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diff --git a/44430.txt b/44430.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..926afe3 --- /dev/null +++ b/44430.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8041 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Myths of the Rhine, by X. B. Saintine + +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: Myths of the Rhine + +Author: X. B. Saintine + +Illustrator: Gustave Dore + +Translator: M. Schele De Vere + +Release Date: December 14, 2013 [EBook #44430] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYTHS OF THE RHINE *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + +MYTHS OF THE RHINE + +Translated from the French of X. B. Saintine + +By Prof. M. Schele De Vere, LL. D. + +Illustrated by Gustave Dore + +Scribner, Armstrong, and Company + +1874 + + + + +DESCRIPTIVE TABLE OF CONTENTS. + +I. + +Primitive Times.--The First Settlers on the Rhine.--Masters going to +School.--Sanskrit and Breton.--An Idle God.--Microscopic Deities.--Tree +Worship.--Birth-Trees and Death-Trees.....001 + +II. + +The Druids and their Creed.--Esus.--The Holy Oak.--The Pforzheim Lime +Tree.--A Rival Plant.--The Mistletoe and the Anguinufh.--The Oracle +at Do-dona.--Immaculate Horses.--The Druidesses.--A late +Elector.--Philanthropic Institution of Human Sacrifices.--Second +Druidical. Epoch.....025 + +III. + +A Visit to the Land of our Forefathers.--The Two Banks of the +Rhine.--Druid Stones.--Weddings and Burials.--Night Service.--A Demigod +Glacier.--Social Duels.--A Countrywoman of Aspasia.--Boudoir of a Celtic +Lady.--The Bard's Story.--Teutons and Titans.--Earthquake.....053 + +IV. + +The Roman Gods invade Germany.--Drusus and the Dru-idess.--Ogmius, +the Hercules of Gaul.--Great Philological Discovery concerning +Tentates.--Transformations of every kind.--Irmensul.--The Rhine +deified.--The Gods cross the River.--Druids of the Third Epoch.....089 + +V. + +The World before and since Odin.--Birth of Ymer.--The Giants of the +Frost.--A Log split in Two.--The First Man and the First Woman.--The +Ash Ygdrasil and its Menagerie.--Thor's Three Jewels.--Freyr's Enchanted +Sword.--A Souvenir of the National Guard of Belleville.--The Story of +Kvasir and the Two Dwarfs.--Honey and Blood.--Invocation.....119 + +VI. + +Short Biographies.--A Clairvoyant among the Gods.--A Bright God.--Tyr +and the Wolf Fenris.--The Hospital at the Walhalla.--Why was Odin +one-eyed.--The Three Norns.--Mimer the Sage.--A Goddess the Mother +of Four Oxen.--The Love Affairs of Heimdall--The God with the Golden +Teeth.....151 + +VII. + +Heaven and Hell.--The Valkyrias.--Amusements in Walhalla.--Pork and Wild +Boar.--A Frozen Hell.--Balder's Death.--Frigg's Devotion.--The Iron Tree +Forest.--The Twilight of the Gods.--Iduna's Apples.--The Fall of Heaven +and the End of the World.--Reflections on that Event.--The Little +Fellow still alive.....17 + +VIII. + +How the Gods of India live only for a Kalpa, that is, for the Time +between one World and another.--How the God Vishnu was One-eyed.--How +Celts and Scandinavians believed in Metempsychosis, like the +Indians.--How Odin, with his Emanations, came forth from the God +Buddha.--About Mahabarata and Ramavana.--Chronology.--The World's +Age.--Comparative Tables.--Quotations.--Supporting Evidence.--A +Cenotaph.....209 + +IX. + +Confederation of all the Northern Gods.--Freedom of +Religion.--Christianity.--Miserere mei!--Homeric Enumeration.--Prussian, +Slavic, and Finnish Deities.--The God of Cherries and the God of +Bees.--A Silver Woman.--Ilmarinnen's Wedding Song.--A Skeleton +God.--Yaga-Baba's Pestle and Mortar.--Preparation for Battle.--The +Little Chapel on the Hill.--The Signal for the Attack.--Jesus and +Mary.....215 + +X. + +Marietta and the Sweet-briar.--Esus and Jesus.--Amalgam.--A +Neophyte.--Prohibition to eat Horseflesh.--Bishops in +Arms.--Interruption.--Come Home, my Good Friend!--Prussia and the +Myths of the Middle Ages.--Tybilinus, the Black God.--The little Blue +Flower.....243 + +XI. + +Elementary Spirits of Air, Fire, and Water.--Sylphs, their Amusements +and Domestic Arrangements.--Little Queen Mab.--Will-o'-the- +Wisps.--White Elves and Black Elves.--True Causes of Natural +Somnambulism.--The Wind's Betrothed.--Fire-damp.--Master +Haemmerling.--The Last of the Gnomes.....261 + +XII. + +Elementary Spirits of the Water.--Petrarch at Cologne.--Divine Judgment +by Water.--Nixen and Undines.--A Furlough till Ten o'clock.--The +White footed Undine.--Mysteries on the Rhine.--The Court of the Great +Nichus.--Nixcobt, the Messenger of the Dead.--His Funny Tricks.--I go in +Search of an Undine.....281 + +XIII. + +Familiar Spirits.--Butzemann.--The Good Frau Holle.--Kobolds.--A Kobold +in the Cook's Employ.--Zot-terais and the Little White Ladies.--The +Killecroffs, the Devil's Children.--White Angels.--Granted Wishes, a +Fable.....307 + +XIV. + +Giants and Dwarfs.--Duel between Ephesim and Gromme-lund.--Court Dwarfs +and Little Dwarfs.--Ymer's Sons.--The Invisible Reapers.--Story of the +Dwarf Kreiss and the Giant Quadragaat.--How the Giants came to serve the +Dwarfs.....333 + +XV. + +Wizards and the Bewitched.--The Journey of Asa-Thor and his +Companions.--The Inn with the Five Passages.--Skrymner.--A Lost Glove +found again.--Arrival at the Great City of Utgard.--Combat between +Thor and the King's Nurse.--Frederick Barbarossa and the +Kyffhauser.--Teutonia! Teutonia!--What became of the Ancient +Gods.--Venus and the good Knight Tannhauser.--Jupiter on Rabbit +Island.--A Modern God.....369 + +XVI. + +Women as Missionaries, Women as Prophets, Strong Women, and Serpent +Women.--Children's Myths.--Godmothers.--Fairies.--The Magic Wand and the +Broomstick.--The Lady of Kynast.--The World of the Dead, the World of +Ghosts, and the World of Shadows.--Myths of Animals.....397 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + Father Rhine....................................................003 + + The impassive historian ........................................004 + + Vast forests as old as the world ...............................005 + + The first pioneers..............................................007 + + The Celts were a people from India..............................009 + + What happy people scholars are..................................010 + + A horrible custom...............................................019 + + Dead man's trees................................................022 + + The Druids now appear for the first time in Germany.............023 + + Their creed must be judged by their rites.......................027 + + The other chieftains were generally polygamists.................031 + + Courts of justice were always held under an elm tree............032 + + Attempt to murder the mayor ....................................033 + + Mistletoe an officinal and sacred plant.........................035 + + Gauls...........................................................037 + + Serpents' knots.................................................039 + + Prophetic trembling and neighing................................041 + + A Druid teacher ................................................044 + + The Germans were in full flight ................................046 + + The bloody knife of the Druids .................................052 + + I turn my steps from the sacred precincts.......................055 + + Who are these other soldiers?...................................057 + + These laborers seem to suffer from some restraint...............058 + + I look around for a resting-place ..............................059 + + A shepherd......................................................060 + + The guard of a sword, which had been driven into the ground.....061 + + The shepherd,--as mournful as ever..............................063 + + Herds of swine are wallowing ...................................066 + + A young wife bearing the burden of united household.............067 + + Happiness consists in the fulfillment of duty ..................068 + + Such were the ways of our fathers: rejoice in facing death......069 + + The Druidical altars............................................070 + + As there is no window I peep through the trap-door..............072 + + One of the chief men of the country ............................075 + + She was a young Ionian girl, a country-woman of Aspasia.........080 + + The boudoir of a Celtic lady....................................082 + + The Druid-bard..................................................085 + + Death of Druids.................................................091 + + A Druidess endowed with the gift of prophecy ...................093 + + The victorious march of the Romans .............................094 + + Her deities personified nothing but vices ......................096 + + The Hercules--so called.........................................098 + + Mercury, the son of Jupiter ....................................099 + + "O Varus, Varus, bring me back my legions!".....................103 + + Perhaps the old river remembered his grievances.................105 + + They made him a king, the King of German rivers.................106 + + He had already allowed Jupiter to cross.........................107 + + The vines began to adorn the banks of the river.................108 + + Once more caresses had their hoped-for effect...................109 + + He did his best to help everybody across........................110 + + Fnvolous and ill-mannered deities...............................110 + + The dauntless pirates will end by wearing white night-caps......113 + + The great Northern Tempest .....................................115 + + The German Druids gave way......................................118 + + Iormungondur, the great sea serpent.............................121 + + The giant Ymer has been born....................................123 + + The first men had been born with a telescope in their pocket?...127 + + Ymer was the first to succumb...................................128 + + After the giants came the turn of land and sea monsters.........129 + + The new creation was assuming a more pleasing appearance........132 + + Deer, eland, and aurochs were bounding in herds.................133 + + Incessantly a tiny squirrel comes and goes......................136 + + A vulture perching upon the loftiest top of the sacred tree.....137 + + Thor's weighty hammer Mjoiner...................................139 + + The good Freyr seated at Odin's table...........................141 + + Portrait of Freyr...............................................142 + + Bragi and the beautiful Freya ..................................147 + + Return of the eagle with the three precious vessels.............150 + + Balder, the bright god..........................................153 + + The wolf Fenris.................................................156 + + Converse with each other by significative glances...............159 + + They were the Norns.............................................160 + + He took counsel with the Norns..................................162 + + "To Egir, the seas and navigation"..............................164 + + Gefione took her four sons and changed them into oxen...........165 + + Jarl, the noble.................................................171 + + The Valkyrias ..................................................175 + + Beautiful nymphs of carnage.....................................176 + + A very mammoth of a boar........................................180 + + Feast in Scandinavian Paradise..................................181 + + Hela, the pale goddess..........................................185 + + "Balder, fair Balder, is going to die"..........................189 + + Loki succeeds in exhilarating even Odin himself.................191 + + Balder is amused by the game....................................192 + + When the mother told her pitiful tale the iron trees wept.......197 + + The three sacred cocks announcing the Twilight of Greatness.....202 + + The death of the gods...........................................208 + + My VIIIth chapter is thus changed into a cenotaph...............211 + + I like to glean a little where scholars have reaped.............214 + + The two religions face to face..................................217 + + Ovid reciting his "Metamorphoses"...............................219 + + Druidic worship suspended by the Romans.........................220 + + "Miserere mei, Jesu"............................................222 + + Perkunos, Pikollos, and Potrympos...............................224 + + Puscatus,--a kind-hearted god ..................................226 + + Monstrous reptiles accompany the gods to Germany................227 + + He let his heavy mace fall upon a little town...................238 + + The blacksmiths of Ilmarinnen...................................239 + + Marietta appeared in their midst................................245 + + "Do you think I am a man to be taken in ?"......................251 + + Horse-head, a la mode...........................................253 + + The Undines mingled with the Tritons and the Naiads.............258 + + Have transferred their Olympus to the Brocken...................259 + + The Olympus of the North........................................263 + + Able to see without being seen .................................266 + + Dance of the white fairies .....................................269 + + The black fairies personify Nightmare ..........................271 + + An important personage with a will of his own ..................272 + + Enormous toads are posted about.as watchmen.....................279 + + Elementary spirits of the water.................................283 + + Imaginary music ................................................288 + + The nix with the harp ..........................................289 + + Schoolmaster's son who had fallen in love with one of them......291 + + He thought he saw a pale form arise from the waters.............294 + + He rose suddenly and fled to another room ......................295 + + The steward whispered some words in her ear ....................297 + + Niord, the Scandinavian god ....................................299 + + This creature is Nixcobt........................................300 + + The Vintner is hanged, and Nixcobt laughs heartily..............302 + + Four Prussian soldiers watching the water ......................305 + + The Zotterais protected sheep ..................................309 + + The master has nothing to do....................................315 + + Prefer to remember the Kobold a cheerful household companion....317 + + The Zotterais as fond of stables as the Kobolds of kitchens.....319 + + They are naturally easily tired ................................321 + + The Killecroffs are children of the Devil ......................322 + + His nurse has to be reinforced by two goats and a cow...........324 + + The great Reformer, Dr. Martin Luther ..........................326 + + The fall of Killecroff .........................................331 + + Giants and dwarfs...............................................335 + + The last of the giants..........................................337 + + Grommelund and Ephesim .........................................339 + + The humiliated giant............................................340 + + Our good little dwarfs .........................................341 + + He stood at first with his mouth wide open .................... 346 + + A long and deep sigh of satisfaction............................348 + + Flight of the conspirators......................................353 + + Kreiss slipped boldly into this vast and spacious cavity........354 + + They fixed strong piles between the two rows of teeth...........355 + + In his hand he held not a club but a lantern....................357 + + Kreiss compelled to leave his position by torrents of tears.....359 + + The last two held each a long thorn in their hands..............361 + + Kreiss entering the great meeting hall..........................363 + + Putskuchen was in love..........................................365 + + Ouadragant vanquished...........................................367 + + The passing of the wizard ......................................371 + + Venus and Tannhauser............................................390 + + His ex-colleague Jupiter .......................................396 + + The author pursues the subject .................................399 + + The conscientious collector of myths............................401 + + The Druidess transformed into an accursed witch.................406 + + To return was as impossible as to proceed.......................409 + + She had rejoined her victims ...................................413 + + He is the Lord Hackelberg.......................................417 + + These ghosts can imitate all the motions of men.................421 + + Farewell........................................................423 + + + +[Illustration: 023] + + + + +I. + +{003}_Primitive Times.--The First Settlers on the Rhine.--Masters +going to School.--Sanskrit and Breton.--Ax Idle God.--Microscopic +Deities.--Tree Worship.--Birth-Trees and Death-Trees._ The Rhine is born +in Switzerland, in the Canton of Grisons; it skirts France and passes +through it, and after a long and magnificent career it finally loses +itself in the countless canals of Holland; and yet the Rhine is +essentially a German river. + +{004}Already in the earliest ages, long before towns were built on its +banks, it saw all the Germanic races dwell here in tents, watch their +flocks, and fight their interminable battles, although the clash of +arms and the blast of trumpets never for a moment aroused the impassive +historian from his deep slumbers. + +[Illustration: 024] + +His silence, long continued into later centuries, does not prevent us +from supposing, however, that the Rhine was already at that time the +great high-{005}road on which the Germanic races wandered to and fro, +and other races came to their native land. It was the Rhine that brought +to them commerce and civilization; but on the Rhine came also invasions +of a very different kind. We can allude here only to those religious +invasions which are connected with our subject. + +[Illustration: 025] + +In the earliest ages the South of Europe alone was inhabited, while the +Northern part was covered with vast forests, as old as the world, and as +yet{006}unbroken by the footsteps of men. Dark, dismal solitudes, +consisting of ancient woods or wretched morasses, where trees struggled +painfully for existence and only the strongest survived when they +reached the light and the sun; densely wooded deserts, in which vast +herds of wild beasts pursued each other incessantly, while in the deep +shadow of impenetrable foliage flocks of timid, trembling birds sought +a refuge against hosts of voracious birds of prey. Thus, even while Man +was yet absent, War was already reigning supreme here, and in these vast +regions the Great Destroyer seemed to revel in it, as if it had been a +feast, a necessity, a glory! + +Had never human eye yet looked upon these magnificent but unknown +regions? + +Then, one fine day a host of savages appeared here and settled down with +their flocks. After them came another host of more warlike and better +armed men, who drove out the first comers and took possession of the +tilled ground. + +After them another race, and then still another. Thus it went on for +years and for centuries, and all these waves of immigration came down +from the extreme North, marking each halting place by a bloody battle, +while the conquered people, driven by the sharp edge of the sword to +seek new homes, by turns pursued and pursuing, went and peopled those +wild unsettled countries which afterwards be{007}came known as Belgium +and France, as Bretagne and England. Continuing their march from thence +southward, from the Rhine to the Mediterranean, they spread right and +left, east and west, and crossed the Pyrenees and the Alps, making +themselves masters on one side of Iberia, and on the other side of the +plains of Lombardy, thus changing from fugitives into conquerors. + +[Illustration: 027] + +These conquered conquerors, driven from their own homes, and now driving +other nations from their homes, these first pioneers who laid open one +unknown country after another, were all children of one great family and +all bore the same name of _Celts_. + +But where was the first source from which this {008}flood of families, +of peoples, of nations, broke forth, that now overflowed Europe and in +successive waves spread over the greater part of the Old World? Whence +came these vast multitudes of Northern visitors, unexpected and unknown, +who broke the mournful silence that had so long reigned in Europe? Were +the frozen regions of the North pole, at that early time, really so +fertile in men? We call upon men of science to answer our question. The +question is a serious one, perhaps an indiscreet one, for who can +be appealed to on such a difficult point? History? It did not exist. +Monuments, written or sculptured? The Celts had never dreamt yet of +writings or of carvings. Does this universal silence put it out of the +power of our learned men to give a reply? Must they confess that they +are unable to do so? By no means. Learned men never condescend to make +such confessions. The Celts have left as a monument, a language, a +dialect, still largely used in certain parts of ancient Bretagne as well +as in the Principality of Wales. + +Illustrious academicians, mostly Germans, did not hesitate to go to +school once more in order to learn Breton. The self-denial of which +science is capable, deserves our admiration. + +After long labors, devoted to the separation of what belonged to the +primitive language from subsequent additions, our great scholars found +them{009}selves once more face to face with Sanskrit, the sacred idiom +of the Brahmins, the ancestor of the old German tongue, and of the old +Celtic tongue, and thus of the Breton. + +[Illustration: 029] + +The matter was decided, scientifically and categorically, and no appeal +allowed. The Celts were a people from India. Europeans are all descended +from Indians, driven from home by some powerful pressure, a political or +religious revolution, or one of those fearful famines which periodically +devastate {010}that immense and inexhaustible storehouse of nations. + +[Illustration: 030] + +At first, we good people, artists, poets, or authors, who generally +claim to possess some little knowledge, were rather surprised at such +a decision. But the wise men had said so; Bengal and Bretagne had to +fraternize; the Brahmins of Benares speak Breton and the Bretons of +Bretagne speak Sanskrit. Bretagne is Indian and India is Breton. + +Comparative Philology has taught the children of our day, that two +syllables which are identical {011}in the idioms of two different races, +prove the connection between two nations; hybridism means kinship. + +What happy people scholars are! They can converse with people who have +been dead these three thousand years, and the grave has no secrets for +them! A single word bequeathed to us by an extinct people, enables them +to reconstruct that whole race. + +But I am bound to ask them another question, a question of much greater +importance to myself. What were the religious convictions of these first +inhabitants of Europe? I am answered by Mr. Simon Pelloutier, a minister +of the Reformed Church in Berlin, of French descent, who has studied the +primitive creed of the Celts most thoroughly and successfully. He tells +us that these people, before they had Druids, worshipped, or rather held +in honor the sun, the moon, and the stars, a kind of Sabaism, which, +however, did not exclude the belief in a God, who was the creator, but +not the ruler, of all things. + +This god appears to me to have been very imperfect; he was heavy, +sleepy, and shapeless, having neither eyes to see nor ears to hear; he +was incapable of feeling pity or anger, and the prayers and vows of men +were unable to reach him. Invisible, intangible, and incomprehensible, +he was floating in space, which he filled, and which he {012}animated +without bestowing a thought upon it; omnipotent and yet utterly +inactive, creating islands and continents, and causing the sun and the +stars to give light by his mere approach, this divine idler had created +the world, but declined taking the trouble of governing his creation. + +To whom had he confided the control over the stars in heaven? Mr. +Pelloutier himself never could find out. As to the government of the +earth, he had entrusted it to an infinite number of inferior deities, +gods and sub-gods, of very small stature. They were as shapeless and as +invisible as he was, but vastly more active, and endowed with all the +energy which he had disdained to bestow upon himself. By their numbers +and by their collective force they made up for their individual +feebleness--and they must have been feeble indeed, since their extremely +small size permitted a thousand of them to find a comfortable shelter +under the leaf of a walnut tree! + +Besides, they presided over the different departments which were +assigned to them, not by hundreds, but by myriads, nay, by millions +of myriads. Thus they rushed forth in vast hosts, stirring the air in +lively currents, causing the rivers and brooks to flow onwards, watching +over fields and forests, penetrating the soil to great depths, creeping +in through every crack and crevice, and breaking out {013}again through +the craters of volcanoes. They formed a belt from the Rhine to the +Taunus mountains, dazzling the whole region for a moment by a shower of +sparks, and falling back upon the plain in the form of columns of black +smoke. + +Science has, moreover, established this incontestable principle, that +motion can only be produced in two ways here, below: either by the acts +of living beings, or by the contact of these microscopic deities. + +Whenever the waters rose or broke forth in cataracts, whenever the +leaves trembled in the wind, or the flowers bent before a storm, it was +these diminutive gods who, invisible and yet ever active, forced the +waters to come down in torrents, drove the tempest through the branches, +bent the flowers down to the ground, and chased the dust of the +highroads in lofty columns up to the clouds. It was they who caused the +golden hair of the maid to fall down upon her shoulders as she went to +the well, who shook the earthenware pitcher she carried on her shoulder, +who crackled in the fire on the hearth, and who roared in the storm, or +the eruptions of fiery mountains. + +When I think of this little world of tiny insect gods, who passed +through the air in swarms, coming and going, turning to the left and to +the right, struggling and striving above and beneath (I ask {014}their +pardon for comparing these deities to humble insects, born in the +mud and subject to infirmity and death like ourselves), I cannot help +thinking of the beautiful lines by Lamartine, in which he so graphically +describes life in Nature. + + "Chaque fois que nos yeux, penetrant dans ces ombres, + De la nuit des rameaux eclairaient les dais sombres, + Nous trouvions sous ces lits de feuille ou dort l'ete, + Des mysteres d'amour et de fecondite. + + Chaque fois que nos pieds tombaient dans la verdure + Les herbes nous montaient jusques a la ceinture, + Des flots d'air embaume se repandaient sur nous, + Des nuages ailes partaient de nos genoux; + Insectes, papillons, essaims nageants de mouches, + Oui d'un ether vivant semblaient former les couches, + Ils' montaient en colonne, en tourbillon flottant, + Comblaient l'air, nous cachaient l'un a l'autre un instant, + Comme dans les chemins la vague de poussiere + Se leve sous les pas et retombe en arriere. + + Ils roulaient; et sur l'eau, sur les pres, sur le foin, + Ces poussieres de vie allaient tomber plus loin; + Et chacune semblait, d'existence ravie, + Epuiser le bonheur dans sa goutte de vie, + Et l'air qu'ils animaient de leurs fremissements + N'etait que melodie et que bourdonnements." + +Such were the gods known to the first ingenuous dwellers on the banks +of the Rhine--gods worthy of a society but just beginning. And still, I +venture to make a suggestion, which Mr. Simon Pelloutier, my guide up to +this point, has unfortunately neglected to make. It is this: I feel as +if {015}there was hidden beneath this primitive and apparently puerile +mythology a hideous monster, writhing in fearful threatenings and bitter +mockery. This god Chaos, so careless and reckless, gifted with the power +of creation but not with love for his work, seems to me nothing else +but Matter, organizing itself. I have called these countless inferior +deities microscopic. I should have called them molecular, for they are +atoms, the monads of our science. There is evidently here a germ, not +of a religious creed so much as of a philosophic system, a shadow of +the materialism of a former civilization that is now degraded and nearly +lost. + +At first I doubted the correctness of the opinions of our learned men; +but I begin to believe in them; yes, these early Celts had come, to us +from distant India, from that ancient, decayed country, and in their +knapsacks they had brought with them, by an accident, this fragment +of their symbolic cosmogony, the sad meaning of which was, no doubt, a +mystery to them also. + +After some years, perhaps after some centuries, --for time does not +count for much in those questions,--the Celts became weary of this +selfish Deity, which was lost in the contemplation of its own being and +dwelt in the centre of a cold and empty heaven, and they desired to +establish some relations between him and themselves. Unable to appeal to +{016}the Creator, they appealed to Creation, and asked for a mediator, +who should hear their complaints or accept their thank-offerings and +transmit them to the Supreme Power. + +We have already seen that they turned first to sun and moon; but they +were ill rewarded for their efforts. These heavenly bodies were either +too far removed from their clients to hear their complaints, or they +were too busy with their own daily duties; at all events they shared +with their common master in his indifference towards men. + +Our pious friends were offended by this want of consideration, and +thought of looking for other intercessors, who might be less busy; whom +they might not only see with their eyes but touch with their hands, +and who would remain as much as possible in the same place, so as to be +always on hand when they were needed. + +They appealed to rivers and mountains; but the rivers had nothing +permanent but their banks, and went their way like the sun and moon; +while the mountains, besides being the home of wolves, bears, and +serpents, and thus enjoying an evil reputation, were continually hid by +snow and rain from the eyes of the petitioners. + +At last they turned to the trees, and as it always happens, they now +found out that they ought to have commenced where they ended. {017}A +tree was an excellent mediator; standing between heaven and earth, it +clung to the latter by its roots, while its trunk, shaped like an arrow, +feathered with verdure, rose upwards as if to touch the sky. + +The worship of trees was probably the first effect of sedentary life +adopted by the Celts after their long, more or less forced wanderings; +in a few years it prevailed on both sides of the river Rhine. + +There was no lack of trees; every man had his own. As he could not carry +it away with him, he became accustomed to live by its side. + +Man could lean his hut against the trunk; the flock could sleep in its +shade. + +The birds came to it in numbers. If they were singing, it was a sign of +joy to come; if they built their nests there, it was an invitation to +marry. + +The fruit-bearing tree suggested comfort, abundance, and enjoyment; it +spoke of harvest feasts and cider-making, when friends gathered around +it, holding in their hands large horns filled to overflowing with +foaming drink. + +Soon it became customary to plant at the birth of a child a tree which +was to become a companion and a counsellor for life. + +Thus in the course of time a copse represented a family. + +The worship bestowed upon the tree consisted {018}in pruning it, in +making it grow straight, in freeing its bark from parasitical growth +and in keeping the roots free from ants, rats, snakes and all dangerous +enemies. Such continuous care naturally led in the course of time to an +improvement in cultivation. + +The tree worshippers, however, did more than this. On certain hallowed +days they hung bouquets of herbs and of flowers on its branches, they +brought food and drink, and thus fetichism crept in gradually. Alas! +That men have never been able to keep from extremes! + +When the wind whispered in the leaves, the devout owner listened +attentively, trying anxiously to interpret the mystic language of his +cedar or his pear tree, and often a regular conversation ensued. + +It was a bad omen when a rising storm shook the tree fiercely; if the +tempest was strong enough to break a branch, the event foretold a great +calamity, and if it was struck by lightning, the owner was warned of +his approaching death. The latter was resigned; he felt quite proud +at having at last compelled his indolent god to reveal himself to his +devout worshipper. + +When a child died, it was buried under its own tree, a mere sapling.. +But it was not so when a man died.{019} + +[Illustration: 039] + +The Celts used various and strange means for the purpose of disposing of +the remains of their {021}deceased friends. In some countries they were +burnt, and their own tree furnished the fuel for the funeral pile; in +other countries the _Todtenbaum_ (Tree of the Dead), hollowed out with +an axe, became the owner's coffin. This coffin was interred, unless +it was intrusted to the current of the river, to be carried God knows +where! Finally, in certain localities there existed a custom--a horrible +custom!--of exposing the body to the voracity of birds of prey, and the +place of exposure was the top of the very tree which had been planted at +the birth of the deceased, and which in this case, quite exceptionally, +was not cut down. + +Now, observe, that in these four distinct methods by which human remains +were restored to the four elements of air and water, earth and fire, we +meet again the four favorite ways of burial still practiced in India, +as of old, by the followers of Brahma, Buddha, and Zoroaster. The +fire-worshippers of Bombay are as familiar with them as the dervishes +who drown children in the Ganges. Thus we have here four proofs, instead +of one, of the Indian origin of our Celts. For my part at least, I +confess I am convinced by this quadruple evidence. + +It is to be presumed that the use of Dead Men's Trees and of posthumous +drownings continued for centuries in ancient Gaul as well as in ancient +Germany. About 1560 some Dutch laborers found, {022}in examining a part +of the Zuyder Zee, at a great depth, several trunks of trees which +were marvelously well preserved and nearly petrified. Each one of these +trunks had been occupied by a man, and contained some half-petrified +fragments. It was evident that they had been carried down, trunk and +man, by the Rhine, the Ganges of Germany. + +[Illustration: 042] + +As recently as 1837 such _Todtenbaume_ or Dead Men's Trees, well +preserved by the peculiar nature of the soil, have been discovered in +England, near Solby in Yorkshire, and still more recently, in 1848, on +Mount Lupfen in the Grand Duchy of Baden. + +In face of such well authenticated evidence of Dead Men's Trees having +been confided to the current of rivers or the bosom of the earth, it +seems superfluous to ask for additional proof in support of the fact +that cremation was practiced all over ancient Europe. Nor do I consider +myself, as a collector of myths, bound to prove everything. I {023}do +not mean to speak, therefore, any further of Birthday Trees, of Dead +Men's Trees, and of Fetich Trees,--which we shall moreover meet again +presently,--and hasten on to other myths of far greater importance. + +The Druids now appear for the first time in Gaul and in Germany. + +[Illustration: 043] + + + + +II. + +{027}_The Druids and their Creed.--Esus.--The Holy Oak.--The Pforzheim +Lime Tree.--A Rival Plant.--The Mistletoe and the Ansfuinum.--The +Oracle at Dodona.--Immaculate Horses.--The Druidesses.--A late +Elector.--Philanthropic Institution of Human Sacrifices.--Second +Druidical Epoch_. + +The Druids were the first to bring to the Gauls as well as to the +Germans religious truths, but their creed can be appreciated from no +dogma of theirs; it must be judged by their rites. + +The first question is: Whence did the Druids {028}come? Were they +disciples of the Magi, and did they come from Persia? Such an origin has +been claimed for them: or had they been initiated by Isis in her +ancient mysteries, and did they come from Egypt? This view also has its +adherents. Or, finally, had they been driven towards Western Europe +by one of the last waves of immigration, which left India under the +pressure of some new calamity? Many think so. + +As it seems to be difficult to decide between these three suggestions, +it might be worth while to try and reconcile them with each other. It is +a long way from India to Germany and to Gaul, and there might have been +many stopping places between the country from which they started and +their future home. + +The Druids, like all other Celts, might very well have started from +India, and choosing not the most direct way might have reached Europe +only after making many a long halt in Persia and in Egypt. + +'If that can be admitted, then there is no difficulty in assuming that +the first Celts might very well have taken with them from the banks of +the Indus and the Ganges only a few fragments of a sickly materialism +taught by false teachers outside of the temple, while the Druids might +have been initiated within the temple itself, thus learning to know the +true nature of the Deity. + +Their creed was founded upon a triple basis--one {029}God; the +immortality of the soul; and rewards and punishments in a future life. + +These sound doctrines, which are as old as the world and form the +foundation of all human morality, had ever been maintained by their wise +men. + +At a later period the Greeks, proud as they were of their Platonic +philosophy, had not hesitated to acknowledge that they had obtained the +first germ of it from the Celts, the Galati, and consequently from the +Druids. One of the Fathers of the Church, Clement of Alexandria, openly +admits that these same Celts had been orthodox in their religion, at +least as far as their dogmas were concerned. + +By what name was the Supreme Being known to the Druids? They called it +_Esus_, which means the Lord, or they gave it the simple designation +of _Teut_ (God). Through this Teut the German races became afterwards +Teutons, the sons and followers of Teut, and even in our day they call +themselves in their own language Teutsche or _Deutsche_. + +Three marvelously brief maxims contain almost the whole catechism of the +Druids: Serve God; Abstain from evil; Be brave! + +The Druids, being warriors as well as priests, displayed in the +performance of their warlike priesthood all the energy, the severity, +and the authority which must needs accompany such a strange combination +of powers. {030}Holding all the power of the state in their hands, and +speaking in the name of God, commanding the army, controlling the public +treasury, and acting not only as judges but also as physicians, they +punished heresy and rebellion, and ended lawsuits as well as diseases, +by the death of the person most interested. + +Their laws, liberal and philanthropic in spite of their apparent +severity, allowed a jury consisting of notables, to judge grave +crimes; this fact of a jury suggests naturally the idea of extenuating +circumstances, and thus the criminal, escaping more readily than +the patient, frequently got off with a fine, if he was rich, or with +banishment if he was poor. + +Nevertheless all the efforts of the Druids did not succeed in thoroughly +eradicating Tree worship; they were thus led to adopt one tree, to the +exclusion of all others, which should rally around it the scattered +adoration of all the nations. This official tree, a kind of green altar, +on which God manifested himself to his priests, was an oak, a strong, +vigorous oak, the king of the forests. + +Thus the holy oak became known and honored; pious worshippers came by +night, with torches in their hands, in long processions to present their +offerings. + +This usage soon became general among all Celtic nations. Around these +oaks the Druids formed sacred precincts within which they lived with +their families, for they were married; but they could have {031}only one +wife, while the other chieftains were generally polygamists. + +[Illustration: 051] + +But the oak, although thus enjoying preeminence over all other trees, +was by no means exclusively worshipped everywhere. Perhaps from +religious antagonism, or perhaps merely from local usage, some +provinces of Gaul and of Italy preferred the beech and the elm. In Gaul +especially, the elm prevailed over the oak, and even Christian France +still continued for a long time to plant an elm tree before every newly +built church, so as to draw God's blessing the more surely upon it; and +down to the end of the Middle Ages courts of justice were always held +under an elm tree. Hence the curious {032}French proverb, which did not +always have the mocking sense in which it is used nowadays, wait for +me under the elm tree! (Attendez-moi sous forme) What was then a +formal summons to appear before a judge has now come to mean: Wait till +doomsday. + +[Illustration: 052] + +The ash tree, also, had its worshippers among the dwellers in high +northern latitudes, and it was under the dense branches of an enormous +ash tree that terrible Odin and his following of deities appeared in a +dark cloud. + +Thus Tree worship appeared once more. It has ever since continued to +flourish more or less in Germany, and even now exists to a certain +extent. But it is not the oaks, nor the beech, nor the elm, nor the ash +tree, which in our day receives the worship of the young especially--but +the lime tree. The admirers of the lime tree carry their fervor to +fanaticism and their fanaticism to murder. I had {033}been unwilling to +believe this. + +[Illustration: 053] + +But this morning I opened my newspaper and there I found an article, +dated December 30, 1860, and stating that a young man from Pforzheim, in +the Palatinate, attempted to murder the mayor of his town by means of +a revolver, the four barrels of which were loaded with as many leaden +balls. When he was arrested, he declared that he had personally nothing +to say against the burgomaster, but that the latter {034}had recently +ordered certain lime trees to be cut down, that _the good people of +Pforzheim idolized these trees_, and that he had determined to punish +him for such profanation. + +The paper added: "This young man belongs to an honorable family, his +antecedents are excellent, and he has never shown the slightest symptom +of mental derangement." + +How, then does it come about that the lime tree should in our day, in +the nineteenth century, call forth sentiments of such extreme violence? +The reason is that Young Germany has proclaimed it to be the Tree of +Love, because _its leaves are shaped like hearts_. + +If I were not afraid of getting myself into trouble, having a natural +horror of all firearms, and especially of four barrelled revolvers, +I should mention here, that anatomists protest against this pretended +resemblance of the leaf to the heart. In reality it looks much more +like the ace of hearts, as it terminates below in a sharp point--but +superstition prevails over anatomy, and teaches us once more that +science ought not to meddle with things pertaining to love. + +The Druids' Oak, although less tempting to gallant comparisons, finally +excited almost equal fanaticism. Processions and sacrifices became +well nigh endless; young maidens adorned it with garlands of flowers, +{035}interspersed with bracelets and necklaces, while warriors suspended +in its branches the most precious spoil they brought home from their +battles. If a storm arose, the other trees of the forest seemed in good +faith, humbly to bow down before their chief. + +[Illustration: 055] + +And yet it had an enemy, a fierce, relentless enemy. An abject, little +plant, unknown and miserable in appearance, came unceremoniously and +made its home on its sacred branches and even on its august summit; +there it lived on its life's blood, feeding on its sap, absorbing its +substance, threatening {036}to impede its natural growth, and finally +carrying the impudence so far as to conceal the glossy leaves of the +noble godlike tree under its own lustreless and viscous foliage. This +hostile and impious plant was the Mistletoe, the mistletoe of the oak +(_Guythil_). + +Other people, less intelligent and less sagacious than the Druids, would +have freed the tree from this unwelcome and obnoxious visitor, by simply +climbing up and cutting off the parasite by means of a pruning bill. +This would have been irreverent as well as impolitic. What would the +people have thought? The people would most assuredly have reasoned, that +the sacred tree had been rendered powerless, being unable to rid itself +of its vermin. + +The Druids did much better. They treated the mistletoe very much as we, +in our day, treat a formidable member of the opposition; they gave it a +place in the sanctuary. The mistletoe was proclaimed to be an official +and sacred plant, and became an essential part of their worship. When it +was to be detached from the tree, this was not done stealthily and by a +mean iron bill-hook, but in the presence of all, amid public rejoicings +and accompanied by solemn chants. The instrument was a golden reaping +hook, and with it the _Guythil_ was carefully cut off at the base and +gathered in {037}linen veils. These veils became henceforth sacred, and +were not allowed to be used for ordinary purposes. + +The Teutons who lived on the Rhine, obtained from the mistletoe a kind +of glue, which they looked upon as a panacea against the sterility of +women, the ravages of diseases, the effects of witchcraft,--and also as +a means to catch birds. + +[Illustration: 057] + +The Gauls, on the other hand, dried it carefully and put the dust into +pretty little scent-bags, which they presented to each other as New +Year's Gifts on the first day of the year. Hence, in t some provinces +of France, the cry is still heard, "Aguilanneuf" (_au gui l'an neuf_), +"Mistletoe for New Year!" + +Modern science treats mistletoe simply as a purgative, and thus attempts +to prove that our ancestors showed their affection to each other by +exchanging presents of violent purgatives. + +The introduction of this parasite plant into the {038}sanctuary became, +however, very soon a public benefit. For the oak-mistletoe obtained ere +long considerable commercial value, and at once counterfeiters (for even +under the Druids there existed such men) went to work and gathered it +from other trees also, from apple trees and pear trees, from nut trees +and lime trees, from beeches, elms, and even larches. The consequence +was, that owners of orchards as well as owners of forests, rejoiced +in the trick, at which the Druids discreetly winked; for they took +advantage of the lesson. + +[Illustration: 058] + +At one time venomous reptiles had become so numerous in the regions +of the Rhine, that they caused continually serious accidents among the +{039}people, the majority of whom lived all day long in the open air, +and did not always sleep under shelter. During their winter sleep, these +reptiles rolled themselves up into vast balls, and became apparently +glued to each other by a kind of viscous ooze. In this state they were +called by the Celts _Serpents Eggs_, or rather _Serpents' Knots_, while +the Romans called them _anguimim_. + +These strange balls were used medicinally by the Druids like the +mistletoe; they employed them even in their religious ceremonies, and +soon they became so rare, that only the wealthiest people could procure +them, by paying their weight in gold. If the Druids had really at first +been misled so as to adopt superstitious customs, which they repented of +in their hearts, they soon found means to make these same superstitious +rites beneficial to the people. + +Unfortunately serpents' knots, oaks, and their parasites, did not long +satisfy a people ever desirous of new things. It is a well-known fact +that innovations, however small may have been their first beginning, are +sure to go on enlarging and increasing from day to day. + +The old party of Tree worshippers, still numerous and very active as all +old parties are, complained of the suppression of their companion-trees, +the ancient family oracles, for the purpose of favoring {040}one single +oak tree,--a tree which yet was not able, in spite of all the privileges +it enjoyed, to put them into communication with _Estes_, the god of +heaven. + +This complaint was certainly not unfounded;--it had to be answered. + +The Druids consisted of three classes:-- + +The Druids proper (_Eubages_, they were called in Gaul) were +philosophers as well as scholars, perhaps even magicians, for magic was +at that time nothing more than the outward form of science. They were +charged with the maintenance of the principles of morality, and had to +study the secrets of nature. The Prophets, on the other hand, knew how +to interpret in the slightest breath of wind, the language of the holy +oak, which spoke to them in the rustling of its leaves, in the soughing +of the branches, in the low cracking heard within the trunk, and even in +the earlier or later appearance of the foliage. There were, finally, the +Bards, poets bound to the altar. + +While the bards were singing around the oak, the prophets caused it to +render its oracles. These oracles soon increased largely not only in +Europe, but also in Asia Minor, where a Celtic colony, according to +Herodotus, established in the land they had conquered the oracle of +Dodona. Early Greece worshipped an oak tree, which Strabo, however, +assures {041}us was a beech. There is no disputing about trees any more +than about colors; but Homer calls it an oak, and an oak it must remain +for us. + +[Illustration: 061] + +This new movement, grafted upon the simple worship of the Druids, did +not stop here. After having for some time been accustomed to converse +with Teut by means of a tree, the Celts were naturally surprised at +seeing that, while trees could speak, living creatures remained silent, +and were apparently deprived of the power of foretelling the future. +Certain chieftains, especially, felt aggrieved, {042}upon setting out on +a great campaign, that they were not allowed to carry the holy oak +along with them, and in their intense devotion, fell upon the idea +of consulting the nervous trembling of their horses and their sudden +neighing in moments of surprise or terror,--for in order to be of +prophetic nature the movements of the animals had to be involuntary and +spontaneous. As this creed began to spread gradually, every man who was +setting out on a journey or a warlike expedition mounted his horse in +the firm conviction that he would be able to consult his four-footed +prophet at any time during his absence from home, provided he was able +to submit the omens to the learned interpretations of a soothsayer. + +The Druid priests were not long in becoming seriously alarmed at these +travelling oracles, liable as they naturally were to contradict each +other. + +As they had before chosen a single tree to be the sacred tree, so they +now accepted as genuine omens only the symptoms noticed in certain +horses which were bred within the sacred precincts and under their own +eyes. + +These horses, of immaculate whiteness and raised at public expense, were +not employed for any work, and never had to submit to saddle or bridle. +Wild and untamed, they roamed with fluttering manes in perfect liberty +through the lofty forests. The freedom {043}of their movements gave +naturally a safer character to their omens, and thus these prophetic +horses, which formed almost a part of the druidical clergy, enjoyed for +a long time the highest authority in all Celtic countries, when suddenly +one fine day new rivals arose. + +Other living creatures entered into competition with them, and these +rivals of the horses were--shall I say it?