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diff --git a/old/2005-06-frtom10.txt b/old/2005-06-frtom10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c074e57 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/2005-06-frtom10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4265 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Fairy Tales; Their Origin and Meaning +by John Thackray Bunce + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Fairy Tales; Their Origin and Meaning + +Author: John Thackray Bunce + +Release Date: June, 2005 [EBook #8226] +[This file was first posted on July 3, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: iso-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, FAIRY TALES; THEIR ORIGIN AND MEANING *** + + + + +E-text prepared by David Deley + + + +FAIRY TALES, THEIR ORIGIN AND MEANING + +With Some Account of Dwellers in Fairyland + +BY + +JOHN THACKRAY BUNCE + + + + + + + +INTRODUCTORY NOTE. + +The substance of this volume was delivered as a course of +Christmas Holiday Lectures, in 1877, at the Birmingham and +Midland Institute, of which the author was then the senior +Vice-president. It was found that both the subject and the +matter interested young people; and it was therefore thought +that, revised and extended, the Lectures might not prove +unacceptable in the form of a Book. The volume does not pretend +to scientific method, or to complete treatment of the subject. +Its aim is a very modest one: to furnish an inducement rather +than a formal introduction to the study of Folk Lore; a study +which, when once begun, the reader will pursue, with unflagging +interest, in such works as the various writings of Mr. Max-Muller; +the "Mythology of the Aryan Nations," by Mr. Cox; Mr. Ralston's +"Russian Folk Tales;" Mr. Kelly's "Curiosities of Indo-European +Folk Lore;" the Introduction to Mr. Campbell's "Popular Tales of +the West Highlands," and other publications, both English and +German, bearing upon the same subject. In the hope that his +labour may serve this purpose, the author ventures to ask for +an indulgent rather than a critical reception of this little +volume. + +BIRMINGHAM, +September, 1878. + + + +CONTENTS. + +CHAPTER I. +ORIGIN OF FAIRY TALES--THE ARYAN RACE: ITS CHARACTERISTICS, ITS +TRADITIONS, AND ITS MIGRATIONS + +CHAPTER II. +KINDRED TALES FROM DIVERS LANDS + +CHAPTER III. +DWELLERS IN FAIRYLAND: STORIES FROM THE EAST + +CHAPTER IV. +DWELLERS IN FAIRYLAND: TEUTONIC, SCANDINAVIAN, ETC. + +CHAPTER V. +DWELLERS IN FAIRYLAND: CELTIC, THE WEST HIGHLANDS + +CHAPTER VI. +CONCLUSION-SOME POPULAR TALES EXPLAINED. + +INDEX + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +ORIGIN OF FAIRY STORIES. + +We are going into Fairy Land for a little while, to see what we +can find there to amuse and instruct us this Christmas time. +Does anybody know the way? There are no maps or guidebooks, and +the places we meet with in our workaday world do not seem like +the homes of the Fairies. Yet we have only to put on our Wishing +Caps, and we can get into Fairy Land in a moment. The house-walls +fade away, the winter sky brightens, the sun shines out, the weather +grows warm and pleasant; flowers spring up, great trees cast a +friendly shade, streams murmur cheerfully over their pebbly beds, +jewelled fruits are to be had for the trouble of gathering them; +invisible hands set out well-covered dinner-tables, brilliant and +graceful forms flit in and out across our path, and we all at once +find ourselves in the midst of a company of dear old friends whom +we have known and loved ever since we knew anything. There is +Fortunatus with his magic purse, and the square of carpet that +carries him anywhere; and Aladdin with his wonderful lamp; and +Sindbad with the diamonds he has picked up in the Valley of +Serpents; and the Invisible Prince, who uses the fairy cat to get +his dinner for him; and the Sleeping Beauty in the Wood, just +awakened by the young Prince, after her long sleep of a hundred +years; and Puss in Boots curling his whiskers after having eaten +up the ogre who foolishly changed himself into a mouse; and Beauty +and the Beast; and the Blue Bird; and Little Red Riding Hood, and +Jack the Giant Killer, and Jack and the Bean Stalk; and the Yellow +Dwarf; and Cinderella and her fairy godmother; and great numbers +besides, of whom we haven't time to say anything now. + +And when we come to look about us, we see that there are other +dwellers in Fairy Land; giants and dwarfs, dragons and griffins, +ogres with great white teeth, and wearing seven-leagued boots; +and enchanters and magicians, who can change themselves into any +forms they please, and can turn other people into stone. And +there are beasts and birds who can talk, and fishes that come +out on dry land, with golden rings in their mouths; and good +maidens who drop rubies and pearls when they speak, and bad ones +out of whose mouths come all kinds of ugly things. Then there +are evil-minded fairies, who always want to be doing mischief; +and there are good fairies, beautifully dressed, and with +shining golden hair and bright blue eyes and jewelled coronets, +and with magic wands in their hands, who go about watching the +bad fairies, and always come just in time to drive them away, +and so prevent them from doing harm--the sort of Fairies you see +once a year at the pantomimes, only more beautiful, and more +handsomely dressed, and more graceful in shape, and not so fat, +and who do not paint their faces, which is a bad thing for any +woman to do, whether fairy or mortal. + +Altogether, this Fairy Land that we can make for