioners
+of St. Briavels, hard by the Forest of Dean, "have a custom of
+distributing yearly upon Whitsunday, after divine service, pieces of
+bread and cheese to the congregation at church, to defray the expenses
+of which every householder in the parish pays a penny to the
+churchwardens; and this is said to be for the privilege of cutting and
+taking the wood in Hudnolls. The tradition is that the privilege was
+obtained of some Earl of Hereford, then lord of the Forest of Dean, at
+the instance of his lady, upon the same hard terms that Lady Godiva
+obtained the privileges for the citizens of Coventry." It appears that
+Rudder, while in the main accurately relating both custom and tradition,
+has made the mistake of supposing that the payment was made to the
+churchwardens, whereas it was in all probability made to the constable
+of the castle of St. Briavels as warden of the Forest of Dean. The
+custom is now in a late stage of decadence, and local inquiries have
+failed to elicit any further details throwing light on the point under
+consideration.[49]
+
+I am not aware of any other European tradition that will bear comparison
+with that of Godiva, but Liebrecht relates that he remembers in his
+youth, about the year 1820, in a German newspaper, a story according to
+which a countess frees her husband's subjects from a heavy punishment
+imposed by him. She undertakes to walk a certain course clad only in her
+shift, and she performs it, but clad in a shift of iron.[50] The
+condition is here eluded rather than fulfilled; and the point of the
+story is consequently varied. It would be interesting to have the tale
+unearthed from the old newspaper, and to know where its scene was laid,
+and whether it was a genuine piece of folklore.
+
+Eastern tales, however, furnish us repeatedly with incidents in which a
+lady parades the streets of a city, and during her progress all folk are
+bidden to close their shops and withdraw into their houses on pain of
+death. The example of the Princess Badroulbadour will occur to every
+reader of the "Arabian Nights." This, however, is by no means a solitary
+example. In the story of Kamar Al-Zaman and the Jeweller's Wife, one of
+the stories of the "Nights" rejected on moral grounds by Lane, but
+translated by Burton, a dervish relates that he chanced one Friday to
+enter the city of Bassorah, and found the streets deserted. The shops
+were open; but neither man nor woman, girl nor boy, dog nor cat was to
+be seen. By and by he heard a sound of drums, and hiding himself in a
+coffee-house, he looked out through a crevice and saw forty pairs of
+slave girls, with uncovered heads and faces displayed, come walking
+through the market, and in their midst a lady riding unveiled and
+adorned with gold and gems. In front of her was a damsel bearing in
+baldric a great sword with haft of emerald and tassels of
+jewel-encrusted gold. Pausing close to the dervish, the lady said to her
+maidens: "I hear a noise of somewhat within yonder shop; so do ye search
+it, lest haply there be one hidden there, with intent to enjoy a look at
+us while we have our faces unveiled." Accordingly they searched the shop
+opposite the coffee-house, and brought forth a man. At the lady's
+command the damsel with the sword smote off his head, and leaving the
+corpse lying on the ground, the procession swept on. It turned out that
+the lady was the wife of a jeweller to whom the King of Bassorah was
+desirous of granting a boon, and at her request the boon obtained was a
+proclamation commanding that all the townsfolk should every Friday enter
+the mosques two hours before the hour of prayer, so that none might
+abide in the town, great or small, unless they were in the mosques or in
+the houses with the doors locked upon them; but all the shops were to be
+left open. Then the lady had permission to ride with her slave-women
+through the heart of the town, and none were to look on her from window
+or lattice; and every one whom she found abroad she was at liberty to
+kill. A similar incident is related in the life of Kurroglú, the
+robber-poet of Persia, where a beautiful princess passes in state
+through the bazaars every Friday on her way to the mosque, while all the
+men are banished.[51] Here, again, some one was of course found playing
+the spy.
+
+A version of the incident, which can be traced further back in literary
+form than either of the foregoing, occurs in the "Ardshi-Bordshi." This
+book is a Mongolian recension of a Sanskrit collection of stories
+concerning Vikramâditya, a monarch who, if he ever lived, seems to have
+flourished about the beginning of the Christian era. He was celebrated,
+like Solomon, for his wisdom and his might; and his name became the
+centre of a vast accretion of legends. Some of these legends were
+translated into Mongolian late in the Middle Ages, and formed a small
+collection called after Ardshi-Bordshi, the nominal hero. In the story
+to which I wish to direct attention, a certain king has a daughter
+bearing the name of Sunshine, of whom he was so jealous that if any one
+looked upon her his eyes were put out, and the man who entered her
+apartments had his legs broken. Naturally, the young lady got tired of
+being thus immured, and complained to her father that, as she had no
+opportunity of seeing man or beast, the time hung heavily on her hands;
+and she begged him to let her go out on the fifteenth of the month and
+look about her. The king agreed to this; but, the sly old rascal!
+nothing was further from his intention than to gratify his daughter's
+longing for masculine converse. Wherefore he issued a decree that all
+objects for sale were to be exposed openly to the view, all cattle to be
+left indoors, the men and women were to withdraw into their houses and
+close their doors and windows, and if any one came forth he should be
+severely punished. On the appointed day, Sunshine, surrounded by her
+ladies, and seated in a brand-new chariot, drove through the town, and
+viewed the merchandise and goods exposed for sale. The king had a
+minister, named Moon, who could not restrain his curiosity; and he
+peeped at her from a balcony. The princess, as he did so, caught sight
+of him and made signs to him, which were interpreted by the penetration
+of his wife to be an invitation to meet her clandestinely. The wife
+hardly displayed what most ladies would deem "a proper spirit" in
+advising compliance; and the consequence of taking that advice would
+have been serious trouble both to himself and to the princess, had it
+not been for the ready wit of the two women, who got over the difficulty
+by contriving an ingenious equivocation not unknown in other stories, by
+which the princess cleared herself and her lover on oath.[52]
+
+It is true that in these tales the lady who rides forth is not naked;
+but to ride openly and unveiled would be thought almost as immodest in
+countries where strict seclusion is imposed upon women. All these tales
+include the Peeping Tom incident; and it appears, indeed, so obvious a
+corollary to the central thought of Lady Godiva's adventure that it is
+hardly likely to have required centuries for its evolution. From some
+traditions, however, it is absent. A story belonging to the Cinderella
+cycle, found at Smyrna, relates that when a certain king desired to
+marry his own daughter, the maiden, by the advice of her Fate, demanded
+as the price of compliance three magnificent dresses. Having obtained
+these, she asked permission to go unseen (like Badroulbadour) to the
+bath. The king, to gratify her, forbade his subjects on pain of death to
+open their shops or to show themselves in the streets while she passed
+by. She thus got an opportunity of escaping from the city, of which she
+did not fail to make use,--greatly, no doubt, to her unnatural father's
+disgust. An Indian tradition also tells us that the inhabitants of
+Chamba were under the necessity of digging a canal for irrigation, but
+when it was dug, owing to the enchantments of an evil spirit, not a
+drop of water could be got to flow along its course. A magician at last
+found out that the spell could be dissolved if the beautiful and
+virtuous young princess of Chamba would consent to traverse a given
+distance of the plain entirely naked, in full view of the populace, and
+to lose her head when the journey was accomplished. After much
+hesitation, her compassion triumphed over her shame; and she undertook
+the task. But lo! as she advanced, a thick line of young trees arose to
+right and left, completely hiding her from cynical eyes. And the shady
+canal is shown to-day by the good people of Chamba as one of the most
+authentic monuments of their history.[53]
+
+So far the stories. Concerning which it must be observed that they are
+evidence that the myth of Lady Godiva is widely diffused in the East,
+and that the spy is usually, though not always, part of the tale. The
+Smyrnoean version must probably be thrown out of the reckoning. It is, as
+I have already mentioned, a variant of the Cinderella cycle. The problem
+of the plot is how to get the heroine unseen out of her father's
+clutches. This is commonly effected by the simple mechanism of a
+disguise and a night escape. Other methods, I need not now detail, are,
+however, sometimes adopted; and the excuse of going to the bath, with
+the order to the people to close their shops and keep within doors,
+would seem to reveal nothing more than the unconscious influence of
+Aladdin or some other of the Eastern stories. Throwing this out, then,
+as accidental, an overwhelming proportion of the analogues cited
+contains the spy. It would be dangerous to reason on the supposition
+that the proportions of all the Asiatic variants extant correspond with
+those of the variants cited; but we are at liberty to assume that a
+large number, if not the majority, comprise the incident of Peeping
+Tom. None of them was known in Europe until Galland published his
+translation of the "Arabian Nights" in the year 1704--upwards of two
+centuries later than the latest period at which the story as given in
+the Coventry manuscript can have come into existence.
+
+But the stories, though they may go a little way to help us in regard to
+the incident of Peeping Tom, throw no light on the origin of the legend,
+or of the procession. Let us therefore turn to one or two curious
+religious ceremonies, which may have some bearing upon it. A potent
+spell to bring rain was reported as actually practised during the
+Gorakhpur famine of 1873-4. It consisted of a gang of women stripping
+themselves perfectly naked, and going out by night to drag the plough
+across a field. The men were kept carefully out of the way, as it was
+believed that peeping by them would not only vitiate the spell, but
+bring trouble on the village. It would not be a long step from this
+belief to a story in which peeping was alleged to have taken place with
+disastrous effects, either to the village, or (by favour of the deities
+intended to be propitiated) to the culprit himself. At the festival of
+the local goddess in the village of Serúr, in the Southern Mahratta
+country, the third and fourth days are devoted to private offerings.
+Many women, we are told, on these days walk naked to the temple in
+fulfilment of vows, "but they were covered with leaves and boughs of
+trees, and surrounded by their female relations and friends."[54]
+
+The performance of religious rites by women alone, when men are required
+under heavy penalties to absent themselves, is, indeed, not very
+uncommon in savage life. Nor is it confined to savage life. When Rome
+was at the height of her civilization and her triumphs, the festival of
+the Bona Dea was rendered notorious by the divorce of Cæsar's wife and
+by legal proceedings against an aristocratic scoundrel, who, for the
+purposes of an intrigue with her, had violated the sacred ceremonies.
+The Bona Dea, or Good Goddess, was a woodland deity, the daughter and
+wife of Faunus. Her worship had descended from a remote antiquity; and
+her annual festival was held in the month of December, and was attended
+only by women. The matrons of the noblest families of Rome met by night
+in the house of the highest official of the state to perform the
+traditional ceremonies of the goddess, and to pray for the well-being of
+the Roman people. Only women, and those of the most unsullied character,
+were permitted to attend; and the breach of this rule by Clodius,
+disguised in woman's garb, constituted a heinous offence against the
+state, from the penalties of which he only escaped, if we may believe
+Cicero, by bribing the judges.[55]
+
+At the village of Southam, not far from Coventry, another procession in
+honour of Godiva formerly took place. Very little is known about it now,
+save one singular fact, namely, that there were two Godivas in the
+cavalcade, and one of them was black. Southam was part of the property
+possessed by Earl Leofric; and it has been suggested that this is enough
+to account for the commemoration of Godgifu. It would no doubt be an
+excellent reason for affixing her renowned name to a periodical ceremony
+already performed there. But it would hardly be a reason for
+commemorating her extortion of privileges in which the inhabitants of
+Southam did not share; and it would leave the black lady unexplained.
+She may, indeed, have been a mere travesty, though the hypothesis would
+be anything but free from difficulty. Here, again, if we have recourse
+to the comparison of ceremonies, we may obtain some light. Among the
+tribes of the Gold Coast of Africa the wives of men who have gone to war
+make a daily procession through the town. They are stark naked, painted
+all over with white, and decorated with beads and charms. Any man who is
+found in the town is attacked and driven away. And on the occasion of a
+battle the women imitate the actions the men are thought to be
+performing, with guns, sticks, and knives. The Gold Coast is a long way
+off; but not only do black women there paint themselves white in their
+sacred rites, white women in Britain have painted themselves, if not
+black, at least a dark blue. Pliny records that both matrons and
+unmarried girls among the Britons in the first century of the Christian
+era were in the habit of staining themselves all over with the juice of
+the woad; and he adds that, thus rivalling the swarthy hue of the
+Æthiopians, they go on these occasions in a state of nature. We are
+sometimes taught that when the English invaded Britain, the natives whom
+they found here were all driven out or massacred. There are, however,
+many reasons for doubting that this wholesale destruction was as
+complete as has been imagined. The name of Coventry betrays in its
+termination a Celtic element; and this could hardly have entered into it
+had there not been in the neighbourhood a considerable British-speaking
+population. What is more likely than that at Southam this population
+continued and preserved its customs, and that one of such customs was
+that very religious rite of which Pliny speaks? Unhappily he tells us
+nothing about the rite itself, nor the deity in whose honour it was
+performed. But it would not involve a great stretch of fancy to suppose
+that in the black lady of Southam we have a survival of the performance.
+It is not too much to say that this explanation would have the merit of
+being intelligible and adequate.[56]
+
+In all countries ceremonies of a special character are usually dramatic.
+They represent, or are believed to represent, actions of the divinities
+in whose honour they are performed. The rites of the Bona Dea, we know,
+were of this kind; and they consequently degenerated into orgies of a
+shameful character. The Coventry procession is admittedly a
+representation of Godgifu's ride. It is not now, nor has it been so long
+as we have any records of it--that is to say for two hundred
+years--connected with any professed act of worship; but this is not
+incompatible with its being the long-descended relic of some such
+observance as those I have described. The introduction of Christianity
+did not annihilate the older cults. The new religion incorporated some
+of them; and although the rest were no longer regarded as sacred, the
+feeling of obligation remained attached to them for centuries. They were
+secularized, and ultimately degraded for the most part into burlesque.
+Such as were connected with municipal life, or, as we shall see in a
+future chapter, with family life, retained a measure of solemnity long
+after it had passed away from rites which had been abandoned to an
+unorganized mob. This is well illustrated by the contrast between the
+ceremonial at Coventry (whatever its origin) and that at St. Briavels.
+The stronger hand of a municipality would have a restraining power
+wanting to that of a village community, or a parish--especially if the
+latter had been governed by a lord, who in later times had been shorn of
+his authority, or had ceased to reside among, or take an interest in the
+affairs of, his tenantry. Something like this I take to have been the
+history of St. Briavels. There does not appear from Rudder's account to
+have been, in his time at least, any pageant commemorative of the
+achievement of the lady to whom the parishioners reckoned themselves to
+owe their privileges; nor have I been able to trace one by local
+inquiries. But the tradition is at St. Briavels unmistakably connected
+with a religious and social rite. The distribution of food on a day of
+high and holy festival in the church to the congregation, and paid for
+by a levy upon every householder in the parish, can point to nothing
+else than a feast of the whole community as a solemn act of worship. Its
+degeneracy in more recent times has been thus described to me by the
+Rev. W. Taprell Allen:--"For many years it was customary to bring to the
+church on Whitsunday afternoon baskets of the stalest bread and hardest
+cheese, cut up into small pieces the size of dice. Immediately after the
+service the bread and cheese were scrambled for in the church, and it
+was a custom to use them as pellets, the parson coming in for his share
+as he left the pulpit. About 1857, or perhaps a year or two later, the
+unseemly custom was transferred from the church to the churchyard, the
+bread and cheese being thrown down from the church tower. Later on it
+was transferred to the road outside the church gates. It now lasts but a
+few minutes. A few years ago all the roughs of the Forest used to come
+over, and there was much drinking and fighting; but now it is very
+different. The custom has in fact been dying out." From these later
+stages of decay the Godiva pageant was saved by becoming a municipal
+festival. And while at St. Briavels we can watch the progress of
+degeneration from a point at which the religious character of the
+ceremony had not quite vanished, down to the most unblushing burlesque,
+and to its ultimate expulsion from consecrated precincts,--at Coventry
+we see but one phase, one moment, at which the rite, if it ever had any
+title to that name, seems to have been photographed and rendered
+permanent.
+
+It is obvious, however, that a feast is not a dramatic representation of
+a ride; and the point requiring elucidation is the intimate relation of
+the feast at St. Briavels with a story apparently so irrelevant as that
+of the countess' ride. To explain this, we must suppose that the feast
+was only part--doubtless the concluding part--of a ceremony, and that
+the former portion was a procession, of which the central figure was
+identical with that familiar to us at Coventry. But such a procession,
+terminating in a sacred feast, would have had no meaning if the naked
+lady represented a creature merely of flesh and blood. It is only
+explicable on the hypothesis that she was the goddess of a heathen cult,
+such as Hertha (or Nerthus), whose periodical progress among her subject
+tribes is described in a well-known passage by Tacitus,[57] and yet
+survives, as we have seen, in the folklore of Rügen. Now the historian
+tells us that Hertha was Mother Earth, the goddess of the soil, whose
+yearly celebration would appropriately take place in the spring or early
+summer. To her the produce of the land would be ascribed; and in her
+name and by her permission would all agricultural operations be
+performed. Such a goddess it must be who is honoured by the ceremonies
+already noticed in India. Such a goddess, at any rate, was the Bona Dea;
+and to such a goddess we may readily believe would be ascribed the
+privilege of cutting wood. It is quite consistent with this that the
+payment by every household at St. Briavels should be made to the warden
+of the forest, and that it should be spent by him on the goddess'
+festival. We are left to surmise what were the tolls and burdens at
+Coventry, so vaguely referred to by Roger of Wendover. Pigs and horses,
+we learn from two different sources, were not included in the exemptions
+obtained by the countess; and the reason for this in the latter case is
+accounted for by the incident of Peeping Tom.
+
+One other point is worthy of mention: both at St. Briavels and at
+Coventry the commemoration takes place nearly at the same time of year.
+The Great Fair at Coventry opens on the day after Corpus Christi
+Day--that is to say, the Friday after Trinity Sunday. Corpus Christi Day
+itself was the day on which the celebrated Coventry Miracle Plays were
+performed; and the Fair opened the next morning. At the same time of
+year too--namely, on Ascension Day--a custom, for which there is no
+explanation in any record, was observed at St. Michael's Church, York,
+when ale and bread and cheese were yearly given away in the church to
+the poor of the parish.[58] Although Ascension Day is separated by three
+weeks from Corpus Christi, the movable character of the feasts would
+bridge this gulf without any difficulty; and heathen observances of the
+same nature, and referring to the same season, when they had to be
+reconciled to the Christian calendar, might easily find places in some
+instances on one day and in others on another day. Godgifu and her
+husband were honoured as founders of the Benedictine monastery at
+Coventry, which rose upon the ruins of an earlier house of Benedictine
+nuns founded by Osburg, a lady of the royal house, nearly two hundred
+years before. This nunnery had been destroyed in the Danish wars about
+the year 1016. Consequently, if any legend, or ceremony, was known or
+practised at Coventry in connection with some traditional patroness, the
+name of Godgifu was ready to hand to be identified with it. Through the
+monastery Coventry first rose to wealth and repute; and the townsfolk on
+this score owed a debt of gratitude to the foundress, though there is no
+record whether any special day was set apart in her honour.
+
+On the whole, then, there is ground for supposing that the legend and
+procession of Lady Godiva are survivals of a pagan belief and worship
+located at Coventry; that the legend was concerned with a being awful
+and mysterious as Dame Berchta, or Hertha herself; and that the incident
+of Peeping Tom was from the first, or at all events from an early date,
+part of the story. The evidence upon which these conclusions rest may be
+shortly recapitulated thus:--
+
+1. The absence of historical foundation for the tradition.
+
+2. The close resemblance between the tradition and other stories and
+superstitions which unquestionably deal with heathen goddesses, such as
+Berchta and Hertha.
+
+3. The equally close analogy between the procession and that described
+in Eastern stories, which, so far as we know, could not have reached
+England at the latest period when the procession could possibly have
+been instituted; and between the procession and certain heathen rites
+practised not only in the East, but as near home as Rome and
+Germany,--nay, in Britain itself.
+
+4. The occurrence of a similar procession at Southam, in the same
+county, having the special feature of a black lady, best explained as a
+survival of certain rites practised by the ancient Britons.
+
+5. The connection between the analogous legend at St. Briavel's and the
+remains of a sacred communal feast that can hardly be anything else than
+the degraded remnant of a pagan observance.
+
+The want of historical evidence cannot, of course, be overlooked; but we
+must remember that in investigating traditions and traditional
+observances we are dealing with a phase of civilization of which history
+only yields rare and indirect glimpses. It is the absence of direct
+evidence that, not only in the science of Folklore, but also in the
+physical sciences, causes resort to the evidence afforded by comparison
+of other structures and processes. On the validity of this evidence, and
+the reasoning based upon it, nearly all our scientific learning depends.
+In spite, therefore, of the defects in the historical evidence, and in
+the absence of evidence to the contrary, it can scarcely be denied that
+the analogies in both custom and legend here brought together amount to
+a fairly strong presumption in favour of the conclusions I have ventured
+to draw from them.
+
+If I may formulate my conjecture as to the course of development
+actually pursued, it would be something like this. The ceremony at
+Coventry is a survival of an annual rite in honour of a heathen goddess,
+from which men were excluded. This rite, like all such, would have been
+a part of the tribal cult, and intimately associated with the tribal
+life and organization. Side by side with it a myth would have been
+evolved, accounting for the performance as a dramatic representation of
+an event in the goddess' career. This myth would have been similar in
+outline to those recited above, and would have comprised an explanation
+of the exclusion of men. When Christianity spread through the district
+the inhabitants would still cling to their old custom and their old
+myth, as we know was done elsewhere, because it was bound up with their
+social life. But, if not violently put down by the rulers of the land,
+both custom and myth would, little by little, lose their sacred
+character as the new religion increased in influence, and would become
+transformed into municipal ceremonies. This process would be slow,
+centuries being required for its completion; but it would be aided by
+the gradual development of the tribe first into a settled village
+community, and thence into a mediæval township. With the loss of
+sanctity the reason for prohibiting the attendance of men would vanish;
+but the tradition of it would be preserved in the incident of the story
+which narrated Peeping Tom's treachery.[59]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[33] Mrs. Bray, vol. i. p. 174.
+
+[34] "Revue Celtique," vol. i. p. 231; Keightley, p. 312, citing "The
+Local Historian's Table-Book," by M. A. Richardson. Cromek, p. 242; "Y
+Cymmrodor," vol. iv. p. 209; "Revue des Trad. Pop." vol. iii. p. 426;
+"Revue Celtique," vol. i. p. 232.
+
+[35] Sébillot, "Contes," vol. ii. p. 34; "Revue des Trad. Pop." vol.
+iii. p. 428; Sébillot, "Litt. Orale," p. 21; Kennedy, p. 106; Keightley,
+p. 311; "Y Cymmrodor," vol. vi. p. 166; Wirt Sikes, p. 87. This story
+purports to be quoted from Howells, p. 349--an impossible reference,
+seeing that the volume in question only contains 194 pages. The
+peculiarities of Mr. Sikes' authorities, however, need very little
+comment.
+
+[36] "Y Cymmrodor," vol. vi. p. 194; Hunt, p. 120.
+
+[37] Gerv. Tilb. _Dcc._ iii. c. 85.
+
+[38] Sébillot, "Contes," vol. ii. p. 42; "Litt. Orale," p. 23; "Trad. et
+Super." p. 109. But in these cases the operation was performed
+painlessly enough, for the victims were unaware of their loss until they
+came to look in the glass. In one of Prof. Rhys' stories the eye is
+pricked with a green rush; "Y Cymmrodor," vol. vi. p. 178: Hunt, p. 83.
+See also Sébillot, "Contes," vol. i. p. 119.
+
+[39] Keightley, p. 310; "Revue des Trad. Pop." vol. iii. p. 426; Thorpe,
+vol. ii. p. 129, quoting Thiele. In another Danish tale given on the
+same page, the woman's blindness is attributed to her having divulged
+what she had seen in Fairyland.
+
+[40] Sébillot, "Litt. Orale," p. 24.
+
+[41] "Choice Notes," p. 170; Thorpe, vol. iii. p. 8. The latter form of
+the story seems more usual. See Gredt, pp. 28, 29, where we are plainly
+told that the hapless mortals are fetched away by the devil.
+
+[42] Sternberg, p. 132 (see also Thorpe, vol. ii. p. 12); Von Alpenburg,
+p. 63. See a similar story in Grimm, "Teut. Myth." p. 276, from Börner,
+"Folk-tales of the Orlagau." In the latter case, however, the punishment
+seems to have been inflicted for jeering.
+
+[43] Jahn, p. 177, quoting Temme, "Volkssagen"; Ovid, "Metam." l. iii.
+fab. 3; Tacitus, "Germ." c. 40.
+
+[44] Roger of Wendover, "Flowers of History," sub anno 1057. I quote
+from Dr. Giles' translation.
+
+[45] See his Presidential Address to the Warwickshire Naturalists' and
+Archæologists' Field Club, 1886.
+
+[46] MS. marked D. This entry is an interpolation in a list of mayors
+and sheriffs in a different handwriting. There are several such
+interpolations in the volume. Coventry possesses a number of MS. volumes
+of annals, one of which (see below) seems to date from the latter part
+of the sixteenth century, and the rest from the latter part of the
+seventeenth. In the MS. marked F. (considered by Mr. W. G. Fretton,
+F.S.A., to be in the handwriting of John Tipper, of Bablake, Coventry, a
+schoolmaster and local antiquary at the end of the seventeenth and
+beginning of the eighteenth centuries), and also in the MS. in the
+British Museum (Additional MSS. 11,364), the entry runs simply:--"1678
+Michaell Earle (Mercer) Mayor; Francis Clark, George Allatt, Sherriffs.
+This year y^e severall Companies had new streamers, and attended y^e
+Mayor to proclaim y^e faire, and each company cloathed one boy or two to
+augment y^e show." The latter MS. elsewhere speaks of the story of
+Godiva's ride as "comonly known, and yearly comemorated by the Mayor,
+Aldermen, and y^e severall companies."
+
+[47] This statue used to be decked out on the occasion of the procession
+in the long peruke and neckcloth of the reign of Charles II. See T.
+Ward, "Collections for the Continuation of Dugdale's Antiquities of
+Warwickshire" (2 vols., fol. MS., Brit. Mus., Additional MSS., Nos.
+29,264, 29,265), vol. ii. fol. 143.
+
+[48] MS. marked E, Coventry, seventeenth century. A careful examination
+of the language of Roger of Wendover, Matthew Paris, John of Brompton,
+and Matthew of Westminster, shows that Roger of Wendover's account is
+the source of the other three, Matthew Paris copying most closely, and
+John of Brompton most freely. John of Brompton and Matthew of
+Westminster omit the escort. Their statement as to Godiva's being unseen
+refers to the hair which covered her; and the latter informs us, with a
+touch of rhetoric, that Leofric regarded it as a miracle.
+
+[49] Rudder, p. 307. The Rev. W. Taprell Allen, M.A., Vicar of St.
+Briavels, has been kind enough to supply me with the correction from
+local inquiries and intimate acquaintance with the traditions and
+affairs of the parish extending over many years. See also "Gent. Mag.
+Lib." (Manners and Customs), p. 230.
+
+[50] Liebrecht, p. 104.
+
+[51] Burton, "Nights," vol. ix. p. 255; Burton, "Supp. Nights," vol.
+iii. p. 570 (Appendix by Mr. W. A. Clouston). Kurroglú flourished in the
+second half of the seventeenth century.
+
+[52] This story is edited by Jülg in Mongolian and German (Innsbruck,
+1867). Miss Busk gives a free adaptation rather than a translation of
+the German version, "Sagas," p. 315. Prof. De Gubernatis, "Zool. Myth."
+vol. i. p. 138, of course interprets it as a sun-myth--an interpretation
+to which the names Sunshine and Moon, and the date of the adventure (the
+fifteenth of the month), lend themselves.
+
+[53] Von Hahn, vol. ii. p. 225; "Tour du Monde," vol. xxi. p. 342,
+quoted by Liebrecht, p. 105.
+
+[54] "Panjab N. and Q." vol. iii. pp. 41, 115; "Journal Ethnol. Soc.
+London," N. S., vol. i. p. 98.
+
+[55] The information relating to the Bona Dea has been collected by
+Preller, "Röm. Myth." vol. i. p. 398; and see the authorities he has
+cited.
+
+[56] Ellis, p. 226; Pliny, "Nat. Hist." l. xxii. c. 1. For the
+information as to the procession at Southam I am indebted to Mr. W. G.
+Fretton, who formerly lived there.
+
+[57] "Germania," c. 40; _cf._ c. 9.
+
+[58] Nicholson, p. 32.
+
+[59] I am indebted to Mr. Samuel Timmins, F.S.A., and to Mr. W. G.
+Fretton, F.S.A., for a great amount of local information and other
+assistance which they have spared no pains to render me, and to the Town
+Clerk of Coventry for permission to inspect the invaluable local
+manuscripts belonging to the Corporation.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+CHANGELINGS.
+
+     The belief in changelings--Precautions against changing--Motives
+     assigned for changing--Attempts frustrated--How changelings may
+     be known--Their physical characteristics--Devices to lead them to
+     betray themselves--Their subsequent treatment--Journey to
+     Fairyland to fetch back the true child--Adult changelings.
+
+
+A new-born babe, of all human beings the most helpless, has always
+roused compassion and care. Nor is it a matter for wonder if its
+helplessness against physical dangers have led to the assumption that it
+is exposed to spiritual or supernatural evils more than its elders. At
+all events it seems a widespread superstition that a babe, when first it
+makes its appearance in this world, must be protected not merely against
+the natural perils of its condition, but also against enemies of an even
+more subtle and fearful description. The shape taken by this
+superstition in north-western Europe is the belief in Changelings--a
+belief which I propose to examine in the present chapter.[60]
+
+By the belief in changelings I mean a belief that fairies and other
+imaginary beings are on the watch for young children, or (as we shall
+see hereafter) sometimes even for adults, that they may, if they can
+find them unguarded, seize and carry them off, leaving in their place
+one of themselves, or a block of wood animated by their enchantments and
+made to resemble the stolen person. Wise mothers take precautions
+against such thefts. These precautions are tolerably simple, and for the
+most part display the same general character. First and foremost among
+them is the rite of baptism, whereby the little one is admitted into the
+Christian Church. Faith in the efficacy of baptism as a protection from
+the powers hostile to man is not less strong among communities nominally
+Protestant than among Roman Catholics, and has doubtless operated to
+bring many children within the pale of the visible Church who might
+otherwise have been long in reaching that sacred enclosure. Examples of
+the belief in the power of baptism against the depredations of fairies
+could easily be cited from all Protestant countries. Without doing this,
+we may just pause to note that baptism was also reckoned a remedy for
+disease. This is doubtless a relic of the old creed which refers all
+human ailments to witchcraft and other spiritualistic origins. Mr.
+Henderson, speaking of the notion prevalent in the north of England that
+sickly infants never thrive until they are christened, relates a story
+communicated to him by a clergyman, within whose personal knowledge it
+had happened. He says: "The infant child of a chimney-sweeper at Thorne,
+in the West Riding of Yorkshire, was in a very weak state of health, and
+appeared to be pining away. A neighbour looked in, and inquired if the
+child had been baptized. On an answer being given in the negative, she
+gravely said, 'I would try having it christened.' The counsel was taken,
+and I believe with success." The same belief is found both in North and
+South Wales. It is also testified to by a Scottish clergyman, who
+moreover adduces the following conversation as illustrative of it and of
+"an undefinable sort of awe about unbaptized infants, as well as an idea
+of uncanniness in having them without baptism in the house," which is
+entertained among the labouring classes in the north-east of Scotland.
+"Oh, sir," said the wife of a working man to the minister, on asking him
+to baptize her child along with others, whose mothers were present,
+"this registration's the warst thing the queentry ever saw; it sud be
+deen awa' wee athegeethir!" "Why?" asked the minister, in astonishment
+at the woman's words and earnestness of manner. "It'll pit oot kirsnin
+athegeethir. Ye see the craitirs gets their names, an we jist think that
+aneuch, an' we're in nae hurry sennin for you." How far, as this
+anecdote dimly suggests, it was the giving of a name which was supposed
+to protect a child, I cannot say: more probably it was the dedication to
+God involved in baptism. This is countenanced by the precaution said to
+have been observed in Nithsdale when a pretty child was born to
+consecrate it to God, and sue for its protection by "taking the Beuk"
+and other acts of prayer and devotion.[61]
+
+Putting aside such ceremonies as these which may be supposed distinctly
+Christian, there were other charms looked upon as efficacious. Thus in
+Scotland it was deemed highly judicious to keep an open Bible always
+near a child, and even to place the holy volume beneath the head of a
+woman in labour. In some parts of Germany it is enough to lay a single
+leaf out of a Bible or prayer-book in the cradle, until by the baptism
+of the infant the danger of robbery passes away; and a prayer-book is
+also placed under the pillow of the newly-made mother, who is at that
+time specially liable to fall under the power of the underground folk.
+Indeed a prayer-book, or the mere repetition of a Paternoster, is
+equally valuable with a Bible for these purposes; and if, by the neglect
+of any of these precautions, an opportunity be given to the foe, the
+child may yet be saved by the utterance of the name of Jesus Christ at
+the moment when the change is being effected. Holy water and the sign of
+the cross, in Ireland, or a rosary blessed by a priest, in Picardy,
+enjoy a similar reputation.[62]
+
+All these means of prevention are veneered with some sort of
+Christianity; but there are others which display Heathenism naked and
+unblushing. While a child in Mecklenburg remains unbaptized it is
+necessary to burn a light in the chamber. Nor is the superstition
+confined to one district: it is common all over Germany and Denmark; it
+was once common in England; it is found in Ireland; it is found among
+the Lithuanians on the shores of the Baltic; it was practised by the
+ancient Romans, and appears to be a relic of the sacred character
+anciently imputed to fire. In the island of Lewis fire used to be
+carried round women before they were churched and children before they
+were christened, both night and morning; and this was held effectual to
+preserve both mother and infant from evil spirits, and (in the case of
+the infant) from being changed. The Sad Dar, one of the sacred books of
+the Parsees, contains directions to keep a continual fire in the house
+during a woman's pregnancy, and after the child is born to burn a lamp
+for three nights and days--a fire, indeed, is declared to be better--"so
+that the demons and fiends may not be able to do any damage and harm."
+By way of enforcing this precept we are told that when Zoroaster was
+born, a demon came at the head of a hundred and fifty other demons,
+every night for three nights, to slay him, but they were put to flight
+by seeing the fire, and were consequently unable to hurt him.[63]
+
+Iron or steel, in the shape of needles, a key, a knife, a pair of tongs,
+an open pair of scissors, or in any other shape, if placed in the
+cradle, secured the desired end. In Bulgaria a reaping-hook is placed in
+a corner of the room for the same purpose. I shall not stay now to
+discuss the reason why supernatural beings dread and dislike iron. The
+open pair of scissors, however, it should be observed, has double power;
+for it is not only of the abhorred metal,--it is also in form a cross.
+The use of the cross in baptism was probably one of the reasons for the
+efficacy of that rite against felonious fairies. At all events, over a
+very wide area the cross is thought a potent protection; nor is the
+belief by any means confined to Christian lands. Mr. Mitchell-Innes
+tells us that the fear of changelings exists in China. "To avert the
+calamity of nursing a demon, dried banana-skin is burnt to ashes, which
+are then mixed with water. Into this the mother dips her finger and
+paints a cross upon the sleeping babe's forehead. In a short time the
+demon soul returns--for the soul wanders from the body during sleep and
+is free--but, failing to recognize the body thus disguised, flies off.
+The true soul, which has been waiting for an opportunity, now approaches
+the dormant body, and, if the mark has been washed off in time, takes
+possession of it; but if not, it, like the demon, failing to recognize
+the body, departs, and the child dies in its sleep."[64] How to hit the
+exact moment between the flight of the demon and the advent of the true
+soul doubtless puzzles many a Chinese mother fully as much as the cross
+puzzles the two competing souls. But when she is successful she baffles
+the evil spirit by deceit, of which the cross is made the instrument;
+though we may well believe that the child is not disguised in this way
+without reference to the cross's inherent sanctity; for it is a
+religious symbol among nations who never heard the gospel of the
+Crucified.
+
+Spirits whose baleful influences are feared by man are happily easily
+tricked. To this guilelessness on their part must be attributed another
+strange method of defeating their evil designs on children. It appears
+to be enough to lay over the infant, or on the bed beside the mother, a
+portion of the father's clothes. A shepherd's wife living near Selkirk
+was lying in bed one day with her new-born boy at her side, when she
+heard a sound of talking and laughter in the room. Suspecting what
+turned out to be the case, she seized in great alarm her husband's
+waistcoat, which was lying at the foot of the bed, and flung it over
+herself and the child. The fairies, for it was they who were the cause
+of the noise, set up a loud scream, crying out: "Auld Luckie has cheated
+us o' our bairnie!" Soon afterwards the woman heard something fall down
+the chimney, and looking out she saw a waxen effigy of her baby, stuck
+full of pins, lying on the hearth. The would-be thieves had meant to
+substitute this for the child. When her husband came home he made up a
+large fire and threw the doll upon it; but, instead of burning, the
+thing flew up the chimney amid shouts of laughter from the unseen
+visitors. The suggestion seems to be that the sight of the father's
+clothes leads "the good people" to think that he himself is present
+watching over his offspring. Some articles of clothing, however, seem to
+have special virtue, such as a right shirt-sleeve or a left stocking,
+though wherefore is not very clear; and in China, about Canton, a
+fisherman's net is employed with as little apparent reason. In Sweden
+the babe is wrapped in red cloth, which we may be allowed to conjecture
+is intended to cozen the fairies by simulating fire.[65]
+
+Moreover, certain plants are credited with a similar gift. In Germany
+orant (whatever that may be), blue marjoram, and black cumin; and in
+Denmark garlic--nasty enough surely to keep any beings off--and bread
+are used. The Danes, too, place salt in the cradle or over the door. The
+Italians fear not only fairies who rob them of their children, but also
+witches who tear the faces of unbaptized infants. These are both old
+superstitions, dating in one form or other from classic times. To baulk
+the witches of their prey it is in some places customary to keep a light
+burning in the chamber at night, and to affix at the door of the house
+the image of a saint, hanging to it a rosary and an unravelled napkin;
+while behind the door are put a jar full of salt and a brush. A twofold
+defence is thus built up; for the witch, beholding the image of the
+saint and the rosary, will straightway retire; or if these fail to warn
+her off, she will on entering be compelled to count the grains of salt,
+the broken threads of the napkin, and the twigs of the brush--a task
+that will keep her occupied from midnight, when at the earliest she can
+dare appear, until dawn, when she must slink away without having been
+able to attain her object. Among the Greeks witches are believed to have
+great power. They seek new-born babes to suck their blood or to prick
+them to death with sharp instruments. Often they inflict such injuries
+that a child remains for ever a cripple or an invalid. The Nereids of
+the fountains and springs are also on the watch "to exchange one of
+their own fractious offspring for a mortal babe." Constant watchfulness,
+and baptism as soon as the Church permits it, are therefore necessary.
+In England it seems to have been held in former days that witches stole
+children from their cradles before baptism to make an oil or unguent by
+boiling them to a jelly. A part of this jelly they used to drink, and
+with the remainder they rubbed their bodies. This was the orthodox means
+of acquiring magical powers. It is a Sicilian belief that the hands of
+unbaptized children are used by witches in their sorceries.[66]
+
+As we might expect, the reason why unbaptized babes are held to be so
+liable to these attacks is that until the initiatory rite has been
+performed they are looked upon as heathen, and therefore peculiarly
+under the dominion of evil spirits. In Sicily and in Spain an infant
+until baptism is called by the opprobrious epithets of _Pagan_, _Turk_,
+_Moor_, _Jew_. Even women will not kiss it, for to kiss a Moor, at all
+events in Spain, is sin; though, on the other hand, to kiss an
+unbaptized child, if no one else have kissed it, is sovereign against
+toothache. By the Greeks these little innocents are regarded not merely
+as not Christians, but as really less human than demoniac in their
+nature. This is said, indeed, to be the teaching of the Church. The
+lower classes, at least (and, presumably therefore, not long ago the
+upper classes) believe it firmly; so that an unbaptized babe is called
+_Drakos_ (feminine, _Drakoula_), that is to say, serpent or dragon. This
+is the same opprobrious title that we found Gervase of Tilbury applying
+to the evil spirits infesting the waters of the Rhone; and we cannot
+doubt that it is intended to convey an imputation of Satanic nature.[67]
+The extent of this superstition would form an interesting subject of
+inquiry. If it could be established as existing now or formerly among
+other Christian nations (and the superstitions of Sicily and Spain just
+cited point to this) it would help to clear up much of the difficulty
+surrounding the subject of changelings, especially the motives actuating
+both fairies and witches in their depredations. And, as infant baptism
+is by no means exclusively a Christian rite, research among heathen
+nations would be equally pertinent.
+
+Meanwhile the motive usually assigned to fairies in northern stories is
+that of preserving and improving their race, on the one hand by carrying
+off human children to be brought up among the elves and to become united
+with them, and on the other hand by obtaining the milk and fostering
+care of human mothers for their own offspring. Doubts have been
+expressed by the German poet and mythologist, Karl Simrock, whether this
+was the primitive motive. He suggests that originally these spirits were
+looked upon as wholly beneficent, and even the theft of children was
+dictated by their care for the best interests of mankind. Nor does he
+hesitate to lay it down that the selfish designs just mentioned were
+first attributed to them when with growing enlightenment the feeling
+manifested itself that the kindly beings were falling into decay.[68]
+
+It might be sufficient to reply that no spiritual existences imagined by
+men in a state of civilization such as surrounded our Celtic and
+Teutonic forefathers were ever regarded as unswervingly benevolent:
+caprice and vindictiveness, if not cruelty, are always elements of their
+character. Beyond this general consideration, however, there is a
+further and conclusive answer in the fact that there is no warrant in
+tradition for the supposition that could we penetrate to the oldest
+strata of mythical belief we should not discover selfish designs imputed
+to "the good people." The distinguished commentator himself is bound to
+admit that the belief in their need of human help is entwined in the
+very roots of the Teutonic myths. It is, indeed, nothing but the
+mediæval and Teutonic form of tenets common to all the nations upon
+earth. The changeling superstition and the classic stories of children
+and adults beloved by gods of high and low degree are consistent with
+this belief, and inseparable from it. The motive is so far
+comprehensible: what is wanted is to know whether any special relations,
+such as are pointed at by the Greek epithet _Drakos_, were held to exist
+between the mysterious world and newly-born babes which would render the
+latter more obnoxious to attack than elder children or adults; or
+whether, as I have put it at the beginning of this chapter, their
+helplessness alone suggested their exceeding danger. To solve the riddle
+we must wait for a larger accumulation of documents.[69]
+
+But in the best regulated families it is not always possible to prevent
+the abduction from being attempted, and sometimes accomplished, in spite
+of every precaution. One night a Welsh woman, waking in a fright in her
+husband's absence, missed her baby. She sought for it and caught it upon
+the boards above the bed: the fairies had not succeeded in bearing it
+any further away. Another felt her boy being taken from her arms;
+whereupon she screamed and held him tightly, and, according to her own
+expression, "God and me were too hard for them." The child grew up to
+become a famous preacher. A peasant woman in Mecklenburg who ventured to
+sleep without a light was attacked by an elf-woman. The stranger seized
+the child, but was baffled by the woman's determination; for she
+struggled and shrieked for her husband, and when he hurried in with a
+light the fairy vanished.[70]
+
+Nor is it always the mother who arrests the theft. A trick frequently
+played by the dwarfs in Northern Germany on the birth of a child was to
+pinch a cow's ear; and when the animal bellowed and everybody ran out to
+know why, a dwarf would slip indoors and effect the change. On one such
+occasion the father saw his infant being dragged out of the room. In the
+nick of time he grasped it and drew it towards himself. The changeling
+left in its place was found in the bed; and this he kept too, defying
+the efforts of the underground folk to regain it. At a place in North
+Jutland it happened many years ago in a lying-in room that the mother
+could get no sleep while the lights were burning. So her husband
+resolved to take the child in his arm, in order to keep strict watch
+over it so long as it was dark. But, unfortunately, he fell asleep; and
+on being awakened by a shake of the arm, he saw a tall woman standing by
+the bed, and found that he had an infant in each arm. The woman
+instantly vanished; and as he had forgotten in which arm he had held his
+child, there he lay without knowing which of the two children was his
+own. A boy, who was watching his younger sister while his parents were
+both from home, saw a small man and woman come from behind the oven.
+They told him to give them the little one; and when he refused they
+stepped to the cradle and endeavoured to take the babe by force. The
+boy, however, was strong and bold, and laid about him with such
+determination that the robbers at length took to flight. On the
+Lithuanian coast of the Baltic substantially the same tale is told with
+more humour. There a farmer's boy sleeping in the living-room of the
+house is awakened by the proceedings of two _laumes_, or elves. They
+stealthily fetch out of the bedroom the new-born babe and swathe it in
+swaddling clothes of their own, while they wrap in its clothes the
+oven-broom. Then they began to quarrel which of them should carry the
+broom thus rolled up into the bedroom; and as they were unable to agree
+they resolved to carry it together. No sooner had they disappeared into
+the inner apartment than the boy leaped out of bed, picked up his
+mistress' child and took it into his own bed. When the _laumes_ returned
+the infant was not to be found. They were both very angry and began to
+scold one another: "It's your fault." "No, it's your fault; didn't I
+say, You carry it, while I stay here and keep watch? I said it would be
+stolen!" While they wrangled thus, kakary ku! crew the cock, and, foiled
+and enraged, they had to make off. The boy had great difficulty in
+wakening his mistress, who was in a deep sleep, dreaming a horrible
+dream that a stock of wood had been placed on her breast so that she
+could hardly breathe. He told her what had happened, but she would not
+believe it until she saw that she had _two_ children--one to which she
+had given birth, the other fashioned out of the oven-broom.[71]
+
+Prayer and the utterance of a holy name are to the full as effectual as
+physical strength. A fisherwoman in the north-east of Scotland was once
+left alone in bed with her baby, when in came a little man dressed in
+green, and proceeded to lay hold of the child. The woman knew at once
+with whom she had to do, and ejaculated: "God be atween you an' me!" Out
+rushed the fairy in a moment, and mother and babe were left without
+further molestation. A curious tale is told of two Strathspey smugglers
+who were one night laying in a stock of whiskey at Glenlivat when they
+heard the child in the cradle give a piercing cry, just as if it had
+been shot. The mother, of course, blessed it; and the Strathspey lads
+took no further notice, and soon afterwards went their way with their
+goods. Before they had gone far they found a fine healthy child lying
+all alone on the roadside, and recognized it as their friend's. They saw
+at once how the affair stood. The fairies had taken away the real infant
+and left a stock; but owing to the pious ejaculation of the mother, they
+had been forced to drop it. As the urgency of their business did not
+admit of their return they took the child with them, and kept it until
+they went to Glenlivat again. On their arrival here they said nothing
+about the child, which they kept concealed. In the course of
+conversation the woman remarked that the disease which had attacked the
+little one the last time they were there had never left it, and she had
+now scarce any hope of its recovery. As if to confirm her statement, it
+continued uttering most piercing cries. The smugglers thereupon produced
+the real babe healthy and hearty, and told her how they had found it.
+The mother was, of course, pleased to recover it; and the next thing was
+to dispose of the changeling. For this purpose the Strathspey lads got
+an old creel to put him in and some straw to light under it. Seeing the
+serious turn matters were likely to take he resolved not to await the
+trial, but flew up the smoke-hole and cried out from the top that but
+for the guests events would have gone very differently.[72]
+
+Two pixies of Dartmoor, in the shape of large bundles of rags, led away
+one of two children who were following their mother homeward. It was
+eventually found, on a search being made by the neighbours with
+lanterns, under a certain large oak tree known to be pixy-haunted. This
+is hardly a changeling story, as no attempt was made to foist a false
+child on the parent. A tale from the Isle of Man contains two similar
+incidents of attempted robbery without replacing the stolen child by one
+of superhuman birth. The fairies there adopted artifices like those of
+the North German dwarfs above mentioned. A few nights after a woman had
+been delivered of her first child a cry of fire was raised, and every
+one ran out of the house to see whence it proceeded, leaving the
+helpless mother alone with her babe. On returning they found the infant
+lying on the threshold of the house. The following year, when another
+little stranger had presented itself, a noise was heard in an out-house
+among the cattle. Again everybody that was stirring, including the
+nurse, hurried forth to learn what was the matter, believing that the
+cattle had got loose. But finding all safe, they came back, only to
+discover that the new-born babe had been taken out of bed, as the former
+had been, and on their coming dropped in the middle of the entry. It
+might have been supposed that these two warnings would have been enough;
+but a third time the trick was played, and then more successfully.
+Forgetting what had previously happened, all who were in the house ran
+out one night on hearing a noise in the cow-house--all, that is, except
+the mother, who could not move, and the nurse, who was sleeping off the
+effects of alcohol. The former was lying broad awake and saw her child
+lifted from the bed by invisible hands and carried clean away. She
+shrieked at once to the nurse, but failed to arouse her; and when her
+husband returned, an infant was indeed lying beside her, but a poor,
+lean, withered, deformed creature, very different from her own. It lay
+quite naked, though the clothes of the true child had been considerately
+left for it by the ravishers.[73]
+
+One of the difficulties experienced by the fairies on two of the three
+occasions here narrated in making off with the little one occurred at
+the door of the house. That they should have tried, repeatedly at all
+events, to pass out that way is almost as remarkable as that they should
+have been permitted more than once to attempt the theft. For the
+threshold is a part of the dwelling which from of old has been held
+sacred, and is generally avoided by uncanny beings. Wiser, though still
+doomed to failure, were those Irish elves who lifted up a window and
+handed the infant out. For it happened that a neighbour who was coming
+to pay a visit that moment stopped before the house, and exclaimed: "God
+keep all here from harm!" No sooner had she uttered the words than she
+saw the child put forth, how, or by whom, she did not know; and without
+hesitation she went up and took it away home with her. The next morning
+when she called to see how her friend fared great was the moan made to
+her over the behaviour of the child--so different from what it had ever
+been before--crying all the night and keeping awake its mother, who
+could not quiet it by any means. "I'll tell you what you'll do with the
+brat," she replied; "whip it well first, and then bring it to the
+cross-roads, and leave the fairy in the ditch there for any one to take
+that pleases; for I have your child at home safe and sound as he was
+handed out of the window last night to me." When the mother heard this,
+she just stepped out to get a rod; but before she returned the
+changeling had vanished, and no one either saw or heard of it again.[74]
+
+Fairies, however, when bent upon mischief, are not always baulked so
+easily. They effect the exchange, sometimes in the house, and sometimes
+when the parent is at work in the fields and incautiously puts her
+offspring down the while. In these circumstances, grievous as may be the
+suspicion arising from the changed conduct of the nursling, it is not
+always easy to be sure of what has taken place. Tests, therefore, have
+to be applied. Often the appearance is enough. A "mighty big head," or
+an abnormally thick head and neck, is in Germany deemed sufficient
+credentials from Fairyland; while in a case from Lapland, where the hand
+and foot grew so rapidly as to become speedily nearly half an ell in
+length and the child was unable to learn to speak, whereas she readily
+understood what was said to her, these deviations from the course of
+nature were looked upon as conclusive evidence.[75] A reputed changeling
+shown to Waldron in the Isle of Man early in the last century is thus
+described: "Nothing under heaven could have a more beautiful face; but
+though between five and six years old, and seemingly healthy, he was so
+far from being able to walk, or stand, that he could not so much as move
+any one joint; his limbs were vastly long for his age, but smaller than
+an infant's of six months; his complexion was perfectly delicate, and he
+had the finest hair in the world; he never spoke, nor cried, eat scarce
+anything, and was very seldom seen to smile, but if any one called him a
+fairy-elf, he would frown and fix his eyes so earnestly on those who
+said it, as if he would look them through. His mother, or at least his
+supposed mother, being very poor, frequently went out a-charing, and
+left him a whole day together. The neighbours, out of curiosity, have
+often looked in at the window to see how he behaved when alone, which,
+whenever they did, they were sure to find him laughing and in the utmost
+delight. This made them judge that he was not without company more
+pleasing to him than any mortal's could be; and what made this
+conjecture seem the more reasonable was, that if he were left ever so
+dirty, the woman at her return saw him with a clean face, and his hair
+combed with the utmost exactness and nicety."[76] Luther tells us that
+he saw and touched at Dessau a changed child which was twelve years of
+age. The account he gives of the child is that "he had his eyes and all
+members like another child; he did nothing but feed, and would eat as
+much as two clowns or threshers were able to eat. When one touched it,
+then it cried out. When any evil happened in the house, then it laughed
+and was joyful; but when all went well, then it cried and was very sad."
+So much for the Reformer's testimony of what he saw and was told. His
+theories and generalizations are in their way not less interesting than
+his testimony: as might have been expected, they are an adaptation of
+the ordinary superstitions to his own grim scheme of things. "Such
+changelings and killcrops," he goes on to say, "_supponit Satan in locum
+verorum filiorum_; for the devil hath this power, that he changeth
+children, and instead thereof layeth devils in the cradles, which thrive
+not, only they feed and suck: but such changelings live not above
+eighteen or nineteen years. It sometimes falleth out that the children
+of women in child-bed are thus changed, and Devils laid in their stead,
+one of which more fouleth itself than ten other children do, so that
+the parents are much therewith disquieted; and the mothers in such sort
+are sucked out, that afterwards they are able to give suck no more."[77]
+
+Making allowance for the influence of imagination, there can be no
+doubt, on comparison of these passages, that the children to whom the
+character of changelings was ascribed were invariably deformed or
+diseased. The delightful author of the "Popular Romances of the West of
+England" says that some thirty or forty years before the date of writing
+he had seen several reputed changelings. And his evidence is express
+that "in every case they have been sad examples of the influence of
+mesenteric disease." After describing their external symptoms, he adds:
+"The wasted frame, with sometimes strumous swellings, and the unnatural
+abdominal enlargement which accompanies disease of mesenteric glands,
+gives a very sad, and often a most unnatural, appearance to the
+sufferer." Professor Rhys' description of a reputed changeling, one
+Ellis Bach, of Nant Gwrtheyrn, in Carnarvonshire, is instructive as
+showing the kind of being accredited among the Welsh with fairy nature.
+The professor is repeating the account given to him of this poor
+creature, who died nearly half a century ago. He tells us: "His father
+was a farmer, whose children, both boys and girls, were like ordinary
+folks, excepting Ellis, who was deformed, his legs being so short that
+his body seemed only a few inches from the ground when he walked. His
+voice was also small and squeaky. However, he was very sharp, and could
+find his way among the rocks pretty well when he went in quest of his
+father's sheep and goats, of which there used to be plenty there
+formerly. Everybody believed Ellis to have been a changeling, and one
+saying of his is well known in that part of the country. When strangers
+visited Nant Gwrtheyrn, a thing which did not frequently happen, and
+when his parents asked them to their table, and pressed them to eat, he
+would squeak out drily: _'B'yta 'nynna b'yta'r cwbwl_,' that is to
+say--'Eating--that means eating all.'" A changeling in Monmouthshire,
+described by an eye-witness at the beginning of the present century, was
+simply an idiot of a forbidding aspect, a dark, tawny complexion, and
+much addicted to screaming.[78]
+
+But a changeling was to be known in other ways than by his physical
+defects; under careful management he might be led to betray himself in
+speech or action. A Kirkcudbrightshire tale represents a child as once
+left in charge of a tailor, who "commenced a discourse" with him.
+"'Will, hae ye your pipes?' says the tailor. 'They're below my head,'
+says the tenant of the cradle. 'Play me a spring,' says the tailor. Like
+thought, the little man, jumping from the cradle, played round the room
+with great glee. A curious noise was heard meantime outside; and the
+tailor asked what it meant. The little elf called out: 'It's my folk
+wanting me,' and away he fled up the chimney, leaving the tailor more
+dead than alive." In the neighbouring county of Dumfries the story is
+told with more gusto. The gudewife goes to the hump-backed tailor, and
+says: "Wullie, I maun awa' to Dunse about my wab, and I dinna ken what
+to do wi' the bairn till I come back: ye ken it's but a whingin',
+screechin', skirlin' wallidreg--but we maun bear wi' dispensations. I
+wad wuss ye,' quoth she, 'to tak tent till't till I come hame--ye sall
+hae a roosin' ingle, and a blast o' the goodman's tobacco-pipe forbye.'
+Wullie was naething laith, and back they gaed the-gither. Wullie sits
+down at the fire, and awa' wi' her yarn gaes the wife; but scarce had
+she steekit the door, and wan half-way down the close, when the bairn
+cocks up on its doup in the cradle, and rounds in Wullie's lug: 'Wullie
+Tylor, an' ye winna tell my mither when she comes back, I'se play ye a
+bonny spring on the bagpipes.' I wat Wullie's heart was like to loup the
+hool--for tylors, ye ken, are aye timorsome--but he thinks to himsel':
+'Fair fashions are still best,' an' 'It's better to fleetch fules than
+to flyte wi' them'; so he rounds again in the bairn's lug: 'Play up, my
+doo, an' I'se tell naebody.' Wi' that the fairy ripes amang the cradle
+strae, and pu's oot a pair o' pipes, sic as tylor Wullie ne'er had seen
+in a' his days--muntit wi' ivory, and gold, and silver, and dymonts, and
+what not. I dinna ken what spring the fairy played, but this I ken weel,
+that Wullie had nae great goo o' his performance; so he sits thinkin' to
+himsel': 'This maun be a deil's get, Auld Waughorn himsel' may come to
+rock his son's cradle, and play me some foul prank;' so he catches the
+bairn by the cuff o' the neck, and whupt him into the fire, bagpipes and
+a'!"[79]
+
+In Nithsdale the elf-child displays a superhuman power of work. The
+mother left it on one occasion in the charge of a servant-girl, who sat
+bemoaning herself. "Wer't nae for thy girning face I would knock the
+big, winnow the corn, and grun the meal!" "Lowse the cradle band," cried
+the child, "and tent the neighbours, an' I'll work yere wark." With that
+he started up, the wind arose, the corn was winnowed, the outlyers were
+foddered, the hand-mill moved around as by instinct, and the knocking
+mell did its work with amazing rapidity. The lass and the elf meanwhile
+took their ease, until, on the mistress's return, he was restored to the
+cradle and began to yell anew.[80]
+
+Most of the stories of changelings, in fact, assume that, though the
+outward characteristics might justify vehement suspicion, yet they were
+not absolutely decisive, and that to arrive at certainty the elf must be
+brought to betray himself. No great subtlety, however, was needful; for
+the stratagem employed varies but little, as the following examples will
+show. The child of a married couple in Mecklenburg at two years of age
+was no longer than a shoe, but had a mighty big head, and, withal, was
+unable to learn to speak. Its parents were led by an old man to suspect
+that it had been changed, and their adviser told them: "If you wish to
+become certain, take an empty egg-shell, and in the child's presence
+pour in new beer and cause it to ferment by means of yeast. If then the
+child speak, my conjecture is right." His counsel was followed, and
+scarcely had the beer fermented when the child cried out from the
+cradle:
+
+    "I am as old
+    As Bohemian gold,
+    Yet for the first time now I see
+    Beer in an egg-shell brew'd to be."
+
+The parents determined to fling the babe into the river the following
+night; but when at midnight they rose for the purpose they found in the
+cradle a strong, blooming child. In a Welsh tale from Radnorshire the
+egg-shell is boiled full of pottage in the children's sight (there are
+twins in this case) and taken out as a dinner for the reapers who
+happened to be cutting the rye and oats. In Glamorganshire the woman
+declares she is mixing a pasty for the reapers. An Icelandic legend
+makes a woman set a pot containing food to cook on the fire and fasten
+twigs end to end in continuation of the handle of a spoon until the
+topmost one appears above the chimney, when she puts the bowl in the
+pot. Another woman in a Danish tale engaged to drive a changeling out of
+the house he troubled; and this is how she set about it. In his
+temporary absence she killed a pig and made a black pudding of it, hide,
+hair and all. On his return she set it before him, for he was a
+prodigious eater. He began gobbling it up as usual; but as he ate his
+efforts gradually slackened, and at last he sat quite still, eyeing it
+thoughtfully. Then he exclaimed: "A pudding with hide! and a pudding
+with hair! a pudding with eyes! and a pudding with bones in it! Thrice
+have I seen a young wood spring upon Tiis Lake, but never yet did I see
+such a pudding! The devil will stay here no longer!" And so saying he
+ran off and never returned.[81]
+
+Of these devices, however, the normal one is that of the egg-shells.
+Sometimes one egg-shell only is employed, sometimes two--a dozen--or an
+indefinite number. At seaside places, like Normandy and the Channel
+Islands, egg-shells are sometimes replaced by shells of shell-fish.[82]
+In all the stories the end is the same, namely, to excite the curiosity
+and wonder of the imp to such a pitch that he gives expression to it in
+language akin to that of the North German or the Danish tale just
+quoted. The measure of age given in his exclamation is usually that of
+the trees in the forest, or indeed the forest itself. In the instance
+from Mecklenburg, Bohemian gold (_Böhmer Gold_) is made the measure, and
+this runs through quite a number of Low Dutch stories. There can be
+little doubt, however, that it is a corruption, and that the true form
+is, as given in a Schleswig-Holstein tale, Bohemian Forest (_Behmer
+Woelt_).[83] In Hesse Wester Forest (_Westerwald_) is found, and so on
+in other countries, the narrator in each case referring to some wood
+well known to his audience. The Lithuanian elf, or _laumes_, says: "I am
+so old, I was already in the world before the Kamschtschen Wood was
+planted, wherein great trees grew, and _that_ is now laid waste again;
+but anything so wonderful I have never seen." In Normandy the changeling
+declares: "I have seen the Forest of Ardennes burnt seven times, but I
+never saw so many pots boil." The astonishment of a Scandinavian imp
+expressed itself even more graphically, for when he saw an egg-shell
+boiling on the fire having one end of a measuring rod set in it, he
+crept out of the cradle on his hands, leaving his feet still inside, and
+stretched himself out longer and longer until he reached right across
+the floor and up the chimney, when he exclaimed: "Well! seven times have
+I seen the wood fall in Lessö Forest, but never till now have I seen so
+big a ladle in so small a pot!" And the Danish story I have cited above
+represents the child as saying that he has seen a young wood thrice upon
+Tiis Lake.[84] The Welsh fairies are curiously youthful compared with
+these hoary infants, which is all the more remarkable when the daring
+exaggerations of Cambrian story-tellers are considered. It is a modest
+claim only to have seen the acorn before the oak and the egg before the
+hen, yet that is all that is put forward. In one of the Lays of Marie de
+France the wood of Brézal is indicated as the spot where the oak was
+seen.[85] The formula thus variously used would appear to be a common
+one to describe great antiquity, and in all probability itself dates
+back to a very remote period.
+
+But changelings frequently conform to the more civilized usage of
+measuring their age by years. And various are the estimates given us,
+from fifteen hundred years in the Emerald Isle down to the computation,
+erring perhaps on the other side, of the young gentleman in the English
+tale, who remarks: "Seven years old was I before I came to the nurse,
+and four years have I lived since, and never saw so many milk-pans
+before." A yet more mysterious hint as to her earlier life is dropped by
+an imp in Brittany. She has been treated to the sight of milk boiling in
+egg-shells, and cries: "I shall soon be a hundred years old, but I never
+saw so many shells boiling! I was born in Pif and in Paf, in the country
+where cats are made; but I never saw anything like it!"[86] To all
+right-minded persons this disclosure contained sufficient warrant for
+her reputed mother to repudiate her as a witch, though cats are no less
+intimate with fairies than with conjurers.
+
+Simrock, in his work on German mythology already cited, inclines to the
+opinion that the object of the ceremony which the suspected child is
+made to witness is to produce laughter. He says: "The dwarf is no
+over-ripe beauty who must keep her age secret. Rather something
+ridiculous must be done to cause him to laugh, because laughter brings
+deliverance."[87] The problem set before the heroes of many folk-tales
+is to compel laughter, but that does not seem to be intended in these
+changeling stories. At least I have only met with it in one, and it
+certainly is not common. The confession of age which the ceremony draws
+forth is really much more. It is a confession that the apparently human
+babe is an imposture, that it belongs in fact to a different race, and
+has no claim on the mother's care and tenderness. Therefore it is not
+always enough for the fraud to be discovered: active means must
+sometimes be taken to rid the family of their supernatural burden and
+regain their own little one. In Grimm's story, in which the child
+laughs, a host of elves comes suddenly bringing back the true and
+carrying away the false one; and in many of the German and Northern
+tales the changeling disappears in one way or other immediately after
+its exclamation. We are sometimes even told in so many words that the
+changeling had betrayed himself, and the underground folk were obliged
+to give back the stolen child. And in the Lithuanian story we have cited
+the _laumes_ straightway falls sick and dies.[88] Such conduct accords
+entirely with the resentment at being recognized which we have in a
+previous chapter found to be a characteristic of spiritual existences.
+It is much more like the dislike of being found out attributed to beings
+who are in the habit of walking invisible, than any mystical effect of
+laughter.