--were women. These women +discovered, all of a sudden, that they also were endowed, and in the +very highest degree, with the gifts of second sight, of inspiration, +intuition, and divination. + +When public opinion appealed to the Druids to give their views on this +claim, they admitted, according to the statement of Tacitus, that women +had something more instinctive and more divine in them than men, nay, +even than horses. Their sensitive organization predisposed them to +receive the gift of prophecy, and hence "women indeed act more readily +from natural impulse, without reflection, than from thought or reason." + +This last explanation, improper in the highest degree, does not come +from Tacitus, nor from myself, God forbid! It is the exclusive property +of the aforementioned Mr. Simon Pelloutier. Let every one be responsible +for his own work! + +The Druids treated the women just as they had {044}treated the horses, +the mistletoe, and the trees. They acknowledged as true prophetesses +only those who were already under the direct influence of the holy place +and the sacred oak; that is to say, their wives and their daughters. + +The principle of centralization of power is evidently not of modern +origin. + +[Illustration: 064] + +Thus, there were now Druidesses, as there had been Druids before. The +latter became the teachers of the young men; they taught their pupils +the motions of the stars, the shape and extent of the earth, the divers +products of nature, the history of their ancestors written in the form +of poems which the bards recited; in fact, they taught them everything +except reading and writing. Memory was as yet sufficient for all things. +The priestesses, on the other hand, opened schools for the young girls; +they taught them to sing and to sew, they initiated them into religious +ceremonies and confided to them the knowledge of simples; nor was +poetry neglected, as they had to learn by heart certain poems which were +specially composed for their benefit. These verses, of somewhat doubtful +{045}lyrical character, probably taught them how to make bread, how to +brew beer, and other small details of the kitchen and the house. + +The Druidesses practiced also medicine. This threefold prerogative of +being physicians, prophets, and preceptors, finally raised them so high +in the estimation of the nation, that when the priests of Teut were +compelled to abandon their sanctuaries, they did not hesitate to confide +them to their guardianship. They even presided in their own right, at +certain ceremonies. + +If one of them excelled by the frequency, the lucidity, and the +reliability of her inspirations, as was the case at different times with +the illustrious Aurinia, Velleda, and Ganna, whom the Roman emperors +even deigned to consult through their ambassadors, the proud Druids +placed her with humble submission, at the head of their own college of +priests. During this female dictatorship, she became the arbiter of the +destiny of nations, decided on peace and war, and controlled all the +movements of great armies. + +Caesar tells us that he once asked one of his German captives, why +Ariovistus, their chieftain, had never yet dared to meet him in battle, +and was told in reply, that the Druidesses, after a careful examination +of the eddies and whirlpools of the Rhine, had forbid his engaging in +action till the {046}time of the new moon. As a matter of course, the +shrewd general profited by this information, and when the new moon +appeared, the Germans were in full flight. + +[Illustration: 066] + +But the Rhine has not yet given its oracles, and the time has not yet +come, when Ganna Velleda, and Aurinia condescend to grant audiences to +Roman ambassadors. + +We only wished to trace in a few outlines the future development of this +institution of Druidesses, which we shall meet again in the days of its +decline. {047}In the mean time, however, their influence and their power +were daily growing. Were the Teutons at last satisfied? By no means. In +spite of all the skill displayed by their diviners and the Druid-esses, +they came to the conclusion, that neither the trembling foliage of the +holy oak, nor the sudden starts, the wild leaps, and the more or less +prolonged, loud neighings of the horses, afforded them sufficient +excitement and perfectly reliable revelations. It occurred to them next, +to consult animals, not in their outward manifestations, but in their +still quivering entrails. This new ceremony could not fail to give to +their religious worship a more serious aspect, and a certain savor of +murder, which no doubt had its charms for a warlike people. + +The Druids yielded once more, but they felt discouraged. What had become +of that grand philosophic religion, which was content with prayer and +meditation, and which they once--too fondly, perhaps--had hoped to be +able to adapt to the nature of these barbarians? + +They first consented to slay at the foot of the sacred oak, so long kept +free from blood, a number of noxious beasts, like wolves, lynxes, and +bears; but the turn of domestic animals came ere long, and they began +to sacrifice sheep, goats, and finally man's best companion in war, +the horse. Not even the spotless white horses, heretofore looked upon +{048}with such profound and superstitious reverence, were spared any +longer. + +And at each step forward in this bloody career, the Druids, always +resisting, and always compelled to yield, made their last and their very +last concession, vainly hoping that they might thus retain for a little +while longer the power, which they felt was fast slipping from their +grasp. + +Encouraged by success, the reformers finally came to the question, +whether the most acceptable offering to be presented to God, was not the +blood of man? Is not man, of all created beings, the most noble and the +most perfect? Perhaps they were inclined to carry the argument still +farther, and to reason that among all men the most worthy to be chosen +and the most likely to be acceptable to God, were the Druids themselves? +But they took care not to ask too much at once. They held this final +consequence of a great principle in reserve, requiring for the present +nothing more than a common victim, anything that might come in the way, +provided it was a human being. + +It might have been expected, that when this abominable demand was made +to hallow murder by committing it in the name of Heaven, the descendants +and heirs of the ancient sages would have remembered their noble +ancestors who had put an end to the first and quite inoffensive +superstitions {049}of the early Celts. They ought to have veiled their +faces, drawn back with horror, and recovering for once their former +energy, appealed by means of the holy oak, the spotless horses, the +soothsayers and the Druidesses, nay of heaven and earth itself, to +the whole nation, calling upon them to anathematize the infamous +petitioners. But they did no such thing. On the contrary they hastened +to legalize such savage bloodshed by their holy consent. One might +almost be led to suspect that they had themselves, underhand, suggested +the horrible idea. + +O ye hypocritical priests, ye false philosophers, ye tigers disguised as +shepherds of the people!.... But we must check our indignation. For +who knows, but they may have been swayed not so much by an instinct +of cruelty as by a lofty political, or even philanthropic principle? +Philanthropic? Yes, indeed; we will explain. + +Among the Celts human life counted for little; it was lavished in +battles, it was cast away in duels. At the time when the Gauls held +large national assemblies, they tried to secure punctual attendance by +simply putting to death the man who was the last to come; he paid for +all the tardy ones. I do not mean to propose such a plan at the present +day; but after all it was an infallible and economical measure. {050}The +Teutons, on the other hand, bloodless in their national assemblies, +after a battle in which they had been victorious, delighted in +massacring all their prisoners. + +These massacres ceased from the time when the Druids claimed for +themselves the exclusive right of human sacrifices. + +The good Esus, having become bloodthirsty, demanded all the captives +to be slain in expiation at his altar, and woe to him who dared to +anticipate him in his wrath. He was excluded from the sacred precincts; +he was declared an impious, sacrilegious person, who could no longer +take his place among the citizens; and he ran great risk of being forced +to offer his own life in compensation for that which by his fault was +wanting at the holocaust. + +When this custom became once fully established, the prisoners of war +were all delivered up to the high-priest, who chose from among them one +or more to be slain as an offering. The victim was generally one of the +captive chieftains, and he was slain together with his war horse, so +as to add to the impressiveness of the ceremony and to reconcile the +spectators by the abundance of blood that was shed to the small number +of victims. + +After having carefully examined the opened bodies of man and animal, +the sacrificing priest, his {051}beard and clothes saturated with blood, +raised his bloody right hand to heaven and, reeking with murder and +breathing carnage, he proclaimed that his god was satisfied. The +remainder of the prisoners were kept for another day, but that other day +never came. + +Thus a new office had been created: that of a sacrificing priest. On +both banks of the Rhine, in Germany as well as in Gaul, the Druids +reserved this office for themselves; in other Celtic countries, in +Scandinavia and among the Scythians, women performed the terrible duty; +we all remember as a proof of it, Iphigenia of Tauris. + +Whatever we may think of this bloody innovation, it certainly benefited +the prisoners, but the Druids obtained from it, after all, the greatest +advantage. Their power, which had been seriously undermined, step by +step, was once more firmly established. The opposition, which had paid +no attention to their remonstrances or their prayers, shrunk from their +knives. + +From this moment begins the Second Period of the Druids. + +The bloody knife of the Druids remained long all powerful, but we need +not follow its later fate. Caesar had conquered and pacified Gaul, +and the successors of Augustus fulminated their Imperial {052}decrees +against the Druids, as slayers of men, while the same knife continued to +shed the blood of the Germans. + +[Illustration: 072] + +[Illustration: 075] + + + + +III. + +{055}_A Visit to the Land of our Forefathers.--The two Banks of the +Rhine.--Druid Stones.--Weddings and Burials.--Xight Service.--A Dentigod +Glacier.--Social Duels. A Countrywoman of Aspasia.--Boudoir of a Celtic +Lady.--The Bard's Story.--Teutons and Titans.--Earthquake._ + +Any one who has ever travelled in my company, must know that I am apt +to stray from my way, or at least to choose the longest route. I have +a fancy to-day, to turn my eyes and my steps away from those sacred +precincts of the Druids, which {056}had become slaughter-houses and in +which the hand that blessed was also the hand that killed. + +I desire to breathe an air less filled with the perfumes, or rather the +fetid odor of sacrifices. Up there, on that hill-top, where the setting +sun lights up the bright summit, I shall breathe more freely. + +Here I am. + +Beneath me the Rhine spreads out its two banks, not united yet by any +bridge, and even without a ferry to bring the one nearer to the other. + +But on both sides, half hid under dense willow thickets and gigantic +reeds, there lie, in many a shallow little bay, large numbers of tiny +barks. These cunning looking boats belong to harmless fishermen in the +daytime; but at night they are filled with robbers and corsairs, who +form in bands, cross over to the other side in search of booty, and even +venture, if needs be, out into the Northern Sea. Just now nothing stirs; +the fishermen have gone home, the corsairs have not come forth. I look +farther out. + +On the left bank there are some Gallic Celts encamped, with blue eyes, +white skin, and abundant golden tresses. Almost naked, their principal +garment seems to be that immense shield, almost as long as their body, +which shelters them on the march as well as when they are at rest, and +which protects {057}them against the sun and the enemy alike. All of a +sudden I hear them, with lips held close to one of the edges of their +shields, utter sharp cries, which are taken up and repeated, from +distance to distance, all the way down the river. To these cries, which +no doubt represent their telegraphic system, there comes an answer from +far sounding trumpets. + +[Illustration: 077] + +Who are these other soldiers with the black hair and the bronzed +complexions? Carefully arrayed in symmetrical lines they advance +steadily, clad in brilliant armor, and carrying banners surmounted by +golden eagles with half open wings. Has Caesar really succeeded, after +ten years' warfare, in making himself master of Gaul as far as the banks +of the Rhine? I cannot doubt it; for at their {058}approach, the Gauls +lower their lance-heads, in token of their peaceful disposition, and +allow them to pass. + +[Illustration: 078] + +When they reach the river, the small Roman army pauses; under the +protection of this armed force a few men, dressed in simple tunics, with +no arms but tablets, a style, and ropes for measuring the ground, go to +work preparing a plan, perhaps for a bridge, perhaps for a town. + +German sentinels, take care! + +From the height of my hill I look down upon a {059}narrow strip of land +on the right bank of the river, and here I see several groups of men, +scattered here and there in the woods and on the plain, who work under +the superintendence of a Druid. Some are digging up the roots of trees +which overshadow and impoverish the ground; others draw long furrows +with the iron of their ploughs. These laborers seem all to suffer from +some restraint which impedes their movements, but of which at this +distance I can discover no cause. + +In order to meditate on this strange sight, I look around for a resting +place. Half way up the hill I notice a small stone bench. As I draw +nearer, the object grows in size and rises to such a height, that I +should need a ladder if I wished to take possession of my seat. + +[Illustration: 079] + +This apparent bench is a monument, a Druidical monument, and consists of +two upright stones, on which rests a third, horizontal stone. In France, +in England, and in Germany there are still found {060}such Druidical +altars, cromlechs or dolmens; these menhyrs astonished already Alexander +of Macedonia when he marched through Scythia. In Bretagne, at Carnac, +some of these stones, consisting of a single rock, rise by the wayside, +as if to tell the traveller the story of the past, or they range +themselves before his eyes in long lines, forming on the ground endless +circles of emblematic meaning, as it is supposed. But the traveller can +no longer understand their language. Was this an altar, or was it an +idol, or perhaps only a simple monument raised over a grave. If they +were altars, Carnac would be Olympus; if they were tombstones, it would +be a cemetery. + +[Illustration: 080] + +I was going all around the mystic three stones to examine them more +closely, when I noticed close by a flock of sheep, and then a shepherd. + +This shepherd, covered with a ragged _sagum_, had on his feet leather +sandals, a half open wound on his forehead, which had not yet had +time to close, enhanced the fierceness of his appearance. His burning +{061}glances fell now upon the Druidical stone and now upon another +object which I had not noticed before. This was the guard of a sword +which had been driven into the ground. + +Could it be that this stone resting upon two supports, were new +concessions made by the politic Druids? + +[Illustration: 081] + +As according to their spiritualistic views God could not render himself +visible in a shape resembling our own, they had represented him as well +as they could by a symbol. It appeared thus that human sacrifices were +already no longer sufficient to maintain their creed. + +While I was examining with growing curiosity this strange keeper of +sheep, fair, with bare neck and bare feet, was busy watching on the same +side of the hill another flock, and at the same time gathering herbs +for medicinal purposes. When she was about to leave, she offered the +shepherd to attend to his wound, sword handle, and this {062}but he +refused haughtily; she ran away laughing, and threw a flower into his +face. + +He did not pick up that flower; he did not salute that pretty girl as +she left him. He looked at her with disdain. + +Ah! I can doubt it no longer; this unhappy man is like the wood-cutter +in the forest, and the laborers in the field, one of those prisoners +taken in war, whom the Druids have spared, and now render useful. His +closely shorn hair, his open wound, and the heavy wooden yoke which he +has to carry on his neck, all betray his sad fate. He has made no reply +to the half pitiful, half coquettish advances of the pretty gatherer of +simples, because she has only awakened in his heart painful memories of +his distant love, or of his wife, whom he is never to see again! He has +cast glances of fierce hatred and burning revenge at the Druidical altar +and the handle of the sword, because both of these objects point out the +place of bloody sacrifices. Does he think he is himself destined to be +slain? or was perhaps the warrior whom they slew yesterday, a man of his +own tribe, his best friend, his own brother? + +But I have taken refuge here in order to escape from these painful +thoughts of blood and murder. I propose to seek new objects of interest. + +Farther down, nearly at the foot of the hill, I {063}see a few huts, or +rather a few low, almost crushed roofs, which seem hardly to rise from +the ground. Are they houses, or stables, or caves? + +On the left bank Gauls and Romans have alike disappeared in the mists +rising from the river. On the right bank the wood-cutters and the +field-laborors are resting upon their axes or their ploughs, and seem to +ask the sun if the day is not drawing to an end. + +[Illustration: 083] + +A breeze is springing up, the shepherd gathers his flock and, as +mournful as ever, he slowly takes {064}the footpath that leads down the +hill towards the village. + +I follow him without knowing what mysterious power draws me in that +direction. + +Perhaps some Druid magician holds me under a potent spell, which enables +me to forget who I am, whence I come, and even to what century I belong, +and to witness these strange scenes, which, well nigh forgotten by all +living beings, I alone am permitted to watch? Let me try, at all events, +to profit by this rare piece of good fortune. + +I reach the low village and find it occupied by a colony of Salic +Franks, who live scattered all along the Rhine. With their eyes fixed +upon the left bank, they are just now far more occupied with the +invasion of Germany by the Romans, than with the thought of invading +Gaul themselves.--I feel suddenly a deep interest in these people. What +Frenchman of this nineteenth century can feel sure that the blood in his +veins is not the same that once gave life and strength to these terrible +warriors from the North, Franks or Gauls? We are all natives of one or +the other bank of this great river Rhine, and feel towards each +other, whether we live on the right or the left bank, very much like +school-boys whose friendship is cemented by many a battle royal. + +Being a Frenchman, I feel that I am about to {065}pay a visit to my +paternal ancestors--for the Franks have given us our name. No wonder +that I feel deeply moved. + +I examine the low huts of the village, if village it can be called, and +find that they are separated from each other by commons and by fields, +and that they finally lose themselves in the open country. Where now +these scattered huts are standing, there may be one of these days a +Mayence or a Cologne, and yet they will occupy no larger space with all +their suburbs included. + +On both sides of the road extend orchards, fenced in with reeds and all +aglow with blooming apple trees; dark, sombre pine forests and swamps, +the greenish waters of which are confined within slight dams; here and +there the live rock crops out from the ground and interrupts the road, +or huge trees are lying across, recently cut down and but just deprived +of their branches. In the open pasture grounds huge buffaloes are lying +about snorting and panting with fatigue, for they have worked all day in +the plough; the neighing of horses is heard from one end of the country +to the other, and gradually dies out as the sun sinks below the horizon; +lean heifers, with long, spiral horns, push here and there their heads +through the fence of the orchards to have a last bite at the tender +foliage of the reeds, and small oxen of an {066}inferior breed return to +their quarters at the same time with the sheep, quite content to browse +on the grass by the wayside, while herds of swine are wallowing in the +mire of the low grounds. + +[Illustration: 086] + +The landscape resembles parts of Bretagne and of Normandy; but these +provinces have no such huts. To see a human habitation, you have to rise +high above the fences and hedges and then look down upon the ground. + +At a place where two roads meet, the cracking of a whip is heard; +hogs, sheep, and small oxen are driven aside to make way for a kind of +procession, consisting of grave and solemn men and women, who almost all +wear a look of consternation. + +It is a wedding. + +Two young people have just had their union blessed by the priests under +the sacred oak. The bride is dressed in black, and wears a wreath of +dark leaves on her head; she walks in the midst {067}of her friends, +bent double, as if weighed down by overwhelming thoughts. A matron, who +walks on her left, holds before her eyes a white cloth; it is a shroud, +the shroud in which she will be buried one of these days. On her right, +a Druid intones a chant, in which he enumerates, in solemn rhythm, all +the troubles and all the anxieties which await her in wedded life. + +[Illustration: 087] + +"From this day, young wife, thou alone wilt have to bear all the burden +of your united household. + +"You will have to attend the baking oven, to provide fuel, and to go +in search of food; you will have to prepare the resinous torch and the +lamp. + +"You will wash the linen at the fountain, and you will make up all the +clothing; + +"You will attend to the cow, and even to the horse if your husband +requires it; + +"Always full of respect, you will wait upon him, standing behind him, at +his meals; + +"If he chooses to take more wives, you will receive your new companions +with sweetness; {068}"If needs be, you will even offer to nurse the +children of these favorites, and all from obedience to your karl +(master); + +"If he is angry against you and strikes you, you will pray to Esus, the +only God, but you will never blame your husband, who cannot do wrong. + +"If he expresses a wish to take you with him to war, you will accompany +him to carry his baggage, to keep his arms in good condition, and to +nurse him if he should be sick or wounded. + +"Happiness consists in the fulfillment of duty. Be happy, my child!" + +[Illustration: 088] + +When I heard this dolorous wedding song, which in some parts of France +is to this day addressed to brides by local minstrels, when I saw this +winding-sheet, {069}the mournful costumes and the whole funereal wedding +procession, I felt overcome with sadness. Just then, cries and joyous +acclamations were heard at some little distance. + +Another procession came from the opposite direction to the cross-roads; +there all the faces were smiling and full of joyousness. + +This was a funeral. + +[Illustration: 089] + +Such were the ways of our fathers; they rejoiced in facing death, which +relieves man from all his sufferings; they had nothing but tears for man +when he entered upon his trials. + +In the meantime the twilight had passed into darkness. Small lights, +looking like will-o'-the-wisps, were flitting to and fro in field and +forest, going in all directions. Devout worshippers, carrying torches +or lanterns in their hands, were going to consecrated places, to hold +public worship or to recite private prayers. {070}Some, and these were +the majority, go in the direction of the oak forests, where the Druids +are found; others, concealing the light of their lanterns as well as +they can, go hither and thither, towards the copses of beeches and pine +trees, or towards the river, or towards the hill, which was but just +now shining brightly in the sunlight, but is now concealed in utter +darkness. + +[Illustration: 090] + +What are they going to do? They are going to worship the Rhine, the +wells, the water-courses, the trees, the Druidical {071}altars, and the +sword-guards. For no creed yet but has had its schisms. + +Orthodox or not, German or Gallic, the Franks have always shown a +preference for nocturnal worship; they divide the year into moons, +and count the moons not by days but by nights. And yet they have been +suspected of worshipping the sun! And I had nearly fallen into the same +error! How well it was that I came to see for myself! + +As I am just now more interested in watching manners than in studying +mythology, I pursue my investigations, especially as I know very well +that we must know the lives which people lead in order to be able fully +to appreciate the objects of their worship. + +While all these small lights are flashing, like shooting stars, here +and there through the landscape, certain specially bright lights seem +to become stationary and permanent. These are the lighted-up windows of +human habitations. I called the latter just now stables, or caves, and +excepting a few of them, I must still call them such. + +They are dug out of the ground, damp and dark; their ceiling is on a +level with the surface of the earth, and their roof consists of layers +of turf, or of dry thatch covered with moss. The only door resembles the +lid of a snuff-box, and is set in the roof on a level with the ground. +The dwelling {072}has no light but such as enters through these +trapdoors; consequently they are utterly dark during the whole rainy +season and during winter, that is to say, for three fourths of the year! +Darkness reigns supreme here; that darkness which is the enemy of all +healthfulness, of enjoyment, of every comfort. No windows! No glass! O +divine Apollo,-- + +"Thou of the silver bow, god of Claros, hear!" + +[Illustration: 092] + +I never had any objection to the doctrine which made of you, the +brilliant personification of the sun, a first class divinity; but I +think like honors ought to have been bestowed upon the unknown man who +first invented windows and window-panes, the {073}first glazier in fine. +He ought at least to have been made a demigod, and if he had to remain a +simple mortal, they ought surely to have remembered his name! Alas! that +high honors are as unfairly distributed in heaven as upon earth! + +As there is no window, I peep through the trapdoor to see how these +subterranean dwellings look inside. The aspect is far from being as +wretched as I had expected. I find that the walls are hung with mattings +and the floor is beaten hard; by the side of the smoking lamp which +is suspended from the main beam of the ceiling, there are hanging, on +hooks, a hindquarter of venison, baskets filled with provisions, and +implements for fishing and hunting. Besides, I notice long strings of +medicinal herbs, such as we see in the shops of herb-doctors, and among +these plants the mistletoe occupies, as a matter of course, the place of +honor. + +In another underground hut there appear actually some traces of luxury. +Here the walls are incrusted with pebbles from the Rhine, of many colors +and skillfully arranged; here and there weapons are arranged in various +shapes; javelins with sharp hooks; framees, such as the ancient Franks +were using; hatchets of stone or iron; "morning stars," with sharp +points, were pleasantly mingled with huge bucklers; large leather +quivers and long arrows feathered at one end and with jagged teeth +{074}at the other. At first sight it looks as if for the purpose of +softening somewhat the threatening aspect of these panoplies, the Celtic +lady of the house had added some of her jewels to these weapons. But it +is not so; these gold chains, these necklaces set with onyx and rubies, +are worn by the grim warriors on the day of battle, quite as much in the +nature of ornaments as for the purpose of protection. One of our +sober, I may say, most sober historians, ascribes to this custom of +our forefathers, the Franks, the gorget, worn still by officers in some +European armies. Here also I see straw mats, but here they are trod +under foot; they are used as carpets, not as hangings. + +The deep and spacious dwelling contains, besides the large room which +alone I can see through my dormer-window, a number of other rooms on +all sides, or rather of other caves, which are all connected with each +other. I am evidently before the palace of one of the chief men of the +country. + +In the first hut, into which I had looked, I had found the people at +table, drinking a beverage made from grain and herbs--cerevisia--in +horns of wild bulls, and talking about business--for our ancestors +talked about business at dinner, just as we do. The conversation turned +about exchanges of rams, a great fishing expedition to be undertaken +jointly, an invasion to be made into the territory on the other{075} + +{077}bank of the river, and most eagerly, about the approaching +elections. For Montesquieu tells us that municipal and even +constitutional government existed alike among the early Germans. + +In the other dwelling, the one adorned with panoplies, they were talking +neither of elections, nor of fishing, but they were likewise at table. +Here they drank not only cerevisia in the _horns of the brave_, but also +hydromel and hippocras in leathern tankards or human skulls, as white +as ivory, adorned with silver and naturally shaped like cups. God be +thanked that this custom has not been bequeathed to us by the Franks! + +On that evening they were celebrating the welcome given to a young +warrior who had already made himself known by great exploits and who +belonged to a neighboring, friendly tribe. + +When the meal was ended, and what a meal it was!--I shall be careful +not to give the bill of fare, since the mere recital would cause an +indigestion,--they thought of prolonging the entertainment given to +their illustrious guest. But what could they do? The young Frankish +ladies were not familiar yet with the piano, and the noble game of +billiards had not yet been invented. They proposed riddles to be +guessed, but this did not seem to afford much amusement to the young +man. Then came a game with bones; but he nearly fell {078}asleep. As the +duty of hospitality required that they should make every possible +effort to entertain their guest, a great man among the Cheruski or the +Marcomanni, they proposed the _handkerchief_; this, seemed to arouse his +attention. + +The handkerchief game was at that time very popular; it was a kind of +company duel. Two kind-hearted adversaries, having no other motive but +to amuse themselves and to entertain the company, would seize with their +left hand one end of a handkerchief, and with their right hand a table +knife or a hunting knife, it did not matter which, provided the weapon +was sharp and very pointed. For our good ancestors did not know foils +with cork buttons or other arms of courtesy. Imbued with the strange +idea that to fight, man against man, or a thousand against a thousand, +was the greatest happiness upon earth, they delighted in occasionally +cutting each other's throat, even if they were the best friends in the +world. + +The spectators formed a ring around the combatants. After they had taken +a solemn oath, by the rims of their bucklers, by the shoulders of +their horses, and by the points of their swords, that they cherished no +feeling of animosity against each other, a signal was given and the game +commenced. For some time I saw how the handkerchief was stretched out, +twisted and then suddenly {079}turned around and around rapidly. Light +red lines had already begun to mark the skin of the two adversaries; the +blood was trickling down their arms, but these wounds were such trifles +that the spectators took no notice of them and uttered not a single +exclamation. + +All of a sudden I heard three hurrahs in rapid succession; the welcomed +guest, whom all had been striving to honor to the utmost of their +capacity, had fallen down with his adversary's knife still sticking in +his breast. He was dead. + +They had not been able to think of any better way to make him spend a +pleasant evening. The good old times had a hospitality of their own! + +This pleasant handkerchief game has survived, only slightly modified, +in several countries of northern Europe. The handkerchief is generally +wrapped around a rapier, so as to shorten the length of the blade. In +the taverns of Holland the game is considered conducive to health; a +knife wound gives a man a chance to escape apoplexy; it serves as a +timely bleeding. + +I had run away in horror. For an hour I wandered about, casting a +furtive glance down a trapdoor here and there, and almost everywhere +I saw men and women, horses and cattle, enjoying their rest, lying +pell-mell on the same litter. + +In one of these hovels I thought I recognized {080}the young girl whom +I had seen on the hill; her attitude of repose gave a peculiar charm to +her supple and delicate limbs, and by the feeble flickering light of the +lamp, she suggested the idea of a sleeping nymph. + +[Illustration: 100] + +She was a young Ionian girl, a countrywoman of Aspasia; captured in war, +she had been sold as a slave in twenty markets, developing in spite of +such treatment, one grace and one beauty after another. On the banks of +the Ilyssus, they would have erected an altar in her honor, on the banks +of the Rhine they made her keep a herd of swine. {081}She was not the +only one of her sex, however, whom I saw during that fantastic night. + +The sound of a shrill fife, mingling with the sweeter notes of a harp, +attracted my attention. I went toward the spot from which the music +came. + +In a little room decked with flowers, a young woman was engaged in her +toilet. + +I ought to have fled once more,--this time from bashfulness or a sense +of propriety,--but a conscientious historian is bound to overcome every +difficulty, in order to ascertain the exact truth. It was a great piece +of good luck, surely, to be able to report as an eye-witness, what might +be seen in the boudoir of a Celtic lady. + +My friend was sitting, half undressed, on a stool, with her hair +loosened, and holding in her hand a metal mirror. An old woman, a +servant or her mother, I cannot tell which--and yet it seemed to me as +if I had seen both these women, as well as the beautiful swine-herd, +somewhere before; when that was, however, I could not possibly tell--the +old woman held the whole rich abundance of the young lady's hair in +both her hands and rubbed it with a horrid mixture of tallow, ashes, and +plaster. Thanks to this wretched pomatum, the beautiful hair gradually +changed from pale blonde to intense red, and thus enabled the owner +to comply with a fashion, which I do not presume to criticise, but +{082}simply record here. Then she washed and combed it carefully, +plaited it cunningly, and at last rubbed the shoulders and the neck of +the beauty with melted butter, while she washed the face and the hands +with foaming beer. + +[Illustration: 102] + +After the demands of cleanliness had thus been satisfied, she placed +before her mistress a slight collation, which was promptly served and +promptly dispatched. While she was thus attending to her toilet and +disposing of a bird's meal, there was a cyclopean feast going on in an +adjoining room; loud and violent voices were heard, everybody seemed +{083}to talk at once, and in such high tones that even the shrill fife +could no longer be distinguished--for it was from this hall that the +sound of music proceeded, which had attracted me to the dwelling. + +The old woman evidently thought the feast was drawing to an end, for she +hastened to finish her mistress's toilet: She opened a wooden box and +drew from it a pair of pretty red boots, which she put on the feet of +the young beauty; then she threw over her white dress a purple scarf, +which she fastened on the left shoulder with a long thorn from a +sloe-tree. After that she tied a narrow scarlet ribbon around her head, +handed her a collar and bracelets made of small berries, which in form +and color were strikingly like corals, and finally, as the finishing +touch, she daubed her cheeks with red by means of a cosmetic which I +suspect consisted largely of brickdust. When the young Frankish beauty +found that there was enough red--scarlet, crimson, purple, and pink--on +her person from head to foot, she uttered a cry of triumph, especially +when her husband, who entered her room, followed by his guests, seemed +to be quite dazzled by the resplendent charms of his lovely wife, whom +he had just _bought_. + +To buy a woman was a familiar expression in Germany at that time, as +it is now,--_Ein weib kaufen_. It must be borne in mind, however, that +{084}in those days the bride brought no dower; on the contrary, the +husband paid her family a certain sum as compensation. We have inherited +many of our usages from our Celtic forefathers; but as to this custom, +we have not thought proper to keep it up. + +I at once recognized the husband, although he was now all smiles in his +face, and let us hope, all smiles in his heart also. He was the chief +personage in the wedding procession, whom I had seen two hours before, +looking so grave and solemn, so sad and mournful. + +According to Druidical regulations, the bride has first of all waited +upon him at table, humbly standing behind him like the other house +slaves; then, towards the middle of the repast, she had gone to her +room in order to exchange her girlish costume for the dress of a married +woman--a woman who has the right to follow the fashions and to dress +herself up in red from the heels of her feet to the end of her hair. + +Now she receives her master _at home_; here she is mistress, and +mistress she will remain. This was the rule among the Franks; for in +spite of the lachrymose anthems of the bards and in spite of the sombre +ceremonies of the wedding, the women became almost invariably the +masters at home, a usage which, contrary to that of dowerless girls, +may possibly have crossed the Rhine. {085}Thinking it over, I found that +during my nocturnal excursion into the land of my forefathers, I had +been present--as a witness only, be it understood--at three successive +entertainments; a feast of welcome, a business dinner, and a wedding +dinner. Although they had not been calculated to satisfy my appetite, +they had, at all events, made me extremely hungry. I was thinking, +therefore, of retracing my steps and looking for a lodging, when I +saw the Druid-bard, who had not disdained taking a seat at the nuptial +feast, coming slowly and solemnly to the centre of the room, all the +while drawing a few accords from, a kind of harp, which consisted of a +closely bent bow with three strings instead of one. + +[Illustration: 105] + +He was getting ready to charm the company with the recital of one of +those long and mysterious poems which recount the history of the Celts. +I delay my departure. + +It has been said, and not without a show of reason, that the history of +our Gallic or Germanic ancestors ought to be for us a subject of deep +interest; but bold minds have in vain tried to raise {086}up once more +the old oak tree, to trim it and to let air and light enter within its +canopy of leaves. The birds that once sang in its branches have left no +trace behind them of their songs, and nothing has reached us from those +sacred precincts but a few faint echoes. + +I certainly have reason to praise my good fortune! What all these great +scholars, these learned men, have not been able to accomplish by dint +of energy and perseverance and aided by all their knowledge of Latin, +Greek, and Sanskrit, I (I, the man whom you know) am enabled to do! +Thanks to the bard's long recital, I am able to fill up this blank,--the +first, the only man in the history of mankind, who can throw light upon +the impenetrable darkness of those ages! + +The bard began. I listened, all attention and eagerness, trying to catch +every sound and to impress every word upon my excellent memory. + +In a pompous introduction he told us all about the first arrival of the +Celts in Europe, the coming of the Druids as apostles of the true +faith; he told us how a great colony of Salic Franks, Gauls, under the +collective name of Pelasgi, all children of Teut, or Teutons, had +first planted a sacred oak at Dodona. On this point I was already well +informed. He then alluded to the building up of Athens, due as much to +the Teutons as to the {087}Greeks of Cecrops; he boasted, that when the +Greeks were led astray by their corrupt imagination and wished to +raise altars to Saturn, Jupiter, and all those false gods whom they had +borrowed from the Egyptians and the Phoenicians, the Teutons rose in the +name of outraged human reason, and proclaimed the only one God, breaking +down all the false altars. Hence, he said, that formidable struggle, +still so well known as the battle of the gods of Olympus against the +_Teutons_ or _Titans_.... + +I held my breath. What? Those terrible giants, those colossal men, whom +Jupiter himself feared and who piled Ossa upon Pelion, or Pelion upon +Ossa--they were Celts? They were the ancestors of the brave French? + +O Titans, O my brothers, with what delight I listened to the sacred +words of the bard, so that I might repeat them to you and rejoice with +you in our glorious descent! + +By special grace I understood the Germano-Celtic words of the bard +without difficulty. But the poem was flowing on interminably; I began +to mistrust my memory. Centuries succeeded centuries, events followed +events, and they were as close to each other and as numerous as grains +in a bag of wheat. The continuous exertion of all my faculties began to +tell upon me. The most illustrious {088}heroes of Gaul and of Germany +appeared to me soon only like the faint forms seen by means of a magic +lantern; Sigovesus and Bellovesus, the descendants of the great king +Ambigat; Brennus, Btlgius, and Lutharius, sons or sons-in-law of that +other great king Cambaules, began to turn around and arouad in my head, +holding each other by the hand and performing an old British dance to +the music of an old Breton instrument. Ariovistus played on the biniou. +Then the sounds of the biniou, the shrill tones of the fife and the +Druid harp were broken in upon by a terrible noise of countless church +bells; the air shook all of a sudden, the earth trembled, everything +around me fell to the ground with a great crash, the Druid, the house of +the wedding, the trap-door, the hamlet, the trees, the hill, the Rhine +and its banks, the heaven and the stars, all disappeared at the same +moment, and I awoke in my arm-chair, surrounded by my poor books, which +had just fallen from my knees. + +The dinner bell was still ringing. + +[Illustration: 111] + + + + +IV. + +{091}_The Roman Gods invade Germany.--Drusus and the Druidess.--Ogmius, +the Hercules of Gaul.--Great Philological Discovery concerning Teut at +es.--Transformations of every kind.--Irmexsul.--The Rhine deified.--The +Gods cross the River.