ourselves in a +moment, is a very pleasant and most delightful place, and one +which all of us, young and old, may well desire to get into, +even if we have to come back from it sooner than we like. It is +just the country to suit everybody, for all of us can find in it +whatever pleases him best. If he likes work, there is plenty of +adventure; he can climb up mountains of steel, or travel over +seas of glass, or engage in single combat with a giant, or dive +down into the caves of the little red dwarfs and bring up their +hidden treasures, or mount a horse that goes more swiftly than +the wind, or go off on a long journey to find the water of youth +and life, or do anything else that happens to be very dangerous +and troublesome. If he doesn't like work, it is again just the +place to suit idle people, because it is all Midsummer holidays. +I never heard of a school in Fairy Land, nor of masters with +canes or birch rods, nor of impositions and long lessons to be +learned when one gets home in the evening. Then the weather is +so delightful. It is perpetual sunshine, so that you may lie out +in the fields all day without catching cold; and yet it is not +too hot, the sunshine being a sort of twilight, in which you see +everything, quite clearly, but softly, and with beautiful +colours, as if you were in a delightful dream. + +And this goes on night and day, or at least what we call night, +for they don't burn gas there, or candles, or anything of that +kind; so that there is no regular going to bed and getting up; +you just lie down anywhere when you want to rest, and when you +have rested, you wake up again, and go on with your travels. +There is one capital thing about Fairy Land. There are no +doctors there; not one in the whole country. Consequently nobody +is ill, and there are no pills or powders, or brimstone and +treacle, or senna tea, or being kept at home when you want to go +out, or being obliged to go to bed early and have gruel instead +of cake and sweetmeats. They don't want the doctors, because if +you cut your finger it gets well directly, and even when people +are killed, or are turned into stones, or when anything else +unpleasant happens, it can all be put right in a minute or two. +All you have to do when you are in trouble is to go and look for +some wrinkled old woman in a patched old brown cloak, and be +very civil to her, and to do cheerfully and kindly any service +she asks of you, and then she will throw off the dark cloak, and +become a young and beautiful Fairy Queen, and wave her magic +wand, and everything will fall out just as you would like to +have it. + +As to Time, they take no note of it in Fairy Land. The Princess +falls asleep for a hundred years, and wakes up quite rosy, and +young, and beautiful. Friends and sweethearts are parted for +years, and nobody seems to think they have grown older when they +meet, or that life has become shorter, and so they fall to their +youthful talk as if nothing had happened. Thus the dwellers in +Fairy Land have no cares about chronology. With them there is no +past or future; it is all present--so there are no disagreeable +dates to learn, nor tables of kings, and when they reigned, or +who succeeded them, or what battles they fought, or anything of +that kind. Indeed there are no such facts to be learned, for +when kings are wicked in Fairy Land, a powerful magician comes +and twists their heads off, or puts them to death somehow; and +when they are good kings they seem to live for ever, and always +to be wearing rich robes and royal golden crowns, and to be +entertaining Fairy Queens, and receiving handsome brilliant +gifts from everybody who knows them. + +Now this is Fairy Land, the dear sweet land of Once Upon a Time, +where there is constant light, and summer days, and everlasting +flowers, and pleasant fields and streams, and long dreams +without rough waking, and ease of life, and all things strange +and beautiful; where nobody wonders at anything that may happen; +where good fairies are ever on the watch to help those whom they +love; where youth abides, and there is no pain or death, and all +trouble fades away, and whatever seems hard is made easy, and +all things that look wrong come right in the end, and truth and +goodness have their perpetual triumph, and the world is ever +young. + +And Fairy Land is always the same, and always has been, whether +it is close to us--so close that we may enter it in a moment--or +whether it is far off; in the stories that have come to us from +the most ancient days, and the most distant lands, and in those +which kind and clever story-tellers write for us now. It is the +same in the legends of the mysterious East, as old as the +beginning of life; the same in the glowing South, in the myths +of ancient Greece; the same in the frozen regions of the +Scandinavian North, and in the forests of the great Teuton land, +and in the Islands of the West; the same in the tales that +nurses tell to the little ones by the fireside on winter +evenings, and in the songs that mothers sing to hush their babes +to sleep; the same in the delightful folk-lore that Grimm has +collected for us, and that dear Hans Andersen has but just +ceased to tell. + +All the chief stories that we know so well are to be found in +all times, and in almost all countries. Cinderella, for one, is +told in the language of every country in Europe, and the same +legend is found in the fanciful tales related by the Greek +poets; and still further back, it appears in very ancient Hindu +legends. So, again, does Beauty and the Beast, so does our own +familiar tale of Jack the Giant