+
+If this be so, still less do the stories where it is required actually
+to drive the imp away support the learned German's contention. The means
+taken in these stories are very various. Sometimes it is enough to let
+the child severely alone, as once in the Isle of Man where a woman laid
+her child down in the field while she was cutting corn, and a fairy
+changed it there and then. The changeling began to scream, but the
+mother was prevented by a man who had been a witness to the transaction
+from picking it up; and when the fairy found that no notice was taken
+the true child was brought back. In the island of Lewis the custom was
+to dig a grave in the fields on Quarter Day and lay the goblin in it
+until the next morning, by which time it was believed the human babe
+would be returned. In the north of Germany one is advised not to touch
+the changeling with the hands, but to overturn the cradle so that the
+child falls on the floor. The elf must then be swept out of the door
+with an old broom, when the dwarfs will come and bring back the stolen
+child. Putting it on the dunghill and leaving it there to cry has been
+practised successfully in England; but in Ireland this is only one part
+of a long and serious ceremony directed by a wizard or "fairy-man." In
+dealing with these stories we must always remember that not merely are
+we concerned with sagas of something long past, but with a yet living
+superstition, and that the practices I am about to mention--even the
+most cruel and the most ridiculous of them--so far respond to the actual
+beliefs of the people that instances of their occurrence are quite
+recent and well authenticated, as we shall presently see. An anonymous
+but well-informed writer describes, as if it were by no means an unusual
+ceremony, that just referred to; and Kennedy gives the same in the shape
+of a legend. It seems to consist in taking a clean shovel and seating
+the changeling on its broad iron blade, and thus conveying the creature
+to the manure heap. The assistants would then join hands and circle
+about the heap thrice while the fairy-man chanted an incantation in the
+Irish language. At its conclusion all present would withdraw into the
+house, leaving the child where it had been placed, to howl and cry as it
+pleased. Says Mr. Kennedy: "They soon felt the air around them sweep
+this way and that, as if it was stirred by the motion of wings, but
+they remained quiet and silent for about ten minutes. Opening the door,
+they then looked out, and saw the bundle of straw on the heap, but
+neither child nor fairy. 'Go into your bedroom, Katty,' said the
+fairy-man, 'and see if there's anything left on the bed!' She did so,
+and they soon heard a cry of joy, and Katty was among them in a moment,
+kissing and hugging her own healthy-looking child, who was waking and
+rubbing his eyes, and wondering at the lights and all the eager
+faces."[89]
+
+Whether it was the noise made by the child or the incantation that drew
+the "good people's" attention, we are left in doubt by this story. A
+Norman woman was, however, advised to make her child cry lustily "in
+order to bring its _real_ mother to it." And this is probably the
+meaning of the many tales in which the elf is beaten, or starved and
+subjected to other ill-usage, or is threatened with death.[90] In the
+Pflöckenstein Lake in Bohemia wild women are believed to dwell, who,
+among other attributes common to elves or fairies, are believed to
+change infants. In order to compel a re-exchange, directions are given
+to bind with a weed growing at the bottom of the lake and to beat with a
+rod of the same, calling out therewithal: "Take thine own and bring me
+mine." A mother in a Little Russian tale had a baby of extraordinary
+habits. When alone, he jumped out of the cradle, no longer a baby but a
+bearded old man, gobbled up the food out of the stove, and then lay down
+again a screeching babe. A wise woman who was consulted placed him on a
+block of wood and began to chop the block under his feet. He screeched
+and she chopped; he screeched and she chopped; until he became an old
+man again and made the enigmatical confession: "I have transformed
+myself not once nor twice only. I was first a fish, then I became a
+bird, an ant, and a quadruped, and now I have once more made trial of
+being a human being. It isn't better thus than being among the ants; but
+among human beings--it isn't worse!" Here the chopping was evidently a
+threat to kill. Nor, if we may trust the stories, was this threat always
+an empty one. The changeling fashioned out of a broom in the Lithuanian
+story already cited, was disposed of, by the parish priest's advice, by
+hewing its head off. The reason given by the holy man was that it was
+not yet four and twenty hours old, and it would not be really alive
+until the expiration of that time. Accordingly when the neck was severed
+nothing but a wisp of straw was found inside, though blood flowed as if
+there were veins.[91]
+
+But even more truculent methods are represented by the story-tellers as
+resorted to free the afflicted household. Nothing short of fire is
+often deemed sufficient for the purpose. There were various methods of
+applying it. Sometimes we are told of a shovel being made red-hot and
+held before the child's face; sometimes he is seated on it and flung out
+into the dung-pit, or into the oven; or again, the poker would be heated
+to mark the sign of the cross on his forehead, or the tongs to take him
+by the nose. Or he is thrown bodily on the fire, or suspended over it in
+a creel or a pot; and in the north of Scotland the latter must be hung
+from a piece of the branch of a hazel tree. In this case we are told
+that if the child screamed it was a changeling, and it was held fast to
+prevent its escape. Generally, however, it is related that the elf
+flies up the chimney, and when safely at the top he stops to make
+uncomplimentary remarks upon his persecutors. In the Nithsdale story
+which I have already cited, the servant girl at midnight covers up the
+chimney and every other inlet, makes the embers glowing hot, and
+undressing the changeling tosses it on them. In answer to its yells the
+fairies are heard moaning and rattling at the window boards, the
+chimney-head, and the door. "In the name o' God, bring back the bairn,"
+she exclaims. In a moment up flew the window, the human child was laid
+unharmed on the mother's lap, while its guilty substitute flew up the
+chimney with a loud laugh.[92]
+
+Frightful as this cruelty would seem to every one if perpetrated on the
+mother's own offspring, it was regarded with equanimity as applied to a
+goblin; and it is not more frightful than what has been actually
+perpetrated on young children, and that within a very few years, under
+the belief that they were beings of a different race. Instances need not
+be multiplied; it will be enough to show that one of the horrible
+methods of disposing of changelings referred to in the last paragraph
+came under judicial notice no longer ago than the month of May 1884. Two
+women were reported in the "Daily Telegraph" as having been arrested at
+Clonmel on the 17th of that month, charged with cruelly ill-treating a
+child three years old. The evidence given was to the effect that the
+neighbours fancied that the child, who had not the use of his limbs, was
+a changeling. During the mother's absence the prisoners accordingly
+entered her house and placed the child naked on a hot shovel, "under the
+impression that this would break the charm." As might have been
+expected the poor little thing was severely burnt, and, when the women
+were apprehended, it was in a precarious condition. The prisoners, on
+being remanded, were hooted by an indignant crowd. It might be thought
+that this was an indication of the decay of superstition, even in
+Ireland, however much to be condemned as an outburst of feeling against
+unconvicted and even untried persons. But we must regard it rather as a
+protest against the prisoners' inhumanity than against their
+superstition: in either case, of course, the product of advancing
+civilization. For if we may trust the witness of other sagas we find the
+trial by fire commuted to a symbolic act, as though men had begun to be
+revolted by the cruelty, even when committed only on a fairy who had
+been found out, but were unwilling to abandon their belief in the power
+of the exorcism. In the north-east of Scotland, for example, where a
+beggar, who had diagnosed a changeling, was allowed to try his hand at
+disposing of it, he made a large fire on the hearth and held a black hen
+over it till she struggled, and finally escaped from his grasp, flying
+out by the "lum." More minute directions are given by the cunning man in
+a Glamorganshire tale. After poring over his big book, he told his
+distracted client to find a black hen without a single feather of any
+other colour. This she was to bake (not living, but dead, as appears by
+the sequel) before a fire of wood (not, as usual, of peat), with
+feathers and all intact. Every window and opening was to be closed,
+except one--presumably the chimney; and she was not to watch the
+_crimbil_, or changeling, until the hen had been done enough, which she
+would know by the falling off of all her feathers. The more knowing
+woman, in an Irish story, attributes the fact of the infant's being
+changed to the Evil Eye; and her directions for treatment require the
+mother to watch for the woman who has given it the Evil Eye, inveigle
+her into the house and cut a piece secretly out of her cloak. This piece
+of the cloak was then to be burnt close to the child until the smoke
+made him sneeze, when the spell would be broken and her own child
+restored. The writer who records this tale mentions the following mode
+of proceeding as a common one, namely: to place the babe in the middle
+of the cabin and light a fire round it, fully expecting it to be changed
+into a sod of turf, but manifestly not intending to do bodily harm to it
+independently of any such change. In Carnarvonshire a clergyman is
+credited with telling a mother to cover a shovel with salt, mark a cross
+in the salt, and burn it in the chamber where the child was, judiciously
+opening the window first.[93] It is satisfactory to know that, so far as
+the recorded cases go, the ceremony lost nothing of its power by being
+thus toned down.
+
+Fire, however, was not the only element efficacious for turning to
+flight these troublesome aliens. Water's antagonism to witches is
+notorious; and ample use was made of it in the old witch trials. It is
+equally obnoxious to fairies and their congeners. In a Welsh story from
+Radnorshire, when the mother has been by the egg-shell device convinced
+of the exchange of her own twin children, she takes the goblin twins and
+flings them into Llyn Ebyr; but their true kinsmen clad in blue trousers
+(their usual garb) save them, and the mother receives her own again. In
+other tales she drops the twins into the river; but in one case the
+witch who has been credited with the change bathes the child at a
+mountain spout, or _pistyll_, and exacts a promise from the mother to
+duck him in cold water every morning for three months. It is not very
+surprising to learn that "at the end of that time there was no finer
+infant in the Cwm."[94]
+
+There is an oft-quoted passage in Luther's "Table Talk," in which he
+relates that he told the Prince of Anhalt that if he were prince he
+would venture _homicidium_ upon a certain changeling with which he had
+been brought into contact, and throw it into the river Moldaw. The great
+Reformer was only on a level with his countrymen in their superstitions
+in reference to changelings, or Killcrops, as they were then called. I
+have already quoted his opinion of them as devils; and the test of their
+true nature, which he seems to have thought infallible, was their
+inordinate appetite; nor did he attach any value to baptism as a means
+of exorcism. One excellent tale he tells on the subject concerns a
+peasant who lived near Halberstadt, in Saxony. This good man, in
+accordance with advice, was taking the child to Halberstadt to be rocked
+at the shrine of the Virgin Mary, when in crossing a river another devil
+that was below in the river called out "Killcrop! Killcrop!" Then, says
+Luther, the child in the basket, that had never before spoken one word,
+answered "Ho, ho!" The devil in the water asked, "Whither art thou
+going?" and the child replied, "I am going to Halberstadt to our Loving
+Mother, to be rocked." In his fright the man threw the basket containing
+the child over the bridge into the water, whereupon the two devils flew
+away together and cried "Ho, ho, ha!" tumbling themselves one over
+another, and so vanished.[95] This may be taken as a type of many a
+story current in North Germany and the neighbouring Slavonic lands. It
+is not, however, unknown in this country. Mr. Hunt has versified a
+Cornish tale in which the mother took her brat to the chapel well to
+plunge it at dawn and pass it round slowly three times _against_ the
+sun, as she had been advised to do on the first three Wednesdays in the
+month of May. Reaching the top of the hill on one of these occasions,
+she heard a shrill voice in her ear: "Tredrill, Tredrill! thy wife and
+children greet thee well." The little one of course replied, much to her
+astonishment, repudiating all concern for his wife and children, and
+intimating his enjoyment of the life he was leading, and the spell that
+was being wrought in his behalf. In the end she got rid of him by the
+homely process of beating and leaving him on the ground near the old
+church stile. A Sutherlandshire tradition tells of a child less than a
+year old who suddenly addressed his mother in verse as he was being
+carried through a wild glen. Translated, the youth's impromptu lines run
+thus:--
+
+    "Many is the dun hummel cow
+    (Each having a calf)
+    In the opposite dun glen,
+    Without the aid of dog,
+    Or man, or woman, or gillie,
+    One man excepted,
+    And he grey----"
+
+At that moment his remarks were interrupted by the terrified woman
+throwing him down in the plaid which wrapt him, and scampering home,
+where to her joy she found her true babe smiling in the cradle.[96]
+
+These verses carry us back to the egg-shell episode, from which the
+consideration of the means adopted to drive away the intrusive goblin
+has diverted us. They contain a vague assertion of age like those then
+before us, but not a hint of laughter. Nor have we found anything
+throughout the whole discussion to favour Simrock's suggestion, or to
+shake the opinion that the dissolution of the fairy spell was derived
+either from the vexation of the supernatural folk at their own
+self-betrayal, or from the disclosure to the human foster-parents of
+the true state of the facts, and their consequent determination to
+exorcise the demon.
+
+It is true we have a few more stories to examine, but we shall find that
+they all confirm this conclusion. The cases we have yet to deal with,
+except the first, exhibit a different and much more humane treatment of
+the changeling than the foregoing. The case excepted is found in
+Carnarvonshire, where one infallible method of getting rid of the child
+was to place it on the floor and let all present in the house throw a
+piece of iron at it. The old woman who mentioned this to Professor Rhys
+conjectured that the object was to convince the _Tylwyth Teg_, or fairy
+people, of the intention to kill the babe, in order to induce them to
+bring the right child back.[97] This would be the same motive as that
+which threatened death by fire or other ill-usage, in some of the
+instances mentioned above. But we could not thus account for the
+requirement that iron, and only iron, was to be used; and here we have,
+in fact, a superstition carefully preserved, while its meaning has quite
+passed out of memory. In a future chapter we shall examine the attitude
+of mythical beings in folklore to metals, and especially to iron; in the
+meantime we may content ourselves with noting this addition to the
+examples we have already met with of the horror with which they regarded
+it.
+
+So far from its being always deemed wise to neglect or injure the
+changeling, it was not infrequently supposed to be necessary to take the
+greatest care of it, thereby and by other means to propitiate its elvish
+tribe. This was the course pursued with the best results by a Devonshire
+mother; and a woman at Strassberg, in North Germany, was counselled by
+all her gossips to act lovingly, and above all not to beat the imp, lest
+her own little one be beaten in turn by the underground folk. So in a
+Hessian tale mentioned by Grimm, a _wichtel-wife_ caught almost in the
+act of kidnapping refused to give up the babe until the woman had placed
+the changed one to her breast, and "nourished it for once with the
+generous milk of human kind." In Ireland, even when the child is placed
+on a dunghill, the charm recited under the direction of the "fairy-man"
+promises kindly entertainment in future for the "gambolling crew," if
+they will only undo what they have done. A method in favour in the north
+of Scotland is to take the suspected elf to some known haunt of its
+race, generally, we are told, some spot where peculiar soughing sounds
+are heard, or to some barrow, or stone circle, and lay it down,
+repeating certain incantations the while. What the words of these
+incantations are we are not informed, but we learn that an offering of
+bread, butter, milk, cheese, eggs, and flesh of fowl must accompany the
+child. The parents then retire for an hour or two, or until after
+midnight; and if on returning these things have disappeared, they
+conclude that the offering is accepted and their own child returned.[98]
+
+Neither ill-usage nor kindness, neither neglect nor propitiation, was
+sometimes prescribed and acted upon, but--harder than either--a journey
+to Fairyland to fetch back the captive. A man on the island of Rügen,
+whose carelessness had occasioned the loss of his child, watched until
+the underground dwellers sallied forth on another raid, when he hastened
+to the mouth of the hole that led into their realm, and went boldly
+down. There in the Underworld he found the child, and thus the robbers
+were forced to take their own again instead. In a more detailed
+narrative from Islay, the father arms himself with a Bible, a dirk, and
+a crowing cock, and having found the hill where the "Good People" had
+their abode open, and filled with the lights and sounds of festival, he
+approached and stuck the dirk into the threshold. The object of this was
+to prevent the entrance from closing upon him. Then he steadily
+advanced, protected from harm by the Bible at his breast. Within, his
+boy (who was thirteen or fourteen years of age) was working at the
+forge; but when the man demanded him the elves burst into a loud laugh,
+which aroused the cock in his arms. The cock at once leaped upon his
+shoulders, flapped his wings, and crowed loud and long. The enraged
+elves thereupon cast the man and his son both out of the hill, and flung
+the dirk after them; and in an instant all was dark. It should be added
+that for a year and a day afterwards the boy did no work, and scarcely
+spoke; but he ultimately became a very famous smith, the inventor of a
+specially fine and well-tempered sword. The changeling himself in one of
+Lady Wilde's tales directs his foster-mother to Fairyland. The way
+thither was down a well; and she was led by the portress, an old woman,
+into the royal palace. There the queen admits that she stole the child,
+"for he was so beautiful," and put her own instead. The re-exchange is
+effected, and the good woman is feasted with food which the fairies
+cannot touch, because it has been sprinkled with salt. When she found
+herself again at home, she fancied she had only been away an hour: it
+was three years.[99]
+
+But it was not always necessary to incur the risk of going as far as the
+other world. The Glamorganshire woman, whose successful cooking of a
+black hen has been already referred to, had first to go at full moon to
+a place where four roads met, and hide herself to watch the fairy
+procession which passed at midnight. There in the midst of the music and
+the _Bendith eu mammau_ she beheld her own dear little child. One of the
+most interesting changeling stories was gravely related in the "Irish
+Fireside" for the 7th of January 1884, concerning a land-leaguer who
+had been imprisoned as a suspect under the then latest Coercion Act.
+When this patriot was a boy he had been stolen by the fairies, one of
+themselves having been left in his place. The parish priest, however,
+interfered; and by a miracle he caused the elf for a moment to
+disappear, and the boy to return to tell him the conditions on which his
+captivity might be ended. The information given, the goblin again
+replaced the true son; but the good priest was now able to deal
+effectually with the matter. The imp was accordingly dipped thrice in
+Lough Lane (a small lake in the eastern part of Westmeath), when "a curl
+came on the water, and up from the deep came the naked form of the boy,
+who walked on the water to meet his father on shore. The father wrapped
+his overcoat about his son, and commenced his homeward march,
+accompanied by a line of soldiers, who also came out of the lake. The
+boy's mother was enjoined not to speak until the rescuing party would
+reach home. She accidentally spoke; and immediately the son dropped a
+tear, and forced himself out of his father's arms, piteously exclaiming:
+'Father, father, my mother spoke! You cannot keep me. I must go.' He
+disappeared, and, reaching home, the father found the sprite again on
+the hearth." The ghostly father's services were called into requisition
+a second time; and better luck awaited an effort under his direction
+after the performance of a second miracle like the first. For this time
+the mother succeeded in holding her tongue, notwithstanding that at
+every stream on the way home from the lake the car on which the boy was
+carried was upset, and he himself fainted.[100] This is declared to have
+happened no longer ago than the year 1869. The writer, apparently a
+pious Roman Catholic, who vouches for the fact, probably never heard the
+touching tale of Orpheus and Eurydice.
+
+The foregoing story, as well as some of those previously mentioned,
+shows that fairy depredations were by no means confined to babes and
+young children. Indeed adults were often carried off; and, although this
+chapter is already far too long, I cannot close it without briefly
+examining a few such cases. Putting aside those, then, in which boys or
+young men have been taken, as already sufficiently discussed, all the
+other cases of robbery, as distinguished from seduction or illusion, are
+concerned with matrons. The elfin race were supposed to be on the watch
+for unchurched or unsained mothers to have the benefit of their milk. In
+one instance the captive was reputed to have freed herself by promising
+in exchange her husband's best mare under milk, which was retained by
+the captors until it was exhausted and almost dead. More usually the
+story relates that a piece of wood is carved in the likeness of the lady
+and laid in her place, the husband and friends being deceived into
+believing it to be herself. A man returning home at night overhears the
+supernatural beings at work. He listens and catches the words: "Mak' it
+red cheekit an' red lippit like the smith o' Bonnykelly's wife."
+Mastering the situation he runs off to the smith's house, and sains the
+new mother and her babe. And he is only just in time, for hardly has he
+finished than a great thud is heard outside. On going out a piece of
+bog-fir is found,--the image the fairies intended to substitute for the
+smith's wife. In North German and Danish tales it is the husband who
+overhears the conspirators at work, and he often has coolness enough to
+watch their proceedings on his return home and, bouncing out upon them,
+to catch them just as they are about to complete their crime. Thus, one
+clever fellow succeeded in retaining both his wife and the image already
+put into her bed, which he thrust into the oven to blaze and crackle in
+the sight and hearing of his wife's assembled friends, who supposed he
+was burning her until he produced her to their astonished gaze. A tale
+from Badenoch represents the man as discovering the fraud from finding
+his wife, a woman of unruffled temper, suddenly turned a shrew. So he
+piles up a great fire and threatens to throw the occupant of the bed
+upon it unless she tells him what has become of his own wife. She then
+confesses that the latter has been carried off, and she has been
+appointed successor; but by his determination he happily succeeds in
+recapturing his own at a certain fairy knoll near Inverness.[101]
+
+It happens occasionally that these victims of elfin gallantry are
+rescued by other men than their husbands. A smith at work one day hears
+a great moaning and sobbing out of doors. Looking out he sees a troll
+driving a pregnant woman before him, and crying to her continually: "A
+little further yet! a little further yet!" He instantly springs forward
+with a red-hot iron in his hand, which he holds between the troll and
+his thrall, so that the former has to abandon her and take to flight.
+The smith then took the woman under his protection, and the same night
+she was delivered of twins. Going to the husband to console him for his
+loss, he is surprised to find a woman exactly resembling his friend's
+wife in her bed. He saw how the matter stood, and seizing an axe he
+killed the witch on the spot, and restored to the husband his real wife
+and new-born children. This is a Danish legend; but there is a Highland
+one very similar to it. A man meets one night a troop of fairies with a
+prize of some sort. Recollecting that fairies are obliged to exchange
+whatever they may have with any one who offers them anything, no matter
+what its value, for it, he flings his bonnet to them, calling out: "Mine
+is yours, and yours is mine!" The prize which they dropped turned out to
+be an English lady whom they had carried off, leaving in her place a
+stock, which, of course, died and was buried. The Sassenach woman lived
+for some years in the Highlander's house, until the captain in command
+of an English regiment came to lodge in his house with his son, while
+the soldiers were making new roads through the country. There the son
+recognized his mother, and the father his wife long mourned as
+dead.[102]
+
+The death and burial of changelings, though, as here, occurring in the
+tales, are not often alluded to; and there are grounds for thinking them
+a special deduction of the Scottish mind. Sometimes the incident is
+ghastly enough to satisfy the devoted lover of horrors. The west of
+Scotland furnishes an instance in which the exchange was not discovered
+until after the child's apparent death. It was buried in due course; but
+suspicion having been aroused, the grave and coffin were opened, and not
+a corpse but only a wooden figure was found within. A farmer at Kintraw,
+in Argyllshire, lost his wife. On the Sunday after the funeral, when he
+and his servants returned from church, the children, who had been left
+at home, reported that their mother had been to see them, and had combed
+and dressed them. The following Sunday they made the same statement, in
+spite of the punishment their father had thought proper to inflict for
+telling a lie on the first occasion. The next time she came the eldest
+child asked her why she came, when she said that she had been carried
+off by "the good people," and could only get away for an hour or two on
+Sundays, and should her coffin be opened it would be found to contain
+nothing but a withered leaf. The minister, however, who ridiculed the
+story, refused to allow the coffin to be opened; and when, some little
+time after, he was found dead near the Fairies' Hill, above Kintraw, he
+was held by many to be a victim to the indignation of the fairy world he
+had laughed at. Sir Walter Scott mentions the tale of a farmer's wife
+in Lothian, who, after being carried off by the fairies, reappeared
+repeatedly on Sunday to her children, and combed their hair. On one of
+these occasions the husband met her, and was told that there was one way
+to recover her, namely, by lying in wait on Hallowe'en for the
+procession of fairies, and stepping boldly out, and seizing her as she
+passed among them. At the moment of execution, however, his heart
+failed, and he lost his wife for ever. In connection with this, Scott
+refers to a real event which happened at the town of North Berwick. A
+widower, who was paying addresses with a view to second marriage, was
+troubled by dreams of his former wife, to whom he had been tenderly
+attached. One morning he declared to the minister that she had appeared
+to him the previous night, stating that she was a captive in Fairyland,
+and begged him to attempt her deliverance. The mode she prescribed was
+to bring the minister and certain others to her grave at midnight to dig
+up her body, and recite certain prayers, after which the corpse would
+become animated and flee from him. It was to be pursued by the swiftest
+runner in the parish, and if he could catch it before it had encircled
+the church thrice, the rest were to come to his help and hold it
+notwithstanding its struggles, and the shapes into which it might be
+transformed. In this way she would be redeemed. The minister, however,
+declined to take part in so absurd and indecent a proceeding.[103]
+
+Absurd and indecent it would undoubtedly have been to unearth a dead
+body in the expectation of any such result; but it would have been
+entirely in harmony with current superstition. The stories and beliefs
+examined in the present chapter prove that there has been no
+superstition too gross, or too cruel, to survive into the midst of the
+civilization of the nineteenth century; and the exhumation of a corpse,
+of the two, is less barbarous than the torture by fire of an innocent
+child. The flight, struggles, and transformation of a bespelled lady are
+found both in _märchen_ and saga: some examples of the latter will come
+under our notice in a future chapter.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[60] The belief in changelings is not confined to Europe, though the
+accounts we have of it elsewhere are meagre. It is found, as we shall
+see further on, in China. It is found also among the natives of the
+Pacific slopes of North America, where it is death to the mother to
+suckle the changeling. Dorman, p. 24, citing Bancroft.
+
+[61] See a curious Scottish ballad given at length, "F. L. Record," vol.
+i. p. 235; Henderson, p. 15; "Cymru Fu N. and Q." vol. ii. p. 144;
+Gregor, p. 11 (_cf._ Harland and Wilkinson, p. 221); Cromek, p. 247. See
+Webster, p. 73, where a witch carries away a child who is not blessed
+when it sneezes.
+
+[62] Napier, p. 40; "F. L. Journal," vol. i. p. 56; Kuhn, pp. 365, 196;
+Knoop, p. 155; "Zeits. f. Volksk." vol. ii. p. 33; Kennedy, p. 95;
+Carnoy, p. 4; "F. L. Journal," vol. ii. p. 257.
+
+[63] Bartsch, vol. i. pp. 64, 89; vol. ii. p. 43; Kuhn, p. 195; Knoop,
+_loc. cit._; Jahn, pp. 52, 71; Thorpe, vol. ii. p. 174; "Zeits. f.
+Volksk." vol. ii. _loc. cit._ W. Map, Dist. ii. c. 14; Brand, vol. ii.
+p. 8, note; Lady Wilde, vol. i. pp. 71, 73; Schleicher, p. 93;
+Tertullian, "Adv. Nationes," l. ii. c. 11; Brand, vol. ii. p. 334 note,
+quoting Martin, "History of the Western Islands"; Train, vol. ii. p.
+132; "Sacred Books of the East," vol. xxiv. p. 277. As to the use of
+fire in China, see "F. L. Journal," vol. v. p. 225; and generally as to
+the efficacy of fire in driving off evil spirits see Tylor, vol. ii. p.
+177.
+
+[64] Grimm, "Teut. Myth." p. 468; Thorpe, vol. ii. p. 2, vol. iii. p.
+45; Train, vol. ii. p. 133; Garnett, pp. 231, 315; "F. L. Journal," vol.
+v. p. 225. In Eastern Prussia a steel used for striking a light, a
+hammer, or anything else that will strike fire, is used. This seems to
+combine the dread of steel with that of fire (Lemke, p. 41).
+
+[65] Grimm, "Teut. Myth." _loc. cit._; Train, vol. ii. _loc. cit._;
+Henderson, p. 14; "F. L. Journal," vol. v. p. 224; "Zeits. f. Volksk."
+vol. ii, p. 33; "N. and Q." 7th ser. vol. x. p. 185.
+
+[66] Henderson, _loc. cit._; Bartsch, vol. ii. p. 192; Pitré, vol. xv.
+pp. 154 note, 155; vol. xvii. p. 102, quoting Castelli, "Credenze ed
+usi"; Horace, "Ep. ad Pison," v. 340; Dorsa, p. 146; Wright, "Middle
+Ages," vol. i. p. 290; Garnett, p. 70; "Mélusine," vol. v. p. 90,
+quoting English authorities. Map, Dist. ii. c. 14, gives a story of
+babies killed by a witch. St. Augustine records that the god Silvanus
+was feared as likely to injure women in child-bed, and that for their
+protection three men were employed to go round the house during the
+night and to strike the threshold with a hatchet and a pestle and sweep
+it with a brush; and he makes merry over the superstition ("De Civ.
+Dei," l. vi. c. 9).
+
+[67] Pitré, vol. xii. p. 304, note; vol. xv. p. 154; "F. L. Españ." vol.
+ii. p. 51; De Gubernatis, "Usi Natal." p. 219, quoting Bézoles, "Le
+Baptême."
+
+[68] Bartsch, vol. i. p. 46; Jahn, p. 89; Grimm, "Teut. Myth." p. 468;
+Simrock, p. 418.
+
+[69] There is another motive for the robbery of a human creature,
+mentioned only, I think, in the Romance of Thomas the Rhymer, namely,
+that at certain seasons the foul fiend fetches his fee, or tribute of a
+living soul, from among the underground folk. Several difficulties arise
+upon this; but it is needless to discuss them until the motive in
+question be found imputed elsewhere than in a literary work of the
+fifteenth century, and ballads derived therefrom.
+
+Since the foregoing note was written my attention has been drawn to the
+following statement in Lady Wilde, vol. i. p. 70: "Sometimes it is said
+the fairies carry off the mortal child for a sacrifice, as they have to
+offer one every seven years to the devil in return for the power he
+gives them. And beautiful young girls are carried off, also, either for
+sacrifice or to be wedded to the fairy king." It is easier to generalize
+in this manner than to produce documents in proof. And I think I am
+expressing the opinion of all folklore students when I say that, with
+all respect for Lady Wilde, I would rather not lay any stress upon her
+general statements. Indeed, those of anybody, however great an
+authority, need to be checked by the evidence of particular instances. I
+await such evidence.
+
+[70] Sikes, p. 62; _cf._ Brand, vol. ii. p. 334 note; Bartsch, vol. i.
+p. 46.
+
+[71] Thorpe, vol. ii. p. 175; vol. iii. p. 43; Kuhn, p. 195; Schleicher,
+p. 92.
+
+[72] Gregor, p. 61; Keightley, p. 393; Campbell, vol. ii. p. 64.
+
+[73] Hunt, p. 96; Waldron, p. 30. This account was given to the author
+by the mother herself.
+
+[74] Croker, p. 81. See a similar tale in Campbell, vol. ii. p. 58.
+Gregor, p. 61, mentions the dog-hole as the way by which children are
+sometimes carried off.
+
+[75] Bartsch, vol. i. p. 46; Kuhn, p. 196; Grimm, "Teut. Myth." p. 468;
+Poestion, p. 114; Grohmann, p. 113.
+
+[76] Waldron, p. 29. The same writer gives a similar account of the
+changeling mentioned above, p. 107.
+
+[77] "Colloquia Mensalia," quoted by Southey, "The Doctor" (London,
+1848), p. 621. As to the attribute of greed, _cf._ Keightley, p. 125.
+
+[78] Hunt, p. 85; "Y Cymmrodor," vol. vi. p. 175; Rev. Edmund Jones, "A
+Relation of Apparitions," quoted by Wirt Sikes, p. 56. Thiele relates a
+story in which a wild stallion colt is brought in to smell two babes,
+one of which is a changeling. Every time he smells one he is quiet and
+licks it; but on smelling the other he is invariably restive and strives
+to kick it. The latter, therefore, is the changeling. (Thorpe, vol. ii.
+p. 177.) Sir John Maundeville also states that in Sicily is a kind of
+serpent whereby men assay the legitimacy of their children. If the
+children be illegitimate the serpents bite and kill them; if otherwise
+they do them no harm--an easy and off-hand way of getting rid of them!
+("Early Trav." p. 155).
+
+[79] Campbell, vol. ii. p. 58; Chambers, p. 70.
+
+[80] Cromek, p. 246.
+
+[81] Bartsch, vol. i. p. 42; Sikes, p. 59, quoting from the "Cambrian
+Quarterly," vol. ii. p. 86; "Y Cymmrodor," vol. vi. p. 209; Arnason's
+"Icelandic Legends," cited in Kennedy, p. 89; Thorpe, vol. ii. p. 174,
+quoting Thiele, "Danmark's Folkesagn samlede." See also Keightley, p.
+125.
+
+[82] Fleury, p. 60; "Revue des Trad. Pop." vol. iii. p. 162.
+
+[83] Cf. _Böhmen-Gold_, Bartsch, vol. i. p. 22; _Böhmegold_, ibid. p.
+47; _Böhmer Gold_, ibid. pp. 65, 79, and presumably p. 89; _Böhma gold_,
+Kuhn und Schwartz, p. 30; _Boehman gold_, ibid. p. 31; _böm un gold_
+(timber and gold), ibid. p. 105; _Boem un holt_ (timber and wood), Jahn,
+p. 90; _Bernholt in den Wolt_ (firewood in the forest), and _Bremer
+Wold_, Müllenhoff, cited Grimm, "Tales," vol. i. p. 388. These
+variations while preserving a similar sound are suspicious.
+
+[84] Grimm, "Tales," vol. i. pp. 163, 388; Schleicher, p. 91; Fleury, p.
+60; Thorpe, vol. ii. p. 176; quoting Asbjörnsen, "Huldreeventyr," vol.
+ii. p. 165. _Cf._ Sébillot, "Contes Pop." vol. ii. p. 78.
+
+[85] Sikes, pp. 58, 59; Howells, p. 138; "Y Cymmrodor," vol. iv. p. 208,
+vol. vi. pp. 172, 204; Keightley, p. 436.
+
+[86] Croker, p. 65; "A Pleasant Treatise of Witches," p. 62, quoted in
+Hazlitt, "Fairy Tales," p. 372; Sébillot, "Contes," vol. ii. p. 76;
+Carnoy, p. 4; Thorpe, vol. iii. p. 157; Campbell, vol. ii. p. 47; "Revue
+des Trad. Pop." vol. iii. p. 162. _Cf._ a Basque tale given by Webster,
+where the Devil is tricked into telling his age (Webster, p. 58).
+
+[87] Simrock, p. 419.
+
+[88] Jahn, p. 89; Schleicher, p. 91.
+
+[89] "Choice Notes," p. 27; (this seems to have been a common
+prescription in Wales: see "Y Cymmrodor," vol. vi, pp. 175, 178; and in
+the Western Highlands: see Campbell, vol. ii. p. 64.) Brand, vol. ii. p.
+335, note; (this seems also to be the case in some parts of Ireland,
+Lady Wilde, vol. i. p. 70.) Thorpe, vol. iii. p. 157; Kennedy, p. 94;
+"Irish Folk Lore," p. 45.
+
+[90] _Beaten_--Lay of Marie de France, quoted Keightley, p. 436;
+Costello, "Pilgrimage to Auvergne," vol. ii. p. 294, quoted Keightley,
+p. 471; Fleury, p. 62, citing Bosquet, "Normandie Romanesque"; Howells,
+p. 139; Aubrey, "Remains," p. 30; Jahn, pp. 98, 101; Kuhn und Schwartz,
+p. 29; Croker, p. 81. _Starved, beaten, &c._--Croker, p. 77. _Threatened
+to be killed_--Sébillot, "Trad. et Super." vol. i. p. 118; "Contes,"
+vol. i. p. 28, vol. ii. p. 76; Carnoy, p. 4.
+
+[91] Grohmann, p. 135; Wratislaw, p. 161; Schleicher, p. 92.
+
+[92] "Y Brython," vol. ii. p. 20; Kennedy, p. 90; Thorpe, vol. ii. p.
+174; Napier, p. 40; Lady Wilde, vol. i. pp. 72, 171; Keightley, p. 393;
+"Revue des Trad. Pop." vol. iii. p. 162; Campbell, vol. ii. pp. 47, 61;
+Croker, p. 65; Chambers, p. 70; "F. L. Journal," vol. i. p. 56; Gregor,
+pp. 8, 9; Cromek, p. 246.
+
+[93] "Daily Telegraph," 19 May 1884; Gregor, p. 61; Lady Wilde, vol. i.
+pp. 38, 173; "Y Cymmrodor," vol. vi. p. 209, vol. v. p. 72.
+
+[94] "Cambrian Quarterly," vol. ii. p. 86, quoted, Sikes, p. 59; "Y
+Cymmrodor," vol. iv. p. 208, vol. vi. pp. 172, 203. Mr. Sikes refers to
+a case in which the child was bathed in a solution of foxglove as having
+actually occurred in Carnarvonshire in 1857, but he gives no authority.
+
+[95] Quoted in Southey, _loc. cit._ Müllenhoff relates a similar tale,
+see Thorpe, vol. iii. p. 46; also Grohmann, p. 126; Kuhn und Schwartz,
+p. 30. Bowker, p. 73, relates a story embodying a similar episode, but
+apparently connected with Wild Hunt legends. See his note, ibid. p. 251.
+
+[96] Hunt, p. 91; "F. L. Journal," vol. vi. p. 182.
+
+[97] "Y Cymmrodor," vol. vi. p. 181.
+
+[98] Mrs. Bray, vol. i. p. 167; Kuhn, p. 196; Grimm, "Teut. Myth." p.
+468, note; "Irish F. L." p. 45; Napier, p. 42.
+
+[99] Jahn, p. 52; Campbell, vol. ii. p. 47; Lady Wilde, vol. i. p. 119.
+
+[100] "F. L. Journal," vol. ii. p. 91, quoting the "Irish Fireside."
+
+[101] Gregor, p. 62; Thorpe, vol. ii. p. 139, quoting Thiele; vol. iii.
+p. 41, quoting Müllenhoff; Campbell, vol. ii. p. 67; Cromek, p. 244.
+
+[102] Thorpe, vol. ii. p. 133, quoting Thiele; Keightley, p. 391,
+quoting Stewart, "The Popular Superstitions of the Highlanders."
+
+[103] Napier, p. 41; Lord A. Campbell, "Waifs and Strays," p. 71;
+"Border Minstrelsy," vol. ii. p. 173.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+ROBBERIES FROM FAIRYLAND.
+
+     The tale of Elidorus--Celtic and Teutonic stories of theft from
+     supernatural beings--The thief unsuccessful--Cases of successful
+     robbery--Robbery from the king of the serpents--Robbery of a
+     drinking-cup, or horn--The horn of Oldenburg and similar
+     vessels--The Luck of Edenhall--The cup of Ballafletcher--These
+     vessels sacrificial and pagan.
+
+
+The earliest writers who allude to the Welsh fairy traditions are
+Giraldus Cambrensis and Walter Map, two members of that constellation of
+literary men which rendered brilliant the early years of the Plantagenet
+dynasty. Giraldus, with whom alone we have to do in this chapter, lays
+the scene of what is perhaps his most famous story near Swansea, and
+states that the adventures narrated occurred a short time before his own
+days. The story concerns one Elidorus, a priest, upon whose persistent
+declarations it is founded. This good man in his youth ran away from the
+discipline and frequent stripes of his preceptor, and hid himself under
+the hollow bank of a river. There he remained fasting for two days; and
+then two men of pigmy stature appeared, and invited him to come with
+them, and they would lead him into a country full of delights and
+sports. A more powerful temptation could not have been offered to a
+runaway schoolboy of twelve years old; and the invitation was speedily
+accepted. He accompanied his guides into a subterranean land, where he
+found a people of small stature but pure morals. He was brought into the
+presence of the king, and by him handed over to his son, who was then a
+boy. In that land he dwelt for some time; but he often used to return by
+various paths to the upper day, and on one of these occasions he made
+himself known to his mother, declaring to her the nature, manners, and
+state of the pigmy folk. She desired him to bring her a present of gold,
+which was plentiful in that region; and he accordingly stole a golden
+ball while at play with the king's son, and ran off with it to his
+mother, hotly pursued. Reaching home, his foot stumbled on the
+threshold, and, dropping the ball, he fell into the room where his
+mother was sitting. The two pigmies who had followed him at once seized
+the ball and made off with it, not without expressing their contempt for
+the thief who had returned their kindness with such ingratitude; and
+Elidorus, though he sought it carefully with penitence and shame, could
+never again find the way into the underground realm.[104]
+
+Narratives of the theft of valuables from supernatural beings are found
+all the world over. In this way, for example, in the mythology of more
+than one nation mankind obtained the blessing of fire. Such tales,
+however, throw but little light on this one of Elidorus; and it will
+therefore be more profitable in considering it to confine our attention
+to those generally resembling it current among Celts and Teutons. They
+are very common; and the lesson they usually teach is that honesty is
+the best policy--at all events, in regard to beings whose power is not
+bounded by the ordinary human limitations. Beginning with South Wales,
+we find one of these tales told by the Rev. Edward Davies, a clergyman
+in Gloucestershire at the beginning of this century, who was the author
+of two curious works on Welsh antiquities, stuffed with useless, because
+misdirected, learning. The tale in question relates to a small lake "in
+the mountains of Brecknock," concerning which we are informed that every
+Mayday a certain door in a rock near the lake was found open. He who
+was bold enough to enter was led by a secret passage to a small island,
+otherwise invisible, in the middle of the lake. This was a fairy island,
+a garden of enchanting beauty, inhabited by the _Tylwyth Teg_ (or Fair
+Family), and stored with fruits and flowers. The inhabitants treated
+their visitors with lavish hospitality, but permitted nothing to be
+carried away. One day this prohibition was violated by a visitor, who
+put into his pocket a flower with which he had been presented. The Fair
+Family showed no outward resentment. Their guests were dismissed with
+the accustomed courtesy; but the moment he who had broken their behest
+"touched unhallowed ground" the flower disappeared, and he lost his
+senses. Nor has the mysterious door ever been found again.[105]
+
+In both these cases the thief is unsuccessful, and the punishment of his
+crime is the loss of fairy intercourse; perhaps the mildest form which
+punishment could take. But sometimes the _chevalier d'industrie_ is
+lucky enough to secure his spoils. It is related that certain white
+ghosts were in the habit of playing by night at skittles on a level
+grass-plot on the Lüningsberg, near Aerzen, in North Germany. A
+journeyman weaver, who was in love with a miller's daughter, but lacked
+the means to marry her, thought there could be no harm in robbing the
+ghosts of one of the golden balls with which they used to play. He
+accordingly concealed himself one evening; and when the harmless
+spectres came out he seized one of their balls, and scampered away with
+it, followed by the angry owners. A stream crossed his path, and,
+missing the plank bridge which spanned it, he sprang into the water.
+This saved him, for the spirits had no power there; and a merry wedding
+was the speedy sequel of his adventure. In like manner a fairy, who, in
+a Breton saga, was incautious enough to winnow gold in broad daylight in
+a field where a man was pruning beeches, excited the latter's attention
+by this singular proceeding; and the man possessed himself of the
+treasure by simply flinging into it a hallowed rosary. In Germany the
+water-nix has the reputation of being a good shoemaker. It is related
+that a man, who once saw a nix on the shore of the March busy at his
+work, threw a rosary upon it. The nix disappeared, leaving the shoe; and
+a variant states that the shoe was so well made that the owner wore out
+successively twelve other shoes which he had caused to be made to match
+it, without its being any the worse.[106]
+
+We have already seen in the last chapter that the performance of
+Christian rites and the exhibition of Christian symbols and sacred books
+have a powerful effect against fairies. But further, the invocation, or
+indeed the simple utterance, of a sacred name has always been held to
+counteract enchantments and the wiles of all supernatural beings who are
+not themselves part and parcel of what I may, without offence and for
+want of a better term, call the Christian mythology, and who may
+therefore at times, if not constantly, be supposed to be hostile to the
+Christian powers and to persons under their protection. These beliefs
+are, of course, in one form or another part of the machinery of every
+religion. The tales just quoted are examples of the potency of a symbol.
+A North German story is equally emphatic as to the value of a holy name.
+We are told that late one evening a boy saw a great number of hares
+dancing and leaping. Now hares are specially witch-possessed animals. As
+he stood and watched them one of them sprang towards him and tried to
+bite his leg. But he said: "Go away! thou art not of God, but of the
+devil." Instantly the whole company vanished; but he heard a doleful
+voice exclaiming: "My silver beaker, my silver beaker!" On reaching home
+he told his adventure; and his father at once started back with him to
+the place, where they found a silver beaker inscribed with a name
+neither they nor the goldsmith, to whom they sold the goblet for a large
+sum of money, could read. The district whence this story comes furnishes
+us also with an account of a man who, being out late one night, came
+upon a fire surrounded by a large circle of women sitting at a table. He
+ventured to seat himself among them. Each one had brought something for
+the meal; and a man-cook went round them asking each what she had got.
+When he came to the hero of the story the latter struck him with his
+stick, saying: "I have a blow which our Lord God gave the devil."
+Thereupon the whole assembly disappeared, leaving nothing behind but the
+kettle which hung over the fire, and which the man took and long
+preserved to testify the truth of his story. A Cornish fisherman was
+scarcely less lucky without the protection of a pious exclamation. For
+one night going home he found a crowd of "little people" on the beach.
+They were sitting in a semicircle holding their hats towards one of
+their number, who was pitching gold pieces from a heap into them. The
+fisherman contrived to introduce his hat among them without being
+noticed, and having got a share of the money, made off with it. He was
+followed by the piskies, but had a good start, and managed to reach home
+and shut the door upon them. Yet so narrow was his escape that he left
+the tails of his sea-coat in their hands.[107]
+
+Vengeance, however, is sometimes swift and sure upon these robberies. It
+is believed in Germany that the king of the snakes is wont to come out
+to sun himself at noon; and that he then lays aside his crown, a prize
+for any one who can seize it. A horseman, coming at the opportune
+moment, did so once; but the serpent-king called forth his subjects and
+pursued him. By the help of his good steed the man succeeded in arriving
+at home; and, thankful to have escaped the danger, he patted the beast's
+neck as he jumped down, saying: "Faithfully hast thou helped me!" At
+that instant a snake, which had hidden herself unnoticed in the horse's
+tail, bit the man; and little joy had he of his crime. In another story
+the girl who steals the crown is deafened by the cries of her victim;
+and elsewhere, when the serpent-king is unable to reach the robber, he
+batters his own head to pieces in ineffectual rage. Perhaps he deserved
+his fate in some of these cases, for it seems he had a foolish liking to
+lay down his crown on a white cloth, or a white, or blue, silk
+handkerchief,--a predilection which the robber did not fail to provide
+him with the opportunity of gratifying, and of repenting.[108]
+
+Other tales represent the thief as compelled to restore the stolen
+goods. Thus a man who found the trolls on the Danish isle of Fuur
+carrying their treasures out into the air, shot thrice over them, and
+thereby forced the owners to quit them. He caught up the gold and silver
+and rode off with it, followed by the chief troll. But after he got into
+the house and shut the doors there was such a storming and hissing
+outside, that the whole house seemed ablaze. Terrified, he flung the bag
+wherein he had secured the treasures out into the night. The storm
+ceased, and he heard a voice crying: "Thou hast still enough." In the
+morning he found a heavy silver cup, which had fallen behind a chest of
+drawers. Again, a farm servant of South Kongerslev, in Denmark, who went
+at his master's instance, on Christmas Eve, to see what the trolls in a
+neighbouring hill were doing, was offered drink from a golden cup. He
+took the cup, and casting out its contents, spurred his horse from the
+spot, hotly pursued. On the way back he passed the dwelling of a band of
+trolls at enmity with those from whom he had stolen the cup. Counselled
+by them, he took to the ploughed field, where his pursuers were unable
+to follow him, and so escaped. The farmer kept the goblet until the
+following Christmas Eve, when his wife imprudently helped a tattered
+beggar to beer in it. It is not wonderful that both the cup and the
+beggar vanished; but we are to understand that the beggar was a troll.
+Perhaps he was. In Thyholm, a district of Denmark, there is a range of
+lofty mounds formerly inhabited by trolls. Some peasants who were once
+passing by these mounds prayed the trolls to give them some beer. In a
+moment a little creature came out and presented a large silver can to
+one of the men, who had no sooner grasped it than he set spurs to his
+horse, with the intention of keeping it. But the little man of the mound
+was too quick for him, for he speedily caught him and compelled him to
+return the can. In a Pomeranian story the underground folk forestalled
+the intention to rob them on the part of a farmer's boy whose thirst
+they had quenched with a can of delicious brown-beer. Having drunk, he
+hid the can itself, with the object of taking it home when his day's
+work was done, for it was of pure silver; but when he afterwards went to
+look for it, it had disappeared.[109]
+
+Moreover, ungrateful mortals are sometimes punished, even when they are
+lucky enough to secure their prize. Thus it is told of a man of Zahren,
+in Mecklenburg, who was seized with thirst on his way home from Penzlin,
+that he heard music in a barrow known to be the haunt of the underground
+folk. People were then on familiar terms with the latter; and the man
+cried out and asked for a drink. Nor did he ask in vain; for his appeal
+was at once answered by the appearance of a little fellow with a flask
+of delicious drink. After slaking his thirst the man took the
+opportunity to make off with the flask; but he was pursued by the whole
+troop of elves, only one of whom, and he had only one leg, succeeded in
+keeping up with him. The thief, however, managed to get over a
+cross-road where One-leg could not follow him; and the latter then,
+making a virtue of necessity, cried out: "Thou mayst keep the flask; and
+henceforth always drink thereout, for it will never be empty; but beware
+of looking into it." For some years the elf's injunction was observed;
+but one day, in a fit of curiosity, the peasant looked into the bottom
+of the flask, and there sat a horrid toad! The toad disappeared, and so
+did the liquor; and the man in a short time fell miserably sick. In a
+Norse tale, a man whose bride is about to be carried off by Huldre-folk,
+rescues her by shooting over her head a pistol loaded with a silver
+bullet. This has the effect of dissolving the witchery; and he is
+forthwith enabled to seize her and gallop off, not unpursued. One of the
+trolls, to retard his flight, held out to him a well-filled golden horn.
+He took the horn, but cast the liquor away, and rode away with both horn
+and girl. The trolls, when they found themselves unable to catch him,
+cried after him in their exasperation: "The red cock shall crow over thy
+dwelling!" And behold! his house stood in a blaze. Similarly, a Swedish
+tradition relates that one of the serving-men of the lady of Liungby, in
+Scania, one night of Christmas in the year 1490, rode out to inquire the
+cause of the noise at the Magle stone. He found the trolls dancing and
+making merry. A fair troll-woman stepped forth and offered him a
+drinking-horn and a pipe, praying he would drink the troll-king's health
+and blow in the pipe. He snatched the horn and pipe from her, and
+spurring back to the mansion, delivered them into his lady's hands. The
+trolls followed and begged to have their treasures back, promising
+prosperity to the lady's race if she would restore them. She kept them,
+however; and they are said to be still preserved at Liungby as memorials
+of the adventure. But the serving-man who took them died three days
+after, and the horse on the second day; the mansion has been twice
+burnt, and the family never prospered after. On the eve of the first of
+May the witches of Germany hold high revel. Every year the fields and
+farmyards of a certain landowner were so injured by these nocturnal
+festivities that one of his servants determined to put a stop to the
+mischief. Going to the trysting-place, he found the witches eating and
+drinking around a large slab of marble which rested on four golden
+pillars; and on the slab lay a golden horn of wondrous form. The
+sorceresses invited him to join the feast; but a fellow-servant whom he
+met there warned him not to drink, for they only wished to poison him.
+Wherefore he flung the proffered beverage away, seized the horn, and
+galloped home as hard as he could. All doors and gates had been left
+open for him; and the witches consequently were unable to catch him. The
+next day a gentleman in fine clothes appeared and begged his master to
+restore the horn, promising in return to surround his property with a
+wall seven feet high, but threatening, in case of refusal, to burn his
+farms down thrice, and that just when he thought himself richest. Three
+days were allowed to the landowner for consideration, but he declined to
+restore the horn. The next harvest had hardly been housed when his barns
+were in flames. Three times did this happen, and the landowner was
+reduced to poverty. By the king's kindness he was enabled to rebuild;
+and he then made every effort to discover the owner of the horn, sending
+it about for that purpose even as far as Constantinople; but no one
+could be found to claim it.[110]
+
+Somewhat more courteous was a Danish boy whom an Elf-maiden met and
+offered drink from a costly drinking-horn one evening as he rode
+homeward late from Ristrup to Siellevskov. He received the horn, but
+fearing to drink its contents, poured them out behind him, so that, as
+in several of these stories, they fell on the horse's back, and singed
+the hair off. The horn he held fast, and the horse probably needed no
+second hint to start at the top of its speed. The elf-damsel gave chase
+until horse and man reached a running water, across which she could not
+follow them. Seeing herself outwitted, she implored the youth to give
+her back the horn, promising him in reward the strength of twelve men.
+On this assurance he returned the horn to her, and got what she had
+promised him. But the exchange was not very profitable; for with the
+strength of twelve men he had unfortunately acquired the appetite of
+twelve. Here it may well be thought that the supernatural gift only took
+its appropriate abatement. In a story from the north of Scotland the cup
+was stolen for the purpose of undoing a certain spell, and was
+honourably returned when the purpose was accomplished. Uistean, we are
+told, was a great slayer of Fuathan, supernatural beings apparently akin
+to fairies. He shot one day into a wreath of mist, and a beautiful woman
+fell down at his side. He took her home; and she remained in his house
+for a year, speechless. On a day at the end of the year he was benighted
+in the mountains, and seeing a light in a hill, he drew nigh, and found
+the fairies feasting. He entered the hill, and heard the butler, as he
+was handing the drink round, say: "It is a year from this night's night
+that we lost the daughter of the Earl of Antrim. She has the power of
+the draught on her that she does not speak a word till she gets a drink
+from the cup that is in my hand." When the butler reached Uistean, he
+handed him the cup. The latter, on getting it in his hand, ran off,
+pursued by the fairies until the cock crew. When he got home, he gave
+the lady in his house to drink out of the cup; and immediately her
+speech returned. She then told him she was the Earl of Antrim's
+daughter, stolen by the fairies from child-bed. Uistean took back the
+cup to the hill whence he had brought it, and then restored the lady to
+her father safe and sound, the fairy woman who had been left in her
+place vanishing meantime in a flame of fire.[111]
+
+There are also legends in which a hat conferring invisibility, or a
+glove, figures; but the stolen article is usually, as in most of the
+instances cited above, a cup or a drinking-horn. Many such articles are
+still preserved in various parts of Northern Europe. Of these the most
+celebrated are the Luck of Edenhall and the Oldenburg horn. But before
+discussing these I must refer to some other stories, the material
+evidence of which is no longer extant. Gervase of Tilbury relates that
+in a forest of Gloucestershire there is a glade in the midst whereof
+stands a hillock rising to the height of a man. Knights and hunters were
+wont, when fatigued with heat and thirst, to ascend the hillock in
+question to obtain relief. This had to be done singly and alone. The
+adventurous man then would say: "I thirst," when a cupbearer would
+appear and present him with a large drinking-horn adorned with gold and
+gems, as, says the writer, was the custom among the most ancient
+English, and containing liquor of some unknown but most delicious
+flavour. When he had drunk this, all heat and weariness fled from his
+body, and the cupbearer presented him with a towel to wipe his mouth
+withal; and then having performed his office he disappeared, waiting
+neither for recompense nor inquiry. One day an ill-conditioned knight of
+the city of Gloucester, having gotten the horn into his hands, contrary
+to custom and good manners kept it. But the Earl of Gloucester, having
+heard of it, condemned the robber to death, and gave the horn to King
+Henry I., lest he should be thought to have approved of such wickedness
+if he had added the rapine of another to the store of his own private
+property. Gervase of Tilbury wrote near the beginning of the thirteenth
+century. His contemporary, William of Newbury, relates a similar story,
+but lays its scene in Yorkshire. He says that a peasant coming home late
+at night, not very sober, and passing by a barrow, heard the noise of
+singing and feasting. Seeing a door open in the side of the barrow, he
+looked in, and beheld a great banquet. One of the attendants offered him
+a cup, which he took, but would not drink. Instead of doing so, he
+poured out the contents, and kept the vessel. The fleetness of his beast
+enabled him to distance all pursuit, and he escaped. We are told that
+the cup, described as of unknown material, of unusual colour and of
+extraordinary form, was presented to Henry I., who gave it to his
+brother-in-law, David, King of the Scots. After having been kept for
+several years in the Scottish treasury it was given by William the Lion
+to King Henry II., who wished to see it.[112]
+
+By a fortune somewhat rare, this story, having been written down in the
+days of the early Plantagenet kings, has been lately found again among
+the folk in the East Riding. The how, or barrow, where it is now said to
+have occurred is Willey How, near Wold Newton, on the Bridlington road,
+a conspicuous mound about three hundred feet in circumference and sixty
+feet in height. The rustic to whom the adventure happened was an
+inhabitant of Wold Newton, who had been on a visit to the neighbouring
+village of North Burton, and was belated. Another tale resembling the
+Gloucestershire saga is found in Swabia, though the object of which the
+mysterious benefactor was deprived was not a cup, but a knife. Some farm
+servants, while at work in the fields, were approached by an unusually
+beautiful maiden clad in black. Every day about nine or ten o'clock in
+the morning, and again about four o'clock in the afternoon, she brought
+them a small pitcher of wine and a loaf of snow-white bread--greater
+luxuries, probably, to peasants then even than they would be now. She
+always brought a very pretty silver knife to cut the bread, and always
+begged them to be sure to give it back to her, else she were lost. Her
+visits continued until one of the servants took it into his head to keep
+the knife, which he was ungrateful enough to do in spite of her tears
+and prayers. Finding all entreaties vain, she uttered piercing cries of
+distress, tore her fair hair, rent her silken clothes, and vanished,
+never to be seen again. But often you may hear on the spot where she
+once appeared sobs and the sound of weeping.[113]
+
+A Cornish tale relates that a farmer's boy of Portallow was one night
+sent to a neighbouring village for some household necessaries. On the
+way he fell in with some piskies, and by repeating the formula he heard
+them use, transported himself with them, first to Portallow Green, then
+to Seaton Beach, and finally to "the King of France's cellar," where he
+joined his mysterious companions in tasting that monarch's wines. They
+then passed through magnificent rooms, where the tables were laden for
+a feast. By way of taking some memorial of his travels he pocketed one
+of the rich silver goblets which stood on one of the tables. After a
+very short stay the word was passed to return, and presently he found
+himself again at home. The good wife complimented him on his despatch.
+"You'd say so, if you only know'd where I've been," he replied; "I've
+been wi' the piskies to Seaton Beach, and I've been to the King o'
+France's house, and all in five minutes." The farmer stared and said the
+boy was _mazed_. "I thought you'd say I was mazed, so I brort away this
+mug to show vor et," he answered, producing the goblet. With such
+undeniable evidence his story could not be any longer doubted. Stealing
+from a natural enemy like the King of France was probably rather
+meritorious than otherwise; and the goblet remained in the boy's family
+for generations, though unfortunately it is no longer forthcoming for
+the satisfaction of those who may still be sceptical.[114]
+
+This story differs from the others I have detailed, in narrating a raid
+by supernatural beings on the dwelling of a human potentate--a raid in
+which a human creature joined and brought away a substantial trophy. In
+the seventeenth century there was in the possession of Lord Duffus an
+old silver cup, called the Fairy Cup, concerning which the following
+tradition was related to John Aubrey, the antiquary, by a correspondent
+writing from Scotland on the 25th of March 1695. An ancestor of the then
+Lord Duffus was walking in the fields near his house in Morayshire when
+he heard the noise of a whirlwind and of voices crying: "Horse and
+Hattock!" This was the exclamation fairies were said to use "when they
+remove from any place." Lord Duffus was bold enough to cry "Horse and
+Hattock" also, and was immediately caught up through the air with the
+fairies to the King of France's cellar at Paris, where, after he had
+heartily drunk, he fell asleep. There he was found lying the next
+morning with the silver cup in his hand, and was promptly brought before
+the King, to whom, on being questioned, he repeated this story; and the
+King, in dismissing him, presented him with the cup. Where it may be now
+I do not know, nor does Aubrey's correspondent furnish us with any
+description of it, save the negative but important remark that it had
+nothing engraven upon it beside the arms of the family.[115]
+
+On this vessel, therefore, if it be yet in existence, there is nothing
+to warrant the name of Fairy Cup, or to connect it with the adventure
+just related. Nor does the Oldenburg Horn itself bear any greater marks
+of authenticity. That famous vessel is still exhibited at the palace of
+Rosenborg at Copenhagen. It is of silver gilt, and ornamented in paste
+with enamel. It bears coats of arms and inscriptions, showing that it
+was made for King Christian I. of Denmark in honour of the Three Kings
+of Cologne, and cannot therefore be older than the middle of the
+fifteenth century. The legend attached to it claims for it a much
+greater antiquity. The legend itself was narrated in Hamelmann's
+"Oldenburger Chronik" at the end of the sixteenth century, and is even
+yet current in the mouths of the Oldenburg folk. Hamelmann dates it in
+the year 990, when the then Count of Oldenburg was hunting in the forest
+of Bernefeuer. He had followed a roe from that forest to the Osenberg,
+and had distanced all his attendants. It was the twentieth of July, the
+weather was hot, and the count thirsty. He cried out for a draught of
+water, and had scarcely uttered the words, when the hill opened and a
+beautiful damsel appeared and offered him drink in this horn. Not liking
+the look of the beverage, he declined to drink. Whereupon she pressed
+him to do so, assuring him that it would go well with him and his
+thenceforth, and with the whole house of Oldenburg; but if the count
+would not believe her and drink there would be no unity from that time
+in the Oldenburg family. He had no faith in her words, and poured out
+the drink, which took the hair off his horse wherever it splashed him,
+and galloped away with the horn.[116]
+
+Other drinking-horns, of which precisely analogous tales are told, are
+still to be seen in Norway. Of the one at Halsteengaard it is related
+that the posterity of the robber, down to the ninth generation, were
+afflicted, as a penalty, with some bodily blemish. This horn is
+described as holding nearly three quarts, and as being encircled by a
+strong gilt copper ring, about three inches broad, on which, in monkish
+characters, are to be read the names of the Three Kings of Cologne,
+Melchior, Baltazar, and Caspar. It is further ornamented with a small
+gilt copper plate, forming the setting of an oval crystal. Another horn,
+preserved in the museum at Arendal, was obtained in a similar manner. A
+father, pursuing his daughter and her lover, was stopped by a troll, and
+offered drink in it. Instead of drinking, he cast out the contents, with
+the usual result, and put spurs to his horse. He was counselled by
+another troll, who was not on good terms with the first, to ride through
+the rye and not through the wheat; but even when his pursuer was impeded
+by the tall rye-stalks, only the crowing of the cock before dawn rescued
+him. The vessel is encircled by three silver gilt rings, bearing an
+inscription, which seems not quite correctly reported, as follows:
+"Potum servorum benedic deus alme tuorum reliquam unus benede le un
+Caspar Melchior Baltazar."[117]
+
+The legend of which I am treating attaches also to a number of sacred
+chalices. At Aagerup, in Zealand, is one of these. The thief, nearly
+overtaken by the trolls he had robbed, prayed to God in his distress,
+and vowed to bestow the cup upon the church if his prayer were heard.
+The church of Vigersted, also in Zealand, possesses another. In the
+latter case the man took refuge in the church, where he was besieged by
+the trolls until morning. In Bornholm a chalice and paten belonging to
+the church are said to have been made out of a cup stolen in the same
+way by a peasant whose mother was a mermaid, and who had inherited some
+portion of her supernatural power; hence, probably, his intercourse with
+the trolls, of which he took so mean an advantage. At Viöl, near
+Flensborg, in Schleswig, is a beaker belonging to the church, and, like
+the chalice at Aagerup, of gold, of which it is narrated that it was
+presented full of a liquor resembling buttermilk to a man who was riding
+by a barrow where the underground folk were holding high festival. He
+emptied and rode off with it in the usual manner. A cry arose behind
+him: "Three-legs, come out!" and, looking round, he saw a monster
+pursuing him. Finding this creature unable to come up with him, he heard
+many voices calling: "Two-legs, come out!" But his horse was swifter
+than Two-legs. Then One-leg was summoned, as in the story already cited
+from Mecklenburg, and came after him with gigantic springs, and would
+have caught him, but the door of his own house luckily stood open. He
+had scarcely entered, and slammed it to, when One-leg stood outside,
+banging against it, and foiled. The beaker was presented to the church
+in fulfilment of a vow made by the robber in his fright; and it is now
+used as the communion-cup. At Rambin, on the island of Rügen, is another
+cup, the story of which relates that the man to whom it was offered by
+the underground folk did not refuse to drink, but having drunk, he kept
+the vessel and took it home. A boy who was employed to watch horses by
+night on a turf moor near the village of Kritzemow, in Mecklenburg,
+annoyed the underground folk by the constant cracking of his whip. One
+night, as he was thus amusing himself, a mannikin came up to him and
+offered him drink in a silver-gilt beaker. The boy took the beaker, but
+being openly on bad terms with the elves, argued no good to himself from
+such an offering. So he instantly leaped on horseback and fled, with the
+vessel in his hand, along the road to Biestow and Rostock. The mannikin,
+of course, followed, but, coming to a crossway, was compelled to give up
+the chase. When the boy reached Biestow much of the liquid, as was to be
+expected, had been shaken out of the cup, and wherever on the horse it
+had fallen the hair had been burnt away. Glad of escaping this danger,
+the boy thanked God and handed the vessel over to the church at Biestow.
+In none of these instances, however, do I find any description of the
+goblet.[118]
+
+Fortunately there is one, and that the most celebrated of all the cups
+to which a fairy origin has been ascribed, which has been often and
+accurately delineated both with pen and pencil. I refer to the Luck of
+Edenhall. It belongs to Sir George Musgrave of Edenhall in Cumberland,
+in the possession of whose family it has been for many generations. The
+tradition is that a butler, going to fetch water from a well in the
+garden, called St. Cuthbert's Well, came upon a company of fairies at
+their revels, and snatched it from them. As the little, ill-used folk
+disappeared, after an ineffectual attempt to recover it, they cried:
+
+    "If this glass do break or fall,
+    Farewell the luck of Edenhall!"
+
+The most recent account of it was written in the year 1880, by the Rev.