--Druids of the Third Epoch._ + +You may rest assured, I did not merely dream of that bold transformation +of Teutons into Titans; one of the most learned and most reliable +authors in my library, assures me of the fact. These great scholars are +sometimes very clever men. + +According to this authority, the Celts were very much taller than the +Greeks, and this fact had naturally suggested to the latter the idea +of speaking of them as giants. The Celtic Pelasgi, who were warlike +shepherds like all the men of their race, usually watched their flocks +as they were {092}grazing on the high mountains, and it was these +mountains which the myth accused them of piling up, one upon another, +to scale the heavens. You will say, What mad follies of poets! I grant +this; but after these mad poets came men like Hesiod and Homer, who +changed the idle dream into stern reality, and upon this rock a new +religion was founded, and with it, a new civilization. + +Now the day has come when these same gods of Greece, having become the +gods of great Rome, will pursue the Titans, or Teutons, to the very +heart of Germany. + +It is well known that Caesar, after having conquered Gaul, had promptly +crossed the Rhine, rather for the purpose of making a reconnaissance +on the opposite bank of the river, than with any view to conquest. +His successor went farther into Germany. Drusus, the adopted son of +Augustus, and his lieutenant, reached the banks of the river Elbe, +pursuing the Franks, the Teutons, the Burgundians, the Cheruski, the +Marcomanni, all those children of the same great family, who had been +overcome, put to flight, but never subjugated. All of a sudden, at the +very moment when he is about to cross the river, there comes forth from +the dark, dense forest, not a new army of barbarians, bristling with +spears and halberts, but a woman, a tall, haughty looking woman, with +long disheveled hair{093} + +[Illustration: 113] + +{094} + +[Illustration: 114] + +{095}flowing down upon her bare shoulders, and on her brow a crown of +simple oak branches. + +She steps across his path and with uplifted finger orders him in an +imperious voice to turn back and to go to his camp to prepare for death. + +It was a Druidess, endowed in the highest degree with the gift of +prophecy; so it would seem at least, for Drusus had hardly entered the +Roman camp, when he fell from his horse and expired. + +Not all the Druidesses, however, succeeded in making the Roman generals +go back, by a word or a gesture; nor did all the Roman generals fall +from their horses and die. After fifty-five years of strangely varying +fortunes, the Genius of Rome was victorious, and must needs have been +victorious, for it led the whole world by its power. It brought with +it also its gods, which in spite of their numbers, or rather perhaps +because they were so numerous, met on the banks of the Rhine with a more +determined resistance than its soldiers. + +Rome had a magnificent mission to fulfill. Her glorious duty upon earth +was to restore the unity of all the great human families, and to +improve their condition by bringing them in contact with each other--by +fraternity, in fine. To attain this end, she had generally employed War +as her principal instrument; Religion had been a subsidiary agent only, +a weapon which she kept concealed, {096}but which she used with great +efficacy to secure the permanency of her conquests. + +Unfortunately, Roman gods were as liable to corruption, and to fearful +corruption, as the great men of the Empire. Nations rise step by step +on the grand ladder of civilization; when they have reached the top they +must keep up their activity, without which no life and no progress can +be maintained, and thus the moment comes when they are forced to descend +again, till at last they sink into sensual degradation, into erudite, +refined, voluptuous barbarism--the very bottom of the ladder. + +[Illustration: 116] + +Rome had begun by raising altars to all the virtues; now her deities +personified nothing but vices. How could they expect to introduce +them and make them acceptable to these coarse Germans, among whom +prostitution, adultery, and theft were hardly known by name, who allowed +a woman {097}to claim hospitality at the house of any _Karl_, to rest +under his roof, and even to share his couch, without fearing slander, if +he had but put a naked sword between her and himself, and who had +never known and could not know the use of locks and keys? Were they not +accustomed to hang their most valuable possessions upon the branches +of a consecrated tree in the open camp, or to place them on top of a +druidical stone or beneath it, as they chose--knowing that there they +were perfectly safe? When they had taken this simple precaution, they +could go to bed and sleep quietly, and there was no need for putting a +sentinel on guard. + +Already, in the days of Caesar, the Romans had employed a very ingenious +and cunning device, in order to win over the simple Gauls. They +had pretended to find their gods, their own peculiar gods, already +established in the country from olden times. Thus there existed in Gaul +a statue which the Etrusci had erected in honor of _Ogmius_, or rather +_Ogma_. The Greek Lucian mentions it in these words:-- + +"It is a decrepit old man; his skin is black; this form of a man, +however, wears the attributes of Hercules, the lion's skin and the club. + +"I thought at first," Lucian adds, "that the Celts had invented this odd +figure in order to laugh at {098}the gods of Greece; but this so-called +Hercules, who is of very great antiquity, drags after him a multitude of +men, whom he leads by golden chains which he holds in his mouth, while +they are fastened to the ears of his victims." + +[Illustration: 118] + +This _Ogmius_ was evidently a typical representation of Druidism itself; +_Ogma_, in Celtic languages, means both science and eloquence. What +has Hercules to do with all this? Nevertheless the Romans insisted upon +calling him by that name. + +Nor did they stop here. {099}When they found all the nations they had +conquered were continually speaking of a certain _Teutates_, +they at once declared that they recognized in this popular person their +own god Mercury. It was he and no other! It was Mercury, the son of +Jupiter and the nymph Ma'ia. There was a striking resemblance, an +unmistakable analogy! No one could misapprehend the thing for an +instant! + +[Illustration: 119] + +Oh, my good Romans, I don't mean to blame you now for all the trouble +you gave me when I was at college! I will forget all that--But what +could make you conceive this stupid idea, of naturalizing among us your +Mercury, the god of eloquence, if {100}you choose, but above all the +ever ready pimp of Jupiter, the god of trade and of thieves, and of +naturalizing him in a land where trade, love, and thieves are so little +known! In subservience to this Roman notion, some of our modern writers +have been clever enough to prove that there were really many points of +resemblance between Mercury and Teutates--but I, I openly deny it! Once +more, philology shall come to my assistance, to overturn their doctrine. +It was only this morning, while shaving, that I made a philologie +discovery of the very highest importance, in which the public will take +the most lively interest, and, I doubt not, the French Acadamy also. + +The word _Teut_, as the reader no doubt knows perfectly well, means +_God; Tat_ in ancient Celtic and in modern Breton may be accurately +rendered as _father_--so an old Breton woman assures me, who brought me +up when I was a child. Add to _Tat_ the termination _Es_, the diminutive +form of _Esus_, the _Lord_, connect the three monosyllables, and you +have _Teut-Tat-Es_, God, Father, and Lord! + +Where--I appeal to all the famous historians so graphically described +by Rabelais--where do you find a trace of Mercury in Teutates now? He is +beyond all doubt the great divinity of the Celts, but you found it more +convenient to follow the interested views of the Roman writers. And yet +{101}even if they were innocent of any design upon your credulity, might +they not have been mistaken themselves? Are you not aware that Plutarch, +conscientious Plutarch himself, after having witnessed the Feast of +Tabernacles in Palestine, tells us gravely that the Jews worshipped +Bacchus? You were not aware of it, come, confess it frankly! For I will +confess to you, that I was not aware of it, myself, ten minutes ago; +but Dr. Rosahl has just told me so. The good doctor is delighted at +my discovery of the true meaning of _Teut-Tat-Es_; he thinks no +etymological question of such importance 'was ever more satisfactorily +put and answered in the same breath. He advises me strongly to write a +memoir on the subject, which he will undertake to bring to the notice of +learned societies, and only suggests the expediency of leaving out any +allusion to my old Breton nurse; but I am too conscientious a writer +ever to omit quoting my authorities. + +Now, since I have mentioned Rabelais, let us "return to our lambs," that +is, to our Teutons. + +After the Roman conquest, the same transformation of native deities +into classic gods continued in Germany. The sacred oak was changed into +Jupiter, whom it represented symbolically; the Druidical altars became +either Apollo or Diana; sometimes they were made to represent deities +of inferior rank, nymphs, anything in fact. But these numerous +{102}metamorphoses, made rather hastily, led to a curious mistake. + +The conquerors had met on the banks of the Weser a huge monolith, +cut with an axe by simple and ignorant stone-carvers. It was called +_Irmensul_. Like the Celtic Teutates, this Irmensul also attracted +at certain fixed times an immense concourse of people. The Romans, +appreciating the martial spirit of the natives, did not hesitate to +declare that this was Mars, their god of war. Thereupon they paid it +all possible honor, consecrating their weapons to the new deity, and +offering countless propitiatory sacrifices. + +Now, who was this Irmensul? + +When Varus had invaded Germany, during the reign of Augustus, at +the head of three legions, Arminius, a chieftain of the Cheruski (a +Brunswicker, we would say nowadays), had surprised him, and completely +surrounded his army in the marshes of Teutoburg, on the banks of the +Weser. Every man of this army, whether a Roman or a warrior of the +allied tribes wearing Roman livery, had perished by the sword. For eight +days the bloody waters of the Weser had carried down more than thirty +thousand dead bodies. + +When the news of this disaster reached Augustus, he thought that Gaul +was lost, Italy in danger, and Rome herself imperilled. Mad with grief, +he would {103}rise, for a month afterwards, night after night, and in +his terror wander through his vast palace, crying out: "O Varus, Varus, +bring me back my legions!" + +[Illustration: 123] + +Well, the Irmensul was nothing more than a triumphal column erected +in honor of Arminius and his Cheruski. _Irmen_ is the same as the +name _Herman or Armin_ (Arminius), and _sul_ means column. The Romans, +however, did not know this, and they paid dearly for their ignorance. +If they had known better they would not have committed the egregious +blunder of kneeling down and worshipping the man who had destroyed the +three legions of Varus. It is very evident that they were as ignorant of +German as of Celtic. {104}It ought not to surprise us, however, to +see the soldiers of the imperial people change stones into gods, as +Deucalion had changed them into men. Before the days of Homer, and for +a long time after him, Jupiter was in Seleucia modestly represented by +a fragment of rock and Cybele by a black stone. In Cyprus, the Venus of +Paphos was nothing but a triangular or quadrangular pyramid, nor can I +imagine what importance could be attached to three or four angles in +a body, which was soon to assume the softest and most fascinating +outlines. First the poets had come and sung of Cybele, the kind goddess, +of Jupiter the omnipotent, and of Venus, the soul of the world and the +queen of beauty. Inspired by their voice and the bold conceptions of +their fancy, the sculptors had next employed the chisel upon these +stones and these pyramids, and there had sprung forth from these +shapeless masses the Lord of Gods, armed with his lightning, the +beautiful Cytherea, armed with the most powerful weapons of all womanly +graces. Oh, poets and sculptors, you have upset everything in religion! +You are responsible for the loss of that austere simplicity which once +characterized the faith of men! Miserable cutters of stone, reckless +counters of syllables, you, and you alone, have substituted symbols +for truth! Still, I do not condemn you; although I have stood up +to {105}defend the Druids of the earliest days, I am far from being +insensible to the charms of art and of poetry; besides, what right have +I, who speak of gods and myths, to pass sentence on those who have been +the real creators of Mythology? + +[Illustration: 125] + +While the conquerors of the Teutons, in the pride of their cleverness, +were committing blunder after blunder, and fell into the pits they had +dug for others, the real gods of Rome stayed on the banks of the Rhine, +where they had already been accepted by the Gauls. They were impatient +enough to see Germany also erect them temples and statues, but the Rhine +with uplifted waves barred the passage. + +Perhaps the old river remembered his grievances {106}of former days, +when he had been compelled to appear in the triumphal processions of +Germanicus, as a conquered river, loaded with chains, while the rabble +and riffraff of Rome had insulted him to his face and covered him from +head to foot with the mud of the Tiber. + +The remembrance of his former humiliation seemed to revive his wrath +at this day, and he unfolded his whole strength to take his revenge. In +vain had the Olympians tried repeatedly to cross at different points; +everywhere, from the Alps to the Northern Sea, they found him +furious, roaring and rushing, full of threats in his green waters and +besprinkling the banks with white foam. + +[Illustration: 126] + +At last they bribed him to espouse the cause of the Empire: they made +him a king, the king of German rivers. A king more or less mattered very +little to a people who made and unmade kings at will. + +The Rhine was evidently flattered by the distinction; and he laid aside +his long cherished wrath. + +He had already allowed Jupiter to cross, taking {107}him perhaps for +Esus; he now carefully examined the passports and certificates of good +conduct of several other gods, and left the way open for Apollo and +Minerva, Diana and some deities of fair repute; but when he saw Bacchus, +his anger was rekindled. What? Were not the Germans mad and quarrelsome +enough, when they had only taken too much beer? How could he consent to +allow their passions to be aroused by potent wine? He was king, and as +such bound to keep this scourge from his people. + +[Illustration: 127] + +The gods whom he had allowed to cross endeavored to plead for the son of +Semele,--but he remained inexorable. His severity relaxed, however, when +the vines planted by order of the Emperor {108}Probus in parts of the +Rheingau, began to adorn the banks of the river with their verdure--he +was overcome, when he had once tasted the juice of the grape. He +consented to let Bacchus pass from bank to bank, but only at the time of +the vintage. + +[Illustration: 0128] + +Once admitted, Bacchus soon brought into the land the whole crowd of +gods and goddesses, who made up his following and who enjoyed no great +reputation in Rome and in Greece. The Rhine {109}became angry once more, +but once more caresses and unexpected honors had their hoped-for effect. +He was already a king; he now became a god. + +[Illustration: 129] + +Henceforth Father Rhine conceived a strong affection for his former +adversaries. When he saw that the German bank had adopted the customs +and the religion of the conquerors as fully as the Celtic bank, he +abandoned completely his restrictive policy and did his best to help +everybody across. Thus Jupiter was no sooner installed in Germany, than +he summoned his Corybantes; Bacchus his Bacchantes and his Maenads, +Diana {110}her hunting nymphs, Venus her whole court of lascivious +priestesses; the Dryads and the Hamadryads, the Naiads and the Tritons, +the Fauns and the S il vans, all came one by one. It was a perfect +invasion. + +[Illustration: 130] + +Germany, grave and solemn as she was, felt not a little troubled by this +wholesale irruption of frivolous {111}and ill-mannered deities, who so +little agreed with her austere habits. The young, it is true, were more +easily Romanized and readily caught at this poetical personification of +all the forces of Nature; but the old, the chieftains, and above all the +Druids, backed by a nearly unanimous people, asked each other what could +be the meaning of this sudden enthusiasm for new gods, this half mad +devotion to celestial clowns? + +No one, however, dared to raise a hand; the Teutons had lost their +former energy, they were enfeebled, unnerved and exhausted by their long +but useless resistance. Hence, like true cowards, they appeared in the +pagan temples, in order to conciliate the good-will of the conquerors, +and then, to pacify their consciences, they hastened to some dark forest +and there with anxious eyes and disturbed minds, they offered in fear +and trembling their fervent worship to the sacred oak. + +The Roman gods were soon to encounter far more formidable adversaries +elsewhere. + +Far beyond Germany, as we find it described and limited by geographers, +there lived a host of nations, scattered over a vast territory, and +extending as far East as the shores of the Caspian Sea. The Romans +had never penetrated far into these unknown depths, which sent forth +incessantly new armies of soldiers whom they classed indiscriminately +{112}under the vague and collective name of Hyperboreans. Such were +the Huns, the Scythians, the Goths, the Slaves (Poles, Danes, Swedes, +Russians, and Norwegians), all of them robbers and pirates. Some, under +the name of Cimbrians, had joined the Teutons t and with them invaded +Gaul and even Italy, till they encountered the armies of Marius; others, +were about to cross the Pyrenees and to fall upon Spain. Among them all, +the Scandinavians were by far the most powerful, intrepid soldiers and +fearless sailors, who were soon to darken the waters of the Rhine +with their countless vessels, and to make Charlemagne shed tears as he +thought of the days to come. + +Ere long these dauntless pirates will actually enter the Loire, then +even the Seine; they will besiege Paris, and finally, thanks to the +able statesmanship of King Charles, whom they call the Simple, they will +become. Christians, after a fashion, and under the name of Normans take +possession of one of the fairest provinces of France. Then they will +cultivate the soil which they had heretofore robbed of its produce, they +will drink beer instead of cider, they will peacefully devote themselves +to lawsuits and cattle-raising, and will end by wearing white cotton +night-caps--after having destroyed Rome and conquered England twice. + +The Scandinavians, of Celtic origin like the {113}Gauls and the Germans, +led at first both nomadic and sedentary lives and were rather barbarous +than unpolished; but they built cities and erected temples, in which +they worshipped Odin the One-Eyed. + +[Illustration: 133] + +If the harvest failed, or whenever the first warmth of spring aroused +in them their innate fondness of vagabondage and war, they took to their +boats or mounted their horses, and the stupefied nations {114}of Europe +watched the horizon and listened along the river courses, to distinguish +whether this great Northern tempest, this storm of iron and fire, of +blood and of tears, was rushing down upon them by land or by sea. + +After having crossed Germany in all directions, some of these bands, +or rather some remnants of such bands, settled from inclination or from +necessity, in certain portions of the country, especially on the islands +in the Main, the Weser, and the Neckar. Their priests soon made numerous +converts among the neighbors to the faith of Odin. The Germans paid +little heed to the difference between Odin and Teut. The two names +designated, for them, one and the same god, the one god of the Celts. + +The increasing influence of these Druids of the third epoch led, +however, naturally to some opposition. The German priests accused them +of being too profuse in the shedding of blood, and of having given their +god Odin a companion in a certain god Thor, fond of overcoming giants, +and of having thus destroyed the true nature of the original creed, +which knew but one God. + +A schism was about to divide the Druidical church, when the arrival of +the Roman deities brought the two opposite parties once more together. +Each yielded somewhat; {115}they came to an understanding and finally +joined hands in a conspiracy. + +[Illustration: 135] + +{117}The Scandinavian Druids, forsaking the prudent reserve which they +had so far scrupulously observed, declared that, in order to triumph +over the Roman Olympians, Odin had not only the assistance of his +all-powerful son Thor, but could, if he chose, summon an escort of gods +at least as imposing in numbers as that of Jupiter himself. + +The German Druids veiled their faces, but the people and the whole party +which was opposed to Jupiter the wicked, and to Venus the shameless, +joyfully accepted the proposition. However cruel the Scandinavian ritual +appeared with its increased number of victims who had to be offered to +the new gods, it seemed to them better still to worship Terror than to +worship disgraceful Voluptuousness. They acknowledged Odin and his son +Thor, and impatiently waited for the arrival of the others. + +The German Druids gave way, hoping perhaps that the two hosts of deities +would erelong fall out among themselves and soon destroy each other. + +Father Rhine, in his equal affection for all his brother gods, was +far too good-natured to take this admission of new deities amiss, and +promptly went northward, to the most hyperborean regions of snow and +ice, in search of the newly chosen gods. + +The two parties soon met face to face. {118}It is our solemn duty to +explain fully the whole curious system of Scandinavian gods. We shall +see that here, as in all that we shall have to add, legends, myths, and +traditions abound in such numbers that they can be had for the asking. + +[Illustration: 141] + + + + +V. + +{121}_The World before and since Odin.--Birth of Ymer.--The Giants of +the Frost.--A Log split in Two.--The First Man and the First Woman--The +Tree Ygdrasil and its Menagerie.--Thor's Three Jewels. Freyr's Enchanted +Swoj'd.--A Souvenir of the National Guard of Bellville.--The Story of +Kvasir and the Two Dwarfs.--Honey and Blood.--Invocation._ + +The world was not born. + +Thick mists, unbroken by light, unbounded in limit, filled space. + +After a long period of darkness, silence, and perfect repose, a faint +light is seen, vague and uncertain, hardly deserving the name; something +is moving unsteadily in this night. The giant Ymer has been born +spontaneously out of the mixture {122}and assimilation of these closely +compressed mists, which sudden and severe frost has condensated. + +At that time men of science had not yet discussed the question of +spontaneous generation; not one academy made mention of the subject. + +Ymer, the sole inhabitant, the Robinson Crusoe of this world of +darkness, became tired of his solitude. Guessing how he had been born +himself, he gathered the mists that surrounded him, piled them one upon +the other, shaped them into a form resembling his own, and once more the +North wind came and solidified the mists. As he was a giant, he +created giants; he also created mountains, no doubt for the purpose of +furnishing seats for these giants, for the highest among them did not +reach up to their belts. This does not mean, that these mountains were +less high than they are nowadays, but the sons of Ymer were of such size +that without bending down a little, they could not have rested their +elbows on the summit of Chimborazo, and what is more marvelous still, +Ymer himself not only was taller than every one of his sons, but taller +than all of his sons together, standing one upon the shoulders of the +other! When he stretched himself out full length, the Alps might have +served him as a pillow, while his feet would have rested on {123}Mount +Caucasus. + +[Illustration: 143] + +{125}In order to produce such giants and such mountains, he had, of +course, to consume large quantities of the material furnished by the +chaos of mists; the remainder of this gaseous substance, trembling in +vacant space and losing its balance, fell back into the depths of the +valleys, and formed the ocean. + +Some few animals began soon to stir in the waters, and on the shores +of that vast sea; sphinxes and dragons, hydras and griffins, kraken +and leviathans, all creatures of a low order, but in their proportions +adapted to this colossal world, this world of the infinitely great, and +no doubt related in some manner to the antediluvian families of mammoths +and pterodactyls, of ichthyosauri and plesiosauri. + +A god of the first race, a creator without being created, Ymer naturally +did not possess that skill and that cleverness which can only be +acquired by long experience. However strange, therefore, it may appear, +however inexplicable, the fact is, that this world, fresh with new +life and freed from the original mists, was nevertheless covered with +darkness. The only light which existed was an occasional phosphorescence +of the sea or a few flashes of electric light, such as an aurora +borealis sends forth; and this faint glimmer alone illumined the pathway +of those vast creatures, those monstrous {126}reptiles, who, dazzled for +an instant, plunged back into the lowest depths of the waters, casting +up huge waves and tall columns of spray. + +It must have been a peculiarly curious sight, certainly, to see those +Giants of the Frost, as they were called, wandering, through the +darkness across the boundless plains and along endless shores, under a +sky without light, looking for each other from one end of the world to +the other. To be sure, they could accomplish the journey in a few long +strides, and if they were peculiarly anxious to see each other, face +to face, they had only to wait for the chance of a momentary flash or a +faint twilight glimmer. + +The sight was no doubt curious, but there was no one to behold it. + +This state of things could not last long. With a new god a new world +also came into existence. This new god was very different from the +first, it was Light itself, condensed at the southern extremity of the +heavens, far from this earth inhabited by giants. + +One fine day--an unlucky day for them, however--these giants noticed +that the sky above their heads was suddenly assuming a faint pinkish +hue, then violet, and finally purple. At this they rejoiced. But +suddenly a ball of fire appeared, and they were terrified. It was Odin, +Odin followed {127}by his celestial family, which consisted at least of +a dozen principal deities! + +[Illustration: 147] + +But no! no! I take it back! I rebel! No one can come in contact +with these ancient myths, without knocking against some principle of +astronomy. Astronomers find only seven principal deities in Scandinavian +mythology, when they are called upon to transform them into planets, and +twelve, when the question is about the signs of the Zodiac. That seems +to me to make mythology a. little too easy. Does it not look as if the +first men had been born with a telescope and a compass in their pocket, +and as if they had erected an observatory long before they thought of +building huts for themselves? + +Fortunately I am not bound to follow their footsteps. + +Certain historians of high authority have found out that Odin lived +upon earth before he came to dwell in heaven. He was an illustrious +conqueror, {128}very expert at killing men, one of those scourges of +God, who fall upon nations in order to break them to pieces. As a matter +of course, these nations deified him after his death. + +[Illustration: 148] + +I see nothing astronomical in all this. + +Hence, I return to my own method, and propose to describe him, as he +appeared to his Druids, his Scalds, and his worshippers. + +[Illustration: 149] + +He arrived from the southern countries, no doubt from the Orient, +bringing with him the sun, as an indispensable auxiliary in the +great task{129} which {131}he had undertaken, to reform this dark and +ice-covered world: "For there was a time," says the Edda, the bible of +the Scandinavians, "when the sun, the moon, and the stars did not know +the place they were to occupy. It was then the gods assembled and agreed +as to the post which was to be assigned to each one of them." + +When the installation of the heavenly bodies had thus been agreed upon, +Odin followed the example of all the Hercules of Egypt and of Greece, +and began his benevolent career by freeing the earth of all the monsters +by which it was infested. Ymer was the first to succumb to his blows, +and after him, the other giants of the frost, "a race of evildoers," +adds the Edda. Evildoers? Whom did they aggrieve, I wonder? The +complainants must have been the kraken, the griffins, and the serpents. + +The world had hardly come into existence and already the right of the +stronger had established the doctrine: _Vae victis!_ + +Of all the giants of the frost a single one escaped. He must have been a +married man, for his descendants became after a while so numerous as +to trouble the Ases, that is to say, Odin and his companions, the other +gods. + +After the giants, came the turn of land and sea monsters, who were +almost as formidable as they themselves. In the general destruction two +monsters {132}only survived: the wolf Fenris, with his fearful jaws, +which enabled him to crush mountains and even to injure the sun, and the +serpent Iormungandur, the great sea serpent of world-wide renown. Both +these monsters were one day to aid the giants of the frost in avenging +themselves on their conqueror. + +[Illustration: 152] + +Odin thought he had now nothing more to fear, and returned to the realms +of light, there to enjoy his glory in peace and to revel in the delights +of Walhalla. + +{133}One morning he came down to see how the world was coming on since +he had reorganized it, and he found to his great joy, that the new +creation was assuming a more pleasing appearance. Grass was growing in +the plains, on the slopes of hills, and even at the bottom of the rivers +and the sea; here and there trees of varied forms and shapes arose +and gave variety to the monotonous horizon; some, crowding together in +groups on the mountain side, seemed to whisper confidentially to each +other, as the breeze was lightly agitating their foliage, while others +stood together in countless hosts, stretching away over hill and dale +as far as eye could reach, but silent and immovable, like an army which +remains motionless, while the chiefs are deliberating. + +[Illustration: 153] + +Behind the green curtain of forests, deer, eland, and aurochs were +bounding in herds, now and then showing their beautiful horns or +their dark bushy brows at the opening of some clearing; goats were +{134}climbing about on the rocks and venturing close to the brink of +precipices; birds were singing in the groves, now swinging playfully on +the supple branches of willows, and now darting suddenly on swift wings +through the air; fish were gliding silently under the surface of the +waters, which reflected their silvery sheen or broke in soft ripples, +while butterflies and insects were sporting and buzzing around beautiful +flowers. + +Odin smiled; the artist was pleased with his work. + +But were animals, impelled by natural instincts only and exclusively +occupied with the desire to satisfy their coarse wants, were such +animals worthy to be the sole owners of such a charming abode? + +It occurred to him to invent a being which, without participating in the +divine essence, might still rise high above all other creatures. This +time the divine artist wanted a spectator, to witness his work, to +appreciate it intelligently, and afterwards to profit by it for some +good purpose. + +He was meditating on it during a walk on the sea-shore, when a piece of +wood, a fragment of a huge branch of a tree which the wind had broken +off, attracted his attention. It had evidently fallen into a river, +which had carried it out into the high sea, and there it had been beaten +and bruised by {135}ebb and tide. He drew this poor shapeless stick of +wood towards him, split it in two and made out of it a man and a woman. + +"Do you hear? Do you understand?" Asks the Edda, at this point. + +Now, what is this intended to convey to us? That man, exposed to the +caprices of the elements, is nothing but a poor plaything in the hands +of Fate? Very well, let us admit this explanation. But can the sacred +book of the Scandinavians really presume to teach us that the origin of +mankind must be looked for in two sticks of wood? We cannot but think +that that would be a sorry jest, alike unworthy of the general solemnity +of the Edda and of the mysterious majesty of ancient cosmogonies. + +Besides, we ought not to forget that all the Northern nations attributed +a divine character to trees; if in Germany the oak was held sacred, the +hyperboreans held the ash tree in great respect, and the question is +only whether our first father was made of the wood of an ash tree, an +oak, or a willow. + +This leads us naturally to the consideration of the ash _Ygdrasil_ and +its curious population of gods, birds, and quadrupeds. + +The branches of this marvelous tree spread over the whole surface of the +earth; its top supported {136}the Walhalla and rose is to the uppermost +heavens, while its roots penetrated to the very bottom of hell. Under +its shadow dwell Odin and his Ases, when the government of the world +requires his presence, or some important question has to be decided. + +[Illustration: 156] + +Two swift winged ravens are incessantly flying to and fro in the +Universe, to see what is going on; then they come and perch, one on his +left and one on his right shoulder, and whisper into his ear the news +of the day. A squirrel, as swift in its movements as the two ravens, +is perpetually running up and down the tree. If you doubt my word, hear +what the poet says:-- + + .... The fearful Odin Was seated beneath the ancient ash, + The sacred tree whose immortal brow + Rises and touches the vault of heaven. + {137}On the top an eagle with eager eyes, + With piercing eyes, with ever open eyes, + Takes in the whole Universe in a single glance. + Odin receives his swift messages. + Incessantly a tiny squirrel + Comes and goes; the god's voice cheers it onward. + All at once it dashes from the trunk to the top + And in an instant it returns again + From the top to the trunk. Odin, when it comes, + Turns an attentive ear to the squirrel..... + +But the poet does not tell the whole story. + +[Illustration: 157] + +To act as a check upon the reports of the eagle, the ravens, and the +squirrel, a vulture is perching {138}upon the loftiest top of the sacred +tree, who looks over all the horizons of the earth and the universe, +watching for the slightest stir and giving notice of any important event +by his cries or the flapping of his wings. + +Still other animals, however, inhabit the great ash tree Ygdrasil. Some +of these play a sinister part in the great menagerie; they are hideous +reptiles, half concealed in the slimy marshes into which one of the +roots of the tree finds its way, and ever striving to pour their +venom into the mire; beneath another root a dragon is crouching, who +constantly gnaws at it, and four starving deer, rushing through its +branches, forever devour its foliage. + +"Do you hear? Do you understand?" asks the Edda once more. + +For the present we do not presume to interpret these descriptions, +and before we attempt to penetrate into these dark mysteries, we will +mention the principal chiefs among the Ases. + +The mystic marriage of Odin and Frigg resulted in the god Thor, who +is held in equal veneration with his father. As his duty is to carry +thunder and lightning, it is he who shakes the earth whenever he drives +through the clouds in his car drawn by two goats and producing a noise +represented by the words: "_Pumerle pump! Ptimerle pump! Pliz! Pluz! +Schmi! Schmur! Tarantara! Tarantara!_". {139}This onomatopoetic +translation of the flashing of lightning and the rolling of thunder, +is not my own; it comes directly from Dr. Martin Luther, the great +Reformer. + +Thor is also engaged in pursuing and destroying the giants of the +mountains, degenerate children of the giants of the frost, in size at +least. At a later period we shall meet with giants of still smaller +dimensions. Alas! that here below everything that is great and strong +has a tendency to decrease steadily! + +[Illustration: 159] + +For this war against the giants Odin has bestowed upon his son three +precious objects, which in the inventory of the Ases appear under the +name of _Thor's Three Jewels._ The first is his weighty hammer. + +_Mjoiner_ (some people call it his club), which goes forth by itself to +meet giants and crushes their heads. One of the commentators upon the +Edda professes to see in the giants of the mountains nothing but the +mountains themselves, and in the hammer Mjoiner, nothing but lightning, +which generally strikes their summit. We must evidently {140}put as +little faith in commentators as in astronomers. + +The second of Thor's jewels was a pair of iron gloves. As soon as he +puts them on, his spear no sooner reaches the point at which it is +aimed, than it returns to his hand, precisely as the falcon comes back +to the keeper's gauntlet, after having destroyed its victim. + +The third jewel of Thor is his war belt; when he puts it on, his +strength is twice as great as before; in fact, he becomes irresistible +and would overthrow the great Odin himself. But Odin has nothing to fear +on his part, for in spite of his brutal and passionate temper, Thor is +always an obedient and submissive son. + +Asa-Thor, that is to say, the Lord Thor, was most highly respected +among men as the redhaired master of thunder and lightning, and as +the destroyer of giants; and he was also greatly feared as an active, +blustering god, of a troublesome, turbulent temper and of somewhat +eccentric manners. + +Another weapon, at least as marvelous as Asa-Thor's famous hammer, was +the sword of the god Freyr. This sword was endowed with an intelligence +very rarely to be met with among swords, and punctually obeyed the +orders of its master. Even in his absence, it went promptly and +faithfully {141}to carry out his orders, striking here and there at a +given point, or making terrible havoc in the midst of a battle, without +a hand at the hilt to direct its mortal blows. + +[Illustration: 161] + +The good Freyr, as pacific a god as ever lived, was quite indifferent +to battles and fights; hence he gave his orders quietly to his faithful +sword, while he remained comfortably seated at Odin's table, enjoying +his strong beer and the rarest wines. + +I cannot help wishing that they might have known the art of +manufacturing guns after this system, at the time when I was a +lieutenant in the Belleville National Guard. It would have been so +pleasant to see a rifle move gravely to and fro, quite alone, in front +of the City Hall and the Guard House; or to meet a patrol of four +{142}guns, accompanied by a corporal, but a flesh and blood corporal to +cry out: Who is there? + +[Illustration: 162] + +In the meantime the happy owners of these improved weapons might have +been sitting, not at Odin's table, but at the nearest coffee house or +restaurant, {143}drinking beer or wine just like the Scandinavian gods. + +Unfortunately our manufacturers of arms have not yet reached that degree +of skill, which our forefathers seem to have possessed, and thus I have +never yet been able to enjoy such a sight. + +The happy owner of this magic weapon, Freyr, presided over the general +administration of the clouds; it was he who made fine weather or rain, +a very troublesome office, which must have exposed him to countless +petitions and most contradictory prayers. + +His sister Freya, afterwards called Frigg, was Odin's wife and the +most honored goddess on earth as well as in heaven. She inspired and +protected lovers, and very different from her sister in Greece, this +Northern Venus enjoyed an unsullied reputation. + +They say that once, when her husband had gone away on a long journey, +she was so deeply grieved at his absence, that her tears ran day and +night incessantly; these tears, however, differed from those of mortal +beings; "they were all drops of gold which fell into her bosom,"--and +hence the Northern people call the precious metal to this day _Freyas +tears_. + +One only among all the dwellers in Walhalla had been able to give her +some comfort by singing {144}his sweetest songs; this was the god Bragi, +the god of poetry and beautiful words. + +A tradition which deserves to be mentioned here, accounts for the manner +in which he obtained this precious gift of eloquence and the art of +poetry. + +In the early days of the world, when the creating god had concentrated, +so to say, all the active powers of humanity in a few individuals, +and when a long life permitted these favored beings to carry on their +studies till they reached a happy end, there lived on earth a wise man +who possessed an art unknown, not among men only, but among the gods +themselves. This was the art of perpetuating thoughts by word-painting, +of reproducing them in outward forms, not to the eye by colors, but +to the ear by sounds. This sage was called Kvasir. He had invented the +_Runes_, the art of poetry, and the no less precious art of reproducing +words and fixing them in writing. He cut his runes on beech tablets; if +he had gone a step farther, he would have invented printing long before +Guttenberg. + +Kvasir was then the sole owner of the art of Poetry. + +Two wicked dwarfs prowling about in search of treasures, took it into +their heads, that the treasure of Poetry was better than any other, and +forthwith determined to obtain possession of it. They killed Kvasir, +into whose dwelling they had crept by {145}stealth, and as they were +masters in magic, like all the dwarfs of those days, they carefully +collected his blood, and mixing it, in different proportions, with +honey, put it into three vessels, which they closed hermetically. These +three vessels contained respectively Logic, Eloquence, and Poetry. To +keep them safe till the day on which they should be used, they buried +them in the depths of a cave which was inaccessible to men and unknown +to the gods themselves. But one of those travelling agents, who under +the form of ravens, were continually wandering over the world in Odin's +employ, had been a silent witness of the transactions, the murder, the +mixing, and the hiding of the three vessels. He returned instantly to +the ash Ygdrasil and reported it all to his master. The god gave his +orders, which the squirrel, no doubt, at once carried to the eagle, and +the latter, who was continually on the watch on the top of the sacred +tree, left his post for a few moments in charge of the vulture, and flew +with rapid wings to the cave, from whence he returned laden with the +three precious vessels. It is to be supposed that he carried one in his +beak, and the two others, one in each of his claws. + +He placed the mysterious vessels at Odin's feet and at once returned to +relieve the vulture and to resume his watch. + +Odin opened first the vessel which contained {146}Poetry and tasted the +contents. From that moment he never spoke otherwise than in verse. +He also tasted Logic, and henceforth he spoke and reasoned with such +extreme accuracy, that he found no one to agree with him any longer; he +tasted Eloquence, and as soon as he opened his lips, he might have been +mistaken for one of our own most eminent lawyers. Gold chains seemed to +come out from his lips, as was the case with Ogmius, with which he bound +the ears and hearts of all his hearers. + +Whilst he was thus enjoying himself, Bragi his son, and Saga his +daughter, who were sitting by him, felt their mouths water and looked +imploringly at him. + +Setting aside the terror with which the Druids have surrounded Odin, he +seems to have been occasionally good-natured, and certainly always acted +like a kind father. He offered the vessel with Poetry first to Saga, +courteously giving her the preference on account of her sex. She barely +touched it with her lips. When Bragi's turn came, he eagerly swallowed +as much as he could, and without taking time to gather breath, he began +a grand triumphal chant in honor of the feasts, the loves, the wars, and +the greatness of the gods, the stars of the firmament, paradise, hell, +and the ash Ygdrasil. {147} + +[Illustration: 167] + +{149}In well chosen cadences he imitated the clanking of cups, the +cooing of doves and of lovers, the tumult of battles, the harmonies of +the celestial spheres, and all this with such energy, such fire and +such grace by turns, that Odin was enchanted, and having become a master +himself about five minutes ago, on the spot changed his name of the +Long-bearded God, which he had borne so far, to that of the God of +Poetry. Moreover, he entrusted to his keeping the threefold treasure +which had been taken from Kvasir's murderers. + +This was that god Bragi who alone succeeded in comforting the beautiful +and inconsolable Freya in her great grief. + +Through him the Druids were instructed in the art of verse; to him is +due that terrible Scandinavian poetry, which contains, according to +Ozanam, quite as much blood as honey. + +As to Saga, she became the goddess of Tradition. "The heart of history +is in tradition," says a master, a sage, and a poet. + +Good goddess Saga, your lips, I know, never touched the vessel +containing Eloquence, nor that which held Logic, far from it! And still +I count upon you to support me in carrying out my work, which I have +perhaps imprudently begun; for I begin to be overwhelmed with materials, +the subject is a very grave one, and, in spite of the good advice of my +learned doctor and the assistance of my two charming lady-companions, +time and strength threaten not to suffice. Therefore I beseech you as +well as my readers, to grant me a short repose, before I proceed any +farther on my journey through Odin's fantastic world. + +[Illustration: 170] + +[Illustration: 173] + + + + +VI. + +{153}Short Biographies.--_A Clairvoyant among the Gods.--A Bright +God.--Tyr and the Wolf Fenris.--The Hospital at the Walhalla.--Why was +Odin one-eyed?--The Three Norns.--Mimer the Sage.--A Goddess the Mother +of Four Oxen.