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diff --git a/24614-8.txt b/24614-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..617621c --- /dev/null +++ b/24614-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12886 @@ +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 + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SCIENCE OF FAIRY TALES *** + +***** This file should be named 24614-8.txt or 24614-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/1/24614/ + +Produced by R. 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