+Dr. Fitch, for "The Scarborough Gazette," from which it has been
+reprinted for private circulation in the shape of a dainty pamphlet. He
+speaks of it, from a personal examination, as "a glass stoup, a drinking
+vessel, about six inches in height, having a circular base, perfectly
+flat, two inches in diameter, gradually expanding upwards till it ends
+in a mouth four inches across. The material is by no means fine in
+quality, presenting, as it does on close inspection, several small
+cavities or air-bubbles. The general hue is a warm green, resembling the
+tone known by artists as _brown pink_. Upon the transparent glass is
+traced a geometric pattern in white and blue enamel, somewhat raised,
+aided by gold and a little crimson. It will, of course, stand on its
+base, but it would be far from wise to entrust it, when filled, to this
+support." Dr. Fitch is in accord with the common opinion of antiquaries
+in pronouncing it to be of Venetian origin, though Mr. Franks thought it
+Saracenic. He describes the case in which it is kept as evidently made
+for it, being of the same shape. "The lid of this case," he says,
+"rather unevenly fits the body by overlapping it. There is no hinge; the
+fastenings are certain hooks or catches, not in good condition; the
+security and better apposition of the lid is maintained by a piece of
+leather, not unlike a modern boot-lace, or thin thong. The case dates,
+probably, from the fifteenth century, as articles made of similar
+material, viz., _cuir bouilli_, softened or boiled leather, were much in
+use in that age. This case bears an elegantly varied pattern that has
+been recognized in an inkstand of Henry the Seventh's, yet extant. Upon
+the lid of this case, in very chaste and well-formed characters, is the
+sacred monogram I.H.S." These three letters, which do not really form a
+monogram, have possibly given rise to the surmise, or tradition, that
+the Luck was once used as a sacred vessel. Dr. Fitch goes on to quote
+several authorities, showing that chalices of glass were sanctioned by
+the church, and were, in fact, made and used; and the Luck may have been
+such a vessel. But I can see no sufficient evidence of it. There is
+nothing to show that the leathern case is of the same date as the glass
+itself; and it may have been made long afterwards. The earliest mention
+of the relic seems to have been by Francis Douce, the antiquary, who was
+at Edenhall in 1785, and wrote some verses upon it; nor is there any
+authentic family history attaching to it. The shape of the goblet, its
+unsteadiness when full, and the difficulty of drinking from it without
+spilling some of its contents, of which Dr. Fitch had some experience,
+would point to its being intended rather for convivial than sacred
+uses.
+
+The hypothesis of the Luck's having once been a chalice explains
+nothing; because, as we have seen, several of the cups alleged to have
+been stolen from supernatural beings are chalices to this day. Moreover,
+what are we to think of the drinking-horns of which the same tale is
+told? Some of these already mentioned bear, not indeed the sacred
+letters, but prayers and the names of the sainted Kings of Cologne,
+though, unlike the cups, they are not found in churches. One
+drinking-horn, however, was preserved in the cathedral at Wexiö, in
+Sweden, until carried away by the Danes in 1570. This horn, stated to be
+of three hundred colours, was received by a knight on Christmas morning
+from a troll-wife, whose head he there and then cut off with his sword.
+The king dubbed him Trolle in memory of the deed, and bestowed on him a
+coat-of-arms containing a headless troll.[119] How the horn came into
+the possession of the cathedral I do not know; but at all events it
+could never have been a chalice.
+
+A silver cup, perhaps still used for sacramental purposes at the parish
+church of Malew, in the Isle of Man, is the subject of the following
+legend. A farmer returning homeward to the parish of Malew from Peel was
+benighted and lost his way among the mountains. In the course of his
+wanderings he was drawn by the sound of sweet music into a large hall
+where a number of little people were banqueting. Among them were some
+faces he thought he had formerly seen; but he forbore to take any notice
+of them. Nor did they take any notice of him until he was offered drink,
+when one of them, whose features seemed not unknown to him, plucked him
+by the coat and forbade him, whatever he did, to taste anything he saw
+before him; "for if you do," he added, "you will be as I am, and return
+no more to your family." Accordingly, when a large silver beaker was put
+into his hand, filled with liquor, he found an opportunity to throw its
+contents on the ground. The music forthwith ceased, and the company
+disappeared, leaving the cup in his hand. On finding his way home, he
+told the minister of the parish what had occurred; and the latter, with
+the instincts of his profession, advised him to devote the cup to the
+service of the Church. We are indebted to Waldron's well-known
+"Description of the Isle of Man," originally published in 1731, for this
+story. A later writer, annotating Waldron's work rather more than a
+quarter of a century ago, refers to the vessel in question as a paten;
+he states that it was still preserved in the church, and that it bore
+engraved the legend: "Sancte Lupe ora pro nobis."[120] There are no
+fewer than eleven saints named Lupus in the calendar. Whichever of them
+was invoked here, the inscription points to a continental origin for the
+vessel, whether cup or paten, and is not inconsistent with its being of
+some antiquity.
+
+Mr. Train, who quotes the tradition in his account of the Isle of Man,
+states that several similar tales had been placed at his disposal by
+friends in the island; but it was naturally beneath the dignity of an
+historian to do more than give a single specimen of this "shade of
+superstition," as he calls it. He does, however, mention (though
+apparently without being conscious of any close relationship with the
+cup of Kirk Malew) an antique crystal goblet in the possession, when he
+wrote, of Colonel Wilks, the proprietor of the Estate of Ballafletcher,
+four or five miles from Douglas. It is described as larger than a common
+bell-shaped tumbler, uncommonly light and chaste in appearance, and
+ornamented with floral scrolls, having between the designs, on two
+sides, upright _columellæ_ of five pillars. The history of this cup is
+interesting. It is said to have been taken by Magnus, the Norwegian King
+of Man, from St. Olave's shrine. On what ground this statement rests
+does not appear. What is really known about the goblet is that having
+belonged for at least a hundred years to the Fletcher family, the owners
+of Ballafletcher, it was sold with the effects of the last of the family
+in 1778, and was bought by Robert Cæsar, Esq., who gave it to his niece
+for safe keeping. This niece was, perhaps, the "old lady, a connection
+of the family of Fletcher," who is mentioned by Train as having
+presented the cup to Colonel Wilks. The tradition is that it had been
+given to the first of the Fletcher family more than two centuries ago,
+with the injunction "that as long as he preserved it peace and plenty
+would follow; but woe to him who broke it, as he would surely be haunted
+by the _lhiannan Shee_," or "peaceful spirit" of Ballafletcher. It was
+kept in a recess, whence it was never taken except on Christmas and
+Easter days, or, according to Train's account, at Christmas alone. Then,
+we are told, it was "filled with wine, and quaffed off at a breath by
+the head of the house only, as a libation to the spirit for her
+protection."[121]
+
+Here is no mention of the theft of the goblet unless from St. Olave's
+sanctuary; but yet I think we have a glimpse of the real character of
+the cups to which the legend I am discussing attaches. They were
+probably sacrificial vessels dedicated to the old pagan worship of the
+house-spirits, of which we find so many traces among the Indo-European
+peoples. These house-spirits had their chief seat on the family hearth;
+and their great festival was that of the New Year, celebrated at the
+winter solstice. The policy of the Church in early and mediæval times
+was to baptize to Christian uses as many of the heathen beliefs and
+ceremonies as possible. The New Year festival thus became united with
+the anniversary of the birth of Christ; and it is matter of history that
+as the Danes used, previously to their conversion, to drink to Odin and
+the Anses, so after that event they were in the habit of solemnly
+pledging Our Lord, His Apostles and the Saints. Such of the old beliefs
+and practices, however, as the Church could neither impress with a
+sacred character, nor destroy, lingered on. Among them were the
+superstitions of the fairies and the household spirits; and there is
+nothing unlikely in the supposition that special vessels were kept for
+the ceremonies in which these beings were propitiated. For this purpose
+a horn would serve as well as any goblet; if, indeed, it were not
+actually preferred, as being older, and therefore more sacred in shape
+and material. As these ceremonies gradually fell into desuetude, or were
+put down by clerical influence, it would be both natural and in
+accordance with policy that the cups devoted to the supposed rites
+should be transferred to the service of the Church.[122] They would all
+be old-fashioned, quaint, and, many of them, of foreign and unknown
+provenance. Already connected in the minds of the people with the spirit
+world, a supernatural origin would be ascribed to them; and gift or
+robbery would be the theory of acquisition most readily adopted. Now,
+theory in a certain stage of culture is indistinguishable from
+narrative.
+
+In this chapter I have dealt entirely with stolen goods; but, as we have
+seen in previous chapters, tales of cups and other articles lent or
+given by elves in exchange for services rendered are by no means
+unknown. I cannot, however, recall any of such gifts which are now
+extant. It were much to be wished that all the drinking-vessels--nay,
+all the articles of every kind--to which legends of supernatural origin
+belong were actually figured and described. Much light would thereby be
+thrown upon their true history. I will only now point out, with regard
+to the Luck of Edenhall, and the three horns of Oldenburg, of
+Halsteengaard, and of Arendal, of which we have full descriptions, that
+what we know of them is all in confirmation of the theory suggested. In
+particular, the names of the Three Kings connect the horns with a
+Christmas, or Twelfth Night, festival, which is exactly what the theory
+of the sacrificial nature of these vessels would lead us to expect. If
+we turn from the actual beakers to the stories, it is surprising how
+many of these we find pointing to the same festival. The cup of South
+Kongerslev was won and lost on Christmas Eve. The horn and pipe of
+Liungby were stolen "one night of Christmas." It was at Christmas-time
+that the Danish boy acquired his supernatural strength by giving back to
+the elf-maiden the horn he had taken from her. The Halsteengaard horn
+and the golden beaker of Aagerup were both reft from the trolls on
+Christmas Eve, and the horn of Wexiö on Christmas morning. The night of
+St. John's Day is mentioned as the time when the horn now at Arendal was
+obtained. The saint here referred to is probably St. John the
+Evangelist, whose feast is on December the 27th. And in more than one
+case the incident is connected with a marriage, which would be an
+appropriate occasion for the propitiation of the household spirit. The
+only instance presenting any difficulty is that of the cup at Kirk
+Malew; and there the difficulty arises from the name of the saint to
+whom the cup was apparently dedicated. Nor is it lessened by the number
+of saints bearing the name of Lupus. The days on which these holy men
+are respectively commemorated range through the calendar from January to
+October; and until we know which of them was intended it is useless to
+attempt an explanation. The question, however, is of small account in
+the face of the probability called forth by the coincidences that
+remain.
+
+There is one other matter to which I would call attention, namely, that
+while stories of the type discussed in the foregoing pages are common to
+both Celts and Teutons, the stolen cup is exclusively a Teutonic
+possession. More than that, no authentic record of the preservation of
+the relic itself is found save in the homes and conquests of the
+Scandinavian race. Is this to be accounted for by the late date of
+Christianity, and, therefore, the more recent survival of heathen rites
+among Teutonic, and especially Scandinavian, peoples?
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[104] Girald. Cambr., l. i. c. 8.
+
+[105] Davies, "Mythology," p. 155. Mr. Wirt Sikes quotes this story
+without acknowledgment, stating that the legend, "varying but little in
+phraseology, is current in the neighbourhood of a dozen different
+mountain lakes." As if he had collected it himself! (Sikes, p. 45).
+Compare an Eskimo story of a girl who, having acquired _angakok_ power,
+visited the _ingnersuit_, or underground folk, "and received presents
+from them; but while carrying them homewards the gifts were wafted out
+of her hands and flew back to their first owners" (Rink, p. 460).
+
+[106] Thorpe, vol. iii. p. 120, apparently quoting Harry's "Sagen,
+Märchen und Legenden Niedersachsens"; Sébillot, "Trad. et Sup." vol. i.
+p. 115; "Zeits. f. Volksk." vol. ii. p. 415, quoting Vernaleken.
+
+[107] Kuhn und Schwartz, pp. 305, 306; "Choice Notes," p. 76.
+
+[108] Niederhöffer, vol. iv. p. 130; Bartsch, vol. i. p. 278; Thorpe,
+vol. iii. p. 56, quoting Müllenhoff; Birlinger, "Volksthümliches," vol.
+i. p. 103; Grimm, "Tales," vol. ii. p. 77. A Lusatian tradition quoted
+by Grimm in a note represents the watersnake-king's crown as not only
+valuable in itself, but like other fairy property, the bringer of great
+riches to its possessor. Ibid. 406. _Cf._ a Hindoo story to the same
+effect, Day, p. 17; and many other tales.
+
+[109] Thorpe, vol. ii. pp. 148, 146, 121, quoting Thiele, "Danmarks
+Folkesagn;" Jahn, p. 75.
+
+[110] Bartsch, vol. i. p. 83 (see also p. 41); Thorpe, vol. ii. p. 6,
+quoting Faye, "Norske Folkesagn"; ibid. p. 89, quoting Afzelius,
+"Svenske Folkets Sago-Häfder"; Kuhn und Schwartz, p. 26.
+
+[111] Thorpe, vol. ii. p. 142, quoting Thiele. See also Keightley, p.
+88; Campbell, vol. ii. p. 97.
+
+[112] Gerv. Tilb., Decis. iii. c. 60; Guil. Neub. "Chronica Rerum
+Anglic." lib. i. c. 28, quoted by Liebrecht in a note to Gerv. Tilb.
+
+[113] Nicholson, p. 83. Mr. Nicholson in a letter to me says that he had
+the story as given by him from an old inhabitant of Bridlington, and
+that it is current in the neighbourhood. Birlinger, "Volkst." vol. i.
+pp. 3, 5.
+
+[114] "Choice Notes," p. 73.
+
+[115] Aubrey, "Miscellany," p. 149.
+
+[116] Thorpe, vol. iii. p. 128; Kuhn und Schwartz, p. 280. The latter is
+the version still found as traditional. Its details are not so full, and
+are in some respects different.
+
+[117] Thorpe, vol. ii. pp. 15, 14, apparently quoting Faye. Dr. Geo.
+Stephens of the University of Copenhagen very kindly made a great number
+of inquiries for me with a view to obtain information, and, if possible,
+drawings of the Scandinavian horns and cups, but unhappily with little
+success. The answer to his inquiries in reference to the horns of
+Halsteengaard and Arendal, sent by Prof. Olaf Rygh, the learned Keeper
+of the Norwegian Museum at Christiania, will be read with interest. He
+says: "Mr. Hartland's notice of 'Halsteengaard' in Norway doubtless
+refers to a local tale about a drinking-horn formerly in the hands of
+the owner of Holsteingaard, Aal parish, Hallingdal. It was first made
+public in the year 174-, in 'Ivar Wiels Beskriveke over Ringerige og
+Hallingdals Fogderi,' in 'Topografisk Journal for Norge,' Part XXXI.,
+Christiania, 1804, pp. 179-183. I know nothing more as to the fate of
+this horn than what is said in Nicolaysen's 'Norske Fornlevninger,' p.
+152, that it is said to have been sent to the Bergen Museum in 1845.
+Should this be so, it will be almost impossible to identify it among the
+many such horns in that collection. As described by Wiel, it was merely
+a very simple specimen of the kind with the common inscription JASPAR X
+MELCHIOR X BALTAZAR. This class of horn was largely imported to Norway
+from North Germany in the 15th and 16th centuries.
+
+"Meanwhile I beg to point out that the oldest legend of this kind which
+has come down to us is found in 'Biskop Jens Nilssons Visitatsböger og
+Reise-optegnelser, udgivne af Dr. Yngvar Nielsen,' p. 393. It was
+written by the bishop or his amanuensis during his visitation, 1595, in
+Flatdal parish, Telemarken. What has become of the horn spoken of by the
+bishop I cannot say.
+
+"I have no idea of what is meant by Mr. Hartland's reference to Arendal.
+Possibly it may concern something in the museum there, but of which I
+never heard. The printed catalogue of the museum (Arendal, 1882)
+includes nothing from the middle age or later."
+
+[118] Thorpe, vol. ii. p. 144, quoting Thiele. Keightley, pp. 109, 111,
+note; (The latter mentions another theft of a silver jug where the thief
+was saved by crossing running water.) Thorpe, vol. ii. p. 140; vol. iii.
+p. 70, quoting Müllenhoff; Jahn, p. 53; Bartsch, vol. i. p. 60.
+
+[119] Thorpe, vol. ii. p. 91, quoting Afzelius.
+
+[120] Waldron, pp. 28, 106.
+
+[121] Train, vol. ii. p. 154; and see a note by Harrison to his edition
+of Waldron, p. 106. The cup is stated by Harrison to have been, when he
+wrote, in the possession of Major Bacon, of Seafield House. Mrs.
+Russell, of Oxford, kindly made inquiries for me in the Isle of Man as
+to its present whereabouts, and that of the cup of Kirk Malew, and
+inserted a query in _Yn Livar Manninagh_, the organ of the Isle of Man
+Natural History and Antiquarian Society, but without eliciting any
+information.
+
+[122] It is not irrelevant to observe in this connection that several of
+the chalices in Sweden are said to have been presented to the churches
+by priests to whom a Berg-woman had offered drink in these very cups or
+bowls (Thorpe, vol. ii. p. 90, quoting Afzelius).
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE SUPERNATURAL LAPSE OF TIME IN FAIRYLAND.
+
+     The story of Rhys and Llewelyn--Dancing for a
+     twelvemonth--British variants--Lapse of time among the Siberian
+     Tartars--German and Slavonic stories--The penalty of curiosity
+     and greed--A Lapp tale--The mother leaving her child in the
+     mysterious cave--Rip van Winkle--Eastern variants--King
+     Herla--The Adalantado of the Seven Cities--The Seven
+     Sleepers--King Wenzel and the smith--Lost brides and
+     bridegrooms--The Monk Felix--Visits to Paradise--A Japanese tale.
+
+
+In previous chapters we have seen that human beings are sometimes taken
+by fairies into Fairyland, and that they are there kept for a longer or
+shorter period, or, it may be, are never permitted to return to earth at
+all. We have noted cases in which they are led down for temporary
+purposes and, if they are prudent, are enabled to return when those
+purposes are accomplished. We have noted other cases in which babes or
+grown women have been stolen and retained until their kindred have
+compelled restoration. The story cited in the last chapter from Giraldus
+describes a seduction of a different kind. There the visit to Fairyland
+was of a more voluntary character, and the hero was able to go to and
+fro as he pleased. We have also met with tales in which the temptation
+of food, or more usually of drink, has been held out to the wayfarer;
+and we have learned that the result of yielding would be to give himself
+wholly into the fairies' hands. I propose now to examine instances in
+which temptation of one kind or other has been successful, or in which
+a spell has been cast over man or woman, not merely preventing the
+bewitched person from regaining his home and human society, but also
+rendering him, while under the spell, impervious to the attacks of time
+and unconscious of its flight.
+
+These stories are of many types. The first type comes, so far as I know,
+only from Celtic sources. It is very widely known in Wales, and we may
+call it, from its best-known example, the "Rhys and Llewelyn type." A
+story obtained between sixty and seventy years ago in the Vale of Neath
+relates that Rhys and Llewelyn were fellow-servants to a farmer; and
+they had been engaged one day in carrying lime for their master. As they
+were going home, driving their mountain ponies before them in the
+twilight, Rhys suddenly called to his companion to stop and listen to
+the music. It was a tune, he said, to which he had danced a hundred
+times, and he must go and have a dance now. So he told his companion to
+go on with the horses and he would soon overtake him. Llewelyn could
+hear nothing, and began to remonstrate; but away sprang Rhys, and he
+called after him in vain. Accordingly he went home, put up the ponies,
+ate his supper and went to bed, thinking that Rhys had only made a
+pretext for going to the alehouse. But when morning came, and still no
+sign of Rhys, he told his master what had occurred. Search proving
+fruitless, suspicion fell on Llewelyn of having murdered his
+fellow-servant; and he was accordingly imprisoned. A farmer in the
+neighbourhood, skilled in fairy matters, guessing how things might have
+been, proposed that himself and some others, including the narrator of
+the story, should accompany Llewelyn to the place where he parted with
+Rhys. On coming to it, "Hush!" cried Llewelyn, "I hear music, I hear
+sweet harps." All listened, but could hear nothing. But Llewelyn's foot
+was on the outward edge of the fairy-ring. "Put your foot on mine,
+David," he said to the narrator. The latter did so, and so did each of
+the party, one after the other, and then heard the sound of many harps,
+and saw within a circle, about twenty feet across, great numbers of
+little people dancing round and round. Among them was Rhys, whom
+Llewelyn caught by the smock-frock, as he came by him, and pulled him
+out of the circle. "Where are the horses? where are the horses?" cried
+he. "Horses, indeed!" said Llewelyn. Rhys urged him to go home and let
+him finish his dance, in which he averred he had not been engaged more
+than five minutes. It was only by main force they got him away; and the
+sequel was that he could not be persuaded of the time that had passed in
+the dance: he became melancholy, took to his bed, and soon after
+died.[123]
+
+Variants of this tale are found all over Wales. At Pwllheli, Professor
+Rhys was told of two youths who went out to fetch cattle and came at
+dusk upon a party of fairies dancing. One was drawn into the circle; and
+the other was suspected of murdering him, until, at a wizard's
+suggestion, he went again to the same spot at the end of a year and a
+day. There he found his friend dancing, and managed to get him out,
+reduced to a mere skeleton. The first question put by the rescued man
+was as to the cattle he was driving. Again, at Trefriw, Professor Rhys
+found a belief that when a young man got into a fairy-ring the fairy
+damsels took him away; but he could be got out unharmed at the end of a
+year and a day, when he would be found dancing with them in the same
+ring. The mode of recovery was to touch him with a piece of iron and to
+drag him out at once. We shall consider hereafter the reason for
+touching the captive with iron. In this way was recovered, after the
+expiration of a year and a day, a youth who had wandered into a
+fairy-ring. He had new shoes on at the time he was lost; and he could
+not be made to understand that he had been there more than five minutes
+until he was asked to look at his new shoes, which were by that time in
+pieces. Near Aberystwyth, Professor Rhys was told of a servant-maid who
+was lost while looking for some calves. Her fellow-servant, a man, was
+taken into custody on a charge of murdering her. A "wise man," however,
+found out that she was with the fairies; and by his directions the
+servant-man was successful at the end of the usual period of twelve
+months and a day in drawing her out of the fairy-ring at the place where
+she was lost. As soon as she was released and saw her fellow-servant
+(who was carefully dressed in the same clothes as he had on when she
+left him), she asked about the calves. On their way home she told her
+master, the servant-man, and the others, that she would stay with them
+until her master should strike her with iron. One day, therefore, when
+she was helping her master to harness a horse the bit touched her, and
+she disappeared instantly and was never seen from that time forth. In
+another case, said to have happened in Anglesea, a girl got into a
+fairy-circle while looking, with her father, for a lost cow. By a "wise
+man's" advice, however, he rescued her by pulling her out of the circle
+the very hour of the night of the anniversary of his loss. The first
+inquiry she then made was after the cow, for she had not the slightest
+recollection of the time she had spent with the fairies.[124]
+
+A ghastly sequel, more frequently found in a type of the story
+considered later on, sometimes occurs. In Carmarthenshire it is said
+that a farmer going out one morning very early was lost; nor were any
+tidings heard of him for more than twelve months afterwards, until one
+day a man passing by a lonely spot saw him dancing, and spoke to him.
+This broke the spell; and the farmer, as if waking out of a dream,
+exclaimed: "Oh dear! where are my horses?" Stepping out of the magical
+circle, he fell down and mingled his dust with the earth. In North Wales
+a story was generally current a couple of generations since of two men
+travelling together who were benighted in a wood. One of them slept, but
+the other fell into the hands of the fairies. With the help of a
+wizard's advice, some of his relatives rescued him at the end of a year.
+They went to the place where his companion had missed him, there found
+him dancing with the fairies and dragged him out of the ring. The
+unfortunate man, imagining it was the same night and that he was with
+his companion, immediately asked if it were not better to go home. He
+was offered some food, which he began to eat; but he had no sooner done
+so than he mouldered away. A similar tradition attaches to a certain
+yew-tree near Mathafarn in the parish of Llanwrin. One of two
+farm-servants was lost at that spot, and found again, a year after,
+dancing in a fairy-circle. On being dragged out he was asked if he did
+not feel hungry. "No," he replied, "and if I did, have I not here in my
+wallet the remains of my dinner that I had before I fell asleep?" He did
+not know that a year had passed by. His look was like a skeleton; and as
+soon as he had tasted food he too mouldered away.[125]
+
+In Scotland the story is told without this terrible end. For example, in
+Sutherlandshire we learn that a man who had been with a friend to the
+town of Lairg to enter his first child's birth in the session-books, and
+to buy a keg of whisky against the christening, sat down to rest at the
+foot of the hill of Durchâ, near a large hole from which they soon
+heard a sound of piping and dancing. Feeling curious, he entered the
+cavern, and disappeared. His friend was accused of murder, but being
+allowed a year and a day to vindicate himself, he used to repair at dusk
+to the fatal spot and call and pray. One day before the term ran out, he
+sat, as usual, in the gloaming by the cavern, when, what seemed his
+friend's shadow passed within it. It was his friend himself, tripping
+merrily with the fairies. The accused man succeeded in catching him by
+the sleeve and pulling him out. "Why could you not let me finish my
+reel, Sandy?" asked the bewitched man. "Bless me!" rejoined Sandy, "have
+you not had enough of reeling this last twelvemonth?" But the other
+would not believe in this lapse of time until he found his wife sitting
+by the door with a yearling child in her arms. In Kirkcudbrightshire,
+one night about Hallowe'en two young ploughmen, returning from an
+errand, passed by an old ruined mill and heard within music and dancing.
+One of them went in; and nothing was seen of him again until a year
+after, when his companion went to the same place, Bible in hand, and
+delivered him from the evil beings into whose power he had fallen.[126]
+
+The captive, however, does not always require to be sought for: he is
+sometimes released voluntarily by his captors. A man who lived at
+Ystradgynlais, in Brecknockshire, going out one day to look after his
+cattle and sheep on the mountain, disappeared. In about three weeks,
+after search had been made in vain for him and his wife had given him up
+for dead, he came home. His wife asked him where he had been for the
+past three weeks. "Three weeks! Is it three weeks you call three hours?"
+said he. Pressed to say where he had been, he told her he had been
+playing on his flute (which he usually took with him on the mountain) at
+the Llorfa, a spot near the Van Pool, when he was surrounded at a
+distance by little beings like men, who closed nearer and nearer to him
+until they became a very small circle. They sang and danced, and so
+affected him that he quite lost himself. They offered him some small
+cakes to eat, of which he partook; and he had never enjoyed himself so
+well in his life. Near Bridgend is a place where a woman is said to have
+lived who was absent ten years with the fairies, and thought she was not
+out of the house more than ten minutes. With a woman's proverbial
+persistency, she would not believe her husband's assurances that it was
+ten years since she disappeared; and the serious disagreement between
+them which ensued was so notorious that it gave a name to the place
+where they lived. A happier result is believed to have attended an
+adventure that foreboded much worse to a man at Dornoch, in
+Sutherlandshire. He was present at a funeral in the churchyard on New
+Year's Day, and was so piqued at not being invited, as all the others
+were, to some of the New Year's festivities, that in his vexation,
+happening to see a skull lying at his feet, he struck it with his staff
+and said: "Thou seemest to be forsaken and uncared-for, like myself. I
+have been bidden by none; neither have I invited any: I now invite
+thee!" That night as he and his wife were sitting down alone to supper,
+a venerable old man entered the room in silence and took his share of
+the delicacies provided. In those days the New Year's feast was kept up
+for eleven days together; and the stranger's visit was repeated in the
+same absolute silence for six nights. At last the host, alarmed and
+uneasy, sought the priest's advice as to how he was to get rid of his
+unwelcome guest. The reverend father bade him, in laying the bannocks in
+the basket for the seventh day's supper, reverse the last-baked one.
+This, he declared, would induce the old man to speak. It did; and the
+speech was an invitation--nay, rather a command--to spend the remainder
+of the festival with him in the churchyard. The priest, again consulted,
+advised compliance; and the man went trembling to the tryst. He found
+in the churchyard a great house, brilliantly illuminated, where he
+enjoyed himself, eating, drinking, piping and dancing. After what seemed
+the lapse of a few hours, the grey master of the house came to him, and
+bade him hasten home, or his wife would be married to another; and in
+parting he advised him always to respect the remains of the dead.
+Scarcely had he done speaking when the grey old man himself, the guests,
+the house, and all that it contained, vanished, leaving the man to crawl
+home alone in the moonlight as best he might after so long a debauch.
+For he had been absent a year and a day; and when he got home he found
+his wife in a bride's dress, and the whole house gay with a bridal
+party. His entrance broke in upon the mirth: his wife swooned, and the
+new bridegroom scrambled up the chimney. But when she got over her
+fright, and her husband had recovered from the fatigue of his year-long
+dance, they made it up, and lived happily ever after.[127]
+
+A story of this type has been elaborated by a Welsh writer who is known
+as "Glasynys" into a little romance, in which the hero is a shepherd
+lad, and the heroine a fairy maiden whom he weds and brings home with
+him. This need not detain us; but a more authentic story from the Vale
+of Neath may be mentioned. It concerns a boy called Gitto Bach, or
+Little Griffith, a farmer's son, who disappeared. During two whole years
+nothing was heard of him; but at length one morning when his mother, who
+had long and bitterly mourned for him as dead, opened the door, whom
+should she see sitting on the threshold but Gitto with a bundle under
+his arm. He was dressed and looked exactly as when she last saw him, for
+he had not grown a bit. "Where have you been all this time?" asked his
+mother. "Why, it was only yesterday I went away," he replied; and
+opening the bundle, he showed her a dress the "little children," as he
+called them, had given him for dancing with them. The dress was of white
+paper without seam. With maternal caution she put it into the fire.[128]
+
+I am not aware of many foreign examples of this type; but among the
+Siberian Tartars their extravagant heroes sometimes feast overlong with
+friends as mythical as themselves. On one occasion
+
+    "They caroused, they feasted.
+    That a month had flown
+    They knew not;
+    That a year had gone by
+    They knew not.
+    As a year went by
+    It seemed like a day;
+    As two years went by
+    It seemed like two days;
+    As three years went by
+    It seemed like three days."
+
+Again, when a hero was married the time very naturally passed rapidly.
+"One day he thought he had lived here--he had lived a month; two days he
+believed he had lived--he had lived two months; three days he believed
+he had lived--he had lived three months." And he was much surprised to
+learn from his bride how long it really was, though time seems always to
+have gone wrong with him. For after he was born it is recorded that in
+one day he became a year old, in two days two years, and in seven days
+seven years old; after which he performed some heroic feats, ate
+fourteen sheep and three cows, and then lying down slept for seven days
+and seven nights--in other words, until he was fourteen years old. In a
+Breton tale a girl who goes down underground, to become godmother to a
+fairy child, thinks, when she returns, that she has been away but two
+days, though in the meantime her god-child has grown big: she has been
+in fact ten years. In a Hessian legend the time of absence is seven
+years.[129]
+
+Turning away from this type, in which pleasure, and especially the
+pleasure of music and dancing, is the motive, let us look at what seem
+to be some specially German and Slavonic types of the tale. In the
+latter it is rather an act of service (sometimes under compulsion),
+curiosity or greed, which leads the mortal into the mysterious regions
+where time has so little power. At Eldena, in Pomerania, are the ruins
+of a monastery and church, formerly very wealthy, under which are said
+to be some remarkable chambers. Two Capuchin monks came from Rome many
+years ago, and inquired of the head of the police after a hidden door
+which led under the ruins. He lent them his servant-boy, who, under
+their direction, removed the rubbish and found the door. It opened at
+the touch of the monks, and they entered with the servant. Passing
+through several rooms they reached one in which many persons were
+sitting and writing. Here they were courteously received; and after a
+good deal of secret conference between the monks and their hosts, they
+were dismissed. When the servant came back to the upper air, he found he
+had been absent three whole years. Blanik is the name of a mountain in
+Bohemia, beneath which are lofty halls whose walls are entirely
+fashioned of rock-crystal. In these halls the Bohemian hero, the holy
+King Wenzel, sleeps with a chosen band of his knights, until some day
+the utmost need of his country shall summon him and them to her aid. A
+smith, who dwelt near the mountain, was once mowing his meadow, when a
+stranger came and bade him follow him. The stranger led him into the
+mountain, where he beheld the sleeping knights, each one upon his horse,
+his head bent down upon the horse's neck. His guide then brought him
+tools that he might shoe the horses, but told him to beware in his work
+of knocking against any of the knights. The smith skilfully performed
+his work, but as he was shoeing the last horse he accidentally touched
+the rider, who started up, crying out: "Is it time?" "Not yet," replied
+he who had brought the smith thither, motioning the latter to keep
+quiet. When the task was done, the smith received the old shoes by way
+of reward. On returning home he was astonished to find two mowers at
+work in his meadow, whereas he had only left one there. From them he
+learned that he had been away a whole year; and when he opened his bag,
+behold the old horse-shoes were all of solid gold! On Easter Sunday,
+during mass, the grey horse belonging to another peasant living at the
+foot of the Blanik disappeared. While in quest of him the owner found
+the mountain open, and, entering, arrived in the hall where the knights
+sat round a large table of stone and slept. Each of them wore black
+armour, save their chief, who shone in gold and bore three herons'
+feathers in his helm. Ever and anon one or other of the knights would
+look up and ask: "Is it time?" But on their chief shaking his head he
+would sink again to rest. While the peasant was in the midst of his
+astonishment he heard a neighing behind him; and turning round he left
+the cavern. His horse was quietly grazing outside; but when he got home
+every one shrank in fright away from him. His wife sat at the table in
+deep mourning. On seeing him she shrieked and asked: "Where have you
+been for a whole year?" He thought he had only been absent a single
+hour. A servant-man driving two horses over the Blanik heard the
+trampling of steeds and a battle-march played. It was the knights
+returning from their mimic combat; and the horses he was driving were
+so excited that he was compelled to follow with them into the mountain,
+which then closed upon them. Nor did he reach home until ten years had
+passed away, though he thought it had only been as many days.[130]
+
+We shall have occasion to return to Blanik and its knights. Parallel
+traditions attach, as is well known, to the Kyffhäuser, a mountain in
+Thuringia, where Frederick Barbarossa sleeps. A peasant going with corn
+to market at Nordhausen, drove by the Kyffhäuser, where he was met by a
+little grey man, who asked him whither he was going, and offered to
+reward him if he would accompany him instead. The little grey man led
+him through a great gateway into the mountain till they came at last to
+a castle. There he took from the peasant his waggon and horses, and led
+him into a hall gorgeously illuminated and filled with people, where he
+was well entertained. At last the little grey man told him it was now
+time he went home, and rewarding him bountifully he led him forth. His
+waggon and horses were given to him again, and he trudged homeward well
+pleased. Arrived there, however, his wife opened her eyes wide to see
+him, for he had been absent a year, and she had long accounted him dead.
+It fared not quite so well with a journeyman joiner from Nordhausen, by
+name Thiele, who found the mountain open, as it is every seven years,
+and went in. There he saw the Marquis John (whoever he may have been),
+with his beard spreading over the table and his nails grown through it.
+Around the walls lay great wine-vats, whose hoops and wood had alike
+rolled away; but the wine had formed its own shell and was blood-red. A
+little drop remained in the wine-glass which stood before the Marquis
+John. The joiner made bold to drain it off, and thereupon fell asleep.
+When he awoke again he had slept for seven years in the mountain.[131]
+
+Curiosity and greed caused this man to lose seven years of his life.
+This is a motive often met with in these stories. A young girl during
+the midday rest left a hayfield in the Lavantthal, Carinthia, to climb
+the Schönofen, whence there is a fine view over the valley. As she
+reached the top she became aware of an open door in the rock. She
+entered, and found herself in a cellar-like room. Two fine black steeds
+stood at the fodder-trough and fed off the finest oats. Marvelling how
+they got there, she put a few handfuls of the oats into her pocket, and
+passed on into a second chamber. A chest stood there, and on the chest
+lay a black dog. Near him was a loaf of bread, in which a knife was
+stuck. With ready wit she divined, or recollected, the purpose of the
+bread; and cutting a good slice she threw it to the dog. While he was
+busy devouring it she filled her apron from the treasure contained in
+the chest. But meantime the door closed, and there was nothing for it
+but to lie down and sleep. She awoke to find the door wide open, and at
+once made the best of her way home. But she was not a little astounded
+to learn that she had been gone for a whole year.[132]
+
+A Lapp tale presents this mysterious lapse of time as the sequel of an
+adventure similar to that of Ulysses with Polyphemus. An old Lapp,
+having lost his way while hunting, came to a cottage. The door was open;
+and he entered to remain there the night, and began to cook in a pot he
+carried with him the game he had caught that day. Suddenly a witch
+entered, and asked him: "What is your name?" "Myself," answered the
+Lapp; and taking a spoonful of the boiling liquid he flung it in her
+face. She cried out: "Myself has burnt me! Myself has burnt me!" "If you
+have burnt yourself you ought to suffer," answered her companion from
+the neighbouring mountain. The hunter was thus delivered for the moment
+from the witch, who, however, as she went away, exclaimed: "Self has
+burnt me; Self shall sleep till the new year!" When the Lapp had
+finished his repast he lay down to repose. On awaking he rummaged in his
+provision-sack: he found its contents mouldy and putrid. Nor could he
+understand this before he got home and learned that he had been missing
+for six months.[133]
+
+This story is unlike the previous ones, inasmuch as it represents the
+six months' disappearance as in no way due to any enticements, either of
+supernatural beings or of the hero's own passions. Neither music, nor
+dancing, neither greed nor curiosity, led him astray. The aboriginal
+inhabitants of Japan in like manner tell of a certain man who went out
+in his boat to fish and was carried off by a storm to an unknown land.
+The chief, an old man of divine aspect, begged him to stay there for the
+night, promising to send him home to his own country on the morrow. The
+promise was fulfilled by his being sent with some of the old chief's
+subjects who were going thither; but the man was enjoined to lie down in
+the boat and cover up his head. When he reached his native place the
+sailors threw him into the water; and ere he came to himself sailors and
+boat had disappeared. He had been away for a whole year; and the chief
+appeared to him shortly afterwards in a dream, revealing himself as no
+human being, but the chief of the salmon, the divine fish; and he
+required the man thenceforth to worship him. Curiously similar to the
+Japanese tale is a tale told to M. Sébillot by a cabin-boy of Saint Cast
+in Brittany. A fisherman caught one day the king of the fishes, in the
+shape of a small gilded fish, but was persuaded to let him go under
+promise to send (such is the popular belief in the unselfishness of
+kings) at all times as many of his subjects as the fisherman wanted into
+his nets. The promise was royally fulfilled. More than this, when the
+fisherman's boat was once capsized by a storm the king of the fishes
+appeared, gave its drowning owner to drink from a bottle he had brought
+for the purpose, and conveyed him under the water to his capital,--a
+beautiful city whose streets, surpassing those of London in the
+traditions of English peasant children, were paved not only with gold
+but with diamonds and other gems. The fisherman promptly filled his
+pockets with these paving-stones; and then the king politely told him:
+"When you are tired of being with us, you have only to say so." There is
+a limit to hospitality; so the fisherman took the hint, and told the
+king how delighted he should be to remain there always, but that he had
+a wife and children at home who would think he was drowned. The king
+called a tunny and commanded him to take the fisherman on his back and
+deposit him on a rock near the shore, where the other fishers could see
+and rescue him. Then, with the parting gift of an inexhaustible purse,
+he dismissed his guest. When the fisherman got back to his village he
+found he had been away more than six months. In the chapter on
+Changelings I had occasion to refer to some instances of women being
+carried off at a critical time in their lives. One more such instance
+may be added here. Among the Bohemians a mythical female called
+Polednice is believed to be dangerous to women who have recently added
+to the population; and such women are accordingly warned to keep within
+doors, especially at noon and after the angelus in the evening. On one
+occasion a woman, who scorned the warnings she had received, was carried
+off by Polednice in the form of a whirlwind, as she sat in the
+harvest-field chatting with the reapers, to whom she had brought their
+dinner. Only after a year and a day was she permitted to return.[134]
+
+In some of the German and Bohemian tales a curious incident occurs.
+Beneath the Rollberg, near Niemes, in Bohemia, is a treasure-vault, the
+door of which stands open for a short time every Palm Sunday. A woman
+once found it open thus and entered with her child. There she saw a
+number of Knights Templars sitting round a table, gambling. They did not
+notice her; so she helped herself from a pile of gold lying near them,
+having first set down her child. Beside the gold lay a black dog, which
+barked from time to time. The woman knew that the third time it barked
+the door would close; wherefore she hastened out. When she bethought
+herself of the child it was too late: she had left it behind in her
+haste, and the vault was closed. The following year she returned at the
+hour when the door was open, and found the little one safe and sound, in
+either hand a fair red apple. Frequently in these tales a beautiful lady
+comes and ministers to the child during its mother's absence; at other
+times, a man. The treasure of King Darius is believed to be buried
+beneath the Sattelburg in Transylvania. A Wallachian woman, with her
+yearling babe in her arms, once found the door open and went in. There
+sat an old, long-bearded man, and about him stood chests full of silver
+and gold. She asked him if she might take some of this treasure for
+herself. "Oh, yes," answered he, "as much as you like." She put down the
+child and filled her skirts with gold, put the gold outside and
+re-entered. Having obtained permission, she filled and emptied her
+skirts a second time. But when she turned to enter a third time the door
+banged-to, and she was left outside. She cried out for her child, and
+wept--in vain. Then she made her way to the priest and laid her case
+before him. He advised her to pray daily for a whole year, and she would
+then get her child again. She carried out his injunction; and the
+following year she went again to the Sattelburg. The door was open, and
+she found the babe still seated in the chest where she had put it down.
+It was playing with a golden apple, which it held up to her, crying:
+"Look, mother, look!" The mother was astonished to hear it speak, and
+asked: "Whence hast thou that beautiful apple?" "From the old man, who
+has given me to eat too." The man was, however, no longer to be seen;
+and as the mother took her child and left the place, the door closed
+behind her.[135]
+
+But the most numerous, and assuredly the most weird and interesting, of
+these stories belong to a type which we may call, after the famous
+Posthumous Writing of Diedrich Knickerbocker, the "Rip van Winkle type."
+Here the hero remains under the spell of the supernatural until he
+passes the ordinary term of life; and he comes back to find all his
+friends dead and himself nothing but a dim memory. It will be needless
+here to recapitulate the tale of Rip van Winkle himself. Whether any
+such legend really lingers about the Kaatskill mountains I do not know;
+but I have a vehement suspicion that Washington Irving was indebted
+rather to Otmar's "Traditions of the Harz," a book published at Bremen
+in the year 1800. In this book the scene of the tale is laid on the
+Kyffhäuser, and with the exception of such embellishments as the keen
+tongue of Dame van Winkle and a few others, the incidents in the
+adventures of Peter Claus the Goatherd are absolutely the same as those
+of Rip van Winkle.[136]
+
+Of all the variants of this type it is in China that we find the one
+most resembling it. Wang Chih, afterwards one of the holy men of the
+Taoists, wandering one day in the mountains of Kü Chow to gather
+firewood, entered a grotto in which some aged men were playing at chess.
+He laid down his axe and watched their game, in the course of which one
+of them handed him something in size and shape like a date-stone,
+telling him to put it into his mouth. No sooner had he done so than
+hunger and thirst passed away. After some time had elapsed one of the
+players said: "It is long since you came here; you should go home now."
+Wang Chih accordingly proceeded to pick up his axe, but found that its
+handle had mouldered into dust; and on reaching home he became aware
+that not hours, nor days, but centuries had passed since he left it, and
+that no vestige of his kinsfolk remained. Another legend tells of a
+horseman who, riding over the hills, sees several old men playing a game
+with rushes. He ties his horse to a tree while he looks on at them. In a
+few minutes, as it seems to him, he turns to depart; but his horse is
+already a skeleton, and of the saddle and bridle rotten pieces only are
+left. He seeks his home; but that too is gone; and he lies down and dies
+broken-hearted. A similar story is told in Japan of a man who goes into
+the mountains to cut wood, and watches two mysterious ladies playing at
+chess while seven generations of mortal men pass away. Both these
+legends omit the supernatural food which seems to support life, not only
+in the case of Wang Chih, but also in that of Peter Claus. In another
+Chinese tale two friends, wandering in the T'ien-t'ai mountains, are
+entertained by two beautiful girls, who feed them on a kind of
+haschisch, a drug made from hemp; and when they return they find that
+they have passed seven generations of ordinary men in the society of
+these ladies. Another Taoist devotee was admitted for a while into the
+next world, where he was fed on cakes, and, as if he were a dyspeptic,
+he received much comfort from having all his digestive organs removed.
+After awhile he was sent back to this world, to find himself much
+younger than his youngest grandson.[137]
+
+Feasts in Fairyland occupy an unconscionable length of time. Walter Map,
+writing in the latter half of the twelfth century, relates a legend
+concerning a mythical British king, Herla, who was on terms of
+friendship with the king of the pigmies. The latter appeared to him one
+day riding on a goat, a man such as Pan might have been described to be,
+with a very large head, a fiery face, and a long red beard. A spotted
+fawn-skin adorned his breast, but the lower part of his body was exposed
+and shaggy, and his legs degenerated into goat's feet. This queer little
+fellow declared himself very near akin to Herla, foretold that the king
+of the Franks was about to send ambassadors offering his daughter as
+wife to the king of the Britons, and invited himself to the wedding. He
+proposed a pact between them, that when he had attended Herla's wedding,
+Herla should the following year attend his. Accordingly at Herla's
+wedding the pigmy king appears with a vast train of courtiers and
+servants, and numbers of precious gifts. The next year he sends to bid
+Herla to his own wedding. Herla goes. Penetrating a mountain cavern, he
+and his followers emerge into the light, not of sun or moon, but of
+innumerable torches, and reach the pigmies' dwellings, whose splendour
+Map compares with Ovid's description of the palace of the sun. Having
+given so charming, and doubtless so accurate, a portrait of the pigmy
+king, it is a pity the courtier-like ecclesiastic has forgotten to
+inform us what his bride was like. He leaves us to guess that her
+attractions must have corresponded with those of her stately lord,
+telling us simply that when the wedding was over, and the gifts which
+Herla brought had been presented, he obtained leave to depart, and set
+out for home, laden, he too, with gifts, among which are enumerated
+horses, dogs, hawks, and other requisites of a handsome outfit for
+hunting or fowling. Indeed, the bridegroom himself accompanied them as
+far as the darkness of the cavern through which they had to pass; and at
+parting he added to his presentations that of a bloodhound, so small as
+to be carried, forbidding any of the train to alight anywhere until the
+hound should leap from his bearer. When Herla found himself once more
+within his own realm he met with an old shepherd, and inquired for
+tidings of his queen by name. The shepherd looked at him astonished,
+scarcely understanding his speech; for he was a Saxon, whereas Herla
+was a Briton. Nor, as he told the king, had he heard of such a queen,
+unless it were a queen of the former Britons, whose husband, Herla, was
+said to have disappeared at yonder rock with a dwarf, and never to have
+been seen again. That, however, was long ago, for it was now more than
+two hundred years since the Britons had been driven out and the Saxons
+had taken possession of the land. The king was stupefied, for he deemed
+he had only been away three days, and could hardly keep his seat. Some
+of his followers, forgetful of the pigmy king's prohibition, alighted
+without waiting for the dog to lead the way, and were at once crumbled
+into dust. Herla and those who were wiser took warning by the fate of
+their companions. One story declared that they were wandering still; and
+many persons asserted that they had often beheld the host upon its mad,
+its endless journey. But Map concludes that the last time it appeared
+was in the year of King Henry the Second's coronation, when it was seen
+by many Welshmen to plunge into the Wye in Herefordshire.[138]
+
+Cases in which dancing endures for a whole twelvemonth have already been
+mentioned. This might be thought a moderate length of time for a ball,
+even for a fairy ball; but some have been known to last longer. Two
+celebrated fiddlers of Strathspey were inveigled by a venerable old man,
+who ought to have known better, into a little hill near Inverness, where
+they supplied the music for a brilliant assembly which lasted in fact
+for a hundred years, though to them it seemed but a few hours. They
+emerged into daylight again on a Sunday; and when they had learned the
+real state of affairs, and recovered from their astonishment at the
+miracle which had been wrought in them, they went, as was meet, to
+church. They sat listening for awhile to the ringing of the bells; but
+when the clergyman began to read the gospel, at the first word he
+uttered they both fell into dust. This is a favourite form of the legend
+in Wales as well as Scotland; but, pathetic and beautiful as the various
+versions are, they present no variations of importance.[139]
+
+Often the stranger's festive visit to Fairyland is rounded with a sleep.
+We have seen this in the instance of Rip van Winkle. Another legend has
+been put into literary form by Washington Irving, this time from a
+Portuguese source. It relates the adventures of a noble youth who set
+out to find an island in which some of the former inhabitants of the
+Peninsula had taken refuge at the time of the Moorish conquest, and
+where their descendants still dwelt. The island was believed to contain
+seven cities; and the adventurer was appointed by the king of Portugal
+Adalantado, or governor, of the Seven Cities. He reached the island, and
+was received as Adalantado, was feasted, and then fell asleep. When he
+came to himself again he was on board a homeward-bound vessel, having
+been picked up senseless from a drifting wreck. He reached Lisbon, but
+no one knew him. His ancestral mansion was occupied by others: none of
+his name had dwelt in it for many a year. He hurried to his betrothed,
+only to fling himself, not, as he thought, at her feet, but at the feet
+of her great-granddaughter. In cases like this the supernatural lapse of
+time may be conceived as taking place during the enchanted sleep, rather
+than during the festivities. According to a Coptic Christian romance,
+Abimelek, the youthful favourite of King Zedekiah, preserved the prophet
+Jeremiah's life when he was thrown into prison, and afterwards persuaded
+his master to give him charge of the prophet, and to permit him to
+release him from the dungeon. In reward, Jeremiah promised him that he
+should never see the destruction of Jerusalem, nor experience the
+Babylonish captivity, and yet that he should not die. The sun should
+take care of him, the atmosphere nourish him; the earth on which he
+slept should give him repose, and he should taste of joy for seventy
+years until he should again see Jerusalem in its glory, flourishing as
+before. Accordingly, going out one day, as his custom was, into the
+royal garden to gather grapes and figs, God caused him to rest and fall
+asleep beneath the shadow of a rock. There he lay peacefully slumbering
+while the city was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar, and during the horrors of
+its capture and the whole of the seventy sad years that followed. When
+he awoke, it was to meet the prophet Jeremiah returning from the
+captivity, and he entered the restored city with him in triumph. But the
+seventy years had seemed to him but a few hours; nor had he known
+anything of what passed while he slumbered. Mohammed in the Koran
+mentions a story referred by the commentators to Ezra. He is represented
+as passing by a village (said to mean Jerusalem) when it was desolate,
+and saying: "How will God revive this after its death?" And God made him
+die for a hundred years. Then He raised him and asked: "How long hast
+thou tarried?" Said the man: "I have tarried a day, or some part of a
+day." But God said: "Nay, thou hast tarried a hundred years. Look at thy
+food and drink, they are not spoiled; and look at thine ass; for we will
+make thee a sign to men. And look at the bones, how we scatter them and
+then clothe them with flesh." And when it was made manifest to him, he
+said: "I know that God is mighty over all."[140]
+
+Mohammed probably was unconscious that this is to all intents and
+purposes the same story as that of the Seven Sleepers, to which he
+refers in the chapter on the Cave. Some of the phrases he uses are,
+indeed, identical. As usually told, this legend speaks of seven youths
+of Ephesus who had fled from the persecutions of the heathen emperor
+Decius, and taken refuge in a cave, where they slept for upwards of
+three hundred years. In Mohammed's time, however, it should be noted,
+the number of the sleepers was undetermined; they were credited with a
+dog who slept with them, like Ezra's ass; and Mohammed's notion of the
+time they slept was only one hundred years. One of the wild tribes on
+the northern frontier of Afghanistan is said to tell the following story
+concerning a cavern in the Hirak Valley, known as the cave of the Seven
+Sleepers. A king bearing the suspicious name of Dakianus, deceived by
+the devil, set himself up as a god. Six of his servants, however, having
+reason to think that his claim was unfounded, fled from him and fell in
+with a shepherd, who agreed to throw in his lot with theirs and to guide
+them to a cavern where they might all hide. The shepherd's dog followed
+his master; but the six fugitives insisted on his being driven back lest
+he should betray their whereabouts. The shepherd begged that he might go
+with them, as he had been his faithful companion for years; but in vain.
+So he struck the dog with his stick, breaking one of his legs. The dog
+still followed; and the shepherd repeated the blow, breaking a second
+leg. Finding that the dog continued to crawl after them notwithstanding
+this, the men were struck with pity and took it in turns to carry the
+poor animal. Arrived at the cave, they all lay down and slept for three
+hundred and nine years. Assuming the genuineness of the tradition, which
+perhaps rests on no very good authority, its form is obviously due to
+Mohammedan influence. But the belief in this miraculous sleep is
+traceable beyond Christian and Mohammedan legends into the Paganism of
+classical antiquity. Pliny, writing in the first century of our era,
+alludes to a story told of the Cretan poet Epimenides, who, when a boy,
+fell asleep in a cave, and continued in that state for fifty-seven
+years. On waking he was greatly surprised at the change in the
+appearance of everything around him, as he thought he had only slept for
+a few hours; and though he did not, as in the Welsh and Scottish tales,
+fall into dust, still old age came upon him in as many days as the years
+he had passed in slumber.[141]
+
+Nor is it only in dancing, feasting, or sleeping that the time passes
+quickly with supernatural folk. A shepherd at the foot of the Blanik,
+who missed one of his flock, followed it into a cavern, whence he could
+not return because the mountain closed upon him with a crash. A dwarf
+came and led him into a large hall. There he saw King Wenzel sleeping
+with his knights. The king awoke, and bade him stay and clean the
+armour. One day--perhaps the criticism would be too carping which
+inquired how he knew the day from the night--he received permission to
+go, and a bag which he was told contained his reward. When he reached
+the light of day, he opened the bag and found it filled with oats. In
+the village all was changed, for he had been a hundred years in the
+mountain, and nobody knew him. He succeeded in getting a lodging, and on
+again opening his bag, lo! all the grains of oats had turned to gold
+pieces and thalers, so that he was able to buy a fine house, and
+speedily became the richest man in the place. This was a pleasanter fate
+than that of the Tirolese peasant who followed his herd under a stone,
+where they had all disappeared. He presently came into a lovely garden;
+and there a lady came, and, inviting him to eat, offered to take him as
+gardener. He readily assented; but after some weeks he began to be
+homesick, and, taking leave of his mistress, went home. On arriving
+there he was astounded that he knew no one, and no one knew him, save an
+old crone, who at length came to him and said: "Where have you been? I
+have been looking for you for two hundred years." Thus saying, she took
+him by the hand and he fell dead; for the crone who had sought him so
+long was Death.[142]
+
+Save in the legends that tell of a mother leaving her child in the
+mountain from her eagerness to gather treasure, we have encountered but
+few instances of women being beguiled. They are, indeed, not so numerous
+as those where the sterner sex is thus overcome; nor need we be detained
+by most of them. A Danish tradition, however, runs that a bride, during
+the dancing and festivities of her wedding-day, left the room and
+thoughtlessly walked towards a mound where the elves were also making
+merry. The hillock was standing, as is usual on such occasions, on red
+pillars; and as she drew near, one of the company offered her a cup of
+wine. She drank, and then suffered herself to join in a dance. When the
+dance was over she hastened home. But alas! house, farm, everything was
+changed. The noise and mirth of the wedding was stilled. No one knew
+her; but at length, on hearing her lamentation, an old woman exclaimed:
+"Was it you, then, who disappeared at my grandfather's brother's
+wedding, a hundred years ago?" At these words the aged bride fell down
+and expired. A prettier, if not a more pathetic, story is widely current
+on the banks of the Rhine. A maiden who bore an excellent character for
+piety and goodness was about to be married. She was fond of roses; and
+on the wedding morning she stepped into the garden to gather a small
+bunch. There she met a man whom she did not know. He admired two lovely
+blossoms which she had, but said he had many finer in his garden: would
+she not go with him? "I cannot," she said; "I must go to the church: it
+is high time." "It is not far," urged the stranger. The maiden allowed
+herself to be persuaded; and the man showed her beautiful, beautiful
+flowers--finer she had never seen--and gave her a wonderful rose of
+which she was very proud. Then she hastened back, lest she should be too
+late. When she mounted the steps of the house she could not understand
+what had happened to her. Children whom she knew not were playing there:
+people whom she did not recognize were within. And every one ran away
+from her, frightened to see a strange woman in an antiquated
+wedding-dress stand there bitterly weeping. She had but just left her
+bridegroom to go for a moment into the garden, and in so short a time
+guests and bridegroom had all vanished. She asked after her bridegroom,
+and nobody knew him. At last she told her story to the folk around her.
+A man said he had bought the house, and knew nothing at all of her
+bridegroom or her parents. They took her to the parish priest. He
+reached his church-books down, and there he found recorded that almost
+two hundred years before, a certain bride on the wedding-day had
+disappeared from her father's house. Burdened thus with two centuries of
+life, she lingered on a few lonely years, and then sank into the grave;
+and the good, simple villagers whisper that the strange gardener was no
+other than the Lord Jesus, who thus provided for His humble child an
+escape from a union which would have been the source of bitterest woe.
+After this it is almost an anti-climax to refer to a Scottish tale in
+which a bridegroom was similarly spirited away. As he was leaving the
+church after the ceremony, a tall dark man met him and asked him to come
+round to the back of the church, for he wanted to speak to him. When he
+complied, the dark man asked him to be good enough to stand there until
+a small piece of candle he held in his hand should burn out. He
+good-humouredly complied. The candle took, as he thought, less than two
+minutes to burn; and he then rushed off to overtake his friends. On his
+way he saw a man cutting turf, and asked if it were long since the
+wedding party had passed. The man replied that he did not know that any
+wedding party had passed that way to-day, or for a long time. "Oh, there
+was a marriage to-day," said the other, "and I am the bridegroom. I was
+asked by a man to go with him to the back of the church, and I went. I
+am now running to overtake the party." The turf-cutter, feeling that
+this could not be, asked him what date he supposed that day was. The
+bridegroom's answer was in fact two hundred years short of the real
+date: he had passed two centuries in those two minutes which the bit of
+candle took, as he thought, to burn. "I remember," said he who cut the
+turf, "that my grandfather used to tell something of such a
+disappearance of a bridegroom, a story which his grandfather told him as
+a fact which happened when he was young." "Ah, well then, I am the
+bridegroom," sighed the unfortunate man, and fell away as he stood,
+until nothing remained but a small heap of earth.[143]
+
+Every reader of Longfellow loves the story of the Monk Felix, so
+exquisitely told in "The Golden Legend." Its immediate source I do not
+know; but it is certain that the tradition is a genuine one, and has
+obtained a local habitation in many parts of Europe. Southey relates it
+as attached to the Spanish convent of San Salvador de Villar, where the
+tomb of the Abbot to whom the adventure happened was shown. And he is
+very severe on "the dishonest monks who, for the honour of their convent
+and the lucre of gain, palmed this lay (for such in its origin it was)
+upon their neighbours as a true legend." In Wales, the ruined monastery
+at Clynnog-Fawr, on the coast of Carnarvonshire, founded by St. Beuno,
+the uncle of the more famous St. Winifred, has been celebrated by a
+Welsh antiquary as the scene of the same event, in memory whereof a
+woodland patch near Clynnog is said to be called Llwyn-y-Nef, the Grove
+of Heaven. At Pantshonshenkin, in Carmarthenshire, a youth went out
+early one summer's morning and was lost. An old woman, Catti Madlen,
+prophesied of him that he was in the fairies' power and would not be
+released until the last sap of a certain sycamore tree had dried up.
+When that time came he returned. He had been listening all the while to
+the singing of a bird, and supposed only a few minutes had elapsed,
+though, seventy years had in fact gone over his head. In the Mabinogi of
+Branwen, daughter of Llyr, Pryderi and his companions, while bearing the
+head of Bran the Blessed, to bury it in the White Mount in London, were
+entertained seven years at Harlech, feasting and listening to the
+singing of the three birds of Rhiannon--a mythical figure in whom
+Professor Rhys can hardly be wrong in seeing an old Celtic goddess. In
+Germany and the Netherlands the story is widely spread. At the abbey of
+Afflighem, Fulgentius, who was abbot towards the close of the eleventh
+century, received the announcement one day that a stranger monk had
+knocked at the gate and claimed to be one of the brethren of that
+cloister. His story was that he had sung matins that morning with the
+rest of the brotherhood; and when they came to the verse of the 90th
+Psalm where it is said: "A thousand years in Thy sight are but as
+yesterday," he had fallen into deep meditation, and continued sitting in
+the choir when the others had departed, and that a little bird had then
+appeared to him and sung so sweetly that he had followed it into the
+forest, whence, after a short stay, he had now returned, but found the
+abbey so changed that he hardly knew it. On questioning him about his
+abbot and the name of the king whom he supposed to be still reigning,
+Fulgentius found that both had been dead for three hundred years. The
+same tale is told of other monasteries. In Transylvania it is told
+concerning a student of the school at Kronstadt that he was to preach on
+the fifteenth Sunday after Trinity in St. John's Church, now known as
+the Church of the Franciscans, and on the Saturday previous he walked
+out on the Kapellenberg to rehearse his sermon. After he had learned it
+he saw a beautiful bird, and tried to catch it. It led him on and on
+into a cavern, where he met a dwarf, who showed the astonished and
+curious student all the wealth of gold and jewels stored up in the
+vaults of the mountain. When he escaped again to the upper air the trees
+and the houses were altered; other and unknown faces greeted him at the
+school; his own room was changed--taken by another; a different rector
+ruled; and in short a hundred years had elapsed since he had gone forth
+to study his sermon for the next day. The old record-book, bound in
+pigskin, reposed on the rector's shelves. He took it down: it contained
+an entry of the student's having quitted the school and not returned,
+and of the difficulty caused thereby at St. John's Church, where he was
+to have preached the following day. By the time the entry was found and
+the mystery solved, it was noon. The student was hungry with his
+hundred-years' fast; and he sat down with the others at the common table
+to dine. But he had no sooner tasted the first spoonful of soup than his
+whole frame underwent a change. From a ruddy youth he became an old man
+in the last stage of decrepitude. His comrades scarce had time to hurry
+him upon a bed ere he breathed his last. Some pretty verses, attributed
+to Alaric A. Watts, commemorate a similar incident, said to have
+happened to two sisters who were nuns at Beverley Minister. They
+disappeared one evening after vespers. After some months they were found
+in a trance in the north tower. On being aroused they declared they had
+been admitted into Paradise, whither they would return before morning.
+They died in the night; and the beautiful monument called the Sisters'
+Shrine still witnesses to the truth of their story.[144]
+
+From monastic meditations we may pass without any long interval to a
+type of the story that perhaps appears at its best in M. Luzel's
+charming collection of distinctively Christian traditions of Lower
+Brittany. In this type we are given the adventures of a youth who
+undertakes to carry a letter to "_Monsieur le Bon Dieu_" in Paradise.
+Proceeding by the directions of a hermit, he is guided by a ball to the
+hermit's brother, who points out the road and describes the various
+difficulties through which he will have to pass. Accordingly he climbs
+the mountain before him; and the path then leads him across an arid
+meadow filled with fat cattle, and next over a lush pasture tenanted
+only by lean and sickly kine. Having left this behind he enters an
+avenue where, under the trees, youths and damsels richly clad are
+feasting and making merry; and they tempt the traveller to join them.
+The path then becomes narrow and steep, and encumbered with brambles and
+nettles and stones. Here he meets a rolling fire, but standing firm in
+the middle of the path, the fire passes harmlessly over his head. Hardly
+has it gone by, however, when he hears a terrible roar behind him, as
+though the sea in all its fury were at his heels ready to engulf him. He
+resolutely refuses to look back; and the noise subsides. A thick hedge
+of thorns closes the way before him; but he pushes through it, only to
+fall into a ditch filled with nettles and brambles on the other side,
+where he faints with loss of blood. When he recovers and scrambles out
+of the ditch, he reaches a place filled with the sweet perfume of
+flowers, with butterflies, and with the melody of birds. A clear river
+waters this beautiful land; and there he sits upon a stone and bathes
+his cruelly torn feet. No wonder he falls asleep and dreams that he is
+already in Paradise. Awaking, he finds his strength restored, and his
+wounds healed. Before him is Mount Calvary, the Saviour still upon the
+cross, and the blood yet running from His body. A crowd of little
+children are trying to climb the mountain; but ere they reach the top
+they roll down again continually to the foot, only to recommence the
+toil. They crowd round the traveller, and beseech him to take them with
+him; and he takes three, one on each shoulder and one by the hand; but
+with them he cannot get to the top, for he is hurled back again and
+again. Leaving them therefore behind, he climbs with ease, and throws
+himself at the foot of the cross to pray and weep. On rising, he sees
+before him a palace that proves to be Paradise itself. St. Peter, the
+celestial porter, receives his letter and carries it to its destination.
+While the youth waits, he finds St. Peter's spectacles on the table and
+amuses himself by trying them on. Many and marvellous are the things
+they reveal to him; but the porter comes back, and he hastily takes off
+the glasses, fearing to be scolded. St. Peter, however, tells him: "Fear
+nothing, my child. You have already been looking through my glasses for
+five hundred years!" "But I have only just put them on my nose!" "Yes,
+my child," returned the door-keeper, "it is five hundred years, and I
+see you find the time short." After this it is a trifle that he spends
+another hundred years looking at the seat reserved for himself in
+Paradise and thinks them only a moment. The Eternal Father's reply to
+the letter is handed to him; and since his master and the king who sent
+him on the errand have both long been dead and in Paradise (though on
+lower seats than that which he is to occupy), he is bidden to take the
+reply to his parish prices [TN: priests]. The priest will in return hand
+him a hundred crowns, which he is to give to the poor, and when the
+last penny has been distributed he will die and enter Paradise, to
+obtain the seat he has been allowed to see. As he makes his way back,
+one of the hermits explains to him the various sights he beheld and the
+difficulties he conquered during his outward journey. I shall not stop
+to unveil the allegories of this traditional Pilgrim's Progress, which
+is known from Brittany to Transylvania, from Iceland to Sicily. Other
+Breton tales exist, describing a similar journey, in all of which the
+miraculous lapse of time is an incident. In one the youth is sent to the
+sun to inquire why it is red in the morning when it rises. In another a
+maiden is married to a mysterious stranger, who turns out to be Death.