--The Love Affairs of Heimdall, the God with the Golden +Teeth._ + +We have no intention of giving here a complete list of the numerous +deities of the North. We will only mention Hermode, Odin's messenger and +man of business; Forseti, the peacemaker; Widar, the god of silence, +a dumb person who only walks on air, as if he were afraid to hear +the noise of his own footsteps; Vali, the skilfull archer; Uller, the +excellent skater, who taught the giant Tialff his art, in spite of what +the poet Klopstock says to the contrary; Hoder, a mysterious deity, +whose name must never be uttered by any one in heaven or on earth. Why +not? Odin alone knows the reason. + +Let us also mention Heimdall, with the golden teeth. A son of Odin, he +had nine mothers--eight more than had ever been known before him. He +is the guardian of Walhalla, and his duty is to watch lest the giants +should one fine day attempt to storm the heavenly abode by means of the +Bifrost bridge, that is, the rainbow. But the gods can sleep in peace; +neither the eagle nor the ravens on the ash Ygdrasil can surpass +Heimdall in vigilance. The senses of sight and hearing are in him +developed to a perfectly marvelous degree; he can hear the grass grow in +the meadows and the wool grow on the back of the sheep. From one end of +the world he sees a fly pass through the air at the other end, and, more +than that, he sees distinctly the different joints in its feet and the +black or brown spots with which its wings are {155}dotted. In the midst +of the darkest night and at the bottom of the sea where it is deepest, +he sees an atom moving and watches the marriage of monads. There is +nothing in the whole universe hid from him. + +But why should this god Heimdall have golden teeth, after a fashion of +some of the natives of Sunda? Odin alone knows the reason. + +Among all these gods Balder is the most richly endowed, the best, the +handsomest and the most virtuous--Balder, the Bright God, by eminence. +Although the son of Odin and Frigg, he might be taken for a son of +Freya, on account of his strong resemblance to Love itself, not to the +turbulent, passionate, and capricious Love of the Greeks, but to Love +in the widest and noblest sense of the word,--Love, in fine, in its +Christian meaning. Balder represents that universal goodness, loyalty, +affection, and harmony, which binds all beings to each other; Bragi, the +poet is his brother; Forseti, the peacemaker, is his son. But we shall +but too soon have to return to him on a most melancholy occasion. + +In spite of our desire to close this already too numerous list, we +cannot well pass over in silence that poor Tyr, the very type of +intrepidity and loyalty, who fell a victim to his own prowess and to his +imprudent confidence in the other gods. {156}The latter, having one day +met the wolf Fenris, invited him to enjoy a good meal with them. The +wolf, always voraciously hungry, listened to the proposal. Then the +Ases, pretending to fear that he might play them an ugly trick on the +way home, insisted upon leading him by a chain around his neck, pledging +their word as gods, however, that they would set him free upon going to +table. + +[Illustration: 176] + +Fenris, suspicious as all wolves, in fact, as all wicked creatures are, +consented to be bound, but made it a condition that as a proof of the +good faith of the Ases, one of them should put his hand into his mouth. +Tyr agreed to do so without hesitation, not expecting that personages of +such lofty position could possibly be faithless. The gods, {157}however, +did behave faithlessly and kept Fenris a prisoner, whereupon the wolf +claimed the fulfillment of the pledge, and when Tyr put his hand into +his mouth, coolly bit it off up to the wrist. Hence that particular +joint has ever since been called _the wolf's joint_, in memory of this +inartistic amputation. + +Thus the gods had a one-handed brother among them, after having long +been presided over by a one-eyed god. But Tyr and Odin were by no means +the only gods who labored under such an infirmity. Heimdall with the +golden teeth must evidently have had a set of false teeth; Widar, the +god of silence, was dumb, and Hoder, that mysterious being whose name +must not be pronounced by any one, was blind. There was also a certain +god, called Herblinde, who was not only blind but--actually dead! We +poor mortals generally imagine that death includes blindness as a matter +of course, but it was not so, apparently, among these mystic personages. +Herblinde, for instance, was quite blind, although he was quite dead +also, and yet he attended the meetings of the gods and even had a vote +in their counsels. Do you understand that? I do not, I am sure. + +And this grand council, this hospital of the Walhalla, which counted +among its members a onehanded and a dumb god, a toothless and two blind +{158}gods, was, as I said, presided over by one-eyed Odin! This fact +recalls forcibly the old proverb: Among the blind the one-eyed is king. + +But why had Odin but one eye? + +Fortunately I am able, for once, to give an answer to this question. + +Astronomers have naturally found a reply to this Why? in their +imperturbable system of sidereal interpretations. Odin was the sun-god; +the sun was the eye of Nature, Nature had but one eye--consequently +Odin was bound to be born one-eyed!.... Now you see why your daughter is +deaf-mute. + +The Edda, however, gives a different account of the matter, and I feel +bound to adopt this explanation, as it is founded upon a knowledge of +the most secret mysteries. + +Odin had two eyes when he was born, and the sun was nothing more than +his travelling companion, when he came from the far East, to revive and +warm the earth which had so long been in the hands of' the giants of the +frost. + +Several centuries after he had created man, he was one day walking up +and down in the lower parts of his great ash tree Ygdrasil, and thinking +of the greatly increased responsibility which rested upon him since he +had added the government of the earth to that of heaven, and since the +earth {159}had begun to be peopled with a multitude of races. He was +asking himself whether the knowledge of all things had been revealed +to him fully enough to enable him satisfactorily to fill, his two great +offices. He had quaffed ample draughts by turns from the three vessels +of Kvasir, but Eloquence, Poetry, and even Logic do not supply Wisdom. + +[Illustration: 179] + +As he passed by a large tank fed by a purling brook, he saw three +beautiful swans swimming merrily about in it, who after having examined +him with half thoughtful, half mocking attention, twisted their long +flexible necks in strange contortions and then seemed to converse with +each other by significative glances. + +He spoke to them and asked them if they possessed the secret of Wisdom. + +The swans suddenly plunged beneath the surface, {160}and in their place +there appeared three beautiful women, representing three different +stages of life. + +They were the Norns. + +[Illustration: 180] + +The first, called Urda, knew the Past; the second, called Verandi, saw +the Present unfold itself before her eyes, hour by hour and minute by +minute, and when to-day had become yesterday, her older sister gathered +up the departed day and entered it on her record. Finally Skulda, the +third, the Norn of the Future, enjoyed the privilege of beholding with +her far-seeing eyes the germs of all future events and of being able to +foretell with unerring accuracy the date and the consequences of their +occurrence. + +Let us pause here a moment to notice a remark communicated to me by the +amiable and learned {161}Dr. Rosalh, which may not be without interest +to some of my readers. + +It will be remembered that the Romans had at first pretended to +recognize in these three Norns their own three Fates, probably because +they were three and because they were women; at least I can see no other +reason. Urda, Verandi, and Skulda were as beautiful and as graceful +as the three Parcae--Alecto, Lachesis, and Atropos--were ugly. Besides, +their duties were entirely different. The Norns knew the fate of men, +but they were utterly unable to lengthen human life. Such at least is +the opinion of the great Holinshed in his Chronicles. Warburton sees +in them nothing more than Valkyrias, but, what is far more astonishing, +Shakespeare chose these three beautiful prophetic virgins, to furnish +the three hideous, unclean, and toothless witches, the weird sisters, +who called out to Macbeth, "All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king +hereafter!" + +Shakespeare had evidently taken the curse denounced by the Church +against the ancient deities in its literal meaning. + +Odin had a better opinion of the three sisters; he conversed for some +time with them, and afterwards came frequently back to visit them. It +was thus and by their aid that he gained experience. + +But even Experience, added to the precious gifts {162}of Eloquence, +Poetry, and Logic, is not able to supply Wisdom. + +[Illustration: 182] + +He took counsel with the Norns, and in his anxiety to possess this most +precious of all gifts, he expressed his willingness to exchange for it, +if needs be, his treasures of poetry and of eloquence, his magic armor +which made him safe against all danger, his horse Sleipner, which had +eight legs and crossed the air with the rapidity of lightning, his eagle +and his vulture, his squirrel and his two {163}ravens. Then he went to +Mimer, the wisest man in existence, the successor of old Kvasir, and +attended his lectures like the most humble and zealous of students. When +he had mastered the subject, and felt that he had acquired Wisdom at +last, he paid the philosopher liberally by giving him one of his own +eyes, in order thus to show him the high value he set upon the service +which had been rendered to him by Mimer. + +This was the reason why Odin was one-eyed. The truth is far too +honorable to the god to be hid under idle astronomical pretexts. + +Now, what use did he make of his wisdom? + +He began by regulating the government of heaven. The Ases had until now +lived very much as they chose; he now gave to each of them a duty to +perform: to Niord the management of rivers and of fishing; to Egir, the +seas and navigation; and so to others, requiring regularity and accuracy +of all, but sternly prohibiting the display of extreme zeal, just as +Talleyrand used to do with his diplomatic apprentices. + +Then he turned to the earth. + +Here men had multiplied incessantly, and with their numbers their wants +had increased, and alas! with these, their vices also! In order to +satisfy the wants and to repress the vices, they had established among +them that great, primitive law which {164}constitutes the whole code of +laws among barbarians--the right of the stronger. + +[Illustration: 184] + +"TO EGIR, THE SEAS AND NAVIGATION." + +The most fertile pastures, the rocks and grottoes best fitted for +dwellings and safe retreats, the forests that were richest in game and +the springs that were most frequented by the flocks, all were taken by +force and possession maintained by the strength of the sword. + +Wise Odin felt that violence gave no right and that theft could not +give a title to possession. He {165}determined to establish the right of +property, and to give it, for greater efficiency, a religious character +which would make it sacred in the eyes of nations. + +One of his daughters, Gefione, was sent by him to one of the most +powerful chiefs of Scandinavia. She presented herself before his tent, +with presents in her hands. In return she asked only for a span of land. +The chief gave her a vast but uncultivated territory. + +[Illustration: 185] + +Next she went, with secret purposes in her mind and always inspired by +Odin, to a distant country, into the mountains, where giants dwelt. Here +she married one of these giants, the most powerful of them all, to whom +she bore four sons. The strong are apt to be gentle. Gefione took her +four sons, changed them into oxen, and by words of gentle persuasion +induced her husband to harness them himself to a plough. A river marked +the boundary of the field, on the other side stood an altar. Thus was +the first piece of property inaugurated, {166}by purchase, by labor, and +under the protection of the gods. The first owner, the gigantic husband, +represented Force submitting to Right, and the four oxen represented the +hard-working family, improving the soil and enriching it with the sweat +of their brow. + +Soon people began to imitate Gefione's example, and in all directions +land was measured and laid out; stones were put up to mark the boundary +lines of each legal possession, and these stones were held sacred. + +In order to encourage men in these efforts, the Ases made it a point +every morning to show their bright, shining heads above the horizon and +thus to cheer them by their presence and the interest they took in their +labors. + +The god Thor even came once to pay a visit to his sister Gefione, and +then cast a few flashes of lightning upon each one of the newly acquired +pieces of land, to render them sacred. Hence the old, deeply rooted +notion that lightning hallows all it touches. Afterwards, and as late as +the fifteenth century, it was deemed sufficient at Bonn, at Cologne, and +at Mayence, to cast Thor's hammer upon the piece of land that had become +a fief, in order to establish an absolute right of proprietorship. + +But the right of property alone did not suffice to render human society +stable and flourishing,--{167}the nations of the earth longed for a +hierarchy of rank and race; at least the divine pupil of the wise Mimer +decided it should be so. The means he employed to found such a hierarchy +and the system itself appear curious and odd enough to us, who are no +gods, but, unsuitable as they look now, they were successful at the +time. + +By his order Heimdall, the god with the false teeth, abandoned his post +as guardian of the Wal-halla for nine days, and after a long journey +across the country, knocked at the door of a wretched tumbledown hut, +where the _Great-grandmother_ lived. Here he remained three days and +three nights. + +The Great-grandmother brought a male child into the world, +black-skinned, broad-shouldered, with hard horny hands, and powerful +arms. They called it _Thrall_, the serf. + +Thrall's natural inclination led him to prefer the hard work in mines +and in the wilderness; he was fond of the society of domestic +animals and even slept with them in their stables. His sons became +cattle-raisers, miners, or charcoal-burners. + +Heimdall had continued his journey. He next stopped at the +_Grandmother's_ house, a small, simple cottage, but lacking in nothing +that was useful. + +Here he remained three days and three nights. + +The Grandmother gave birth to a son, who was called _Karl_, the free +man. {168}Karl was fond of driving oxen under the yoke, of working in +wood and in iron, of building boats and houses, and of trading. From him +are descended our workmen and artisans, our merchants and builders. + +Turning his face towards the south, Heimdall next went to a beautiful +mansion, surrounded by magnificent gardens and reflected in the blue +waters of a large lake. As the god had only to show his golden teeth +in order to be welcomed by every woman he saw, the mistress of this +mansion, the _Mother_, also received him with great delight and tried +to do him honor. Dressed in her most costly robes she put an embroidered +cloth upon a table of polished wood and offered him in silver dishes +all the varieties of fish and game, in which the lake and the park near +the house abounded. The Mother did everything to keep the god as long +as possible at her house, but, as at the Grandmother's and at the +Great-grandmother's, so he remained here only three days and three +nights. + +A son appeared to console the Mother for the departure of her +illustrious guest; this child had at its birth already rosy cheeks, +long hair, and a haughty look. When he was still a child, he was fond of +brandishing his spear and of bending his bow; at fifteen he swam across +the blue waters of the lake, or plunged on an unbroken horse into +{169}the depths of the forest, riding as fast as the wind. They called +him Jarl, the noble. + +Some years later Heimdall paid another visit to this country; delighted +with the prowess of Jarl, he acknowledged him as his son and taught +him the language of birds, which the gods alone understand and fluently +speak. He taught him also the science of Runes, of runes of victory +which are engraven on the blades of swords; runes of love to be traced +upon drinking horns or the thumbnail; runes of the sea, with which the +prow and the rudder of ships are decorated--in all cases precautionary +measures by which alone ill fortune can be kept at bay. + +Besides these gifts of knowledge, he bestowed upon him an inalienable, +hereditary domain. This was the first entailed estate ever known in +Europe. + +Jarl, says the Edda, was a man of _eight-horse power_. Could we express +it better in the noble railway Anglo-Saxon of our day, or does +our modern English really go back to the old Scandinavian, as this +coincidence would seem to prove? + +Jarl's descendants are the great chieftains, the barons, princes, +kings, and Druids, who have all inherited great power from their divine +ancestor with the golden teeth. They alone are his legitimate +and acknowledged children; the descendants of the grandmother and +great-grandmother are illegitimate. {170}Still, whether acknowledged by +the law or not, they all form a close chain, a single family, they all +spring from the same god! Thus the humblest among them saw his rights +secured for the future. + +I must confess that, the more carefully I examine these barbarians, +whether they were gods or men, the more I am surprised to discover +beneath the outward cloak of their fables so many correct ideas of order +and of justice. These fables had, of course, their day and then passed +away. Up to the present time, it is true, there is not much of the day +gone; perhaps also Odin may be blamed for having invented, before the +world was a few hundred years old, both the Middle Ages and the Feudal +System. But it would be wrong to blame him, for it must be acknowledged, +that in spite of the violence of their manners and the bloody nature +of their worship, a certain civilization had at last appeared among +the Scandinavians. It may be called brutal, I grant; it may be called +aggressive even, but it was after all an improvement, and it has held +its own in the North, under snow and ice, like the vigorous plants of +our Alps. How comes it that the Germans and the Franks, more favored by +climate and by contact with highly civilized nations, remained so long +inferior to the Scandinavians in this respect? Perhaps they were more +liable to be invaded than the Sons of the North; the Scandinavians +invaded the continent {171}in all directions, but no one ever dreamt of +invading their country. + +After having thus established the right of property and a certain social +hierarchy, Odin had next instituted marriage with the symbolic ring, and +finally courts of justice. + +But, since he had given to man an immortal soul, and since he held out +to him reward or punishment in another world according to his deserts, +Odin had been compelled to establish the first high tribunals in that +other world. + +[Illustration: 191] + +We must, therefore, find our way to Walhalla and even to Hell, if the +reader is disposed to follow us to that place. + +[Illustration: 195] + + + + +VII. + +{175}Heaven and Hell.--_The Valkyrias.--Amusements in Walhalla.--Pork +and Wild Boar.--A Frozen Hell.--Balder's Death.--Frigg's Devotion.--The +Iron Tree Forest.--The Twilight of the Gods.--Idunas' Apples.--The Fall +of Heaven and the End of the World.--Reflections on that Event.--The +Little Fellow still alive._ + +When the warriors were preparing for battle, a number of blue-eyed young +maidens, mounted on {176}bright, shining horses, passed through their +ranks, animating them with word and gesture, and whispering into their +ears warlike songs to be soon changed into triumphal chants for those +who fell on the battlefield, mortally wounded. + +[Illustration: 196] + +These maidens were the Valkyrias, those Valkyrias whom ever since the +poets and painters of the Ossianic school have reproduced in a thousand +forms. Nor must it be forgotten that this remarkable school, which the +Scotchman Macpherson revived {177}towards the end of the eighteenth +century, counted among its most ardent admirers two enthusiastic +Frenchmen, whose names were Napoleon and Lamartine. + +These Valkyrias, beautiful nymphs of carnage as they were, delighted in +the clash of arms, the shedding of blood, and the dying groans of the +wounded, even in the odors exhaled by the dying,--a taste which seems +little suited to fair, blue-eyed maidens. These unnatural tastes were, +however, justified to a certain extent, by the peculiar mission which +they had to fulfill, a mission of kindness and tender compassion. They +walked to and fro on the battlefield, not to carry off the dead, but to +gather the souls of those who had fallen. Of the _Seola_ (such was the +sweet name of the Soul among the nations of Germanic or Scandinavian +race), they rapidly asked these questions:-- + +"Seola, did you belong to a free man or to a slave? + +"Seola, did your master honor the gods and the priests of those gods? + +"Did he keep his pledged word? + +"Did he die like a brave man, with his face to the enemy and not a fear +in his heart? + +"Seola, did he ever fight against the men of his own blood and his own +race?" + +The human soul, as soon as it escapes from the {178}wretched bondage of +this earth, no longer possesses the sad power of being able to tell a +falsehood; Seola, therefore, answered these questions truthfully, even +though it were to its own condemnation. In the latter case the Valkyrias +left it to the black Alfs, a kind of demons who belonged to hell; but +if the Seola had belonged to a brave and loyal warrior, the Valkyria +instantly unfolded her white wines and took it to Walhalla, the home of +the gods and the paradise of heroes. + +This paradise, exclusively intended for free men, was still open to +slaves also, if they had fallen by the side of their masters, or if they +had thrown themselves voluntarily into the fire of the funeral pile for +the purpose of continuing their service in the future life. + +Let us see whether the delights of Walhalla were sufficiently attractive +to warrant such selfimmolation. + +The one great enjoyment of all who dwell in Walhalla was combat and +strife. That is a matter of taste, but did they not carry combat and +strife a little too far? They fought there for hours and hours, with +eagerness, with fury, even piercing each other and cutting each other to +pieces to their hearts' delight. It is true, that as soon as the dinner +hour came the blood ceased to flow, the wounds closed their gaping lips, +the {179}limbs that had been lopped off by the swords returned to their +place, the broken heads and exposed entrails were restored without the +surgeon's aid, not leaving a scar behind, and the heroes went arm in arm +to dinner, looking forward with joy to a repetition of the same merry +sport as soon as the meal should be finished. + +The fare at this table of gods and heroes does not seem to have been +peculiarly wholesome; at all events it was not very varied. + +The pork-butchers' business was at that time uncommonly flourishing both +in heaven and on earth. Tacitus tells us that among the races of the +North, as far as the borders of the Baltic Sea, chieftains and matrons +alike loved to wear suspended around their neck a small image of a pig +as an emblem of abundance and fecundity. Rich and poor, all looked +upon pork as the main supply of their pantry. The pig, however, was not +deemed worthy to appear on Odin's table, and its place was taken by the +boar: the gods lived upon wild boar, men upon domestic pig, that was the +whole difference. + +I am often tempted to eat pork, and I am occasionally enabled to taste +wild boar; but I must solemnly confess, swearing if needs be by my +stomach, that in my opinion, the gods and the heroes had by no means the +best of it. It may {180}be, however, that wild boars here below are not +quite equal to heavenly boars. + +[Illustration: 200] + +However that may be, there appeared every morning upon the edge of one +of the marvelous forests to be found in Walhalla, an enormous colossal +boar, a very mammoth of a boar. The {181}heroes proceeded to hunt it, +accompanied at times by Thor, by Vali, the skillful archer, or by Tyr, +the one-handed god, who nevertheless wielded his sword with power and +accuracy. Then the monster was killed, cut up and roasted, and all dined +together. + +[Illustration: 201] + +The next day there appeared on the edge of the marvelous forest another +wild boar, quite as fat and quite as enormous, in fact in every respect +as attractive as the boar of the day before--some think it was always +the same animal, come to life again. Then a new hunt and a new dinner +upon roasted wild boar. Surely we poor people might become disgusted for +the rest of our lives, one would imagine,--and those were immortal gods! +What taste! + +But there is worse behind yet. The Scandinavian {182}paradise was by +no means the only one where the pork-butcher was thus glorified. In a +neighboring paradise, which the Finns had established, we are told by +a learned writer, the rivers were flowing with beer and hydromel, the +mountains consisted of lard and the hills of half salted pork. + +To help them in digesting their solid food, the Scandinavian gods drank, +like those of Finland, great quantities of beer and hydromel; but they +had in addition, an abundance of wine which they quaffed from gold cups. +Wine! In this one word thoughtful historians have discovered a whole +revelation. + +Now would it ever have occurred to Odin, in his hyperborean lands, where +the vine did not exist and could not possibly live, to bring the fruit +of the vine to his paradise? Did he know grapes? And when had he learnt +to know them? But as I do not wish to interrupt my story, I reserve the +discussion of this great and important question, with several others +of the same kind, for another chapter, in which I hope to be able to +develop my views fully and scientifically. + +Besides wine, beer, and hydromel, the blessed people in Walhalla had +an additional precious beverage of their own, which it may safely be +presumed, no mortal on earth has ever tasted. This {183}ambrosia of a +novel nature was obtained by the gods and heroes themselves, on certain +favorable days, from the white substance of the moon. Yes, from the +moon! Did they quaff it in full draughts or did they inhale it through +calumets? We do not know, but the nations of the earth saw in these +periodical bleedings of the moon the reason for her divers phases and +her gradual diminution. When she became reduced to a mere crescent, +fright was seen on all faces and oppressed all hearts. Were the great +people up there forgetting themselves in their celestial orgies, and +would they drink up the moon to the last drop? + +It must be borne in mind that they, like the Germans, saw in the moon +nothing but a transparent leathern bottle, filled with sweetened milk, +and phosphorescent. + +Let us return now. To hunt the boar, to breakfast on wild boar, to dine +on the same dish, day after day, to drink beer and wine, and from time +to time that mulled egg which the moon furnished, to fight morning +and evening, to die and come to life again, merely for the purpose of +fighting again--these were the amusements of that delightful place. Upon +my word, it took Scandinavians to be content with such pleasures. + +If Odin's paradise appears to us but little attractive, his hell, on the +other hand, seems to have been {184}far from terrible, especially if we +compare it with the hell of some of our great poets, such as Dante and +Milton. + +The hell of the Scandinavians occupied the lowest depths of the world +and consisted of two parts, _Nastrond_ and _Niflheim_. The latter is +a kind of dismal vestibule shrouded in darkness, in which are seen +wandering about the mournful seolas of those who have been neither good +nor bad, neither heroes nor scoundrels, and of all who have not fallen +by the sword. To die on one's bed or in an armchair, was a wrong in +Odin's eyes, a grievous wrong, though not exactly a crime, since he +punished it only with a temporary detention in those damp, low places, +where darkness, silence, and weariness seemed to combine for their +punishment. The dwellers in Niflheim had scarcely any amusement except +their reciprocal yawns, and from time to time a flash of dim light which +reached there when the little black Alfs came in or went out, busily +engaged in conveying a load of souls. + +The great criminals were thrown into Nastrond, the real hell. What +is very remarkable is, that here there were no braziers and burning +gridirons to be seen, no furnaces and masses of flames as in all the +other hells. This was a hell of ice; it froze here hard enough to split +iron, and the damned shivered with cold. Dante mentions something of +{185}the kind in his great work, but between the Florentine and the +Scandinavian there can be no doubt who borrowed from the other. + +It was quite natural after all that in these win-tery regions of +Scandinavia, where cold is the greatest evil to be dreaded, intense, +continued, eternal cold should have become the terror and the punishment +of the criminal. The idea of a hell of fire, so far from keeping them +from the fatal slope, might very well have tempted some chilly scoundrel +to commit a great crime. + +[Illustration: 205] + +The poor wretches who were shivering in Nastrond {186}with stiffened +hands and eyes full of frozen tears, felt their tortures increased +whenever Hela, the pale goddess, the queen of that place, Death itself, +cast upon them a glance from her lack-lustre eyes. + +Yes, it was Hela who reigned over this frightful iceberg; her palace is +called Misery, her gate the Precipice, her reception room Grief, her bed +Disease, her table Famine, and her throne Malediction! + +The body of this terrible queen is party-colored, half white and half +blue, and her breath is perfumed with that horrible cadaverous odor in +which the Valkyrias delight. + +But after all, the names seem to be worse than the sufferings +themselves; for excessive cold paralyzes pain itself, and there is +nothing here to compare with those classic places where lava-baths, +rolling rocks, flaming wheels, horses of red-hot iron, boiling pitch, +fiery arrows and the snake whips of the Eumenides made up an infernal +stock of tortures which might well tempt the imagination of the greatest +of poets. + +In Nastrond there were no demons and no Eumenides; to be sure, there was +a Bigvor and a Sisvor, furies if you will have it so, watching at the +gates of hell, with the help of Gaun, the formidable dog, but all three +are forbidden to enter within. {187}The place of missing monsters is +occupied by some of those whom Odin spared on the occasion of his first +campaign against the giant sons of Ymer, and by the wolf Fenris, whom +the Ases had treacherously captured. There are also two other wolves, +convicted of having made an attempt upon the life of the Sun, and all of +these monsters are firmly chained and appear rather as sufferers than as +tormentors. + +One of these days, their iron chains will be loosened; one of these days +heaven will turn cold and hell will melt, and--then, woe to the gods! + +Listen! The moment is drawing near when all these mysteries are to +be solved. The hour is coming when _you shall hear, when you shall +understand!_ But before uttering these last words, final and at the same +time fatal words, we must mention an event which at that moment +occurred in the open assembly of the gods, filling heaven and earth with +amazement, with pity and horror. + +It must be acknowledged that so far the heavenly personages have +appeared to be rather kindhearted and mild. Odin, in spite of his Druids +and their demands for bloody sacrifices, seems to have been full of good +intentions. The god Thor, with all his somewhat brutal ways, rendered +great services to mankind; and the same hammer, which protected them +against the giants, afterwards served, {188}without the aid of +geometry, to mark the boundary lines of their respective properties. +The golden-teethed god, Heimdall, gave most undoubted evidence of his +devotion to the human race and of his self-denial in his visits to the +Grandmother and the Great-grandmother, and so did the other gods. But we +had good reasons for not going through the whole list of the Ases. For +there is one whom we keep in reserve so that he may appear at the right +hour, and that is Loki, the god of evil and the genius of destruction. + +Surpassing Odin himself in his magic skill, fair of form and features, +a smile on his lips--thin lips, however, the Edda adds--and apparently +possessed of the most jovial temper so as to make him a most agreeable +person, Loki is in reality a compound of the most hideous vices. He +is the representative of hatred and cruelty, of envy, hypocrisy, and +perversity. In fact, he is our Satan, before the fall. If he had been +king of hell, Miflheim and Nastrond would both have been filled with +more tortures and more horrors than all the other hells which are known +to men. + +And yet he was the god upon whom the dwellers in Walhalla counted for +their entertainment, and whom they had surnamed the Clown! + +One day an ancient prophetess returns to life, rises in her grave, and +utters a terrible cry: "Balder, {189}fair Balder, is going to die!" +With these words she falls back again upon her mournful couch and dies +again--forever. + +[Illustration: 209] + +In the meantime this cry has been heard even at the top of the ash +Ygdrasil. The Ases are troubled and amazed; they meet, they look at +each other, thoroughly frightened, for on the life of Balder depends the +existence of all the other gods. Moreover, {190}Balder the Bright is +the glory of heaven and the love of the earth. Can Balder die, the most +charming and the purest as well as the most beautiful of all the sons of +Odin? He, who was so beautiful that Hela herself could not help smiling +when she looked at him--he, so pure that no falsehood could be uttered +in his presence and that a vessel containing an adulterated liquid would +break instantly at his approach--he, so charming that all the gods love +him as their favorite child, and that men have surnamed him Hope? No, +no! Balder shall not die, said the Ases. + +His distressed mother Frigg, Odin's wife, shows her apprehensions by +her intense anguish, and her sobs scarcely allow her to speak. She tells +those who try to laugh at the sudden alarm of all who have heard the +warning of the prophetess, that for several nights already she has +been repeatedly, persistently warned in her dreams of the death of her +well-beloved son. She would not believe it, she adds, but now she does +believe. + +The divine sybil Vola, whose predictions have never proved untrue, and +Skulda, the Norn of the Future, are 'summoned to appear. They consult +with each other and this is their decision:-- + +"Balder is in danger; Balder will die unless all earthly substances that +can inflict death, are rendered powerless." {191}Frigg descends to the +earth and speaks to volcanoes and water-spouts, to frost and hail, and +they promise to spare her son. Among the aquatic powers, from the ocean +to the smallest brook, among the stones, from the mightiest rock to the +pebble, and among the metals, from gold to iron, there is none that does +not swear the same oath. The plants also promise, from the oak to the +smallest shrub and down to the humblest grass. + +[Illustration: 211] + +Triumphantly she returns to heaven to announce the good news. Everybody +is overjoyed. They celebrate the happy result of her journey by a family +dinner, at which Loki succeeds in exhilarating even Odin himself by his +merry jokes. He had never appeared in better spirits; had never seemed +to sympathize more warmly with the happy court. + +When the feast was ended and the last cups were drained in honor of +Balder, some one proposed for the general amusement to try how far all +these substances, vegetable or mineral, will be faithful to the oath +they have sworn, when brought face to face with Balder. {192}Beginning +with the most inoffensive of them all, they throw at him a clod of +earth; the clod of earth breaks into a cloud of dust before it touches +him. Then they pour a pitcher of water over him and the water forms a +cascade above him without wetting even his garments. They try to strike +him with a hazel wand; the wand, slipping from the hand that holds +it, breaks in two. Balder is amused by the game and encourages the +bystanders to renew their attacks. + +[Illustration: 212] + +The skillful Uller shoots at him a pointless arrow, aiming, from +excessive caution, only at his shoulder. The arrow passes at a distance +of twenty feet from its aim and continues its flight through {193}the +air, like a bird in search of its prey beyond the clouds. + +Ten other assailants meet the same fate, trying their luck with a +fragment of rock and a heavy branch in the shape of a club. But the +fragment was of stone and remembered the promise given to Frigg, and the +club was cut from a tree and the tree remembered the promise given to +Frigg. + +Encouraged by so many reassuring trials, Freyr desired to try his magic +sword, but for once the faithful sword was deaf to his orders. Thor +brandished his hammer, but the hammer suddenly reversed its action and +well nigh made him fall back upon his heels. Freyr's sword and Thor's +hammer were both of iron and the iron remembered the promise given to +Frigg. + +Loki took care not to appear. + +The sport was over, as it seemed, when suddenly the blind god Hoder, +Balder's own brother, was seen to advance, feeling his way, towards the +bright god. Hoder held in his hand a small bunch of leaves, a bit of +grass, at least it appeared such after the fearful instruments that had +just been brought into play. + +Immense laughter, a laughter such as the gods of Homer were in the habit +of enjoying, broke out at the sight; Loki laughed till his sides shook +and Hoder himself shared the general hilarity. {194}But he drew +nearer and nearer, shaking his bit of verdure in the air; then, almost +tottering and having learnt from the bystanders in what direction he +would have to turn, he threw the slender twig against Balder, using his +full force, which was prodigious. + +He hit Balder full in the chest and the god fell instantly. That bright +light which was always shining around him became extinct; he closed his +eyes, and lowered his beautiful brow deprived of its glory.....Balder +was dead! + +He had been struck by a bit of mistletoe. Frigg had addressed her +prayers to the oak tree, but she had not thought of the mistletoe which +grows on the oak tree; the mistletoe had given no promise to Frigg. Must +we look here for a symbolic meaning? Did this mean, that the Druidical +mistletoe was soon to triumph over the gods of Scandinavia? This could +not be so, for at the time to which we have come, there was no trace +left of the wise worship of the Druids of the first epoch; the Druids of +the second epoch were fast losing their power, and the Scandinavian gods +were daily increasing in popularity, even beyond the banks of the Rhine. + +But we ought not to interrupt this account of Balder's death, which +is as poetical and as touching as the most famous fables of Greece. +{195}When blind Hoder, whose name must not be uttered, you remember, +hears the cries of despair which break out all around him, and encircle +him on all sides with maledictions, he is troubled and seriously +distressed. Then, all of a sudden joining in the distressed cries of the +Ases, he falls utterly overcome upon his brother's body and denounces +Loki as the author of this calamity. Loki has reproached him for being +the only one who took no part in the amusements by which they thought to +honor Balder, and he it was who had not only given him the fatal +plant but who had also directed his arm. Loki was jealous of all the +perfections of Balder and he hated him as much as the other gods loved +him. + +They look for Loki, but he has disappeared. No doubt he has tried to +escape from the vengeance of the Ases by seeking refuge in the mountains +among the giants, his natural allies, or perhaps in the deep sea, with +the serpent Iormungandur. + +And whilst they thus lament, inquire, and investigate, Balder's soul is +carried off by the black Alfs to Niflheim, the dark vestibule of hell. + +Odin still cherished hopes that his dead son might be restored to him. +Upon his order Her-mode, the messenger of the gods, mounts his horse +Sleipner and goes to see Hela, but neither promises nor threats can move +the dread goddess. Fate has {196}decided, and Fate is above the gods, as +the gods are above men. + +Then Frigg herself goes to see the pale goddess. Frigg weeps and the +merciless goddess is unable to keep her heart from softening when she +sees the tears of such a mother. She says to her:-- + +"Let all created beings--mind, I say, all created beings!--give a tear +to Balder, a tear such as you have' shed in my presence, and Balder +shall be restored to you!" + +Frigg was unwilling to trust any one but herself with the effort to +realize such hopes. Once more she went over the world, gathering around +her all the races of men, one after the other, and as she mentioned the +name of Balder, tears flowed from all eyes. + +For three months she visited all the forests and all the mountains, +the seas and the lakes and the animals that live in the waters and the +mountains; and seas and lakes and mountains wept. She went even to the +abode of the giants, the enemies of the gods, and her grief made the +giants also weep; every tree wept and every rock wept. + +Frigg thought her task was accomplished, and was filled with joy; but +she heard that in the far East of Midgard there lived an old woman in +the heart of a forest of iron trees. As she lived alone there, far +from any beaten track, she had never {197}become known to the intrepid +traveller. Now, however, Frigg sought her out by steep paths, cut up +with gullies and fierce torrents, and at last found her. When the mother +told her pitiful tale, the iron trees wept, but the old woman would not +weep. + +[Illustration: 217] + +{198}They called her Thorck, and her heart was ten times as hard as her +name. + +"What do I care for your Balder?" she cried; "what do I care whether he +is dead or alive? You have other sons; I have not one left me. Once I +had four, and all four were my pride, my delight. They were so fair! +They were so tall! Your son Thor killed every one of them. I wept much +at that time. Now, it is all over. Look for tears elsewhere, I have no +tears to give to other people's sorrows!" + +Frigg bowed down before her, begged her, conjured her, and even fell on +her knees before her; but the old woman was inflexible. Balder had to +remain a prisoner with Hela. + +Some interpreters of Scandinavian runes have been of the opinion that +the bereaved mother in the forest of iron trees was none other than +Loki himself, changed into an old woman. That thought, however, is +inadmissible. The Ases were beyond the reach of Hela, and Loki's refusal +would not have rendered void the unanimous vote of all Nature, when +tears of pity and sympathy alone were to be given as votes. It is much +more plausible to suppose, that Loki had induced Thorck to refuse by his +counsels and by his enchantments; through him the heart of the old woman +had' become iron as well as the trees of the forest in {199}which she +lived. Thus Loki had twice caused the death of Balder! + +It was at this time that a strange, almost incredible report was for the +first time heard among men. The Druids whispered it cautiously into +the ears of the initiated, and voices were said to utter it in the air +during the night. This report, a terrible secret, a most unexpected +revelation, stated that the gods were about to die! Thor would die, +after seeing lightning become extinct in his hands; Odin himself would +die, and so would the others. The fate of each one of them was depending +on the fate of this fragile world over which they ruled, and this world +had to perish because Balder had perished. + +What? Should the Universe change back into chaos? Was there no +all-powerful will that could arrest the process of destruction before +it was too late? But where could such omnipotent will be found, now that +the gods were no longer to be in existence? + +Listen! listen to these verses from the Edda! + +"Who is the most ancient among the gods? + +"Alfader, that is, the universal father. He has always been and will +ever be; he governs all things, both big and small; he has made the +heavens, the earth and the gods. Odin created man, but Al-fader gave +him his immortal soul!" {200}Thus we come back to the pure essence of +an only god, who is ever the same, whether his name be Teut, Esus, or +Jehovah; the other gods are nothing but emanations proceeding from him, +living symbols intended to live for a few thousand centuries--that is +all. + +"Do you hear? Do you understand now? + +"Do you understand why the great ash tree Ygdrasil is continually +gnawed at its root by a dragon? Why four famished stags feed upon its +foliage? You understand? Well! + +"But by what sign shall we recognize the approaching end of the +gods--that which the Edda calls their _twilight?_ + +"The most important among all the sacred books of the North, a volume +containing the prophecies of the divine sybil Vola, the _Voluspa,_ will +tell you. + +"When the fatal moment draws near, their voice will cease to be able +to utter the accustomed chants, and the luminous brightness radiating +from their bodies will fade away little by little. + +"When they leave their bath, their bodies will not dry at once, as they +do now, but remain moist; drops of water will continually drip from +them, and they will in this respect become like unto mortal men. + +"In order to overcome these first symptoms of {201}indisposition, the +wife of the god Bragi, Iduna, will give them certain apples to eat, +which she keeps in reserve. These apples will have the effect of +strengthening them and of restoring to them a kind of fictitious youth +for a few thousand years perhaps. + +"One day, however, their eyes will begin to wink; the next morning, upon +awaking, their eyelids will be found closed, and then they will turn red +and blear. + +"At table, when proceeding to their usual libations, their slightly +tremulous hands will be unable to hold their cups steadily; some of the +wine or the hydromel will escape and their garments will remain stained. + +"Woe to them if a grain of dust adheres to these stained garments! + +"Woe to them still more, if the wreaths of flowers or of jewels begin to +fade and to wither on their brows! + +"Finally, when the sweet perfumes which now are exhaled from their +bodies, change into acrid and sickening odors, there will be nothing +left for them but to make their last will." + +I am well convinced that this last phrase has been stealthily introduced +into the Voluspa by some kind of criminal and fraudulent trick. The +rest, however, is a faithful translation of the original {202}text, as +taken from the best authenticated editions. + +[Illustration: 222] + +"Then," the prophecy continues, "then three sacred cocks, dwelling +in the three principal worlds, will crow and reply to each other, +announcing the _Twilight of Greatness._ + +"Then, everything on earth will be in disorder and confusion; families +will be at variance with {203}each other, the claims of blood will no +longer be acknowledged, and brothers will be arrayed against brothers. + +"Adultery and incest, robbery and murder, will prevail among men, and +the age will be an age of barbarism, an age of the sword, an age of +tempests, an age of wolves! + +"The wolves will be ready to devour the sun. Three long winters, with +no summers between them, will cover the earth with snow and ice; the +branches of the trees will give way under the immense burden; the sun +will be darkened more and more; the moon will dissolve into vapor and +the stars will go out; the mountains, shaking in their foundations, will +be tossed to and fro like reeds in a river; the earth will reject all +the plants, the trees, and the rocks which it now bears; the waters will +cast the fish upon the shore and with them their algae, their corals, +and even the bodies of shipwrecked men, hideous skeletons, whose +rattling bones will chime in grimly with the warning of the rising +flood. + +"Then the sea will grow dark, and upon its waters there will be seen +floating that monstrous ship made of the nails of dead men. At the +rudder, Ymer, the giant, will stand, having been recalled to life for +a time, in order to assist Loki in scaling the heavens by the way of +Bifrost, the {204}rainbow, at the head of the other Giants of the Frost. + +"Then Surtur the Black will arrive from the southern regions, from the +realm of fire, with all of his malignant demons, bearing torches and +ready to set heaven and earth on fire. + +"Then Hela, the pale goddess of death, will set free her prisoners, the +wolf Fenris first of all, and march at the head of these monsters to +assist the powers of the South. + +"Then the gods will take up their arms; Odin will gather them around +him, and with them the heroes from Walhalla; and the last battle will be +fought." + +But Vola's prophecy has to be fulfilled; the gods must perish, and the +world with them. + +Freyr dies in the flames of Surtur the Black; Thor succumbs to +the deadly embrace and the poisonous bites of the great serpent +Iormungandur; but, before dying, he kills it. Odin is torn to pieces by +the wolf Fenris. + +During the struggle, the heavens have been scaled and the genii of fire +enter on horseback through the breach, while the giants shake the ash +Ygdrasil, which writhes uttering long sighs, and at last falls with +the heavenly vault which it has been upholding. The conquerors and the +conquered alike are crushed under the ruins, and the world {205}being +set on fire by Surtur the Black, vanishes in smoke. + +Thus the night of the gods has to succeed to the twilight of the gods. + +"O you, spirits of the mountains, do you know whether anything will +continue to exist?" asks the Voluspa, at the end of these mournful +prophecies. + +It must be admitted that this sombre and terrible conception is not +without a certain poetic grandeur, a certain savage heroism, which we +cannot help admiring. In these verses the Edda is in no way inferior to +the most brilliant pictures drawn by Dante or by Milton, and more than +once it approaches nearly to the Apocalypse. Thus, as the inspired +Apostle saw a new heaven and a new earth, the Edda also announces the +coming of a time, when a new earth, more favored and more perfect than +ours, shall succeed the old earth. + +"When the earth is thus broken to pieces and devoured by fire, what +shall happen next? + +"There will come forth from the sea another earth, more beautiful and +more perfect. + +"And will any of the gods survive? + +"Balder will be revived and come forth from the place of departed +spirits, to rule over the new world under the guidance of the +imperishable Al-fader. {206}Then will be the reign of Justice." + +The mythology of the Scandinavians embraces, as we have shown, among +its symbols all the great phenomena of Nature, the continual struggle +between the two opposite principles, creation and destruction. Being, +besides, more complicated and more intelligent than the mythology of the +Gauls and the Germans, it deserved to fill a large space in our work, +and such a space we have accorded it cheerfully. + +But why was it that the civilization introduced by Odin contributed as +little as the philosophy of the Druids to the real well-being and the +improvement of mankind? I think I see the reason. + +In the eyes of the German as well as of the Scandinavian, God was only +just and rigid. The rule of the God of Love had not yet begun. +Perhaps Balder was to inaugurate it in that other world which the Edda +announced. + +Do you hear? Do you understand? + +Amid all the incidents which were to mark the general conflagration, +there is one which particularly recalls to our mind a great historical +event. Alexander of Macedonia once questioned certain Celtic ambassadors +and was told by them, that what they feared most upon earth, was the +falling down of the sky. + +This apparently lofty answer filled the young {207}conqueror with +admiration, and it is still admired by modern students of history. It +was, however, in reality nothing more than a simple, naive rendering of +one of their articles of faith; for all their prophetic books threatened +them with the destruction of the heavens. + +Another detail, the complete destruction of this globe of ours, after +a series of fearful catastrophes, recalls to me, not exactly a great +historical fact, but a simple game of my childhood, which may have +been symbolic, nay, which may have come down to us from the Edda. This, +however, I state with great hesitation. + +Did you ever know one of the merriest games, which was once very much +the fashion in city and country alike, when a firebrand, a burning +stick, or a bunch of straw set on fire, was quickly passed from hand +to hand? To prevent its going out, while you held it, you were bound to +pass it as quickly as possible to your neighbor, repeating at the same +time the expressive words: "_The little fellow is still alive_." Your +neighbor passed it to his neighbor and thus it travelled all around, +always accompanied by the same, constant burden: "The little fellow is +still alive!" This game was transformed during the Middle Ages, in +the North, and especially in Bretagne, into the Torch Dance, as I have +mentioned before. {208}Now I imagine that this game, in some way or +other, prefigured the universal conflagration that was to come, and _the +little fellow_ was the world. + +[Illustration: 228] + +But we must make haste to reach our great scientific discussion. + +[Illustration: 231] + + + + +VIII. + +{211}_How the Gods of India live only for a Kalpa, that is, for the Time +between one World and another.--How the God Vishnu was One-eyed.--How +Celts and Scandinavians believed in Metempsychosis, like the +Indians.--How Odin, with his Emanations, came forth from the God +Buddha.--About Mahabarata and Ramayana.--Chronology.--The World's +Age.--Comparative Tables.--Quotations.--Supporting Evidence.--A +Cenotaph._ + +My reader has had a lucky escape. + +Determined as I was to fathom in this chapter the true origin of the +Scandinavian religion, and inspired by the zeal of a recent convert, I +had collected and compared every document that could aid me in proving +the Oriental descent of the priests of Odin as well as of the other +Druids. I {212}thought it was a beautiful doctrine, and especially an +entirely new one. + +When I finished my chapter, which I thought was exceedingly well done, +I read it to Doctor Rosahl, expecting, I must confess, to be warmly +congratulated. + +"Why, my dear sir," he said, when I had finished, "you have made great +efforts to prove a thing which has been established long since. All the +master minds of France and Germany, to say nothing of other nations, +agree on that subject. I mean men like Fauriel, Lassen, Lenormand, +Ampere, Eichhoff, Saint-Marc Girardin, Marmier, Klaproth, Ozanam, the +two Remusats, the two Thierrys, the two Humboldts, the two Grimms, not +to mention twenty others. + +"Why will you come to their assistance after they have won the victory? +Do you merely wish to display your scholarship?" + +I indignantly denied the charge, and seizing my manuscript with both +hands, I resolutely threw it into the fire. + +A remnant of paternal weakness induced me, however, to retain the +summary of that famous chapter, and I have inserted it here in its +regular place, so that it might bear evidence of my wasted labor. As the +_corpus delicti_ is no longer in existence, this summary may stand there +like an inscription {213}on an empty tomb, to honor the memory of the +deceased. + +My VIIIth chapter is thus changed into a cenotaph. + +I--a scholar! Great God! Let the reader not be disturbed. My purpose +in writing this work was nothing more than to try and collect along the +banks of the Rhine all the curious myths which have survived the ancient +creeds of Europe; for they have all come to the great river. There the +traveller finds piled up, after the manner of alluvial layers, all the +ancient fables, all the marvelous and often childish tales to which +the credulity and lively imagination of our forefathers gave a ready +welcome. With the exception of a very few cases, in which the grave +nature of the subject lifts me necessarily into higher regions, I wish +mainly to tell you once more _Grandmamma's Tales_. That is what we are +going to do next. The Edda itself has no other meaning, for _Edda_ means +the same as our _grandmother_. + +No, I am too great a lover of tales of a tub ever to have claimed the +reputation of being a scholar; but at times I like to glean a little +where scholars have reaped. I have been shown the best spots, and I +pilfer as well as I can--that is all. + +An ignoramus and a pilferer, I resemble a bee which might fly into a +botanical garden and, utterly {214}unacquainted with the Latin names +of flowers, carry off joyously a rich harvest, without pretending to be +able to make academic honey. + +[Illustration: 234] + +[Illustration: 237] + + + + +IX. + +{217}_Confederation of all the Northern Gods.--Freedom of +Religion.--Christianity.--Miserere mei!--Homeric Enumeration.--Prussian, +Slavic, and Finnish Deities.--The God of Cherries and the God +of Bees.--A Silver Woman.--Ilmarinnen's Wedding Song.--A Skeleton +God.--Yaga-Babcus Pestle and Mortar.--Preparation for Battle.--The +Little Chapel on the Hill.--The Signal for the Attack.--Jesus and Mary._ + +It is high time for us to return to the banks of the Rhine, where the +two religions of Jupiter and Odin were about to meet face to face. +{218}At that time the terrible prophecies of the Edda were far from +being near their fulfillment; Odin had a long period of omnipotence yet +before him. + +To the great surprise of the adversaries, the Romans, so far from +showing any alarm at his approach, received him and his retinue of +deities as old acquaintances. + +According to their unchanging policy they would see in him nothing but a +Jupiter, and in fierce Thor another gallant Mars, somewhat sobered by a +long residence in northern countries and excessive use of beer. + +The Romans looked, in fact, upon all of these Scandinavian gods and +goddesses simply as upon myths of their own that came back to them once +more. + +The poets hallowed these claims and the historians tried to justify +them. According to some, Odin the Conqueror, a member of the family of +Ases, had first given to some of his conquests the name of Asia (which +might very well be so), and then receded before the Roman armies to cold +hyperborean regions. Here he had adopted the gods of his new conquerors, +hoping that they would, in return, make him victorious--which seems to +me in the highest degree improbable. According to others, the poet Ovid, +when Augustus had banished him to Scythia, had learnt the language of +the barbarians, {219}among whom he was living, and finding them willing +and eager to listen to him, had recited before them his "Metamorphoses." +This was all that was needed to induce the Scythians to make for +themselves gods after the model of the Roman gods. + +[Illustration: 239] + +Tacitus, Plutarch, Strabo, and a host of the most illustrious writers +never hesitated to give currency to such childish stories, ignoring +entirely the date of the Scandinavian religion. + +As Rome, however, permitted no human sacrifices, the priests of Odin +and of Teut had at first withdrawn far from the beaten track, into the +depths of dark old forests. There they could live quietly, practice +without restraint the religion of their forefathers, and kill their men +in perfect security. At least such were their hopes. The Roman soldiers, +however, who handled the woodman's axe {220}as readily as the sword, and +the spade as well as the spear, soon made big holes in these venerable +forests, murdered the murderers, and overthrew their blood-stained +altars. + +[Illustration: 240] + +{221}Occasionally it happened that the brave legionaries who were +employed in these hazardous enterprises, did not reappear. The +proconsuls, whose duty it was to keep Germany in order, would have liked +to inflict severe punishment; but just then the great reaction began to +set in, from the North against the South. + +Whilst Rome was making efforts to establish her power in Germany, +certain German tribes, Franks and Burgundians, invaded France and began +to settle down in some of the conquered Roman provinces. The proconsuls +thought it both prudent and wise not to raise the question of religion; +and for a long time a truce was tacitly agreed upon between all the +different creeds, though not without some misgivings on both sides. Odin +had his altars by the side of those of Jupiter; a temple in honor of +Thor stood facing a temple dedicated to Mars, and if Bacchus, Diana, and +Apollo had their sacred days, Bragi, Frigg, and Freya had theirs also. + +In spite of this general toleration, the parties watched each other +carefully. + +Sooner or later a holy war had to break out; in certain regions it had +already begun, when fishermen of the Rhine busily drawing in their nets, +heard, for the first time, a still small voice coming down upon them on +the waters of the river, which whispered the names of Jesus and Mary. +{222}The same voice and the same names were simultaneously heard again +and again before Strasbourg, Mayence, and Cologne. It was Christianity +that was approaching. + +[Illustration: 242] + +These wondrous words, which now the river only {223}murmured, had soon +after been forced by some mystic power from the lips of the Druidesses +in their prophetic exaltation and from the priests of Jupiter, as they +consulted their auguries. + +There was a Druid, who, in the act of sacrificing, was suddenly seized +with inspiration, and dropping the bloody knife felt impelled to cry +out: _Miserere mei, Jesus!_ and yet Latin had until then been an unknown +tongue among the Druids! + +The nations stood expectant, waiting for the revelation of a new faith. + +Soon a number of fugitives from Tolbiac, returning to the Rhine, +produced consternation in all hearts by the announcement that Clovis, +the king of the Franks, who had long been suspected of a secret +understanding with Rome, had gone over to the god of the Christians, and +that the god of the Christians was at that moment advancing at the head +of ten legions of destroying angels. + +When this news came, the rival religions laid aside their jealousy, +and terrified by a common danger, joined hands to resist the invader. +A general appeal was made not only by the followers of Odin to those of +Jupiter, but also to the Northern gods, the Finnish gods, the Russian +gods, and the Slavic gods. The danger was threatening to all alike, and +they responded to the appeal and came to the Rhine. {224}We cannot so +rapidly pass over this vast Olympian assembly of gods, a poet's dream, +it may be, but a traditional dream, full of strange and striking +splendor, which completes in a most unexpected manner the limited +description we have tried to give of Northern Myths. + +[Illustration: 244] + +At this grand meeting there appeared in the first place a goodly number +of Borussian or Prussian gods, among whom stood first and foremost +Percunos, the divine leader of the heavenly bodies; Pikollos, whose +face was as pale as Hela's and whose duty was, like hers, to preside +over hell; exacting, however, from men nothing but prayers accompanied +by beating hearts, he cared nothing whether he was feared or beloved. A +third god, Potrympos, had the appearance of a youth, with smiling lips +and with a wreath of wheat ears and flowers on his brow; this was the +god of War. Of War? And what meant the smile on his lips and the wheat +ears on his brow? They indicated that he was also the god of public +supplies and even of love. + +It seems that, in ancient Prussia, War was the purveyor-general and +supplied everything. + +In the retinue of this great trio, we find Antrympos, the god of seas +and lakes; Poculos, the god of the air and of storms; then, after these +gods ending in _os_, came other deities ending in _us_; Pilvitus, the +god of riches, Auchwitus, the god of the sick, and Marcopulus, the god +of the nobles. The latter was the terror of the common people, whom he +held under an iron yoke. In order to {226}conciliate his good will, they +prayed to Puscatus, another god in us, but a kindhearted god. He +lived under an elder tree, and the price he exacted in return for his +mediation was the modest gift of a piece of bread and a _schoppen_ of +beer. + +[Illustration: 246] + +Although their priests were called Crives or Waidelottes, their +ceremonies were, nevertheless, mere imitations of those of the Druids. +The Borussians honored particularly the famous oak of Remowe, to which +Percunos, Pikollos, and Potrympos paid a daily visit. To these same gods +they offered their prisoners of war; but they were not sacrificed by +means of a knife after the German {227}Or the Scandinavian manner. They +destroyed them by fire or they gave them to be devoured to enormous +serpents who lived upon the altar and for the altar. + +[Illustration: 247] + +Now all these gods have come to Germany accompanied by their monstrous +reptiles, by griffins fearful to behold, and by demons summoned +from hell, all called upon to take part in the impending struggle. +{228}Almost at the same time with the Prussian gods arrived also the +Scythian gods and those of the Sarmatians, the former in chariots, +according to the manner of travelling which prevailed among those +nations. They also bowed low, like their people, before the all-powerful +Tahiti, the great representative of their religion, Fire. The Scythians +had evidently derived very little profit from hearing Ovid read his +"Metamorphoses." + +The others were but few in numbers; their representatives were their +chief triad: Perun, their Jupiter Tonans; Rujewit, who controlled the +clouds; and Sujatowist, the judge of the dead. These three brought in +their train only Trizbog and the Tassanis, that is, the plague and the +furies. Their other gods, unable to do anything for success in war, had +wisely stayed at home. + +Can I neglect mentioning the names and attributes of these inoffensive +local deities, whom the fierce Sarmatians worshipped. They were:-- + +Kirnis, who causes the cherries to ripen; + +Sardona, who watches over the nut trees; + +Austeia, who presides over the education of bees; + +The sweet Kolna, who sees to the marriage of flowers. + +There were also gods or goddesses of corn, of the kneading-tub and the +wash-tub, the god of flies and the god of butterflies; we must confess +that {229}these deities could hardly have been very useful on the banks +of the Rhine. + +But Odin and Jupiter could count upon more efficient and more reliable +allies in the gods of Finland. + +The gods bear almost always the impress of the character of their +followers and of those over whom they rule, and what other nation has +ever given such proofs of undaunted courage as the Finns or Finlanders? +Pirates on the Baltic, as the Scandinavians were pirates on the ocean, +they shared with them the booty that could be gotten in all the Northern +seas. They had originally come from the high table-lands of Asia, +together with their brethren the Turks, the Mongols, and the Tartars; +their first appearance was made under the name of Ugorians, Ogres, and +surely the Ogres have made a lasting and a terrible impression on bur +popular tales! + +The Finns consisted almost exclusively of sailors and soldiers, of +miners and blacksmiths. To smelt iron and to fashion it into anchors +for their ships, into lances, swords, and spears, was their principal +occupation. Hence they paid special reverence to Rauta-Rekhi, the +personification of iron; to Wulangoinen, the father of iron, and to +Ruojuota, the nurse of iron. They worshipped in like manner with special +zeal three sombre virgins, whose powerful breasts were running over +with a dark milk, {230}which turned into iron as it cooled off, as water +turns into ice when it cools off. + +Their principal gods, besides these whom I have mentioned, were again +three, and, as usual, three brothers. + +The oldest, Vainamoinen, of hoary age, created celestial and terrestial +fire, that is to say, the sun and the volcanoes. + +The second, Ukko, has to provide them with fire, so as to prevent the +earth from returning to the condition of an immense icicle, and the sun +to the form of a heap of extinct embers. Living in the clouds he now +blows upon the sun and now upon the volcanoes so as to keep up the blaze +in both, and encourages them with his voice, the thunder. + +Ilmarinnen, the third, a very industrious and most skillful workman, has +forged the earth and the seven heavens by which it is surrounded; hence +he is called the _Eternal Blacksmith_. He spends his life at the forge, +making sometimes stars of all sizes and at other times spare moons. +He has even made a silver woman, not for himself, however, but for a +younger brother, whose manifold and incessant occupations left him no +time to take the necessary steps for a suitable marriage. This woman +of fine metal, well-made, beautiful, charming, and of the sweetest +disposition, had but one single defect,--no {231}one could come near her +without being chilled to the marrow of his bones. + +However, the most skillful blacksmith cannot be expected to make a +perfect woman at the first trial. + +When the question of his own marriage was mooted, Ilmarinnen preferred +taking a ready made wife, and, according to the usage which prevailed +among the Finns as well as among the Germans, he bought one. + +For the sake of enjoying some relief after such a long enumeration of +deities, now entirely out of fashion, I feel strongly tempted to insert +here _a saga_, a Finnish legend, which treats of this very marriage of +Ilmarinnen, the blacksmith, and was composed by his own sister. In this +wedding-song, which is full of the sweetest and chastest sentiments, +she exhibits the domestic life of these artisan-gods, who sometimes were +disposed to beat their wives,--at least the saga suggests the occurrence +of such events. + +Ilmarinnen has just been married and becomes impatient, he actually +swears at not seeing his young bride come to him in great haste. Listen +to what is sung to him, with an accompaniment on a small Kantele +guitar, by his sister, the hostess of Pohjola, in order to calm him the +better:-- + +"O husband, brother of my brothers, you have {232}already waited long +for the coming of this happy day; wait patiently a little longer. Your +well beloved will not tarry long. She finishes her toilet; but you know +it is far to the fountain to which she has to go for water. + +"O husband, brother of my brothers, be patient! She has just put on her +robe, but she has only put on one sleeve. You would surely not have her +appear before you with one sleeve empty? + +"O husband, she has just arranged her hair; a beautiful belt encircles +her waist, but she has a shoe only on one foot; she must needs have time +to put on the other shoe also. + +"Husband,.... here she is coming,.... but she has put on only one +glove,.... give her time to put on the other!" + +When the young bride appears at last, the good hostess of Pohjola is +suddenly deeply concerned for her:-- + +"O wife, O purchased maid, O dove that has been sold! My sister, my +poem, my green branch, how many tears you will shed! + +"Your family were very eager to have the money paid down for you in the +hollow of a shield. + +"Poor ignorant girl, you thought you were leaving the paternal roof for +a few hours, for a day, perhaps! Alas! You have surrendered forever, you +have a master now!" {233}And then turning once more to Ilmarinnen, she +adds:-- + +"O husband, brother of my brothers, do not teach this child, the slave, +whip in hand, the way she must walk. + +"Do not make her cry under the rod or under the stick; teach her gently, +in a soft voice, with closed doors. + +"The first year by words, the second year by a frown, the third year by +gently pressing her foot. Be patient! + +"If, after three years, she is unwilling to learn, O husband, brother of +my brothers, take a few slender reeds, take a little broom-sedge, +chastise her, but with a rod covered with wool. + +"If she still resists, well; cut a twig in the woods, a willow branch, +not too stout, and hide it beneath your garment. Let no one guess what +is going to happen. + +"Above all, do not strike her hands nor her face; for her brother might +well ask you: Has a wolf bitten her? Her father might well say to you: +Has a bear torn her thus?" + +Does not this Saga, with all its harsh allusions, breathe a most +touching tenderness? It seems that the most delicate sentiments +were preserved intact amid the coarsest manners and the most violent +passions. What was your name, O naive muse of {234}Finland, who inspired +the good hostess of Pohjola? Were you not perhaps a daughter of those +beautiful Indian gandharvas, who said,-- + +"The elephant is led by a rope, the horse by a bridle, and a woman by +her heart." + +And does it not remind us of our humble and simple-minded neighbors, +when we hear how this Eternal Blacksmith, this first-class god who has +made heaven and earth, who buys a wife and beats her, expresses his fear +of the reproaches of his brother-in-law and his father-in-law? + +After this pause we must go on describing the other armies of gods +who had hastened to the banks of the Rhine in order to resist a common +enemy. + +By the side of the heavenly representatives of Scythia and Sarmatia, +of Prussia and Finland, we find other gods belonging to the different +Slavonic races. But why should we repeat here a complete list of all +this multitude of allies, whose curious names the most retentive memory +could not possibly retain? + +Suffice it to say that the Lithuanians, the Moravians, the Silesians, +Bohemians, and Russians were represented at this meeting by their most +formidable deities. There was Ilia, the great archer, whose arrows hit +the mark after having passed through a thickness of nine fir trees; +Radgost, the {235}merciless destroyer; Flintz, the skeleton god, who +bore a lion's head on his shoulders and drove a chariot of flames; +and the giant Yaga-Baba, whose head reached high above the loftiest +mountains. When a warrior was seized with fear before he beheld the +enemy, he immediately took him from the ranks and brayed him in a wooden +mortar with an iron pestle. + +All four of them brought in their retinue whole battalions of Strygi +or blood-suckers, of voracious Trolls, Marowitzes, and Kikimoras, who +smothered their victims; of Polkrans and Leschyes, the latter a kind of +dwarf satyrs, who could at will change into giants, and the former half +men and half dogs, singing and barking alternately. Their songs, +as fearful as their barkings, spread terror around them, and they +themselves killed at a hundred yards' distance by the venom of their +breath. + +Such were the allies whom the Roman and Scandinavian gods arrayed +against Christianity. + +When the new comers had been properly organized, Jupiter's eagle rose +above the clouds, uttered three piercing cries, turning to the three +points of the horizon, and at once from the East, from the West, and +from the South, there came forth the gods of Rome and Greece, abandoning +their mysterious retreats. There was Neptune with his Tritons, his +Harpies, and his marine monsters; and {236}there was Pluto with his +Fates, his Furies, and his whole host from hell. + +Odin struck his buckler, and from the far North came not only the gods +and the Valkyrias, with the heroes of Walhalla, but even the adversaries +of the Ases,--Hela, the wolf Fenris, the Giants of the Frost with Loki +at their head,--and all enlisted under him to take part in the immense +slaughter. + +Never had the armies of a Darius, an Alexander, an Attila, or a +Charlemagne, presented a more imposing and more terrible aspect; nor has +the world ever seen the like since. + +When the Sibyls and the Norns, the augurs and the witches had been +consulted, the march began. + +A few miles from the other side of the river, in the direction of +Argentoratum (Strasbourg), about half way up the slope of a gentle hill, +there stood a little chapel which had not been quite finished. + +The Sibyls and Druidesses had pointed out this building as the end of +the first day's march, not doubting but that the god of the Christians +would appear at the head of his legions, to defend his temple. + +The Confederates were advancing silently under cover of the night +in order to surprise the enemy, whom they thought fully prepared for +resistance. Odin was in command of the right wing of the {237}army, +Jupiter of the left. The Scythian, Sarma-tian, Borussian, and Finnish +deities under the orders of Tahiti, Perun, Percunos, Wainamoinen, and +Radgost, commanded the centre. + +As soon as they came in sight of the hill, they noticed a very peculiar +twinkling light, which shone out from the deep darkness, and was +surrounded below by a circle of light. + +Immediately the three light-footed messengers of the Roman, Slavonic, +and Scandinavian gods, Mercury, Algis, and Hermode, were sent out to +reconnoitre, accompanied by the Eumenides, the Valkyrias, and a small +detachment of Lapithes and Centaurs. When they returned they reported +that the light proceeded from the flaming swords of ten thousand +destroying angels. They were quite sure of it. + +Some of the allies immediately rushed forth, as is the usage in all epic +battles, to challenge the chiefs of the angels to single combat. But +Jupiter and Odin, thinking that all these private contests can only +jeopardize the success of the great battle, compelled them to obey +orders. + +Thor, who had been one of the first to rush forth, was so much +disappointed, that in his anger he let his heavy mace fall upon a little +town that was on their route, and that might possibly have impeded the +progress of the army. The mace {238}instantly returned to the hand of +the owner, and then fell and returned again and again. + +[Illustration: 258] + +The barking of Cerberus, the three-headed dog, of his brother dog Garm, +and the howlings of the Strygi, the Kikimoras, and the Polkrans. + +This was by no means all of the concert. + +Mars, Odin, Potrympos, and the other war-gods now drew their swords, +which produced a fearful grating sound as they came out of their +sheaths; next Jupiter sounds his thunder among the Romans, and after him +thunder Perun among the Slaves, Ukko among the Finns, and Thor among +the Scandinavians. The repeated crash of thunder. And thanks to this +incident, the plain had been cleared and levelled at the same time, and +the signal for the attack was given at once. The Corybantes beat their +drums in muffled tones; the chants of the Bards and the Skalds responded +from the right and the left wing, although their harps were soon drowned +in the bleat of the trumpets, the furious {239}lightning mingles with +the rumbling of the chariots of Tabiti, of Flintz, the skeleton god, +and of Pocu-los and Stribog, the gods of waterspouts and of Northern +tempests; the Egipans, the Cyclops, the blacksmiths of Ilmarinnen, begin +to push immense masses of rock before them, brandishing entire oak trees +as spears; while the Giants of the Frost with fearful clamor, which is +taken up by the whole army of invaders, follow them, led by the equally +gigantic Yaga-Baba, the terrible conductor of such an infernal concert, +who marks the time by beating with his iron pestle upon his wooden +mortar. + +[Illustration: 259] + +All these fearful noises, all these echoing explosions, seem to confound +heaven and earth; the {240}horizon trembles and shakes, the mountains +start and stagger. + +But the holy hill stands unmoved. + +The light which at first shone only at the base has gradually risen as +high as the summit, and the little chapel now shines brightly like a +brilliant constellation. + +Surprised at seeing no enemy appear, the army of the pagan gods makes a +halt. + +Suddenly, O miracle! lifted up as if by a gust of wind from on high, +the little chapel vanishes, and in its place is seen a simple altar +surmounted by a cross. + +Before this altar stands a young maid, showing neither ornament nor +weapon of defense,--a Virgin barefooted, with a child in her arms. + +She comes down the hill, a smile on her lips; the brilliant light still +encircles her brow and the brow of the infant; she comes straight up to +the allied gods, who begin to look at each other in utter consternation. + +She draws nearer, and all of a sudden an irresistible panic seizes +Jupiter and Odin, Mars and Thor, Wainomoinen and Perun, together with +the Eumenides, the Tassanis, the Cyclops, and the Giants, and all turn +back towards the river, cross it in fearful disorder, and crush each +other in their desperate flight, while their own temples and {241}their +own statues fall to pieces in the universal destruction. + +Some of these were buried in the Rhine, where we shall hereafter find +them once more; the remainder reached in sad condition their northern +homes, abandoning almost the whole of Germany to Jesus and Mary. + +It is but right to notice that in all the traditions which speak of this +struggle between the gods and the rising religion of Christ, no mention +is ever made of the Teut and the Esus of the Celts, the Alfader of the +Scandinavians, the Jumala of the Finns, and the Bog of the Slaves,--nor +is the Unknown God of the Romans ever mentioned. The reason is that +each one of these grand deities, like the Indra of the Indian heaven, +contained all the others and represented to the mind the idea of the +only one eternal God. + +This grand but vain effort of the pagan gods was made, according to +tradition, about the year 510 of the Christian era. In the course of the +same year King Clovis determined to erect a temple in honor of Christ +which should be worthy of Him, and laid the foundation of the Minster +at Strasbourg, perhaps with a design to replace the little chapel, which +had disappeared in so miraculous a manner. + +[Illustration: 265] + + + + +X. + +{245}_Marietta and the Sweet-briar.--Esus and Jesus.--A malgam-- +A Neophyte.--Prohibition to eat Horse-flesh.--Bishops in +Arms.--Interruption.--Come Home, my Good Friend!--Prussia and the Myths +of the Middle Ages.--Tybilimts, the Black God.--The little Blue Flower._ + +All who know me and esteem me will testify to my great natural modesty. +Even when I have {246}to do with fables, I would not venture to +invent the smallest thing; I am incapable of committing such a crime. +Nevertheless, some of my incredulous readers, when they see the +marvelous nature of the poem, in which the triumph of Jesus and Mary +over the allied pagan gods was celebrated, might possibly fancy it to be +a product of my imagination. In self-defense I feel bound to quote here +one of the countless traditions which allude to this great event. I once +more borrow from the Muse of the Finns. + +"There lived in those days a virgin who was so pure, so pure and chaste, +that her eyes had never seen anything but the eyes of her sisters, that +her hands had never yet touched a being in creation for the purpose of +caressing it. + +"She lived alone in her chamber, in company with her distaff, and +ignorant of what happened even within the narrow circle of shadows which +the sun traced around her house, and the image of a man was as foreign +to her eyes as it was to her mind. Her thoughts and her eyes had alike +kept their chastity perfect. + +"She was called Marietta. + +"One day, on a fine spring morning, Marietta felt a vague and +incomprehensible desire to enjoy the beauties of Nature. Her heart rose +within her with strange emotion. {247}"Impelled rather by a desire of +her own than by a command from on high, she opened her door and hastened +to a meadow inclosed with a hedge, which was near the house. + +"In this hedge a sweet-briar was in bloom. She drew near to inhale the +fragrance; she touched the flower, and that was all that was needed. +Marietta became a mother, and when her son was born she felt by the +boundless pride that filled her heart, that she had given birth to a +god. + +"In the mean time the other gods of her own country and of the adjoining +countries had been warned by their prophetesses that this child, born +of a virgin and a flower, would one day drive them out of heaven; they +assembled, fully armed and determined that mother and child must both +die so as to prevent the threatened catastrophe. + +"At the moment when they were holding their secret councils, Marietta +appeared in their midst holding her infant in her arms, and all these +gods, who had until now wielded such absolute power, fled in dismay to +the far North, and the icy gates of the North Pole closed behind them." + +This is the story of Marietta and her child Jesus. + +It would certainly seem as if this naive account, well known among the +ancient legends of Finland, was nothing less than a slight sketch of +that great epic poem which we have laid before our readers. {248}We have +only filled out the details by the aid of similar documents. + +Henceforth Christianity enjoyed the results of that great day at +Argentoratum. At a later period the conquered gods, it is true, showed +once more signs of resistance on isolated points, but from the first, +this triumph of Mary and Jesus, and perhaps also the victories obtained +by King Clovis, changed the first dawn of Christianity in Germany into a +kind of purifying conflagration, which spread rapidly from the Rhine to +the Weser and from the Weser to the Danube. + +Curious circumstances sometimes came to its assistance. Thus, many +Teutons had been taught by their Druid teachers to acknowledge but one +single God, and this primitive doctrine naturally reconciled them to +the new creed. But, more than that, the particular god whom they thus +acknowledged, was called _Esus_, almost Jesus! Others had followed the +example of the Slaves and worshipped the handle of their swords, which +bore the form of a cross; they naturally recognized in the Christian +cross a familiar emblem of protection and safety. Even baptism was in +no way distasteful to the followers of Odin. They readily adopted, it in +memory of the regular and regenerative ablutions with water which their +ancient creed prescribed. Odin had said to them in the Runic chapter of +the {248}Edda: "If I wish a man never to perish in combat, _I sprinkle +him with water soon after his birth?_" + +Finally, this just man, put to death by wicked men, this risen Christ, +reminded them forcibly of their own god Balder. Evidently the predicted +time had come. Balder, the ancient prisoner of Niflheim, was about to +renew the world; in his new shape, the Bright God was no longer the son +of Frigg; he was now Mary's son and his name was Jesus. + +This disposition, however, although plainly shown in many parts of +Germany, was by no means unanimous. + +At the table of King Clovis, the bishops, and Saint Reni himself, were +compelled to sit by the side of Scandinavian Druids. When they intoned +their Benedicite, the latter never failed to pour out their libations +in honor of Asa-Thor and Asa-Freyr. In spite of all the heroic and +indefatigable efforts of the priests, polytheism survived even among the +new converts, who would walk devoutly in the processions of Christian +worship, while they carried their idols and their fetishes under their +arms, and who never failed to make the sign of the cross when +they passed a tree or a spring that had been held sacred by their +forefathers. What could be done to make them sincere and orthodox +Christians? {250}Liberty, in the sense in which we understand it now, +and have good reason to understand it, would have appeared to a Teuton +or a Slave as a beautiful woman, with a wooden yoke around her neck and +all her limbs in chains. Germany had her laws, as well as every other +Northern country her written or unwritten laws, but the dignity of a +freeborn man consisted mainly in disregarding these laws. The free man +left his country, to engage in war wherever he chose, and his family, +to live in any country he might prefer. It was the same thing with +religious matters; he reserved to himself his independent judgment, +the right to worship as he chose and the privilege of combining such +articles of creed as pleased him. + +This curious freedom of religion, this curious amalgamation of creeds, +produced the strange result, that the neophytes especially remained half +pagan and half Christian, and preferred generally to "ride on the fence" +between the two creeds. + +In the Nibelungen Lied, which we look upon as nothing more than a great +epic poem of the Scandinavians, pagan at first but Christianized at +a later period, men are represented as going devoutly to church after +having consulted the Nix of the river as to their future fate. This is, +no doubt, a true picture of the Germany of the early Christian days. +{251}Some looked upon baptism, with its magnificent and pompous +ceremonies, as a pleasure; others submitted to it for a consideration. +Ozanam, who is exceedingly well informed about everything that refers +to this curious period of transition in point of religion, tells the +following anecdote:-- + +[Illustration: 271] + +One day there was a crowd of candidates for baptism; each one of them +was, as usual, dressed in white, as emblematic of purity. This symbolic +dress, made of a suitable material, was a present from the Church to +the neophyte, which he had carefully to preserve as an evidence of his +conversion. + +Now, on that day, all the available robes had been given away, when one +more candidate for baptism presented himself; the priest found at last a +robe of light color, but unfortunately in wretched condition. + +"What do you mean?" exclaimed the neophyte, angrily drawing back; "have +I not a right to claim a white robe as well as the others, and one of +fine wool?" and looking furiously at the priest he added: "Do you think +I am a man to be taken {252}in? This is the twentieth time that I am +baptized, and I have never been offered such rags before!" + +The naive candor of this good Teuton could make me almost believe that +he misunderstood the nature of the ceremony altogether, and looked upon +it only as a gratuitous distribution of wearing apparel. + +Other more painful mistakes were made when the Christian missionaries, +crossing rivers and seas at the risk of their lives, went to the +uttermost confines of Germany, and there encountered half savage nations +who were still worshipping the Scandinavian gods. + +The patient zeal, the gentleness, and the eloquence of these holy men, +succeeded finally in overcoming the convictions of these barbarians, and +in introducing among them not only the Gospel, but also the worship of +saints. The people received baptism, and not only welcomed the saints +with great eagerness and enthusiasm, but in their desire to do them all +the honor in their power, they hastened to turn every one of them into +a god! They erected altars to these new gods, and on these altars they +offered them human sacrifices. + +These same missionaries had been instructed to prohibit the use of +horseflesh among the new converts; but they found it very difficult +to overcome a custom which at that time was very general. {253}We can +hardly, at the present day, understand the importance which the Church +attached to this abstinence, since now-a-days the best of people are +perfectly willing to allow their horses to be taken from their stables +for the purpose of being served up at table! + +[Illustration: 273] + +The most serious difficulty in all such critical periods is this, that +while the true and faithful clergymen by their prodigious labors and +admirable self-devotion succeeded in converting and disciplining +great multitudes, false priests appeared among them, taking forcible +possession of parishes and bishoprics, often without waiting till they +became vacant. Pepin of Heristal and Charles Martel, his son, had just +compelled the pagan Saxons to take refuge behind the Weser. When the +war was over and they proceeded to dismiss the commanders of {254}this +numerous army till the beginning of another campaign, as was the custom +in those days, the majority among them claimed, as a reward for services +rendered, the right to exchange the sword for the crozier and the helmet +for the mitre. They evidently thought that the profession was an easy +one to practice and rich in rewards. + +Pepin and Charles resisted, but they had to give way. + +To the great disgust of the newly converted populations and to the great +injury of the holy cause, which they professed to have served, these +warrior-priests brought with them into the Church the manners of +the camp and the fortress. They surrounded themselves with squires, +falconers, and riding-masters, with horses and hounds; they hawked, they +hunted, they lived high, giving themselves up to all kinds of excesses, +and drawing the sword against any one who should venture to reproach +them. + +When war began once more, they almost all returned to arms, without, +on that account renouncing their ecclesiastic duties. Gerold, Bishop of +Mayence, perished in a battle against the Saxons; his son succeeded +him on the episcopal throne, and had hardly been consecrated when +he proceeded to avenge his father. He rushes into battle, challenges +Gerold's murderer, kills him, and quietly returns to {255}Mayence for +the purpose of officiating there at Mass and of returning thanks to God +for his success. + +Such acts of violence and such worldly enjoyments were incomprehensible +to the faithful; gradually the Church of the Apostles began to fear +the Church of the Soldiers. The Saxons, having vastly increased their +numbers by an alliance with the Scythians and Scandinavians, appeared +once more in the field. + +"But," exclaims the reader, whom I fancy I hear at this distance, "but +this is history, church history moreover, and you told us you would tell +us all about gods!" + +I confess I did, sir; and that is the reason why I have traced out, on +this historical ground, the narrowest and shortest possible path, on +which I can safely return to my own domain. + +"Well, then, let us return, my good friend." + +I beg your pardon, sir, but before we return, allow me at least +to glorify three men, who were called upon at that time to save +Christianity, and with it civilization, by the pen, the word, and the +sword. These equally great and equally heroic men are now three of our +saints. + +"Saints again!" + +Yes, sir, the first is Pope Gregory, the second Saint Boniface the +missionary, and the third the Emperor Charlemagne. Do not be afraid; I +shall {256}do no more than mention them, for fear of going again out +of my way and of speaking of forbidden subjects, against which you have +warned me. Allow me, however, to add that if the struggle which the +great Emperor undertook, was a long and ter-tible one, it was also +glorious far beyond all. Was it not marvelous, I ask you, to see +this nation of Franks, which but just now consisted of a mixture of +barbarians, go forth under the command of their young king, to become +the protector of Rome, of civilization, and of Christianity? The mace +had become a shield, the siege-ram a wall and a rampart. + +"Of course! Everybody knows that!" + +But, did you know this, sir: When the Saxons, conquered for the tenth +time, had received baptism, together with their king Witikind, when the +Rhine, also baptized, had become a French river and a Christian river, +when the whole of Germany bowed low before the cross, one of the nations +of that country, the Borussians (Pruszi, or Prussians), refused to give +up their old gods, and continued to refuse for several centuries to +come? And yet it was so. The proscribed gods, finding a refuge on the +banks of the Oder and the Spree, paid frequent visits, as was quite +natural, to their former followers. It was thus that the old pagan creed +was long preserved in the remote regions of Germany. You see, sir, I +have returned to my subject. {257}Let us rapidly conclude this first +part of our task, so as to reach at last the modern gods, who were as +popular as the others, and in their way neither less strange nor less +curious. + +During the time of the Middle Ages, Germany had been filling up with +towns and castles, feudal dungeons bearing aloft a helmet and a +cross. The cross arose wherever two streets met in a city and at every +cross-road in the country; the most beautiful cathedrals in the world +and the most magnificent monasteries were reflected in her broad river; +and still, in field and forest, in city and country, and along the banks +of the Rhine, the false gods were worshipped in secret. + +As the church taught that they were to be looked upon as demons, the +people dared not treat them badly. Demons are not guests to be turned +out rudely. + +"From the eighth century of our Christian era," says one of our erudite +authorities, "the Saxons and Sarmatians heard the Christian missionaries +speak so continually of the formidable power of Satan, that they thought +it best to worship him secretly in order to disarm his wrath and perhaps +to win his favor. They called him the Black God or _Tybilinus_; the +Germans call him, even now, _Dibel or Teufel_." + +This Black God now became for all the German {258}nations the army +leader of their proscribed gods, an army which was presently to be +largely increased. + +The princes and knights, followed by their vassals, departed in large +numbers, on the Crusades, but they brought back from the Crusades, +together with holy relics, traditions of Gnomes, Peris, and Undines. + +[Illustration: 278] + +The Rhine, disgusted at the loss of his royal dignity, and determined to +take his vengeance on the warrior-bishops, received these last arrivals +as he had those who came before. In his healing waters the Undines +mingled with the Tritons and the Naiads; the Gnomes found shelter under +the rocks, where they were hospitably received by the Dwarfs, and in the +evening twilight the Nymphs, the Elves, and the Dryads danced once more +merrily in company with Sylphs, Fairies, and Peris. + +No doubt Christian Germany looked afterwards at all this more in the +light of food for the imagination than of trouble for the conscience, +but in that happy land, where people believe and dream {259}at the same +time, and where the words of the poet are as true as the Gospel, the +imagination easily gets the better of conscience. Thus the search after +the little blue flower led many a learned man astray, far off into half +satanic paths. Besides, it lies in the nature of the German mind, which +has always a tendency towards idealism, its magnetic pole, to oppose to +the orthodox religion another more secret and more mysterious creed. + +[Illustration: 279] + +This was the case already in the fourteenth and {260}fifteenth century; +it is the case still in this, the nineteenth century, especially among +the country people, who have passed through the age of witchcraft in +which the Black God ruled supreme, and, completely modifying their pagan +notions, have transferred their Olympus to the Brocken, the mountain of +the Witches' Sabbath. + +Let us now see what the dwellers on the banks of the Rhine have done +with all their old gods and demi-gods of every denomination. + +[Illustration: 283] + + + + +XI. + +{263}Elementary Spirits of Air, Fire, and Water.