+Her brother goes to visit her, and is allowed to accompany her husband
+on his daily flight, in the course of which he sees a number of
+remarkable sights, each one of them a parable.[145]
+
+A story is told at Glienke, near New Brandenburg, of two friends who
+made mutual promises to attend one another's weddings. One was married,
+and his friend kept his word; but before the latter's turn to marry came
+the married man had fallen into want, and under the pressure of need had
+committed robbery, a crime for which he had been hanged. Shortly
+afterwards his friend was about to be married; and his way a few days
+before, in the transaction of his business, led him past the gallows
+where the body still swung. As he drew near he murmured a Paternoster
+for the dead man, and said: "At your wedding I enjoyed myself; and you
+promised me to come to mine, and now you cannot come!" A voice from the
+gallows distinctly replied: "Yes, I will come." To the wedding feast
+accordingly the dead man came, with the rope round his neck, and was
+placed between the pastor and the sacristan. He ate and drank in
+silence, and departed. As he left, he beckoned the bridegroom to follow
+him; and when they got outside the village the hanged man said: "Thanks
+to your Paternoster, I am saved." They walked a little further, and the
+bridegroom noticed that the country was unknown to him. They were in a
+large and beautiful garden. "Will you not return?" asked the dead man;
+"they will miss you." "Oh! let me stay; it is so lovely here," replied
+his friend. "Know that we are in Paradise; you cannot go with me any
+further. Farewell!" So saying the dead man vanished. Then the bridegroom
+turned back; but he did not reach the village for three days. There all
+was changed. He asked after his bride: no one knew her. He sought the
+pastor and found a stranger. When he told his tale the pastor searched
+the church-books and discovered that a man of his name had been married
+one hundred and fifty years before. The bridegroom asked for food; but
+when he had eaten it he sank into a heap of ashes at the pastor's feet.
+The Transylvanian legend of "The Gravedigger in Heaven" also turns upon
+an invitation thoughtlessly given to a dead man and accepted. The
+entertainment is followed by a counter-invitation; and the gravedigger
+is forced to pay a return visit. He is taken to Heaven, where, among
+other things, he sees at intervals three leaves fall slowly one after
+another from off a large tree in the garden. The tree is the Tree of
+Life, from which a leaf falls at the end of every century. He was three
+hundred years in Heaven and thought it scarce an hour. The Icelandic
+version concerns a wicked priest. His unjust ways are reproved by a
+stranger who takes him to the place of joy and the place of torment, and
+shows him other wonderful things such as the youth in the Breton tale is
+permitted to behold. When he is brought back, and the stranger leaves
+him, he finds that he has been absent seven years, and his living is now
+held by another priest.[146]
+
+Here, perhaps, is a fitting place to mention the Happy Islands of
+Everlasting Life as known to Japanese tradition, though the story can
+hardly be said to belong to the type we have just discussed,--perhaps
+not strictly to any of the foregoing types. A Japanese hero, the wise
+Vasobiove, it was who succeeded in reaching the Happy Islands, and in
+returning to bring sure tidings of them. For, like St. Brendan's Isle in
+western lore, these islands may be visible for a moment and afar off to
+the seafarer, but a mortal foot has hardly ever trodden them. Vasobiove,
+however, in his boat alone, set sail from Nagasaki, and, in spite of
+wind and waves, landed on the green shore of Horaisan. Two hundred years
+he sojourned there; yet wist he not how long the period was, there where
+everything remained the same, where there was neither birth nor death,
+where none heeded the flight of time. With dance and music, in
+intercourse with wise men and lovely women, his days passed away. But at
+length he grew weary of this sweet round of existence: he longed for
+death--an impossible wish in a land where death was unknown. No poison,
+no deadly weapons were to be found. To tumble down a chasm, or to fling
+oneself on sharp rocks was no more than a fall upon a soft cushion. If
+he would drown himself in the sea, the water refused its office, and
+bore him like a cork. Weary to death the poor Vasobiove could find no
+help. In this need a thought struck him: he caught and tamed a giant
+stork and taught him to carry him. On the back of this bird he returned
+over sea and land to his beloved Japan, bringing the news of the realm
+of Horaisan. His story took hold of the hearts of his fellow-countrymen;
+and that the story-tellers might never forget it, it has been
+emblazoned by the painters in a thousand ways. Nor can the stranger go
+anywhere in Japan without seeing the old, old man depicted on his stork
+and being reminded of his voyage to the Happy Islands.[147]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[123] Croker, vol. iii. p. 215. This tale is given by Sikes, p. 70, of
+course without any acknowledgment. It is also found in Keightley, p.
+415.
+
+[124] "Y Cymmrodor," vol. vi. pp. 174, 157, 196, 187.
+
+[125] Howells, pp. 141, 145; Sikes, p. 73. I have not been able to trace
+Mr. Sikes' authority for the last story; but his experience and skill in
+borrowing from other books are so much greater than in oral collection
+that it is probably from some literary source, though no doubt many of
+the embellishments are his own. The foundation, however, appears to be
+traditional.
+
+[126] Campbell, vol. ii. pp. 63, 55.
+
+[127] "F. L. Journal," vol. vi. p. 191. (This story was told to the
+present writer and Mr. G. L. Gomme by Alderman Howel Walters, of
+Ystradgynlais, who had it from an old man who knew the hero well and
+gave implicit credit to the narrative.) "Trans. Aberd. Eistedd." p. 227;
+"F. L. Journal," vol. vi. p. 183. A similar tale is referred to in
+Jones' "Account of the Parish of Aberystruth," 1779, quoted in "Choice
+Notes," p. 157.
+
+[128] "Cymru Fu," p. 177 (a translation is given by Professor Rhys in "Y
+Cymmrodor," vol. v. p. 81); Croker, vol. iii. p. 208.
+
+[129] Radloff, vol. i. p. 95, vol. iv. p. 109; Sébillot, "Contes," vol.
+ii. p. 8; Grimm, "Tales," vol. i. p. 162.
+
+[130] Jahn, p. 199; Grohmann, pp. 19, 20, 18.
+
+[131] Kuhn und Schwartz, pp. 220, 222.
+
+[132] Rappold, p. 34.
+
+[133] "Archivio," vol. vi. p. 398.
+
+[134] "F. L. Journal," vol. vi. p. 33; "Archivio," vol. ix. p. 233
+Grohmann, p. 112.
+
+[135] Grohmann, pp. 29, 289, 296, 298; Müller, p. 83.
+
+[136] See Thorpe's translation of the story, "Yule Tide Stories," p.
+475.
+
+[137] Dennys, p. 98; Giles, vol. ii. pp. 89 note, 85; Brauns, p. 366.
+
+[138] Map, Dist. i. c. 11. But see below, p. 234.
+
+[139] Croker, vol. iii. p. 17; Howells, p. 123; "Y Cymmrodor," vol. iv.
+p. 196, vol. v. pp. 108, 113.
+
+[140] "Wolfert's Roost, and other Sketches," by Washington Irving
+(London, 1855) p. 225; Amélineau, vol. ii. p. 111; Koran, c. 2 ("Sacred
+Books of the East," vol. vi. p. 41); "Masnavi i Ma'navi," p. 214.
+
+[141] Koran, c. 18 ("Sacred Books of the East," vol. ix. p. 14); "Indian
+N. and Q." vol. iv. p. 8, quoting the "Pall Mall Gazette" (The story of
+the Seven Sleepers is also localized at N'gaous in Algeria; Certeux et
+Carnoy, vol. i. p. 63.) Pliny, "Nat. Hist." l. vii. c. 33.
+
+[142] Grohmann, p. 16; Schneller, p. 217.
+
+[143] Thorpe, vol. ii. p. 138; Birlinger, "Volkst." vol. i. p. 257
+(_cf._ Bartsch, vol. i, p. 326, where there is no wedding, and curiosity
+is the lady's motive for venturing into the fairy cavern); "Celtic Mag."
+Oct. 1887, p. 566.
+
+[144] Southey, "Doctor," p. 574; "Y Brython," vol. iii. p. 111, and
+Cymru Fu, p. 183; Howells, p. 127; "Y Llyvyr Coch," p. 40 (Lady
+Charlotte Guest's translation, p. 381); Thorpe, vol. iii. p. 297,
+quoting Wolf; Müller, p. 50 (_cf._ Jahn, p. 96). The reader will not
+fail to remark the record-book bound in pigskin as a resemblance in
+detail to Longfellow's version. Thorpe alludes in a note to a German
+poem by Wegener, which I have not seen. Nicholson, p. 58.
+
+[145] Luzel, "Légendes Chrét." vol. i. pp. 225, 216, 247, 249; "Contes,"
+vol. i. pp. 14, 40; _cf._ Pitré, vol. vi. p. 1; and Gonzenbach, vol. ii.
+p. 171, in neither of which the lapse of time is an incident. Dr. Pitré
+says that the tale has no analogues (_riscontri_) outside Sicily; by
+which I understand him to mean that it has not been hitherto found in
+any other Italian-speaking land.
+
+[146] Bartsch, vol. i. p. 282; Müller, p. 46; Powell and Magnusson, vol.
+ii. p. 37.
+
+[147] Brauns, p. 146.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE SUPERNATURAL LAPSE OF TIME IN FAIRYLAND
+
+(_continued_).
+
+     Ossian in the Tir na n'Og--The Island of Happiness--The
+     Mermaid--Thomas of Erceldoune--Olger the Dane--The Sleeping
+     Hero--King Arthur--Don Sebastian--The expected deliverer--British
+     variants--German variants--Frederick Barbarossa--Nameless
+     heroes--Slavonic variants.
+
+
+The stories we have hitherto considered, relating to the supernatural
+lapse of time in fairyland, have attributed the mortal's detention there
+to various motives. Compulsion on the part of the superhuman powers, and
+pleasure, curiosity, greed, sheer folly, as also the performance of just
+and willing service on the part of the mortal, have been among the
+causes of his entrance thither and his sojourn amid its enchantments.
+Human nature could hardly have been what it is if the supreme passion of
+love had been absent from the list. Nor is it wanting, though not found
+in the same plenteous measure that will meet us when we come to deal
+with the Swan-maiden myth--that is to say, with the group of stories
+concerning the capture by men of maidens of superhuman birth.
+
+We may take as typical the story of Oisin, or Ossian, as told in
+Ireland. In County Clare it is said that once when he was in the full
+vigour of youth Oisin lay down under a tree to rest and fell asleep.
+Awaking with a start, he saw a lady richly clad, and of more than mortal
+beauty, gazing on him. She was the Queen of Tir na n'Og, the Country of
+Perpetual Youth. She had fallen in love with Oisin, as the strange
+Italian lady is said to have done with a poet of whose existence we are
+somewhat better assured than of Oisin's; and she invited him to
+accompany her to her own realm and share her throne. Oisin was not long
+in making up his mind, and all the delights of Tir na n'Og were laid at
+his feet. In one part of the palace garden, however, was a broad flat
+stone, on which he was forbidden to stand, under penalty of the heaviest
+misfortune. Probably, as is usual in these cases, if he had not been
+forbidden, he would never have thought of standing on it. But one day
+finding himself near it, the temptation to transgress was irresistible.
+He yielded, and stepping on the stone he found himself in full view of
+his native land, the very existence of which he had forgotten till that
+moment. Even in the short space of time since he left it much had
+changed: it was suffering from oppression and violence. Overcome with
+grief, he hastened to the queen and prayed for leave to go back, that he
+might help his people. The queen tried to dissuade him, but in vain. She
+asked him how long he supposed he had been absent. Oisin told her:
+"Thrice seven days." She replied that three times thrice seven years had
+passed since he arrived in Tir na n'Og; and though Time could not enter
+that land, it would immediately assert its dominion over him if he left
+it. At length she persuaded him to promise that he would return to his
+country for one day only, and then come back to dwell with her for ever.
+She accordingly gave him a beautiful jet-black horse, from whose back he
+was on no account to alight, or at all events not to allow the bridle to
+fall from his hand; and in parting she gifted him with wisdom and
+knowledge far surpassing that of men. Mounting the steed, he soon found
+himself near his former home; and as he journeyed he met a man driving a
+horse, across whose back was thrown a sack of corn. The sack had fallen
+a little aside; and the man asked Oisin to assist him in balancing it
+properly. Oisin, good-naturedly stooping, caught it and gave it such a
+heave that it fell over on the other side. Annoyed at his ill-success,
+he forgot his bride's commands, and sprang from the horse to lift the
+sack from the ground, letting go the bridle at the same time. Forthwith
+the steed vanished; and Oisin instantly became a blind, feeble, helpless
+old man--everything lost but the wisdom and knowledge bestowed upon him
+by his immortal bride.[148]
+
+A variant adds some particulars, from which it appears that Oisin was
+not only husband of the queen, but also rightful monarch of Tir na n'Og.
+For in that land was a strange custom. The office of king was the prize
+of a race every seven years. Oisin's predecessor had consulted a Druid
+as to the length of his own tenure, and had been told that he might keep
+the crown for ever unless his son-in-law took it from him. Now the
+king's only daughter was the finest woman in Tir na n'Og, or indeed in
+the world; and the king naturally thought that if he could so deform his
+daughter that no one would wed her he would be safe. So he struck her
+with a rod of Druidic spells, which turned her head into a pig's head.
+This she was condemned to wear until she could marry one of Fin Mac
+Cumhail's sons in Erin. The young lady, therefore, went in search of Fin
+Mac Cumhail's sons; and having chosen Oisin she found an opportunity to
+tell him her tale, with the result that he wedded her without delay. The
+same moment her deformity was gone, and her beauty as perfect as before
+she was enchanted. Oisin returned to Tir na n'Og with her; and on the
+first race for the crown he won so easily that no man ever cared to
+dispute it with him afterwards. So he reigned for many a year, until one
+day the longing seized him to go to Erin and see his father and his men.
+His wife told him that if he set foot in Erin he would never come back
+to her, and he would become a blind old man; and she asked him how long
+he thought it was since he came to Tir na n'Og. "About three years," he
+replied. "It is three hundred years," she said. However, if he must go
+she would give him a white steed to bear him; but if he dismounted, or
+touched the soil of Erin with his foot, the steed would return that
+instant, and he would be left a poor old man. This inevitable
+catastrophe occurred in his eagerness to blow the great horn of the
+Fenians, in order to summon his friends around him. His subsequent
+adventures with Saint Patrick, interesting though they are, are
+unimportant for our present purpose.[149]
+
+Perhaps the nearest analogue to this is the Italian Swan-maiden
+_märchen_, of the Island of Happiness. There a youth sets out to seek
+Fortune, and finds her in the shape of a maiden bathing, whose clothes
+he steals, obtaining possession thereby of her book of command, and so
+compelling her to wed him. But in his absence his mother gives her the
+book again, which enables her to return to her home in the Island of
+Happiness. Thither her husband goes to seek her, and after a variety of
+adventures he is reunited to her. All goes smoothly until he desires to
+visit his mother, supposing that he had only been in the island for two
+months, whereas in fact he has been there two hundred years. Fortune,
+finding he was bent on going, was more prudent than the queen of Tir na
+n'Og, for she went with him on the magic horse. In their way they met
+with a lean woman who had worn out a carriage-load of shoes in
+travelling. She feigned to fall to the ground to see if Fortune's
+husband would lift her up. But Fortune cried out to him: "Beware! that
+is Death!" A little further on they met a devil in the guise of a great
+lord riding a horse whose legs were worn out with much running. He also
+fell from his horse. This was another trap for Fortune's husband; but
+again she cried out to him: "Beware!" Then, having reached his own
+neighbourhood and satisfied himself that no one knew him, and that none
+even of the oldest remembered his mother, he allowed his wife to lead
+him back to the Island of Happiness, where he still dwells with
+her.[150]
+
+In an Annamite saga a certain king wished to build a town on a site he
+had fixed upon. All at once a tree bearing an unknown foliage and
+strange flowers sprang up on the spot. It was determined to offer these
+flowers to the king; and sentinels were placed to see that no one
+plucked the blossoms. A rock still pointed out in the north of Annam was
+the home of a race of genii. A young and lovely maiden belonging to that
+race visited the tree, and was unlucky enough to touch one of the
+flowers and to cause it to drop. She was at once seized by the guards,
+but was released at the intercession of a certain mandarin. The
+mandarin's heart was susceptible: he fell in love with her, and,
+pursuing her, he was admitted into the abodes of the Immortals and
+received by the maiden of his dreams. His happiness continued until the
+day when it was his lady's turn to be in attendance on the queen of the
+Immortals. Ere she left him she warned him against opening the back door
+of the palace where they dwelt, otherwise he would be compelled to
+return home, and his present abode would be forbidden to him from that
+moment. He disobeyed her. On opening the door he beheld once more the
+outside world, and his family came to his remembrance. The Immortals
+who were within earshot drove him out, and forbade him to return. He
+thought he had only been there a few days, but he could no longer find
+his relatives. No one knew the name he asked for. At last an old man
+said: "There existed once, under the reign of I do not now remember what
+sovereign, an old mandarin of the name, but you would have some
+difficulty in finding him, for he has been dead three or four hundred
+years." An Esthonian tale represents a mermaid, the daughter of the
+Water-Mother, as falling in love with a loutish boy, the youngest son of
+a peasant, and taking him down to dwell with her as her husband in her
+palace beneath the waves. The form in which she appeared to him was a
+woman's; but she passed her Thursdays in seclusion, which she forbade
+him to break, enjoining him, moreover, never to call her Mermaid. After
+little more than a year, however, he grew curious and jealous, and
+yielded to the temptation of peeping through the curtain of her chamber,
+where he beheld her swimming about, half woman and half fish. He had
+broken the condition of his happiness, and might no longer stay with
+her. Wherefore he was cast up again on the shore where he had first met
+the mermaid. Rising and going into the village he inquired for his
+parents, but found that they had been dead for more than thirty years,
+and that his brothers were dead too. He himself was unconsciously
+changed into an old man. For a few days he wandered about the shore, and
+the charitable gave him bread. He ventured to tell his history to one
+kind friend; but the same night he disappeared, and in a few days the
+waves cast up his body on the beach.[151]
+
+The foregoing tales all combine with the characteristics of the group
+under discussion, either those of the Swan-maiden group or those of the
+Forbidden Chamber group. In the myth of the Swan-maidens, as in some
+types of the myth of the Forbidden Chamber, the human hero weds a
+supernatural bride; and a story containing such an incident seems to
+have a tendency to unite itself to one or other of these two groups.
+This tendency is not, however, always developed. The two ladies in the
+Chinese legend, cited in the last chapter, were neither Swan-maidens nor
+female Bluebeards; and this is not the only tale from the Flowery Land
+in which these superhuman beauties appear without promoting the
+development in question. Nor do I find any hint of it in the tradition
+of Bran Mac Fearbhall, King of Ireland, who was one day lulled asleep by
+a strain of fairy music. On awaking he found the silver branch of a tree
+by his side; and a strange lady appeared at his court and invited him to
+a land of happiness. He handed her the silver branch; and the next
+morning with a company of thirty persons he sailed out on the ocean. In
+a few days they landed on an island inhabited only by women, of whom the
+strange lady appeared to be the chieftainess. Here Bran Mac Fearbhall
+remained several ages before returning to his own palace near Lough
+Foyle. An Arab tale in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris shows us a
+king's son who in his wanderings lands on a strange island, where he
+marries the king's daughter and becomes his father-in-law's vizier. The
+country was watered by a river which flowed at certain seasons from a
+great mountain. Every year it was the vizier's duty to enter the cavern,
+having first received instructions from the king and a mysterious gift.
+At the end of an hour he reappeared, followed by the stream, which
+continued to flow during the time needful for the fertilization of the
+country. When the prince as vizier entered the cavern he found a negro,
+who led him to his mistress, the queen of a people of Amazons. In her
+hands was the management of the river; and she had caused the
+periodical drought in order to exact a tribute of date-stones which she
+had to pass on to an Ifrit, to purchase his forbearance towards her own
+subjects. The prince ingratiates himself with her: she suppresses the
+periodical droughts and marries him. After two centuries of wedded life
+she dies, leaving him ten daughters, whom he takes back, together with
+considerable wealth, to the city formerly governed by his father-in-law,
+and now by his great-great-grandson. The latter was a hundred years old,
+and venerable by the side of his great-great-grandfather, over whose
+head the years had passed in that enchanted realm without effect. He
+made himself known to his descendant and stayed ten years with him; but
+whether he succeeded in marrying off any of his daughters, of ages so
+very uncertain, the abstract of the story I have before me does not say.
+At last he returned to his native land, and reigned there for a long
+time.[152]
+
+In the hero of the Island of Happiness we found just now one who, having
+returned to earth for a season, had been taken back again by his
+supernatural spouse to a more lasting enjoyment. But he is not alone in
+his good fortune. Thomas of Erceldoune, a personage less shadowy than
+some of those commemorated in this chapter, is known to have lived in
+the thirteenth century. His reputation for prophetic powers has been
+wide and lasting. These powers were said to be, like Oisin's, a gift
+from the Fairy Queen. She met him under the Eildon Tree, which stood on
+the easternmost of the three Eildon Hills. Having got him into her
+power, she took him down with her into Fairyland, where he abode, as he
+deemed, for three days, but in reality for three years. At the end of
+that time the lady carries him back to Eildon Tree and bids him
+farewell. He asks her for some token whereby he may say that he had been
+with her; and she bestows on him a prophetic tongue that cannot lie,
+and leaves him with a promise to meet him again on Huntley Banks. Here
+both the old ballads and the older romance desert us; but if we may
+trust Sir Walter Scott's report of the tradition current in the
+neighbourhood, Thomas was under an obligation to return to Fairyland
+whenever he was summoned. "Accordingly, while Thomas was making merry
+with his friends in the tower of Ercildoune, a person came running in,
+and told, with marks of fear and astonishment, that a hart and hind had
+left the neighbouring forest, and were, composedly and slowly, parading
+the street of the village. The prophet instantly arose, left his
+habitation, and followed the wonderful animals to the forest, whence he
+was never seen to return. According to the popular belief, he still
+'drees his weird' in Fairyland, and is one day expected to revisit
+earth. In the meanwhile his memory is held in the most profound
+respect."[153]
+
+In the romance of Ogier, or Olger, the Dane, one of the Paladins of
+Charlemagne, it is related that six fairies presided at his birth and
+bestowed various gifts upon him. Morgan the Fay, the last of the six,
+promised that after a long and glorious career he should never die, but
+dwell with her in her castle of Avalon. Wherefore, after he had lived
+and fought and loved for more than a hundred years, Morgan caused him to
+be shipwrecked. All men thought he had perished. In reality Morgan had
+taken this means of bringing him to Avalon, where she met him and put a
+ring on his finger, which restored him to youth, and a golden crown of
+myrtle and laurel on his brow--the crown of forgetfulness. His toils,
+his battles, even his loves were forgotten; and his heart was filled
+with a new devotion, namely, for the fairy queen Morgan. With her he
+dwelt in pleasures ever new for two hundred years, until there came a
+day when France and Christendom fell into trouble and danger, and the
+peoples cried out for a deliverer. Morgan heard them, and resolved that
+Olger must go to fight for them. She lifted the crown from his brow, and
+his memory came back. She bade him guard well his ring, and gave him a
+torch: if that torch were lighted his life would burn out with the last
+spark. He returned to France, fought the Paynim and conquered, freeing
+France and Christendom. The widowed queen of France then intrigued to
+marry him; but as she was on the point of attaining her purpose Morgan
+appeared and caught him away. In Avalon he still dreams in her arms; and
+some day when France is in her direst need, Olger will come back on his
+famous charger to smite and to deliver her.
+
+Here we come upon another type, the story and the superstition of the
+expected deliverer, which is widely scattered through Europe. In this
+country the most noted example is that of King Arthur, who may fitly
+give his name to the type. King Arthur, according to the romances, is,
+like Olger, in the Island of Avalon, where indeed the romance of Olger
+declares that the two heroes met. Sir Thomas Malory tells us: "Some men
+yet say in many parts of England that King Arthur is not dead, but had
+by the will of our Lord Jesus Christ into another place; and men say
+that hee will come againe, and he shall winne the holy crosse. I will
+not say that it shall bee so, but rather I will say that heere in this
+world hee changed his life. But many men say that there is written upon
+his tombe this verse: Hic jacet Arthurus, rex quondam, rexque futurus."
+This is a belief dear to the heart of many an oppressed people. It was
+told of Harold that he was not slain at Senlac, and that he would yet
+come back to lead his countrymen against the hated Normans. Even of
+Roderick, the Last of the Goths, deeply stained as he was with crime,
+men were loth to believe that he was dead. In the latter part of the
+sixteenth century, after Don Sebastian had fallen in the ill-fated
+expedition to Morocco, Philip the Second of Spain took advantage of the
+failure of the male line on the death of the cardinal-king, Henry, to
+add Portugal to his dominions, already too large. His tyranny roused a
+popular party whose faith was that Don Sebastian was not really dead: he
+was reigning in the Island of the Seven Cities, and he would return by
+and by to drive out the Spaniards and their justly execrated king. Even
+in the year 1761 a monk was condemned by the Inquisition as a
+Sebastianist, a believer and a disseminator of false prophecies,--so
+long did the tradition linger. In the Spanish peninsula, indeed, the
+superstition has been by no means confined to Christians. The Moors who
+were left in the mountains of Valentia looked for the return of their
+hero Alfatimi upon a green horse, from his place of concealment in the
+Sierra de Aguar, to defend them and to put their Catholic tyrants to the
+sword.[154]
+
+Oppression nourishes beliefs of this kind. It was under the Roman
+dominion that the Jewish expectation of a Messiah grew to its utmost
+strength; and the manifestation of the Messiah was to be preceded by the
+reappearance of Elijah, a prophet who was not dead but translated to
+heaven. And strange sometimes are the gods from whom salvation is to
+come. Only a few years ago, if we may trust Bishop Melchisedech of
+Roumania, there was a Slavonic sect, the object of whose worship was
+Napoleon the First. He, said his worshippers, had not really died; he
+was only at Irkousk, in Siberia, where, at the head of a powerful, an
+invincible, army, he was ready once more to overrun the world.[155]
+
+But, however the belief in a deity, or hero, who is to return some day,
+may be strengthened by political causes, it is not dependent upon them.
+Many races having traditions of a Culture God--that is, of a superior
+being who has taught them agriculture and the arts of life, and led them
+to victory over their enemies--add that he has gone away from them for
+awhile, and that he will some day come back again. Quetzalcoatl and
+Viracocha, the culture gods of Mexico and Peru, are familiar instances
+of this. In the later Brahminism of India, Vishnu, having already
+accomplished nine avatars, or incarnations, for special emergencies in
+the past, was yet to have one more avatar for the final destruction of
+the wicked and the restoration of goodness at the end of the present
+age; he would then be revealed in the sky seated on a white horse and
+wielding a blazing sword. I need not specify others: it will be manifest
+that the traditions of modern Europe we have been considering contain
+the same thought. Nor is it unlikely that they have been influenced by
+the Christian doctrine of the Second Advent. Many of them have received
+the polish of literature. The stories of Olger and Arthur, for example,
+have descended to us as romances written by cultivated men. Don
+Sebastian was the plaything of a political party, if not the symbol of
+religious heresy, for nearly two centuries. In all these stories we
+encounter the belief that the god or hero is in heaven, or in some
+remote land. Such a belief is the sign of a civilization comparatively
+advanced. The cruder and more archaic belief is that he sleeps within
+the hills.
+
+This cruder belief is more familiar in the folklore of Europe than the
+other. King Arthur was believed to lie with his warriors beneath the
+Craig-y-Ddinas (Castle Rock) in the Vale of Neath. Iolo Morganwg, a
+well-known Welsh antiquary, used to relate a curious tradition
+concerning this rock. A Welshman, it was said, walking over London
+Bridge with a hazel staff in his hand, was met by an Englishman, who
+told him that the stick he carried grew on a spot under which were
+hidden vast treasures, and if the Welshman remembered the place and
+would show it to him he would put him in possession of those treasures.
+After some demur the Welshman consented, and took the Englishman (who
+was in fact a wizard) to the Craig-y-Ddinas and showed him the spot.
+They dug up the hazel tree on which the staff grew and found under it a
+broad flat stone. This covered the entrance to a cavern in which
+thousands of warriors lay in a circle sleeping on their arms. In the
+centre of the entrance hung a bell which the conjurer begged the
+Welshman to beware of touching. But if at any time he did touch it and
+any of the warriors should ask if it were day, he was to answer without
+hesitation: "No; sleep thou on." The warriors' arms were so brightly
+polished that they illumined the whole cavern; and one of them had arms
+that outshone the rest, and a crown of gold lay by his side. This was
+Arthur; and when the Welshman had taken as much as he could carry of the
+gold which lay in a heap amid the warriors, both men passed out; not,
+however, without the Welshman's accidentally touching the bell. It rang;
+but when the inquiry: "Is it day?" came from one of the warriors, he was
+prompt with the reply: "No; sleep thou on." The conjurer afterwards told
+him that the company he had seen lay asleep ready for the dawn of the
+day when the Black Eagle and the Golden Eagle should go to war, the
+clamour of which would make the earth tremble so much that the bell
+would ring loudly and the warriors would start up, seize their arms, and
+destroy the enemies of the Cymry, who should then repossess the island
+of Britain and be governed from Caerlleon with justice and peace so long
+as the world endured. When the Welshman's treasure was all spent he went
+back to the cavern and helped himself still more liberally than before.
+On his way out he touched the bell again: again it rang. But this time
+he was not so ready with his answer, and some of the warriors rose up,
+took the gold from him, beat him and cast him out of the cave. He never
+recovered the effects of that beating, but remained a cripple and a
+pauper to the end of his days; and he never could find the entrance to
+the cavern again. Merlin and the charm
+
+    "Of woven paces and of waving hands"
+
+I need not do more than mention. A recess in the rock three miles
+eastward of Carmarthen, called Merlin's Cave, is generally accredited as
+the place where Vivien perpetrated her treachery. Merlin's county is
+possessed of another enchanted hero. On the northern side of Mynydd Mawr
+(the Great Mountain) near Llandilo, is a cave where Owen Lawgoch (Owen
+of the Red Hand), one of the last chieftains who fought against the
+English, lies with his men asleep. And there they will lie until
+awakened by the sound of a trumpet and the clang of arms on Rhywgoch,
+when they will arise and conquer their Saxon foes, driving them from the
+land. A more famous chieftain is the subject of a similar belief in the
+Vale of Gwent. Considerable obscurity overhangs the fate of Owen
+Glendower. What is certain about him is that he disappeared from history
+in the year 1415. What is believed in the Vale of Gwent is that he and
+his men still live and lie asleep on their arms in a cave there, called
+"Gogov y Ddinas," or Castle Cave, where they will continue until England
+become self-debased; but that then they will sally forth to reconquer
+their country, privileges, and crown for the Welsh, who shall be
+dispossessed of them no more until the Day of Judgment.[156]
+
+In other Celtic lands the same superstition occurs. There is a hole
+called the Devil's Den at the foot of a mountain in the Isle of Man
+where it was believed in the last century that a great prince who never
+knew death had been bound by spells for six hundred years; but none had
+ever had courage enough to explore the hole. In Sutherlandshire it is
+said that a man once entered a cave and there found many huge men all
+asleep on the floor. They rested on their elbows. In the centre of the
+hall was a stone table, and on it lay a bugle. The man put the bugle to
+his lips and blew once. They all stirred. He blew a second blast, and
+one of the giants, rubbing his eyes, said: "Do not do that again, or you
+will wake us!" The intruder fled in terror, and never found the mouth of
+the cavern again. Earl Gerald of Mullaghmast sleeps with his warriors in
+a cavern under the castle, or Rath, of Mullaghmast. A long table runs
+down the middle of the cave. The Earl sits at the head, and his troopers
+in complete armour on either side, their heads resting on the table.
+Their horses, saddled and bridled, stand behind their masters in stalls
+on either side. The Earl was a leader of the Irish; he was very skilful
+at weapons, and deep in the black art. He could change himself into any
+shape he pleased. His lady was always begging him to let her see him in
+some strange shape; but he always put her off, for he told her that if
+during his transformation she showed the least fright he would not
+recover his natural form till many generations of men were under the
+mould. Nothing, however, would do for the lady but an exhibition of his
+powers; so one evening he changed himself into a goldfinch. While he was
+playing with her in this form a hawk caught sight of him and pursued
+him. The hawk dashed itself against a table and was killed; but the lady
+had given a loud scream at seeing her husband's danger, and neither
+goldfinch nor Earl did she behold again. Once in seven years the Earl
+rides round the Curragh of Kildare on a horse whose silver shoes were
+half an inch thick when he disappeared. When they are worn as thin as a
+cat's ear, a miller's son, who is to be born with six fingers on each
+hand, will blow his trumpet, the troopers will awake and mount their
+horses and with the Earl go forth to battle against the English; and he
+will reign King of Ireland for twoscore years. A horse-dealer once found
+the lighted cavern open on the night the Earl was riding round the
+Curragh and went in. In his astonishment at what he saw he dropped a
+bridle on the ground. The sound of its fall echoing in the recesses of
+the cave aroused one of the warriors nearest to him; and he lifted up
+his head and asked: "Is it time yet?" The man had the wit to say: "Not
+yet, but soon will;" and the heavy helmet sank down once more upon the
+table, while the man made the best of his way out. On Rathlin Island
+there is a ruin called Bruce's Castle. In a cave beneath lie Bruce and
+his chief warriors in an enchanted sleep; but some day they will arise
+and unite the island to Scotland. Only once in seven years the entrance
+to the cave is visible. A man discovered it on one of these occasions,
+and went in. He found himself in the presence of these men in armour. A
+sabre was half-sheathed in the earth at his feet. He tried to draw it,
+but every one of the sleepers lifted his head and put his hand on his
+sword. The intruder fled; but ere the gate of the cavern clanged behind
+him he heard voices calling fiercely after him: "Why could we not be
+left to sleep?"[157]
+
+The population of the south and west of Yorkshire is largely Celtic. A
+tradition of Arthur seems to have been preserved among them to the
+effect that he and his knights sit spell-bound in the ruins of a castle,
+believed by the clergyman who communicated it to Mr. Alfred Nutt to be
+Richmond Castle. Wherever it was, a man named Potter Thompson
+penetrated by chance into the hall, and found them sitting around a
+table whereon lay a sword and a horn. The man did not venture, like the
+Sutherlandshire intruder, to blow the horn, but turned and fled at once.
+There, it seems, he made a mistake; for had he done so he would have
+released Arthur from the spell. And as he crossed the threshold again a
+voice sounded in his ears:--
+
+    "Potter Thompson, Potter Thompson, hadst thou blown the horn,
+    Thou hadst been the greatest man that ever was born."
+
+He had missed his chance, and could not return into the enchanted hall.
+By the twelfth century the legend of Arthur had reached Sicily, perhaps
+with the Normans. Gervase of Tilbury tells us that a boy was in charge
+of the Bishop of Catania's palfrey, when it broke loose and ran away. He
+pursued it boldly into the dark recesses of Mount Etna, where, on a wide
+plain full of all delights, he found Arthur stretched on a royal couch
+in a palace built with wonderful skill. Having explained what brought
+him thither, the hero caused the horse to be given up to him, and added
+gifts which were afterwards beheld with astonishment by many. Arthur
+informed him, moreover, that he had been compelled to remain there on
+account of his wound, which broke out afresh every year.[158]
+
+In Teutonic lands the legends of the sleeping host and the sleeping
+monarch are very numerous. Grimm in his Mythology has collected many of
+them. I select for mention a few only, adding one or two not included by
+him. Karl the Great lies in the Unterberg, near Salzburg, and also in
+the Odenberg, where Woden himself, according to other legends, is said
+to be. Siegfried, the hero of the Nibelungen Lied, dwells in the
+mountain fastness of Geroldseck. Diedrich rests in the mountains of
+Alsace, his hand upon his sword, waiting till the Turk shall water his
+horses on the banks of the Rhine. On the Grütli, where once they met to
+swear the oath which freed their country, lie the three founders of the
+Swiss Federation in a cleft of the rock. The Danes have appropriated
+Olger, who, Grimm says, really belongs to the Ardennes; and in a vaulted
+chamber under the castle of Kronburg he sits, with a number of warriors
+clad in mail, about a stone table, into which his beard has grown. A
+slave who was condemned to death received pardon and freedom on
+condition of descending to ascertain what was beneath the castle; for at
+that time no one knew, and no one could explain the clashing of armour
+sometimes heard below. He passed through an iron doorway and found
+himself in the presence of Olger and his men. Their heads rested on
+their arms, which were crossed upon the table. When Olger lifted up his
+head the table burst asunder. "Reach me thy hand," he said to the slave;
+but the latter, not venturing to give his hand, held out an iron bar
+instead, which Olger squeezed so that the marks remained visible. At
+length letting it go, he exclaimed: "It gladdens me that there are still
+men in Denmark!"[159]
+
+But of all the great names appropriated by this myth, the one which has
+thus been made most famous is that of Frederick Barbarossa. When he was
+drowned in crossing the river Calycadmus in Asia Minor, the peasants of
+Germany refused to believe in his death, and constantly expected him to
+return. Poems which go back to the middle of the fourteenth century, or
+within a century and a half of Frederick's death, prove the existence of
+a tradition to this effect. More than this, they contain allusions to
+some of the details about to be mentioned, and foretell his recovery of
+the Holy Sepulchre. The Kyffhäuser in Thuringia is the mountain usually
+pointed out as his place of retreat, though other places also claim the
+honour. Within the cavern he sits at a stone table, and rests his head
+upon his hand. His beard grows round the table: twice already has it
+made the circuit; when it has grown round the third time the emperor
+will awake. He will then come forth, and will hang his shield on a
+withered tree which will break into leaf, and a better time will dawn.
+Gorgeous descriptions are given of the cavern. It is radiant with gold
+and jewels; and though it is a cavern deep in the earth, it shines
+within like the sunniest day. The most splendid trees and shrubs stand
+there, and through the midst of this Paradise flows a brook whose very
+mud is pure gold. Here the emperor's rest is not so profound as might
+have been expected. A strain of music easily seems to rouse him. A
+shepherd having once piped to him, Frederick asked: "Fly the ravens
+round the mountain still?" "Yes," replied the shepherd. "Then must I
+sleep another hundred years," murmured the emperor. The shepherd was
+taken into the armoury, and rewarded with the stand of a hand-basin,
+which turned out to be of pure gold. A party of musicians on their way
+home from a wedding passed that way, and played a tune "for the old
+Emperor Frederick." Thereupon a maiden stepped out, and brought them the
+emperor's thanks, presenting each of them with a horse's head by way of
+remembrance. All but one threw the gift away in contempt. One, however,
+kept his "to have a joke with his old woman," as he phrased it, and
+taking it home he put it under the pillow. In the morning, when his wife
+turned up the pillow to look at it, instead of a horse's head she
+brought forth a lump of gold. Other stories are told of persons who have
+penetrated into the emperor's presence and been enriched. A shepherd
+found the mountain open on St. John's Day, and entered. He was allowed
+to take some of the horse-meal, which when he reached home he found to
+be gold. Women have been given knots of flax, of the same metal. A
+swineherd, however, who went in, was less lucky. The emperor's
+lady-housekeeper made signs to him that he might take some of the
+treasure on the table before him; accordingly he stuffed his pockets
+full. As he turned to go out she called after him: "Forget not the
+best!" She meant a flower which lay on the table; but he heeded not, and
+the mountain, slamming behind him, cut off his heel, so that he died in
+great pain.[160]
+
+Such are a few of the legends relating to the Kyffhäuser; but it should
+be observed that Frederick Barbarossa's is not the only name given to
+the slumbering hero. We have already seen in the last chapter that one
+tradition calls him the Marquis John. Another dubs him the Emperor Otto;
+and yet in another Dame Holle is identified with his housekeeper. Now
+this difference in the traditions about names, while they agree in the
+substance of the superstition, indicates that the substance is older and
+more important than the names, and that well-known names have become
+affixed to the traditions as they happened from time to time to strike
+the popular imagination. This is confirmed by the fact that in many
+places where similar traditions are located, no personal name at all is
+given to the hero. In the Guckenberg, near Fränkischgemünden, _an
+emperor_ disappeared a long time ago with his army. A boy selling rolls
+once met an old man, to whom he complained of bad trade. The old man
+said he could show him a place where he could bring his rolls every day;
+but he must tell no one thereof. So saying, he led the boy into the
+mountain, where there were many people. The emperor himself sat at a
+table, round which his beard had grown twice: when it has grown round
+it once more he will come forth again with all his men. The boy's rolls
+were bought; and he daily repeated his visit. After a while, however, he
+could not pass the ancient coin wherein he was paid. The people in the
+village, grown suspicious, made him confess all; and he could never find
+his way to the mountain again. In the "Auersperg Chronicle," under the
+year 1223, it is recorded that from a certain mountain which Grimm
+identifies with the Donnersberg (Thor's mountain), near Worms, a
+multitude of armed horsemen used daily to issue, and thither daily to
+return. A man, who armed himself with the sign of the cross, and
+questioned one of the host in the name of Our Lord, was told by him: "We
+are not, as you think, phantoms, nor, as we seem, a band of soldiers,
+but the souls of slain soldiers. The arms and clothing, and horses,
+because they once were the instruments of sin, are now to us the
+materials of our punishment; for what you behold upon us is really on
+fire, although you cannot perceive it with your bodily eyes." We saw in
+an earlier chapter that a story influenced by the Welsh Methodist
+revival represented the midwife whose sight was cleared by fairy
+ointment as beholding herself surrounded by flames, and the fairies
+about her in the guise of devils. In the same way here the wonders
+recorded by a pious ecclesiastic have taken, though possibly not in the
+first instance from him, a strictly orthodox form, and one calculated to
+point a pulpit moral.[161]
+
+Over against the last two legends we may place two from Upper Alsace. A
+body of the Emperor Karl the Great's warriors had become so puffed up by
+their successes that at last they pointed their guns and cannon against
+heaven itself. Scarcely had they discharged their pieces when the whole
+host sank into the earth. Every seventh year they may be seen by night
+on their horses, exercising. Concerning them it is said that a baker's
+daughter of Ruffach, in the Ochsenfeld valley, was carrying white bread
+to the next village, when she met a soldier on a white horse who offered
+to lead her to a place where she could sell the bread immediately for a
+good price. She accordingly followed him through a subterranean passage
+into a great camp quite full of long-bearded soldiers, who were all fast
+asleep. Here she sold all her bread, and was well paid; and for several
+years she continued daily to sell her bread there, so that her father
+became a rich man. One day she was ill and unable to go, whereupon she
+sent her brother, describing the place to him. He found it, but a door
+blocked up the passage, and he could not open it. The girl died soon
+after, and since then no one has entered the subterranean camp. From
+Bütow in Pomerania comes a saga similar to that of Olger at Kronburg. A
+mountain in the neighbourhood is held to be an enchanted castle,
+communicating by an underground passage with the castle of Bütow. A
+criminal was once offered his choice whether to die by the hangman, or
+to make his way by the passage in question to the enchanted castle, and
+bring back a written proof from the lord who sat enchanted within it. He
+succeeded in his mission; and the document he brought back is believed
+to be laid up among the archives of the town. According to another
+account a man once met two women who led him into the mountain, where he
+found a populous city. They brought him safely back after he had spent
+six hours within the mountain. A saga referred to by Grimm relates how a
+shepherd found in the cavern of the Willberg _a little man_ sitting at a
+stone table through which his beard had grown; and in another three
+unnamed malefactors are spoken of. In Sweden there is a story that may
+remind us of the Sutherlandshire legend. In a large cleft of the
+mountain of Billingen, in West Gothland, called the Giant's Path, it is
+said there was formerly a way leading far into the mountain, into which
+a peasant once penetrated, and found a man lying asleep on a large
+stone. No one knows how he came there; but every time the bell tolls for
+prayers in Yglunda church, he turns round and sighs. So he will continue
+until Doomsday.[162] In none of these stories is the hero identified
+with any known historical person.
+
+Among the Slavonic peoples corresponding sagas are told. In Servia and
+Bulgaria King Marko is the enchanted hero. He is variously held to be in
+a palace on some mysterious island, or in a mountain not far from the
+Iron Gates. The traveller who crosses the mountain calls to him: "Marko,
+dost thou live?" and in the echo he believes that Marko gives him a
+reply. "Prince" Marko is also believed by the Serbs to be in the
+mountain Urvina with his horse Sharatz, asleep. His sword is rising
+slowly out of the mountain. When it is fully disclosed, Marko will awake
+and deliver his people. If other accounts may be trusted, however, he
+has retired to the Alps since the invention of gunpowder, and now lives
+as a hermit in a cave. So great pity was it
+
+    "This villainous saltpetre should be digg'd
+    Out of the bowels of the harmless earth."[163]
+
+The Carpathian hero is Dobocz, the robber chief. He is bespelled by a
+jealous mistress in a cavern on the Czornahora, where he perpetually
+counts the gold he has hidden. On certain days of the year he comes out
+with his followers; and then he has often been seen by the mountaineers.
+Sometimes he visits his wife in her rock-dwelling by Polansko, where she
+too is enchanted; and on such occasions the nightly festivities may be
+seen and heard. Bold are they who endeavour to penetrate the depths of
+the mountain where Dobocz dwells. They never return, but are caught by
+the robber and added to his band. Strengthened with these reinforcements
+his companions will be with him when the charm shall one day be broken,
+and he will issue forth to take vengeance on the men who betrayed him.
+Some of the stories of Blanik Mountain, where Wenzel, the king of
+Bohemia, lies, have been set before the reader. The horses of himself
+and his followers stand ever ready saddled; and at midnight the mountain
+opens, and the king and his knights ride forth to exercise upon the
+plain. But other heroes than Wenzel dispute with him the honour of being
+the enchanted inhabitant of the Blanik. One clear moonlight night of
+spring the burgesses of Jung-Wositz were aroused from their slumbers by
+the beating of drums, and the clang of armour, and the trampling of
+horses. Terrified at such a rout, and not knowing what it might mean,
+they seized their weapons and stood on the defensive. Nor were they a
+little surprised to see on the open meadows a troop of horsemen engaged
+in knightly play. By and by, at the sound of the kettledrum, the troop
+formed into rank, and vanished into the mountain, which closed behind
+them with a crash. The burgesses offered a reward to whomsoever would
+explore the recesses of the mountain, and bring them sure tidings of the
+ghostly horsemen. Three years passed by ere the task was attempted. At
+last a clever man, Zdenko von Zasmuk, undertook the adventure. He was
+lucky enough to find the mountain open; and riding in, he came into a
+vast lighted hall where slept on stone benches the knights of the
+mountain, now changed into fine old men with long white beards. Their
+snow-white horses, ready saddled, stood fastened to the piers of the
+vault. Zdenko accidentally knocked down a spear; and the clangour,
+echoing round the hall, awakened the men. He explained to them why he
+had come, and politely offered, if they wished, to attempt their
+deliverance. Their leader informed him in reply that he was Ulrich von
+Rosenberg, that he with his companions had fallen gloriously against
+Chichka, in defence of the city of Litic, and that God, instead of
+admitting them into Paradise, had assigned them an abode in that place
+until Bohemia should be at its sorest need; then they would sally forth,
+and bring back peace and happiness to the land. And he enjoined Zdenko
+to make this known to the people. So saying, he sank again to sleep. It
+is said, moreover, that when the time of which Ulrich spoke shall come,
+a certain hazel-tree shall begin to blossom, though it will be winter. A
+quite different story alleges that it is the Knight Stoymir, who is
+under the spell at Blanik. His last struggle against the plundering
+hordes which overran the country took place there; and he with all his
+band perished. The next morning when the enemy had departed his friends
+searched the battlefield, but not a trace could be recovered of their
+bodies. It was first thought that the foes had carried them off to be
+ransomed. At night, however, the inhabitants of the neighbourhood were
+roused from slumber by the noise of a host; and they beheld the slain
+heroes exercising and afterwards watering their horses at the beck
+before they returned to the mountain. The herdsman who told the
+foregoing tale declared that he had been into the mountain, and had
+himself seen Stoymir and his companions in their sleep. There can be no
+doubt, therefore, of its truth.[164]
+
+Legends of buried armies occur also at Trzebnica, in Silesia, where the
+Poles encountered the Turks, and at Matwa in the Prussian province of
+Posen. In the former a girl who is admitted into the cavern is warned
+against touching a bell that, as in the Welsh tale, hangs in the
+entrance. She cannot resist the temptation to transgress this command,
+and is ignominiously ejected. In the latter, an old man buys corn for
+the troops. Again, in the Carpathians, as in one of the sagas concerning
+the Blanik, a smith is summoned to shoe the steeds. The Rev. W. S.
+Lach-Szyrma, in addition to these stories, gave the Folklore Society
+some years ago, from a chap-book of Posen, the following abstract of a
+legend I have not met with elsewhere: "Once upon a time, in Mazowia,
+there were seven victorious leaders. After having won a hundred battles,
+finding their beards had grown white, they ordered their soldiers to
+build in their honour a very high tower. The soldiers built and built,
+but every day part of the tower tumbled down. This lasted a whole year.
+The leaders, after supper, assembled at the ruins of the tower. Here, at
+the sound of lutes and songs, immediately a tower grew up from the earth
+to heaven, and on its seven pinnacles shone the seven helmets of the
+seven leaders. Higher and higher they rose, but brighter and brighter
+they shone till they appeared as the seven stars in heaven. The soldiers
+sank down into graves which had been dug round the tower and fell
+asleep. The tower has melted out of view, but on fine nights we still
+see the seven helmets of the leaders, and the soldiers are sleeping till
+they are wanted."[165]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[148] "Choice Notes," p. 94.
+
+[149] Curtin, p. 327. See also Kennedy, p. 240, and "F. L. Record," vol.
+ii. p. 15, where the late Mr. H. C. Coote quotes the "Transactions of
+the Ossianic Society."
+
+[150] Comparetti, vol. i. p. 212. An English version is given by Mr.
+Coote, "F. L. Record," vol. ii. p. 12. Madame D'Aulnoy gives a similar
+story in her "Histoire d'Hypolite, Comte de Douglas," which seems to be
+the original of a tale in verse quoted by Mr. Baring-Gould from
+Dodsley's "Poetical Collection." See "F. L. Record," vol. ii. p. 8;
+Baring-Gould, p. 547.
+
+[151] Des Michels, p. 38; Kreutzwald, p. 212. See also my article on
+"The Forbidden Chamber," "F. L. Journal," vol. iii. p. 193, where the
+relations of the Esthonian tale to the myth of the Forbidden Chamber are
+discussed.
+
+[152] Dennys, p. 98, "Gent. Mag. Lib." (Eng. Trad. Lore), p. 22; "Revue
+des Trad. Pop." vol. iii. p. 566.
+
+[153] "Thomas of Erceldoune," _passim_; Child, vol. i. p. 318; "Border
+Minstrelsy," vol. iii. p. 170.
+
+[154] Malory, vol. iii. p. 339; Braga, vol. ii. p. 238; Liebrecht in a
+note to Gerv. Tilb., p. 95, quoting Aznar, "Expulsion de los Moriscos."
+
+[155] "Athenæum," No. 2,400, 25 Oct. 1873, giving an account of Bishop
+Melchisedech's book, entitled "Lipovenismulu," on the creed and customs
+of the Raskolnics, or Russian schismatics.
+
+[156] "Trans. Aberd. Eistedd.," p. 227, quoting Waring's "Recollections
+of Iolo Morganwg"; Black's "Picturesque Guide to Wales" (1872), p. 279;
+Howells, p. 104; "Iolo MSS." (Llandovery, 1848), pp. 68, 454, quoting
+from papers attributed to the Rev. Evan Evans, and said to be, when
+copied by Iolo Morganwg, in the possession of Paul Panton, Esq., of
+Anglesea.
+
+[157] Waldron, p. 68; "F. L. Journal," vol. vi. p. 164; Kennedy, p. 172,
+Lady Wilde, vol. i. p. 161.
+
+[158] "F. L. Journal," vol. i. p. 193; Gerv. Tilb., Dec. ii. c. 12. See
+Mr. Nutt's remarks on these in his admirable "Studies on the Legend of
+the Holy Grail" (London, 1888), pp. 123, 196.
+
+[159] Grimm, "Teut. Myth." pp. 953, 955, 961; Thorpe, vol. ii. p. 222,
+translating Thiele; Certeux et Carnoy, vol. i. p. 65.
+
+[160] Grimm, "Teut. Myth.," p. 955; Kuhn und Schwartz, p. 217. See also
+Thorpe, vol. iii. p. 101, translating Kuhn und Schwartz, and Grimm.
+
+[161] Kuhn und Schwartz, pp. 220, 222; Grimm, "Teut. Myth." pp. 953,
+954.
+
+[162] Meier, pp. 122, 123; Jahn, p. 248; Grimm, "Teut. Myth." p. 961;
+Thorpe, vol. ii. p. 91, from Afzelius. In an Austrian _märchen_ the
+Sleeping Host is a host of serpents. The king slept on a crystal table
+in the centre. During the winter serpents are believed to sleep. In the
+spring the oldest serpent awakes and wakens the others, crying: "It is
+time" (Vernaleken, p. 113).
+
+[163] Grohmann, p. 10. Marko was a shepherd, who for a service rendered
+to a Vila was gifted by her with heroism, beauty, and other good fortune
+(Krauss, "Volksgl." p. 103).
+
+[164] Grohmann, pp. 11, 13, 15.
+
+[165] "F. L. Record," vol. iv. p. 67. Mr. Lach-Szyrma conjectures that
+the seven stars are the stars of _Ursa Major_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE SUPERNATURAL LAPSE OF TIME IN FAIRYLAND
+
+(_continued_).
+
+     The story not an early one--Its weirdest developments
+     European--Stories of short time appearing long--Mohammed's
+     night-journey and its variants--The Sleeping Hero, a heathen
+     god--The Wild Hunt--The Enchanted Princess, a heathen goddess.
+
+
+The visits to Fairyland recorded in Chapter VII differ only in one
+respect from those mentioned in earlier chapters of this book. Like
+them, they are visits of business or of pleasure. Mortals are summoned
+to perform some service for the mysterious beings whose dwelling is
+beneath the earth, such as to stand sponsor to their children, or to
+shoe their horses; or they go to take a message from this world, or to
+bring a message back. Or else they are drawn into the regions over which
+the power of the supernatural extends, by curiosity, by the desire of
+pleasure, or else by the invitation, or unconsciously by the spell, of
+their superhuman inhabitants. The point at which the visits differ from
+those we have previously considered, and from a hundred others precisely
+parallel in all other respects, is in their length. To the entrammelled
+mortal the visit seems to last but a moment; for while under the fairy
+sway he is unconscious of the flight of time. In other stories deception
+is practised on the sight. The midwife, without the ointment, is
+deceived like Thor by Utgard-Loki: nothing is as it appears to her.
+Parents and husbands are deceived by changelings: they are made to
+believe that images of dead wood are living creatures, or human corpses.
+In these stories, on the other hand, the magic is directed against the
+sense of time. A subtler, a weirder, a more awful horror is thus added
+to the dread of communion with the supernatural.
+
+This horror is one arising comparatively late in the history of culture.
+The idea of time must first grow up and be elaborated. Time is dependent
+on number. A savage who can barely count beyond five cannot know
+anything of stories which deal with the lapse of centuries. Even the
+vaguer, but shorter, period of a generation will be an idea he cannot
+grasp. We have therefore found no such tales in the lower savagery; and
+even among the Lapplanders and the Siberian tribes the stories we have
+been able to collect speak only of short periods, such as the transition
+from autumn to spring, where a man had slept through the winter, and the
+expansion of a day into a month, or a year. In these two cases not only
+the phases of the moon and the measurement of time by them, which must
+have been early in development, but also the cycle of the seasons had
+been observed. But the idea lying at the root of this group of tales is
+as yet only in germ. The full terror of the situation, as exhibited in
+the traditions of the more highly organized societies of Europe and of
+the extreme Orient, is unforeseen. For it is in proportion to the
+organization of society that such a catastrophe as the loss of years,
+and thereby of kindred and friends, becomes really dreadful. Indeed, it
+would seem to have been reserved for the European nations to put the
+final touches of gloom and horror upon the canvas. It may be sufficient
+to refer this to the more sombre imagination of Western peoples. But we
+ought not to overlook the influence of the Catholic Church in darkening
+the general tone of the imagination, and particularly the tone of the
+fairy sagas, by the absolute and unquestioned supremacy she demanded,
+and the frightful penalties, temporal and spiritual, she invoked upon
+those who dared to indulge in cults she was unable to incorporate. To
+men under such an influence, intercourse with fairies would be a thing
+unholy; and the greater the temptations to it, the severer, they would
+deem, should be the penalties. This is the frame of mind which would, if
+with shuddering, yet without a murmur, acquiesce in the justice of the
+doom suffered by Herla, to put an extreme case--a frame of mind
+undoubtedly countenanced by the equally uncompromising claims of various
+forms of Protestantism. But, while reprobating commerce with unhallowed
+spirits, intercourse with spirits sanctioned by the Church was believed
+to be almost equally possible, and was encouraged as much as the other
+was denounced. If such intercourse sometimes resulted in severance
+between the favoured mortal and his human friends, this was only an
+extension of the monastic idea; and, as in that case, the loss was held
+to be abundantly compensated by the favour of Heaven and the bliss
+received. At all events it is certain, from whatever cause, that the
+deepest depths and the loftiest heights of which this story-plot has
+been found capable, have been reached only under Christian influences.
+Pliny and Mohammed, the Taoist and the Shintoist, have recorded no tale
+that sways our emotions like those of Herla, the Aged Bride, and the
+Monk Felix.
+
+But the magical power over time operates now and then in the contrary
+way, by making a short time appear long. A few examples may be
+interesting, though they will in no way affect the foregoing
+conclusions. In the tenth part of a night Mohammed, it will be
+remembered, was taken up to Paradise on the back of the beast Alborac,
+and passed through all the seven heavens into the presence of Allah
+himself, with whom he had a conversation, which could not have been a
+very short one, and was then brought back by the way he had gone. He
+remained long enough in each heaven to give a full, true and particular
+account of it and of its inhabitants, and performed various other feats
+during the journey. Nor will it be forgotten how one of the Sultans one
+day expressing doubts on the possibility of so much having happened to
+the Apostle in so short a time, a learned doctor of the Mohammedan law
+caused a basin of water to be brought and requested him to dip his head
+into it. When the Sultan dipped his head he found himself in a strange
+country, alone and friendless, on the seashore. He made his way to a
+neighbouring town, obtained employment, became rich, married, lived
+seven years with his wife, who afterwards, to his great grief, died, and
+then he lost all. One day he was wandering in despondency along the
+seashore, where he had first found himself; and in his despair he
+determined to cast himself into the sea. Scarcely had he done so when he
+beheld his courtiers standing around his throne: he was once more
+Sultan, and the basin of water into which he had dipped his head was
+before him. He began furiously to reproach the learned doctor for
+banishing him from his capital and sending him into the midst of
+vicissitudes and adventures for so many years. Nor was it without
+difficulty that he was brought to believe that he had only just dipped
+his head into the water and lifted it out again.
+
+This type of story is less frequent than the other, but it is known in
+countries far apart. A stripling, in Pembrokeshire, joined a fairy
+dance, and found himself in a palace glittering with gold and pearls,
+where he remained in great enjoyment with the fairy folk for many years.
+One restriction was laid upon him: he was not to drink from a certain
+well in the midst of the palace gardens. But he could not forbear. In
+that well swam golden fishes and fishes of all colours. One day the
+youth, impelled by curiosity, plunged his hand into the water; but in a
+moment fishes and all disappeared, a shriek ran through the garden, and
+he found himself again on the hillside with his father's flocks around
+him. In fact, he had never left the sheep, and what seemed to him to be
+years had been only minutes, during which the fairy spell had been over
+him. In Count Lucanor, a Spanish work of the fourteenth century, is a
+story of a Dean of Santiago, who went to Don Illan, a magician of
+Toledo, to be instructed in necromancy. Don Illan made a difficulty,
+stating that the dean was a man of influence and consequently likely to
+attain a high position, and that men when they rise forget easily all
+past obligations, as well as the persons from whom they received them.
+The dean, however, protested that, no matter to what eminence he
+attained, he would never fail to remember and to help his former
+friends, and the magician in particular. This being the bargain, Don
+Illan led the dean into a remote apartment, first desiring his
+housekeeper to procure some partridges for supper, but not to cook them
+until she had his special commands. Scarcely had the dean and his friend
+reached the room when two messengers arrived from the dean's uncle, the
+archbishop, summoning him to his death-bed. Being unwilling, however, to
+forego the lessons he was about to receive, he contented himself with a
+respectful reply. Four days afterwards other messengers arrived with
+letters informing the dean of the archbishop's death, and again at the
+end of other seven or eight days he learned that he himself had been
+appointed archbishop in his uncle's place. Don Illan solicited the
+vacant deanery for his son; but the new archbishop preferred his own
+brother, inviting, however, Don Illan and his son to accompany him to
+his see. After awhile, the deanery was again vacant: and again the
+archbishop refused Don Illan's suit, in favour of one of his own uncles.
+Two years later, the archbishop was named cardinal and summoned to Rome,
+with liberty to name his successor in the see. Don Illan, pressing his
+suit more urgently, was again repulsed in favour of another uncle. At
+length the pope died, and the new cardinal was chosen pope. Don Illan,
+who had accompanied him to Rome, then reminded him that he had now no
+excuse for not fulfilling the promises he had so often repeated to him.
+The pope sought to put him off; but Don Illan complained in earnest of
+the many promises he had made, none of which had been kept, and declared
+that he had no longer any faith in his words. The pope, much angered,
+threatened to have Don Illan thrown into prison as a heretic and a
+sorcerer; for he knew that in Toledo he had no other means of support
+but by practising the art of necromancy. Don Illan, seeing how ill the
+pope had requited his services, prepared to depart; and the pope, as if
+he had not already shown sufficient ingratitude, refused even to grant
+him wherewith to support himself on the road. "Then," retorted Don
+Illan, "since I have nothing to eat, I must needs fall back on the
+partridges I ordered for to-night's supper." He then called out to his
+housekeeper and ordered her to cook the birds. No sooner had he thus
+spoken than the dean found himself again in Toledo, still dean of
+Santiago, as on his arrival, for, in fact, he had not stirred from the
+place. This was simply the way the magician had chosen to test his
+character, before committing himself to his hands; and the dean was so
+crestfallen he had nothing to reply to the reproaches wherewith Don
+Illan dismissed him without even a taste of the partridges.[166]
+
+A modern folk-tale from Cashmere tells of a Brahmin who prayed to know
+something of the state of the departed. One morning, while bathing in
+the river, his spirit left him and entered the body of the infant child
+of a cobbler. The child grew up, learned his father's business, married,
+and had a large family, when suddenly he was made aware of his high
+caste, and, abandoning all, he went to another country. There the king
+had just died; and the stranger was chosen in his place, and put upon
+his throne. In the course of a few years his wife came to know where he
+was, and sought to join him. In this or some other way his people
+learned that he was a cobbler; and great consternation prevailed on
+account of his low caste. Some of his subjects fled; others performed
+great penances; and some indeed burnt themselves lest they should be
+excommunicated. When the king heard all this, he too burnt himself; and
+his spirit went and re-occupied the Brahmin's corpse, which still lay by
+the riverside. Thereupon the Brahmin got up and went home to his wife,
+who only said: "How quickly you have performed your ablutions this
+morning!" The Brahmin said not a word of his adventures, notwithstanding
+he was greatly astonished. To crown all, however, about a week
+afterwards a man came to him begging, and said he had eaten nothing for
+five days, during which he had been running away from his country
+because a cobbler had been made king. All the people, he said, were
+running away, or burning themselves, to escape the consequences of such
+an evil. The Brahmin, while he gave the man food, thought: "How can
+these things be? I have been a cobbler for several years; I have reigned
+as a king for several years;--and this man confirms the truth of my
+thoughts. Yet my wife declares I have not been absent from this house
+more than the usual time; and I believe her, for she does not look any
+older, neither is the place changed in any way." Thus were the gods
+teaching him that the soul passes through various stages of existence
+according to a man's thoughts, words, and acts, and in the great
+Hereafter a day is equal to a thousand years, and a thousand years are
+equal to a day.[167]
+
+We may now turn to the types in which the spell is believed to be still
+powerful over heroes once mighty but now hidden within the hills, or in
+some far-off land, awaiting in magical sleep, or in more than human
+delight, the summons that shall bid them return to succour their
+distressed people in the hour of utmost need. As to the personality of
+these heroes there can be no doubt. Grimm long ago pointed out that the
+red-bearded king beneath the Kyffhäuser can be no other than Thor, the
+old Teutonic god of thunder, and that the long beard--sometimes
+described as white--attributed to other leaders was a token of Woden.
+The very name of Woden is preserved in the Odenberg, to which several of
+such legends attach; and the hidden king there is sometimes called Karl
+the Great, and sometimes Woden. In other countries Quetzalcoatl and
+Vishnu, we know, are gods of the native cults. Oisin, Merlin, and King
+Arthur all belong to the old Celtic Pantheon. And if some other sleeping
+or vanished heroes bear the names of personages who once had a real
+existence, they are but decked in borrowed plumes. In short, all these
+Hidden Heroes are gods of the earlier faiths, vanquished by Christianity
+but not destroyed.