--_Sylphs, +their Amusements and Domestic Arrangements.--Little Queen Mab. +--Will-o'-the-Wisps.--White Elves and Black Elves.--True Causes of +Natural Somnambulism.--The Wind's Betrothed.--Fire-damp.--Master +Haemmerling.--The Last of the Gnomes._ + +The reader is requested to recall what I have said before, that in +Germany manners, customs, and creeds, matters of prejudice as well as +matters of art, and even of science, may have a beginning, {264}but +never have an end. In that ancient home of mysticism and of philosophy, +everything is permanently rooted, everything is made for eternity, like +those old oak trees of the Hercynia of antiquity: when the parent tree +is cut down, and has no longer a trunk to bear boughs and branches, +it sends forth new shoots from the roots. Druidism also has become +permanent there. We have seen it fight against the gods of the Romans; +it fought in like manner against Christianity under Witikind; it was +kept alive, though in concealment, by the first iconoclasts or image +breakers, and when that whole vast country was at last conquered and +became wholly devoted to Catholicism, it broke forth once more quite +unexpectedly in the first days of the Reformation. Luther was a Druid +still. + +Thanks to this tenacity of life which characterizes creeds, and thanks +to the prolific nature of that soil, whatever seems to have disappeared, +rises again, under new forms, and whatever has perished is recalled to +life in some way or other. Let us prove this. + +Among all those gods which we have mentioned before, none surely would +seem to have been more readily forgotten, swept away by the wind, which +they claimed to render useless, or buried in the dust with which they +seemed to compete, than those tiny, microscopic deities, called Monads. +{265}And yet this was by no means the case. Did they not, in fact, +represent the elementary spirits? And the worship of the elements +continued in spite of all other creeds which tried to suppress it +forever. + +Only these atomic deities, still quite small, exceedingly small, had +increased in the most astonishing manner, when compared with their +original diminutiveness. They had even assumed a form and a body, a +visible body and a shape by no means void of grace. + +They had become Alps or Alfs, better known afterwards under their +Eastern designation of Sylphs. + +It happened occasionally that a belated traveller, a peasant or a +charcoal burner, returning homeward from a wedding towards the beginning +of night, would be fortunate enough to meet at a clearing in the woods +or on the banks of a brook with a band of little goblins, who were +making merry in the dim twilight. + +These were Sylphs, a little people flying in swarms through the air, +making their nest in a flower or building one with a few bits of grass +at the foot of a broom-sedge, and going out only in the evening to pay +visits and as good neighbors to perform their social duties. + +If the traveller, the peasant, or the charcoal burner {266}had walked +softly on the fine sand of the brook or on a grass-grown path on which +his steps could not be heard, and if he had then stopped in time so as +to be able to see without being seen, he might witness their gambols and +ascertain the secrets of their private life, without running any risk. + +[Illustration: 286] + +Have you, dear reader, have you heard Mercutio, in Shakespeare's "Romeo +and Juliet," relate how Queen Mab came, and say:--{267} + + "Oh, then, I see, Queen Mab hath been with you..... + Her wagon spokes made of long spinners' legs, + The cover of the wings of grasshoppers, + The traces of the smallest spider's web, + The collars of the moonshine's watery beams, + Her whip of cricket's bone, the lash of film, + Her wagoner, a small, gray-coated gnat!" + +Well, the peasant, the traveller, or the charcoal burner, enjoyed a +sight which was by no means less curious. + +Some of his Sylphs, suspending a thread of gossamer from one blade of +grass to another, made a delightful swing for their amusement, or took a +spiders web to supply them with a hammock. Others danced wildly about +in the air, beating their tiny wings with harmonious accuracy and +furnishing thus an orchestra for the aerial ball. + +Not far from them some little sylph ladies, no doubt excellent +housekeepers, were washing their linen in the beams of the moon, or +preparing a feast. + +The provisions consisted of a mixture of honey with the nectar of +flowers, a few drops of milk which the hanging udders of young heifers +had left on the high grass, and a few pearls of that precious dew which +aromatic plants secrete; this mixture was used as a seasoning for some +butterfly-eggs beaten up white as snow. + +If during the repast darkness fell upon them and {268}suddenly +covered the guests with its sombre cloak, other hobgoblins, the +Will-o'-the-Wisps, with wings of fire, came and took seats at the +hospitable table, paying for their entertainment by diffusing a pleasant +light all over the place. + +The principal occupation of these elves consisted in walking before +the wanderer who had lost his way so as to lead him back again into the +right path. + +Such were some of the harmless spirits of Air and Fire. Everything +has, however, been changed in these two elements. The Will-o'-the-Wisps +especially, angry at the reports of wicked people, that they are nothing +more than the products of burning hydrogen, or at best phosphorus in +a volatile form floating above damp places, have conceived a veritable +hatred against men and now only appear when they wish to tempt +travellers into marshes and deep ravines. + +As to the Sylphs, they also seem to have heard similar stories which +have been told about them, or they may have been irritated by the +chemist Liebig, who in his "Treatise on the Composition of the Air," +absolutely denies their existence, having found in his apparatus neither +Sylphs nor Sylphides. + +They have changed into faithless Elves, hostile to men, like the other +Gnomes.{269} + +[Illustration: 289] + +{271}The Fairies of our day are divided into two formidable classes. + +The White Fairies are damsels who wander about on meadows and in woods, +like the Willis of the Slaves, and lie in wait for inexperienced young +men, whom they persuade to join in their dances and keep dancing, till +they lose their breath and generally fall to the ground never to rise +again. German stories are full of such wicked tricks. The place where +they perform their diabolic dances, becomes quite silvery under their +feet. The shepherds can thus at once recognize the place where they have +been, and are sure to hasten away at once with their flocks. + +[Illustration: 291] + +The Black Fairies personify Nightmare and Somnambulism, but only Natural +Somnambulism, it must be borne in mind. {272}When men fall into this +state, the Black Elf directs all the motions of the sleeper; he lives in +him, thinks and acts for him, makes him get upon the furniture and climb +upon roofs, and keeps him from falling, unless... Poor sleeper, he allowed +them breath enough to swell the sails of a vessel or to chase the clouds +from one end of the heavens to another. + +Among the Celts all magicians had been able to command the winds and +the tempests at will; even now certain men in Norway and in Lapland will +sell you, for a small price, the wind you desire to carry you home. + +Careful! The Black Fairies are treacherous and cruel; the Fairy who +controls you for the moment may at any moment take a fancy to throw you +from your height. + +[Illustration: 292] + +The Alfs, who have thus become Elves or Fairies, are of course not the +only Spirits of the Air; their fragile and delicate structure would +never have al{272}In Germany, on the contrary, the wind was looked upon +as an elementary power. It was not deified, as in Rome, where there was +a whole windy family of gods, like Eurus, AEolus, Boreas, and Favonius, +but it was an important personage, with a will of his own and +independent action. The poets did their part to give importance to +_Master Wind._ + +I have in my hand a ballad, which will enable the reader to judge for +himself:-- + +"Gretchen, the pretty miller's daughter, was courted by the son of the +king. Her father, the miller, knowing that kings' sons are not apt to +marry, had chosen her a husband, a young flour merchant from Rotterdam. + +"The Dutchman was on his way up the Rhine; that very evening he was +expected to arrive, to make his proposals. + +"Gretchen called upon Master Wind to help her; he came in by the window, +but not without breaking a number of panes. + +"'What do you wish me to do?' + +"'A man wants to marry me, against my will; he is coming in a sail boat; +contrive it so that he cannot land at Bingen.' + +"The wind blew, and blew so well that the boat, instead of coming up to +Bingen, was driven back again as far as Rotterdam. {274}"At Rotterdam +also it could not make land; it was driven into the North Sea, and there +the Dutchman is perhaps still sailing about at this day. + +"But Master Wind had made his conditions before he went to work blowing +so well; and the pretty miller's daughter had agreed to them without +hearing them, for all around her the furniture, the doors, and the +blinds were shaking and rattling furiously, thanks to her visitor. Thus +it came about that poor Gretchen found herself betrothed to Master Wind, +which made her very sad, for now she had less hope than ever of marrying +the king's son. + +"However, Master Wind was as gallant towards his fair betrothed as he +could be. Every morning, when she opened her window, he would throw +her in beautiful bouquets of flowers which he had torn off in the +neighboring gardens. + +"If any young man of the village, whom she had rejected, passed without +saluting her, Master Wind was promptly at hand to carry off his hat +and send it up in the air so high, that soon it looked no bigger than a +lark. It was well for him that Master Wind did not, with the hat, take +his head off at the same time. + +"One day (when Master Wind must have been asleep), the king's son came +to the mill, made his {275}way without difficulty to Gretchen's chamber, +and forthwith desired to kiss her. Gretchen did not object. But at once, +and although out of doors all was quiet, the tables and chairs performed +a wild dance, and the doors and windows began to slam as if they had +been mad. + +"Gretchen herself began to twirl around and around in the most +unaccountable manner; her hair was loosened by an invisible hand and +whisked about her head with strange rustling and dismal whistling. + +"Terrified by the sight of a tempest in a close room, the prince +cried:-- + +"'Ah! accursed one, you are the betrothed of Master Wind!' + +"And at the same moment a terrible gust of wind carried off the king's +son, the miller's daughter, and the mill, and no one ever saw or heard +anything more of them. + +"Perhaps they went to join the Dutchman, who was all the time sailing +about in the North Sea, or the hat, which was still on its way in the +clouds." + +The legend does not tell us whether it was before or after this +occurrence that Master Wind married Mistress Rain. + +So much for the Spirits of the Air. + +As for the Spirits of the Fire, it must be remembered {276}that the +Will-o'-the-Wisps were by no means their only representatives. There +were also Salamanders, too well known to be described here; and St. +Elmo Fires, near relations of the Will-o'-the-Wisps. But we must pause +a moment to speak of the formidable Fire-damp, the miner's terror. The +remarkable feature about it is that it plays so insignificant a part in +the popular German myths, although it has destroyed so many victims in +all mountainous countries, and above all in the Hartz mountains. + +This subterranean lightning, far more fatal than that of the upper +regions, is known to the people of the Rhine simply as a tall monk, whom +they call Master Haemmerling. + +Master Haemmerling visits the mines from time to time in the guise of a +harmless amateur, or of an inspector, who is not fond of being hurried. +However, on Fridays especially, he is subject to violent attacks of +anger. If a laborer handles his pickaxe awkwardly, or if he is insolent +to his master, or the master harsh to him and requiring too much, he is, +quick as a flash of lightning, between them when they are as yet half +way under ground. Then he suddenly draws his long legs together, and +between his two knees crushes their heads with as little hesitation and +ceremony as a mother would show in destroying between her two thumbs the +{277}little hateful insect that has troubled her darling child. + +Nothing more need be said of the elementary spirits of Air and Fire; +but as we have followed Master Haemmerling into the lower depths of +the mountains, we might just as well remain there a while and make the +acquaintance of the Gnomes, the Spirits of the Earth. + +Can you see, through the dense air which fills these immense caverns, +the long, gigantic stalactites, reaching from the ceiling to the +floor and strongly impregnated with iron? They are the columns of this +subterranean palace, and around these stalactites, peaceful, slumbering +waters form a kind of little lakes, the shores of which look as if they +were covered with rust. + +Here and there, in the damp low grounds, half choked with ore and slag +of various kinds, dark reeds are growing in the shape of lizards; like +lizards they bend backwards, moving their heads from side to side and +showing thus the diamond eye which shines brilliantly at the extreme +end. + +These dark depths seem to teem with fantastic creatures; close by a +heap of grains of gold, stands immovable a watchful, silent guardian, +a griffin; a pack of black dogs, also guardians of the treasures hid in +this world of precious metals and {278}stones, are roaming incessantly +along the ceiling. On the sloping sides, dwarfs not larger than +grasshoppers, and jumping about like peas in the sieve of the winnower, +are gathering right and left the tiny gold and silver spangles which +are left at their disposal, while enormous toads are posted about as +watchmen. + +Finally, far back in the remotest part of these abysses the kings of +this empire are moving about; these thick-set men, with stout limbs and +monstrous heads, are the Gnomes. + +But people hardly believe in Gnomes any longer; the hard-working miners +who ought to come every day in contact with them, deny their existence, +and they have gradually passed into the class of fabulous beings. + +Still, I am told that as recently as last year, a pretty peasant girl +from the neighborhood of Hamburg appeared on a certain evening at a +ball, with a large ruby on her finger. She professed to have received +this gem from an Earth Spirit, who had appeared to her at the entrance +to the Faunus mines. + +The gossips of the village were not satisfied, however, with the +account, and suspected the Gnome to have been an English Gnome, who +was travelling abroad for his health and courting pretty girls for his +amusement. This conviction {279}was so strong that the poor girl had to +leave the country in disgrace. + +This is the last Gnome that has been mentioned in that part of Germany. + +[Illustration: 299] + +[Illustration: 303] + + + + +XII. + +{283}Elementary Spirits of the Water.--_Petrarch at Cologne.--Divine +Judgment by Water.--Nixen and Undines.--A Furlough till Ten +o'clock.--The White-footed Undine.--Mysteries on the Rhine.--The Court +of the Great Nichus.--Nix-COBT, the Messenger of the Dead.--His Funny +Tricks.--I go in Search of an Undine._ + +"After leaving Aix-la-Chapelle, I had stopped at Cologne, on the left +bank of the Rhine, which I then found completely covered with several +rows of women, a countless and charming multitude.... + +"Adorned with flowers or aromatic herbs, the sleeves {284}pushed up above +the elbow, they dipped their soft white hands and arms into the river, +murmuring certain mysterious words which I could not understand. + +"I questioned some people. They told me it was an ancient custom of the +country. Thanks to these ablutions and certain prayers which accompanied +them, the river carried down with it all the diseases, which would +otherwise have attacked them during the coming year. I answered, +smilingly: 'How happy the people of the Rhine must be if the kind river +thus takes all their sufferings to distant countries! The Po or the +Tiber have never been able to do as much for us.'" + +These are the words which Petrarch wrote in one of his familiar letters, +written on St. John's Eve. + +This letter, as precious by its date as by its contents, proves beyond +all question, that in the fourteenth century the Rhine was popularly +worshipped and adored on the very days on which the summer solstice is +celebrated by bonfires after the manner of the old fire worshippers. + +Unfortunately the Christians ended by appealing to the elements, to Fire +or Water, as to a judicial authority. + +The popular notion that the elements were perfectly pure and would hence +instinctively reject every impure substance, led naturally to ordeals +{285}by water. The accused was undressed; his hands and feet were tied +crosswise, the right hand to the left foot and the right foot to the +left hand, and thus bound he was thrown into a river or any watercourse +that was deep enough. If he floated, he was guilty and instantly burnt; +if he sank and remained for some time at the bottom of the water, he was +considered innocent--but he was drowned. + +Heinrich Heine, at least, tells us that this was the infallible result +of justice in the Middle Ages, and the Middle Ages ended in Germany but +yesterday. + +There was also a trial by bread and cheese (_exorcismus panis hordeacei, +vel casei, ad probationem veri_), but bread and cheese are not elements. +Let us return to the elementary spirits of Water. + +During the great religious reaction which took place after the days +of Charlemagne, all the mythological gods of rivers and streams +had gradually returned, more or less successfully, to their former +occupations. The great Nix or Nichus, upon whom devolved the rule over +all the rivers of Germany, was no other than the ancient Niord, a +very important deity and a kind of Northern Neptune. This very weighty +discovery is due to the learned Mallet. + +No doubt this god Niord was one of those who, on their disastrous flight +from Argentoratum, had {286}fallen into the Rhine. They thought that he +was drowned, but he had only taken refuge in one of the lowest, almost +unfathomable depths of the river. From this safe retreat the great +Nichus had defied the decrees of Councils and the anathemas of the +Christians hurled against all elementary spirits alike; there he had +summoned the subaltern deities of sources, ponds, lakes, and smaller +streams, the nymphs of the banks, and the hideous, scaly monsters which +swarmed at the bottom of the river. Organizing all these into a people, +an escort, and an army, he had come forth and invaded at the head of his +host the banks of the Neckar and the Main, the Moselle and the Meuse, +the great tributaries of the Rhine, and governed the inhabitants of the +banks by terror. More than once he had extended his ravages far beyond +the plains, overthrowing churches that had but just been completed, and +drowning in his waters all the deserters from the altars of Odin. + +Niord was a wicked god, who had a fearful temper. He held his subjects, +to whatever class they might belong, completely under his yoke, treating +them capriciously and cruelly, and making of the Rhine a hell of waters. + +It is to this dark and damp kingdom of the great Nichus that we have to +go in order to make the acquaintance, not of his great dignitaries, but +{287}of the very humblest and lowest of his subjects, the Nixen and the +male and female Undines, a race of anathematized demons, who make up, by +themselves, almost the whole population of this realm beneath the waters +of the Rhine. + +What! Must we really count our beautiful Lore, the charming fairy +Lorelei, you who preferred death to the punishment of making all men +fall in love with you, much as you loved men in general, must we count +you among the demons, evildoing and accursed sprites? No! How public +opinion has stoutly held its own in defiance of all the decrees of the +Church. Nixen, like the Fairies, are by common consent divided into two +classes: Nixen proper, who are former pagan deities and not too much to +be dreaded, and female Nixen, almost always harmless and at times even +useful. + +It is these latter only of whom we shall hereafter speak as Undines. + +The Nixen of the first class are ever ready to assume any disguise that +may aid them in attaining their purpose. Some of them roam about in +deserted places near the banks of rivers; others have at times +appeared in the neighboring towns, pretending to be foreign ladies of +distinction, or artists, generally great performers on the harp. Here +they have begun intrigues with credulous lovers or unlucky admirers. +Others appear at village {288}celebrations, mingling in the dance with +such energy, that their partners are intoxicated, carried away, and, +losing their heads, think they continue to hear the sound of harps and +violins, while they are already far away, led on by imaginary music, and +only return to consciousness on the banks of the river, at the moment +when they are about to sink helpless into the waters of the Rhine. + +[Illustration: 308] + +One important point, however, must not be overlooked. To protect +one's self against the allurements of these accursed fairies, a bit of +horehound or marjoram is sufficient. We hope all who propose visiting +the Rhine will be careful always to keep such an herb on their person. +Before they take out their passports they ought always to pay a visit to +an herbalist. + +The second class of Nixen, the only one in which we are interested, the +Undines, are, as far as I have been able to learn, the restless souls of +{289}poor girls who, driven to despair by love, have thrown themselves +into the Rhine. Unfortunately German lovers, not very courageous at +best, are but too apt to seek relief in suicide. + +[Illustration: 309] + +According to the somewhat uncertain information for which I am indebted +to my authorities or to my intercourse with the Rosahl family, the +Undines {290}are born as human beings and very inferior in power to +the genuine Nixen. They live under the water exactly the same time they +would have lived on earth, if they had not voluntarily put an end +to their existence. They are thus granted a kind of exceptional +resurrection and have here a preliminary purgatory, in which they but +too frequently expiate, if not the sin of their love, at least that of +their death. + +In the lowest depths of the river, at the bottom of vast, submerged +grottoes, a secret tribunal, presided over by the great Nichus, holds +its solemn meetings. Here they are disciplined with the utmost severity, +as is abundantly proven by a great number of terrible stories, such as +the account of the three Undines of Sinzheim, which the two brothers +Grimm report in their great work. + +Three young girls of marvelous beauty, three sisters, appeared every +evening at the social meetings of Epfenbach, near Sinzheim and took +their seats among the linen-spinners. They brought new songs and merry +stories which no one had heard before. Where did they come from? No one +knew, and no one dared to ask for fear of appearing suspicious. They +were the delight of these meetings, but as soon as the clock struck ten +they rose, and neither prayers nor supplications could induce them to +stay a moment longer. {291}One evening the schoolmaster's son, who had +fallen in love with one of them, undertook to prevent their departure +at the usual hour; he put back the wooden clock, which usually gave them +warning. + +[Illustration: 311] + +The next day some people from Sinzheim, who were walking by the side +of the lake, heard groans rising from the depths of the lake, while the +surface was stained by three large spots of blood. From that time the +three sisters were never seen again at the evening assemblies, and +the school{292}master's son faded away gradually. He died very soon +afterwards. + +These three sisters, so gentle, so lovely and laborious, had in nothing +betrayed a connection with the spirits of the lower world. The only +thing was, that people remembered how the hems of their garments had +frequently been wet, a sure sign by which Undines can be recognized. +Otherwise they seem to have been very much like other girls, and the +severity of the great Nichus appears hardly reasonable. + +As to this hour of ten o'clock, however, military rules cannot be more +rigorous than his. + +It must, on the other hand, not be imagined that all Undines are as +gentle and resigned as these three sisters. There are some who bitterly +resent having been abandoned by their lovers, and try to revenge +themselves; these seem to partake to some degree of the character of +the Nixen, or rather,--why should we not say so at once and quite +candidly?--they remain faithful to their instincts as women. + +As a proof of this statement I will quote a short but perfect little +drama, which Miss Margaret Rosahl has, at my request, copied from +Busching's voluminous collection. + +Count Herman von Filsen, whose estates lay on the right bank of the +Rhine, between Oslerspey {293}and Brauback, was about to marry the rich +heiress of the castle of Rheins, on the other bank. His messenger had +started to carry the letters of invitation to all the guests, but a +sudden rise of the waters had nearly prevented his crossing a small +stream. In trying to get over, his horse stumbled, and was drowned. The +messenger, however, did not lose courage, but went on his way on foot. +Everywhere he found the brooks swollen into streams, and the torrent +seemed to press him more and more closely, describing curves and +zigzags, with countless cataracts, barring him the way on all sides and +making the usual path impassable. + +By the aid of a huge stick and jumping from rock to rock, the poor, half +bewildered man kept on, walking well-nigh at hap-hazard, till he found +himself near the Rhine, into which the swollen torrent, rushing after +him with sudden fury, seemed determined to push him. + +Fortunately a small boat was lying quite near the shore: he loosened it, +took the oars, and returned to Filsen. + +When he reached the castle he said to the Count: "Sir, a Nix has barred +me the way." + +The Count did not believe in Nixen. He sent out another messenger. But +the same adventure befell him. + +The wedding day had been fixed and the Count {294}went on, although he +feared his friends and followers would be few in number. + +One morning, as he crossed the river from the right bank to the left, +in order to pay a visit to his lady love, a sudden tempest broke out. He +thought he saw a pale form arise from the waters, bending over the +bow of the boat and trying to draw it down into the abyss beneath +the waters. Thereupon he became thoughtful, sent for his steward, +and ordered him to find out what had become of a certain girl of the +neighborhood, Gott-friede from Braubach. + +[Illustration: 314] + +{295}"I met her a few days ago," replied the steward, "as she was going +to St. Marks Chapel, and I offered her holy water. Gottfriede asked me +about your approaching wedding. She was very well, and seemed to be in +good spirits." + +"Go and see if you can find her," said the Count, "and bring me word." + +[Illustration: 315] + +During the wedding feast Hermann von Filsen appeared joyous and +attentive to his bride, the new Countess, but the effort to appear so +caused his perspiration to break out profusely, especially when all of +a sudden a small woman's foot, white and delicate, appeared to his eyes, +and to his only, on the ceiling of the dinner-hall. + +He felt a chill in all his limbs. He rose suddenly {296}and fled to +another room, followed by his wife, his mother, and all the guests, who +thought he had been seized with sudden illness. + +In this room he saw, and he alone again saw, a white hand raise a +curtain and with the forefinger beckon him to follow. + +Long time ago Hermann had heard, without paying any attention at that +time to the statement, that such a small white foot and a small white +hand indicated the presence of an Undine and the coming of an inevitable +calamity. + +Now he believed it. + +The bishop, who had performed the marriage ceremony, was at the dinner. +Hermann went straight up to him, knelt down, and confessed aloud, and +with many tears, that a young girl named Gottfriede, fairer and better +than all her sisters, had loved him dearly, and that he had returned +her love and then abandoned her. Gottfriede had sought oblivion of her +sufferings in the river, and now was bent upon revenge. + +"Bless me, father, for I am going to die!" + +The bishop, before uttering the words of absolution, demanded first that +the Count should abjure his impious faith in such supernatural beings, +of whom the Church knew nothing. + +"How can I refuse to believe what I see? There she is! Looking as pale +as she was this morning {297}at the bow of the boat. Her hair, full of +green grass, is hanging in disorder all over her shoulders; she looks at +me with a tearful smile." + +"Nothing but visions!" replies the bishop. "Your eyes deceive you." + +"But it is not only by the eye that I am aware of her presence, I hear +her voice; she is calling me? Forgive me, Gottfriede!" + +[Illustration: 317] + +"You are out of your mind! These are the devil's snares! And who tells +you that the girl has ceased to live? That she has committed a crime? +Thanks be to God, Gottfriede came to me, she confessed to me penitently, +and now she is in a convent!" At this moment the assembly, already +deeply excited, was somewhat startled by the entrance of the steward, +who looked terrified, went up to the Count's mother, and whispered some +words into her ear. She could not repress a cry. + +"Dead!" she said. + +"Yes, she is dead, and I also must die!" cried Hermann in accents of +despair. + +The young bride, offended at this avowal of a previous attachment, had +at first stood aloof; now, consulting her own heart alone, she thought +of contesting {298}the right of this invisible rival, and with open arms +drew near the Count; but he pushed her aside rudely. + +The bishop began his exorcisms. While he was repeating the prescribed +words, the Count asked:-- + +"What do you want of me, Gottfriede? Forgive me and we will all pray +for you. You are seeping and kissing me by turns, but your kisses are +nothing but bitterness and sorrow to me, since I have given my name to +another, since another is my--" + +He could not complete the sentence. Uttering a sharp cry he fell at full +length to the ground, and on his neck appeared a long, bluish mark, such +as is seen in strangled persons. + +The great Nichus is, as we have seen, the master, the despot, the +_Wassermann_, par excellence, of all this watery, dark world, peopled +by Nixen and Undines. His authority is, moreover, by no means limited +to the exercise of judicial functions; his will, constantly under the +influence of an ill-regulated appetite, is law for everybody; the male +Nixen are his Court, and his harem is kept full by the fairest among +those women who become his own by suicide. This greenish-complexioned +Sardanapalus is said to celebrate incredibly monstrous orgies with his +drowned Odalisques. + +He is, in reality, Niord, the Scandinavian god, {299}and this Niord +again is, originally, one of those old Roman emperors, who were deified, +and whose portraits Petronius has left us drawn in mud and blood. + +[Illustration: 319] + +His principal agent, and the Jack-of-all-trades of the whole community, +Nixcobt, the messenger of the dead, has to maintain communication +between the people who live on the river, and those who live in it. +He is perhaps the most eccentric of all the mythical personages of the +Rhine. + +When morning is about to dawn and the mountain tops are beginning to +glow in a faint subdued light, a kind of low, thickset man of the most +hideous appearance, may occasionally be seen gliding along the houses of +a town, keeping carefully in the shade, or slipping down the hill-side +between the long rows of grapes, which are almost as high as he is. His +terrible head turns upon his slender neck as upon a pivot, and thus he +can see and examine everything without stopping for a moment. His bare +shoulders, his elbows, knees, and cheekbones are covered with scales; +small pins appear {300}at intervals at his ankles; his round glamous +eyes have a bright red point in the centre; his teeth and hair are +green, and his enormous mouth, split wide open and shaped like the mouth +of a fish, wears a fixed smile, which strikes terror in the beholder. +This creature is Nixcobt. + +[Illustration: 320] + +With daybreak he is back in the river to inquire if its mournful +population has been added to over night by some victim, suicide or not. +He takes down a description of each one, draws up a report, inquires as +to what induced them to seek refuge in the new world, and offers them +his services for the purpose of letting the friends and parents +know, {301}whom they may have left behind, ignorant of their fate and +inconsolable at their loss. + +Then he amuses the great Nichus with all his stories and all the clever +tricks he has been playing during his nocturnal visits to the people in +the villages and towns on the river. + +These merry tricks of Master Nixcobt form even in our day an ever +welcome staple of amusement to the young spinners during the long winter +nights, accompanied as they are by the cheerful hum of the swiftly +turning wheels. + +One day Nixcobt calls upon the tax collector of a little town on the +Rhine, whom he finds in great consternation. His wife has left his house +and he does not know what has become of her. To console him Nixcobt +tells him that she is dead, having drowned herself, and as a proof of +it, he shows him a letter which he has with his own hands taken from the +pockets of the deceased. + +The husband, whose tears had been flowing freely, dries them quickly, +becomes furious, and looks at his children with fierce glances. He is +jealous of their dead mother. Nixcobt laughs and goes to some one else. + +That some one else, an honest vintner of the Rheingau, has the night +before killed his friend in an excess of passion and then thrown the +body into the Rhine, together with the knife with which {302}he had +committed the murder. This knife Nix-cobt now presents to him, for he +takes delight in restoring lost objects of this kind. + +While the murderer stands petrified at the sight of the still bloody +knife, the Gnome hastens to the Mayor to report to him the whole matter. + +An inquiry is held, the vintner is found, holding the bloody knife in +his hand, he is hanged and Nixcobt laughs heartily. + +One night a notary of Badenheim, near Mayence, hears in his sleep a +voice saying:-- + +"John Harnisch, the great Nichus is courting your wife, who has been +changed into an Undine three months ago; she will not listen to him, and +{303}he wants you to tell him how he must manage to please her." + +The notary thought it was a bad dream, uttered a sigh as he thought of +his deceased wife, and fell asleep once more. But a chilly hand resting +upon his breast waked him once more, and the voice said:-- + +"John Harnisch, speak, speak promptly and be sincere, or you shall never +sleep again." + +John Harnisch resisted for some time longer, but a red flame dimly +lighted up his alcove and he saw a row of green teeth and scaly cheek +bones. Thoroughly frightened, he said what he could. + +"Thanks!" cries Nixcobt, and breaks out into a far sounding laugh. + +We might fill folios with all the lugubrious jokes of this messenger +of the dead, but we will abstain. Besides, Nixcobt has lost all respect +now-a-days. He is no longer seen gliding along the houses in towns or +slipping through the rows in the vineyards. + +We might in like manner tell a vast number of interesting stories and +quote endless _Lieder_ and ballads, which treat of Nixen and Undines. +For there are, besides, Undines of rivers and Undines of lakes, and +there are even some in the ocean; in Germany all watercourses, down to +the tiniest rills, have their Undines. {304}Only day before yesterday +I was walking on the banks of the Rhine; only yesterday on those of +the Moselle, This morning, wandering about at haphazard I encountered a +brook, a mere rill, which attracted me by its sweet murmurs. I followed +it, followed it for two hours. I happened to have nothing else to do. + +My tiny rill, a mere infant so near its source, was turning and twisting +in the thick grass and seemed to try and walk on all fours as little +children do. Farther down it had become a little girl, having increased +in size and bulk; it now wandered hither and thither, carelessly, +capriciously, leaping merrily over the rocks and carrying off here +a flower and there a flower that grew on its banks, no doubt for the +purpose of making a bouquet. Still farther on, I witnessed its marriage +with a big brook that had come down all the way from the mountains; it +was a young woman now, a wife, and walked soberly through the plain, +like a prudent stream, bearing already boats on its surface and +preparing to join an elder sister, the Moselle. Soon I had to cross +it on a bridge; on this same bridge four Prussian soldiers were busy +watching the water as it flowed by, no doubt in the hope of catching +a fair Undine as she was stealthily slipping down the river. As for +myself, I had in vain traced the unknown little river from its birth +all {305}along its banks, under the thick shelter of willows and alder +bushes; neither day before yesterday on the Rhine, nor yesterday on the +Moselle, nor today, did I ever find a trace of a Nymph, a Nix, or an +Undine! + +What must be my conclusion? + +A thief who had been brought before a police court and was there +confronted with two persons who had seen him steal, said:-- + +"These men claim that they have seen me, but I, I could bring twenty +other witnesses who would swear that they have not seen me!" + +"What does that prove?" asked the judge of the court. + +[Illustration: 325] + +I saw nothing. "What does that prove?" as the wise judge said to the +thief. + +[Illustration: 329] + + + + +XIII. + +{309}Familiar Spirits.--_Butzemann.--The Good Frau Holle.--Ko-bolds.--A +Kobold in the Cook's Employ.--Zotterais and the Little White +Ladies.--The Killecroffs, the Devil's Children.--White Angels.--Granted +Wishes, a Fable._ + +France, which is skeptic to the core, has no idea of the importance of +certain visible or invisible spirits, who eagerly seek the society of +man, sleeping {310}under his roof, or in certain cases becoming members +of his family, in the strictest sense of the word. Besides, they render +efficient services to a good housekeeper; they may do great harm if they +are made angry, and they give at times most useful advice. + +These hobgoblins, little known outside of Germany and England, frequent +also the French provinces watered by the Meuse, the Moselle, and the +Rhine, and are sometimes brought to Paris by cooks from Alsace and +coachmen from Lorraine. + +Let us rapidly glance, not at all, but at some of the best authenticated +among these familiar spirits. + +Evening has come, the night is dark, and master and mistress are fast +asleep. A servant with a candle in her hand and gaping to her heart's +content, goes once more over the house, looking in all the corners and +out of the way places and putting everything in order. All of a sudden a +door is swiftly opened and closed again right in her face and her light +is blown out. You will say a window has been left open and the draught +has done all this. + +By no means! It is the _Butzemann_. + +Some merry companions are assembled in the large dining-room of the +hotel and celebrate there a feast of grapes in memory of the divine +Dionysius. The night advances and there they are still, {311}glass +in hand, singing, drinking.... Silence! all of a sudden singing and +drinking comes to an end; the glasses halt half way in the midst of a +toast; the heavy eyes open wide, the trembling knees grow strong +once more. Every one of the guests hastens home. Three times a hairy, +ill-shapen creature has come and knocked with its wings against the +window. You will say it was a bat. + +By no means! It is the _Butzemann!_ + +The family is gathering around the warm porcelain stove, where they can +safely defy cold winter. The men are smoking, a pot of beer by their +side; the women are knitting and talking of the approaching wedding +of the eldest daughter. Oh misery! Away back in the fireplace, a great +noise is heard; a bright light shines. Coals and sparks are scattered +all around, and some have fallen upon the dress of the betrothed. What +is the matter? You will say again, it was a knot in the wood, perhaps a +chestnut that had been overlooked in the ashes and has burst now. + +By no means! it is the _Butzemann!_ + +The Butzemann, a prophetic family spirit, warns you of coming danger +and bids you prepare for an approaching misfortune. Never undertake +a journey, never get married if a clear sign has made you aware that +Butzemann has put his veto upon your journey or your marriage. The only +difficulty {312}you will have is to distinguish between Butzemann and a +puff of wind, a bat, or an exploding chestnut. + +It is much easier to recognize _Frau Holle_, as her presence is always +announced by unmistakable indications. She has assumed the task of +overlooking the poor country girls at their work. But it has never been +found out why this benevolent fairy of work-people does not live in some +great industrial city, or some beautiful country district, where the +signs of active life are abundant and the whirring of wheels or the +stamping of machinery is heard; where the spinners sing, and the +washerwomen beat time at the limpid stream. She prefers, with +unaccountable perverseness, to live in dismal swamps, beside faithless +Will-o'-the-Wisps and low Nixen! + +No one has ever dared examine this question so closely as to ascertain +the precise truth. + +Some have dropped timid hints that Frau Holle, now occupying a very +humble position and rated among the familiar spirits only, was once upon +a time a high and mighty personage, but they have had nothing more to +say of her past glory, as is the case with poor ladies who have been +"unfortunate." Others, with more boldness or more knowledge, have +recognized in her the goddess Frigg, Odin's wife. Dear Frau Holle! what +a coming down! what poor creatures we are, after all. {313}As soon as +the cross was planted on the banks of the Rhine and the Danube, Frigg, +under the name of Hertha (Mother Earth), had taken refuge on an island +in the ocean, where she lived invisible and alone in the heart of a +sacred forest, which was constantly invaded by the waves of the sea. + +A priest, who had remained faithful to the old religion, alone knew the +hour and the minute when the goddess would deign once more to appear to +men. At the given moment he drew forth, on the marshy island, a chariot +wrapped in veils. Hertha got in, and for some days travelled through the +world, diffusing all around her good will and consolation. Then all wars +were suspended; not only the sword went back into its sheath, but all +irons, all defensive and offensive weapons and even the iron shoes of +the ploughs, had to be kept carefully concealed. Hertha invited the +world to enjoy peace and repose. + +Now let us see in what respect Frau Holle or Holla reminds us of the +good goddess. + +At certain periods of the year, especially at Christmas, Frau Holle +leaves her marshy island in order to inspect the world. All who work in +linen, spinning, weaving, embroidery, or starching, are by turns visited +by the good lady. Their idleness and their carelessness are severely +punished. If one fine morning Annie finds her wheel {314}or Kate her +loom covered with green slime, if Bertha notices her work torn in the +place which she repaired only the night before, or if the water has over +night turned greasy and looks discolored, the poor girls may be sure +that Frau Holle has been on her round of inspection. + +If she is pleased, on the other hand, the ribbon around the distaff +holds a pretty marshflower, a lily, an iris, or a gladiolus; on the lace +cushion or on the seamstress's work a little golden needle is stuck, and +on the heap of specially well washed and well folded linen lies a cake +of perfumed soap, which fills the whole house with its sweet odor. + +Sometimes Frau Holle finds her way mysteriously to a garret, where a +poor woman is lying sick with fever, the result of overwork. Then she +finishes herself the work that had been begun, and when she leaves she +puts a few florins under the pillow of the sleeping sufferer. + +Blessings be upon you, good Dame Holle! Even if you were really once a +goddess of the first rank, you need not blush at your present condition. +Still, we cannot help asking, with a slight tremor of fear, how it can +have come about, that the noble Frigg, the all powerful Hertha, +should have been reduced to play the lady patroness of washerwomen and +seamstresses? How has this island in the ocean, with its sacred forest, +become a wretched {315}marsh, fetid and ill reputed? There is but one +answer to such a question: Frigg has been unfortunate. + +But the spinners and seamstresses, the clear-starchers and embroiderers +are not the only ones who are honored by kind attentions from the +supernatural world. The brothers Grimm say:-- + +[Illustration: 335] + +"In certain parts of the world, every person--man, woman, or child--has +his own goblin to do menial service; he carries water, cuts wood, and +fetches beer." During all this time the master has nothing to do but to +set still and to see the work done. + +This goblin is evidently the _Genius loci_ of the ancients. + +Among all these goblins, however, one is by far the most famous in +Germany, and at the same time the oddest, of whom the most extraordinary +stories are told. They call him _Kobold._ + +During the night the Kobold sets everything to {316}rights in the +kitchen; he cleans the glasses, the plates, the pans, and wages war +against the spiders and the mice. For all these attentions he asks only +a little food, specially prepared for him, for he would never dream to +ask for a share of his master's dinner. + +Although he seems to be specially devoted to the cook's department, the +Kobold is first of all attached to the house. If the cook is dismissed, +or if the master moves, he nevertheless remains in his old home, quite +ready to offer his services to the new comers. If the cook goes, she +says to her who takes her place:-- + +"Do not forget to put a little panada on the kneading trough for the +Kobold, or he might play you some ugly tricks. Be careful, for he is not +always in good humor." + +If the Kobold, or in his place the cat, eats the panada, the new cook is +sure to say:-- + +"Chim has been here; I see we shall be good friends." + +But if Chim has left the dainty untouched, or has merely tasted it, she +is troubled. + +"Perhaps he wants it made with the yolk of an egg? Or perhaps I had not +put enough butter to it?" + +Although the Kobold is almost always invisible, he is at all times +ready for a chat. {317}What are we to make of these strange beings, the +servants of our servants, who are even more faithful than the latter to +the house which they have once made their home, who do not, as we are +told is the case in some countries, insist so strongly upon certain +privileges that it becomes uncertain whether the servants are not +themselves masters and those who think themselves to be masters are in +reality servants? They generally do nothing but kindness. Nevertheless +they keep out of sight, thus shunning all public return for their +benevolent services. What are we to make of such servants? Martin Luther +answers in his "Table Talk." + +[Illustration: 337] + +"For many years," he says, "a servant had a familiar spirit who sat down +by her on the hearth, where she had made a little place for him, and +they talked to each other during the long winter evenings. One day she +asked Heinzchen (Chim, Heinzchen, and Kurt Chimgen are the pet names by +which German and Alsatian cooks generally call their Ko-bolds) to let +her see him in his natural shape. At first Heinzchen refused. {318}but +at last, as she insisted, he told her to go down into the cellar, where +he would show himself to her." "She took a candle," he goes on to say, +"and went into the cellar, where the Kobold appeared to her in the +likeness of a child of hers who had died some years before." Whether +he vanished then, leaving her in amazement and terror, or whether he +resumed the shape in which she had been accustomed to see him, we are +not told. It is a grim story upon which we do not care to dwell, for we +prefer to remember the Kobold as a cheerful household companion. It is +pleasant to think of those quaint little creatures, whose world is the +kitchen, and to imagine the joy they feel in sharing the busy, bustling +life that goes on there daily. Be sure they know every nook and corner +about,--every stew-pan and ladle, and are learned in the steamy scents +and fragrant savors which are the atmosphere of their home. At night +when the fires are out, and the family is asleep, they have a life of +their own. They are on the best possible terms with the cat, which they +permit to share their food, and with which they no doubt waltz when in a +gamesome mood. Happy Kobolds. + +According to general belief the Kobolds belong as much to the race +of men as to the world of spirits; they retain the size and shape of +infants, and that knife which so often is noticed in the form {319}of +a caudal appendage, is nothing less than the instrument with which they +have been put to death. + +There exist, however, quite a number of troublesome hobgoblins, who turn +the house upside down and deprive the people to whom they bear a grudge +of all peace and sleep, till they well nigh drive them mad. But these +creatures ought, in my opinion, not be mixed up with the Kobolds. The +latter are almost invariably gentle and inoffensive; if they sometimes +become angry, they act just like children; they break and smash things, +but they are easily pacified by the sight of some little tit-bit, as for +instance, a panada made with butter and eggs. + +[Illustration: 339] + +The Zotterais and the Little White Ladies seem, in their habits at +least, to come nearer to Kobolds. Very useful and easily satisfied, the +Zotterais are as fond of stables as the Kobolds are of kitchens; +they curry the horses, nurse {320}them when they are sick, and +keep everything in excellent order in their racks as well as in the +harness-room. + +The Little White Ladies, on the other hand, are more delicate in their +instincts and often quite fastidious; they like only blood horses, Arab +or Turkish horses, and hence the popular idea that they have originated +in the East. + +They slip into the stables of wealthy people, while the grooms are +asleep; here they light a small candle, which they always keep about +them, and then proceed to business. + +In the morning, when the head, coachman makes his round to see that +everything is right, he sometimes finds a drop of wax on the smooth +coat of a sorrel or an Isabel colored horse, and then he says to the +grooms:-- + +"You have not had much to do to-day, my friends, with your horses; I see +the little lady has been here." + +The Zotterais are of unmistakable German origin, for they take care of +horses without regard to race and without the help of a wax candle. They +have, of course, harder work to do and are more apt to become soiled +or to have accidents; but, nevertheless, they accomplish their purpose. +They are naturally easily tired, and hence they require a knot to be +made in the mane of a horse, where {321}they can suspend themselves and +rest. There is not a peasant on the banks of the Rhine or the Meuse, who +would neglect this duty, and I have myself often seen them attend to it +carefully. + +[Illustration: 341] + +Formerly the Zotterais also protected sheep against ticks and kept their +wool from getting tangled; they even derived their name from Zotte, +which means a flock of wool. In those days, it must be presumed, from +the habits of those benevolent little people, the fleeces must have been +whiter and better kept than they are now-a-days; but sheep raisers had +the unlucky idea, produced probably by avarice, that not a particle of +wool should be left on ram or ewe, and thus deprived their tiny friends +of all means to rest and recover breath when hard at work. The Zotterais +looked upon this neglect of what was due to them as an insult, and +abandoned the flocks of sheep for the horses in the stables. Besides, +they found it impossible to live on good terms with the shepherds' dogs. + +We must finally mention the most important and most extraordinary of all +familiar spirits, whom we must needs include among these favored beings, +{322}as he represents nothing less than the son of the house, the child +of the family. + +This is the _Killecroff or Suppositus._ The last mentioned name is +given to him because this so-called son of the house is in reality a +changeling, a supposed child, which has been put into the place of the +real child. + +[Illustration: 342] + +Who has taken the legitimate child from its cradle in order to put into +its place a _Killecroff_, and who is the real father of the latter? + +Both of these questions are met by one and the same answer. The Devil! +We have so far carefully avoided touching on matters of witchcraft; but +unfortunately they are as well known on the banks of the Rhine as on +those of the Thames and the Seine. The _Killecroffs_, however, children +of the Devil and begotten according to popular belief during the orgies +of the Witches' Sabbath, have been really in existence upon earth; +_suppositi_ or not, they have played their part in the world's history +and occasionally even left behind them illustrious descendants. {323}In +the same way as the Swedish king Vilkins and Merovaeus, king of the +Franks, boasted of being the sons of a sea-god, the dynasty of the +Jagellons in Poland were proud of their original descent from the Devil, +no doubt through Killecroffs, and actually bore in their arms certain +emblems of hell. + +How can a real Killecroff be recognized, since he has been, improperly +enough, counted in among the Kobolds? + +[Illustration: 343] + +From his first appearance in the world, the Killecroff excites the +astonishment, and sometimes the {324}admiration of his reputed parents. +He sucks so heartily and with such an appetite that his nurse has to be +reinforced by two goats and a cow, like the renowned Gargantua. + +When he is weaned a new marvel appears: he swallows his soup by the +tureen, "as much as two peasants and two threshers in the barn would +take," says a celebrated writer in speaking of this subject. + +He grows up and keeps everything in commotion around him; he provokes +quarrels not only among the servants, but even between his parents. If +some untoward event occurs he roars with laughter, on a day of rejoicing +he sheds tears and moans piteously. He takes a stick or a spit and rides +on it in his room, from morning till evening, climbing on every +chair and table, breaking everything that comes in his way, injuring +himself--also quite as readily, provoking cats, dogs, and even the +parrot on his perch, till they all mew and bark and scream. Then he runs +to the stable and sticks a pin into the croup of a horse to see it kick, +and then breaks open the doors and locks by the aid of a huge stick +of wood; next he rushes into the garden, playing the part of a tempest +there, destroying, uprooting, and breaking everything. + +In the poultry yard he wrings the hens' necks and walks over the young +chickens; in the kitchen {325}he loves to take up the tops of pots and +pans and to season the dishes according to his fancy with salt, pepper, +dust, ashes, oil, vinegar, mustard, sand, or sawdust, and never leaves +without having turned on the water everywhere. + +If a visitor arrives, he takes possession of him and stands between his +legs, and walks on his toes, pulls the buttons off his waistcoat, and +draws the strings out of his shoes; he troubles and annoys him in every +way, he pinches and scratches, he worries and tortures him. When his +mother cautiously observes that he must not trouble the gentleman he +obeys like a good child and leaves the gentleman alone, but not without +having first broken his watch-chain, taken his cane, and hid his +spectacles; the cane he drops accidentally into the well; as for the +spectacles, he forgets where he has put them. When the poor visitor, +quite overcome and exhausted, at last rises to go, he stumbles and falls +down the stairs, thanks to a string which his playful young friend, the +Killecroff, has stretched across the top step. + +The Killecroffs are generally the delight of their parents; fortunately +they do not live long. + +The great man whom I have quoted before, told the Duke of Anhalt +frankly, that if he were a sovereign like the duke, he would run the +risk and become a murderer in such a case, by ordering {326}every such +son of the devil to be thrown into the Moldau! + +This great man, who believed so firmly in Killecroffs, who believed +likewise in Butzemann, in Ko-bolds, in Nixen and Undines, who saw the +Devil in every fly that came to drink his ink or to perch on his nose, +was again Dr. Martin Luther. + +[Illustration: 346] + +The great Reformer, who was so valiant in combating the superstitions of +the Papists, seems to have taken very little trouble to get rid of his +own. + +But among the many delusions, in which he apparently delighted, there +was one, a really charming {327}one, which arose from the Christian +religion itself, and which, it seems to me, I cannot well pass over in +silence when speaking of familiar spirits. + +I mean Guardian Angels. + +A most erudite and clever academician, Mr. Alfred Maury, tells us in +his charming book on "Magic and Astrology," that according to Egyptian +doctrines a special star foretold the arrival of every man in this +world. In proof of this statement, he refers us to Horapollon, in his +"Treatise on Hieroglyphics." + +We infinitely prefer taking Mr. Maury's own evidence; and he adds: "This +creed exists still in some remote districts among rural populations, and +especially in Germany." + +It may be that in certain portions of Germany every man may still have +faith in his star; we are willing to believe it, since he says so; but +almost everywhere the star has been superseded by a Guardian Angel, +the White Angel, as they call him, a far more tempting personage, and +infinitely more intimate and sympathetic. The White Angel is much more +than the _Genius loci_; it is in fact the _Genius personalis_. + +Without entering here upon a serious discussion, on the subject of +Guardian Angels, whom the modern Church is disposed to ignore, we shall +prefer {328}inserting here, as a complement to our chapter on Familiar +Spirits, a legend, which we were fortunate enough to obtain directly +from very truthful and very beautiful lips:-- + +"A white figure appeared before the young girl as she awoke. + +"'I am your Guardian Angel!' + +"'Then you will grant me the wishes which I shall mention?' + +"'I shall carry them to God's throne. You may count upon my assistance. +What are your wishes?' "'O White Angel, I am tired of continually +turning the spindle, and my fingers are getting to be so hard by +constant work, that yesterday, at the dance, my partner might have +imagined he was holding a wooden hand.' + +"'Your partner was that fine looking gentleman from Hesse? Did he not +tell you that he adored your blue eyes and fair hair, and that he would +make you a baroness, if you would go home with him?' + +"'White Angel, make me a baroness.' + +"The evening of that day a young peasant came and asked Louisa's mother +for her daughter's hand. The mother said, Yes. + +"'White Angel, deliver me from this boor. I want to be a baroness!' + +"But the mother, who was a widow, had energy {329}enough for two. The +White Angel did not appear again; Louisa had to yield, and went on +turning her spindle. + +"One day her husband, who was a hard-working man, had over-exerted +himself and was taken ill. Louisa had seen her gentleman again. + +"'White Angel, he loves me still. He has sworn he would marry me if I +were a widow.'.... She dared not say more. Her husband recovered his +health completely. The White Angel still turned a deaf ear to her +wishes. She lost all hope of ever becoming a baroness. + +"Some years later Louisa was the mother of two beautiful children; +she was fond of her husband, whose labor procured for her all that she +needed, and when she thought of him and her two darlings, the spindle +felt quite soft to her fingers. + +"One evening, when she was only half asleep, lying by her husband's +side, with one of her hands in his, and the youngest of her babies at +her bosom, the white figure appeared once more and she heard a gentle +voice whispering something into her ear. It was the voice of the White +Angel. + +"What did it say? + +"It told her a fable. + +"'A little fish was merrily swimming about in the water and looking +seriously at a pretty blackcap which first circled around and around in +the air {330}and then alighted softly on a branch of a willow which grew +close to the bank of the river. + +"'"Oh," said the little fish, "how happy that bird is. It can rise up +to the heavens and go high up to the sun to warm itself in its rays. Why +cannot I do the same?" + +"'The blackcap was looking at the fish at the same time, and said:-- + +"'"Oh! how happy that fish is! The element in which it lives furnishes +it at the same time with food; it has nothing to do but to glide along. +How I should like to sport in the fresh, transparent water!" + +"'At that moment, a kite pounced upon the poor little fish, while a +scamp of a schoolboy threw a stone at the bird; the blackcap fell into +the water, the fresh, transparent water, and for a moment struggled in +it before it died, while the little fish, carried aloft, could go up +on high to the sun and warm itself in its rays. Their wishes had been +granted.' + +"'Louisa,' continued the gentle voice, 'our duty as Guardian Angels is +far more frequently to thwart wishes than to satisfy them.' + +"This was the moral of the fable. + +"Louisa pressed her husband's hand warmly, kissed her last born, +and said: 'Thank you, White Angel, thank you.'" {331}I am certainly +delighted to think, that if the poor Germans have Killecroffs among +their familiar spirits, they have at least also White Angels. + +[Illustration: 351] + +[Illustration: 355] + + + + +XIV. + +{335}Giants and Dwarfs.--_Duel between Efthesim and Grommelund.--Court +Dwarfs and Little Dwarfs.--Ymer's Solis.--The Invisible Reapers.--Story +of the Dwarf Kreiss and the Giant Quadragant.--How the Giants came to +serve the Dwarfs._ + +If legendary tradition is only a distant vibration of the bell of +history, where must we go and look for traces of the real existence of +giants? Must we believe the Edda or Holy writ itself? Afterwards the +great fossil skeletons of mammoths, mastodons, and other antediluvian +animals only revived the {336}memory of gigantic men. The Apocryphal +Books tell us that in the days of Enoch, a number of angels, amounting +to two hundred, had conceived a desire for the daughters of men and came +down to Mount Hermon in order to be near them. Some of the principal +ones are even mentioned by name; there were Urakabaramiel, Sanyaza, +Tamiel, and Akibiel. Is it a wonder, then, that credulous people should +have believed that devils also, who after all are but fallen angels, +have acted in the same way towards the descendants of Eve. The +Killecroffs, we have seen, were the offspring of a union between +devils and earthborn women; in like manner giants were the offspring +of marriages between women and angels. Women are evidently capable of +setting heaven, earth, and hell on fire. + +Germany, which was the last part of Europe to enter the great Catholic +Church, and was to be the first to leave it again at the time of the +Reformation, kept up the belief in giants longer than any other country. +Perhaps this was one of the results of the right of free inquiry. + +The giant Einheer lived in the days of Charlemagne and even served +in his army. Several centuries later there were gigantic burgraves +(Burggra-fen), living all along the banks of the Rhine. They have a well +known story there of a young and ingenious giant's daughter, who had +been jealously {337}guarded in her father's castle, and when she got +out into the fields for the first time in her life, brought back in her +apron a peasant with his plough and his two horses, whom she had picked +up on the way. She showed them to her father as being all three little +animals of very curious shape. + +[Illustration: 357] + +After a while, however, the giants became smaller and smaller, until +there were only a few left in the highest mountains, in dark forests, +and in the romances of chivalry. After that they disappeared altogether. + +The report is, however, that a single couple, man and wife, are kept +alive by magic art in an isolated part of the Hartz Mountains, to serve +as a specimen of the lost race. {338}At first the giants had produced +universal terror. The god Thor was blessed because he had driven them, +armed as he was with his famous iron mace, all across the Hercynian +forest. But as people became better acquainted with them, their fears +subsided. They turned out to be far from cruel, to eat human flesh only +in cases of dire necessity, and to act generally not only kindly, but +even like simpletons--a misfortune common to most men, who are too +fully developed in length or in breadth. This latter weakness is well +supported by a popular German tale. + +An old duke of Bavaria had at his court a dwarf, called Ephesim, and a +giant, called Grommelund. The latter laughed at the dwarf, and Ephesim +threatened to box his ears. Grommelund laughed only the more heartily +and challenged Ephesim to carry out his threat. The dwarf accepted +the challenge, and the duke, having been a witness of the whole scene, +ordered at once that a field for single combat should be prepared. + +Everybody expected to do as the giant did and laugh at the pigmy; as the +poor little fellow was hardly two feet high and would have had to climb +a long way before reaching the giant's ears. But it turned out very +differently. + +The dwarf began by walking all around the giant as if to take his +measure. The good-natured giant, {339}standing up immovable, looks down +upon him and laughs till his sides shake; but while he is holding his +hands to his sides, the dwarf unties his shoestrings and then worries +him by kicking and pinching his calves. + +[Illustration: 359] + +Grommelund laughs more loudly than ever, thanks to the tickling, takes +a few strides, steps on his loose shoestrings, nearly stumbles, and at +last, with a thoughtful presence of mind, characteristic of his race, he +stoops down to tie the strings. + +Ephesim has foreseen this, he avails himself of the opportunity, and +slaps the giant's cheek with his little hand, so heartily that the sound +reaches the ears of the duke and the lords of his court, who applaud +Ephesim's skill enthusiastically. + +The poor giant, humiliated and overcome, left the town, it is said, and +sought refuge in the mountains, where he died of shame. + +The people were thus beginning to have a very humble opinion of giants, +when a rumor was spread that they had entered the service of the dwarfs; +{340}not of court dwarfs, but of little dwarfs, who are so small that, +by their size, the others appear as giants. + +[Illustration: 360] + +These little dwarfs appear in the popular tales of Germany, under +different names, as _Wichtelman-ner, Metallarii, or Homunculi_, and +evidently, at one time, were found in great numbers throughout all the +mountainous parts of the North. In Bretagne they were also known as +_Couribes, Parulpiquets or Cornicouets_, but as they are ugly and evil +disposed, I presume they are not of the same race with our good little +dwarfs. These latter appear in the evening at the foot of large oak +trees, or in old ruins, where they come by the {341}thousand out +of every crack and crevice and gambol and frolic, but vanish at the +smallest noise. + +[Illustration: 361] + +{343}As to their origin there are different opinions entertained. One +theory alone is worthy of belief, because it is mentioned already in the +Edda. + +According to the Scandinavian Bible, when Odin had killed the giant +Ymer, his decaying body produced an innumerable quantity of small +worms. By a law of natural order which had already become operative with +insects, each worm changed into a chrysalis, and out of each chrysalis +came forth a little man, resembling, with a few trifling differences, +the race of full sized men, whom Odin had created. + +Like ourselves, they also are subject to all the infirmities of age, +to disease and death; like ourselves, they are at times capable of +reasoning with fairness. Skillful metallurgists, they are at work in the +mines, where we have already met them; they are not without imagination, +and even know what piety is. + +What religion do they profess? + +For a long time, we are told, the majority, having been converted to +Christianity, were under its benign influence, in a far higher degree +than we, for they did not carry on war among themselves, and all +authors, legends, and ballads agree, that they were gentle and peaceful, +loving each other, {344}kindly disposed towards others, laborious, +and very obliging. Hence they were universally known as the _Peaceful +People_,--das stille Volk. + +"In ancient times," says Wyss, "men lived in the valleys, and around +their dwellings, in the cavities of the rocks, dwelt the little dwarf +people, keeping always on very good terms with them, and helping them +even at times in their work in the fields. They took great delight in +doing good in this way; for generally they were very busy mining in the +mountains, and digging in the ground to collect the tiny particles of +gold and silver that could be obtained." + +Sometimes field laborers coming out to plant or to weed, found their +work already done, and heard the dwarfs, hid behind the bushes, break +out into loud laughter, when they showed their amazement. + +It happened one day, early in the morning, that some peasants in passing +a cornfield, saw that the stalks were falling in long rows, as if by +their own will; they were most cunningly cut off below, and now they +were ranging themselves, also to all appearance by their own act, in +long sheaves. The peasants had no doubt that the good little dwarfs +were there, working away stealthily, but of the tiny workmen not a trace +could be seen. + +The dwarfs possessed, in common with all these {345}mysterious races, +the power of making themselves invisible. They had nothing to do, for +that purpose, but merely to draw a little hood over their ears, which +formed part of their costume. + +Our countrymen, seeing that the wheat was not ripe enough to be cut, +became exceedingly angry against these injudicious friends, and arming +themselves with twigs, went to work striking right and left in the hope +of hurting one or the other by chance. They really heard some faint +cries of distress in the furrows, and soon the first rows of wheat +which had been left standing were thrown into violent disorder, thus +testifying to the flight of the little ones. + +Several of the dwarfs became even visible, as the twigs suddenly tore +the hoods from their heads. Thereupon the men became furious and tried +to strike all the harder; but suddenly a violent storm broke forth +and the hail came down in torrents, cutting the whole standing crop to +pieces and sparing only the rows that had been reaped. + +The rude countrymen now saw clearly that the Quiet People had foreseen +the hailstorm and anticipated the harvest on that account. They repented +their brutality, but the dwarfs, disgusted by their ingratitude, never +again appeared in that region of country. Similar occurrences took place +in other countries. {346}Now let us see, by what perseverance, by what +skill, and especially by what audacious conceptions these tiny beings, +not much more than a few inches high, succeeded in making themselves +masters of the giants. + +[Illustration: 366] + +They were running about quite bewildered, pushing and jostling each +other in their anxiety to regain their little mole-hill, he stood at +first with his mouth {347}wide open, lost in amazement. Then, to amuse +himself in true lordly fashion, he crushed a few dozen with his foot. + +But he was not without curiosity, and hence he tried in the next place +to find out something about their manners. The moment was not very well +chosen, it must be confessed. Men do not usually choose a city that has +just been taken by storm and given up to pillage, for the purpose of +studying the manners and customs of its citizens. But we have seen +before this, that giants are not remarkably bright. + +Our giant, whose name I have never been able to ascertain and whom I +will call for convenience sake, _Quadragant_ ("Quadragant was rather +colossal," I once read in "Amadis of Gaul;" our giant was really +colossal, for he measured thirty feet in height), our giant, I say, +stretched himself out at full length and fixed his eyes upon the hole +out of which he had pulled the oak tree. He heard a low humming noise +underground, but he could see nothing. + +He thought he would wait patiently, and in waiting he fell quietly +asleep, turning over so as to lie on his back, his usual position when +he was sleeping. + +After a few hours' sound and heavy sleep, such as all giants are said to +enjoy, he awoke. Finding {348}that the sun had in the mean time followed +his example and gone to sleep, he remembered that it was supper time, +and as he thought of the delights in store for him he uttered a long and +deep sigh of satisfaction. But something that his long drawn breath had +brought up, suddenly jumped out of his mouth. + +[Illustration: 368] + +This something was one of the dwarfs; and this dwarf, the boldest and +most intelligent among them all, was called Kreiss. + +But in order to make it clear how Kreiss happened to be almost in the +giant's throat, which was {349}of course only accidentally his home for +a time, we must go back and see what had happened while Quadragant was +asleep. + +When the little pigmies found their tree uprooted and their people +scattered in all directions, escaping through every crack and crevice in +the soil, they had rushed into a long subterranean passage, excavated +in days long gone by, by their forefathers. Here they had uttered their +well known cries of distress, resembling the chirp of crickets, and thus +they had finally reached the ruins of an old castle, inhabited by vast +numbers of their people, and chosen as the place of meeting of the +General Council of the dwarfs. + +Kreiss happened to have arrived the night before, as one of a numerous +deputation, and he at once suggested the propriety of burying the dead +with all due honors, before anything else was done. After that, they +might go to work stopping up all the holes and openings made by the +tearing up of the sapling, and filling the excavation which it had +produced, so that the rain might not come and inundate their long +gallery, which was their only safe means of communication. + +The two resolutions offered by Kreiss were carried by acclamation, and +all, loaded with brush and with stakes, went immediately to work. There +were some ten thousand of them. {350}They thought the giant had left, +but they found him lying full length on the ground and snoring most +fiercely. Their first impulse was to escape, but Kreiss held them back. +He had conceived a bold plan; he proposed to capture the giant. Were +they not already provided with ropes and with stakes? Was there not +strength in numbers? They immediately went to work, and in less than an +hour the murderer, unable as he was to make the slightest motion, was +bound to the soil which he had soaked with their blood. + +"What do you say?.... Yes, sir, you are undoubtedly right. This looks +very much like the manner in which Gulliver was treated in the island +of Lilliput. How can we help that? Besides, we must remember that there +have been dwarfs in Germany from time immemorial. If Jonathan Swift +undertook to transfer them to imaginary countries, whose business is +that and who is liable to be charged with plagiarism, I ask you?" + +We will not stop to discuss this trifling matter, which is of little +importance. We have weightier matters than that in hand. + +When the work was done and with the excitement of the efforts the first +enthusiasm also had somewhat passed away, the question arose what was +to be done with their capture. They looked at each other in great +perplexity. {351}The dwarfs are kind hearted people, who have a great +horror of blood. Besides, it would have been more difficult even, to +dispose of the giant after death than to kill him. Still, if they did +not kill Quadragant he would, as soon as he was awake, go to work and +cry for help lustily; then the other giants would, no doubt, hasten to +his assistance. The disgrace inflicted upon one of their brethren would +in all probability render them furious, and they would proceed at once +to uproot all the trees and to pursue the poor little people of dwarfs +down into the very bowels of the earth. + +While these and similar observations were passing in the crowd from one +group to another, Kreiss remained silent and thoughtful, supporting his +head in his hand and his hand on his elbow. + +In the mean time the crowd passed from simple talk to grumbling and from +grumbling to threats. There was nothing left but to undo what was done +as promptly as possible, to abandon this ridiculous enterprise and +to restore the giant to liberty in the same way in which he had +been deprived of it--during his sleep. If he should awake before the +operation was over, why, then they might try to appease his wrath by +handing over to him the authors of this fatal project. + +Ah! one can see at a glance, that these dwarfs, small as they were, +were nevertheless men, and {352}that it is better not to venture upon +attacking giants! + +They were utterly discouraged and demoralized. Calm in spite of all this +excitement around him, Kreiss was still meditating, apparently quite +unmindful of all the invectives that were hurled at him and the little +hands that were threatening him. But when some of them actually began to +loosen the ropes, he suddenly dropped his hands from his elbow and his +brow, and turning sharply upon his aggressors, he said:-- + +"I acknowledge my mistake and I am ready to atone for it. Go,--my seven +brothers and myself, we will alone set the giant free again. If he +awakes, he shall have to do with us and with us only. Go!" + +The former conspirators were well content to accept the proposition, and +without bestowing a thought upon their murdered brethren, they escaped +as fast as they could. In the dim twilight of the last hour of the day +one might have seen them running nimbly through the tall grass and under +the cupolas of mushroom, arousing in their hurry the beetles and moths, +or even mounting upon their backs in order to reach by their aid all the +more quickly their safe retreat in the ruins of the old castle. + +When all were gone save Kreiss and his seven {353}brothers, he said +to them: "Now that we are alone, we alone shall reap the glory of the +enterprise! So far from regretting what I have done, I mean on the +contrary, to enlarge our project in a manner which shall redound to the +eternal glory of our race." + +[Illustration: 373] + +The dwarfs are not only skillful metallurgists, but they are also most +expert carpenters and builders. + +Hence the good people of the Rheingau are {354}convinced that they have +built all those ruins of solid old castles, in which they are still +living and which they have so cunningly repaired and propped up that +they will last forever. + +[Illustration: 374] + +Now Quadragant was sleeping with his mouth wide open, as all large +people are apt to' do. Kreiss slipped boldly into this vast and spacious +cavity, armed with a long spear which was equally sharp and pointed at +both ends. He took care to rest at first most cautiously only upon +the projections of the teeth, which formed, so to say, a double row of +parallel battlements. By such assistance he passed from one end of the +abyss to the other, without troubling the slumbers of the giant by the +{355}slightest awkwardness in his movements. For a case of emergency +Kreiss held his spear firmly in his hands, ready to fasten it so between +the two jaws as to prevent their closing upon him. + +[Illustration: 375] + +His brothers were in the meantime busily engaged in preparing posts, +pins, and rafters, which they handed to him as he needed them. One of +them even went with him to assist him. + +They fixed strong piles between the two rows of teeth, and strengthened +the piles by beams, which secured them to each other. The work was by +no means an easy one, for in the mouth of the giant it was as dark as +night, and there reigned in it a heat equal to that of an oven. Moreover +Quadragant had dined that day on a deer and several {356}hares, and +as he liked his game high, like every good judge of fine dinners, the +perfumes of his breath increased the inconvenience caused by the heat +and the darkness. + +Kreiss's brother was all of a sudden taken ill, and had to leave to join +the others outside. They, however, continued work on the scaffolding, +and watched the giant carefully. + +Quadragant was absolutely in the hands of the eight dwarf brothers. + +They had passed up a lantern to Kreiss, which he hung upon one of +the transverse beams, and he now continued his work alone resolutely, +although he was every now and then compelled to stop his nose. + +His work was at last completed, and he was just about to leave this +damp, pestiferous abyss, when the giant awoke, and his first sigh +carried off the brave pigmy, as a gust of wind would have carried off +a dry leaf from a branch, and hurled him senseless into space. He fell +heavily upon the chest of the colossus. + +As soon as he recovered from the shock, he looked around carefully, and +saw, to his great satisfaction, that the bonds which held the giant +were beyond doubt strong enough to hold him a prisoner. Then he crept +cautiously all along the neck as far as his ear, and by its aid climbed +up the chin, after having crossed the cheek in its whole {357}length. +When he had found a convenient restingplace, he drew himself up to his +full height, and raising his feeble voice as loud as he could, he said +to the giant:-- + +"Murderer of our brethren, you are our prisoner, and you must die! +Commend your soul to God." + +[Illustration: 377] + +The giant tried to see the tiny being who was speaking to him so boldly, +and cast down his eyes. At first he could distinguish nothing but a +feeble glimmering light at the extremity of his nose; but the nose +itself completely concealed the speaker. + +Kreiss then advanced a few steps from the chin towards the mouth of the +colossus, and the latter now perceived a kind of little man, dressed in +a cloak of mouse skin, which he grandly wrapped around him, as Hercules +did with the skin of the Nemean lion. + +In his hand, however, he held not a club, but a lantern, in which a +firefly did service as candle. + +Thanks to this phosphorescent sheen, which seemed to surround Kreiss +as with a halo, Quadragant could examine him at leisure, and he asked +himself how such an embryo could have flown out of his mouth, and how +he, Quadragant, could have become his prisoner? {358}The contemptuous +glance which he threw at the dwarf made Kreiss aware of what he was +discussing in his mind. + +"You think you are not captured yet," he said. "Very well, try to get up +and walk, if you can!" Quadragant did try, and found that he was firmly +fastened to the ground by ropes and chains, by each single hair of his +head, by every hair on his body. He tried to speak to the pigmy, and he +could not, by any effort of his, move his jaws in the slightest way. + +"As to the manner of your death," Kreiss went on, "if the wolves and the +vultures do not hasten your end, hunger will do the work." + +At this thought of dying of hunger, a mode of death which he had always +looked upon as the most terrible of all, Quadragant's heart gave way, +and he began to cry piteously. Two torrents of tears flowed down his +cheeks, and after turning around the prominence of his lips, ran over +from his chin. + +Kreiss was compelled to leave his position, so as to avoid the double +current. + +Although quite firm in his resolution, he was naturally kind-hearted. +These many tears of such unwonted size finally touched 'him, but his +sympathy made him only the more determined to render his vengeance as +useful as it was complete. {359}"Listen to me, giant. You can buy your +life, if you choose." Quadragant's tears ceased to flow. Here was life +offered to him, and with that life he saw first of all a good supper +in store for him, and if his mouth had not been held so tight by the +scaffolding erected in it by Kreiss, his big face would have grinned +from ear to ear. + +[Illustration: 379] + +"But," continued the dwarf, "you will Tiave to devote your life and +your liberty, if we restore both to you, to the service of our decimated +people; do you hear? You must understand me clearly; you will not be our +protector, but our servant; you will unhesitatingly perform every kind +of work which may be required of you for our safety or our comfort. +First of all you will replant that oak tree, {360}under which the dwarfs +of this district were living in peace, and you will water it every +morning until it has taken root again. Now, close your eyes, if you mean +to accept our conditions!" + +Quadragant opened and shut his eyes quickly ten times in succession. + +Kreiss made with his lamp a kind of telegraphic signal; his brothers, +all seven dressed in garments of mouse skin or mole skin, and carrying +each one a lantern with a firefly inside, climbed in an instant upon the +face of the giant, which now looked quite brightly illuminated. + +Three of them took their station on his forehead; two others by the side +of each eye. The last two held each a long thorn in their hands, which +they seemed to use as a dagger. + +Kreiss, who had remained at his place, said again to the giant:-- + +"If, after you have been set free, you dare utter a sound to call for +help, you lose both of your eyes instantly. Mind the warning!" + +Armed with his double pointed spear, he then went once more into +Quadragant's mouth, and loosened one of the transverse beams which +formed the ceiling. The giant assisted him with his tongue in the work +of demolition; then, after drawing a long sigh of relief, he closed his +mouth and crushed between his formidable jaws all the timber, posts, +{361}and beams, as if they had been a bundle of matches, and swallowed +the whole in anticipation of his supper. + +[Illustration: 381] + +After that he swore an oath which binds the giants as firmly as the +invocation of the Styx pledged the s of Greece. + +"By the earth, which is my mother, by the mountains, which are her +bones, by the woods and forests, which are her hair, by the brooks, the +streams, and the rivers, which are the blood of her veins, I, {302}the +giant Quadragant, declare that I am the slave of the dwarfs." + +At sunrise Quadragant was up again, carrying his new masters between +his fingers, which he twisted together in the shape of a cradle. In +less than five minutes he reached, in obedience to their orders, the +old castle in ruins, where a 'solemn meeting was held, not only by the +fugitives of the day before, but also by the principal representatives +of all the dwarfs of that part of Germany. + +When the sentinels announced the arrival of the giant, all thought their +last hour had come and endeavored to escape, hoping to find a refuge in +the lowest depths of the old building. Kreiss, however, had ordered the +giant to put him down in front of the cellars of the castle, and now +entered the great Meeting Hall, assuming like all great conquerors, an +air of extreme modesty. + +Then he informed them that the giant was their slave! + +They at once threw themselves at his feet and expressed their desire to +proclaim him Emperor of the Dwarfs. + +Kreiss, however, having heard of a recent experiment of that kind, +was far from believing such sudden enthusiasm to be either deep or +permanent. + + +[Illustration: 383] + +From that day the giant abandoned his {363}old name of Quadragant, and +assumed that of _Ptitskuchen,_ which at that time meant Friend of +the Dwarfs, but which, translated into modern German, represents our +_omelette soufflee_. + +[Illustration: 385] + +{365}At first all went well; but at the end of three weeks Putskuchen +looked sad and melancholy; Putskuchen only took half a dozen meals a +day; Putskuchen was slowly fading away; Putskuchen was in love, in love +with a young giantess, who taunted him with having become the servant of +these wretched pygmies and reproached him with his poverty. The unhappy +creature fell off more and more, the _omelette soufflee_ fell down flat, +and Putskuchen was a mere lath of thirty feet in length. + +Kreiss had always felt a certain tenderness for him, and hence, after +having asked the consent of all the other chieftains, he placed in the +giant's hands a large heap of gold scales such as the dwarfs were in the +habit of collecting in the neighboring mountains. + +It was enough to buy three wives, instead of one. + +The fact had no sooner become known than all {366}the happy giant +fathers of the country desired him as a son-in-law, and when they saw +how liberally his services had been rewarded by his new masters, they +were all eager to become the serfs of the dwarfs. + +Thus, thanks to Kreiss, the giants gradually came all, one by one, and +entered the service of the dwarfs. + +Certain skeptics have maintained that the whole story is symbolic. + +According to their interpretation the giant fastened to the ground and +muzzled by the dwarfs, is the people, the people always kept down +and always held in subjection, in spite of its gigantic strength. The +dwarfs, who lived under the oak, the sacred tree of all nations of +Celtic origin, are the priests. + +We say: Shame upon people, who would change a legend into an apologue +and our friend Kreiss into a Druid! + +When the dwarfs became reconciled again to men, they compelled the +giants to execute for them great works of public utility, such as +bridges and highroads, which were afterwards generally ascribed to the +Romans. + +The belief in little dwarfs continues to this day to exist in most of +the Northern countries. They still live in myriads in the subterranean +regions {367}and in the rocks in Westphalia, in Sweden, and in Norway, +and they are still hard at work amassing vast treasures. + +[Illustration: 387] + +[Illustration: 391] + + + + +XV. + +{371}Wizards and the Bewitched.--_The Journey of A sa-Thor and his +Companions.--The Inn with the Five Passages.--Skryinner.--A Lost Glove +found again.--Arrival at the Great City of Utgard.--Combat between +Thor and the King's Nurse.--FREDERICH BARBAROSSA AND THE +KYFFHAUSER.--Teutonia! Teutonia!--What became of the Ancient +Gods.--Venus and the good Knight Tannhauser.--Jupiter on Rabbit +Island.