+
+If this be so, it may be inferred that these gods were at one time
+conceived as presently active, and that it is only since the
+introduction of the new faith that they have been thought to be retired
+beneath the overhanging hills or in the Islands of the Blest. But this
+was not so. In all regions the chief activity of the deities has always
+been placed in the past. Upon the stories told of the deeds of yesterday
+the belief of to-day is founded. Whether it be creation, or strife
+against evil spirits, or the punishment of men, or the invention of the
+civilizing arts, or the endless amours of too susceptible divinities,
+all is looked upon as past and done. The present is a state of rest, of
+suspension of labour, or at least of cessation of open and visible
+activity. These gods, like men, require an abode. In the later stages of
+culture this abode is a Paradise on some more or less imaginary
+mountain-top, or effectually cut off from men by the magical tempests
+of the immeasurable main, or by the supreme and silent heights of
+heaven. But this exaltation of ideas took long to reach. At first a
+strange rock, a fountain, the recesses of a cavern, or the mysterious
+depths of the forest, enshrouded the divinity. In the earlier stages of
+savagery it would be almost truer to say that these _were_ very often
+the divinity: at least they were often his outward and visible form. Mr.
+Im Thurn, who has had exceptional opportunities of observing the
+characteristics of the savage mind, and has made exceptionally good use
+of those opportunities, in describing the animism of the Indians of
+Guiana, says: "Every object in the whole world is a being consisting of
+body and spirit, and differs from every other object in no respect
+except that of bodily form, and in the greater or less degree of brute
+power and brute cunning consequent on the difference of bodily form and
+bodily habits." Then, after discussing the lower animals and plants as
+each possessed of body and soul, and particularizing several rocks which
+are supposed by the Indians to possess spirits like human beings, he
+goes on: "It is unnecessary to multiply instances, further than by
+saying that almost every rock seen for the first time, and any rock
+which is in any way abnormal whenever seen, is believed to consist of
+body and spirit. And not only many rocks, but also many waterfalls,
+streams, and indeed material bodies of every sort, are supposed to
+consist each of a body and a spirit as does man; and that not all
+inanimate objects have this dual nature avowedly attributed to them is
+probably only due to the chance that, while all such objects may at any
+time, in any of the ways above indicated, show signs of the presence of
+a spirit within them, this spirit has not yet been noticed in some
+cases."[168] From this belief to that in which the rocks and hills and
+other inanimate objects are looked upon as having the relation to
+spirits, not of body and soul, but of dwelling and dweller, is a step
+upward, and perhaps a long one. But it is a natural development, and one
+which would inevitably take place as the popular opinion of the power of
+certain spirits grew, and these spirits attracted to themselves
+superstitions and sagas current among the people whose civilization was
+by the same slow movement growing too.
+
+The development spoken of would perhaps be assisted by the erection of
+monuments like piles of stones, or earthen barrows, over the dead. As
+formerly in their huts, so now in their graves, the dead would be
+regarded as the occupiers. Their spirits were still living, and would be
+seen from time to time haunting the spot. Food would be buried with
+them; and sacrifices at the moment of burial and on subsequent occasions
+would be offered to them. In process of time among illiterate races
+their identity would be forgotten, and then if the barrows were not
+large enough to attract attention the superstitions which had their seat
+there might cease. But if the barrows could not be overlooked, the
+spirits supposed to haunt them might merge into some other objects of
+reverence. In Denmark the barrows are invariably regarded as the haunt
+of fairies; and this is frequently the case in other countries.[169]
+When men once became habituated to think of a barrow as not the outward
+and visible form of some spirit, but simply its dwelling-place--still
+more, perhaps, if many interments took place within it, so that it
+became the dwelling-place of many spirits--they would be led by an easy
+transition to think of rocks, fountains, hills, and other natural
+objects in the same way. The spirits once supposed to be their inner
+identity would become perfectly separable in thought from them, because
+merely their tenants. Thus the gulf would be bridged between the savage
+philosophy of spirits described by Mr. Im Thurn, and the polytheism of
+the higher heathendom, represented by Mexico, Scandinavia, and Greece.
+
+But whether they travelled by this, or any different road, certain it is
+that in the remoter times of the higher heathendom men had arrived no
+further than the belief that certain spots, and preferably certain
+striking objects, were the abodes of their gods. This was a doctrine
+developed directly from that which regarded the more remarkable objects
+of nature as the bodies of powerful spirits. Nor was it ever entirely
+abandoned; for even after the more advanced and thoughtful of the
+community had reached the idea of an Olympus, or an Asgard, far removed
+above the every-day earth of humanity, the gods still had their temples,
+and sacred legends still attached to places where events of the divine
+history had happened. Consequently some localities kept their reputation
+of sanctity. That they were really the abiding-places of the gods the
+common people would not cease to hold, whatever might be taught or held
+by those who had renounced that crudity. And, indeed, it may be doubted
+whether anybody ever renounced it altogether. Probably, at all events,
+most persons would see no difficulty in believing that the god dwelt on
+the sacred spot of earth and also at the same time in heaven. They would
+accept both traditions as equally true, without troubling themselves how
+to reconcile them.
+
+But the gods did not always remain in their dwellings. The Wild Hunt, a
+tradition of a furious host riding abroad with a terrific noise of
+shouts and horns and the braying of hounds, common to Germany and
+England, has been identified beyond doubt by Grimm with Woden and his
+host. We cannot here discuss the subject except in its relations with
+the group of stories now under consideration. Woden, it will be borne in
+mind, is one of the figures of the old mythology merged in the Hidden
+Hero beneath the German hills. Now, nothing is more natural than that,
+when a company of warriors is conceived as lying ready for a summons,
+themselves all armed and their steeds standing harnessed at their sides,
+they should be thought now and then to sally forth. This was the sound
+which surprised the good burgesses of Jung-Wositz when Ulrich von
+Rosenberg and his train rode out by night upon the plain. In this way
+King Wenzel exercises his followers, and the unfortunate Stoymir
+vindicated his existence beneath the Blanik notwithstanding his death.
+In this way too, before a war, Diedrich is heard preparing for battle at
+one o'clock in the morning on the mountain of Ax. Once in seven years
+Earl Gerald rides round the Curragh of Kildare; and every seventh year
+the host at Ochsenfeld in Upper Alsace may be seen by night exercising
+on their horses. On certain days the Carpathian robber issues from his
+cavern in the Czornahora. Grimm mentions the story of a blacksmith who
+found a gap he had never noticed before in the face of a cliff on the
+Odenberg, and entering, stood in the presence of mighty men, playing
+there at bowls with balls of iron, as Rip van Winkle's friends were
+playing at ninepins. So a Wallachian saga connects the Wild Hunt with a
+mysterious forest castle built by the Knight Sigmirian, who was cursed
+with banishment for three hundred years from the society of men for
+refusing the daughter of the King of Stones. In the same category we
+must put the spectral host in the Donnersberg, and Herla's company,
+which haunted the Welsh marches, and is described by Walter Map as a
+great band of men and women on foot and in chariots, with pack-saddles
+and panniers, birds and dogs, advancing with trumpets and shouts, and
+all sorts of weapons ready for emergencies. Night was the usual time of
+Herla's wanderings, but the last time he and his train were seen was at
+noon. Those who then saw them, being unable to obtain an answer to their
+challenge by words, prepared to exact one by arms; but the moment they
+did so the troop rose into the air and disappeared, nor was it ever seen
+again.[170]
+
+This is a different account of Herla from that previously quoted from an
+earlier part of Map's work; but perhaps, if it were worth while to spend
+the time, not altogether irreconcilable with it. The tradition, it
+should be observed, appears to have been an English, and not a Welsh,
+tradition, since the host received the English name of Herlething.
+Gervase of Tilbury, writing about the same time, reports that Arthur was
+said by the foresters, or woodwards, both in Britain and in Brittany, to
+be very often seen at midday, or in the evening moonlight at full of the
+moon, accompanied by a troop of soldiers, hunters, dogs, and the sound
+of horns. This is manifestly a Celtic tradition. But these occasions are
+not the last on which such appearances have been seen and heard in this
+country. If we may believe a tract published in 1643, spectral fights
+had taken place at Keniton, in Northamptonshire, during four successive
+Saturday and Sunday nights of the preceding Christmastide. By those who
+are reported to have witnessed the phenomenon--and among them were
+several gentlemen of credit mentioned by name as despatched by the king
+himself from Oxford--it was taken to be a ghostly repetition of the
+battle of Edgehill, which had been fought only two months before on the
+adjacent fields. The excitement of men's minds during periods of
+commotion has doubtless much to do with the currency of beliefs like
+this. Saint Augustine alludes to a story of a battle between evil
+spirits beheld upon a plain in Campania during the civil wars of Rome.
+As in the case of Edgehill, the vision was accompanied by all the noises
+of a conflict; and indeed the saint goes the length of declaring that
+after it was over the ground was covered with the footprints of men and
+horses. On the spot where this is said to have happened an actual battle
+took place not very long after.[171] These two instances are unconnected
+with the Sleeping Host; but many of the legends explicitly declare the
+exercises of the host when it emerges from its retirement to consist of
+a sham fight. Although the legends containing this account are not all
+found among Teutonic peoples, it cannot be deemed irrelevant to draw
+attention to the fact that similar fights are mentioned as the daily
+occupation of the heroes who attain to Valhalla, just as the nightly
+feasts of that roystering paradise correspond to the refreshments
+provided for the warriors around the tables of stone in their
+subterranean retreats. Whatever may have been the creed of other
+European races, it is hardly to be doubted that in these German
+superstitions we have an approach to the primitive belief, of which the
+Eddaic Valhalla was a late and idealized development.
+
+But we may--nay, we must--go further. For in the history of traditional
+religions goddesses have been as popular as gods; and if we are right in
+seeing, with Grimm, the archaic gods in the Hidden Heroes, some where
+we must find their mates, the corresponding goddesses. We have already
+had glimpses of them in Morgan the Fay, in the Emperor Frederick's
+lady-housekeeper (_ausgeberin_) and in the maid who in another saga
+attended on his bidding. The lady-housekeeper is expressly called in one
+story Dame Holle. Now Dame Holle herself is the leader of a Furious
+Host, or Wild Hunt, and has been identified by Grimm beyond any doubt as
+a pagan goddess, like Berchta.
+
+Let us take another story in which the female companion of the enchanted
+hero appears. Near the town of Garz, on the island of Rügen, lies a lake
+by which a castle formerly stood. It belonged to an old heathen king,
+whose avarice heaped up great store of gold and jewels in the vaults
+beneath. It was taken and destroyed by the Christians, and its owner was
+transformed into a great black dog ever watching his treasure. Sometimes
+he is still seen in human form with helm, or golden crown, and coat of
+mail, riding a grey horse over the city and the lake; sometimes he is
+met with by night in the forest, wearing a black fur cap and carrying a
+white staff. It is possible to disenchant him, but only if a pure
+virgin, on St. John's night between twelve and one o'clock, will
+venture, naked and alone, to climb the castle wall and wander backwards
+to and fro amid the ruins, until she light upon the spot where the
+stairway of the tower leads down into the treasure chamber. Slipping
+down, she will then be able to take as much gold and jewels as she can
+carry, and what she cannot herself carry the old king will bring after
+her, so that she will be rich for the rest of her life. But she must
+return by sunrise, and she must not once look behind her, nor speak a
+single word, else not only will she fail, but she will perish miserably.
+A princess who was accused of unchastity obtained her father's
+permission to try this adventure, in order to prove the falsehood of the
+charge against her. She safely gained the vault, which was illuminated
+with a thousand lights. The king, a little grey old man, bestowed the
+treasure upon her, and sent a number of servants laden with it to follow
+her. All would have gone well, but unhappily when she had climbed a few
+of the old steps she looked round to see if the servants were coming. At
+once the king changed into a great black dog, that sprang upon her with
+fiery throat and glowing eyes. She just had time to scream out when the
+door slammed to, the steps sank, and she fell back into the vault in
+darkness. She has sat there now for four hundred years, waiting until a
+pure youth shall find his way down in the same manner on St. John's
+night, shall bow to her thrice and silently kiss her. He may then take
+her hand and lead her forth to be his bride; and he will inherit such
+riches as a whole kingdom cannot buy.[172]
+
+But goddesses do not always play so secondary a part. In a wood in
+Pomerania stands a round, flat hill called the Castle Hill, and at its
+foot lies a little lake known as the Hertha Lake. By its name it is thus
+directly connected with one of the old divinities, like that lake on the
+island of Rügen referred to in Chapter IV. And here, too, a mysterious
+lady has been seen to wash, a young and lovely maiden, clad in
+black--not in secret, as in the former instance, but openly, as if for
+the purpose of attracting attention from passers-by, and of being spoken
+to. At last a broad-shouldered workman, named Kramp, ventured to give
+the maiden "the time of day," and to get her into conversation. She told
+him she was a princess, who, with her castle, had been from time
+immemorial enchanted, and that she was still waiting for her deliverer.
+The mode of loosing the spell was by carrying her on his back in silence
+to the churchyard of Wusseken and there putting her down, being careful
+not to look round the while; for, happen what would, he could take no
+harm, even if it were threatened to tear his head off. He undertook the
+task, and had nearly accomplished it without troubling in the least
+about the troops of spirits which followed him, when suddenly, as he
+drew near the churchyard, a hurricane arose and took his cap off.
+Forgetful of his promise, he looked round; and the maiden rose into the
+air, weeping and crying out that she could never be delivered now. A
+story told in Mecklenburg is more picturesque. It concerns the daughter
+of a lake-king, who leagued himself with other knights against a robber,
+the owner of a castle called the Glamburg, which was a place of some
+strength, being entirely surrounded by the water of the Lake of Glam.
+The confederates were defeated; and nine large round barrows were raised
+the next day over the slain, among whom was the lake-king. His daughter
+wept upon her father's grave, and her tears, as they touched the earth,
+became lovely blue flowers. These flowers still grow upon the loftiest
+of the nine barrows, while the others are quite destitute of them. The
+princess threw herself that night--it was St. John's night--into the
+lake; and now every year on St. John's night, between twelve and one
+o'clock, a bridge of copper rises out of the lake, and the princess
+appears upon it, sighing for her deliverance.[173]
+
+The typical form of the tale is as follows: In the Buchenberg by Doberan
+dwells an enchanted princess, who can only be released once in a hundred
+years, on St. John's Day between twelve and one. In the year 1818 a
+servant boy was watching sheep on the eastern side of the Buchenberg the
+day before St. John's day. About noon a white lady appeared to him and
+told him that he could deliver her, if he would, the next day at the
+same hour, kiss her. She would then come to him in the form of a toad
+with a red band round its neck. The shepherd promised; but the next day
+when he saw the toad he was so horrified that he ran away. A variant
+records the hour as between twelve and one at night, and the form of the
+lady as a snake which sought to twine round the shepherd's neck. A
+great treasure buried in the hill would have been his had he stood the
+proof; but now the lady will have to wait until a beech tree shall have
+grown up on the spot and been cut down, and of its timber a cradle made:
+the child that is rocked in that cradle will have power to save her.
+This is in effect the story told by Sir John Maundeville concerning the
+daughter of Hippocrates, the renowned physician, who was said to have
+been enchanted by Diana on the island of Cos, or (as he calls it) Lango,
+and given with so much of Mr. William Morris' power in "The Earthly
+Paradise."[174] "Then listen!" says the damsel in the ruined castle to
+the seaman whom she meets--
+
+    "Then listen! when this day is overpast,
+      A fearful monster I shall be again,
+    And thou may'st be my saviour at the last,
+      Unless, once more, thy words are nought and vain;
+      If thou of love and sovereignty art fain,
+    Come thou next morn, and when thou seest here
+    A hideous dragon, have thereof no fear,
+
+    "But take the loathsome head up in thine hands,
+      And kiss it, and be master presently
+    Of twice the wealth that is in all the lands,
+      From Cathay to the head of Italy;
+      And master also, if it pleaseth thee,
+    Of all thou praisest as so fresh and bright,
+    Of what thou callest crown of all delight."
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "Ah, me! to hold my child upon my knees,
+    After the weeping of unkindly tears,
+    And all the wrongs of these four hundred years."
+
+But the horrible apparition of the dragon was too much for the
+adventurer's courage:
+
+      "He cried out and wildly at her smote,
+    Shutting his eyes, and turned and from the place
+    Ran swiftly, with a white and ghastly face,"
+
+to die within three days, a raving maniac. And
+
+        "Never any man again durst go
+    To seek her woman's form, and end her wo."
+
+It would be too tedious to run through even a small proportion of the
+examples of this tale, almost innumerable in Germany alone. Fortunately,
+it will only be necessary to allude to a few of its chief features. When
+the enchanted princess assumes a monstrous form, the usual ordeal of the
+would-be deliverer is to kiss her. A toad or a snake is, perhaps, her
+favourite form; but occasionally she is half woman, half toad, or half
+woman, half snake. Further transformations now and then take place, as
+from a snake into a fiery dog, or from a bear into a lion, from a lion
+into a snake. Sometimes as a bear alone she threatens her deliverer. In
+a Carinthian saga he is to cut three birch rods at the full of the moon,
+and then wait at the appointed place. The damsel approaches in the guise
+of a snake, with a bunch of keys in her mouth, and menaces him, hissing
+and snorting fire. Unmoved by the creature's rage, he is to strike her
+thrice on the head with each rod and take the keys from her mouth. In
+the Duchy of Luxemburg the favourite form assumed by the princess is
+that of a fire-breathing snake, bearing in her mouth a bunch of keys, or
+a ring; and the deliverer's task then is to take the keys or ring away
+with his own mouth. It is believed that Melusina, whose story we shall
+deal with in the following chapters, is enchanted beneath the Bockfels,
+a rock near the town of Luxemburg. There she appears every seventh year
+in human form and puts one stitch in a smock. When she shall have
+finished sewing the smock she will be delivered; but woe then to the
+town! for its ruins will be her grave and monument. Men have often
+undertaken her earlier deliverance. This is to be effected at midnight,
+when she appears as a snake, by taking with the mouth a key from her
+mouth and flinging it into the Alzet. No one, however, has yet succeeded
+in doing this; and meantime when a calamity threatens the town, whose
+faithful guardian she is, she gives warning by gliding round the
+Bockfels uttering loud laments.[175]
+
+But in many of the sagas the princess meets her hero in her own proper
+shape, and then the feat to be performed varies much more. In a Prussian
+tale she comes out of a deep lake, which occupies the site of a
+once-mighty castle, at sunset, clothed in black, and accompanied by a
+black dog. The castle belonged to the young lady's parents, who were
+wicked, though she herself was pious; and it was destroyed on account of
+their evil doings. Since that time she has wandered around, seeking some
+bold and pious man who will follow her into the depths of the lake, and
+thus remove the curse. This would seem but another form of the tradition
+of the lake at the foot of the Herthaburg on the isle of Rügen. In
+another story the lady must be brought an unbaptized child to kiss. In
+yet another the deliverer is led down through a dark underground passage
+into a brilliantly lighted room, where sit three black men writing at a
+table, and is bidden to take one of two swords which lie on the table
+and strike off the enchanted lady's head. To cut off the head of a
+bewitched person is an effectual means of destroying the spell. So, in
+the Gaelic story of the Widow and her Daughters, the heroine
+decapitates the horse-ogre, who thereupon returns to his true form as a
+king's son, and marries her. A large number of parallel instances might
+easily be given; but they would lead us too far afield. The lady of the
+Princess Hill, near Warin, in Mecklenburg, has to be held fast from
+midnight until one o'clock in spite of all frightful apparitions of
+snakes, dragons, and toads which crowd around and threaten the
+adventurer. In the same way Peleus, desiring to secure Thetis, had to
+hold her fast through her various magical changes until she found
+resistance useless, and returned to her true form. In a modern Cretan
+tale the hero, by the advice of an old woman, seizes at night a Nereid
+by the hair and holds her until the cock crows, in spite of her changes
+successively into a dog, a snake, a camel, and fire. The process of
+disenchanting Tam Lin, in the ballad of that name, was for his lady-love
+to take him in her arms and hold him, notwithstanding his transformation
+into a snake, a bear, a lion, a red-hot iron, and lastly into a "burning
+gleed," when he was to be immediately flung into a well.[176]
+
+We have already seen that the task is sometimes to carry the maiden to a
+churchyard. At the Castle Hill of Bütow she was to be carried to the
+Polish churchyard and there thrown to the ground with all the
+deliverer's might. A castle is said to have stood formerly on the site
+of Budow Mill in Eastern Pomerania. An enchanted princess now haunts the
+place. She is only to be freed by a bachelor who will carry her in
+silence, and without looking behind him, around the churchyard; but the
+spirits which hold her under their spell will seek in every way to
+hinder her deliverance. On the Müggelsberg is, or was (for it is said to
+be now destroyed), a large stone under which a treasure lies. It was
+called the Devil's Altar; and at night it often seemed, from the
+neighbouring village of Müggelsheim, to be in a blaze; but on drawing
+near the fire would vanish from sight. At Köpenick, another village not
+far off, it was called the Princesses' Stone, but the lake at the foot
+of the hill was called the Devil's Lake. The stone was said to occupy
+the site of a castle, now enchanted and swallowed up in the earth.
+Beneath it a hole ran deep into the mountain, out of which a princess
+was sometimes of an evening seen to come, with a casket of pure gold in
+her hand. He who would carry her thrice round the church of Köpenick
+without looking about him, would win the casket of gold and deliver her.
+The names of the stone and of the lake, as well as the attendant
+circumstances, are strong evidence in favour of the conclusion that we
+have in this superstition a relic of heathen times, and a record of some
+divinity believed to reside at that spot. A princess, clad in white and
+having a golden spinning-wheel in her hand, was believed to appear on
+the Castle Hill at Biesenthal, at midday. Once at midnight she appeared
+to a gardener who had often heard voices at night summoning him to the
+castle garden. At first he was frightened at the vision, but at length
+consented to carry her to the church, which stands near the hill. He
+took her on his back; but when he entered the churchyard gate he
+suddenly met a carriage drawn by coal-black horses, which vomited fire.
+So terrified was he that he shrieked aloud, whereupon the carriage
+vanished, and the princess flew away moaning: "For ever lost!" In a case
+where a prince had been enchanted, the feat was to wrestle with him
+three nights in succession.[177]
+
+But it was not always that so hard a task was set before the deliverer.
+To our thinking, it says little for the German way of doing business
+that the difficulty in unspelling the castle near Lossin, and the
+maiden who dwelt therein, was to buy a pair of shoes without bargaining
+and cheapening their price, but to pay for them exactly the piece of
+money which the maiden handed to the youth who undertook the enterprise.
+In another case a maiden was seen to scour a kettle at a little lake.
+She was enchanted. The man who beheld her thought the kettle would prove
+useful at his approaching wedding, and borrowed it on the express
+condition of returning it at a fixed time. He failed to do so, and the
+Evil One came and fetched it; and the maiden had to wait longer for her
+deliverance. There are stories similar to this of fairies lending such
+articles on this condition. If the condition be not complied with, the
+fairies are never seen again. Aubrey relates that in the vestry of
+Frensham Church, in Surrey, is a great kettle, which was borrowed from
+the fairies who lived in the Borough Hill, about a mile away. It was not
+returned according to promise, and though afterwards taken back, it was
+not received, nor since that time had there been any borrowing
+there.[178]
+
+A man who was in the habit of meeting in a certain wood an adder, which
+always sneezed thrice as he passed, consulted his parish priest on the
+subject. The priest advised him to say the next time, as he would to a
+human friend who sneezed: "God help thee!" The man did so, whereupon the
+adder shot forth before him with fiery body and terrible rattling, so
+startling him that he turned and fled. The snake hurried after him,
+crying out that it would not hurt him, but that if he would take (not,
+however, with naked hands) the bunch of keys that hung about its neck,
+it would then lead the way to a great treasure and make him happy. He
+turned a deaf ear to these entreaties; and as he ran away he heard the
+snake exclaim that now it must remain enchanted until yon little oak
+tree had grown great, and a cradle had been made out of the timber: the
+first child that lay in that cradle would be able to deliver it. The
+same incident reappears in another saga, in which some men passing
+through the forest hear a sneeze, and one of them says: "God help thee!"
+The sneeze and the blessing are repeated; but when the sneeze was heard
+a third time, the man exclaimed: "Oh, go to the devil!" "I believe
+somebody is making game of us," said another. But a mannikin stepped
+forward and said: "If you had said a third time 'God help thee!' I
+should have been saved. Now I must wait until an acorn falls from yonder
+tree and becomes an oak, and a cradle is made out of its timber. The
+child that comes to lie in that cradle will be able to deliver me." In
+this case all that was required was a thrice-repeated blessing. Another
+curious means of deliverance is found in a story from Old Strelitz.
+There an enchanted princess haunted a bridge a short distance from one
+of the gates of the town, on the road to Woldegk. Whoever in going over
+this bridge uttered a certain word, could unspell her if he would
+afterwards allow her to walk beside him the rest of the way over the
+bridge without speaking; but the difficulty was that nobody knew what
+the powerful word was.[179]
+
+Two other legends may be noticed on the mode of undoing the spell. The
+White Lady who haunts the White Tower on the White Hill at Prague was
+married to a king. She betrayed him, and married his enemy, from whom
+she subsequently fled with an officer of his army. She was, however,
+caught, and walled up in the White Tower. From this she may be delivered
+if she can find any one who will allow her to give him three stabs in
+the breast with a bayonet without uttering a sound. Once she prevailed
+on a young recruit, who was placed as sentinel before the magazine of
+the castle, to stand the necessary trial; but on receiving the first
+blow he could not forbear crying aloud: "Jesus! Mary! thou hast given
+it me!" Another old castle in Bohemia has twelve ladies enchanted by day
+as fish in the fountain of the castle garden, and appearing only at
+night in their true shape. They can not be disenchanted unless by twelve
+men who will remain in the castle for twelve months without once going
+outside the walls.[180]
+
+These bring us to a number of _märchen_ in which the bespelled heroine
+is released by a youth who suffers torture on her account. The
+Transylvanian gipsies tell a tale of a very poor man who, instructed by
+a dream, climbed a certain mountain and found a beautiful maiden before
+a cavern, spinning her own golden hair. She had been sold by her
+heartless parents to an evil spirit, who compelled her to this labour;
+but she could be saved if she could find any one willing to undergo in
+silence, for her sake, an hour's torture from the evil spirit on three
+successive nights. The man expressed himself ready to make the attempt;
+he entered the cave, and at midnight a gigantic Prikulich, or evil
+spirit, appeared, and questioned him as to who he was and what he wanted
+there. Failing to get any reply, the Prikulich flung him to the ground
+and danced about madly on him. The man endured without a moan; and at
+one o'clock the Prikulich disappeared. The second night the man was
+beaten with a heavy hammer, and so tortured that the maiden had great
+difficulty in persuading him to stand the third proof. While she was
+praying him, however, to stay, the Prikulich appeared the third time,
+and beat him again with the hammer until he was half dead. Then the
+goblin made a fire and flung him into it. The poor fellow uttered not a
+single sound, in spite of all this torment; and the maiden was saved and
+wedded her deliverer. This is a tale by no means uncommon. Want of space
+forbids us to follow it in detail, but a few references in the note
+below will enable the reader to do so if he please. Meantime, I will
+only say that sometimes the princess who is thus to be rescued is
+enchanted in the form of a snake, sometimes of a she-goat, sometimes of
+a bird; and in one of the stories she herself, in the shape of a monster
+like a hedgehog, comes out of a coffin to tear the hero in pieces.[181]
+The group is allied, on the one hand, to that of Fearless Johnny who,
+passing the night in a haunted house, expelled the ghosts, or goblins,
+which had taken possession of it; on the other hand, to that of the
+Briar Rose, illustrated by Mr. Burne Jones' series of paintings.
+
+The Briar Rose, or The Beauty of Sleeping Wood, as it comes to us from
+Perrault's hands, is the story of a maiden who was cursed by an offended
+fairy to pierce her hand with a spindle and to die of it--a curse
+afterwards mitigated into a sleep of a hundred years. Every effort was
+made by the king, her father, to avert the doom, but in vain; and for a
+whole century the princess and all her court remained in the castle in a
+magical sleep, while the castle itself and all within it were protected
+from intrusion by an equally magical growth of brambles and thorns,
+which not only prevented access, but entirely hid it from view. At
+length a king's son found his way in at the very moment the fated period
+came to an end; or, as we have it in other versions, he awakened the
+maiden with a kiss. In the old stories of the Niblungs and the Volsungs
+Odin has pricked the shield-maid Brynhild with a sleep-thorn, and thus
+condemned her to sleep within the shield-burg on Hindfell. Attracted by
+the appearance of fire, Sigurd comes to the shield-burg and, finding
+Brynhild, releases her from her slumber by ripping up her armour with
+his sword. This is chronologically the earliest form of the myth of the
+Enchanted Princess with which we are acquainted; and it is interwoven
+with the very fibres of the Teutonic mythology. It is no wonder,
+therefore, that the Germans have given it so prominent a place in their
+folklore. So far as now appears it is less conspicuous in the folklore
+of the other European races with the exception of the Slaves, and when
+it does show itself it shows itself chiefly as a _märchen_. But,
+although what we know of the folklore of the Teutonic and Slavonic races
+may suggest reasons for this, we must not forget how rarely we can
+dogmatize with safety on national characteristics. To this rule the
+folklore of a nation is no exception; nay, rather, the rule applies with
+a double emphasis to a subject the scientific investigation of which has
+so lately begun and has yet achieved so little.
+
+Declining this speculation, therefore, we turn to a last point in the
+sagas before us, namely, the propitious time for the disenchantment.
+Different times of the year are spoken of for this purpose. In some
+stories it is Advent, or New Year's night, when the lady makes her
+appearance and may be delivered. In a Pomeranian saga, where a woman
+cursed her seven daughters and they became mice, a woman, who is of the
+same age as the mother when she uttered the curse, must come with seven
+sons of the same ages as the daughters were when they were cursed, on
+Good Friday at noon, to the thicket where the mice are, and put her sons
+on a certain round stone there. The seven mice will then return to human
+shape; and when the children are old enough they will marry, and become
+rich and happy for the rest of their lives. A Carinthian tale requires
+the deliverer to come the next full moon after "May-Sunday"; and
+May-night is the date fixed in another case. But the favourite time is
+St. John's Day, either at noon or midnight.[182] Some of these days are
+ecclesiastical festivals; but perhaps the only one which has not
+superseded an ancient heathen feast is Good Friday. The policy of the
+Church, in consecrating to Christian uses as many as possible of the
+seasons and customs she found already honoured among the peoples she had
+conquered, seized upon their holy days and made them her own. And if the
+science of Folklore has taught us anything, it is that the observances
+on these converted holy days external to the rites demanded by the
+Church are relics of the ceremonies performed in pagan days to pagan
+deities. In none of these instances has the proof been more conclusive
+than in that of St. John's, or Midsummer Day. Grimm, first, with
+abundant learning, and more recently Mr. Frazer, with a wealth of
+illustration surpassing that of Grimm himself, and indeed inaccessible
+in his day, have shown that the Midsummer festival was kept in honour of
+the sun; that it consisted of the ceremonial kindling of fire, the
+gathering and use of floral garlands, the offering of human and other
+sacrifices, and the performance of sacred dances; and that its object
+was to increase the power of the sun by magical sympathy, to obtain a
+good harvest and fruitfulness of all creatures, and to purge the sins of
+the people. It was, in fact, the chief ceremony of the year among the
+European races.
+
+Prominent among the remnants of these ceremonies continued down to
+modern days are the Midsummer bonfires. These were lighted on the tops
+of mountains, hills, or even barrows. This situation may be thought to
+have symbolic reference to the solstice; but probably a still more
+powerful reason for it was the already sacred character of such places.
+But we need hardly consider whether the ceremonies of which the bonfires
+are the remnant, were observed on the hill-tops and other high places
+because the latter were already sacred, or, conversely, the hill tops
+and other high places were held sacred because of the ceremonies enacted
+there; for in either case the sanctity remains. Wells and pools, too,
+many of them still held sacred, were in various ways the objects of
+superstition at the Midsummer festival; for which the Church, when she
+chose to take the practices under her protection, had an ample excuse in
+St. John's mission to baptize.[183] Now, whatever spots were the haunt
+of pagan divinities, there it was doubtless that those divinities were
+expected to appear; and by the same reasoning they would be most likely
+to appear during the favoured hours of the holy days. This is exactly
+what we find to be the case with Enchanted Princesses, and, so far as
+the days are recorded, with Sleeping Heroes. The heroes lie within the
+hills, which in many legends are only open on certain days. The
+princesses appear upon the hills, or by the sides of pools, the sites,
+if we believe the legends, of ancient castles where they dwelt. Once in
+the year, or once in a cycle of years, on a certain day, usually
+Midsummer Day or Midsummer Eve, they come to wash, or to fetch water, in
+their own form, either compelled or permitted by the terms of the curse
+that has bound them; and then it is that mortals are admitted to an
+interview and may render them the service of disenchantment. The
+instances in which the days are specified are so frequent we may perhaps
+suspect that they were originally mentioned in all, but that time and
+other circumstances have caused them to be forgotten. However this may
+be, it is only reasonable to conclude that, in the number of instances
+remaining, we have a tradition of the honours long ago paid to these
+degraded divinities on the days appointed for their worship.
+
+I may be going too far in suggesting that the feats to be performed
+afford some confirmation of this conclusion; yet it seems to me there is
+much to be said for such an opinion. The appearance of a god in animal
+form--even in a loathsome animal form--would not derogate from his
+essential godhead. Where in these stories the deliverer has to deal with
+an animal, a kiss is the usual task prescribed. Kissing is a very
+ancient and well-known act of worship, which survives among us in many a
+practice of the Roman Catholic Church, as well as in the form of oath
+taken daily in our law courts; and it may be that the more repulsive the
+object to be kissed, the greater the merit of kissing it. Again, the
+lady who required to be followed into the depths of a lake may be
+matched with the goddess Hertha, whose slaves were drowned in the
+self-same waters wherein they had washed her; nor does it seem more
+menial to carry a princess than to wash a goddess. The ceremony of
+carrying may indeed be the relic of a solemn procession, or of a sacred
+drama. The words of blessing following on a sneeze need no explanation;
+and the omission to return at the promised time a borrowed kettle would
+be more likely to provoke the anger of a god than to retard the
+deliverance of a mortal. This is implied by the statement that the devil
+fetched the kettle himself; and we need have little doubt that in an
+earlier form the story so described it. I am unable to explain the
+unknown word which would deliver the lady who haunted the bridge at Old
+Strelitz, unless it be a reminiscence of an incantation.
+
+There remain the demand for an unbaptized child to kiss, the torture to
+which the heroes of the two Bohemian sagas submit, the requirement in
+the Pomeranian tale to place seven brothers on the stone haunted by the
+seven mice, and lastly the personal violence to the damsel involved in
+striking her with a birch-rod or a bunch of juniper and in beheadal. In
+all these we probably have traces of sacrifice. The offering of an
+innocent child is familiar, if not comprehensible, enough to any one who
+has the most superficial acquaintance with savage rites. We have already
+seen that an unbaptized child is regarded as a pagan, and is an object
+of desire on the part of supernatural beings. The same reasons which
+induce fairies to steal it would probably render it an acceptable
+offering to a pagan divinity. No words need be wasted on the torture, or
+the tale of the mice. But the personal violence, if indeed the remnant
+of a tradition of sacrifice, involves the slaughter of the divinity
+herself. This might be thought an insuperable objection; but it is not
+really so. For, however absurd it may seem to us, it is a very
+widespread custom to sacrifice to a divinity his living representative
+or incarnation, whether in animal or human form. It is believed in such
+cases that the victim's spirit, released by sacrifice, forthwith finds a
+home in another body. The subject is too vast and complex to be
+discussed here at length; the reader who desires to follow it out can do
+so in Mr. Frazer's profoundly interesting work on "The Golden Bough."
+Assuming, however, the custom and belief, as here stated, to be
+admitted, it will be seen that the underlying thought is precisely that
+which we want in order to explain this mode of disenchantment. For if,
+on the one hand, what looks like murder be enjoined in a number of
+stories for the purpose of disenchanting a bewitched person; and if, on
+the other hand, the result of solemnly slaughtering a victim be in fact
+held to be simply the release of the victim's spirit--nay, if it was the
+prescribed mode of releasing that spirit--to seek a new, sometimes a
+better, abode in a fresh body, we may surely be satisfied that both
+these have the same origin. We may then go further, and see in this
+unspelling incident, performed, as in the Enchanted Princess stories, in
+this way, at a haunted spot, frequently on a day of special sanctity,
+one more proof that the princess herself was in the earlier shape of
+the traditions no other than a goddess.
+
+Finally: the myth of the Enchanted Princess has preserved in many of its
+variants a detail more archaic than any in that of the Sleeping Hero,
+and one which is decisive as to the lady's real status. If Frederick
+were to arise and come forth from his sleeping-place, the Kyffhäuser
+itself would remain. If Arthur were to awake and quit the Castle Rock,
+the rock itself wherein he lay would still be there. But the lake or
+mountain haunted by an enchanted maiden often owes its very existence,
+if not to her, at least to the spell which holds her enthralled. When
+she is delivered the place will be changed: the lake will give way to a
+palace; the earth will open and a buried castle will reascend to the
+surface; what is now nothing but an old grey boulder will forthwith
+return to its previous condition of an inhabited and stately building;
+or what is now a dwelling of men will become desolate. One of the best
+examples of this is the superstition I have already cited concerning
+Melusina. When she finishes her needlework she will be disenchanted, but
+only to die; and the ruins of the town of Luxemburg will be her grave
+and monument. In other words, the existence of the town is bound up with
+her enchantment,--that is to say, with her life. In the same way the
+bespelled damsel of the Urschelberg, near Pfullingen, in Swabia, is
+called by the very name of the mountain--the Old Urschel. This can only
+be the survival of a belief in the enchanted lady as the indwelling
+spirit, the soul, the real life of the spot she haunted: a belief which
+goes back to a deeper depth of savagery than one that regards her as a
+local goddess, and out of which the latter would be easily
+developed.[184]
+
+These considerations by no means exhaust the case; but I have said
+enough in support of conclusions anticipated by Grimm's clear-sighted
+genius and confirmed by every fresh discovery. Let me, therefore,
+recapitulate the results of the investigations contained in this and the
+two preceding chapters. We have rapidly examined several types of fairy
+tales in which the hero, detained in Fairyland, is unconscious of the
+flight of time. These tales are characteristic of a high rather than a
+low stage of civilization. Connected with them we have found the story
+of King Arthur, the Sleeping Hero, "_rex quondam, rex que futurus_," the
+expected deliverer, sometimes believed to be hidden beneath the hills,
+at other times in a far-off land, or from time to time traversing the
+world with his band of attendants as the Wild Hunt. This is a tradition
+of a heathen god put down by Christianity, but not destroyed in the
+hearts and memories of the people--a tradition independent of political
+influences, but to which oppression is apt to give special and enduring
+vitality. The corresponding tradition concerning a heathen goddess is
+discovered in the Enchanted Princess of a thousand sagas, whose peculiar
+home, if they have one, is in Teutonic and Slavonic countries.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[166] Howells, p. 120; "Count Lucanor," p. 77.
+
+[167] Knowles, p. 17.
+
+[168] Im Thurn, pp. 352, 354. _Cf._ Brett, p. 375. So Leland, p. 3: "The
+Indian _m'téoulin_, or magician, distinctly taught that every created
+thing, animate or inanimate, had its indwelling spirit. Whatever had an
+_idea_ had a soul."
+
+[169] _Cf._ Grimm, "Teut. Myth." p. 962, quoting Harry, "Nieders.
+Sagen"; Jahn, p. 228, quoting Temme. Many of the sanctuaries of the
+Celts were upon mounds, which were either barrows of the dead, or were
+expressly made for temples; and the god was called in Irish _Cenn
+Cruaich_, in Welsh _Penn Cruc_ (now _Pen Crûg_), both meaning the Head
+or Chief of the Mound (Rhys, "Hibbert Lectures," p. 201). Many mounds in
+England, now crowned by churches, have been conjectured to be old Celtic
+temples. See an able paper by Mr. T. W. Shore on "Characteristic
+Survivals of the Celts in Hampshire," _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._, vol. xx.
+p. 9. Mont St. Michel, near Carnac, in Brittany, is a chambered barrow
+surmounted by a little chapel. From the relics found in the tomb, as
+well as the size of the barrow itself, some person, or persons, of
+importance must have been buried there. The mound may well have been a
+haunted, a sacred spot ever since the ashes of the dead and their costly
+weapons and ornaments were committed to its keeping far back in the
+Neolithic age. Instances might easily be multiplied.
+
+[170] Müller, p. 203; Map, Dist. iv. c. 13.
+
+[171] Gerv. Tilb., Dec. ii. c. 12; "Book of Days," vol. i. p. 154;
+Augustine, "De Civ. Dei," l. ii. c. 25.
+
+[172] Jahn, p. 182, quoting Arndt.
+
+[173] Knoop, p. 10; Bartsch, vol. i. p. 273.
+
+[174] Bartsch, vol. i. p. 271; "Early Trav.," p. 138.
+
+[175] Bartsch, vol. i. pp. 269 (citing Niederhöffer, below), 271, 272,
+273, 274, 318. In this last case it is a man who is to be saved by a
+kiss from a woman while he is in serpent form. Niederhöffer, vol. i. pp.
+58, 168, vol. ii. p. 235; Meier, pp. 6, 31, 321; Kuhn und Schwartz, pp.
+9, 201; Baring-Gould, p. 223, citing Kornemann, "Mons Veneris," and
+Prætorius, "Weltbeschreibung"; Jahn, p. 220; Rappold, p. 135. Gredt, pp.
+8, 9, 215, 228, &c. In one of Meier's Swabian tales the princess appears
+as a snake and flings herself round the neck of her would-be
+deliverer--a woman--who is to strike her lightly with a bunch of
+juniper: Meier, p. 27. In one of Kuhn und Schwartz' collection, where
+the princess becomes a toad, no ceremony is prescribed: Kuhn und
+Schwartz, p. 9.
+
+[176] Von Tettau, p. 220; Kuhn, pp. 66, 99; Bartsch, vol. i. p. 272;
+Jahn, p. 249; Ovid, "Metam." l. xi. f. 5; Child, vol. i. pp. 336 (citing
+Schmidt, "Volkleben der Neugriechen," p. 115), 340.
+
+[177] Knoop, pp. 6, 57; Kuhn, pp. 113, 172; Kuhn und Schwartz, p. 1. The
+prohibition to look back was imposed on Orpheus when he went to rescue
+Eurydice from Hades.
+
+[178] Knoop, pp. 51, 59; Keightley, p. 295, quoting Aubrey's "Natural
+History of Surrey"; "Gent. Mag. Lib." (Pop. Supers.), p. 280.
+
+[179] Meier, pp. 209, 87; Niederhöffer, vol. iii. p. 251.
+
+[180] Grohmann, pp. 56, 50.
+
+[181] Von Wlislocki, p. 76; Campbell, vol. ii. p. 293; Luzel, "Contes,"
+vol. i. pp. 198, 217; "Annuaire des Trad. Pop." 1887, p. 53; Pitré, vol.
+v. pp. 238, 248; Grundtvig, vol. i. p. 148; Schneller, pp. 103, 109.
+
+[182] Meier, p. 26; Bartsch, vol. i. pp. 271, 272, 274; Jahn, p. 185;
+Rappold, p. 135; Bartsch, vol. i. pp. 269, 270, 271, 272, 273, 283, 308,
+318; Niederhöffer, vol. i. p. 168, vol. ii. p. 235, vol. iii. p. 171;
+Knoop, p. 10; Jahn, pp. 182, 185, 206, 207, 217, 220, 221; and many
+others.
+
+[183] "Gent. Mag. Lib." (Pop. Superst.) p. 51; Brand, vol. i. p. 250,
+note; Pitré, vol. xii. pp. 304, 307; Bartsch, vol. ii. p. 288;
+"Antiquary," vol. xxi. p. 195, vol. xxii. p. 67. _Cf._ a legend in which
+the scene haunted by the enchanted lady is a Johannisberg on the top of
+which is a chapel dedicated to St. John the Baptist, to which
+pilgrimages were made and the lady appeared on Midsummer Day (Gredt, pp.
+215, 219, 225, 579).
+
+[184] Von Tettau, p. 220; Kuhn und Schwartz, pp. 9, 200; Meier, pp. 6,
+8; Gredt, pp. 7, 228, 281. In another story, quoted by Meier (p. 34),
+from Crusius' "Schwäb. Chron.", the enchanted maiden is called "a
+heathen's daughter"--pointing directly to pagan origin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+SWAN-MAIDENS.
+
+     The _märchen_ of Hasan of Bassorah--The Marquis of the Sun--The
+     feather robe and other disguises--The taboo--The Star's
+     Daughter--Melusina--The Lady of the Van Pool and other
+     variants--The Nightmare.
+
+
+The narratives with which we have hitherto been occupied belong to the
+class called Sagas. But our discussions of them have led us once and
+again to refer to the other class mentioned in the second Chapter--that
+of Nursery Tales or _Märchen_. For, as I have already pointed out, there
+is no bridgeless gulf between them. We have seen the very same incidents
+narrated in Wales or in Germany with breathless awe as a veritable
+occurrence which in India, or among the Arabs, are a mere play of fancy.
+Equally well the case may be reversed, and what is gravely told at the
+antipodes as a series of events in the life of a Maori ancestor, may be
+reported in France or England as a nursery tale. Nay, we need not go out
+of Europe itself to find the same plot serving for a saga in one land
+and a _märchen_, detached from all circumstances of time and place, in
+another.
+
+An excellent example of this is furnished by the myth of the
+Swan-maiden, one of the most widely distributed, and at the same time
+one of the most beautiful, stories ever evolved from the mind of man. As
+its first type I shall take the tale of Hasan of Bassorah, where it has
+been treated with an epic grandeur hardly surpassed by any of its
+companions in the famous "Nights," and perhaps only by one of the less
+famous but equally splendid Mabinogion of old Wales.
+
+Hasan is a worthless boy who falls under the influence of a Magian, who
+professes to be an alchemist, and who at length kidnaps him. Having used
+him with great cruelty the Magian takes him fifteen days' journey on
+dromedaries into the desert to a high mountain, at the foot whereof the
+old rascal sews him up in a skin, together with a knife and a small
+provision of three cakes and a leathern bottle of water, afterwards
+retiring to a distance. One of the vultures which infest the mountain
+then pounces on Hasan and carries him to the top. In accordance with the
+Magian's instructions, the hero, on arriving there, slits the skin, and
+jumping out, to the bird's affright, picks up and casts down to the
+Magian bundles of the wood which he finds around him. This wood is the
+means by which the alchemy is performed; and having gathered up the
+bundles the Magian leaves Hasan to his fate. The youth, after despairing
+of life, finds his way to a palace where dwell seven maidens, with whom
+he remains for awhile in Platonic friendship. When they are summoned
+away by their father for a two months' absence, they leave him their
+keys, straitly charging him not to open a certain door. He disregards
+their wishes, and finds within a magnificent pavilion enclosing a basin
+brimful of water, at which ten birds come to bathe and play. The birds
+for this purpose cast their feathers; and Hasan is favoured with the
+sight of "ten virgins, maids whose beauty shamed the brilliancy of the
+moon." He fell madly in love with the chief damsel, who turns out to be
+a daughter of a King of the Jann. On the return of the maidens of the
+palace he is advised by them to watch the next time the birds come, and
+to take possession of the feather-suit belonging to the damsel of his
+choice, for without this she cannot return home with her attendants. He
+succeeds in doing so, and thus compels her to remain with him and
+become his wife. With her he departs to his own country and settles in
+Bagdad, where his wife bears him two sons. During his temporary absence,
+however, she persuades her mother-in-law--who, unfortunately for the
+happiness of the household, lives with the young couple--to let her have
+the feather-suit which her husband has left under her charge. Clad with
+this she takes her two boys in her arms and sails away through the air
+to the islands of Wák, leaving a message for the hapless Hasan that if
+he loves her he may come and seek her there. Now the islands of Wák were
+seven islands, wherein was a mighty host, all virgin girls, and the
+inner isles were peopled by satans and marids and warlocks and various
+tribesmen of the Jinn, and whoso entered their land never returned
+thence; and Hasan's wife was one of the king's daughters. To reach her
+he would have to cross seven wadys and seven seas and seven mighty
+mountains. Undaunted, however, by the difficulties wherewith he is
+threatened, he determines to find her, swearing by Allah never to turn
+back till he regain his beloved, or till death overtake him. By the help
+of sundry potentates of more or less forbidding aspect and supernatural
+power, to whom he gets letters of introduction, and who live in gorgeous
+palaces amid deserts, and are served by demons only uglier and less
+mighty than themselves, he succeeds in traversing the Land of Birds, the
+Land of Wild Beasts, the country of the Warlocks and the Enchanters, and
+the Land of the Jinn, and enters the islands of Wák--there to fall into
+the hands of that masterful virago, his wife's eldest sister. After a
+preliminary outburst against Hasan, this amiable creature pours, as is
+the wont of women, the full torrent of her wrath against her erring
+sister. From the tortures she inflicts, Hasan at length rescues his
+wife, with their two sons, by means of a cap of invisibility and a rod
+conferring authority over seven tribes of the Jinn, which he has stolen
+from two boys who are quarrelling over them. When his sister-in-law
+with an army of Jinn pursues the fugitives, the subjects of the rod
+overcome her. His wife begs for her sister's life and reconciles her
+husband to her, and then returns with her husband to his home in Bagdad,
+to quit him no more.[185]
+
+Such in meagre outline is this wonderful story. Its variants are legion,
+and I can only refer to a few of them which are of special interest. In
+dealing with these I shall confine my attention to the essential points
+of the plot, touching only such details as are germane to the questions
+thus evoked. We shall accordingly pass in review the maiden's disguise
+and capture, her flight and her recapture; and afterwards turning to
+other types of the tale, we shall look at the corresponding incidents to
+be met with therein, reserving for another chapter the consideration of
+the meaning of the myth, so far as it can be traced.
+
+The bird whose shape is assumed by the Jinn in the foregoing tale is not
+specified; but in Europe, where beauty and grace and purity find so apt
+an emblem in the swan, several of the most important variants have
+naturally appropriated that majestic form to the heroine, and have thus
+given a name to the whole group of stories. In Sweden, for example, we
+are told of a young hunter who beheld three swans descend on the
+seashore and lay their plumage aside before they plunged into the water.
+When he looked at the robes so laid aside they appeared like linen, and
+the forms that were swimming in the waves were damsels of dazzling
+whiteness. Advised by his foster-mother, he secures the linen of the
+youngest and fairest. She, therefore, could not follow her companions
+when they drew on their plumage and flew away; and being thus in the
+hunter's power, she became his wife. The hero of a story current among
+the Germans of Transylvania opens, like Hasan, a forbidden door, and
+finds three swan-maids bathing in a blue pool. Their clothes are
+contained in satchels on its margin, and when he has taken the satchel
+of the youngest he must not look behind until he has reached home. This
+done, he finds the maiden there and persuades her to marry him. Mikáilo
+Ivanovitch, the hero of a popular Russian ballad, wanders by the sea,
+and, gazing out upon a quiet bay, beholds a white swan floating there.
+He draws his bow to shoot her, but she prays him to desist; and rising
+over the blue sea upon her white wings, she turns into a beautiful
+maiden. Surprised with love, he offers to kiss her; but she reveals
+herself as a heathen princess and demands first to be baptized, and then
+she will wed him. In a Hessian story a forester sees a fair swan
+floating on a lonely lake. He is about to shoot it when it warns him to
+desist, or it will cost him his life. Immediately the swan was
+transformed into a maiden, who told him she was bewitched, but could be
+freed if he would say a Paternoster for her every Sunday for a
+twelvemonth, and meantime keep silence concerning his adventure. The
+test proved too hard, and he lost her.[186]
+
+The swan, however, by no means monopolizes the honour of concealing the
+heroine's form. In a Finnish tale from OEsterbotten, a dead father
+appears in dreams to his three sons, commanding them to watch singly by
+night the geese on the sea-strand. The two elder are so frightened by
+the darkness that they scamper home. But the youngest, despised and
+dirty, watches boldly, till at the first flush of dawn three geese fly
+thither, strip off their feathers, and plunge, as lovely maidens, into
+the water to bathe. Then the youth chooses the most beautiful of the
+three pairs of wings he finds on the shore, hides them, and awaits
+events; nor does he give them up again to the owner until she has
+betrothed herself to him. Elsewhere the damsels are described as ducks;
+but a more common shape is that of doves. A story is current in Bohemia
+of a boy whom a witch leads to a spring. Over the spring stands an old
+elm-tree haunted by three white doves, who are enchanted princesses.
+Catching one and plucking out her wings, he restores her to her natural
+condition; and she brings him to his parents, whom he had lost in the
+sack of the city where they dwelt. The Magyars speak of three pigeons
+coming every noontide to a great white lake, where they turn somersaults
+and are transformed into girls. They are really fairy-maidens; and a boy
+who can steal the dress of one of them and run away with it, resisting
+the temptation to look back when she calls in caressing tones, succeeds
+in winning her. In the "Bahar Danush" a merchant's son perceives four
+doves alight at sunset by a piece of water, and, resuming their natural
+form (for they are Peries), forthwith undress and plunge into the water.
+He steals their clothes, and thus compels the one whom he chooses to
+accept him as her husband. The extravagance characteristic of the
+"Arabian Nights," when, in the story of Janshah, it represents the
+ladies as doves, expands their figures to the size of eagles, with far
+less effect, however, than where they retain more moderate dimensions.
+No better illustration of this can be given than the story from South
+Smaland of the fair Castle east of the Sun and north of the Earth,
+versified so exquisitely in "The Earthly Paradise." There a peasant,
+finding that the fine grass of a meadow belonging to him was constantly
+trodden down during the summer nights, set his three sons, one after
+another, to watch for the trespassers. The two elder, as usual in these
+tales, are unsuccessful, but the youngest keeps wide awake until the sun
+is about to rise. A rustling in the air, as of birds, then heralds the
+flight of three doves, who cast their feathers and become fair maidens.
+These maidens begin to dance on the green grass, and so featly do they
+step that they scarce seem to touch the ground. To the watching youth,
+one among them looked more beautiful than all other women; and he
+pictured to himself the possession of her as more to be longed for than
+that of every other in the world. So he rose and stole their plumage,
+nor did he restore it until the king's daughter, the fairest of them
+all, had plighted her troth to him.[187]
+
+The story is by no means confined to Europe and Asia. The Arawàks, one
+of the aboriginal tribes of Guiana, relate that a beautiful royal
+vulture was once captured by a hunter. She was the daughter of Anuanima,
+sovereign of a race whose country is above the sky, and who lay aside
+there the appearance of birds for that of humanity. Smitten with love
+for the hunter, the captive divested herself of her feathers and
+exhibited her true form--that of a beautiful girl. "She becomes his
+wife, bears him above the clouds, and, after much trouble, persuades her
+father and family to receive him. All then goes well, until he expresses
+a wish to visit his aged mother, when they discard him, and set him on
+the top of a very high tree, the trunk of which is covered with
+formidable prickles. He appeals pathetically to all the living creatures
+around. Then spiders spin cords to help him, and fluttering birds ease
+his descent, so that at last he reaches the ground in safety. Then
+follow his efforts, extending over several years, to regain his wife,
+whom he tenderly loves. Her family seek to destroy him; but by his
+strength and sagacity he is victorious in every encounter. The birds at
+length espouse his cause, assemble their forces, and bear him as their
+commander above the sky. He is at last slain by a valiant young warrior,
+resembling himself in person and features. It is his own son, born after
+his expulsion from the upper regions, and brought up there in ignorance
+of his own father. The legend ends with the conflagration of the house
+of the royal vultures, who, hemmed in by crowds of hostile birds, are
+unable to use their wings, and forced to fight and die in their human
+forms."[188] This tale, so primitive in form, can hardly have travelled
+round half the globe to the remote American Indians among whom it was
+discovered. And yet in many of its features it presents the most
+striking likeness to several of the versions current in the Old World.
+
+Sometimes, however, as in the tale of Hasan, the species is left
+undescribed. Among the Eskimo the heroine is vaguely referred to as a
+sea-fowl. The Kurds have a strange tale of a bird they call the Bird
+Simer. His daughter has been ensnared by a giant when she and three
+other birds were out flying; but she is at length rescued by two heroes,
+one of whom she weds. When she becomes homesick she puts on her
+feather-dress and flies away.[189]
+
+A Pomeranian saga forms an interesting link between the Swan-maiden
+group and the legends of Enchanted Princesses discussed in the last
+chapter. A huntsman, going his rounds in the forest, drew near a pool
+which lies at the foot of the Hühnerberg. There he saw a girl bathing;
+and thinking that she was from the neighbouring village, he picked up
+her clothes, with the intention of playing her a trick. When she saw
+what he had done, she left the water and hastened after him, begging him
+to give back her clothes--or at any rate her shift. He, however, was not
+to be moved; and she then told him she was an enchanted princess, and
+without her shift she could not return. _Now_ he was fully determined
+not to give up the precious article of apparel. She was, therefore,
+compelled to follow him to his hut, where his mother kept house for him.
+The huntsman there put the shift into a chest, of which he took the key,
+so that the maiden could not escape; and after some time she accepted
+the position, and agreed to become his wife. Years passed by, and
+several children had been born, when one day he went out, leaving the
+key of the chest behind. When the heroine saw this she begged her
+mother-in-law to open the chest and show her the shift; for, we are
+told, the enchanted princess could not herself open the trunk. She
+begged so hard that her mother-in-law at last complied; and no sooner
+had she got the shift into her hands than she vanished out of sight.
+When the husband returned and heard what had happened, he made up his
+mind to seek her. So he climbed the Hühnerberg and let himself down the
+opening he found there. He soon arrived at the underground castle.
+Before its closed gate lay a great black dog, around whose neck a paper
+hung which conveniently contained directions how to penetrate into the
+castle. Following these, he presently found himself in the presence of
+the princess, his wife, who was right glad to see him, and gave him a
+glass of wine to strengthen him for the task before him; for at midnight
+the Evil One would come to drive him out of the castle and prevent the
+lady's deliverance. At this point, unfortunately, the reciter's memory
+failed: hence we do not know the details of the rescue. But we may
+conjecture, from the precedents, that the huntsman had to endure
+torture. The issue was that he was successful, the castle ascended out
+of the earth, and husband and wife were reunited.[190]
+
+This story differs in many important respects from the type; and it
+contains the incident, very rare in a modern European saga belonging to
+this group, of the recovery of the bride. I shall have occasion to
+revert to the curious inability of the enchanted princess to open the
+chest containing the wonderful shift. Meanwhile, let me observe that in
+most of the tales the feather-dress, or talisman, by which the bride may
+escape, is committed to the care of a third person--usually a kinswoman
+of the husband, and in many cases his mother; and that the wife as a
+rule only recovers it when it is given to her, or at least when that
+which contains it has been opened by another: she seems incapable of
+finding it herself.
+
+There is another type of the Swan-maiden myth, which appears to be the
+favourite of the Latin nations, though it is also to be met with among
+other peoples. Its outline may, perhaps, best be given from the nursery
+tale of the Marquis of the Sun, as told at Seville. The Marquis of the
+Sun was a great gamester. A man played with him and lost all he had, and
+then staked his soul--and lost it. The Marquis instructed him, if he
+desired to recover it, to come to him when he had worn out a pair of
+iron shoes. In the course of his wanderings he finds a struggle going on
+over a dead man, whose creditors would not allow him to be buried until
+his debts had been paid. Iron Shoes pays them, and one shoe goes to
+pieces. He afterwards meets a cavalier, who reveals himself as the dead
+man whose debts had been paid, and who is desirous of requiting that
+favour. He therefore directs Iron Shoes to the banks of a river where
+three white doves come, change into princesses, and bathe. Iron Shoes is
+to take the dress of the smallest, and thus get her to tell him whither
+he has to go. Obeying this direction, he learns from the princess that
+the Marquis is her father; and she shows him the way to his castle.
+Arrived there, he demands his soul. Before conceding it the Marquis sets
+him tasks: to level an inconvenient mountain, so that the sun may shine
+on the castle; to sow the site of the mountain with fruit trees, and
+gather the fruit of them in one day for dinner; to find a piece of plate
+which the Marquis's great-grandfather had dropped into the river; to
+catch and mount a horse which is no other than the Marquis himself; and
+to choose a bride from among the princesses, his daughters. The damsel
+who had shown Iron Shoes the way to the palace performs the first two of
+these tasks: and she teaches him how to perform the others. For the
+third, he has to cut her up and cast her into the river, whence she
+immediately rises whole again, triumphantly bringing the lost piece of
+plate. In butchering her he has, however, clumsily dropped a piece of
+her little finger on the ground. It is accordingly wanting when she
+rises from the river; and this is the token by which Iron Shoes
+recognizes her when he has to choose a bride; for, in choosing, he is
+only allowed to see the little fingers of these candidates for
+matrimony. He and his bride afterwards flee from the castle; but we need
+not follow their adventures now.[191]
+
+In stories of this type doves are the shape usually assumed by the
+heroine and her comrades; but swans and geese are often found, and in a
+Russian tale we are even introduced to spoonbills. Nor do the birds I
+have mentioned by any means exhaust the disguises of these supernatural
+ladies. The stories comprised under this and the foregoing type are
+nearly all _märchen_; but when we come to other types where sagas become
+more numerous, we find other animals favoured, well-nigh to the
+exclusion of birds. In the latter types there is no recovery of the wife
+when she has once abandoned her husband. An inhabitant of Unst, one of
+the Shetland Islands, beholds a number of the sea-folk dancing by
+moonlight on the shore of a small bay. Near them lie several sealskins.
+He snatches up one, the property, as it turns out, of a fair maiden, who
+thereupon becomes his wife. Years after, one of their children finds her
+sealskin, and runs to display it to his mother, not knowing it was hers.
+She puts it on, becomes a seal, and plunges into the waters. In Croatia
+it is said that a soldier once, watching in a haunted mill, saw a
+she-wolf enter, divest herself of her skin, and come out of it a damsel.
+She hangs the skin on a peg and goes to sleep before the fire. While she
+sleeps the soldier takes the skin and nails it fast to the mill-wheel,
+so that she cannot recover it. He marries her, and she bears him two
+sons. The elder of these children hears that his mother is a wolf. He
+becomes inquisitive, and his father at length tells him where the skin
+is. When he tells his mother, she goes away and is heard of no more. A
+Sutherlandshire story speaks of a mermaid who fell in love with a
+fisherman. As he did not want to be carried away into the sea he, by
+fair means or foul, succeeded in getting hold of her pouch and belt, on
+which her power of swimming depended, and so retained her on land; and
+she became his bride. But we are not surprised to hear that her tail was
+always in the way: her silky hair grew tangled too, for her comb and
+glass were in the pouch; the dogs teased her, and rude people mocked
+her. Thus her life was made wretched. But one day in her husband's
+absence the labourers were pulling down a stack of corn. As she watched
+them, weeping for her lost freedom, she espied her precious pouch and
+belt, which had been built in and buried among the sheaves. She caught
+it and leaped into the sea.[192]
+
+In the last tale there is no change of form: the hero simply possesses
+himself of something without which the supernatural maiden has no power
+to leave him. Even in the true Hasan of Bassorah type, the magical
+change does not always occur. A variant translated by Jonathan Scott
+from a Syrian manuscript merely enwraps the descending damsels in robes
+of light green silk. When her robe is taken the chosen beauty is kept
+from following her companions in their return flight. Similar to this is
+the Pomeranian saga already cited. In the New Hebrides there is a legend
+of seven winged women whose home was in heaven, and who came down to
+earth to bathe. Before bathing, they put off their wings. According to
+the version told in Aurora island, Qatu one day, seeing them thus
+bathing, took the wings of one and buried them at the foot of the main
+post of his house. In this way he won their owner as his wife; and she
+so remained until she found her wings again. In modern Greece it is
+believed that Nereids can be caught by seizing their wings, their
+clothes, or even their handkerchiefs. The Bulgarians, who have similar
+tales, call the supernatural ladies Samodivas; and they are captured by
+means of their raiment. A number of parallels have been cited from
+various sources by M. Cosquin, a few of which may be mentioned. A
+Burmese drama, for instance, sets before us nine princesses of the city
+of the Silver Mountain, who wear enchanted girdles that enable them to
+fly as swiftly as a bird. The youngest of these princesses is caught
+while bathing, by means of a magical slip-knot. A divine ancestress of
+the Bantiks, a tribe inhabiting the Celebes Islands, came down from the
+sky with seven companions to bathe. A man who saw them took them for
+doves, but was surprised to find that they were women. He possessed
+himself of the clothes of one of them, and thus obliged her to marry
+him. In a story told by the Santals of India, the daughters of the sun
+make use of a spider's thread to reach the earth. A shepherd, whom they
+unblushingly invite to bathe with them, persuades them to try which of
+them all can remain longest under water; and while they are in the river
+he scrambles out, and, taking the upper garment of the one whom he
+loves, flees with it to his home. In another Indian tale, five apsaras,
+or celestial dancers, are conveyed in an enchanted car to a pool in the
+forest. Seven supernatural maidens, in a Samoyede _märchen_, are brought
+in their reindeer chariot to a lake, where the hero possesses himself of
+the best suit of garments he finds on the shore. The owner prays him to
+give them up; but he refuses, until he obtains a definite pledge of
+marriage, saying: "If I give thee the garments thou wilt fare up again
+to heaven."[193]
+
+In none of these stories (and they are but samples of many) does the
+feather dress occur; yet it has left reminiscences which are
+unmistakable. The variants hitherto cited have all betrayed these
+reminiscences as articles of clothing, or conveyance, or in the
+pardonable mistake of the Bantik forefather at the time of capture. I
+shall refer presently to cases whence the plumage has faded entirely out
+of the story--and that in spite of its picturesqueness--without leaving
+a trace. But let me first call attention to the fact that, even where it
+is preserved, we often do not find it exactly how and where we should
+have expected it. Witness the curious Algonkin tale of "How one of the
+Partridge's wives became a Sheldrake Duck." A hunter, we are told,
+returning home in his canoe, saw a beautiful girl sitting on a rock by
+the river, making a moccasin. He paddled up softly to capture her; but
+she jumped into the water and disappeared. Her mother, however, who
+lived at the bottom, compelled her to return to the hunter and be his
+wife. The legend then takes a turn in the direction of the Bluebeard
+myth; for the woman yields to curiosity, and thus deprives her husband
+of his luck. When he finds this out he seizes his bow to beat her. "When
+she saw him seize his bow to beat her she ran down to the river, and
+jumped in to escape death at his hands, though it should be by drowning.