--A Modern God._ + +Hear! hear! New and greater marvels still! But, unfortunately, we shall +be under the sad necessity of returning to our giants once more, much as +we have already spoken of them, from giant Ymer down to Quadragant, and +there may be too much even of the best things in this world. But let +the reader take courage; this time my giants are not real giants; or at +least they are giants of a very peculiar species. But instead of losing +time with limitations and explanations, let us begin our story. + +It was in the days when the Scandinavian gods were still in the full +enjoyment of their power. + +One fine day the god Thor, curious to see certain distant lands of +which they had told him most marvelous stories, set out on his travels, +accompanied by Raska, Tialff, and Loki. Leaving Sweden and Norway +behind, they arrived at the sea-shore and crossed over by swimming. A +mere trifle, of course, for people of their kind. On the opposite shore +they found a vast plain, and as night was approaching and they began to +feel that rest would be acceptable, they looked out for a shelter. In +this vast and deserted plain they see but one single building; a huge, +ill-shapen, and abandoned house, {373}rather broad than high and of +altogether exceptional appearance. It has neither doors nor windows, +nor even a roof; but the night fog may possibly conceal a part of the +edifice. The travellers enter and find a square, low vestibule, and at +the end of it five long passages; each of the travellers takes one of +these passages, looking for a door or a bed in the dark. As they find +neither bed nor chamber, they resign themselves and lie down on the +floor, with their backs to the wall. + +But even the walls seem to be elastic, and so does the floor; perhaps +a layer of straw or of moss was spread over them and gave them the +softness of felt, rather coarse, to be sure, but not unpleasant. The +travellers felt that they could sleep there comfortably and warm. So +they did. + +At daybreak Thor rubbed his eyes, stretched his arms and proposed to +take a turn in the country, to stretch his legs and to shake off the +heaviness of sleep. Through the white mists which were still hanging on +the tops of high hills he thought he saw a huge mass of disheveled hair, +and then he discovered in the centre of that head two eyes. At first +he thought this head and these eyes were simply a rock covered with +shrubbery and two small pools of water shining in the rays of the +rising sun. But soon the disheveled head began to move, bent down to +the ground, and turned now {374}to one side and now to another. In the +meantime the mists had risen and Thor found that he was standing before +a giant of such enormous size that those whom he was generally engaged +in hunting down would not have reached to his knee. + +The giant advanced toward him, always looking here and there, and still +with his eyes fixed on the ground, as if he were looking for something +he had lost. + +Thor, who was easily incensed by the sight of a giant, went straight up +to meet him and said in an arrogant tone:-- + +"What are you doing here? What is your name? Who are you?" + +"My name is Skrymner," replied the other. "Did you not know? As for me, +I have no need to ask you any such question; you are the god Thor, one +of those under sized gods who live with Odin on the ash tree Ygdrasil. +Have you seen my glove? I have lost my glove; yes! yesterday," he +added in the most indifferent manner possible, and as if he were solely +occupied with his search. + +"I have found nothing of the kind," replied Thor, who was always in bad +humor, and now regretted that he did not have his hammer at hand. + +"And do you travel quite alone?" asked Skrymner. {375}"I have three +companions." + +"I do not see them." + +"They are all three still asleep in that house there, in which we have +spent the night." + +And with his finger he pointed at the house, which they had used as an +inn for the night. + +Skrymner looked both surprised and delighted. "My glove!" he cried, +"that is my glove! I have found it." He hastened to pick up this +apparent house with its five long passages, and took it up, but not +before he had shaken it, holding it close to the ground, and showing +thus that he was not without a feeling of humanity. + +Loki, Tialft, and Raska tumbled out upon the grass, rather terrified +by their sudden ascension and the sudden somerset which they had been +forced to make. But as soon as they had recovered from their first +surprise, and especially from the discovery that they had spent the +night in a glove, they thought of continuing their journey. + +The country was unknown to them, but Skrymner offered to act as guide +and even to carry their baggage. So much obliging kindness and courtesy +drove all aggressive thoughts out of Thor's mind, especially as he now +had his hammer. + +At the first stopping place, and just when they were getting ready for +breakfast, the giant left them, although only after having pointed out +to {376}them the road they ought to take. Thor, however, found he was +unable to open the knapsack in which they carried their provisions; all +the strings and small chains by which it was fastened, were in knots. +They had to proceed on their journey without having had any breakfast, a +necessity which is most disagreeable to travellers, and even to gods. + +As hour after hour passed and the plain remained deserted and sterile, +their hunger became tormenting. They listened with all their might, +hoping they might hear the roaring of a bear or the lowing of a cow, +determined as they were to dine upon the one or the other; but the dull +rumbling of a storm and the distant roll of thunder was all they heard. + +Thor was furious at the idea that any one should venture to thunder +without having obtained permission from him, the god of thunder, and +rushed forward. Following the direction of the noise, he reached a rocky +defile, overshadowed by a few oak trees, where he found Skrymner lying +at full length between two hills and snoring furiously. This snoring it +was which the travellers had taken for the roaring of a storm. + +"No doubt," said Thor to himself, "the wretch is at work digesting the +provisions of which he has robbed us. No doubt it was he who tied all +those knots in the strings of our knapsack, in order to {377}conceal his +theft; but he shall pay for it dear! Besides, did he not speak of me as +an undersized god?" + +With these words he seized his hammer and threw it at the head of the +sleeping giant, who did not stir, but only passed his hand over his brow +as if a dead leaf falling from a tree had tickled him a little. + +Thor went up closer and struck him once more on the back of his head, +directly on the cerebellum, which in giants is unusually developed. + +This time the sleeper opened one eye, closed it again, and after having +scratched himself at the place where he had been struck, he fell asleep +again. + +Brutal by nature and doubly so when fasting, Thor had become perfectly +furious when he found himself thus mysteriously powerless. Fully +determined the next time to make an end, once for all, of his adversary, +he put on his invisible belt, which had the gift of doubling his +strength, seized his hammer with both hands and threw it with such +amazing force at the giant, that it sank up to the handle into one of +his cheeks and Thor had no small trouble in getting it to come back to +him. + +This time Skrymner was fully roused; he opened both of his eyes, raised +his hand to his cheek, and exclaimed that it was impossible to sleep +comfortably {378}in that place, as a fly had just stung him in the +cheek. + +Then, perceiving his assailant, who stood right before him, he asked him +good-naturedly, how he happened to be there, and whether he had lost +his way. In the meantime the other travellers are also coming up and +Skrymner offers to show them the way to the great city of Utgard, where +he promises they will find a good inn, a good table, a warm reception, +and not only enough for their wants but all that their heart can desire. + +Thor does not know what to think. Overcome and confounded, he follows +the footsteps of his guide, without being able to form any idea except +the one: to avenge himself in a signal manner for all his humiliations. + +The city of Utgard is of incredible size, the city walls, the houses, +the trees, the furniture, all are gigantic. Our travellers could easily +pass between the legs of the little children they met in the streets, +as we modern people pass under the triumphal arches of the ancients. You +see, now we are no longer in Lilliput, we have reached the island of the +giants with Gulliver. Gulliver might very well be the offspring of some +Scandinavian legend. + +The king received Thor and, his friends, laughing heartily at their +small size, and the seats they are offered are three times as high as +they are. {379}After a host of adventures in which our men, that is to +say, our gods, are continually victimized, Thor in his rage challenges +the giants to single combat. The king accepts the challenge and +offers to back his nurse, a toothless old woman, against the god. Thor +consents, eager as he is to vent his wrath on somebody, and determines +to pitch His Majesty's nurse out of the window. But by all his efforts +he hardly succeeds in lifting her slightly off the ground, and he +himself, exhausted by the struggle, sinks on his knees. + +On the next day our travellers came to the conclusion that they had +travelled far enough. Skrymner again showed the way, with his usual +courtesy, and when they were well out of the town he took the god Thor +aside and said to him: "So far you have only known my name and nothing +of myself, now you ought to know that I am Skrym-ner, the wizard. You +ought, therefore, not to mind anything that has happened to you during +these last days. You thought you were striking me three times with your +hammer, but in reality you were striking the impenetrable rocks, on +which I was apparently sleeping. As to the nurse, you have given proof +there of such strength as I should not even have expected from the great +Thor, when you lifted her from the ground; for the toothless old woman +is none other but Death, yes Death, {380}whom I had compelled to +come and take part in our games. The rest was all enchantment, mere +delusions! I wanted to see if the power of the art of Magic was equal to +that of the gods. Farewell, Asa-Thor, and a pleasant journey to you." + +More enraged than ever, Asa-Thor was about to throw himself upon him; +but the pretended giant had fled in the shape of a bird. Then Thor +turned back towards the city of Utgard, determined to destroy it +utterly, but before his eyes it dissolved into a column of smoke. + +Well, I promised you some of Mother Goose's stories--have I kept word? +And do not imagine that this story of Thor and the giants' city is of +doubtful origin--you will find it in chapters 23, 24, 25, and 26 of the +sacred book called Edda. + +Of magicians and wizards I could say much, but the road is long and I +am in haste to reach the end. And who does not know the story of the +prowess of Merlin and of the Maugis? + +In all the ancient traditions of the North there are found innumerable +tales of wizards, witchcraft, and ghosts. Now rocks are changed into +palaces, and now brutes into men and men into brutes; and the same +fantastic but always epic element prevails largely in all the old +romances of chivalry as well as in the great poems of Ariosto and Tasso. +{381}In almost all countries we find that epic poetry is closely allied +to religious sentiments and through these to the marvelous; for it has +always found a first home in temples and a first use for temples. Thus +it was in India with the Mahabarata, and in Greece with the myths of +Hercules and of Orpheus. It could not be otherwise with the Gallic or +German bards, nor with the Scandinavian skalds, all of whose grand poems +are most unfortunately unknown at present. + +But a feature more peculiarly German than the wizards, are the +bewitched, often called the Sleepers. In these Germany incorporates, as +it were, the loftiest of her patriotic aspirations, the saddest of her +disappointments, the most persistent of her hopes. They represent not +only her old faith, that could never be completely eradicated, but +also her old favorites, a Hermann and a Siegfried, the hero of the +Nibelungen, a Theodoric and a Charlemagne, a Witikind and a Frederick +Barbarossa, a William Tell and a Charles V. Her heroes, her beloved, +her glory--she has not allowed them to fall into oblivion and be severed +from the present; she will not admit that they are dead, they are but +asleep. Witikind under the Siegberg in Westphalia, Charlemagne in the +lowest rooms of his old castle at Nuremberg. There--and not, as might +have been imagined, in Aix-la-Chapelle--the mighty old {382}Emperor +rests majestically, surrounded by his brave champions, ready to awake +again whenever God shall be pleased to tell him that the moment has +come. + +As for Frederick Barbarossa, he sleeps in the Kyffhauser, one of the +porphyry and granite mountains of the Taunus, and so do others; there is +no denying the fact, for they have been seen! + +A few years after his disappearance from this world, Frederick showed +himself upon the summit of one of these mountains, whenever the sound of +a musical instrument was heard in the valley. Knowing his love of music, +the Philharmonic Societies of Erfurth and of other towns to this day, +are fond of serenading the old warrior. + +It is said that one evening, when the clock at Tilleda struck midnight, +certain musicians who had ascended the Kyffhauser, suddenly saw the +mountain open and a number of women adorned with jewels and carrying +torches, came out of the opening. They beckoned to them, the men +followed, continuing to play on their instruments and thus they came +where the Emperor was. The latter ordered a good supper to be served, +and when they were ready to leave again, the fair ladies of the court +escorted them back, with their torches in their hands, and at the last +moment gave to each of them a poplar branch. The poor musicians had +{383}hoped for better things from the Emperor's generosity, and when +they reached the foot of the mountain, they threw their branches into +the road, very indignant at having been so badly treated. Only one among +the number kept his branch, and when he reached home, carefully stuck it +by the side of the consecrated bunch of box which hung over the head of +his bed. Immediately, O marvel! each leaf of the poplar branch changed +into a gold ducat. When the others heard of this, they hastened to look +for their branches, but they never found them again. + +On another occasion a shepherd--others say a miner--met on the +Kyffhaeuser a monk with a white beard, who unceremoniously and just as +if he had asked him to come and see his next door neighbor, told him +to come with him and see the Emperor Barbarossa, who wanted to speak +to him. At first the poor shepherd was dumb-founded; then he began to +tremble in all his limbs. The monk, however, reassured him and led him +into a narrow, dark valley, and then, striking the ground three times +with his rod, he said: "Open! open! open!" + +Thereupon a great noise arose beneath the feet of the monk and the +shepherd; the earth seemed to quake and then a large opening became +visible. They found they were in a long gallery, lighted up {384}by a +single lamp and closed at the other end by folding doors of brass. The +monk, who no doubt was a magician, knocked three times at the door with +his rod, saying again: "Open! open! open!" and the brass doors turned +upon their hinges, producing the same noise which they had heard before +underground. + +They were now in a grotto, whose ceiling and walls, blackened by the +smoke of an immense number of torches, seemed to be hung with black as +a sign of mourning. It might have been taken for a mortuary chapel, only +there was no coffin or catafalque visible. The shepherd had, in the +mean time, begun to tremble once more, but the monk repeated his summons +before a silver door, which thereupon opened in the same manner as the +brass door. + +In a magnificent room lighted but dimly and in such a manner that it +was impossible to tell where the light came from, they saw the Emperor +Frederick, seated upon a golden throne, with a golden crown on his +head; as they entered he gently inclined his head, contracting his bushy +eyebrows. His long red beard had grown through the table before him and +fell down to the ground. + +Turning, not without visible effort, towards the shepherd, he spoke to +him for some time on different subjects and recommended to him to repeat +{385}what he heard to his friends at home. His voice was feeble, but it +grew strong and sonorous as soon as he alluded to the glory of Germany. +Then he said:-- + +"Are the ravens still flying over the mountains?" + +"Yes!" replied the shepherd. + +"Are the dead trees still hanging over the abysses of the Kyffhauser as +in former days?" + +"Who could uproot them, unless it be a great storm?" + +"Has no one spoken to you of the reappearance of the old woman?" + +"No!" + +"Well then, I must sleep another hundred years!" + +He made a sign to the shepherd that he could go, and then fell asleep, +murmuring the name of a woman which died on his lips. + +For among these great Sleepers of Germany there is also a woman, but a +woman rather of symbolic than real existence. What is the difference? +Tradition gives the following account of her:-- + +When Witikind was beaten by Charlemagne at Engter, a poor old woman, +unable to follow him in his flight, uttered lamentable cries and thus +added to the panic among the defeated army. When the {386}soldiers +obeyed Witikind's orders and stopped for a moment in the heat of their +flight, they threw a mass of sand and rock upon the old woman. They did +not expect that she would die when thus buried alive; their commander +had told them: "She will come back!" + +This old woman, who is to come back, is Teutonia, and it was her name +that Frederick Barbarossa was murmuring to himself as he fell asleep +for another century. + +When the old woman shall have succeeded in extricating herself from +this mass of sand and rock which weighs her down, then and then only +the great day will come. The heroes who now are held captive in their +mountains and subterranean grottoes, will shake off the torpor of their +long sleep; they will reappear among their people, the dead trees will +bear new foliage to proclaim their return by a miracle, and the cry of: +Teutonia! Teutonia! will resound in a thousand valleys, and the birds +even will repeat the name! + +They say that when this long wished for day does come, Germany will be +freed of all her difficulties, and will boast of having but one +creed, one law, and one heart; she will be glorious and free, one and +indivisible! + +We must wait for the birds to tell us so, before we believe it. {387}At +that time Teutonia and her emperors were alike asleep. They mention a +peasant woman from Mayence, who on her way home became so exhausted and +unable to bear the heat of the sun, that she had to seek shelter in an +isolated house, standing by the wayside in the midst of a plantation of +young trees. It was a dwelling of a skillful magician. She asked him for +leave to rest there a few moments. As he was in the midst of some of +his most abstruse calculations, he only replied by nodding his head, and +glanced with his eye at a bench in the most distant part of the room. +She went and sat down, but only on the edge, hardly knowing if she was +allowed to do so or not; every moment she got up to ask her host if she +disturbed him, and if she had not better leave him, tired and exhausted +as she was. She told him that she would much rather endure the heat and +the fatigue, than be a burden to him, she begged him not to mind her and +to go on just as if she were not there, and a host of similar phrases. + +Annoyed by her incessant, idle talk, the magician suddenly turned round +and fixedly looked her full in the face. Immediately she fell asleep. +(There was no doubt some knowledge of magnetism already in the world +at that time, but as yet only of magic magnetism). When the good woman +awoke, {388}she was alone; her host had left her. To her great regret +she was compelled to leave without being able to thank him for his +hospitality in her usual profuse manner, and to beg him to excuse her +falling asleep, when he did her the honor of keeping her company. + +As she left the house, she was not a little surprised to see around the +house, not a copse of young trees, but a number of tall pine trees and +noble oaks, but she thought it possible she might have left by another +door than that by which she had entered. + +When she at last reached her village, new surprises were in store for +her. Of all the good people whom she met on her way or whom she saw +standing in the doors of their houses, she could not recognize a single +one; she had to look a long time before she found her own house, and +when she reached it at last, it was inhabited by strange people, who in +spite of her protestations, pushed her out and treated her as mad. + +Then followed a lawsuit, the result of which was to prove, that instead +of sleeping an hour or so on that bench, as she believed, she had been +asleep there a hundred years. Thus the young saplings had had time to +grow up into large trees and her house to change masters. The +strangers who were now living in it and who had turned her out so +{389}unceremoniously, were nothing less than her great grandchildren. + +I hope, however, the matter was settled amicably. + +The Germans have, with that perseverance which characterizes the nation, +preserved all that could be preserved of their ancient gods as well as +of their former heroes; they do not like to lose anything, only they +did not embalm their favorites, but used enchantment. Let us, however, +notice at once for the honor of the gods, that they were never condemned +to sleep indefinitely. Not one of them is found among the great +Sleepers, such as Charlemagne, Witikind, Frederick I., William Tell, or +the peasant woman, from the neighborhood of Mayence. It is true, they +were exiled to certain remote districts, which they were not allowed to +leave, but they could at least move about and continue their former mode +of life there, after a fashion. + +It is not so very long since certain charcoal burners protested that +they had seen Asa-Thor, for want of giants to combat, hurl his hammer +against the tallest trees, which he broke and uprooted. + +They had also seen the enchanted hunt of Diana, whose deep-mouthed dogs +bark at night and disturb the slumbers of honest people in {390}Bohemian +villages. Who has not heard of the intrigues of old Venus, not with +her former, classic lover, the god Mars, but with the good knight +Tannhaeuser? If we are to believe Heinrich + +Heine, even Jupiter has been recently discovered again in one of the +Norwegian islands. + +[Illustration: 410] + +It would be the height of imprudence, of course, to undertake an account +of the discovery, after such a master. I shall, therefore, be content to +present a mere summary of this remarkable tradition. + +There is an island in the Northern seas, which is bordered by icebergs +and arid mountains: the valleys are dim and dark with heavy mists, the +mountain tops are covered with snow for nine months of the year. + +Here, one dismal morning, some travellers landed, driven by a tempest +much more than by their own free will. They were mostly savants, members +of great academies from Stockholm and St. Petersburg, who had undertaken +a voyage of discovery to the polar regions. The arid, almost {391}bare +soil did not promise a pleasant resting place, but the mountain slopes +towards the south produced fine grass and dwarf gooseberry bushes, and +the immense number of holes in the ground, together with distinct traces +of debris left at the openings, proved that the island was at all +events inhabited by countless numbers of rabbits. Of other animal life, +however, no trace could be found. + +Rabbits seemed to be the only inhabitants of the island, and that was +tempting enough for poor sailors who had for some time been put on salt +rations. + +Our savants prepared, therefore, a large number of traps and snares, +when suddenly a fierce tempest of snow and hail broke out, and compelled +them instantly to seek refuge in a spacious cave which opened in that +direction. + +They were not a little surprised to find here an old man, bald, hollow +cheeked, and pale, whose body was emaciated and decrepit and who was +hardly clothed in spite of the rigor of the climate. But beneath all +these signs of extreme old age, and great destitution, the stranger +displayed an air of authority, and on his serene and lofty brow such +supernatural majesty, that the travellers were filled with respect and +reverence, and well-nigh trembled at his appearance. {392}An eagle of +the largest variety, but so reduced that he looked the mere skeleton +of a bird, and with faded and disheveled plumage, sat in a corner, the +picture of misery, with his dull eyes and his drooping wings. He was the +old man's sole companion. + +The two hermits, having no other means of subsistence, lived by hunting, +and the old man found in addition, means to carry on a modest traffic +in the furs of the only game that the island contained; he laid up large +supplies of the small peltry and exchanged it for luxuries..... + +But my pen refuses to go on. I cannot reconcile it to my principles as +an author nor to my conscience as an honest student of genuine myths, to +repeat here a story, which is altogether apocryphal, and which belongs +much less to tradition than to mystification. + +Now, this old man was Jupiter, and as I think it over, I come to the +conclusion that Mr. Heine, who laughs at the most serious things, has +skillfully concealed his irony under the cloak of an interesting story, +for the mere purpose of telling us that the Chief of the Gods, dread +Jupiter, has become--a dealer in rabbit skins! + +I cannot follow his example. + +Without wandering from my subject, for I am still speaking of false +gods, I will substitute for {393}this necessarily much curtailed +account, another story which I can warrant as authentic. + +"In Persia," we are told by Count Gobineau, in a recently published +book of great merit, "the _Soufys,_ that is to say the savants and +philosophers, reject all dogmatic religion and believe in the reunion of +the soul with God in trances only. When this union is complete, the soul +is transformed and becomes itself a participant in the nature of the +uncreated essence, and Man is God." Human folly is always a disease +produced by human pride. + +France, also, has produced a few gods of that kind; I do not mean to +mention them, however, as belonging to the myths of the Rhine, which +have special reference to Germany only. But among the Germans, also, +there is a school of philosophers who without going as far as the +Persians go, are utterly incredulous, and disregarding trances +and immortal souls alike, have finally denied the existence of God +altogether and made themselves gods. This shows how anxious savants as +well as ignorant men are, in that beautiful country, to people the earth +with deities of every kind! + +It is the history of one of these earth-born gods which I propose to +give here, before I close this long chapter. Alas! he is dead now, and +that is a great pity; but he did live once; on that essential point +there is no lack of evidence. I could even, {394}like the Thuringian +peasants when speaking of Frederick Barbarossa, say: "I have seen him!" + +In the year 1800 there was born in Duesseldorf, in Prussia, a child in a +Jewish family recently converted to Christianity. This child might well +have been looked upon as of supernatural origin, so entirely different +was it, from its earliest days, from all that had ever been seen before. +Martin Luther no doubt, if the child had been one of his own, would have +pronounced him to be a Killecroff. + +He was not only noisy and troublesome, but he was also a pedant; he +snubbed professors and listened to the advice of very young children. +When his parents scolded him, he only laughed at them; when a grave +event disturbed a neighbor's household, he laughed; when the French took +his native city, he laughed; in fine he was always laughing. + +However, as he grew up, he gorged himself with logic, with mathematics, +with Greek and Latin and Hebrew and all kinds of good things besides. +He became even a philosopher before he was of age, but his philosophy +consisted mainly in a sarcastic laugh. When they spoke to him of the +position he might occupy in Duesseldorf, and of the wealth he might +acquire, his only answer was a grimace. + +A rabbi spread out before him heaps of gold, {395}promising to give him +that and more, if he would be his slave only for a few years; he refused +to listen to him. As he was a vain man, the demon of Fame endeavored to +tempt him, but he laughed in his face. + +At last the devil, a real devil, I am sure (his name was George William +Frederick Schlegel) whispered into his ear: "Would you like to be a +god?" + +This time our young philosopher did not laugh. He became a god, and, +from official jealousy, proceeded to deny the great God in Heaven until +he lost all human sentiments. He lived alone, friendless, childless, +without a family and giving up even his mother country, finding that +everything had to be done over again in this world, which he had not +created. + +After leaving Germany he came to France, and here in France he laughed +louder and bitterer than ever. In France they did not believe in his +divinity; they did not worship him, but they loved him as if he had been +a simple mortal; in France he made friends and he became like other men +once more. Finally, as he was after all bad only in his wit, he became +voluntarily a convert as he saw the evil fruit of his teachings. He +took a wife to himself with the sanction of the Church, and he died +a believer. {396}This ex-god was called Heinrich Heine, that Heinrich +Heine, who laughed so bitterly at his ex-colleague, Jupiter, and spoke of +him as a dealer in rabbit skins. + +[Illustration: 416] + +[Illustration: 419] + + + + +XVI. + +{399}Women as Missionaries, Women as Prophets, Strong Women and Serpent +Women.--_Children's Myths.--Godmothers.--Fairies.--The Magic Wand and +the Broomstick.--The Lady of Kynast.--The World of the Dead,' the World +of Ghosts, and the World of Shadows.--Myths of Animals._ + +Well? Have you seen enough of the gods and demigods of Germany, of the +Nixen and goblins, the Kobolds, the giants, and the dwarfs? Have I shown +you enough of this vast storehouse of human folly? I must confess, it +makes me melancholy to speak of all this, and I feel an urgent desire to +"shut up shop." + +The conscientious collector of myths, who has more material than he can +manage, and sees new myths continually rising before him, is not unlike +those learned physicians who spend their lives among crowds of insane +people. A fever of imitation seizes them and soon they begin to wander +like their patients. + +Perhaps I have reached that point myself without becoming aware of it. +The reader must judge for himself. + +My mind, filled with myths, symbols, and eccentricities, is ready to ask +for mercy, and still I feel it, there are some things yet to be done. +For instance, I recollect having promised to give a completion of the +history of the Druidesses, that is to say, of women, those myth-like +beings by eminence! That kind of instinctive sense, that delicacy of +almost intuitive perceptions which distinguished them from the other +sex in its material coarseness, could not fail to give them easily the +advantage over men. In Celtic lands as in Scandinavia they were the +models of all virtues, the oracles of the house. They were occasionally +beaten, {401}it is true, but they were also grandly honored, and in +Germany especially people burnt incense before them, long before they +smoked tobacco in their presence. + +[Illustration: 421] + +{403}At the time when Christianity came, the women played a prominent +and truly glorious part there; all the historians bear witness. Between +the fourth and the sixth century Fritigill, Queen of the Marcomanni, +Clotilda, Queen of France, and Bertha. Queen of England, had compelled +their husbands to bow down before the Cross, and not by witchcraft, as +the pagans wickedly maintained, but simply by persuasion. Other women, +who belonged to noble families or to the common people at large, a +Krimhild, a Thekla, and a Liobat, assisted the missionaries in their +dangerous enterprise and actually helped them in cutting down the sacred +oak trees. + +What had become, during these long continued persecutions, of you, fair +Gann, noble Aurinia, majestic Velleda, and of your sisters, the other +Druidesses? + +They were wandering about in dark forests, proscribed and weeping over +their departed glory; they concealed themselves in remote places where +the agents of the civil power but rarely appeared. Sometimes, of an +evening, they would venture forth, approach a belated traveller on a +cross-road, and {404}hold with him mysterious converse. Sometimes, +also, the inhabitants of a village, or even of a larger place, would go +secretly to their well chosen hiding places to consult them on the good +or evil chances of their prospects in life, or on an epidemic that was +attacking their cattle. Some people, and among them not unfrequently +recent converts, who were still strongly imbued with their former creed, +would ask them to name their new-born infants and thus to bring them +good luck. Hence they were at first known as _Godmothers_, and at a +later time as _Fairies_. + +It was naturally supposed that like the ancient fairies of the East, +these women also derived their power from the stars, for why else should +they have been met so constantly on the mountain slopes, when the moon +was shining brightly, or slipping suddenly from behind a rock or a tree, +where will-o'-the-wisps and fireflies alone were in the habit of being +about? + +Among these fairies many were kind and naturally benevolent; others, no +doubt embittered by their fate, appeared irascible and ill disposed. Woe +to the men, or even the cattle upon whom they cast an evil eye! + +This evil influence could be averted only by the assistance of another +fairy, a good one in this case, who relieved you more or less promptly +by means {405}of a talisman, a constellated stone, or certain words +possessed of magic power. + +Now, if we add to these godmothers, to these godchildren, to good and +bad fairies, the terrible Ogres, whose very name filled the people of +those days with terror, you will know all the mysterious personages +which appear in the myths of children and which we have all known in our +early days. + +If we were to examine these legends and traditions more carefully, we +should no doubt easily find "Bluebeard" again among the old burggraves +of the Rhine, as "Puss in Boots" has already been discovered there. "The +Sleeping Beauty" might very well be the peasant woman who had slept a +century under the influence of magic magnetism, and why should not our +little dwarf Kreiss and his brothers have furnished the first idea +of little Tom Thumb, with Quadragant to play the part of the ogre? In +"Cinderella" we might with the same readiness recognize one of the three +Undine sisters, who forgot amid the delights of the evening assembly, +that their furlough was out at ten o'clock? The same would apply, no +doubt, to many others who lived under the influence of wicked Nichus or +evil disposed fairies. + +Poor Druidesses! If you had at least survived as fairies! If they had +met you only in the air travelling simply by the aid of your magic wand! +{406}But in proportion as Christianity increased, your power necessarily +decreased. + +[Illustration: 426] + +The day came at last, when they dared transform you into fortune +tellers, and finally into accursed witches! Then your enchantress' wand +became that atrocious broomstick upon which you travelled through +the air on your way to the witches' Sabbath! Oh misery! Oh +{407}wretchedness! What a fatal overthrow of all earthly glory and +grandeur! + +When the women thus saw their power of ruling men by prophetic +inspiration slip away from them, they one fine day determined to change +their tactics, their ways and manners, and, I am sorry to have to say +it, almost their sex! They assumed the noisy and truculent manners of +their brothers and husbands and affected violent exercises, riding on +horseback, wrestling, and even fighting in battles. This was the age of +bullying women, of _Strong Women_ in fact. + +When they were young ladies they would admit no lover who could not +prove his affections by the most perilous adventures and impossible +enterprises. Such was the case with the famous Lady of Kynast. + +She owned a large domain and on this domain a ruined old tower which +stood on the summit of a steep, high rock, surrounded on all sides by a +deep abyss. + +Rich, young, and beautiful, eagerly sought for by a number of admirers, +she did not think, in her desire to keep them from becoming too +pressing, of undertaking an endless piece of embroidery like Penelope. +She did not embroider; in fact, she looked with contempt, and almost +with disgust, upon every kind of work that was done by women. {408}She +told her lovers that she was betrothed to Ky-nast--this was the name of +the old tower--and that any one who thought of winning her good will, +would first have to compete with her betrothed. To do this, nothing +was required but to climb up the rock and the tower, and after having +reached the battlements, to make a complete round, not on foot, however, +and assisted by the hands and knees, but on horseback, without other +assistance than the bridle. + +The flock of lovers took flight instantly; only two remained. They were +two brothers, bereft of reason by the strength of their passion. + +After having cast lots, the first one attempted the task and at first +he was successful. But that was all. He had no sooner reached the +crenelated top of the old tower, unaccompanied by his less active +courser, than he was seized with vertigo and fell instantly into the +abyss. + +The second brother, in his turn, climbed up to the top and actually +succeeded in riding some length along the battlements; but soon his +horse, feeling the stones slipping from under its hoofs, and the whole +tower rocking under the weight, refused to go on. To return was as +impossible as to proceed.{409} + +[Illustration: 429] + +{411}The knight, determined to carry through the undertaking in which he +was engaged, encouraged his horse with his voice and with his spurs, +but the poor animal remained immovable, apparently wedged in between +the large stones of the tower. At last, knight and horse disappeared +together; the abyss swallowed up their bleeding, mangled remains. + +The Lady of Kynast could not disguise her delight and her pride as +she received the congratulations of her noble neighbors; all the great +ladies thought of having a Kynast, or a similar trap, in which they +might catch' and try their lovers. + +No other claimants, however, appeared to woo this fair lady, who was so +well protected by her betrothed. The poor damsel felt rather aggrieved +by this neglect. She was by no means satisfied with having sacrificed +only two young men to her pride; she was gradually becoming soured and +ill-tempered, when at last a third lover presented himself and asked +leave to attempt the trial. + +She did not know who it was, and this surprised her; for how could he +have fallen in love with her? He might possibly have seen her on her +balcony, or at some royal feast; perhaps he was only allured by her +great reputation. However, there was nothing to lose by accepting his +offer. At best, he was only one more victim to be added to the list; +that was all. At that time women were ferocious. + +For some days a thick, heavy fog had shrouded {412}the castle and +the old tower from top to bottom, so as to make the ascent utterly +impossible. + +The simple laws of hospitality, required, therefore, that the lady +should offer her castle to the newly arrived knight. + +The latter was handsome and of fine figure; his features beamed with +bravery and intelligence; his white, delicate hands, exquisitely shaped, +proved sufficiently that he was of noble descent; and his large retinue +bespoke his high rank and large fortune. During three days he spent +almost all his time with the young lady, but as yet he had not dared say +a word of his love. She, however, felt herself gradually conquered by a +feeling which had, until now, been unknown to her heart. + +When the dense veil of mist was at length torn aside, and the Kynast +shone forth in its full splendor, she was on the point of telling the +knight that she would not insist on the trial in his case; but what +would her good friends, the noble ladies of the neighborhood, have said? + +When the moment came, the Lady of Kynast felt her heart fail her. She +shut herself in, she wept, she cried, and although little given to +prayers generally, she besought God to do a miracle in behalf of her +knight. She could, however, hope very little from such a miracle, for in +the meantime, loud clamors had been heard below, and as {413}she surely +thought the spectators were bewailing the death of her last lover, she +fainted away. + +[Illustration: 433] + +{415} Cries of joy and of triumph roused her again; the knight had +successfully accomplished the task. Quite overcome, she rushes to meet +him, and in her intense excitement and the depth of her passion, she +forgets that all eyes are upon her, and breathlessly cries out: "My hand +is yours." + +But he draws himself up to his full height, and, haughtily and harshly +he replies with a withering smile:-- + +"Have I ever asked you for your hand? I only came to avenge my two +brothers, whom you have killed, and I have done it, for I do not love +you, and you love me! Very well! Now you can die of your love, or of +your shame, as you like it! Farewell, I am going back to Margaret, my +darling, my wife!" + +The same evening the wretched lady had herself hoisted up to the top +of the tower, from whence she wished, as she said, to watch the setting +sun. + +But before the sun had sunk below the horizon, she had rejoined her +victims at the foot of the ruined old tower. + +Thus the Kynast obtained possession of his betrothed. + +The story might furnish an admirable plot for a grand opera. But, upon +reflection, I think it would {416}suit a circus better, for there are in +it three first-class parts for horses. + +The Lady of Kynast was a strong minded woman, rather than a really +strong woman; but there were others, who really distinguished themselves +by extraordinary physical strength. It would seem that the habit of +taking violent exercise had finally developed their muscles and sinews +to such a degree, that few men could be found strong enough to overcome +them in a wrestling match, or in armed combat. + +Such was the noble Brunehilt, queen of Isenstein, in Norway. + +_Soothsayers, Godmothers, Fairies, Strong Women, and Serpent Women_ are +not the only women of this class which we ought to mention here perhaps. +We might also speak of the _Swan Women_, who floated on the water in +the dim morning mist, clothed in a cloak of eider down; and the _Forest +Woman_, who was honored every year by the burning of a spindle full of +hemp, to keep her from doing any harm; and the _Water Sneezers,_ to whom +you had to say three times "God bless you!" in order to save their souls +from purgatory; and the little _Moss Gatherers_, who could not escape +from their enemies, the Forest Woman and the Wild Huntsman, unless a +benevolent charcoal burner would mark some trees with three crosses, +behind {417}which they could conceal themselves. But we must make haste +to conclude. + +However, as the great _Wild Huntsman_ has accidentally been mentioned, +we do not think it would be fair to leave him out and pass him over in +silence. + +[Illustration: 437] + +He is the Lord Hackelberg. Most imprudently he had begged God to allow +him to exchange his place in heaven for the right to hunt upon earth for +all time to come. To punish him, God granted {418}his prayer, and ever +since he has been hunting, with horns blowing and dogs barking, without +respite or repose. He hunts continually, day and night, to-day as +yesterday; he must hunt to-morrow as he does to-day, and yet he must +hunt the same deer, which forever escapes from him, and ever will +escape. + +Which of the two is most to be pitied, the everlasting huntsman, or the +everlasting game? + +How many others could claim a right to be mentioned here as well as he? + +These are the people who are _condemned to remain standing forever_, and +those who are _condemned to dance forever,_ another variety of bewitched +people. + +You do not think my material is all used up? By no means! In the first +place, I might have told you all about mythological animals; of Thor's +_buck-goat_, which enjoyed the same privilege as the boar of the +Walhalla, of daily satisfying the powerful appetite of its master and +his guests, and yet being replaced in all its bodily fullness, provided +only care had been taken to put all the bones aside. + +I might have gone back to give a fuller account of that famous +Iormungandur, the great sea serpent, which still exists in our +days--who dares doubt it? The crew of an English vessel, passengers, +{419}officers, and sailors, have unanimously testified in a legally +drawn up deposition that they have met it quite recently in the Northern +seas. What more evidence do you want? + +And the _Kraken_, that most marvelous of all cetaceans, which could +easily be mistaken for a habitable island, and on which imprudent +navigators once really landed, erecting their tents and saying mass, +without its ever stirring, until they hoisted anchors, when the animal +for the first time gave signs of life? + +And the _Griffins_, those perfect symbols of avarice, who are all the +time busily engaged in dragging forth from underground vast heaps of +gold and precious stones, merely in order to guard and defend them +ever afterwards, at the peril of their lives, although the gold and +the jewels are of no use to any one? And Sleipner, Odin's _eight-legged +horse_, and the dog _Garm_, etc? + +Passing on to another variety of zoological marvels, I might have +mentioned the _Salmon,_ whose scaly skin wicked Loki assumed as a +disguise in order to escape from the wrath of the gods after Balder's +death. And that marvelous _Sturgeon_ in the Rhine, which the French +legends have put to good profit. Let us pause a moment in contemplation +of this wonderful fish. + +A young, noble lady determined, in order to save {420}her honor, to +destroy her beauty, the grandest, most heroic, and most calamitous +sacrifice that can possibly be made. Hence, when the moment for action +arrived, her courage failed her. But if she could not bear the idea +of becoming ugly, she could at least mutilate herself. So she puts her +dagger upon the ledge of a window which overlooked the Rhine, seizes a +hatchet, and with a single blow cuts off her hand, which falls into +the river, and then with the bleeding stump terrifies her infamous +persecutor. Here the sturgeon makes its appearance. This providential +sturgeon has seen the hand drop into the river; it swallows it with +well-known voracity, but in the anticipation of restoring it, seven +years later, uninjured to the true owner, and thus to prove her +superhuman virtue. And this really happened seven years after the +occurrence in Rome, in the presence of the Pope and his assembled +Cardinals. + +At first sight it does not appear quite clear, how the sturgeon could +have passed from the waters of the Rhine into those of the Tiber, but in +this kind of stories there is no use in trying to comprehend everything. + +The noble lady and the sturgeon have furnished the theme for the +famous novel, "La Manekine," and later, in the Middle Ages, for a +great dramatic mystery on the French stage. {421}Before concluding this +chapter, I may be allowed to say a word about the _World of the Dead_, +which sends in certain consecrated nights its representatives to some of +the churches, or to silent dinners, and about the _World of Ghosts_, +the annals of which have been collected, and the laws of which have been +explained by Jung Stilling and Kerner. + +[Illustration: 441] + +These ghosts can imitate all the motions of men, walk, run, and even +jump, but they have no power over material objects; they cannot move +a table, a chair, or even a straw. All their united efforts would +not succeed in causing the light of a candle {422}to flicker. We can +therefore feel perfectly easy with regard to these ghosts; they cannot +injure our furniture, nor draw the knot of our cravat inconveniently +tight, if they should take a fancy to make an end of us. + +Nor can I keep altogether silence as to the _World of Shadows_, still +dimmer and less perceptible than the World of Ghosts. I shall therefore +content myself with a single instance, which we owe to a Dutch legend. +The master bell-ringer of the city of Haarlem, caught at a tavern by his +wife escaped with such extraordinary rapidity that his shadow was unable +to follow him, and remained hanging on the wall--a fact duly certified +by the signature and seal of the reigning burgomaster, the aldermen, and +other notables of said town. + +In spite of such overwhelming evidence one might be disposed to doubt +the authenticity of this remarkable occurrence, which Hoffmann, I +believe, has used in one of his Tales; but had not long before Hoffmann, +and long before the master bell-ringer of Haarlem even, the god Fo left +his shadow in some town of Hindustan, instead of his card? We try in +vain to find anything new under the sun; all our most famous myths and +all our most amusing anecdotes have travelled all over India before they +reached us. + +I might also tell you.... but he who tells {423}everything, says too +much. Let us here pause once more, and for the last time. Farewell, +reader, and may Heaven keep you sound in body and soul.{424} + +[Illustration: 443] + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Myths of the Rhine, by X. B. 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