+But as she fell into the water she became a sheldrake duck." The
+Passamaquoddies, who relate this story, have hardly yet passed out of
+the stage of thought in which no steadfast boundary is set between men
+and the lower animals. The amphibious maiden, who dwelt in the bottom of
+the river, could not be drowned by jumping into the stream; and it is
+evident that she only resumes her true aquatic form in escaping from her
+husband, who, it should be added, is himself called Partridge and seems
+to be regarded as, in fact, a fowl of that species. A still more
+remarkable instance is to be found among the Welsh of Carnarvonshire,
+who, it need hardly be said, are now on a very different level of
+civilization from that of the Passamaquoddies. They tell us that when
+the fairy bride of Corwrion quitted her unlucky husband, she at once
+flew through the air and plunged into the lake; and one account
+significantly describes her as flying away _like a wood-hen_. Can it
+have been many generations since she was spoken of as actually changing
+into a bird?[194]
+
+We may now pass to wholly different types of the tradition. In all the
+stories where the magical dress appears, whether as a feather-skin, the
+hide of a quadruped, or in the modified form of wings, a robe, an apron,
+a veil or other symbol, the catastrophe is brought about by the wife's
+recovery, usually more or less accidental, of the article in question.
+But it is obvious that where the incident of the dress is wanting, the
+loss of the supernatural bride must be brought about by other means. In
+some traditions, the woman's caprice, or the fulfilment of her fate, is
+deemed enough for this purpose; but in the most developed stories it is
+caused by the breach of a _taboo_. _Taboo_ is a word adopted from the
+Polynesian languages, signifying, first, something set apart, thence
+holy and inviolable, and lastly something simply forbidden. It is
+generally used in English as a verb of which the nearest equivalent is
+another curious verb--to boycott. A person or thing _tabooed_ is one
+avoided by express or tacit agreement on the part of any class or number
+of persons; and _to taboo_ is to avoid in pursuance of such an
+agreement. In Folklore, however, the word is used in a different and
+wider sense. It includes every sort of prohibition, from the social or
+religious boycott (if I may use the word), to which it would be more
+properly applied, down to any injunction addressed by a supernatural
+being to the hero or heroine of a tale. Folklore students of the
+anthropological school are so apt to refer these last prohibitions for
+their origin to the more general prohibitions of the former kind, that
+perhaps this indiscriminate use of the word may be held to beg some of
+the questions at issue. It is certain, however, that the scholars who
+originally applied it to what I may call private prohibitions, had no
+such thought in their minds. They found it a convenient term, applicable
+by no great stretch of its ordinary meaning, and they appropriated it
+to the purposes of science. I shall therefore use it without scruple as
+a well recognized word, and without any question-begging intent.
+
+Having premised so much, I will proceed to set forth shortly the balder
+type of the story, where there is no taboo, then the fuller type. Their
+relations to one another will be dealt with in the next chapter.
+
+An Algonkin legend relates that a hunter beheld a basket descend from
+heaven, containing twelve young maidens of ravishing beauty. He
+attempted to approach, but on perceiving him they quickly re-entered the
+basket and were drawn up again out of his sight. Another day, however,
+he succeeded, by disguising himself as a mouse, in capturing the
+youngest of the damsels, whom he married and by whom he had a son. But
+nothing could console his wife for the society of her sisters, which she
+had lost. So one day she made a small basket; and having entered it with
+her child she sang the charm she and her sisters had formerly used, and
+ascended once more to the star from whence she had come. It is added
+that when two years had elapsed the star said to his daughter: "Thy son
+wants to see his father; go down, therefore, to the earth and fetch thy
+husband, and tell him to bring us specimens of all the animals he
+kills." This was done. The hunter ascended with his wife to the sky; and
+there a great feast was given, in which the animals he brought were
+served up. Those of the guests who took the paws or the tails were
+transformed into animals. The hunter himself took a white feather, and
+with his wife and child was metamorphosed into a falcon.[195] I will
+only now remark on the latter part of the tale that it is told by the
+same race as the Sheldrake Duck's adventures; and if we deem it probable
+that the heroine of that narrative simply resumed her pristine form in
+becoming a duck, the same reasoning will hold good as to the falcons
+here. This type of the myth we may call the "Star's Daughter type."
+
+The other type may be named after Melusina, the famous Countess of
+Lusignan. The earliest writer to mention the legend which afterwards
+became identified with her name, was Gervase of Tilbury, who relates
+that Raymond, the lord of a certain castle a few miles from Aix in
+Provence, riding alone on the banks of the river, unexpectedly met an
+unknown lady of rare beauty, also alone, riding on a splendidly
+caparisoned palfrey. On his saluting her she replied, addressing him by
+name. Astonished at this, but encouraged, he made improper overtures to
+her; to which she declined to assent, intimating, however, in the most
+unabashed way, that she would marry him if he liked. He agreed to this;
+but the lady imposed a further condition, namely, that he should never
+see her naked; for if once he did so, all the prosperity and all the
+happiness with which he was about to be blessed would depart, and he
+would be left to drag out the rest of his life in wretchedness. On these
+terms they were married; and every earthly felicity followed,--wealth,
+renown, bodily strength, the love of his fellow-men, and children--boys
+and girls--of the greatest beauty. But one day his lady was bathing in
+the bedroom, when he came in from hunting and fowling, laden with
+partridges and other game. While food was being prepared the thought
+struck him that he would go and see her in her bath. So many years had
+he enjoyed unalloyed prosperity that, if there ever were any force in
+her threat, he deemed it had long since passed away. Deaf to his wife's
+pleadings, he tore away the curtain from the bath and beheld her naked;
+but only for an instant, for she was forthwith changed into a serpent,
+and, putting her head under the water, she disappeared. Nor ever was she
+seen again; but sometimes in the darkness of night the nurses would
+hear her busy with a mother's care for her little children. Gervase adds
+that one of her daughters was married to a relative of his own belonging
+to a noble family of Provence, and her descendants were living at the
+time he wrote.[196]
+
+The story, as told of Melusina, was amplified, but in its substance
+differed little from the foregoing. Melusina does not forbid her husband
+to see her naked, but bargains for absolute privacy on Saturdays. When
+Raymond violates this covenant he finds her in her bath with her lower
+extremities changed into a serpent's tail. The lady appears to be
+unconscious of her husband's discovery; and nothing happens until, in a
+paroxysm of anger and grief, arising from the murder of one of his
+children by another, he cries out upon her as an odious serpent, the
+contaminator of his race. It will be remembered that in the Esthonian
+tale cited in Chapter VIII the youth is forbidden to call his mistress
+mermaid; and all goes well until he peeps into the locked chamber, where
+she passes her Thursdays, and finds her in mermaid form. Far away in
+Japan we learn that the hero Hohodemi wedded Toyotamahime, a daughter of
+the Sea-god, and built a house for her on the strand where she might
+give birth to her child. She strictly forbade him to come near until the
+happy event was over: he was to remain in his own dwelling, and on no
+account to attempt to see her until she sent for him. His curiosity,
+however, was too much for his happiness. He peeped, and saw his wife
+writhing to and fro on the floor in the shape of a dragon. He started
+back, shocked; and when, later on, Toyotamahime called him to her, she
+saw by his countenance that he had discovered the secret she had thought
+to hide from all mankind. In spite of his entreaties she plunged into
+the sea, never more to see her lord. Her boy, notwithstanding, was still
+the object of her care. She sent her sister to watch over him, and he
+grew up to become the father of the first Emperor of Japan. In a Maori
+tale the hero loses his wife through prematurely tearing down a screen
+he had erected for her convenience on a similar occasion. A Moravian
+tale speaks of a bride who shuts herself up every eighth day, and when
+her husband looks through the keyhole, he beholds her thighs clad with
+hair and her feet those of goats. This is a _märchen_; and in the end,
+having paid the penalty of his rashness by undergoing adventures like
+those of Hasan, the hero regains his love. A Tirolese _märchen_ tells us
+of a witch who, in the shape of a beautiful girl, took service with a
+rich man and made a conquest of his son. She wedded him on condition
+that he would never look upon her by candlelight. The youth, like a
+masculine Psyche, breaks the taboo; and a drop of the wax, falling on
+her cheek, awakens her. It was in vain that he blew out the taper and
+lay down. When he awoke in the morning she was gone; but a pair of shoes
+with iron soles stood by the bed, with a paper directing him to seek her
+till the soles were worn out, and then he should find her again. By the
+aid of a mantle of invisibility, and a chair which bore him where he
+wished, he arrived in the nick of time to prevent her marriage with
+another bridegroom. The proper reconciliation follows, and her true
+husband bears her home in triumph. Not so happy was the hero of a
+Corsican saga, who insisted on seeing his wife's naked shoulder and
+found it nothing but bones--the skeleton of their love which he had thus
+murdered.[197]
+
+At the foot of the steep grassy cliffs of the Van Mountains in
+Carmarthenshire lies a lonely pool, called Llyn y Fan Fach, which is the
+scene of a variant of Melusina, less celebrated, indeed, but equally
+romantic and far more beautiful. The legend may still be heard on the
+lips of the peasantry; and more than one version has found its way into
+print. The most complete was written down by Mr. William Rees, of Tonn
+(a well-known Welsh antiquary and publisher), from the oral recitation
+of two old men and a woman, natives of Myddfai, where the hero of the
+story is said to have dwelt. Stated shortly, the legend is to the
+following effect: The son of a widow who lived at Blaensawdde, a little
+village about three-quarters of a mile from the pool, was one day
+tending his mother's cattle upon its shore when, to his astonishment, he
+beheld the Lady of the Lake sitting upon its unruffled surface, which
+she used as a mirror while she combed out her graceful ringlets. She
+imperceptibly glided nearer to him, but eluded his grasp and refused the
+bait of barley bread and cheese that he held out to her, saying as she
+dived and disappeared:
+
+    "Cras dy fara;
+    Nid hawdd fy nala!"
+    ("Hard-baked is thy bread;
+    It is not easy to catch me!")
+
+An offer of unbaked dough, or _toes_, the next day was equally
+unsuccessful. She exclaimed:
+
+    "Llaith dy fara!
+    Ti ni fynna'."
+    ("Unbaked is thy bread!
+    I will not have thee.")
+
+But the slightly baked bread, which the youth subsequently took, by his
+mother's advice, was accepted: he seized the lady's hand and persuaded
+her to become his bride. Diving into the lake she then fetched her
+father--"a hoary-headed man of noble mien and extraordinary stature, but
+having otherwise all the force and strength of youth"--who rose from the
+depths with _two_ ladies and was ready to consent to the match, provided
+the young man could distinguish which of the two ladies before him was
+the object of his affections. This was no small test of love, inasmuch
+as the maidens were exactly alike in form and features. One of them,
+however, thrust her foot a little forward; and the hero recognized a
+peculiarity of her shoe-tie, which he had somehow had leisure to notice
+at his previous interviews. The father admits the correctness of his
+choice, and bestows a dowry of sheep, cattle, goats, and horses, but
+stipulates in the most business-like way that these animals shall return
+with the bride, if at any time her husband prove unkind and strike her
+thrice without a cause.
+
+So far Mr. Rees' version. A version published in the "Cambro-Briton" is
+somewhat different. Three beautiful damsels appear from the pool, and
+are repeatedly pursued by the young farmer, but in vain. They always
+reached the water before him and taunted him with the couplet:
+
+    "Cras dy fara,
+    Anhawdd ein dala!"
+
+One day some moist bread from the lake came floating ashore. The youth
+seized and devoured it; and the following day he was successful in
+catching the ladies. The one to whom he offers marriage consents on the
+understanding that he will recognize her the next day from among the
+three sisters. He does so by the strapping of her sandal; and she is
+accompanied to her new home by seven cows, two oxen, and a bull from the
+lake. A third version presents the maiden as rowing on New Year's Eve up
+and down the lake in a golden boat with a golden oar. She disappears
+from the hero's gaze, without replying to his adjurations. Counselled by
+a soothsayer, who dwells on the mountain, he casts loaves and cheese
+night after night from Midsummer Eve to New Year's Eve into the water,
+until at length the magic skiff again appears, and the fairy, stepping
+ashore, weds her persistent wooer.
+
+In all three versions the bridegroom is forbidden to strike "three
+causeless blows." Of course he disobeys. According to the
+"Cambro-Briton" version it happened that one day, preparing for a fair,
+he desired his wife to go to the field for his horse. Finding her
+dilatory in doing so, he tapped her arm thrice with his glove, saying,
+half in jest: "Go, go, go!" The blows were slight, but they were blows;
+and, the terms of the marriage contract being broken, the dame
+departed--she and her cattle with her--back into the lake. The other two
+accounts agree in spreading the blows over a much greater length of
+time. Mr. Rees' version relates that once the husband and wife were
+invited to a christening in the neighbourhood. The lady, however, seemed
+reluctant to go, making the feminine excuse that the distance was too
+far to walk. Her husband told her to fetch one of the horses from the
+field. "I will," said she, "if you will bring me my gloves, which I left
+in the house." He went, and, returning with the gloves, found that she
+had not gone for the horse, so he jocularly slapped her shoulder with
+one of the gloves, saying: "Go, go!" Whereupon she reminded him of the
+condition that he was not to strike her without a cause, and warned him
+to be more careful in future. Another time, when they were together at a
+wedding, she burst out sobbing amid the joy and mirth of all around her.
+Her husband touched her on the shoulder and inquired the cause of her
+weeping. She replied: "Now people are entering into trouble; and your
+troubles are likely to commence, as you have the second time stricken me
+without a cause." Finding how very wide an interpretation she put upon
+the "causeless blows," the unfortunate husband did his best to avoid
+anything which could give occasion for the third and last blow. But one
+day they were together at a funeral, where, in the midst of the grief,
+she appeared in the highest spirits and indulged in immoderate fits of
+laughter. Her husband was so shocked that he touched her, saying:
+"Hush, hush! don't laugh!" She retorted that she laughed "because
+people, when they die, go out of trouble"; and, rising up, she left the
+house, exclaiming: "The last blow has been struck; our marriage contract
+is broken, and at an end! Farewell!" Hurrying home, she called together
+all her fairy cattle, walked off with them to the lake, and vanished in
+its waters. Even a little black calf, slaughtered and suspended on the
+hook, descended alive and well again to obey his mistress' summons; and
+four grey oxen, which were ploughing, dragged the plough behind them as
+they went, leaving a well-marked furrow, that remains to this day "to
+witness if I lie." The remaining version, with some differences of
+detail, represents the same eccentric pessimism on the lady's part
+(presumably attributable to the greater spiritual insight of her
+supernatural character), as the cause of the husband's not unwarranted
+annoyance and of his breach of the agreement. She had borne him three
+fair sons; and although she had quitted her husband for ever, she
+continued to manifest herself occasionally to them, and gave them
+instruction in herbs and medicine, predicting that they and their issue
+would become during many generations the most renowned physicians in the
+country.[198]
+
+Such is the legend of the Van Pool. It has a number of variants, both in
+Wales and elsewhere, the examination of which I postpone for the
+present. Hitherto I have been guided in the mention of variants of this
+myth chiefly by the desire of showing how one type insensibly merges
+into another. The only type I have now left for examination may be
+called the "Nightmare type." It is allied not so much to the stories of
+Melusina and the Lady of the Van Pool as to stories like that of the
+Croatian wolf-maiden. According to German and Slavonic belief the
+nightmare is a human being--frequently one whose love has been slighted,
+and who in this shape is enabled to approach the beloved object. It
+slips through the keyhole, or any other hole in a building, and presses
+its victim sometimes to death. But it can be caught by quickly stopping
+the hole through which it has entered. A certain man did so one night;
+and in the morning he found a young and lovely maiden in the room. On
+asking her whence she came, she told him from Engelland (angel-land,
+England). He hid her clothes, married her, and had by her three
+children. The only thing peculiar about her was that she used constantly
+to sing while spinning:
+
+    "Now calls my mother (_or_, blows my father) in Engelland,
+    Mary Catharine,
+    Drive out thy swine."
+
+One day her husband came home and found that his wife had been telling
+the children that she had come as a nightmare from Engelland. When he
+reproached her for it, she went to the cupboard where her clothes were
+hidden, threw them over herself, and vanished. Yet she could not quite
+forsake her husband and little ones. On Saturdays she came unseen and
+laid out their clean clothes; and every night she appeared while others
+slept, and taking the baby out of the cradle quieted it at her breast.
+The allusion to the nightmare's clothes is uncommon; but it is an
+unmistakable link with the types we have been considering. In other
+tales she is caught in the shape of a straw; and she is generally
+released by taking the stopper out of the hole whereby she entered. The
+account she gives of herself is that she has come out of England, that
+the pastor had been guilty of some omission in the service when she was
+baptized, and hence she became a nightmare, but to be re-christened
+would cure her. She often hears her mother call her. In one story she
+vanished on being reproached with her origin, and in another on being
+asked how she became a nightmare.[199]
+
+An Esthonian tale speaks of a father who found his little boy one night
+in an unquiet slumber. He noticed over the bed a hole in the wall
+through which the wind was whistling, and thought it was this which was
+disturbing him. Wherefore he stopped it up; and no sooner had he done so
+than he saw on the bed by the boy's side a pretty little girl, who
+teased and played with him so that he could not sleep in peace. The
+child was thus forced to stay in the house. She grew up with the other
+children, and being quick and industrious was beloved by all. Specially
+was she dear to the boy in whose bed she was found; and when he grew up
+he married her. One Sunday in church she burst out laughing during the
+sermon. After the service was over the husband inquired what she was
+laughing at. She refused to tell him, save on condition of his telling
+her in return how she came into his father's house. When she had
+extracted this promise from him, she told him she saw stretched on the
+wall of the church a great horse-skin, on which the Evil One was writing
+the names of all those who slept or chattered in church, and paid no
+heed to God's word. The skin was at last full of names; and in order to
+find room for more the Devil had to pull it with his teeth, so as to
+stretch it further. In so doing he bumped his head against the wall, and
+made a wry face: whereat she, who saw it, laughed. When they got home
+her husband pulled out the piece of wood which his father had put into
+the hole; and the same instant his wife was gone. The husband was
+disconsolate, but he saw her no more. It was said, however, that she
+often appeared to his two children in secret, and brought them precious
+gifts. In Smaland a parallel legend is current, according to which the
+ancestress of a certain family was an elf-maid who came into the house
+with the sunbeams through a knot-hole in the wall, and, after being
+married to the son and bearing him four children, vanished the same way
+as she had come. In North Germany it is believed that when seven boys,
+or seven girls, are born in succession, one among them is a nightmare. A
+man who had unknowingly wedded such a nightmare found that she
+disappeared from his bed at nights; and on watching her he discovered
+that she slipped through the hole for the strap by which the latch was
+lifted, returning the same way. So he stopped up the opening, and thus
+always retained her. After a considerable time he wanted to use the
+latch, and thinking she had forgotten her bad habit and he might safely
+take the peg out, he did so; but the next night she was missing, and
+never came back, though every Sunday morning the man found clean linen
+laid out for him as usual.[200]
+
+A Pomeranian tradition relates the adventure of an officer who was much
+troubled by the nightmare. He caught her in the usual manner and wedded
+her, although he could not persuade her to say whence she came. After
+some years she induced her husband to open the holes he had stopped up;
+and the next morning she had disappeared. But he found written in chalk
+on the table the words: "If thou wilt seek me, the Commander of London
+is my father." He sought her in London and found her; and having taken
+the precaution to rechristen her he lived happily with her ever
+after.[201] This is the only instance I have met with where the
+nightmare-wife is recovered. It would be interesting to know why England
+is assigned as the home of these perturbed spirits.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[185] Burton, "Nights," vol. viii. p. 7.
+
+[186] Thorpe, vol. ii. p. 69, quoting Afzelius; Haltrich, p. 15;
+Hapgood, p. 214; Meier, "Volksmärchen," p. 39; Baring-Gould, p. 575. No
+authority is given by Mr. Baring-Gould, and I have been unable to trace
+the Hessian tale; but I rely on his correctness. He also cites an
+incoherent Swan-maiden tale from Castrén, of which he manages to make
+more sense than I can (Castrén, "Altaischen Völker," p. 172). In an
+Irish tale Oengus, the son of the Dagda, falls in love, through a dream,
+with Caer ib Ormaith, who is one year in the form of a swan and the next
+in human shape. After union with her he seems to have undergone the same
+alternation of form (_Revue Celtique_, vol. iii. p. 342, from a MS. in
+the British Museum).
+
+[187] Schreck, p. 35; Vernaleken, pp. 274, 287; Jones and Kropf, p. 95;
+"Bahar-Danush," vol. ii. p. 213 (an abstract of this story will be found
+in Keightley, p. 20); Burton, "Nights," vol. v. p. 344; Steere, p. 349;
+Cavallius, p. 175, freely translated by Thorpe, "Yule-Tide Stories," p.
+158. Mr. Morris turns the doves into swans. _Cf._ a South-Slavonic tale
+from Varazdina, Krauss, vol. i. p. 409.
+
+[188] Brett, "Legends and Myths," p. 29. This legend is told with
+further details by Im Thurn, p. 381.
+
+[189] Rink, p. 145; Prym und Socin, p. 51.
+
+[190] Knoop, p. 104.
+
+[191] "F. L. Españ." vol. i. p. 187.
+
+[192] Keightley, p. 169, from Hibbert, "Description of the Shetland
+Islands"; Wratislaw, p. 290; "F. L. Journal," vol. vi. p. 165. As a
+point of resemblance with the Lady of the Van Pool, quoted further on,
+it may be noted that these seal-women (the legend of their capture is a
+common one in the Shetland Islands) had the power to conjure up from the
+deep a superior breed of horned cattle, many of whose offspring are
+still to be seen (Dr. Karl Blind in "Contemp. Rev." 1881, quoted by Mac
+Ritchie, p. 4).
+
+[193] Kirby, p. 319; "Arch. Rev." vol. ii. p. 90; Schmidt, p. 133; Bent,
+p. 13; Von Hahn, vol. i. p. 295 (_cf._ vol. ii. p. 82); Garnett, p. 352,
+translating Dozon's "Chansons Populaires Bulgares"; Cosquin, vol. ii. p.
+18. _Cf._ Ralston, "Tibetan Tales," p. 53; Landes, p. 123; Comparetti,
+vol. i. p. 212, translated "F. L. Record," vol. ii. p. 12; Grimm,
+"Tales," vol. ii. p. 331; Poestion, p. 55; Vernaleken, p. 274; Pitré,
+vol. iv. p. 140; Sastri, p. 80.
+
+[194] Leland, p. 300. _Cf._ ibid. p. 140, where the maidens are called
+weasels, and ultimately marry stars. "Y Cymmrodor," vol. iv. p. 201. In
+a tale rendered from the modern Greek by Von Hahn the name Swan-maiden
+is preserved in the title, though the plumage has disappeared from the
+text. Stress can hardly be laid upon this, as the title is no part of
+the tale. Von Hahn, vol. i. p. 131.
+
+[195] "La Tradition," March 1889, p. 78, quoting the Abbé Domenech,
+"Voyage pittoresque dans les déserts du Nouveau Monde," p. 214. Mr.
+Farrer gives the same story from "Algic Researches" (Farrer, "Primitive
+Manners," p. 256).
+
+[196] Gerv. Tilb. Dec. i. c. 15.
+
+[197] Brauns, p. 138; White, vol. ii. p. 141; Vernaleken, p. 294;
+Schneller, p. 23; Ortoli, p. 284.
+
+[198] "The Physicians of Myddfai--Meddygon Myddfai," translated by John
+Pughe, Esq., F.R.C.S., and edited by Rev. John Williams ab Ithel, M.A.
+(1861), p. xxi. "Cambro-Briton," vol. ii. p. 315; Sikes, p. 40. Mr.
+Sikes gives no authority for the third version. I have assumed its
+genuineness, though I confess Mr. Sikes' methods are not such as to
+inspire confidence.
+
+[199] Jahn, p. 364, _et seqq._; Knoop, pp. 26, 83, 103; Kuhn, pp. 47,
+197, 374; Kuhn und Schwartz, pp. 14, 91, 298; Schleicher, p. 93; Thorpe,
+vol. ii. p. 169, quoting Thiele. Note the suggestion of Pope Gregory's
+pun in the name of the native land of the nightmare. Elsewhere a child
+becomes a nightmare who is born on a Sunday and baptized on a Sunday at
+the same hour, or one at whose baptism some wicked person has secretly
+muttered in response to one of the priest's questions some wrong words,
+or "It shall become a nightmare" (Lemke, p. 42). Similar superstitions
+attached to somnabulism; see Lecky, "History of Rationalism," vol. i. p.
+81, note 2.
+
+[200] Jannsen, vol. i. p. 53; Thorpe, vol. iii. p. 70, quoting Afzelius,
+vol. ii. p. 29, quoting Müllenhoff. It is a common Teutonic belief that
+knot-holes are attributable to elves (Grimm, "Teut. Myth." p. 461).
+
+[201] "Am Urds-Brunnen," vol. vi. p. 58.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+SWAN-MAIDENS (_continued_).
+
+     The incident of the recovery of the bride not found in all the
+     stories--New Zealand sagas--Andrianòro--Mother-right--The father
+     represented under a forbidding aspect--Tasks imposed on the
+     hero--The Buddhist theory of the Grateful Animals--The
+     feather-robe a symbol of bride's superhuman character--Mode of
+     capture--The Taboo--Dislike of fairies for iron--Utterance of
+     name forbidden--Other prohibitions--Fulfilment of fate--The taboo
+     a mark of progress in civilization--The divine ancestress--Totems
+     and Banshees--Re-appearance of mother to her children--The lady
+     of the Van Pool an archaic deity.
+
+
+I hope I have made clear in the last chapter the connection between the
+various types of the Swan-maiden group of folk-tales. The one idea
+running through them all is that of a man wedding a supernatural maiden
+and unable to retain her. She must return to her own country and her own
+kin; and if he desire to recover her he must pursue her thither and
+conquer his right to her by undergoing superhuman penance or performing
+superhuman tasks,--neither of which it is given to ordinary men to do.
+It follows that only when the story is told of men who can be conceived
+as released from the limitations we have been gradually learning during
+the progress of civilization to regard as essential to humanity--only
+when the reins are laid upon the neck of invention,--is it possible to
+relate the narrative of the recovery of the bride. These conditions are
+twice fulfilled in the history of a folk-tale. They are fulfilled,
+first, when men are in that early stage of thought in which the
+limitations of man's nature are unknown, when speculations of the kind
+touched upon in our second chapter, and illustrated repeatedly in the
+course of this work, are received as undisputed opinions. They are
+fulfilled again when the relics of these opinions, and the memories of
+the mythical events believed in accordance with such opinions, are still
+operative in the mind, though no longer with the vividness of primitive
+times; when some of them still hold together, but for the most part they
+are decaying and falling to pieces, and are only like the faded rags of
+a once splendid robe which a child may gather round its puny form and
+make believe for the moment that it is a king. To the genuine credulity
+of the South-Sea Islander, and to the conscious make-believe of the Arab
+story-teller and the peasant who repeats the modern _märchen_, all
+things are possible. But to the same peasant when relating the
+traditional histories of his neighbours, and to the grave mediæval
+chronicler, only some things are possible, though many more things than
+are possible to us. The slow and partial advance of knowledge destroys
+some superstitions sooner, others later. Some branches of the tree of
+marvel flourish with apparently unimpaired life long after others have
+withered, and others again have only begun to fade. Hence, where the
+adventures of Tawhaki, the mythical New Zealander, are incredible, the
+legend of the origin of the Physicians of Myddfai from the Lady of the
+Lake may still be gravely accepted. Gervase of Tilbury would probably
+have treated the wild story of Hasan's adventures in the islands of Wák
+as what it is; but he tells us he has seen and conversed with women who
+had been captives to the Dracs beneath the waters of the Rhone, while a
+relative of his own had married a genuine descendant of the serpent-lady
+of that castle in the valley of Trets.
+
+Accordingly, the episode of the recovery of the bride is scarcely ever
+found in the sagas of modern Europe, or indeed of any nation that has
+progressed beyond a certain mark in civilization. But it is common in
+their _märchen_, as well as in the sagas of more backward nations. In
+the sagas of the advanced races, with rare exceptions, the most we get
+is what looks like a reminiscence of the episode in the occasional
+reappearance of the supernatural wife to her children, or as a Banshee.
+Putting this reminiscence, if it be one, aside for the present, we will
+first discuss some aspects of the bride's recovery. In doing so, though
+the natural order may seem to be inverted, we shall in effect clear the
+ground for the proper understanding of the main features of the myth.
+
+Many variants of the legend of Tawhaki are current among the Maories.
+According to that adopted by Sir George Grey, he was a hero renowned for
+his courage, whose fame had reached to heaven. There Tango-tango, a
+maiden of heavenly race, fell in love with him from report; and one
+night she descended to the earth and lay down by his side. She continued
+to do this nightly, stealing away again before dawn to her home. But
+when she found herself likely to become a mother she remained with him
+openly; and when her daughter was born she gave her to her husband to
+wash. Evidently he did not like the work, for while carrying out his
+wife's instructions, Tawhaki made a very rude remark about the child.
+Hearing this, Tango-tango began to sob bitterly, and at last rose up
+from her place with the child and took flight to the sky. Her husband
+determined to seek her. He found his way to the place where a creeper
+hung down from heaven and struck its roots into the earth. It was
+guarded there by a blind old ancestress of his, whom he restored to
+sight, and from whom he obtained directions how to climb the plant.
+Arrived in heaven, he disguised himself and had to undergo the
+indignity--he, a mighty chieftain--of being enslaved by his wife's
+relatives, for whom he was compelled to perform menial work. At length,
+however, he manifested himself to his wife and was reconciled to her.
+He is still in heaven, and is worshipped as a god. Another version
+represents a cloud swooping upon the wife and taking her away. Tawhaki
+endeavoured in vain to follow her by mounting on a kite. A third version
+simply relates that the lady returned to her friends. Her husband, on
+arriving at the _pa_, or settlement, where she dwelt, found among the
+children his own son, by whom he sent his wife a love-token she had
+formerly given him. This led to recognition, and she eventually returned
+with him to his home. A more interesting variant tells us that the fame
+of the nobleness of Tini-rau was heard by Hine-te-iwaiwa, who determined
+to set her cap (or whatever might be its equivalent in her scanty
+costume) at him. She obtained an interview with him, by a device
+recalling the conduct of the ladies in The Land East of the Sun, for she
+broke and destroyed some bathing-pools belonging to the hero. A quest of
+the intruder naturally followed, with the result that Tini-rau took her
+to live with him. She made short work of her rivals, his elder wives;
+and all went smoothly until Hine, one unlucky day, asked her husband to
+perform an operation upon her head as necessary as familiar in some
+strata of civilization. In doing this he made disrespectful observations
+about her, when lo! a mist settled down upon them, from the midst of
+which her elder brother came and took his sister away. Tini-rau, unable
+to endure her absence, determined to go after his wife, accompanied by a
+flight of birds, by whose cries he was informed, as he passed one
+settlement after another, whether or not his wife was there. At length
+he discovered her whereabouts, and made himself known to her sister by a
+token which Hine understood. Then he came to her, and she announced his
+arrival to all the people, who assembled and welcomed him. He abode
+there; and when his wife's relatives complained that he did not go and
+get food, he obtained it in abundance by the exercise of magical
+powers; and so they lived happy ever after.[202]
+
+Now let us turn to the Malagasy tale of the way in which Andrianòro
+obtained a wife from heaven. There three sisters, whose dwelling-place
+is in heaven, frequent a lake in the crystal waters whereof they swim,
+taking flight at once on the approach of any human being. By a diviner's
+advice the hero changes into three lemons, which the youngest sister
+desires to take; but the others, fearing a snare, persuade her to fly
+away with them. Foiled thus, the hero changes into bluish water in the
+midst of the lake, then into the seed of a vegetable growing by the
+waterside, and ultimately into an ant. He is at length successful in
+seizing the youngest maiden, who consents to be his wife in spite of the
+difference of race; for, while her captor is a man living on the earth,
+her father dwells in heaven, whence the thunderbolt darts forth if he
+speak, and she herself drinks no spirits, "for if spirits even touch my
+mouth I die." After some time, during his absence, his father and mother
+force _tòaka_, or rum, into the lady's mouth, and she dies; but on his
+return he insists on opening her grave, and, to his joy, finds her alive
+again. But she will not now stay on earth: she must return to her father
+and mother in the sky. They are grieving for her, and the thunder is a
+sign of their grief. Finding himself unable to prevail upon her to stay,
+he obtains permission to accompany her. She warns him, however, of the
+dangers he will have to encounter,--the thunderbolt when her father
+speaks, and the tasks her father will lay upon him. Before he goes he
+accordingly calls the beasts and the birds together; he slays oxen to
+feed them; he tells them the tests he is about to undergo, and takes
+promises from them to accomplish the things that trouble him. Obedient
+to his wife, he displays great humility to his father-in-law; and by
+the aid of the lower animals he comes triumphant out of every trial. The
+beasts with their tusks plough up the spacious fields of heaven; the
+beasts and birds uproot the giant trees; from the Crocodile Lake the
+crocodiles themselves bring the thousand spades; between cattle which
+are exactly alike the cattle-fly distinguishes the cows from the calves;
+and the little fly, settling on the nose of the heroine's mother,
+enables the hero to point her out among her daughters. The wife's father
+is astonished, and gives his daughter anew to the hero to be his wife,
+dismissing them with a dower of oxen, slaves and money.[203]
+
+It will be observed that the adventures undergone by Andrianòro in
+heaven are very different from those of the Maori heroes. Tawhaki and
+Tini-rau have certainly to submit to hardships and indignities before
+they can be reunited to their wives; and they perform actions of
+superhuman power. But these actions are not performed as the condition
+of reunion; nor are the tasks and the indignities laid upon them by any
+parental ogre. In fact the parental ogre is as conspicuous by his
+absence from the New Zealand stories as he is by his presence in those
+of Andrianòro and the Marquis of the Sun. How is this to be explained?
+The reason seems to lie in the different organization of society under
+which the tale attained its present form in either case. At an early
+period of civilization, kinship is reckoned exclusively through the
+mother: even the father is in no way related to his children. This is a
+stage hardly ever found complete in all its consequences, but of which
+the traces remain in the customs and in the lore of many nations who
+have long since passed from it, becoming, as we might expect, fainter
+and fewer as it recedes into the distance. Such traces are abundant in
+Maori tradition; and they point to a comparatively recent emergence
+from female kinship. Among these traces is the omission of the heavy
+father from the stories before us. Tango-tango and Hine-te-iwaiwa were
+both maidens of more than mortal race; and presumably their parents
+would be conceived of as still alive. But they are not so much as
+alluded to--a sure sign that there was no paternal authority to which
+these ladies would be accountable. Indeed, if accountable at all, they
+are so to the whole circle of their relatives, or to their tribe in
+general. It is their brothers who assist them in time of need. Tawhaki
+becomes the slave of his brothers-in-law. To her "people" Hine announces
+her husband's arrival: she simply announces it; nor does it appear that
+any consent on their part is required. Tini-rau takes his place at once
+as a tribesman, and is expected to contribute by his labour and skill to
+the sustenance of the whole brotherhood.
+
+One of the consequences of reckoning descent only through females, which
+may be noticed here, is that the children belong to the mother and the
+mother's family. A trace of this lingers about the story of Tawhaki in
+the affront to Tango-tango caused by her husband's offensive remark upon
+their little one. In a society where the offspring are the father's, or
+even where, as in modern civilized life, they are treated as belonging
+to both parents and partaking of the nature of both, no such offence
+could be taken. Another consequence is that in the organization of
+society the wife still continues after marriage to reside with, and to
+be part of, the community to which she belongs by birth. The man leaves
+his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife. Hence it would be
+natural for her to return home to her own kindred, and for him to seek
+her and dwell with her there. This is illustrated not only in the Maori
+legends just cited, but also in the Arawàk story given in the last
+chapter, where the husband is received into the vulture race until he
+desires to visit his mother. He is then discarded as if he had
+committed some unpardonable breach of custom; and he cannot be restored
+to his former privileges. Although the Greeks had before the dawn of
+history ceased to practise mother-right, a trace of it lingers in a
+modern folk-tale from Epirus. There a man had by the ordinary device
+obtained an elf as a wife; and she bore him a child. After this her own
+kinsmen came and begged her to return to them; but she refused on the
+ground that she had a husband and child. "Then bring them with you,"
+they replied. Accordingly, she took her husband and child, and went back
+with them to dwell among the elves. It seems, however, to be felt that
+this was an unusual proceeding; otherwise it would have been needless to
+plead with the lady to return, and to extend a special invitation to
+those whom she would not abandon: an indication, this, that the story
+has been adapted to a higher plane of civilization, in which it was no
+longer the custom for the husband to go and dwell among his wife's
+people.[204]
+
+On the other hand, Andrianòro's wife lives under patriarchal government.
+The Malagasy have advanced further on the path of civilization than the
+Maories; and at the stage of progress they have reached, the father is
+much more like an absolute monarch. In the story referred to, the lady
+had married without her father's consent. Accordingly her marriage is
+ignored, and her lover has to perform a number of services for his
+father-in-law, and so purchase formal consent to their union. Nor will
+it escape the reader that when the wielder of the thunderbolt at last
+gives his daughter to her husband, he dismisses them back to the home of
+the latter. Hasan, too, it will be remembered, returns to Bagdad with
+his wife and children, though we probably have a survival of an older
+form of the story in his relations with her redoubtable sister. This
+lady holds a position impossible in an Arab kingdom. Her father is a
+mere shadow, hardly mentioned but to save appearances; so much more
+substantial is her power and her opposition to the match. The variants
+of the Marquis of the Sun are found chiefly among European nations,[205]
+whose history, institutions, and habits of thought lead them to attach
+great value to paternal authority. In the tasks performed in _märchen_
+of this type, and the precipitate flight which usually takes place on
+the wedding night from the ogre's secret wrath, it would seem that we
+have a reminiscence of the archaic institutions of marriage by purchase
+and marriage by capture,--both alike incidents of the period when
+mother-right (as the reckoning of descent solely through females is
+called) has ceased to exist in a pure form, and society has passed, or
+is passing, into the patriarchal stage. The Marquis of the Sun type is,
+therefore, more recent than the other types of the Swan-maiden
+tradition, none of which so uniformly in all their variants recognize
+the father's supreme position.[206]
+
+If the tasks and the flight be a reminiscence of purchase and capture,
+we may find in that reminiscence a reason why nearly all the stories
+concur in representing the father under a forbidding aspect. As his
+daughter's vendor,--her unwilling vendor,--as her guardian from capture,
+he would be the natural foe of her lover. He is not always so ready as
+the Bird Simer to give up to another his rights over her; but perhaps
+the Bird Simer's readiness may be partly explained by the husband's
+having already performed the feat of rescuing the maiden from a giant,
+beside slaying his own brother for her sake. Usually the father is a
+frightful ogre or giant; not infrequently he is no less a personage than
+the Devil himself. And the contrast between him and his lovely daughter
+would be more and more strongly felt as purchase and capture ceased to
+be serious methods of bride-winning. Hence, probably, the thought of
+real relationship would be abandoned, and the maiden would often be
+conceived of as enchanted and captive in the hands of a malevolent
+being.
+
+We will not now stop to discuss the tasks in detail: we can only afford
+time to glance at one of them, namely, that of distinguishing the maid
+from her sisters. There are three chief means by which the lover or
+husband is enabled to identify the object of his devotion. Two of these
+depend upon the lady herself: in the one she slily helps her lover; in
+the other he recognizes an insignificant peculiarity of her person or
+attire. The third means is an indication given by one of the lower
+animals, which has better means of knowledge than the suitor, due
+probably to its greater cleverness--a quality, as I have already pointed
+out in Chapter II., universally credited in a certain stage of culture
+to these creatures. We will deal first with the second means.
+
+The most usual personal idiosyncrasy of the damsel is the want of a
+finger, or some deformity in it, the result of her previous efforts to
+aid the hero. Thus, in a Basque tale the lad is set to find a ring lost
+by the ogre in a river. This is accomplished by cutting up the maiden
+and throwing the pieces into the stream; but a part of the little finger
+sticks in his shoe. When he afterwards has to choose between the ogre's
+daughters with his eyes shut, he recognizes his love by the loss of her
+little finger. The giant's daughter, in a West Highland tale, makes a
+ladder with her fingers for her lover to climb a tree to fetch a
+magpie's eggs; and, in the hurry, she leaves her little finger at the
+top. This accident arises sometimes, as in the Marquis of the Sun, from
+the dropping of a piece of flesh on the ground when the hero cuts up his
+beloved; or, according to a story of the Italian Tirol, from spilling
+some of her blood. In the latter case, three drops of blood fall into
+the lake, instead of the bucket prepared to receive them, and thereby
+almost cause the failure of his task. When the magician afterwards leads
+the youth to his daughters and bids him choose, he takes the youngest by
+the hand, and says: "I choose this one." We are not told that there was
+any difference in the maidens' hands, but this is surely to be inferred.
+In the Milanese story of the King of the Sun the hero also chooses his
+wife blindfold from the king's three daughters by touching their hands;
+and here, too, we must suppose previous help or concert, though it has
+disappeared from the text. In a story from Lorraine, John has to take
+the devil's daughter, Greenfeather, to pieces to find a spire for the
+top of a castle that he is compelled to build; and in putting her
+together again he sets one of her little fingers clumsily. With bandaged
+eyes he has to find the lady who has assisted him; and he succeeds by
+putting his hand on hers. The lad who falls into the strange gentleman's
+hands in a Breton tale, forgets to put the little toe of the girl's left
+foot into the caldron; and when she and her two sisters are led before
+him veiled and clad in other than their ordinary garb, he knows her at
+once by the loss of her toe. As it is told in Denmark the enchanted
+princess agrees with the king's son to wind a red silken thread around
+her little finger; and by this means he identifies her, though in the
+form of a little grey-haired, long-eared she-ass, and again of a
+wrinkled, toothless, palsied old woman, into which the sorceress, whose
+captive she is, changes her. In a Swedish story the damsel informs her
+lover that when the mermaid's daughters appear in various repulsive
+forms she will be changed into a little cat with her side burnt and one
+ear snipped. The Catalonian _märchen_ of Joanescas represents the
+heroine as wanting a joint of her finger, from her lover having torn off
+some of her feathers by accident when he stole her robe. "Monk" Lewis in
+his "Journal of a West India Proprietor" gives an Ananci tale in which
+the heroine and her two sisters are changed into black cats: the two
+latter bore scarlet threads round their necks, the former a blue
+thread.[207] According to the Carmarthenshire saga, the lady is
+recognized by the strapping of her sandal.
+
+In several of the stories just cited, and many of their congeners, the
+maiden forewarns her suitor how she will be disguised, or by what marks
+she will be known. Sometimes, however, she makes a sign to him on the
+spot. The Lady of the Van Pool only thrusts her foot forward that he may
+notice her shoe-tie; but Cekanka in a Bohemian tale is bold enough to
+wink at him. In a Russian variant of the Marquis of the Sun, to which I
+have already referred, the hero is in the power of the Water King. On
+his way to that potentate's palace he had, by the advice of the Baba
+Yaga, gone to the seashore and watched until twelve spoonbills alighted,
+and, turning into maidens, had unrobed for the purpose of bathing. Then
+he had stolen the eldest maiden's shift, to restore it only on her
+promise to aid him against her father, the Water King. She redeems the
+pledge by performing for him the usual tasks, the last of which is to
+choose the same bride thrice among the king's twelve daughters. The
+first time she secretly agrees with him that she will wave her
+handkerchief; the second time she is to be arranging her dress; and the
+third time he will see a fly above her head.[208]
+
+Here we are led to the third means of recognition. The incident of help
+rendered by one or more of the lower animals to man is a favourite one
+in folk-tales; and it has furnished a large portion of the argumentative
+stock-in-trade of those scholars who contend for their Indian origin. We
+are assured that every tale which contains this incident must be
+referred to a Buddhist source, or at least has been subjected to
+Buddhist influence. This theory is supported by reference to the
+doctrine of love for all living creatures which Buddha is said to have
+promulgated. The command to overcome hatred by love, the precepts of
+self-sacrifice and devotion to others' good were not limited in the
+Buddha's discourses, if those discourses be correctly reported, to our
+conduct towards our fellow-men: they included all creation. And they
+were enforced by parables which represented good as done in turn to men
+by all sorts of creatures, even the wildest and the most savage. Stories
+of grateful beasts, of the type familiar to us in Androcles and the
+Lion, became favourites among the disciples of the Light of Asia.
+Scholars, therefore, have told us that wherever a grateful beast thrusts
+his muzzle into the story, that story must have come from India, and
+must have come since the rise of Buddhism. Nay, they go further. In
+every instance where a beast appears as helping the hero, we are taught
+to presume that the hero has first helped the beast, even though no
+trace of such an incident be actually found. It must have been so,
+otherwise the beast would have had no motive for helping the hero,--and,
+it may be added, the theorist would have had no ground for claiming the
+story as proceeding from a Buddhist source.
+
+Now all this would have been seen at once to be very poor reasoning, but
+for one fact. A number, sufficient to be called large, of parables, have
+actually made their way from India to Europe in historic times, and
+since the age of Gautama. The literary history of these parables can be
+traced; and it must be acknowledged that, whatever their origin, they
+have been adopted into Buddhist works and adapted to Buddhist doctrine.
+Further, it seems demonstrated that some of them have descended into the
+oral tradition of various nations in Europe, Asia, and even Africa. But
+when so much as this is conceded, it still fails to account for the
+spread of the story of the Grateful Beasts and, even more signally, for
+the incident of the Beast-helpers where there is no gratitude in the
+case. A very slight examination of the incident as it appears in the
+group of legends now before us will convince us of this.
+
+First of all, let it be admitted that in several of these tales the
+service rendered by the brute is in requital for a good turn on the part
+of the hero. Andrianòro, as we have seen, begins by making friends with
+various animals by means of the mammon of unrighteousness in the shape
+of a feast. Jagatalapratâpa, in the narrative already cited from the
+Tamil book translated into English under the title of "The Dravidian
+Nights Entertainments," pursuing one of Indra's four daughters, is
+compelled by her father, after three other trials, to choose her out
+from her sisters, who are all converted into one shape. He prays
+assistance from a kind of grasshopper; and the little creature, in
+return for a previous benefit, hops upon her foot. But it is somewhat
+curious, if the theory be true, that even in stories told among peoples
+distinctly under Buddhist influence the gratitude is by no means an
+invariable point. Thus the princess in the Burmese drama is betrayed by
+"the king of flies" to her husband, though the abstract we have of the
+play gives us no hint of any previous transaction between the puny
+monarch and the hero; and it is worthy of note that the Tibetan version
+of the same plot given by Mr. Ralston from the Kah-Gyur knows nothing of
+this entomological agency. There the hero is a Bodisat, who, if he does
+not recognize his beloved among the thousand companions who surround
+her, at least has a spell the utterance of which compels her to step out
+from among them. It does not appear that Kasimbaha, the Bantik
+patriarch, is required to undergo this particular test. But he is
+indebted to a bird for indicating the lady's residence; a glow-worm
+places itself at her chamber door; and a fly shows him which of a number
+of dishes set before him he must not uncover. M. Cosquin, who is an
+adherent of the Buddhist hypothesis, in relating this instance, is
+compelled expressly to say that "one does not see why" these animals
+should render such services. Neither, on M. Cosquin's principle, can one
+see why, in the Arawàk story, the spiders should spin cords to help the
+outcast husband down from heaven, or the birds take his part against the
+vulture-folk to enable him to recover his wife.[209] The proof of
+Buddhist influence must rest heavily on its advocates here, both on
+account of the absence of motive for gratitude, and of the distance of
+the Arawàk people from India and the utter disparity of civilizations.
+
+The agency of recognition, when attributed to one of the lower animals,
+is ordinarily an insect; but the reason is, as often as not, a prior
+arrangement with the lady, as in the Russian story of the Water King.
+The Polish _märchen_ of Prince Unexpected follows this line. In it, the
+princess warns her lover that she will have a ladybird over her right
+eye. When a thousand maidens all alike are produced to poor Hans in a
+Bohemian tale, he has no difficulty in selecting the right one; for a
+witch has bidden him "choose her on whom, from the roof of the chamber,
+a spider descends."[210]
+
+These considerations are sufficient to prove that the incident of the
+Helpful Beasts, as found in the Swan-maiden group of stories, cannot be
+attributed to a Buddhist origin.
+
+We have now dealt with an episode of the mythical narrative, necessary,
+indeed, to its completion, but found only under certain conditions which
+I have pointed out. We have seen this episode in two distinct forms
+whose respective sources we have assigned to two distinct stages of
+culture. The form characteristic of the European _märchen_ is apparently
+more barbarous in several respects than that yielded by the islanders of
+the Southern Ocean; but the latter bears testimony to a state of society
+more archaic than the other. Presumably, therefore, it represents more
+nearly the primitive form of the story.
+
+We turn next to the central incidents. In the previous chapter I have
+taken pains to show the unmistakable relation between the different
+types of the myth, in spite of the omission of the feather-robe, or
+indeed of any substitute for it. The truth is that the feather-robe is
+no more than a symbol of the wife's superhuman nature. From the more
+archaic variants it is absent; but frequently the true form of the lady
+is held to be that of a member of what we contemptuously call "the brute
+creation." Men in savagery, as we have already seen, have quite
+different feelings from those of contempt for brutes. On the contrary,
+they entertain the highest respect and even awe for them. They trace
+their descent from some of them; and a change of form from beast to man,
+or from man to beast, while still preserving individual identity, would
+not seem at all incredible, or even odd, to them. By and by, however,
+the number of creatures having these astonishing powers would decrease,
+as the circle of experience widened. But there would linger a belief in
+remarkable instances, as at Shan-si, in China, where it is believed that
+there is still a bird which can divest itself of its feathers and become
+a woman. Not every swan would then be deemed capable of turning when it
+pleased into a fair maiden; and when this change happened, it would be
+attributed to enchantment, which had caused the maiden merely to assume
+the appearance of a swan for a time and for a special purpose. This
+often occurs, as we have seen, in _märchen_, where the contrast between
+the heroine and her father, or, as it is then often put, her master, is
+very strong. It occurs, too, in tales belonging to other types. A
+_märchen_ told by Dr. Pitré relates that a man had a pet magpie, which
+by enchantment had the power of casting its wings and becoming a woman.
+She always practised this power in his absence; but he came home one day
+and found her wings on the chair. He burnt them, and she remained
+permanently a woman and married him. In a saga from Guiana a warlock's
+daughter persuades her father to transform her into a dog that she may
+venture near a hunter whom she loves. He accordingly gives her a skin,
+which she draws over her shoulders, and thus becomes a hound. When the
+hunter finds her in his hut as a maiden, the charmed skin hanging up and
+revealing her secret, he flings the skin into the fire and weds
+her.[211]
+
+But enchantment is not the only explanation. The lady may, like Hasan's
+bride, be held to belong to a superior race to men, though properly in
+human form. In either case the peltry would be a mere veil hiding the
+true individuality for a while. It would thus acquire a distinct magical
+efficacy; so that when deprived of it, the maiden would be unable to
+effect the change. A remarkable instance of this occurs in an Arab saga.
+There a man, at Algiers, puts to death his three daughters, who
+afterwards appear to a guitar-player and dance to his playing. As they
+dance they throw him the rind of the oranges they hold in their hands;
+and this rind is found the next day changed into gold pieces and into
+jewels. The following year the maidens appear again to the
+guitar-player. He manages to get hold of their shrouds, which he burns.
+They thereupon come back to life, and he weds the youngest of them. This
+is said to have happened no longer ago than sixty years before the
+French conquest of Algiers.[212]
+
+Nothing of the sort is found in the Maori tales. To the natives of New
+Zealand no change seemed needful: the lady was of supernatural birth and
+could fly as she pleased. The same may be said of Andrianòro's wife,
+notwithstanding that the Malagasy variant, as a whole, bespeaks a higher
+level of culture than the adventures of Tawhaki and Tini-rau. As little
+do we find the magical robe in the Passamaquoddy story of the Partridge
+and the Sheldrake Duck. The Dyaks of Borneo are unconscious of the need
+of it in the saga of their ancestral fish, the _puttin_, which was
+caught by a man, and when laid in his boat turned into a girl, whom he
+gave to his son for a bride. The Chinese have endless tales about foxes
+which assume human form; but the fox's skin plays no part in them. And
+in a Japanese tale belonging to the group under consideration, the lady
+changes into a fox and back again into a lady without any apparatus of
+peltry.[213]
+
+Again, in the nursery tales of the higher races, the dress when cast
+seems simply an article of human clothing, often nothing but a girdle,
+veil, or apron; and it is only when donned by the enchanted lady, or
+elf, that it is found to be neither more nor less than a complete
+plumage. Thence it easily passes into a mere instrument of power, like
+the mermaid's belt and pouch in the Scottish story, or the book of
+command in the _märchen_ of the Island of Happiness, and is on its way
+to final disappearance.
+
+The maiden's capture is effected in those types of the tale where the
+enchanted garment is worn, by the theft of the garment. These cases will
+not detain our attention: we will pass at once to the discussion of
+those where there is no transformation to be effected or dreaded.
+Perhaps the most interesting of all are the Welsh sagas; and of these
+not the least remarkable is the suit by offerings of food. Andrianòro
+tried this device in the Malagasy story; but it was unsuccessful. In a
+Carnarvonshire analogue from Llanberis, the youth entices his beloved
+into his grasp by means of an apple:[214] in the Van Pool variants the
+offering assumes almost a sacramental character. Until the fairy maiden
+has tasted earthly bread, or until her suitor has eaten of the food
+which sustains her, he cannot be united to her. Here we are reminded on
+the one hand of the elfin food considered in a former chapter, to
+partake of which sealed the adventurer's fate and prevented him for ever
+from returning to his human home; and on the other hand of the ceremony
+of eating together which among so many nations has been part of the
+marriage rites.
+
+Walter Map relates a curious story of Llangorse Lake having affinities
+for the Land East of the Sun, and still more with one of the Maori
+sagas. Wastin of Wastiniog watched, the writer tells us, three clear
+moonlit nights and saw bands of women in his oat-fields, and followed
+them until they plunged into the pool, where he overheard them
+conversing, and saying to one another: "If he did so and so, he would
+catch one of us." Thus instructed, he of course succeeded in capturing
+one. Here, as in many of the stories, the lady has obviously designs
+upon the mortal of opposite sex, and deliberately throws herself in his
+way. But she lays a taboo upon him, promising to serve him willingly and
+with all obedient devotion, until that day he should strike her in anger
+with his bridle. After the birth of several children he was unfortunate
+enough on some occasion, the details of which Walter Map has forgotten,
+to break the condition; whereupon she fled with all her offspring, of
+whom her husband was barely able to save one before she plunged with the
+rest into the lake. This one, whom he called Triunnis Nagelwch, grew up,
+and entered the service of the King of North Wales. At his royal
+master's command, Triunnis once led a marauding expedition into the
+territory of the King of Brecknock. A battle ensued, when he was
+defeated and his band cut to pieces. It is said that Triunnis himself
+was saved by his mother, and thenceforth dwelt with her in the lake.
+"But, indeed," adds the truth-loving Walter, "I think it is a lie,
+because a delusion of this kind is so likely to account for his body not
+having been found."[215]
+
+In spite, however, of such unwonted incredulity, Map, having once begun
+by telling this story, proceeds to tell another like it, which he seems
+to have no difficulty in believing. The second tale concerns a hero of
+the Welsh border, Wild Edric, of whose historic reality as one of the
+English rebels against William the Conqueror there is ample proof. It
+appears that Edric, returning from hunting, lost his way in the Forest
+of Dean, and accompanied only by one boy, reached about midnight a large
+house which turned out to be a drinking-shop, such as the English, Map
+says, call a _guildhouse_. On approaching it he saw a light, and looking
+in, he beheld a number of women dancing. They were beautiful in
+countenance, bigger and taller than ordinary women. He noticed one among
+them fairer than the rest, and (Walter, perhaps, had Fair Rosamund in
+his mind when he says) more to be desired than all the darlings of
+kings. Edric rushed round the house and, finding an entrance, dashed in
+and with the help of his boy dragged her out, despite a furious
+resistance in which the nails and teeth of her companions made
+themselves felt. She brooded in sullen silence for three whole days; but
+on the fourth day she exclaimed to her new master: "Bless you, my
+dearest, and you will be blessed too, and enjoy health and prosperity
+until you reproach me on account of my sisters, or the place, or the
+grove whence you have snatched me away, or anything connected with it.
+For the very day you do so your happiness will forsake you. I shall be
+taken away; and you will suffer repeated misfortune, and long for your
+own death." He pledged himself to fidelity; and to their splendid
+nuptials nobles came from far and near. King William heard of the
+wonder, and bade the newly wedded pair to London, where he was then
+holding his court, that he might test the truth of the tale. They proved
+it to him by many witnesses from their own country; but the chief
+testimony was that of the lady's superhuman beauty; and he dismissed
+them in admiration to their home. After many years of happiness Edric
+returned one evening late from hunting, and could not find his wife. He
+spent some time in vainly calling for her before she came. "Of course,"
+he began, angrily, "you have not been detained so long by your sisters,
+have you?" The rest of his wrath fell upon the empty air; for at the
+mention of her sisters she vanished. And neither her husband's
+self-reproaches, nor his tears, nor any search could ever find her
+again.[216]
+
+A point far more interesting than the actual mode of capture is the
+taboo. The condition on which the heroine remains with her captor-spouse
+is, in stories of the Hasan of Bassorah type, his preservation of the
+feather-garb; in those of the Melusina type (with which we are now
+dealing), his observance of the taboo. In the tales just cited from
+Walter Map we have two important forms of the taboo, and in the legend
+of Melusina herself we have a third. The latter is an example of the
+ordinary objection on the part of supernatural beings to be seen
+otherwise than just how and when they please, which we have dealt with
+in a previous chapter; and little need be added to what I have already
+said on the subject. The other two are, however, worth some
+consideration.
+
+In the account of Wastin of Wastiniog we are told that he was forbidden
+to strike his wife with the bridle. Let us compare this prohibition with
+that of the fairy of "the bottomless pool of Corwrion," in Upper
+Arllechwedd, Carnarvonshire, who wedded the heir of the owner of
+Corwrion. The marriage took place on two conditions--first, that the
+husband was not to know his wife's name, though he might give her any
+name he chose; and, second, that if she misbehaved towards him, he might
+now and then beat her with a rod, but that he should not strike her with
+iron, on pain of her leaving him at once. "This covenant," says
+Professor Rhys in repeating the tale, "was kept for some years, so that
+they lived happily together, and had four children, of whom the two
+youngest were a boy and a girl. But one day, as they went to one of the
+fields of Bryn Twrw, in the direction of Penardd Gron, to catch a pony,
+the fairy wife, being so much nimbler than her husband, ran before him
+and had her hand in the pony's mane in no time. She called out to her
+husband to throw her a halter; but instead of that he threw towards her
+a bridle with an iron bit, which, as bad luck would have it, struck her.
+The wife at once flew through the air, and plunged headlong into
+Corwrion Lake. The husband returned sighing and weeping towards Bryn
+Twrw (Noise Hill), and when he reached it, the _twrw_ (noise) there was
+greater than had ever been heard before, namely, that of weeping after
+'Belene'; and it was then, after he had struck her with iron, that he
+first learnt what his wife's name was."[217]
+
+The perusal of this saga will raise a suspicion that the original form
+of the taboo in Wastin's case was a prohibition against striking with
+iron, and that the prohibition was eventually infringed by means of a
+bridle. Whether the alteration was due to a blunder on Map's part in
+relating the story is of no importance; but the suspicion will be raised
+to a certainty by turning to some other sagas in Professor Rhys'
+admirable collection. It is related at Waenfawr, near Carnarvon, that a
+youth broke, like Wild Edric, into a dance of the fairies on the banks
+of the Gwyrfai, near Cwellyn Lake, one moonlit night, and carried off a
+maiden. She at first refused to wed him, but consented to remain his
+servant. One evening, however, he overheard two of her kindred speaking
+of her, and caught her name--Penelope. When she found that he had learnt
+her name she gave way to grief: evidently she now knew that her fate was
+sealed. On his importunity being renewed, she at length consented to
+marry him, but on the condition that he should not strike her with iron.
+Here again the taboo was broken by the flinging of a bridle while
+chasing a horse. A similar tale was related in the vale of Beddgelert,
+wherein the stolen lady would only consent to be the servant of her
+ravisher if he could find out her name. When he had discovered it, she
+asked in astonishment; "O mortal, who has betrayed my name to thee?"
+Then, lifting up her tiny folded hands, she exclaimed: "Alas! my fate,
+my fate!" Even then she would only marry him on condition that if ever
+he should touch her with iron she would be free to leave him and return
+to her family. Catastrophe, as before. In a variant the maiden, pressed
+by her human lover, promises to marry, provided he can find out her
+name. When he succeeds in doing this she faints away, but has to submit
+to her doom. In doing so, she imposes one more proviso: he is not to
+touch her with iron, nor is there to be a bolt of iron, or a lock, on
+their door. The servant-girl, in another story cited in Chapter VII.,
+who was rescued from Fairyland, could only stay, it will be remembered,
+in her master's service so long afterward, as he forebore to strike her
+with iron; and the fatal blow was struck accidentally with a bit.[218]
+
+Mr. Andrew Lang has remarked, following Dr. Tylor, that in this taboo
+the fairy mistress is "the representative of the stone age." This is so;
+and the reason is, because she belongs to the realm of the supernatural.
+When the use of metals was discovered, stone implements were discarded
+in ordinary life; but for ages afterwards knives of stone were used for
+religious purposes. There is evidence, for instance, that the Hebrews,
+to seek no further, employed them in some of their sacred rites; an
+altar of stone was forbidden to be hewn; and when King Solomon built the
+temple, "there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron heard
+in the house while it was in building." Although there may be no direct
+evidence of such a practice among the Cymric Britons, they were probably
+no exception to the rule, which seems to have been general throughout
+the world; and the Druids' custom of cutting the mistletoe with a
+golden, not with an iron, sickle, points in this direction. The
+retention of stone instruments in religious worship was doubtless due
+to the intense conservatism of religious feeling. The gods, having been
+served with stone for so long, would be conceived of as naturally
+objecting to change; and the implements whose use had continued through
+so many revolutions in ordinary human utensils, would thereby have
+acquired a divine character. Changes of religion, however, brought in
+time changes even in these usages. Christianity was bound to no special
+reverence for knives and arrowheads of flint; but they seem to have been
+still vaguely associated with the discarded deities, or their allies,
+the Nymphs and Oreads and Fairies of stream or wood or dell, and with
+the supernatural generally. A familiar example of this is the name of
+Elfbolts given by the country people in this and other lands to these
+old-world objects, whenever turned up by the harrow or the spade. Now
+the traditional preference on the part of supernatural beings for stone
+instruments is only one side of the thought which would, as its reverse
+side, show a distinct abhorrence by the same mythical personages for
+metals, and chiefly (since we have long passed out of the bronze age)
+for iron. Not only do witches and spirits object to the horseshoe; axes
+and iron wedges are equally distasteful to them--at all events in
+Denmark. So in Brittany, when men go to gather the _herbe d'or_, a
+medicinal plant of extraordinary virtue, they go barefooted, in a white
+robe and fasting, and no iron may be employed; and though all the
+necessary ceremonies be performed, only holy men will be able to find
+it. The magical properties of this plant, as well as the rites requisite
+to obtain it, disclose its sacredness to the old divinities. It shines
+at a distance like gold, and if one tread on it he will fall asleep, and
+will come to understand the languages of birds, dogs, and wolves.[219]
+
+In previous chapters we have already had occasion to note this dislike
+for iron and steel. Hence the placing of scissors and fire-steel in an
+unchristened babe's cradle. Hence the reason for the midwife's casting a
+knife behind her when she left the troll's dwelling laden with his
+gifts; and for the Islay father's taking the precaution of striking his
+dirk into the threshold when he sought his son in the fairy hill. So,
+too, in Sweden people who bathed in the sea were gravely advised to cast
+into it close to them a fire-steel, a knife, or the like, to prevent any
+monster from hurting them. The bolts and locks to which the fairy of
+Beddgelert objected would have prevented her free passage into and out
+of the house.
+
+In the Pomeranian saga quoted in the last chapter, the enchanted
+princess is unable to open the trunk which contains her magical shift:
+she must wait for another to open it and give her the garment. In the
+same way Hasan's bride could not herself go to the chest and get her
+feather-dress. The key was committed to her mother-in-law's care, and
+was forced from the old woman by Zubaydah, the Caliph's wife; nor did it
+ever come into the fairy's hands, for her dress was fetched for her by
+Masrur at Zubaydah's bidding. It is not unlikely that the reason for the
+supernatural wife's difficulty in these and analogous cases is the metal
+lock and key. But we must not forget that the robe is not always locked
+up in a chest. Sometimes it is hidden in a hole in the wall, sometimes
+in a stack of corn, sometimes beneath the main-post of the wooden hut in
+which the wedded pair are dwelling. Moreover, we must not leave out of
+account that in the Nightmare type the wife cannot herself take the
+wooden stopper out of the hole through which she entered; but directly
+it is removed by another she vanishes. These things go to show that such
+supernatural beings cannot themselves undo charms expressly performed
+against them. So evil spirits cannot penetrate a circle drawn around him
+by one who invokes them. So, too, the sign of the cross is an efficient
+protection against them; and it is therefore made upon churches and
+altars at the time of consecration.
+
+But the stipulation made by the lady of Corwrion was twofold. Not only
+was her bridegroom to forbear striking her with iron, but he was not
+even to know her name. It is so difficult for us to put ourselves into
+the mental attitude of savages, that we do not understand the objection
+they almost all entertain to the mention of their names. The objection
+itself is, however, well known and widely spread; but it is not always
+manifested in exactly the same form. In some cases a man only refuses to
+utter his own name, while he will utter another's name readily enough.
+Sometimes it is deemed an unpardonable thing to call another by name; he
+must be addressed, or spoken of by an epithet. And frequently a man's
+real name is a profound secret, known only to himself, all others
+knowing him only by some epithet or title. Sometimes it is only
+forbidden to relatives by marriage to speak one another's names. Thus in
+various ways etiquette has prescribed a number of customs limiting the
+utterance of names among savage and barbarous peoples all the world
+over. The origin of these rules and customs seems to have been the dread
+of sorcery. A personal name was held to be a part of its owner; and,
+just as the possession of a lock of another's hair, or even a paring of
+his nail, was believed to confer power over him, so was the knowledge of
+his name. Similarly men in the lower culture have a great fear of having
+their likenesses taken; and everybody is familiar with the belief that a
+witch, who has made a waxen image and given it the name of any one whom
+she wants to injure, can, by sticking pins in it, or melting it in a
+flame, inflict pain, and even death, upon the person whom the doll
+represents.[220]
+
+Illustrations of this superstition might easily be multiplied from every
+nation under heaven. But we need not go so far afield; for if we compare
+the taboo in the story of Corwrion with the other stories I have cited
+from the same county, we shall have no difficulty in satisfying
+ourselves as to its meaning. It can only belong to the stage of thought
+which looks with dread on the use that may be made of one's name by an
+enemy,--a stage of thought in which the fairy might naturally fear for a
+man of another race, albeit her husband, to become possessed of her real
+name. What else can we infer from the evident terror and grief with
+which the captive ladies hear their names from their suitors' lips? It
+is clear that the knowledge of the fairy's name conferred power over her
+which she was unable to resist. This is surely the interpretation also
+of the Danish tale of a man from whom a Hill-troll had stolen no fewer
+than three wives. Riding home late one night afterwards, he saw a great
+crowd of Hill-folk dancing and making merry; and among them he
+recognized his three wives. One of these was Kirsten, his best beloved,
+and he called out to her and named her name. The troll, whose name was
+Skynd, or Hurry, came up to him and asked him why he presumed to call
+Kirsten. The man explained that she had been his favourite wife, and
+begged him with tears to give her back to him. The troll at last
+consented, but with the proviso that he should never hurry (_skynde_)
+her. For a long time the condition was observed; but one day, as she was
+delayed in fetching something for her husband from the loft, he cried
+out to her: "Make haste (_skynde dig_), Kirsten!" And he had hardly
+spoken the words when the woman was gone, compelled to return to the
+troll's abode. Here we have the phenomenon in a double form; for not
+only does the husband regain his wife from the troll by pronouncing her
+name, but he loses her once more by inadvertently summoning her captor.
+It is a German superstition that a mara, or nightmare, can be
+effectually exorcised if the sufferer surmises who it is, and instantly
+addresses it by name.[221] We can now understand how, in the
+Carmarthenshire story mentioned in Chapter VII., the farmer was rescued
+from the fairies under whose spell he had been for twelve months. A man
+caught sight of him dancing on the mountain and broke the spell by
+speaking to him. It must have been the utterance of his name that drew
+him out of the enchanted circle.
+
+Returning, however, to the legend of Wastin, we may observe how much
+narrower and less likely to be infringed is the taboo imposed on him
+than that imposed on the youth of Blaensawdde. Yet the lady of the Van
+Pool, whatever her practice, had in theory some relics of old-fashioned
+wifely duty. She did not object to the chastisement which the laws of
+Wales allowed a husband to bestow. A husband was permitted to beat his
+wife for three causes; and if on any other occasion he raised his hand
+against her, she had her remedy in the shape of a _sarâd_, or fine, to
+be paid to her for the disgrace. But a _sarâd_ would not satisfy this
+proud lady; nothing less than a divorce would meet the case. The
+Partridge's wife, as we have seen, was still more exacting: she declined
+to be struck at all. In the same way the fish who had become a girl, in
+the Dyak story, cautioned her husband to use her well; and when he
+struck her she rushed back screaming into the water. In another Bornoese
+tradition, which is quoted by Mr. Farrer, the heroine is taken up to the
+sky because her husband had struck her, there having been no previous
+prohibition.[222] A different sort of personal violence is resented in
+the Bantik legend cited above. There the husband is forbidden to tear
+out one white hair which adorns Outahagi, his wife's head. He disobeys
+after she has given birth to a son; and she vanishes in a tempest and
+returns to the sky, where her husband is forced to seek her again.
+
+The stipulation made by Wild Edric's bride is still more arbitrary,
+according to our notions, than these. Her husband was forbidden to
+reproach her on account of her sisters, or the place from which he
+snatched her away. In other words, he was forbidden to charge her with
+her supernatural character. When Diarmaid, the daughter of King
+Underwaves, comes in the form of a beggar to Fionn and insists on
+sharing his couch, she becomes a beautiful girl, and consents to marry
+him on condition that he does not say to her thrice how he found her. In
+a variant, the hero, going out shooting, meets with a hare, which, when
+hard pressed by the dogs, turns into a woman. She promises to wed him on
+his entering into three vows, namely, not to ask his king to a feast
+without first letting her know (a most housewifely proviso), not to cast
+up to her in any company that he found her in the form of a hare, and
+not to leave her in the company of only one man. Both these are West
+Highland tales; and in the manner of the taboo they closely resemble
+that given by Map. In an Illyrian story, a Vila is by a youth found one
+morning sleeping in the grass. He is astonished at her beauty, and
+plants a shade for her. When she wakes she is pleased, and asks what he
+wants for such kindness. He asks nothing less than to take her to wife;
+and she is content, but, avowing herself a Vila, forbids him to utter
+that name, for if he should do so she must quit him at once. Keats has
+glorified one of these stories by his touch; and it was a true instinct
+that guided him to make Lamia's disappearance follow, not on Apollonius'
+denunciation of her real character, but on the echo of the words "A
+serpent!" by her astounded husband, Lycius. What matter that the
+philosopher should make a charge against her? It was only when her lover
+repeated the foul word that she forsook him. The nightmare-wife in one
+of the stories mentioned in the last chapter vanishes, it will be
+remembered, on being reproached with her origin, and in another on being
+asked how she became a nightmare; and the lady in the Esthonian tale
+warns her husband against calling her Mermaid. In this connection it is
+obvious to refer to the euphemistic title Eumenides, bestowed by the
+Greeks on the Furies, and to the parallel names, Good People and Fair
+Family, for fays in this country. In all these cases the thought is
+distinguishable from that of the Carnarvonshire sagas; for the offence
+is not given by the utterance of a personal name, but by incautious use
+of a generic appellation which conveys reproach, if not scorn.[223]
+
+The heroine of a saga of the Gold Coast was really a fish, but was in
+the form of a woman. Her husband had sworn to her that he would not
+allude in any way to her home or her relatives; and, relying on this
+promise, his wife had disclosed her true nature to him and taken him
+down to her home. He was kindly received there, but was speared by some
+fishermen, and only with difficulty rescued by his new relatives, who
+enjoined him when he returned to earth with his wife to keep the
+spearhead carefully concealed. It was, however, found and claimed by its
+owner; and to escape the charge of theft the husband reluctantly
+narrated the whole adventure. No evil consequences immediately ensued
+from this breach of his vow. But he had lately taken a second wife; and
+she one day quarrelled with the first wife and taunted her with being a
+fish. Upbraiding her husband for having revealed the secret, the latter
+plunged into the sea and resumed her former shape. So in the Pawnee
+story of The Ghost Wife, a wife who had died is persuaded by her husband
+to come back from the Spirit Land to dwell again with himself and her
+child. All goes well until he takes a second wife, who turns out
+ill-tempered and jealous of the first wife. Quarrelling with her one
+day, she reproaches the latter with being nothing but a ghost. The next
+morning when the husband awoke, his first wife was no longer by his
+side. She had returned to the Spirit Land; and the following night both
+he and the child died in their sleep--called by the first wife to
+herself.[224] These sagas bring us back to that of Melusina, who
+disappears, it will be recollected, not when the count, her husband,
+breaks the taboo, but when, by calling her a serpent, he betrays his
+guilty knowledge.
+
+A name, indeed, is the cause of offence and disappearance in many other
+of these stories. The chieftain of the Quins, who owned the Castle of
+Inchiquin on the lake of that name, near the town of Ennis in Ireland,
+found in one of the many caves of the neighbourhood a lady who consented
+to become his bride, only stipulating that no one bearing the name of
+O'Brien should be allowed to enter the castle gate. When this
+prohibition was infringed she sprang through a window with her child
+into the lake. The property has long since passed into the hands of the
+O'Briens; and amid the ruins of the castle the fatal window is still
+shown nearly as perfect as when the supernatural lady leaped through it
+into the waters. It may be safely said that the primitive form of the
+taboo has not come down to us in this tale, and that it owes its
+present form to the fact that the O'Briens have acquired the estates
+once owned by the Quins. Probably the utterance of some hateful name was
+forbidden. But whatever name may have been able to disturb the
+equanimity of the Lady of Inchiquin, we are now familiar enough with
+these superstitions to understand why a holy name should be tabooed by
+the goat-footed fairy wife of Don Diego Lopez in the Spanish tale
+narrated by Sir Francis Palgrave. "Holy Mary!" exclaimed the Don, as he
+witnessed an unexpected quarrel among his dogs, "who ever saw the like?"
+His wife, without more ado, seized her daughter and glided through the
+air to her native mountains. Nor did she ever return, though she
+afterwards, at her son's request, supplied an enchanted horse to release
+her husband when in captivity to the Moors. In two Norman variants the
+lady forbids the utterance in her presence of the name of Death.[225]
+
+These high-born heroines had, forsooth, highly developed sensibilities.
+The wife of a Teton (the Tetons are a tribe of American natives)
+deserted him, abandoned her infant to her younger brother's care, and
+plunged into a stream, where she became what we call a mermaid,--and all
+because her husband had scolded her. In another American tale, where the
+wife was a snake, she deserted him from jealousy. A Tirolese saga speaks
+of a man who had a wife of unknown extraction. She had bidden him,
+whenever she baked bread, to pour water for her with his right hand. He
+poured it once with the left, to see what would happen. He soon saw, to
+his cost; for she flew out of the house. The Queen of Sheba, according
+to a celebrated Arab writer, was the daughter of the King of China and a
+Peri. Her birth came about on this wise. Her father, hunting, met two
+snakes, a black one and a white, struggling together in deadly combat.
+He killed the black one, and caused the white one to be carefully
+carried to his palace and into his private apartment. On entering the
+room the next day, he was surprised to find a lovely lady, who announced
+herself as a Peri, and thanked him for delivering her the day before
+from her enemy, the black snake. As a proof of her gratitude she offered
+him her sister in marriage, subject, however, to the proviso that he
+should never question her why she did this or that, else she would
+vanish, never to be seen again. The king agreed, and had every reason to
+be pleased with his beautiful bride. A son was born to them; but the
+lady put it in the fire. The king wept and tore his beard, but said
+nothing. Then a daughter of singular loveliness--afterwards Balkis,
+Queen of Sheba--was born: a she-bear appeared at the door, and the
+mother flung her babe into its jaws. The king tore out not only his
+beard, but the hair of his head, in silence. A climax, however, came
+when, in the course of a war, he and his army had to effect a seven
+days' march across a certain desert. On the fifth day came the queen, a
+large knife in her hand, and, slitting the provision-bags and the
+waterskins, strewed the whole of the food upon the ground, and brought
+the king and his army face to face with death. Her husband could no
+longer restrain himself from questioning her. Then she told him that his
+vizier, bribed by the enemy, had poisoned the food and water in order to
+destroy him and his army, and that his son had a constitutional defect
+which would have prevented him from living three days if she had not put
+him in the fire. The she-bear, who was no other than a trusty old nurse,
+brought back his daughter at her call; but the queen herself
+disappeared, and he saw her no more. The Nereid in the Cretan tale
+referred to in Chapter IX obstinately refused to speak, although her
+lover had fairly conquered her. But after she bore him a son, the old
+woman of whom he had previously taken counsel advised him to heat the
+oven and threaten his mistress that if she would not speak he would
+throw the boy into it. The Nereid seized the babe, and, crying out: "Let
+go my child, dog!" tore it from his arms and vanished. It is related by
+Apollodorus that Thetis, who was also a Nereid, wished to make her son
+immortal. To this end she buried him in fire by night to burn out his
+human elements, and anointed him with ambrosia by day. Peleus, her
+husband, was not informed of the reason for this lively proceeding; and,
+seeing his child in the fire, he called out. Thetis, thus thwarted,
+abandoned both husband and child in disgust, and went back to her native
+element. In the great Sanskrit epic of the Mahábhárata we are told that
+King Sántanu, walking by a riverside one day, met and fell in love with
+a beautiful girl, who told him that she was the river Ganges, and could
+only marry him on condition that he never questioned her conduct. To
+this he, with a truly royal gallantry, agreed; and she bore him several
+children, all of whom she threw into the river as soon as they were
+born. At last she bore him a boy, Bhíshma; and her husband begged her to
+spare his life, whereupon she instantly changed into the river Ganges
+and flowed away. Incompatibility of temper, as evidenced by three simple
+disagreements, was a sufficient ground of divorce for the fairy of Llyn
+Nelferch, in the parish of Ystradyfodwg, in Glamorganshire, from her
+human husband. In a variant of the Maori sagas, to which I have more
+than once referred, the lady quits her spouse in disgust because he
+turns out _not_ to be a cannibal, as she had hoped from his truculent
+name, Kai-tangata, or man-eater. Truly a heartrending instance of
+misplaced confidence![226]
+
+Many of these stories belong to the Star's Daughter type,--that is to
+say, are wanting in the taboo. But in every variant of the Swan-maiden
+group, to whatsoever type it may belong, the catastrophe is inevitable
+from the beginning. Whether or not it depends on the breach of an
+explicit taboo, it is equally the work of doom. A legend of the Loo-Choo
+Islands expresses this feeling in its baldest form. A farmer sees a
+bright light in his well, and, on drawing near, beholds a woman diving
+and washing in the water. Her clothes, strange in shape and of a ruddy
+sunset colour, are hanging on a pine-tree near at hand. He takes them,
+and thus compels her to marry him. She lives with him for ten years,
+bearing him a son and a daughter. At the end of that time her fate is
+fulfilled; she ascends a tree during her husband's absence, and, having
+bidden her children farewell, glides off on a cloud and disappears. Both
+in its approximation to the Hasan of Bassorah type and in its
+attributing the separation of husband and wife to fate, this tale agrees
+remarkably with the Lay of Weyland Smith, where we are told: "From the
+south through Mirkwood, to fulfil their fates, the young fairy maidens
+flew. The southern ladies alighted to rest on the sea-strand, and fell
+to spinning their goodly linen. First Allrune, Cear's fair daughter,
+took Egil to her bright bosom. The second, Swanwhite, took Slagfin. But
+Lathgund, her sister, clasped the white neck of Weyland. Seven winters
+they stayed there in peace, but the eighth they began to pine, the ninth
+they must needs part. The young fairy maidens hastened to Mirkwood to
+fulfil their fates." A Vidyádhari, too, who, in the Kathá-sarit-ságara,
+is caught in the orthodox manner, dwells with a certain ascetic until
+she brings forth a child. She then calmly remarks to her holy paramour:
+"My curse has been brought to an end by living with you. If you desire
+to see any more of me, cook this child of mine with rice and eat it; you
+will then be reunited to me!" Having said this, she vanished. The
+ascetic followed her directions, and was thus enabled to fly after her.
+In one of the New Zealand variants we are told that the time came for
+Whai-tiri to return to her home. The same thing is indicated to the wife
+in a Tirolese tale by means of a voice, which her husband hears as he
+passes through the forest. The voice cried: "Tell Mao that Mamao is
+dead." When he repeated this to his wife she disappeared; and he never
+saw or heard of her after. In view of these narratives there can be
+little doubt as to the meaning of the Arab tradition of the she-demon,
+from whom one of the clans was descended. Her union with their human
+father came suddenly to an end when she beheld a flash of
+lightning.[227]
+
+The Star's Daughter, however, returned to the sky because she was
+homesick. Nor is she the only heroine of these tales who did so; but
+homesick heroines are not very interesting, and I pass to one who had a
+nobler reason for quitting her love. The saga is told at Rarotonga of a
+girl of dazzling white complexion who came up out of a fountain and was
+caught. She became the wife of a chief. It was the custom of the
+inhabitants of the world from which she came to perform the Cæsarean
+operation on females who were ready to give birth; so that the birth of
+a child involved the mother's death. When she found on the earth, to her
+surprise, that by allowing nature to take its course the mother as well
+as the child was saved, she persuaded her husband to go with her to the
+lower world to endeavour to put a stop to the cruel custom. He was ready
+to accompany her; but after five several efforts to dive with her
+through the fountain to the regions below he was obliged to abandon the
+attempt. Sorrowfully embracing each other, the "peerless one" said: "I
+alone will go to the spirit-world to teach what I have learnt from you."
+At this she again dived down into the clear waters, and was never more
+seen on earth.[228]
+
+It will not have escaped the reader's attention, that among the more
+backward races the taboo appears generally simpler in form, or is absent
+altogether. Among most, if not all, of the peoples who tell stories
+wherein this is the case, the marriage bonds are of the loosest
+description; and there is, therefore, nothing very remarkable in the
+supernatural bride's conduct. We might expect to find that as advances
+are made in civilization, and marriage becomes more regarded, the reason
+for separation would become more and more complex and cogent. Am I going
+too far in suggesting that the resumption by the bride of her bird or
+beast shape marks a stage in the development of the myth beyond the
+Star's Daughter type; and the formal taboo, where the human figure is
+not abandoned, a stage later still? In our view, indeed, the taboo is
+not less irrational, as a means of putting an end to the marriage, than
+the retrieved robe or skin. But we forget how recent in civilization is
+the sanctity of the marriage-tie. Even among Christian nations divorce
+was practised during the Middle Ages for very slight reasons, despite
+the authority of popes and priests. In Eastern countries the husband has
+always had little check on his liberty of putting away a wife for any
+cause, or no cause at all; and, though unrecognized by the religious
+books, which have enforced the husband's rights with so stern a
+sanction, this liberty on his part may have been counter-balanced,
+oftener than we think, by corresponding liberty on the wife's part.
+Beyond doubt this has been so in India, where it is effected by means
+of marriage settlements. In Bengal, for instance, a bridegroom is
+sometimes compelled to execute a deed in which he stipulates never to
+scold his wife, the penalty being a divorce; and deeds are not unknown
+empowering the wife to get a divorce if her husband ever so much as
+disagree with her.[229] This is incompatibility of temper with a
+vengeance! Even the fairy of Llyn Nelferch was willing to put up with
+two disagreements; and no taboo in story has gone, or could go, further.
+
+Moreover, some of the taboos are such as the etiquette of various
+peoples would entirely approve, though breaches of them might not be
+visited so severely as in the tales. I have already pointed out that the
+Lady of the Van Pool would have had a legal remedy for blows without
+cause. The romance lies in the wide interpretation she gave to the
+blows, and their disproportionate punishment. These transfer the
+hearer's sympathies from the wife to the husband. Precisely parallel
+seems to be the injunction laid upon Hohodemi, by Toyotamahime, daughter
+of the Sea-god. I know not what may be the rule in Japan; but it is
+probably not different from that which obtains in China. There, as we
+learn from the Li Kì, one of the Confucian classics, a wife in
+Toyotamahime's condition would, even among the poor, be placed in a
+separate apartment; and her husband, though it would be his duty to send
+twice a day to ask after her, would not see her, nor apparently enter
+her room until the child was presented to him to be named. Curiously
+enough the prohibition in the Japanese tale is identical with that
+imposed by Pressina, herself a water-fay, the mother of Melusina,
+according to the romance of Jean d'Arras written at the end of the
+fourteenth century. Melusina and the Esthonian mermaid laid down another
+rule: they demanded a recurring period during which they would be free
+from marital intrusion. India is not Europe; but it cannot be thought
+quite irrelevant to observe that much more than this is commonly secured
+to a bride in many parts of India. For by the marriage settlement it is
+expressly agreed that she is to go to her father's house as often as she
+likes; and if her husband object, she is empowered in the deed to bring
+an action against him for false imprisonment.[230]
+
+Here we may leave the subject of the taboo. Something, however, must be
+said on the Swan-maiden as divine ancestress. But first of all, let me
+advert to one or two cases where divinity is ascribed without
+progenitorship. The Maori heroine and her husband are worshipped. They
+do not appear to be considered actual parents of any New Zealand clan;
+but the husband at all events would be deemed one of the same blood.
+Passing over to New Guinea, we find a remarkable saga concerning the
+moon. The moon is a daughter of the earth, born by the assistance of a
+native of the village of Keile, about twenty miles to the eastward of
+Port Moresby. A long while ago, digging deeper than usual, he came upon
+a round, smooth, silvery, shining object, which, after he had got it out
+and lifted it up, grew rapidly larger and larger until it floated away.
+He set out to search for it; nor did he desist until one day he came
+upon a large pool in the river and found a beautiful woman bathing. On
+the bank lay her grass petticoat where she had cast it off. He sat down
+upon it; and when her attention was attracted to him by his dogs, they
+recognized one another. She was the moon, and he was the man who had dug
+her up out of the earth; and he claimed her as his wife. "If I marry
+you," she replied, "you must die; but as you have touched my clothes you
+must die in any case, and so for one day I will marry you, and then you
+must go home to your village and prepare for death." Accordingly they
+were married for one day; and the man then went home, made his funeral
+feast and died. The moon in due course married the sun, as it was her
+doom to do; but his intolerable jealousies rendered their union so
+wretched that they at last agreed to see as little of one another as
+possible. This accounts for their conduct ever since. An Annamite legend
+relates that a woodcutter found some fairies bathing at a lovely
+fountain. He took possession of the raiment of one, and hid it at the
+bottom of his rice-barn. In this way he compelled its owner to become
+his wife; and they lived together happily for some years. Their son was
+three years old when, in her husband's absence, she sold their stock of
+rice. On clearing out the barn her clothes were found. She bade farewell
+to the child, left her comb stuck in his collar, donned her clothes and
+flew away. When her husband returned and learned how matters stood, he
+took his son and repaired to the fountain, where happily they fell in
+with some of his wife's servants who were sent thither to draw water.
+Engaging them in conversation, he caused his son to drop the comb into
+one of the water-jars. By this means his wife recognized them, and sent
+an enchanted handkerchief which enabled him to fly and follow her
+servants to her home. After awhile she sent him and her son back to the
+earth, promising to get permission in a short time to return and live
+with them. By the carelessness of one of her servants, however, both
+father and son were dropped into the sea and drowned. Apprised of the
+catastrophe by ravens, the fairy transformed her servant, by way of
+punishment, into--or according to a variant, became herself--the morning
+star, while father and son became the evening star. And now the morning
+star and the evening star perpetually seek one another, but never again
+can they meet.[231]
+
+Turning to the instances where ancestry is claimed, we find that the
+chiefs of the Ati clan are descended from "the peerless one" of
+Rarotonga. The Arawàk Indians of Guiana reckon descent in the female
+line. One of their families takes its name from its foremother, the
+warlock's daughter who was provided with the dogskin mentioned on a
+previous page. Another family deduces its name and pedigree from an
+earth-spirit married to one of its ancestors; but it does not appear
+whether any Swan-maiden myth attaches to her. The fish _puttin_ is
+sacred among the Dyaks. On no account will they eat it, because they
+would be eating their relations, for they are descended from the lady
+whose first and last form was a _puttin_. In other words, the _puttin_
+is their totem. A family of the town of Chama on the Gold Coast claims
+in like manner to be descended from the fish-woman of whose story I have
+given an outline; and a legend to the same effect is current at the
+neighbouring town of Appam; nor in either instance do the members of the
+family dare to eat of the fish of the kind to which they believe their
+ancestress belonged. The totem superstition is manifest in the case of
+the Phoenician, or Babylonian, goddess Derceto, who was represented as
+woman to the waist and thence downward fish. She was believed to have
+been a woman, the mother of Semiramis, and to have thrown herself in
+despair into a lake. Her worshippers abstained from eating fish; though
+fish were offered to her in sacrifice, and golden fish suspended in her
+temple. Melusina was the mother of the family of Lusignan. She used to
+appear and shriek on one of the castle towers as often as the head of
+the family, or a King of France, was to die, or when any disaster was
+about to happen to the realm, or to the town of Luxemburg. She was also
+the author of certain presages of plenty or famine. Similar legends are
+told of the castles of Argouges and Rânes in Normandy. If the Irish
+Banshee tales could be minutely examined, it is probable that they would
+resolve themselves into stories of supernatural ancestresses. To the
+Vila of the Illyrian story, and the fairy of Sir Francis Palgrave's
+Spanish story, noble families attribute their origin. A family in the
+Tirol is descended from the lady who insisted on her husband's pouring
+water with his right hand; and the members of a noble Greek family have
+the blood of a Nereid in their veins.[232]
+
+Though the heroine of the Van Pool might never return to her husband,
+she was drawn back to earth by the care of her three sons, who, by means
+of her instructions, became celebrated physicians. On one occasion she
+accompanied them to a place still called Pant-y-Meddygon (the hollow, or
+dingle, of the physicians), and there pointed out to them the various
+herbs which grew around, and revealed their medicinal virtues. It is
+added that, in order that their knowledge should not be lost, the
+physicians wisely committed the same to writing for the benefit of
+mankind throughout all ages. A collection of medical recipes purporting
+to be this very work still exists in a manuscript preserved at Jesus
+College, Oxford, which is now in course of publication by Professor Rhys
+and Mr. J. Gwenogvryn Evans, and is known as the Red Book of Hergest. An
+edition of the "Meddygon Myddfai," as this collection is called, was
+published by the Welsh MSS. Society thirty years ago, with an English
+translation. It professes to have been written under the direction of
+Rhiwallon the Physician and his sons Kadwgan, Gruffydd, and Einion; and
+they are called "the ablest and most eminent of the physicians of their
+time and of the time of Rhys Gryg, their lord, and the lord of Dinevor,
+the nobleman who kept their rights and privileges whole unto them, as
+was meet." This nobleman was Prince of South Wales in the early part of
+the thirteenth century; and his monumental effigy is in the cathedral
+of St. David's. Mr. Gwenogvryn Evans, than whom there is no higher
+authority, is of opinion that the manuscript was written at the end of
+the fourteenth century--that is to say, about two hundred years after
+the date at which the marriage between the youth of Blaensawdde and his
+fairy love is alleged to have taken place; and it is believed by the
+editor of the published volume to be a copy of a still more ancient
+manuscript now in the British Museum. Yet it contains no reference to
+the legend of the Van Pool. The volume in question includes a transcript
+of another manuscript of the work, which is ascribed in the colophon to
+Howel the Physician, who, writing in the first person, claims to be
+"regularly descended in the male line from the said Einion, the son of
+Rhiwallon, the physician of Myddfai, being resident in Cilgwryd, in
+Gower." This recension of the work is much later in date than the
+former. A portion of it cannot be older than the end of the fifteenth
+century; and the manuscript from which it was printed was probably the
+result of accretions extending over a long period of time, down to the
+year 1743, when it was copied "from the book of John Jones, Physician of
+Myddfai, the last lineal descendant of the family." The remedies it
+contains, though many of them are antique enough, and superstitious
+enough, are of various dates and sources; and, so far from being
+attributed to a supernatural origin, they are distinctly said to "have
+been proved to be the best and most suitable for the human body through
+the research and diligent study of Rhiwallon" and his three sons. The
+negative evidence of the "Meddygon Myddfai," therefore, tends to show
+that the connection of the Van Pool story with the Physicians is of
+comparatively recent date.[233]
+
+And yet it is but natural (if we may use such an expression) that a
+mythical creature like the Lady of the Lake should be the progenitor of
+an extraordinary offspring. Elsewhere we have seen her sisters the
+totems of clans, the goddesses of nations, the parents of great families
+and renowned personages. Melusina gave birth to monsters of ugliness and
+evil,[234] and through them to a long line of nobles. So the heroine of
+the Llanberis legend had two sons and two daughters, all of whom were
+remarkable. The elder son became a great physician, and all his
+descendants were celebrated for their proficiency in medicine. The
+second son was a Welsh Tubal-cain. One of the daughters invented the
+small ten-stringed harp, and the other the spinning wheel. "Thus," we
+are told, "were introduced the arts of medicine, manufactures, music,
+and woollen work!" If, then, there were a family at Myddfai celebrated
+for their leechcraft, and possessed of lands and influence, as we know
+was the fact, their hereditary skill would seem to an ignorant peasantry
+to demand a supernatural origin; and their wealth and material power
+would not refuse the additional consideration which a connection with
+the legend of the neighbouring pool would bring them.
+
+But for all that the incident of the reappearance by the mother to her
+children may have been part of the original story. The Carnarvonshire
+fairies of various tales analogous to that of the Van Pool are recalled
+by maternal love to the scenes of their wedded life; and the hapless
+father hears his wife's voice outside the window chanting pathetically:
+
+    "If my son should feel it cold,
+    Let him wear his father's coat;
+    If the fair one feel the cold,
+    Let her wear my petticoat!"
+
+Whatever he may have thought of these valuable directions, they hardly
+seem to us sufficient to have brought the lady up from "the bottomless
+pool of Corwrion" to utter. There is more sense in the mother's song in
+a Kaffir tale. This woman was not of purely supernatural origin. She was
+born in consequence of her (human) mother's eating pellets given her by
+a bird. Married to a chief by whom she was greatly beloved, it was
+noticed that she never went out of doors by day. In her husband's
+absence her father-in-law forced her to go and fetch water from the
+river for him in the daytime. Like the woman by the waters of the Rhone,
+she was drawn down into the river. That evening her child cried
+piteously; and the nurse took it to the stream in the middle of the
+night, singing:
+
+    "It is crying, it is crying,
+    The child of Sihamba Ngenyanga;
+    It is crying, it will not be pacified."
+
+The mother thereupon came out of the water, and wailed this song as she
+put the child to her breast:
+
+    "It is crying, it is crying,
+    The child of the walker by moonlight.
+    It was done intentionally by people whose names are unmentionable.[235]
+    They sent her for water during the day.
+    She tried to dip with the milk-basket, and then it sank.
+    Tried to dip with the ladle, and then it sank.
+    Tried to dip with the mantle, and then it sank."
+
+The result of the information conveyed in these words was her ultimate
+recovery by her husband with the assistance of her mother, who was a
+skilful sorceress.[236]
+
+A Finnish tale belonging to the Cinderella group represents the heroine
+as changed into a reindeer-cow by an ogress who takes her place as wife
+and mother. But her babe will not be comforted; so a woman, to whose
+care he is committed, carries him into the forest, and sings the
+following incantation:
+
+    "Little blue eyes, little red-fell,
+    Come thou thine own son to suckle,
+    Feed whom thou hast given birth to!
+    Of that cannibal nought will he,
+    Never drinks from that bloodsucker;
+    For her breasts to him are loathsome,
+    Nor can hunger drive him to them."
+
+The reindeer cannot withstand this appeal. She casts her skin, and comes
+in human form to suckle her child. This results, after two repetitions
+in the husband's burning the reindeer hide and clasping her in his arms.
+But, like Peleus, he has to hold her fast in spite of various
+transformations, until he has overcome the charm and has her once more
+in her pristine shape![237]
+
+It was not strength so much as boldness and tenacity that conquered
+here. In the Kaffir story the husband's first attempt to pull his wife
+out of the water by sheer force failed. Thus, too, in one of the
+Tirolese stories already mentioned the husband lies in wait for his wife
+when she returns, as usual, to comb her little girl's hair on a
+Saturday. He catches her by the arm as she enters; and she tells him
+that if he can hold her for a little while she must stay: otherwise she
+will never come again. All his strength is, however, too little to
+struggle successfully with her. The mother's visits to her children are,
+indeed, a frequent sequel to the story; and occasionally the tie which
+compels her to return is taken advantage of by the forsaken husband to
+obtain possession of her again. But fraud, not force, is the means
+employed, as in the Lapp story of the Maiden out of the Sea, where the
+mermaid's clothes are once more confiscated. In a legend of Llyn y
+Dywarchen (the Lake of the Sod), not very far from Beddgelert, the
+water-nymph subsequently appears to her husband, conversing with him
+from a floating turf while he stands on the shore. Here the motive of
+the reappearance is the unusual one of conjugal, rather than parental,
+affection.[238]
+
+I must not omit to add that the first Sunday in August is kept in the
+neighbourhood of the Van Pool as the anniversary of the fairy's return
+to the lake. It is believed that annually on that day a commotion takes
+place in the lake; its waters boil to herald the approach of the lady
+with her oxen. It was, and still is (though in decreasing force), the
+custom for large numbers of people to make a pilgrimage to witness the
+phenomenon; and it is said that the lady herself appears in mermaid form
+upon the surface, and combs her tresses. I have little doubt that in
+this superstition we have the relic of a religious festival in honour of
+an archaic divinity whose abode was in the lake. She has, perhaps, only
+escaped being an enchanted princess by being a Welsh rather than a
+German goddess. If the mermaid form be of genuine antiquity,--about
+which I confess to a lurking suspicion,--it is another bond with the
+Scottish stories, with Melusina and with Derceto.[239]
+
+We have now considered the principal points of the myth. The
+feather-robe, or skin, we found absent from all its more archaic
+examples. There, no change of form occurs, or when it does occur it is
+accomplished by simple transformation. When present, the robe is a mere
+symbol of the lady's superhuman nature, or else the result of
+enchantment. These are more recent types, and are all, or nearly all,
+_märchen_. In the later sagas, such as those of Melusina and the Lady of
+the Van Pool, it is again absent; though relics of the change of form
+frequently remain.
+
+Capture of the Swan-maiden proper is effected by theft of her robe: in
+other types either by main force, or more frequently with her consent,
+more or less willingly given, or by her own initiative.
+
+We then passed to the more important subject of the taboo. The taboo,
+strictly speaking, only appears where the peltry is absent. Several of
+its forms correspond with rules of antique etiquette. Others recall
+special points connected with savage life, such as the dislike of iron
+and steel, and the prejudice against the mention of a personal name.
+Other prohibitions are against reproaching the wife with her origin,
+against reminding her of her former condition, or against questioning
+her conduct or crossing her will. But whether the taboo be present or
+absent, the loss of the wife is equally inevitable, equally foreseen
+from the beginning. It is the doom of the connection between a simple
+man and a superhuman female. Even where the feather-robe is absent the
+taboo is not always found. Among savages the marriage-bond is often very
+loose: notably in the more backward races. And among these the
+superhuman wife's excuse for flight is simpler; and sometimes it is only
+an arbitrary exercise of will. The taboo grows up with the advance in
+civilization.
+
+Lastly, we considered the Swan-maiden as divine ancestress. We found her
+resident in heaven, we found her worshipped, we found her as the totem
+of a clan. The totemistic stories are widely spread,--so widely, indeed,
+as to afford a presumption that we have in them a clue to the whole
+meaning of the myth. For not only have we the complete totemistic form,
+as among the Dyaks and the tribes of the Gold Coast; but we find the
+superstition fading through the goddess Derceto into modern sagas of the
+supernatural mother of a family, who to her sometimes owe extraordinary
+powers, and over whose fate she continually watches.
+
+Here, then, our study of this beautiful myth must close. I am far from
+suggesting that the subject is exhausted. On the contrary, it is so
+large and so complex that I have rigidly abstained from anything more
+than a very imperfect examination of its principal features. On some of
+the points here partially discussed I shall have something more to add
+in our final chapter, when discussing certain theories on the fairy
+beliefs.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[202] Grey, p. 66; Taylor, p. 138; White, vol. i. pp. 95, 115, _et
+seqq._, vol. ii. p. 127, _et seqq_.
+
+[203] "F. L. Journal," vol. i. p. 202; "Revue des Trad. Pop." vol. iv.
+p. 305.
+
+[204] Von Hahn, vol. ii. p. 78. In illustration of these remarks on
+marital relations in a society where female kinship only is recognized,
+let me quote the following paragraph concerning Maori customs. The
+Maories, it must be borne in mind, have only recently emerged from this
+stage; and many relics of it remain.
+
+"Sometimes the father simply told his intended son-in-law he might come
+and live with his daughter; she was thenceforth considered his wife, he
+lived with his father-in-law, and became one of the tribe, or _hapu_, to
+which his wife belonged, and in case of war, was often obliged to fight
+against his own relatives. So common is the custom of the bridegroom
+going to live with his wife's family, that it frequently occurs, when he
+refuses to do so, she will leave him, and go back to her relatives;
+several instances came under my notice where young men have tried to
+break through this custom, and have so lost their wives" (Taylor, p.
+337).
+
+[205] Not entirely: see Burton, "Suppl. Nights," vol. vi. p. 363; "F. L.
+Journal," vol. i. p. 284; Sastri, p. 148.
+
+[206] In speaking of a type as more or less recent than another, it must
+be recollected that I am not speaking of chronological order, but of the
+order of development. For aught we know, the story of the Marquis of the
+Sun may as a matter of date be actually older, could we trace it, than
+the far more archaic story of Tawhaki. But the society in which it took
+shape was more advanced than that disclosed in the Maori legend.
+
+[207] Webster, p. 120; Campbell, vol. i. p. 25; "Mélusine," vol. i. p.
+446; "F. L. Españ." vol. i. p. 187; Schneller, p. 71; Imbriani, p. 411;
+Cosquin, vol. i. pp. 9, 25; Sébillot, "Contes," vol. i. p. 197;
+Grundtvig, vol. i. p. 46; Cavallius, p. 255; Maspons y Labros, p. 102;
+"F. L. Journal," vol. i. p. 284, quoting Lewis.
+
+[208] Waldau, p. 248; Ralston, "R. F. Tales," p. 120, from Afanasief.
+
+[209] Compare the assistance rendered by the birds to Tini-rau, _suprà_,
+p. 286. The Eskimo hero is conveyed to his wife on a salmon's tail
+(Rink, p. 145). Where is the Buddhist pedigree of this incident, or the
+evidence of Buddhist influence which produced it?
+
+[210] Sastri, p. 80; Cosquin, vol. ii. pp. 19, 18; Ralston, "Tibetan
+Tales," p. 72; "F. L. Journal," vol. ii. p. 9; Vernaleken, p. 280.
+
+[211] "F. L. Journal," vol. vii. p. 318; Pitré, vol. iv. pp. 391, 410. A
+variant given by Prof. De Gubernatis is nearly allied to the Cinderella
+group ("Novelline," p. 29); Brett, p. 176.
+
+[212] Basset, p. 161, quoting Bresnier, "Cours de langue Arabe." In a
+Maya story given by Dr. Brinton, the husband prevents his wife's
+transformation in a different way--namely, by throwing salt ("F. L.
+Journal," vol. i. p. 251).
+
+[213] "Journ. Ethnol. Soc." N. S., vol. ii. p. 26; Giles, _passim_;
+Brauns, p. 388.
+
+[214] "Y Cymmrodor," vol. v. p. 94.
+
+[215] Map, Dist. ii. c. 11.
+
+[216] Map, Dist. ii. c. 12.
+
+[217] "Y Cymmrodor," vol. iv. p. 201. Nothing turns on the actual names
+in these stories; they have been evidently much corrupted,--probably
+past all recognition.
+
+[218] Ibid. p. 189; vol. v. pp. 59, 66; vol. vi. p. 196.
+
+[219] Pliny l. xvi. c. 95; Thorpe, vol. ii. pp. 275, 277; Stephens, p.
+248, citing the "Barzas Breiz."
+
+[220] The above paragraphs had scarcely been written when the London
+papers (June 1890) reprinted extracts from a letter in the _Vossische
+Zeitung_ relating the adventures of Dr. Bayol, the Governor of Kotenon,
+who was recently imprisoned by the bloodthirsty King of Dahomey. The
+king was too suspicious to sign the letter written in his name to the
+President of the French Republic. In all probability he was unwilling to
+let the President have his sign manual, for of course M. Carnot would
+have no hesitation in bewitching him by its means.
+
+[221] Keightley, p. 121, quoting from Thiele; Thorpe, vol. iii. p. 155.
+
+[222] Ancient Laws and Institutes of Wales (Public Record Comm., 1841)
+pp. 44, 252. (The Dimetian code was the one in force at Myddfai; but
+that of Gwynedd was similar in this respect.) Farrer, p. 256.
+
+[223] Campbell, vol. iii. p. 403; Mac Innes, p. 211; Wratislaw, p. 314.
+_Cf._ a similar story told by a peasant to Dr. Krauss' mother no longer
+ago than 1888, as having recently happened at Mrkopolje: he "knew the
+parties!" (Krauss, "Volksgl." p. 107).
+
+[224] Ellis, p. 208; Grinnell, p. 129.
+
+[225] "Choice Notes," p. 96; _cf._ Jahn, p. 364, cited above, p. 279.
+(Kennedy relates the story of the Lady of Inchiquin differently.
+According to him the husband was never to invite company to the castle.
+This is probably more modern than the other version. Kennedy, p. 282.)
+Keightley, p. 458, quoting the _Quarterly Review_, vol. xxii. Sir
+Francis Palgrave, though an accurate writer, was guilty of the
+unpardonable sin of invariably neglecting to give his authorities. Ibid.
+p. 485, quoting Mdlle. Bosquet, "La Normandie Romanesque."
+
+[226] "Journal Amer. F. L." vol ii. p. 137; vol. i. p. 76; Schneller, p.
+210; "Rosenöl," vol. i. p. 162; Child, vol. i. p. 337, quoting Schmidt
+and Apollodorus; "Panjab N. & Q.," vol. ii. p. 207. (In this form the
+story is found as a tradition, probably derived from the Mahábhárata.)
+"Trans. Aberd. Eistedd." p. 225; White, vol. i. p. 126.
+
+[227] Dennys, p. 140; "Corpus Poet. Bor." vol. i. p. 168;
+"Kathá-sarit-ságara," vol. ii. p. 453, _cf._ p. 577; White, vol. i. p.
+88; Schneller, p. 210; Robertson Smith, p. 50.
+
+[228] Gill, p. 265.
+
+[229] "Indian N. & Q." vol. iv. p. 147.
+
+[230] "Sacred Books of the East," vol. xxvii. pp. 471, 475, 476; "Indian
+N. & Q." vol. iv. p. 147.
+
+[231] Romilly, p. 134; Landes, p. 123.
+
+[232] Bent, p. 13. The Nereids in modern Greek folklore are conceived in
+all points as Swan-maidens. They fly through the air by means of magical
+raiment (Schmidt, p. 133).
+
+[233] See my article on the "Meddygon Myddfai," entitled "Old Welsh Folk
+Medicine," "Y Cymmrodor," vol. ix. p. 227.
+
+[234] A certain German family used to excuse its faults by attributing
+them to a sea-fay who was reckoned among its ancestors; Birlinger, "Aus
+Schwaben," vol. i. p. 7, quoting the "Zimmerische Chronik."
+
+[235] Namely, her husband's father, whose name she was not permitted by
+etiquette to utter. See above, p. 309.
+
+[236] Theal, p. 54. The Teton lady who became a mermaid was summoned, by
+singing an incantation, to suckle her child; "Journal Amer. F. L." vol.
+ii. p. 137.
+
+[237] Schreck, p. 71.
+
+[238] Poestion, p. 55; "Cymru Fu," p. 474.
+
+[239] "Y Cymmrodor," vol. iv. p. 177, vol. vi. p. 203. I have also made
+inquiries at Ystradgynlais, in the neighbourhood of the lake, the
+results of which confirm the statements of Professor Rhys'
+correspondents; but I have failed to elicit any further information.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+     Retrospect--The fairies of Celtic and Teutonic races of the same
+     nature as the supernatural beings celebrated in the traditions of
+     other nations--All superstitions of supernatural beings
+     explicable by reference to the conceptions of
+     savages--Liebrecht's Ghost Theory of some Swan-maiden
+     myths--MacRitchie's Finn Theory--The amount of truth in
+     them--Both founded on too narrow an induction--Conclusion.
+
+
+We have in the preceding pages examined some of the principal groups of
+tales and superstitions relating to Fairies proper,--that is to say, the
+Elves and Fays of Celtic and Teutonic tradition.
+
+Dealing in the first instance with the sagas found in this country, or
+in Germany, our investigations have by no means ended there; for in
+order to understand these sagas, we have found occasion to refer again
+and again to the _märchen_, as well as the sagas, of other European
+nations,--nay, to the traditions of races as wide apart from our own in
+geographical position and culture, as the South Sea Islanders, the
+Ainos, and the Aborigines of America. And we have found among peoples in
+the most distant parts of the globe similar stories and superstitions.
+Incidentally, too, we have learned something of the details of archaic
+practices, and have found the two great divisions of Tradition,--belief
+and practice,--inseparably interwoven.
+
+I do not pretend to have touched upon all the myths referring to
+Fairies, as thus strictly defined; and the Kobolds and Puck, the
+Household Spirits and Mischievous Demons, have scarcely been so much as
+mentioned. Want of space forbids our going further. It is hoped,
+however, that enough has been said, not merely to give the readers an
+idea of the Fairy Mythology correct as far as it goes, but, beyond that,
+to vindicate the method pursued in the investigation, as laid down in
+our second chapter, by demonstrating the essential identity of human
+imagination all over the world, and by tracing the stories with which we
+have been dealing to a more barbarous state of society and a more
+archaic plane of thought. It now remains, therefore, to recall what we
+have ascertained concerning the nature and origin of the Fairies, and
+briefly to consider two rival theories.
+
+We started from some of the ascertained facts of savage thought and
+savage life. The doctrine of Spirits formed our first proposition. This
+we defined to be the belief held by savages that man consists of body
+and spirit; that it is possible for the spirit to quit the body and roam
+at will in different shapes about the world, returning to the body as to
+its natural home; that in the spirit's absence the body sleeps, and that
+it dies if the spirit return not; further, that the universe swarms with
+spirits embodied and disembodied, because everything in the world has a
+spirit, and all these spirits are analogues of the human spirit, having
+the same will and acting from the same motives; and that if by chance
+any of these spirits be ejected from its body, it may continue to exist
+without a body, or it may find and enter a new body, not necessarily
+such an one as it occupied before, but one quite different. The doctrine
+of Transformation was another of our premises: that is to say, the
+belief held by savages in the possibility of a change of form while
+preserving the same identity. A third premise was the belief in
+Witchcraft, or the power of certain persons to cause the transformations
+just mentioned, and to perform by means of spells, or symbolic actions
+and mystical words, various other feats beyond ordinary human power. And
+there were others to which I need not now refer, all of which were
+assumed to be expressed in the tales and songs, and in the social and
+political institutions, of savages. Along with these, we assumed the
+hypothesis of the evolution of civilization from savagery. By this I
+mean that just as the higher orders of animal and vegetable life have
+been developed from germs which appeared on this planet incalculable
+ages ago; so during a past of unknown length the civilization of the
+highest races of men has been gradually evolving through the various
+stages of savagery and barbarism up to what we know it to-day; and so
+every nation, no matter how barbarous, has arisen from a lower stage
+than that in which it is found, and is on its way, if left to its
+natural processes, to something higher and better. This is an hypothesis
+which does not, of course, exclude the possibility of temporary and
+partial relapses, such as we know have taken place in the history of
+every civilized country, any more than it excludes the possibility of
+the decay and death of empires; but upon the whole it claims that
+progress and not retrogression is the law of human society. The
+different stages of this progress have everywhere left their mark on the
+tales and songs, the sayings and superstitions, the social, religious
+and political institutions--in other words, on the belief and
+practice--of mankind.
+
+Starting from these premises, we have examined five groups, or cycles,
+of tales concerning the Fairy Mythology. We have found Fairyland very
+human in its organization. Its inhabitants marry, sometimes among
+themselves, sometimes into mankind. They have children born to them; and
+they require at such times female assistance. They steal children from
+men, and leave their own miserable brats in exchange; they steal women,
+and sometimes leave in their stead blocks of wood, animated by magical
+art, or sometimes one of themselves. In the former case the animation
+does not usually last very long, and the women is then supposed to die.
+Their females sometimes in turn become captive to men. Unions thus
+formed are, however, not lasting, until the husband has followed the
+wife to her own home, and conquered his right to her afresh by some
+great adventure. This is not always in the story: presumably, therefore,
+not always possible. On the other hand, he who enters Fairyland and
+partakes of fairy food is spell-bound: he cannot return--at least for
+many years, perhaps for ever--to the land of men. Fairies are grateful
+to men for benefits conferred, and resentful for injuries. They never
+fail to reward those who do them a kindness; but their gifts usually
+have conditions attached, which detract from their value and sometimes
+become a source of loss and misery. Nor do they forget to revenge
+themselves on those who offend them; and to watch them, when they do not
+desire to be manifested, is a mortal offence. Their chief distinction
+from men is in their unbounded magical powers, whereof we have had
+several illustrations. They make things seem other than they are; they
+appear and disappear at will; they make long time seem short, or short
+time long; they change their own forms; they cast spells over mortals,
+and keep them spell-bound for ages.
+
+All these customs and all these powers are asserted of the Fairies
+properly so called. And when we look at the superstitions of other races
+than the Celts and Teutons, to which our inquiries have been primarily
+directed, we find the same things asserted of all sorts of creatures.
+Deities, ancestors, witches, ghosts, as well as animals of every kind,
+are endowed by the belief of nations all over the world with powers
+precisely similar to those of the Fairies, and with natures and social
+organizations corresponding with those of men. These beliefs can only be
+referred to the same origin as the fairy superstitions; and all arise
+out of the doctrine of spirits, the doctrine of transformations, and the
+belief in witchcraft, held by savage tribes.
+
+But here I must, at the risk of some few repetitions, notice a theory on
+the subject of the Swan-maiden myth enunciated by Liebrecht. That
+distinguished writer, in his book on Folklore, devotes a section to the
+consideration of the group which has occupied us in the last two
+chapters, and maintains, with his accustomed wealth of allusion and his
+accustomed ingenuity, that some at least of the Swan-maidens are nothing
+more nor less than ghosts of the departed, rescued from the kingdom of
+darkness for a while, but bound to return thither after a short respite
+here with those whom they love. Now it is clear that if Swan-maiden
+tales are to be resolved into ghost stories, all other supernatural
+beings, gods and devils as well as fairies and ghosts, will turn out to
+be nothing but spectres of the dead. A summary of his argument, and of
+the reasons for rejecting it, will, therefore, not only fill up any
+serious gaps in our discussion of the main incidents of the myth in
+question; but it will take a wider sweep, and include the whole subject
+of the present volume.
+
+His argument, as I understand it, is based, first, on the terms of the
+taboo. The object of the taboo, he thinks, is to avoid any remark being
+made, any question being asked, any object being presented, which would
+remind these spirits of their proper home, and awaken a longing they
+cannot withstand to return. There is an old Teutonic legend of a knight
+who came in a little boat drawn by a swan to succour and wed a
+distressed lady, on whom he laid a charge never to ask whence he came,
+or in what country he was born. When she breaks this commandment the
+swan reappears and fetches him away. So the nightmare-wife, as we have
+seen, in one of the tales vanishes on being asked how she became a
+nightmare. Again, the fay of Argouges disappears on the name of Death
+being mentioned in her presence. A fair maiden in an Indian tale, who is
+found by the hero in the neighbourhood of a fountain, and bears the name
+of Bheki (Frog), forbids her husband ever to let her see water. When she
+is thirsty and begs him for water, the doom is fulfilled on his bringing
+it to her. A similar tale may be added from Ireland, though Liebrecht
+does not mention it. A man who lived near Lough Sheelin, in County
+Meath, was annoyed by having his corn eaten night after night. So he sat
+up to watch; and to his astonishment a number of horses came up out of
+the lake driven by a most beautiful woman, whom he seized and induced to
+marry him. She made the stipulation that she was never to be allowed to
+see the lake again; and for over twenty years she lived happily with
+him, till one day she strolled out to look at the haymakers, and caught
+sight of the distant water. With a loud cry she flew straight to it, and
+vanished beneath the surface.[240]
+
+Liebrecht's next reason is based upon the place where the maiden is
+found,--a forest, or a house in the forest. In this connection he refers
+to the tavern, or drinking-shop, on the borders of the forest, where
+Wild Edric found his bride, and points to a variant of the story, also
+given by Walter Map, in which she is said, in so many words, to have
+been snatched _from the dead_.[241] The forest, he fancies, is the place
+of the dead, the underworld. Lastly, he gives numerous legends of the
+Middle Ages,--some of which found their way into the "Decameron," that
+great storehouse of floating tales, and other literary works of
+imagination, as well as into chronicles,--and instances from more modern
+folklore, wherein a mistress or wife dies, or seems to die, and is
+buried, yet is afterwards recovered from the tomb, and lives to wed, if
+a maiden, and to bear children. He supports these by references to the
+vampire superstitions, and to the case of Osiris, who returned after
+death to Isis and became the father of Horus. And, following Uhland, he
+compares the sleep-thorn, with which Odin pricked the Valkyrie,
+Brynhild, and so put her into a magic slumber, to the stake which was
+driven into the corpse suspected of being a vampire, to prevent its
+rising any more from the grave and troubling the living.
+
+Now it may be admitted that there is much that is plausible, much even
+that is true, in this theory. It might be urged in its behalf that (as
+we have had more than one occasion in the course of this work to know)
+Fairyland is frequently not to be distinguished from the world of the
+dead. Time is not known there; and the same consequences of permanent
+abode follow upon eating the food of the dead and the food of the
+fairies. Further, when living persons are stolen by fairies, mere dead
+images are sometimes left in their place. These arguments, and such as
+these, might well be added to Liebrecht's; and it would be hard to say
+that a formidable case was not made out. And yet the theory fails to
+take account of some rather important considerations. Perhaps the
+strongest point made--a point insisted on with great power--is that of
+the taboo. The case of the lady of Argouges is certainly very striking,
+though, taken by itself, it is far from conclusive. It might very well
+be that a supernatural being, in remaining here, would be obliged to
+submit to mortality, contrary perhaps to its nature; and to remind it of
+this might fill it with an irresistible impulse to fly from so horrible
+a fate. I do not say this is the explanation, but it is as feasible as
+the other. In the Spanish story it was not the utterance of the name of
+Death, but of a holy name--the name of Mary--which compelled the wife to
+leave her husband. Here she was unquestionably regarded by Spanish
+orthodoxy, not as a spirit of the dead, but as a foul fiend, able to
+assume what bodily form it would, but bound to none. The prohibition of
+inquiry as to the bride's former home may arise not so much from a
+desire to avoid the recollection, as from the resentment of impertinent
+curiosity, which we have seen arouses excessive annoyance in
+supernatural bosoms. The resentment of equally impertinent reproaches,
+or a reminiscence of savage etiquette that avoids the direct name, may
+account at least as well for other forms of the taboo. Liebrecht
+suggests most ingeniously that assault and battery must strike the
+unhappy elf still more strongly than reproaches, as a difference between
+her present and former condition, and remind her still more
+importunately of her earlier home, and that this explains the
+prohibition of the "three causeless blows." It may be so, though there
+is no hint of this in the stories; and yet her former condition need not
+have been that of a ghost of the dead, nor her earlier home the tomb. By
+far the greater number of these stories represent the maiden as a
+water-nymph; but it is the depths of the earth rather than the water
+which are commonly regarded as the dwelling-place of the departed.
+Moreover, the correspondence I have tried to point out between the
+etiquette of various peoples and the taboo,--such, for instance, as the
+ban upon a husband's breaking into his wife's seclusion at a delicate
+moment in his family history,--would remain, on Liebrecht's theory,
+purely accidental. Nor would the theory account for the absence of a
+taboo in the lower savagery, nor for the totemistic character of the
+lady, nor, least of all, for the peltry which is the most picturesque,
+if not the most important, incident in this group of tales.
+
+In fact, the only direct evidence for Liebrecht's contention is the
+variant of Wild Edric's legend alluded to by Map. His words are,
+speaking of Alnoth, Edric's son, a great benefactor of the see of
+Hereford: "The man whose mother vanished into air openly in the sight of
+many persons, being indignant at her husband's reproaching her that he
+had carried her off by force from among the dead (_quod cam a mortuis
+rapuisset_)." Upon this it is to be observed that the expression here
+made use of cannot be regarded as one which had accidentally dropped out
+of the narrative previously given; but it is an allusion to an
+independent and inconsistent version, given in forgetfulness that the
+writer had already in another part of his work related the story at
+large and with comments. There he had explicitly called Alnoth--the heir
+and offspring of a devil (_dæmon_), and had expressed his wonder that
+such a person should have given up his whole inheritance (namely, the
+manor of Ledbury North, which he made over to the see of Hereford in
+gratitude for the miraculous cure of his palsy) to Christ in return for
+his restored health, and spent the rest of his life as a pilgrim.
+Mediæval writers (especially ecclesiastics) were in a difficulty in
+describing fairies. They looked upon them as having an objective
+existence; and yet they knew not how to classify them. Fairies were
+certainly neither departed saints nor holy angels. Beside these two
+kinds of spirits, the only choice left was between devils and ghosts of
+the wicked dead, or, at most, of the dead who had no claims to
+extraordinary goodness. They did not believe in any other creatures
+which could be identified with these mysterious elves. It is no wonder,
+therefore, if they were occasionally perplexed, occasionally
+inconsistent, sometimes denouncing them as devils, at other times
+dismissing them as ghosts.[242]
+
+This is what seems to have happened to Map. In the two chapters
+immediately preceding, he has given two legends illustrating each horn
+of the dilemma. One of these relates the marriage of Henno
+With-the-Teeth, who found a lovely maiden in a grove on the coast of
+Normandy. She was sitting alone, apparelled in royal silk, and weeping.
+Her beauty and her tears attracted the gallant knight, to whom, in
+response to his questions, she told a cock-and-bull story about her
+father having brought her, all unwilling as she was, by sea to be
+married to the King of France; but having been driven by a storm on the
+shore, she said she had landed, and then her father had taken advantage
+of a sudden change of wind to sail away, leaving her to her fate. Henno
+was an easy conquest: he took her home and married her. Unluckily,
+however, he had a mother who had her suspicions. She noticed that her
+fair daughter-in-law, though she went often to church, always upon some
+trumpery excuse came late, so as to avoid being sprinkled with holy
+water, and as regularly left before the consecration of the elements. So
+this virtuous old vixen determined to watch one Sunday morning; and she
+discovered that after Henno had gone to church, his wife, transformed
+into a serpent, entered a bath, and in a little while, issuing upon a
+cloth which her maid had spread out for her, she tore it into pieces
+with her teeth before resuming human form. The maid afterwards went
+through the like performance, her mistress waiting upon her. All this
+was in due course confided to Henno, who, in company with a priest,
+unexpectedly burst in the next time upon his wife and her servant, and
+sprinkled them with holy water. Mistress and maid thereupon with a great
+yell bounded out through the roof and disappeared.
+
+Clearly these ladies were devils: no other creatures with self-respect
+would be guilty of such transformations and such constant disregard of
+the proprieties at church. Ghosts get their turn in Map's other
+narrative. It concerns a man whose wife had died. After sorrowing long
+for her death, he found her one night in a deep and solitary dale amid a
+number of women. With great joy he seized her, and, carrying her off,
+lived with her again for many years and had a numerous progeny. Not a
+few of her descendants were living when Map wrote, and were known as
+_the children of the dead woman_. This, of course, is not a Swan-maiden
+story at all. At the end of Chapter V. I have referred to some similar
+tales; and what we learned during our discussion of the subject of
+Changelings may lead us to suspect that we have here in an imperfect
+form a story of the exchange of an adult woman for a lifeless image, and
+her recovery from the hands of her ravishers. This is by no means the
+same plot as that of the stories recounted by Liebrecht in which the
+wife or the betrothed is rescued from the grave. Those stories, at least
+in warm climates where burials are hurried, and in rude ages when
+medical skill is comparatively undeveloped, are all within the bounds of
+possibility. There does not appear in them any trace of
+mythology,--hardly even of the supernatural; and he would be a bold man
+who would deny that a substratum of fact may not underlie some of them.
+To establish their relationship with the group we are now considering,
+links of a much more evident character are wanting. The fact that they
+are traditional is not of itself sufficient. The fairy of the Forest of
+Dean had not revived after death, or supposed death; nor had she been
+recovered from supernatural beings who had stolen her away. Map's
+account, to whatever his expression _from the dead_ may point, is
+inconsistent with either the one or the other. Rather she was stolen
+from her own kindred, to become the wife of him who had won her by his
+own right arm.
+
+But a single instance, and that instance either inconsistent with the
+analogous traditions, or unable to supply a cogent or consistent
+explanation of them, is not a very safe basis for a theory. What is it
+worth when it is inconsistent even with the theory itself? Indeed, if
+it were consistent with the theory, we might match it with another
+instance wholly irreconcilable. Mikáilo Ivanovitch in the Russian ballad
+marries a Swan-maiden, who, unlike some of the ladies just mentioned,
+insists upon being first baptized into the Christian faith. She makes
+the stipulation that when the one of them dies the other shall go living
+into the grave with the dead, and there abide for three months. She
+herself dies. Mikáilo enters the grave with her, and there conquers a
+dragon which comes to feast on the dead bodies. The dragon is compelled
+to fetch the waters of life and death, by means of which the hero brings
+his dead love back to life. Marya, the White Swan, however, proved
+herself so ungrateful that after awhile she took another husband, and
+twice she acted the part of Delilah to Mikáilo. The third time she tried
+it he was compelled in self-defence to put an end to her wiles by
+cutting off her head. This is honest, downright death. There is no
+mistaking it. But then it is impossible that Marya, the White Swan, was
+a mere ghost filched from the dead and eager to return. Yet the story of
+Marya is equally a Swan-maiden story, and is just as good to build a
+theory on as Map's variant of Wild Edric.[243]
+
+In replying, however, to the arguments of so learned and acute a writer
+as Liebrecht, it is not enough to point out these distinctions and
+inconsistencies: it is not enough to show that the terms of the taboo do
+not warrant the construction he has put upon them, nor that he has
+failed to account for very significant incidents. If he has mistaken the
+meaning of the legends, we should be able to make clear the source of
+his error. It arises, I hold, from an imperfect apprehension of the
+archaic philosophy underlying the narratives. Liebrecht's comparisons
+are, with one exception, limited to European variants. His premises were
+thus too narrow to admit of his making valid deductions. Perhaps even
+yet we are hardly in a position to do this; but at all events the
+sources of possible error are diminished by the wider area we are able
+to survey, and from the evidence of which we reason. We have compared
+the stories, both mediæval and modern, mentioned by Liebrecht, with
+_märchen_ and sagas told among nations outside European influence in
+various degrees of civilization, down to the savagery of Kaffirs and
+Dyaks. We have succeeded in classifying their differences, and in spite
+of them we have found all the tales in substantial agreement. They are
+all built on the same general plan; the same backbone of thought runs
+through them; and between them all there is no greater divergence than
+that which in the physical realm separates mammal from bird, or bird
+from reptile. It is inevitable to conclude that even the most recently
+discovered folk-tale of them has come to us from a distant period when
+our forefathers were in the same rude state as Dyaks and South Sea
+Islanders. No actual adventure of Wild Edric or Raymond of Lusignan gave
+rise to these stories. English patriot and Burgundian Count were only
+the names whereon they fastened,--the mountains which towered above the
+plain and gathered about their heads the vapours already floating in the
+atmosphere. We must therefore go back far beyond the Middle Ages to
+learn in what manner we are to understand these stories,--back to the
+state of savagery whence the inhabitants of Europe had long emerged when
+Map and Gervase wrote, but of which the relics linger among us even yet.
+
+The necessarily meagre exposition of some of the most salient
+characteristics of savage thought with which we started has been
+illustrated and its outlines filled in to some extent in the course of
+the subsequent discussions. I need not, therefore, do more than draw
+attention as briefly as possible to those characteristics that are
+relevant here. First and foremost, we have found some of the
+Swan-maiden tales boldly professing to account for the worship of
+totems; and so thoroughly does totemism appear to be ingrained in the
+myth that there is some reason for thinking that here we have a clue to
+the myth's origin and meaning. But the intellect to which totemism is a
+credible theory draws no line of demarcation between humanity and the
+life and consciousness it recognizes in the whole encircling universe.
+To it, accordingly, a story of union between a man and a fish, a swan or
+a serpent, involves no difficulty. When advancing knowledge, and with
+knowledge repulsion from such a story, begins to threaten it, another
+belief advances to its defence. For nothing is easier to creatures as
+clever as the lower animals than a change of form. They can, whenever
+they please, assume the appearance of man or woman: it is as natural to
+them as the shape under which they are usually seen. Again, the life
+that swarms about the savage philosopher does not always manifest itself
+visibly. It is often unseen. The world is filled with spirits, of whom
+some have inhabited human bodies, others have not. To the savage they
+are all alike; for those who have not hitherto inhabited human bodies
+may do so at will, or may inhabit other bodies, either animal or
+vegetable, and those who have once done so may do so again.
+
+All these--Totemism, the equality and essential identity of nature
+between man and all other objects in the universe, the doctrine of
+Transformation, the doctrine of Spirits--are phases of savage thought,
+every one of which has been incorporated in the myth of the
+Swan-maidens, and every one of which, except one special and very
+limited development of the doctrine of Spirits, is ignored in
+Liebrecht's theory. The theory is, indeed, an admirable illustration of
+the danger of reasoning without a sufficiently wide area of induction.
+Liebrecht's mistake on the present occasion was twofold: he only dealt
+with one or, at most, two types of the myth; and he ignored the savage
+variants. Had he taken into consideration other types--such as Hasan,
+the Marquis of the Sun, the Star's Daughter;--had he been aware of the
+savage variants all over the world, he would not have formed a theory so
+inconsistent with the facts, and so little fitted to solve the problems
+propounded, not merely by the phenomena of the Swan-maiden group, but by
+those of other tales in which supernatural beings intervene.
+
+In reasoning by induction, the greater the number of facts taken into
+account, the greater the probability of sound reasoning; and therefore
+the greater the number of facts a theory will explain, the more likely
+it is to be true. Had Liebrecht's theory touched only the Swan-maiden
+group, it would have been more convenient to discuss it in the last
+chapter. But inasmuch as its truth would involve much wider issues, it
+seemed better to reserve it to be dealt with here. For if the theory be
+valid for Melusina, the Lady of the Van Pool, and other water-nymphs, it
+is valid also for the "water-woman" who, in a Transylvanian story, dwelt
+in a lake in the forest between Mehburg and Reps. She had two sons,
+whose father was a man, and the younger of whom became king of that
+land. But when the Saxon immigration took place the incomers cut down
+the wood; the lake dried up, and as it dried up, the lives of the
+water-spirit and her son gradually sank lower and lower, and at last
+were extinguished with the extinction of the lake.[244] Now I will
+venture to say that this story is to be explained satisfactorily on no
+theory yet broached, unless it be the theory that we have in it a
+survival of the savage doctrine of Spirits. Least of all it is to be
+explained by any adaptation of what I may call the Ghost
+theory,--namely, that the water-spirit and her son were already the
+spirits of dead human beings.
+
+Leaving this one example of the value of Liebrecht's theory, as applied
+to water-spirits, to stand for all, I turn to another order of beings
+with supernatural powers referred to several times in the foregoing
+pages: I mean Witches. I adduced in Chapter X. a Tirolese tale, a
+variant of the Melusina type, wherein the wife was a witch. It will have
+been obvious to every reader that the tale is simply that of Cupid and
+Psyche with the parts reversed; and I might urge that Cupid and the
+witch were beings of precisely the same nature. Waiving this for the
+moment, however, no one will deny that the witch takes the place of the
+Swan-maiden, or fairy, in other stories of the group. But perhaps it may
+be suggested that the name _witch_ (_Angana_, _Hexe_) has got into the
+story by accident; and that not a witch in our sense of the word, but a
+ghost from the dead, is really meant. There might be something to be
+said for this if there were any substantial distinction to be made
+between ghosts and witches and fairies. In the tales and superstitions
+discussed in the present volume we have found no distinction. Whether it
+be child-stealing, transformation, midnight meetings, possession and
+gift of enchanted objects, spell-binding, or whatever function, or
+habit, or power be predicted of one, it will be found to be common to
+the three. I conclude, therefore, that they are all three of the same
+nature. This is what a consideration of the superstitions of savages
+would lead me to expect. The belief in fairies, ghosts, and witches is a
+survival of those superstitions. It is, of course, not found in equal
+coherence, equal strength of all its parts, equal logic (if I may so
+express it) everywhere. We must not be surprised if, as it is gradually
+penetrated by the growing forces of civilization, it becomes
+fragmentary, and the attributes of these various orders of supernatural
+beings begin to be differentiated. They are never completely so; and the
+proof of this is that what is at one place, at one time, or by one
+people, ascribed to one order, is at another place, at another time, or
+by another people, ascribed to another order. The nature of the
+classical deities was identical too; and hence Cupid and the witch of
+the Tirolese tale are the masculine and feminine counterparts of the
+same conception.
+
+Lastly, a few words must be expended on a totally different theory
+lately put forward by Mr. MacRitchie. This theory is not altogether a
+new one; it has been before the world for many years. But Mr. MacRitchie
+has, first in "The Archæological Review," and since then more
+elaborately in a separate book, entitled "The Testimony of Tradition,"
+worked it out and fortified it with an array of arguments philological,
+historical, topographical, and traditional. He claims to have
+established that the fairies of the Celtic and Teutonic races are
+neither more nor less than the prehistoric tribes whom they conquered
+and drove back, and whose lands they now possess. He identifies these
+mysterious beings with the Picts of Scotland, the Feinne of the Scottish
+Highlands and of Ireland, and the Finns and Lapps of Scandinavia. And he
+suggests that the Eskimo, the Ainos, and I know not what other dwarfish
+races, are relics of the same people; while Santa Klaus, the patron
+saint of children, is only a tradition of the wealthy and beneficent
+character borne by this ill-used folk. Primarily his arguments are
+concerned with Scotland and Ireland. He builds much on the howes or
+barrows, called in Scotland Picts' houses, which in both countries bear
+the reputation of being the haunt of fairies or dwarfs, and some of
+which seem to have been in fact dwelling-places. He quotes Dr. Karl
+Blind to show that Finns intermarried with the Shetlanders, and that
+they were believed to come over in the form of seals, casting aside
+their sealskins when they landed. In this connection he relates how the
+Finn women were captured by taking possession of their sealskins,
+without which they could not get away from their captors. He also shows
+that illimitable riches and magical powers were ascribed to the Picts
+and to the Finns, and that the Lapps were pre-eminent in witchcraft.
+
+I shall leave it to Celtic scholars to deal with Mr. MacRitchie's
+remarkable etymologies and with his historical arguments, confining
+myself to one or two observations on the traditional aspect of the
+theory. Now I should be the last to undervalue any traces of history to
+be found in tradition. I have elsewhere drawn attention to the
+importance of the study of this element in folk-tales;[245] and I am
+quite ready to admit that nothing is more likely than the transfer to
+the mythical beings of Celtic superstition of some features derived from
+alien races. Savages and barbarians are in the habit of imputing to
+strangers and foes in greatly extended measure the might of witchcraft
+they claim for themselves. And the wider the differences between
+themselves and the foreigners, the more mysterious to them are the
+habits and appearance of the latter, and the more powerful do they
+believe them. All this might account for many details that we are told
+concerning the dwarfs, the Picts, the Finns, or by whatever other names
+the elvish race may have been known to Scots and Irishmen. But further
+than this I cannot go with Mr. MacRitchie. I hold his error, like that
+of Liebrecht already discussed, to be founded on too narrow an
+induction. This volume will have been written in vain, as it appears
+that for Mr. MacRitchie the vastly more important works of Dr. Tylor and
+Mr. Andrew Lang have been written in vain, unless I have made it clear
+that the myths of nations all over the world follow one general law and
+display common characteristics. I am not astonished to find the Shetland
+tale of marriage with a seal-woman reproduced on the Gold Coast and
+among the Dyaks of Borneo. But Mr. MacRitchie ought to be very much
+astonished; for he can hardly show that the historical Finns were known
+in these out-of-the-way places. It seems to me natural to find that in
+Scotland and Ireland fairies dwelt in barrows, and in Annam and Arabia
+in hills and rocks; and that both in this country and in the far East
+they inveigled unhappy mortals into their dwellings and kept them for
+generations--nay, for centuries. That the Shoshone of California should
+dread their infants being changed by the Ninumbees, or dwarfs, in the
+same way as the Celts of the British Islands, and the Teutons too,
+dreaded their infants being changed, does not seem at all incredible to
+me. That to eat the food of the dead in New Zealand prevents a living
+man from returning to the land of the living, just as Persephone was
+retained in Hades by partaking of the pomegranate, and just as to eat
+the food of fairies hinders the Manx or the Hebrew adventurer from
+rejoining his friends on the surface of the earth, is in no way
+perplexing to me. But all these things, and they might be multiplied
+indefinitely, must be very perplexing to Mr. MacRitchie, if he be not
+prepared to prove that Annamites and Arabs, Hebrews and Shoshone, New
+Zealanders and classical Greeks alike, were acquainted with the Picts
+and the Finns, and alike celebrated them in their traditions.
+
+The truth Mr. MacRitchie does not reckon with is, that no theory will
+explain the nature and origin of the fairy superstitions which does not
+also explain the nature and origin of every other supernatural being
+worshipped or dreaded by uncivilized mankind throughout the world. And
+until he shall address himself to this task, however ingenious his
+guesses, however amusing his philology, however delightfully wild his
+literary and historical arguments, he will not succeed in convincing any
+serious student.
+
+Here then we must pause. Obvious are the differences between the nations
+of mankind: differences of physical conformation,--that is to say, of
+race; divergences of mental and moral development,--that is to say, of
+civilization. Hitherto the task attempted by folklore has been to show
+that underlying all these differences there is a broad foundation of
+common agreement; that distinctions of race do not extend to mental and
+moral constitution; that the highest nation on the ladder of culture has
+climbed from the same rung on which the lowest are yet standing; and
+that the absurd and incongruous customs and institutions and the equally
+absurd and impossible stories and beliefs found imbedded in the
+civilization of the more advanced nations are explicable, and explicable
+only, as relics of the phases wherethrough those nations have passed
+from the depths of savagery.
+
+If it be admitted in general terms that the evidence collected and
+marshalled up to the present time has established among sure scientific
+facts so much of the past of humanity, this achievement is but the
+beginning of toil. A wide field has been opened to the student for the
+collection and arrangement of details, before the true meaning of many a
+strange custom and stranger tale will be thoroughly understood. I have
+tried to do something of the kind in the foregoing pages. But beyond
+this there is the more delicate investigation of the ethnic element in
+folklore. Can we assign to the various races their special shares in the
+development of a common tradition? Can we show what direction each race
+took, and how and why it modified the general inheritance?
+
+On the other hand, it is not asserted that the status of savagery was
+the primitive condition of men. Of course it may have been. But if not,
+there is work to be done in endeavouring to ascertain what lies behind
+it. The questions started from this point wander across the border of
+folklore into pure psychology; but it is a psychology based not upon
+introspection and analysis of the mind of the civilized man, developed
+under the complex influences that have been acting and reacting during
+untold years of upward struggling, always arduous and often cruel, but a
+psychology which must be painfully reconstructed from the simplest and
+most archaic phenomena disclosed by anthropological research. Who can
+say what light may not thus be thrown as well on the destiny as on the
+origin of mankind?
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[240] Liebrecht, p. 54; "F. L. Journal," vol. vii. p. 312.
+
+[241] Map, Dist. iv. c. 10.
+
+[242] The sect of the Cabalists, indeed, believed in the existence of
+spirits of nature, embodiments or representatives of the four elements,
+which they called respectively gnomes, sylphs, salamanders, and ondines.
+To this strange sect some of the savage opinions on the subject of
+spirits seem to have been transmitted in a philosophical form from
+classical antiquity. They taught that it was possible for the
+philosopher by austerity and study to rise to intercourse with these
+elemental spirits, and even to obtain them in marriage. But the orthodox
+regarded the Cabalists as magicians and their spirits as foul incubi.
+See Lecky, "History of Rationalism," vol. i. p. 46.
+
+[243] Hapgood, p. 214.
+
+[244] Müller, p. 33.
+
+[245] "Folklore," vol. i. pp. 113, 116.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX.
+
+BIBLIOGRAPHICAL LIST OF SOME OF THE WORKS REFERRED TO IN THE FOREGOING
+PAGES.
+
+
+_Aberd. Eistedd._ See _Trans. Aberd. Eistedd_.
+
+ALPENBURG. See Von Alpenburg.
+
+AMÉLINEAU. Contes et Romans del' Égypte Chrétienne par E. Amélineau. 2
+vols. Paris, 1888.
+
+_Amer. F. L._ See _Journal Amer. F. L_.
+
+_Am Urds-Brunnen._ Am Urds-Brunnen. Mittheilungen für Freunde
+volksthümlich-wissenschaftlicher Kunde. 6 vols. [The first two volumes
+entitled _Am Urds-Brunnen_, _Organ des Vereins für Verbreitung
+volksthümlich-wissenschaftlicher Kunde_.] Rendsburg, 1881-89.
+
+_Antiquary._ The Antiquary, a Magazine devoted to the study of the Past.
+22 vols. London, 1880-90, still proceeding.
+
+_Archivio._ Archivio per lo studio delle Tradizioni Popolari Rivista
+Trimestrale diretta da G. Pitré e S. Salomone-Marino. 9 vols. Palermo,
+1882-90, still proceeding.
+
+_Arch. Rev._ The Archæological Review. 4 vols. London, 1888-90.
+
+ARNAUDIN. Contes Populaires recueillis dans la Grande Lande le Born les
+Petites Landes et le Marensin par Félix Arnaudin. Paris, 1887.
+
+AUBREY, _Miscellanies._ Miscellanies upon various subjects. By John
+Aubrey, F.R.S. 4th edition. London, 1857.
+
+---- _Remaines._ Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme. By John Aubrey,
+R.S.S. 1686-87. Edited and annotated by James Britten, F.L.S. London,
+1881. (Folk-Lore Society.)
+
+
+_Bahar-Danush._ Bahar-Danush; or Garden of Knowledge. An Oriental
+Romance. Translated from the Persic of Einaiut Oollah. By Jonathan
+Scott. 3 vols. Shrewsbury, 1799.
+
+BARING-GOULD. Curious Myths of the Middle Ages. By S. Baring-Gould, M.A.
+New edition. London, 1869.
+
+BARTSCH. Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche aus Mecklenburg. Gesammelt und
+herausgegeben von Karl Bartsch. 2 vols. Wien, 1879-80.
+
+BASSET. Contes Populaires Berbères recueillis, traduits et annotés par
+René Basset. Paris, 1887.
+
+BENT. The Cyclades, or Life among the Insular Greeks. By J. Theodore
+Bent, B.A. London, 1885.
+
+BIRLINGER, _Aus Schwaben._ Aus Schwaben Sagen, Legenden, Aberglauben,
+Sitten, Rechtsbräuche, Ortsneckereien, Lieder, Kinderreime Neue Sammlung
+von Anton Birlinger. 2 vols. Wiesbaden, 1874.
+
+---- _Volksthümliches._ Volksthümliches aus Schwaben. Herausgegeben von
+Dr. Anton Birlinger. 2 vols. and Wörterbüchlein. Freiburg im Breisgau,
+1861-62.
+
+BLADÉ. Contes Populaires de la Gascogne par M. Jean-François Bladé. 3
+vols. Paris, 1886.
+
+_Border Minstrelsy._ Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border: consisting of
+Historical and Romantic Ballads, collected in the Southern Counties of
+Scotland. 3rd edition. 3 vols. Edinburgh, 1806.
+
+BOWKER. Goblin Tales of Lancashire. By James Bowker, F.R.G.S.I. London,
+N.D.
+
+BRAGA. Ethnographia Portugueza. O Povo Portuguez nos seus Costumes,
+Crenças e Tradições por Theophilo Braga. 2 vols. Lisboa, 1886.
+
+BRAND. Observations on Popular Antiquities: chiefly illustrating the
+origin of our vulgar Customs, Ceremonies, and Superstitions. By John
+Brand, M.A., F. and Sec. S.A. Arranged and revised, with additions by
+Henry Ellis, F.R.S., Sec. S.A. 2 vols. London, 1813.
+
+BRAUNS. Japanische Märchen und Sagen gesammelt und herausgegeben von
+David Brauns. Leipzig, 1885.
+
+BRAY. See Mrs. Bray.
+
+BRETT. The Indian Tribes of Guiana: their condition and habits. By the
+Rev. W. H. Brett. London, 1868.
+
+---- _Legends and Myths._ Legends and Myths of the Aboriginal Indians of
+British Guiana. Collected and edited by the Rev. William Henry Brett, B.
+D. London, N.D.
+
+_Brython._ See _Y Brython_.
+
+BURTON, _Nights._ A plain and literal translation of the Arabian Nights'
+Entertainments, now entitled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a
+Night, with introduction, explanatory notes, &c. by Richard F. Burton.
+10 vols. Privately printed. 1885.
+
+---- _Suppl. Nights._ Supplemental Nights to The Book of the Thousand
+Nights and a Night with notes anthropological and explanatory by Richard
+F. Burton. 6 vols. Privately printed. 1886-88.
+
+BUSK, _Sagas._ Sagas from the Far East; or Kalmouk and Mongolian
+Traditionary Tales. With historical preface and explanatory notes by the
+author of Patrañas, &c. [Miss R. H. Busk]. London, 1873.
+
+
+CAMPBELL. Popular Tales of the West Highlands orally collected with a
+translation by J. F. Campbell. 4 vols. Edinburgh, 1860-62.
+
+CAMPBELL, Lord A. See Lord A. Campbell.
+
+CARNOY. Littérature Orale de la Picardie par E. Henry Carnoy. Paris,
+1883.
+
+CASTRÉN, _Altaischen Völker._ M. Alexander Castrén's Ethnologische
+Vorlesungen über die Altaischen Völker nebst Samojedischen Märchen und
+Tartarischen Heldensagen. Herausgegeben von Anton Schiefner. St.
+Petersburg, 1857.
+
+CAVALLIUS. Schwedische Volkssagen und Märchen. Nach mündlicher
+Ueberlieferung gesammelt und herausgegeben von Gunnar Olof Hyltén
+Cavallius und George Stephens. Mit Varianten und kritischen Anmerkungen.
+Deutsch von Carl Oberleitner. Wien, 1848.
+
+CERTEUX ET CARNOY. Contributions au Folk-Lore des Arabes. L'Algérie
+Traditionnelle Légendes, Contes, &c., par A. Certeux et E. Henry Carnoy.
+First vol. only published. Paris, 1884.
+
+CHAMBERS. Popular Rhymes of Scotland. Robert Chambers. London, 1870.
+
+CHILD. The English and Scottish Popular Ballads edited by Francis James
+Child. Boston, U.S.A. Privately printed. [The prospectus is dated 1882.
+It announced "about 8 parts": only six of these (making three volumes)
+have been issued to date.]
+
+_Choice Notes._ Choice Notes from "Notes and Queries." Folk Lore.
+London, 1859.
+
+COMPARETTI. Novelline Popolari Italiane pubblicate ed illustrate da
+Domenico Comparetti. First vol. only published. Roma, 1875.
+
+_Corpus Poet. Bor._ Corpus Poeticum Boreale. The Poetry of the Old
+Northern Tongue from the earliest times to the thirteenth century.
+Edited by Gudbrand Vigfusson, M.A., and F. York Powell, M.A. 2 vols.
+Oxford, 1883.
+
+COSQUIN. Emmanuel Cosquin. Contes Populaires de Lorraine comparés avec
+les Contes des autres Provinces de France et des Pays Étrangers. 2 vols.
+Paris, N.D.
+
+_Count Lucanor._ Count Lucanor; or The Fifty Pleasant Stories of
+Patronio. Written by the Prince Don Juan Manuel and first done into
+English by James York, M.D., 1868. London, 1888.
+
+CROMEK. Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song with Historical and
+Traditional Notices relative to the Manners and Customs of the
+Peasantry, now first published by R. H. Cromek, F.A.S. Ed. London, 1810.
+Reprint: Paisley, 1880.
+
+CURTIN. Myths and Folk-Lore of Ireland by Jeremiah Curtin. London, 1890.
+
+_Cymmrodor._ See _Y Cymmrodor_.
+
+_Cymru Fu._ "Cymru Fu"; yn cynwys Hanesion, Traddodiadau, yn nghyda
+Chwedlau a Dammegion Cymreig (oddiar lafar gwlad a gweithiau y prif
+awduron). Wrexham, N.D. [Preface dated October 1862.]
+
+_Cymru Fu N. and Q._ Cymru Fu: Notes and Queries relating to the past
+History of Wales and the Border Countries. 2 vols. Cardiff, 1887-90,
+still proceeding.
+
+
+DAVIES, _Mythology._ The Mythology and Rites of the British Druids by
+Edward Davies, author of Celtic Researches. London, 1809.
+
+DAY. Folk-Tales of Bengal by the Rev. Lal Behari Day. London, 1883.
+
+DE GUBERNATIS, _Novelline._ Le Novelline di Santo Stefano raccolte da
+Angelo De Gubernatis. Torino, 1869.
+
+---- _Usi Natal._ A. De Gubernatis. Storia comparata degli Usi Natalizi
+in Italia e presso gli altri-popoli Indo-Europei. Milano, 1878.
+
+---- _Zool. Myth._ Zoological Mythology or The Legends of Animals by
+Angelo De Gubernatis. 2 vols. London, 1872.
+
+DENNYS. The Folk-Lore of China, and its affinities with that of the
+Aryan and Semitic Races. By N. B. Dennys, Ph.D., F.R.G.S. London, 1876.
+
+DES MICHELS. Contes Plaisants Annamites traduits en Français pour la
+première fois par Abel Des Michels. Paris, 1888.
+
+DORMAN. The Origin of Primitive Superstitions and their Development,
+&c., among the Aborigines of America. By Rushton M. Dorman.
+Philadelphia, 1881.
+
+DORSA. La Tradizione Greco-Latina negli usi e nelle credenze popolari
+della Calabria citeriore per Vincenzo Dorsa. 2a edizione. Cozenza, 1884.
+
+
+_Early Trav._ Early Travels in Palestine, edited by Thomas Wright Esq.,
+M.A., F.S.A., &c. London, 1848.
+
+ELLIS. The Tshi-speaking Peoples of the Gold Coast of West Africa. Their
+religion, manners, customs, laws, language, &c. By A. B. Ellis. London,
+1887.
+
+
+FARRER. Primitive Manners and Customs. By James A. Farrer. London, 1879.
+
+_F. L. Españ._ Folk-Lore Español. Biblioteca de las Tradiciones
+Populares Españolas. 11 vols. Sevilla, 1883-90, still proceeding.
+
+_Folk-Lore._ Folk-Lore, a quarterly Review of Myth, Tradition,
+Institution, and Custom. London, 1890, still proceeding. [Organ of the
+Folk-Lore Society.]
+
+_F. L. Journal._ The Folk-Lore Journal. 7 vols. London, 1883-89. [Organ
+of the Folk-Lore Society.]
+
+_F. L. Record._ The Folk-Lore Record. 5 vols. N.D. [1878-82. Organ of
+the Folk-Lore Society.]
+
+FLEURY. Littérature Orale de la Basse-Normandie (Hague et Val-de-Saire)
+par Jean Fleury. Paris, 1883.
+
+
+GARNETT. The Women of Turkey and their Folklore by Lucy M. J. Garnett.
+The Christian Women. London, 1890.
+
+_Gent. Mag. Lib._ The Gentleman's Magazine Library: being a classified
+collection of the chief contents of the Gentleman's Magazine from 1731
+to 1868. Edited by George Lawrence Gomme, F.S.A. 11 vols. London,
+1883-90, still proceeding. [Vols. not numbered, but distinguished by the
+title of their contents.]
+
+GERV. TILB. Des Gervasius von Tilbury Otia Imperialia. In einer Auswahl
+neu herausgegeben und mit Anmerkungen begleitet von Felix Liebrecht.
+Hannover, 1856.
+
+_Gesta Romanorum._ Gesta Romanorum translated from the Latin by the Rev.
+Charles Swan, revised and corrected by Wynnard Hooper, B.A. London,
+1877.
+
+GILES. Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio. Translated and annotated
+by Herbert A. Giles. 2 vols. London, 1880.
+
+GILL. Myths and Songs from the South Pacific. By the Rev. William Wyatt
+Gill, B.A. London, 1876.
+
+GIRALD. CAMBR. The Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin through Wales,
+translated by Sir Richard Colt Hoare, Bart., in The Historical Works of
+Giraldus Cambrensis, edited by Thomas Wright Esq., M.A., F.S.A. London,
+1887.
+
+GONZENBACH. Sicilianische Märchen. Aus dem Volksmund gesammelt von Laura
+Gonzenbach. 2 vols. Leipzig, 1870.
+
+GREDT. Sagenschatz des Luxemburger Landes. Gesammelt von Dr. N. Gredt.
+Luxemburg, 1885.
+
+GREGOR. Notes on the Folk-Lore of the North-East of Scotland. By the
+Reverend Walter Gregor, M.A. London, 1881. (Folk-Lore Society.)
+
+GREY. See Sir G. Grey.
+
+GRIMM, _Märchen._ Kinder- und Haus-Märchen gesammelt durch die Brüder
+Grimm. 17te Auflage. Berlin, 1880.
+
+---- _Tales._ Grimm's Household Tales. With the author's notes translated
+from the German and edited by Margaret Hunt. 2 vols. London, 1884.
+
+---- _Teut. Myth._ Teutonic Mythology by Jacob Grimm translated from the
+fourth edition with notes and appendix by James Steven Stallybrass. 4
+vols. with continuous pagination. London, 1880-88.
+
+GRINNELL. Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk Tales with notes on the Origin,
+Customs, and Character of the Pawnee People by George Bird Grinnell. New
+York, 1889.
+
+GROHMANN. Sagen aus Böhmen gesammelt und herausgegeben von Dr. Josef
+Virgil Grohmann. Prag, 1883.
+
+GRUNDTVIG. Dänische Volksmärchen von Svend Grundtvig. Übersetzt von
+Willibald Leo. Neue Ausgabe. 2 vols. Leipzig, 1885.
+
+GUBERNATIS. See De Gubernatis.
+
+
+HAHN. See Von Hahn.
+
+HALTRICH. Deutsche Volksmärchen aus dem Sachsenlande in Siebenbürgen.
+Gesammelt von Josef Haltrich. 4te Auflage. Wien, 1885.
+
+HAPGOOD. The Epic Songs of Russia by Isabel Florence Hapgood. New York,
+N.D. [Preface dated August 1885.]
+
+HARLAND and WILKINSON. Lancashire Legends, Traditions, Pageants, Sports,
+&c. By John Harland, F.S.A., and T. T. Wilkinson, F.R.A.S. London, 1873.
+
+HAZLITT, _Fairy Tales._ Fairy Tales, Legends and Romances illustrating
+Shakespeare and other Early English writers to which are prefixed two
+preliminary dissertations by Joseph Ritson. [Edited by W. C. Hazlitt.]
+London, 1875.
+
+HENDERSON. Notes on the Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties of England
+and the Borders. New Edition. By William Henderson. London, 1879.
+(Folk-Lore Society.)
+
+HOWELLS. Cambrian Superstitions, comprising Ghosts, Omens, Witchcraft,
+Traditions, &c. By W. Howells. Tipton, 1831.
+
+HUNT. Popular Romances of the West of England or the Drolls, Traditions
+and Superstitions of Old Cornwall collected and edited by Robert Hunt,
+F.R.S. 3rd edition, revised and enlarged. London, 1881.
+
+
+IMBRIANI. La Novellaja Fiorentina fiabe e novelline stenografate in
+Firenze dal dettato popolare da Vittorio Imbriani. Ristampa accresciute
+di molte novelle inedite, &c., nelle quali è accolta La Novellaja
+Milanese dello stesso raccoglitore. Livorno, 1877.
+
+IM THURN. Among the Indians of Guiana being sketches chiefly
+anthropologic from the interior of British Guiana. By Everard F. im
+Thurn, M.A. London, 1883.
+
+_Indian N. and Q._ Indian Notes and Queries (late "Panjab Notes and
+Queries"), a Monthly Periodical conducted by Captain R. C. Temple and
+others. 7 vols. Allahabad, 1883-90, still proceeding.
+
+_Irish Folk Lore_, or _Irish F. L._ Irish Folk Lore: Traditions and
+Superstitions of the Country; with humorous tales. By "Lageniensis."
+Glasgow, N.D. [Preface dated April 1870.]
+
+
+JAHN. Volkssagen aus Pommern und Rügen. Gesammelt und herausgegeben von
+Dr. Ulrich Jahn. Stettin, 1886.
+
+JANNSEN. Märchen und Sagen des estnischen Volkes gesammelt und übersetzt
+von Harry Jannsen. Two series. 1st ser. Dorpat, 1881: 2nd ser. Riga,
+1888.
+
+JONES and KROPF. The Folk-Tales of the Magyars. Collected by Kriza,
+Erdélyi, Pap and others. Translated and edited by the Rev. W. Henry
+Jones and Lewis L. Kropf. London, 1889. (Folk-Lore Society.)
+
+_Journal. Amer. F. L._ The Journal of American Folk-Lore. 3 vols.
+Boston, 1888-90, still proceeding. [Organ of the American Folk-Lore
+Society.]
+
+
+_Kalewala._ Kalewala, des National-Epos der Finnen, nach der zweiten
+Ausgabe ins Deutsche übertragen von Anton Schiefner. Helsingfors, 1852.
+
+_Kathá Sarit Ságara._ The Kathá Sarit Ságara, or Ocean of the Streams of
+Story translated from the original Sanskrit by C. H. Tawney, M.A. 2
+vols. Calcutta, 1880-84.
+
+KEIGHTLEY. The Fairy Mythology, illustrative of the Romance and
+Superstition of various Countries by Thomas Keightley. New Edition,
+revised and greatly enlarged. London, 1882.
+
+KENNEDY. Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts. Collected and narrated
+by Patrick Kennedy. London, 1866.
+
+KIRBY. The New Arabian Nights. Select Tales, not included by Galland or
+Lane. Translated and edited by W. F. Kirby. London, N.D.
+
+KNOOP. Volkssagen, Erzählungen, Aberglauben, Gebräuche und Märchen aus
+dem östlichen Hinterpommern. Gesammelt von Otto Knoop. Posen, 1885.
+
+KNOWLES. Folk-Tales of Kashmir. By the Rev. J. Hinton Knowles. London,
+1888.
+
+KRAUSS. Sagen und Märchen der Südslaven. Zum grossen Teil aus
+ungedruckten Quellen von Dr. Friedrich S. Krauss. 2 vols. Leipzig,
+1883-84.
+
+---- _Volksgl._ Volksglaube und religiöser Brauch der Südslaven.
+Vorwiegend nach eigenen Ermittlungen von Dr. Friedrich S. Krauss.
+Münster i W. 1890.
+
+KREUTZWALD. Ehstnische Märchen. Aufgezeichnet von Friedrich Kreutzwald.
+Aus dem Ehstnischen übersetzt von F. Löwe. Halle, 1869.
+
+KUHN. Märkische Sagen und Märchen nebst einem Anhange von Gebräuchen
+und Aberglauben gesammelt und herausgegeben von Adalbert Kuhn. Berlin,
+1843.
+
+KUHN UND SCHWARTZ. Norddeutsche Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche aus
+Mecklenburg, &c. Aus dem munde des Volkes gesammelt und herausgegeben
+von A. Kuhn und W. Schwartz. Leipzig, 1848.
+
+
+LADY WILDE. Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms and Superstitions of Ireland.
+By Lady Wilde. 2 vols. London, 1887.
+
+LA CROIX. Manners Customs and Dress during the Middle Ages and during
+the Renaissance Period by Paul La Croix (Bibliophile Jacob). 4th
+thousand. London, 1876.
+
+LANDES. Contes et Légendes Annamites par A. Landes. Saigon, 1886.
+
+_La Tradition._ La Tradition Revue Générale des Contes, Légendes,
+Chants, Usages, Traditions et Arts populaires. 4 vols. Paris, 1887-90,
+still proceeding. [Organ of the Société des Traditionnistes.]
+
+LELAND. The Algonquin Legends of New England, or Myths and Folk-Lore of
+the Micmac, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot Tribes by Charles G. Leland.
+London, 1884.
+
+LEMKE. Volksthümliches in Ostpreussen von E. Lemke. 2 vols. Mohrungen,
+1884-87.
+
+LIEBRECHT. Zur Volkskunde. Alte und neue Aufsätze von Felix Liebrecht.
+Heilbronn, 1879.
+
+_Llyvyr Coch._ See _Y Llyvyr Coch_.
+
+Lord A. CAMPBELL, _Waifs and Strays._ Waifs and Strays of Celtic
+Tradition. I. Argyllshire Series. Edited by Lord Archibald Campbell.
+London, 1879.
+
+LUZEL, _Contes._ Contes Populaires de Basse-Bretagne par F. M. Luzel. 3
+vols. Paris, 1887.
+
+---- _Légendes Chrét._ Légendes Chrétiennes de la Basse-Bretagne par F.
+M. Luzel. 2 vols. Paris, 1881.
+
+---- _Veillées._ Veillées Bretonnes par F. M. Luzel. Morlaix, 1879.
+
+
+MACINNES. Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition. Folk and Hero Tales.
+Collected, Edited and Translated by the Rev. D. Mac Innes. With Notes by
+the Editor and Alfred Nutt. London, 1890.
+
+MACRITCHIE. The Testimony of Tradition by David MacRitchie. London,
+1890.
+
+MALORY. La Mort d' Arthure. The History of King Arthur and of the
+Knights of the Round Table. Compiled by Sir Thomas Malory, Knt. Edited
+from the text of the edition of 1634 by Thomas Wright Esq., M.A., F.S.A.
+2nd edition. 3 vols. London, 1866.
+
+MAP. Gualteri Mapes De Nugis Curialium Distinctiones Quinque. Edited
+from the unique manuscript in the Bodleian Library at Oxford by Thomas
+Wright Esq., M.A., F.S.A., &c. London, 1850.
+
+_Masnavi i Ma'navi._ Masnavi i Ma'navi. The Spiritual Couplets of
+Maulána Jalálu-'d-Dín Muhammad i Rúmí. Translated and abridged by E. H.
+Whinfield, M.A. London, 1887.
+
+MASPONS Y LABROS. Folk-Lore Catalá. Cuentos Populars Catalans per lo Dr.
+Francisco de S. Maspons y Labros. Barcelona, 1885.
+
+MEIER. Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebräuche aus Schwaben, gesammelt von
+Ernst Meier. Stuttgart, 1852.
+
+---- _Märchen._ Deutsche Volksmärchen aus Schwaben. Aus dem Munde des
+Volks gesammelt und herausgegeben von Dr. Ernst Meier. 3te Auflage.
+Stuttgart, N.D.
+
+_Mélusine._ Mélusine Recueil de Mythologie, Littérature Populaire,
+Traditions et Usages publié par H. Gaidoz et E. Rolland. [Since vol.
+iii. by H. Gaidoz alone.] 5 vols. Paris, 1878-90, still proceeding.
+
+MICHELS. See Des Michels.
+
+MRS. BRAY. The Borders of the Tamar and the Tavy; their Natural History,
+&c., by Mrs. Bray. New Edition. 2 vols. London, 1879.
+
+MÜLLER. Siebenbürgische Sagen gesammelt und herausgegeben von Dr.
+Friedrich Müller. Zweite veränderte Auflage. Wien, 1885.
+
+
+NAPIER. Folk Lore: or Superstitious Beliefs in the West of Scotland
+within this Century. By James Napier, F.R.S.E., F.C.S., &c. Paisley;
+1879.
+
+NICHOLSON. Folk Lore of East Yorkshire. By John Nicholson. London, 1890.
+
+NIEDERHÖFFER. Mecklenburg's Volkssagen. Gesammelt und herausgegeben von
+M. Dr. A. Niederhöffer. 4 vols. Leipzig, N.D. [Vorwort dated Februar
+1857.]
+
+
+ORTOLI. Les Contes Populaires del' Ile de Corse par J. B. Frédéric
+Ortoli. Paris, 1883.
+
+
+_Panjab N. and Q._ See _Indian N. and Q_.
+
+PITRÉ. Biblioteca delle Tradizioni Popolari Siciliane per cura di
+Giuseppe Pitré. 18 vols. Palermo, 1871-88.
+
+POESTION. Lappländische Märchen, Volkssagen, Rätsel und Sprichwörter.
+Nach lappländischen, norwegischen und schwedischen Quellen von J. C.
+Poestion. Wien, 1886.
+
+POWELL and MAGNUSSON. Icelandic Legends (collected by Jón Arnason)
+Translated by George E. J. Powell and Eiríkr Magnusson. 2nd series.
+London, 1866.
+
+PRELLER, _Röm. Myth._ Römische Mythologie von L. Preller. 3te Auflage. 2
+vols. Berlin, 1881-83.
+
+PRYM UND SOCIN. Kurdische Sammlungen. Erzählungen und Lieder im
+dialekte des Tûr 'Abdîn. Gesammelt, herausgegeben und übersetzt von
+Eugen Prym und Albert Socin. St. Petersburg, 1887. [A second part, by
+Socin only, consisting of tales and songs in the dialect of Bohtan, has
+since been published, 1890.]
+
+
+RADLOFF. Proben der Volkslitteratur der Türkischen Stämme Süd-Sibiriens,
+gesammelt und übersetzt von Dr. W. Radloff. 6 vols. [the last two
+entitled P. der V. der Nördlichen Türkischen Stämme.] St. Petersburg,
+1866-86.
+
+RALSTON, _R. F. Tales._ Russian Folk-Tales by W. R. S. Ralston, M.A.
+London, 1873.
+
+---- _Tibetan Tales._ Tibetan Tales derived from Indian Sources.
+Translated from the Tibetan of the Kah-Gyur by F. Anton von Schiefner.
+Done into English from the German by W. R. S. Ralston, M.A. London,
+1882.
+
+RAPPOLD. Sagen aus Kärnten. Zusammengestellt und theilweise neu erzählt
+von Professor J. Rappold. Augsburg, 1887.
+
+_Revue des Trad. Pop._ Revue des Traditions Populaires. 5 vols. Paris,
+1886-90, still proceeding. [Organ of the Société des Traditions
+Populaires.]
+
+RHYS, _Hibbert Lectures._ The Hibbert Lectures, 1886. Lectures on the
+Origin and Growth of Religion as illustrated by Celtic Heathendom. By
+John Rhys. London, 1888.
+
+RINK. Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo by Dr. Henry Rink. Translated
+from the Danish by the author. Edited by Dr. Robert Brown. Edinburgh,
+1875.
+
+ROBERTSON SMITH. Lectures on the Religion of the Semites. First Series.
+The Fundamental Institutions. By W. Robertson Smith, M.A., LL.D.
+Edinburgh, 1889.
+
+ROMERO. Contos Populares do Brazil collegidos pelo Dr. Sylvio Romero.
+Lisboa, 1885.
+
+ROMILLY. From my Verandah in New Guinea Sketches and Traditions by Hugh
+Hastings Romilly, C.M.G. London, 1889.
+
+_Rosenöl._ Rosenöl oder Sagen und Kunden des Morgenländes aus
+arabischen, persischen und türkischen Quellen gesammelt. 2 vols.
+Stuttgart, 1813.
+
+RUDDER. A New History of Gloucestershire. Cirencester, Samuel Rudder,
+1779.
+
+
+SASTRI. The Dravidian Nights Entertainments: being a translation of
+Madanakamarajankadai. By Pandit S. M. Natesa Sastri. Madras, 1886.
+
+SAXO, _Gesta Dan._ Saxonis Grammatici Gesta Danorum, herausgegeben von
+Alfred Holder. Strassberg, 1886.
+
+SCHLEICHER. Litaüische Märchen, Sprichwörter, Rätsel und Lieder.
+Gesammelt und übersetzt von August Schleicher. Weimar, 1857.
+
+SCHMIDT. Griechische Märchen, Sagen und Volkslieder gesammelt, übersetzt
+und erläutert von Bernhardt Schmidt. Leipzig, 1877.
+
+SCHNELLER. Märchen und Sagen aus Wälschtirol. Gesammelt von Christian
+Schneller. Innsbruck, 1867.
+
+SCHRECK. Finnische Märchen übersetzt von Emmy Schreck. Weimar, 1887.
+
+SÉBILLOT, _Contes._ Paul Sébillot. Contes Populaires de la Haute
+Bretagne. Paris, 1880. Do. 2me série. Contes des Paysans et des
+Pécheurs. Paris, 1881. Do. 3me série. Contes des Marins. Paris, 1882.
+
+---- _Litt. Orale._ Littérature Orale de la Haute Bretagne par Paul
+Sébillot. Paris, 1881.
+
+---- _Trad. et Super._ Traditions et Superstitions de la Haute Bretagne
+par Paul Sébillot. 2 vols. Paris, 1882.
+
+SHORTLAND. Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders: with
+illustrations of their manners and customs. By Edward Shortland, M.A.
+2nd edition. London, 1856.
+
+SIKES. British Goblins: Welsh Folk-Lore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and
+Traditions. By Wirt Sikes. London, 1880.
+
+SIMROCK. Handbuch der Deutschen Mythologie mit Einschluss der
+nordischen. Von Karl Simrock. 3te Auflage. Bonn, 1869.
+
+SIR G. GREY. Polynesian Mythology, and Ancient Traditional History of
+the New Zealand Race, as furnished by their Priests and Chiefs. By Sir
+George Grey. London, 1855.
+
+SPITTA BEY. Contes Arabes Modernes recueillis et traduits par Guillaume
+Spitta-Bey. Leide, 1883.
+
+STEERE. Swahili Tales, as told by natives of Zanzibar. With an English
+translation. By Edward Steere, LL.D. London, 1870.
+
+STEPHENS. The Literature of the Kymry: being a critical essay on the
+history of the Language and Literature of Wales during the twelfth and
+two succeeding centuries. By Thomas Stephens. 2nd edition. London, 1876.
+
+STERNBERG. The Dialect and Folk-Lore of Northamptonshire. By Thomas
+Sternberg. London, 1851.
+
+
+TAYLOR. Te Ika a Maui; or New Zealand and its Inhabitants. By the Rev.
+Richard Taylor, M.A., F.G.S. 2nd edition. London, 1870.
+
+TEMPLE, _Legends of the Panjab._ The Legends of the Panjab. By Captain
+R. C. Temple. 2 vols. Bombay, N.D. [Preface to vol. i. dated May 1884.]
+Still proceeding.
+
+TETTAU. See Von Tettau.
+
+THEAL. Kaffir Folk-Lore; a Selection from the Traditional Tales current
+amongst the people living on the eastern border of the Cape Colony. By
+George M'Call Theal. London, N.D. [Preface dated Jan. 1882.]
+
+THOMAS OF ERCELDOUNE. The Romance and Prophecies of Thomas of
+Erceldoune, printed from five manuscripts. Edited, with introduction and
+notes, by James A. H. Murray, LL.D. London 1875 (Early Eng. Text Soc.).
+
+THORBURN. Bannú; or, Our Afghan Frontier. By S. S. Thorburn. London,
+1876.
+
+THORPE. Northern Mythology, comprising the principal popular traditions
+and superstitions of Scandinavia, North Germany, and the Netherlands.
+Compiled by Benjamin Thorpe. 3 vols. London, 1851-52.
+
+---- _Yule-Tide Stories._ Yule-Tide Stories. A collection of Scandinavian
+and North German Popular Tales and Traditions. Edited by Benjamin
+Thorpe. London, 1853.
+
+_Tradition._ See _La Tradition_.
+
+_Trad. Pop. Revue des._ See _Revue des Trad. Pop_.
+
+TRAIN. An Historical and Statistical Account of the Isle of Man, from
+the earliest times to the present date. By Joseph Train, F.S.A. Scot. 2
+vols. Douglas, 1845.
+
+_Trans. Aberd. Eistedd._ Eisteddfod Genedlaethol y Cymry. Cofnodion a
+Chyfansoddiadau Buddugol Eisteddfod Aberdar, 1885. Transactions of the
+National Eisteddfod of Wales, Aberdare, 1885. Caerdydd, 1887.
+
+TYLOR. Primitive Culture: Researches into the development of Mythology,
+Philosophy, Religion, Art, and Custom. By Edward B. Tylor. 2 vols.
+London, 1871.
+
+
+VERNALEKEN. In the Land of Marvels. Folk-Tales from Austria and Bohemia
+by Theodor Vernaleken. London, 1889.
+
+_Volkskunde._ See _Zeits. f. Volkskunde_.
+
+VON ALPENBURG. Mythen und Sagen Tirols. Gesammelt und herausgegeben von
+Johann Nepomuk Ritter von Alpenburg. Zürich, 1857.
+
+VON HAHN. Griechische und albanesiche Märchen. Gesammelt übersetzt und
+erläutert von J. G. von Hahn. 2 vols. Leipzig, 1864.
+
+VON TETTAU. Die Volkssagen Ostpreussens, Litthauens und Westpreussens.
+Gesammelt von W. J. A. von Tettau und J. D. H. Temme. Berlin, 1837.
+
+VON WLISLOCKI. Märchen und Sagen der Transsilvanischen Zigeuner
+Gesammelt und übersetzt von Dr. Heinrich von Wlislocki. Berlin, 1886.
+
+
+WALDAU. Böhmisches Märchenbuch. Deutsch von Alfred Waldau. Prag, 1860.
+
+WALDRON. A Description of the Isle of Man by George Waldron, Gent.
+Edited by William Harrison, Esq. Douglas, 1865.
+
+WEBSTER. Basque Legends: collected chiefly in the Labourd by Rev.
+Wentworth Webster, M.A. 2nd edition. London, 1879.
+
+WENZIG. Westslawischer Märchenschatz. Deutsch bearbeitet von Joseph
+Wenzig. Neue Ausgabe. Leipzig, 1886.
+
+WHITE. The Ancient History of the Maori, his Mythology and Traditions by
+John White. 4 vols. Wellington, 1887-89, still proceeding.
+
+_Wide Awake Stories._ Wide Awake Stories. A collection of tales told by
+little children, between sunset and sunrise, in the Panjab and Kashmir.
+By F. A. Steel and R. C. Temple. Bombay, 1884.
+
+WILDE. See Lady Wilde.
+
+WIRT SIKES. See Sikes.
+
+WLISLOCKI. See Von Wlislocki.
+
+WRATISLAW. Sixty Folk-Tales from exclusively Slavonic sources.
+Translated, with brief introductions and notes, by A. H. Wratislaw, M.A.
+London, 1889.
+
+WRIGHT, _Middle Ages._ Essays on subjects connected with the Literature,
+Popular Superstitions and History of England in the Middle Ages. By
+Thomas Wright, M.A., F.S.A. 2 vols. London, 1846.
+
+
+_Y Brython._ Y Brython: Cylchgrawn Llenyddol Cymru; dan olygiad y Parch.
+D. Silvan Evans. 5 vols. Tremadog, 1858-63.
+
+_Y Cymmrodor._ Y Cymmrodor, embodying the Transactions of the
+Cymmrodorion Society of London. 10 vols. London, 1877-90, still
+proceeding.
+
+_Y Llyvyr Coch._ Y Llyvyr Coch o Hergest. Y gyvrol I. The Text of the
+Mabinogion and other Welsh Tales from the Red Book of Hergest edited by
+John Rhys, M.A. and J. Gwenogvryn Evans. Oxford, 1887.
+
+     The Mabinogion, from the Welsh of the Llyfr Coch o Hergest (The
+     Red Book of Hergest) in the Library of Jesus College, Oxford.
+     Translated, with notes, by Lady Charlotte Guest. London, 1877.
+
+
+_Zeits. f. Volksk._ Zeitschrift für Volkskunde in Sage und Mär, Schwank
+und Streich, Lied, Rätsel und Sprichwörter, Sitte und Brauch
+herausgegeben von Dr. Edmund Veckenstedt. 2 vols. Leipzig, 1889-90,
+still proceeding.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+  Actæon, 71
+
+  Afghan legend, 183
+
+  Alsatian tales, 213, 216
+
+  American Indians, Tales of North, 268, 271, 314, 315
+
+  Ananci tale, 294
+
+  Animism, 25
+
+  Annamite tales, 200, 323
+
+  Arabian Nights Entertainments, 50, 69, 79, 84, 255, 260, 267
+
+  Arab tales (_see_ Arabian Nights Entertainments), 202, 300, 316, 319
+
+  Ardshi-Bordshi, 81
+
+  Arthur, King, 205, 207, 211, 212, 234
+
+  Art of Story-telling, 1, 5, 20.
+    In Western Highlands, 5;
+    Brittany, 7;
+    Portugal, Brazil, Gascony, Wales, England, 8;
+    France, Sicily, 9;
+    Panjab, 11;
+    Cashmere, New Zealand, Polynesia, Greenland, 12;
+    among the Malagasy, Ahts, Indian tribes of Guiana, 13;
+    in India, 14;
+    among the Algonkins, ancient Germans, Anglo-Saxons, ancient Welsh, 15;
+    Arabs, Guslars, 16;
+    Swahilis, 17;
+    Eskimo, 12, 19
+
+  Ascension Day, 90
+
+  Aubrey, John, 148, 244
+
+
+  Bahar Danush, 260
+
+  Ballafletcher, Cup of, 156
+
+  Bantik. _See_ Celebes
+
+  Bards, Welsh, 15
+
+  Baptism, superstitions concerning, 94, 101
+
+  Barrows, haunted, 141, 142, 146, 231
+
+  Basque tale, 293
+
+  Berchta, Dame, 70, 90
+
+  Blanik mountain, 184, 219, 220
+
+  Blood relationship among savages, 47
+
+  Bohemian tales, 56, 119, 175, 184, 219, 245, 251, 260, 294
+
+  Bona Dea, 84, 87
+
+  Bornoese tales, 300, 311, 324
+
+  Breton tales, 61, 62, 63, 65, 66, 67, 116, 138, 174, 190, 192, 293
+
+  Briar Rose, 247
+
+  Buddhist influence on tales, 295, _et seqq._
+
+  Bulgarian tales. _See_ Slavonic
+
+  Burmese tale, 267, 297
+
+  Burton, Sir Richard F. (_see_ Arabian Nights Entertainments), 16
+
+
+  Cabalists, the, a mediæval sect, 341
+
+  Carinthian tales, 173, 240
+
+  Cashmere, tales from. _See_ Indian
+
+  Celebes Islands, tale from, 267, 297
+
+  Changelings, 93, _et seqq._
+
+  Chinese superstitions, 97, 98
+
+  Chinese tales, 177, 178, 299, 300
+
+  Christening. _See_ Baptism
+
+  Christmas, 141, 142, 157, 159
+
+  Coals turned to gold, 49
+
+  Cologne, Three Kings of, 149, 150
+
+  Coptic tale, 181
+
+  Corpus Christi Day, 89
+
+  Corsican tale, 274
+
+  Cosquin, Emmanuel, 267, 297
+
+  Coventry, _See_ Godiva
+
+  Cretan tales, _See_ Greek
+
+  Cyclades, tale from, _See_ Greek
+
+
+  Danish superstitions, 96, 99, 231
+
+  Danish tales, 40, 44, 50, 56, 67, 103, 114, 130, 131, 140, 141, 144,
+    151, 185, 213, 294
+
+  Dardistan, tale from, 49
+
+  Davies, Rev. Edward, 136
+
+  Dean, Forest of, _See_ Forest
+
+  Death, savage belief on, 27
+
+  Derceto, a Phoenician goddess, 324
+
+  Devil, the, 42, 47, 69, 263, 280
+
+  Diana, 71
+
+  Diedrich, 213, 233
+
+  Dobocz, the robber chief, 218, 233
+
+  Dracs of the Rhone, 65, 100
+
+  Duffus, story of Lord, 148
+
+  Dyak, _See_ Bornoese
+
+
+  Edenhall, _See_ Luck
+
+  Edgehill, Battle of, 235
+
+  Edric the Wild, 302, 338, 340
+
+  Eggshells, changelings detected by, 153, _et seqq._, 125
+
+  Elidorus, tale of, 135
+
+  English superstitions, 96, 100, 205
+
+  English tales, 59, 61, 63, 64, 66, 68, 69, 106, 116, 124, 126, 139, 145,
+    146, 147, 178, 189, 211, 234, 244
+
+  Epimenides, tale of, 183
+
+  Eskimo tales, 137, 262
+
+  Esthonian tales, 201, 273, 280
+
+  Etiquette of various nations, 309, 321
+
+  Ezra, 182
+
+
+  Fairy Births and Human Midwives, 37, _et seqq._, 59, _et seqq._
+
+  Fairyland, 43, 47, 161, 196, 222
+
+  Fairy Tales, definition of, 3;
+    divisions of, 22;
+    principles of explanation of, 32
+
+  Feather-robe, 258, 267, 268, 298, 300, 301
+
+  Females, kinship through, _See_ Kinship
+
+  Finnish tales, 259, 329
+
+  Fire, superstitions respecting, 96, 97
+
+  Forest of Dean, 78
+
+  Folktale (_See_ Art of Story-telling), connection with folk-song, 14;
+    how to be reported, 21
+
+  Frazer J. G., 31, 249, 252
+
+  Frederick Barbarossa, 172, 213
+
+  French superstitions, 96
+
+  French tales (_See_ Breton), 42, 47, 65, 114, 119, 272, 293, 324, 342
+
+  Frog, Fairy as, _See_ Toad.
+
+
+  Gaelic tales, _See_ Scottish
+
+  Gerald, Earl, 210, 233
+
+  German superstitions, 95, 96, 99, 108, 140, 143, 279, 281
+
+  German tales (_See_ Alsatian, Pomeranian, Rügen, Swabian, Transylvanian),
+    48, 103, 113, 114, 118, 124, 126, 130, 137, 138, 139, 140, 142, 143,
+    149, 152, 172, 177, 185, 188, 192, 212, 214, 215, 216, 217, 238, 240,
+    241, 242, 243, 244, 259, 281, 327
+
+  Gervase of Tilbury, 65, 100, 145, 212, 234, 272, 284
+
+  Giraldus Cambrensis, 135
+
+  Gloucestershire (_See_ Forest of Dean, St. Briavels), 145
+
+  Godiva, legend of Lady, 71, _et seqq._
+
+  Gold Coast, custom at, 86
+
+  Gold Coast, tales of, 313, 324
+
+  Gold, fairy, turns to dross, 50
+
+  Grateful animals, _See_ Buddhist
+
+  Gratitude, fairy, 48, 218, 312, 316
+
+  Greek superstitions, 99, 100
+
+  Greek tales, 55, 82, 242, 267, 269, 290, 317
+
+  Grey, Sir George, 12, 285
+
+  Grimm, 120, 140, 212, 213, 216, 233
+
+  Guiana, tales from, 261, 289, 297, 299, 324
+
+  Guernsey, tales from, 62, 66, 114
+
+
+  Hades, food of, must not be eaten, 43, 44, 45, 47
+
+  Harold II., King, 72, 205
+
+  Hasan of Bassorah, tale of, 255, 291
+
+  Hebrew tale, 41, 55
+
+  Helpful beasts, _See_ Buddhist
+
+  Herla, King, tale of, 178, 234
+
+  Hero, the Hidden, the Sleeping, 205 _et seqq._, 228, 235
+
+  Hertha, a German goddess, 71, 89, 90
+
+  Hindoo customs, tales, _See_ Indian
+
+  Highland tales, _See_ Scottish
+
+  Holle, Dame, 215, 236
+
+
+  Icelandic tales, 113, 193
+
+  Imagination among savages, 2, 33
+
+  Im Thurn, Everard, 13, 230
+
+  Indian customs, 84
+
+  Indian tales, 82, 227, 268, 296, 317, 318, 338
+
+  Iolo Morganwg, 207
+
+  Irish superstitions, 96, 121, 123, 210, 211
+
+  Irish tales, 50, 52, 63, 107, 116, 118, 122, 128, 196, 198, 202, 210,
+    211, 259, 314, 324, 338
+
+  Iron, dislike of supernatural beings to, 50, 97, 126, 164, 306
+
+  Irving, Washington, 177, 181
+
+  Italian superstitions, 99
+
+  Italian tales (_see_ Corsican, Sicilian, Tirolese), 199, 293
+
+
+  Japanese tales, 174, 178, 194, 273, 301
+
+  Jewish tales, _See_ Hebrew
+
+  Jeremiah the prophet, 181 [TN: out of alphabetical order]
+
+
+  Kaffir tale, 328
+
+  Kan Püdäi, 42
+
+  Kathá-sarit-ságara, 318
+
+  Keats, 313
+
+  Kinship through females, 228, _et seqq._
+
+  Kirk Malew, Cup of, 155
+
+  Koran, _See_ Mohammed
+
+  Kurdish tale, 262, 292
+
+  Kurroglú, the robber-poet, 80
+
+  Kyffhäuser, 172, 214, 215, 229
+
+
+  Lady Wilde, _See_ Wilde
+
+  Lapp superstitions, 108
+
+  Lapp tales, 38, 57, 173, 329
+
+  Liebrecht, Felix, 79;
+    his Ghost Theory, 337
+
+  Lithuanian superstitions, 96
+
+  Lithuanian tales, 104, 120, 220, 221
+
+  Li Kì, a Chinese classic, 321
+
+  Loo Choo Islands, tale from, 318
+
+  Longfellow, 187
+
+  Luck of Edenhall, 153
+
+  Luther on Changelings, 109, 124
+
+  Luxemburg, 240, 253, 324
+
+  Luzel, F. M., 7, 190
+
+
+  Mabinogion, 188
+
+  MacRitchie, David, his Finn Theory, 349, _et seqq._
+
+  Mahábhárata, 317
+
+  Magyar tale, 260
+
+  Malagasy tale, 287
+
+  Malory, Sir Thomas, 205
+
+  Manx superstitions, 108, 210
+
+  Manx tales, 41, 106, 117, 155
+
+  Maori customs, 290
+
+  Maori tales, 45, 274, 285, 288, 289, 317, 319
+
+  Map, Walter, 178, 234, 302, 338, 340, 341
+
+  Marko, Prince, _or_ King, tale of, 218
+
+  Marquis of the Sun, tale of, 264, 291, 293
+
+  Marriage settlements, Indian, 321, 322
+
+  Maundeville, Sir John, 111, 239
+
+  Meddygon Myddfai, 325
+
+  Melusina, 240, 253, 272, 273, 321, 324, 327
+
+  Merlin, 209
+
+  Messia, the Sicilian story-teller, 9
+
+  Metamorphosis, 26, 31
+
+  Midsummer Day, _See_ St. John's Day
+
+  Midwives, adventures of, _See_ Fairy Births
+
+  Minstrel in Middle Ages, 15
+
+  Mohammed, 182, 224
+
+  Mohel, adventure of a, 41, 55
+
+  Moravian tale, 274
+
+  Morgan the Fay, 43, 204
+
+  Morris, William, 239, 260, 261
+
+  Mother-right, _See_ Kinship
+
+  Myddfai, Physicians of, _See_ Meddygon
+
+
+  Names, Savage feeling about, 309
+
+  Napoleon I., 206
+
+  Nereids, 55, 99, 242, 267, 317, 325
+
+  Netherlands, tale from, 188
+
+  New Guinea, tale from, 322
+
+  New Year's Eve and Night, 69, 248
+
+  New Zealand, _See_ Maori
+
+  Nightmare, the, 278, _et seqq._
+
+  Norwegian tales. _See_ Scandinavian
+
+
+  Odin, _See_ Woden
+
+  Ogier the Dane, _See_ Olger
+
+  Ointment, Magical, 59, _et seqq._
+
+  Oisin, 196, 198
+
+  Oldenburg Horn, 149
+
+  Olger the Dane, 43, 204, 213
+
+  Omens, 30
+
+  Osburg, foundress of nunnery at Coventry, 90
+
+  Ossian, _See_ Oisin
+
+  Ovid, 71
+
+  Owen Glendower, 209
+
+  Owen Lawgoch, 209
+
+
+  Parsees, _See_ Sad Dar
+
+  Peeping Tom, _See_ Godiva
+
+  Peleus, _See_ Thetis
+
+  Perrault, 247
+
+  Pitré, Dr., 9, 53, 192
+
+  Pliny, 86, 183
+
+  Pomeranian tales, 48, 51, 141, 217, 237, 242, 243, 251, 262, 281
+
+  Polynesian tales, 44, 45, 267, 319, 324
+
+  Portuguese superstition, 206
+
+  Portuguese tale, 181
+
+  Princess, the Enchanted, 237, _et seqq._, 262
+
+  Proserpine, 43, 48
+
+
+  Revenge, Fairy, 52, 59, _et seqq._, 65, _et seqq._
+
+  Rhys, Professor, 37, 64, 66, 110, 163, 164, 188, 231, 325, 330
+
+  Rip van Winkle, 177
+
+  Robberies from Fairyland, 135, _et seqq._
+
+  Roger of Wendover, _See_ Godiva
+
+  Roman superstition, 96
+
+  Russian tales, 119, 259, 265, 294, 298, 344
+
+  Rügen, Island of, tales from, 71, 89, 127, 152, 236
+
+
+  Sad Dar, a sacred book of Parsees, 96
+
+  Samoyede tale, 268
+
+  Savage ideas, 22;
+    evidence of, 32
+
+  Savages, imagination among, 2
+
+  Saxo Grammaticus, 44
+
+  Scandinavian tales (_see_ Icelandic,
+    Danish), 38, 115, 142, 150, 155, 217, 258, 281, 294, 318
+
+  Scottish superstitions, 94, 95, 96, 127, 133
+
+  Scottish tales, 55, 61, 98, 105, 111, 112, 118, 120, 121, 122, 125, 127,
+    130, 131, 132, 144, 148, 165, 166, 167, 180, 186, 241, 266, 293, 312
+
+  Sebastian, Don, 206
+
+  Sébillot, Paul, 67
+
+  Seven Sleepers, the, 182
+
+  Siberian tales, 42, 169
+
+  Sicilian superstitions, 100, 111
+
+  Sicilian tales, 53, 192, 212, 299
+
+  Siegfried, _or_ Sigurd, 212, 247
+
+  Sikes, Wirt, 64, 123, 137, 165, 278
+
+  Simrock, Karl, 101, 116
+
+  Slavonic superstitions, 206, 279
+
+  Slavonic tales (_see_ Bohemian, Russian, Lithuanian), 218, 266, 267,
+    298, 312
+
+  Southam, procession at, 85
+
+  Southey, 187
+
+  Spanish superstitions, 100, 205
+
+  Spanish tales, 187, 226, 264, 294, 315, 325, 339
+
+  Spirits, doctrine of, 25, 42
+
+  St. Augustine, 100, 235
+
+  St. Briavels, custom at, 78, 87
+
+  Stephens, Professor Dr. Geo., 150
+
+  St. John's Day, 214, 236, 238, 248
+
+  Story-telling, Art of, _See_ Art
+
+  Stoymir, the Knight, 220, 233
+
+  Swabian tales, 39, 52, 147, 244, 245, 253
+
+  Swan-maidens, 202, 255, _et seqq._, 283, _et seqq._, 337
+
+  Swedish tales, _See_ Scandinavian
+
+  Swiss tale, 49
+
+
+  Taboo, 270, 302, 304, 305, 306, 309, 311, 312, 318, 320, 337
+
+  Tacitus, 15, 71, 89
+
+  Tam Lin, ballad of, 242
+
+  Tawhaki and Tango-tango, tale of, 285, _et seqq._
+
+  Thetis, 242, 317, 329
+
+  Thomas of Erceldoune, 43, 102, 103
+
+  Time, supernatural lapse of, 161, _et seqq._, 196, _et seqq._, 222,
+    _et seqq._
+
+  Tini-rau, tale of, 286, _et seqq._
+
+  Tir na n 'Og, _See_ Oisin
+
+  Tirolese tales, 70, 184, 274, 293, 315, 325, 329, 348
+
+  Toad or frog, fairy as (_see_ Princess), 51, 52, 53, 338
+
+  Totemism, 27, 324, 331, 346
+
+  Tradition, definition of, 34
+
+  Traditions, variable value of, 4, 24
+
+  Transformations, doctrine of, 26, 31
+
+  Transylvanian tales, 52, 176, 189, 246, 258, 347
+
+
+  Ulrich von Rosenberg, 220, 233
+
+
+  Van Pool, Lady of the, 274, 325, 330
+
+  Vikramâditya, 81
+
+  Vitra, 38
+
+
+  Wäinämöinen, 45
+
+  Waldron, Geo., 41, 108, 156
+
+  Wastin of Wastiniog, tale of, 302
+
+  Welsh superstitions, 110, 126, 207, 209
+
+  Welsh tales, 37, 62, 63, 103, 113, 115, 122, 123, 126, 128, 135, 136,
+    162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 187, 188, 207, 209, 225, 269, 274,
+    294, 301, 302, 304, 305, 317, 325, 327, 330
+
+  Wenzel, King, 184, 219
+
+  Western Highlands, story-telling in, 5
+
+  Weyland Smith, 318
+
+  Wilde, Lady, 102, 128
+
+  Wild Edric, _See_ Edric
+
+  Wild Hunt, the, 233, 234, 236
+
+  William of Newbury, 146
+
+  Witchcraft, 29
+
+  Witches, 99, 143, 173, 336, 348
+
+  Woden, 212, 233, 247, 339
+
+
+  Yatsh, _or_ demon, wedding, 49
+
+  York, custom at, 90
+
+  Yorkshire, 189, 211
+
+
+  Zoroaster, 96
+
+
+UNWIN BROTHERS, THE GRESHAM PRESS, CHILWORTH AND LONDON.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Science of Fairy Tales, by 
+Edwin Sidney Hartland
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