Killer, so also do a great +number of other fairy stories, each being told in different +countries and in different periods, with so much likeness as to +show that all the versions came from the same source, and yet +with so much difference as to show that none of the versions are +directly copied from each other. Indeed, when we compare the +myths and legends of one country with another, and of one period +with another, we find out how they have come to be so much +alike, and yet in some things so different. We see that there +must have been one origin for all these stories, that they must +have been invented by one people, that this people must have +been afterwards divided, and that each part or division of it +must have brought into its new home the legends once common to +them all, and must have shaped and altered these according, to +the kind of places in which they came to live: those of the +North being sterner and more terrible, those of the South softer +and fuller of light and colour, and adorned with touches of more +delicate fancy. And this, indeed, is really the case. All the +chief stories and legends are alike, because they were first +made by one people; and all the nations in which they are now +told in one form or another tell them because they are all +descended from this one common stock. If you travel amongst +them, or talk to them, or read their history, and learn their +languages, the nations of Europe seem to be altogether unlike +each other; they have different speech and manners, and ways of +thinking, and forms of government, and even different looks--for +you can tell them from one another by some peculiarity of +appearance. Yet, in fact, all these nations belong to one great +family--English, and German, and Russian, and French, and +Italian, and Spanish, the nations of the North, and the South, +and the West, and partly of the East of Europe, all came from +one stock; and so did the Romans and Greeks who went before +them; and so also did the Medes and Persians, and the Hindus, +and some other peoples who have always remained in Asia. And to +the people from whom all these nations have sprung learned men +have given two names. Sometimes they are called the Indo-Germanic +or Indo-European race, to show how widely they extend; and +sometimes they are called the Aryan race, from a word which is +found in their language, and which comes from the root "ar," to +plough, and is supposed to mean noble, or of a good family. + +But how do we know that there were any such people, and that we +in England are descended from them, or that they were the +forefathers of the other nations of Europe, and of the Hindus, +and of the old Greeks and Romans? We know it by a most curious +and ingenious process of what may be called digging out and +building up. Some of you may remember that years ago there was +found in New Zealand a strange-looking bone, which nobody could +make anything of, and which seemed to have belonged to some +creature quite lost to the world as we know it. This bone was +sent home to England to a great naturalist, Professor Owen, of +the British Museum, who looked at it, turned it over, thought +about it, and then came to the conclusion that it was a bone +which had once formed part of a gigantic bird. Then; by degrees, +he began to see the kind of general form which such a bird must +have presented, and finally, putting one thing to another, and +fitting part to part, he declared it to be a bird of gigantic +size, and of a particular character, which he was able to +describe; and this opinion was confirmed by later discoveries of +other bones and fragments, so that an almost complete skeleton +of the Dinornis may now be seen in this country. Well, our +knowledge of the Aryan people, and of our own descent from them, +has been found out in much the same way. Learned men observed, +as a curious thing, that in various European languages there +were words of the same kind, and having the same root forms; +they found also that these forms of roots existed in the older +language of Greece; and then they found that they existed also +in Sanskrit, the oldest language of India--that in which the +sacred books of the Hindus are written. They discovered, +further, that these words and their roots meant always the same +things, and this led to the natural belief that they came from +the same source. Then, by closer inquiry into the _Vedas_, or +Hindu sacred books, another discovery was made, namely, that +while the Sanskrit has preserved the words of the original +language in their most primitive or earliest state, the other +languages derived from the same source have kept some forms +plainly coming from the same roots, but which Sanskrit has lost. +Thus we are carried back to a language older than Sanskrit, and +of which this is only one of the forms, and from this we know +that there was a people which used a common tongue; and if +different forms of this common tongue are found in India, in +Persia, and throughout Europe, we know that the races which +inhabit these countries must, at sometime, have parted from the +parent stock, and must have carried their language and their +traditions along with them. So, to find out who these people +were, we have to go back to the sacred books of the Hindus and +the Persians, and to pick out whatever facts may be found there, +and thus to build up the memorial of the Aryan race, just as +Professor Owen built up the great New Zealand bird. + +It would take too long, and would be much too dry, to show how +this process has been completed step by step, and bit by bit. +That belongs to a study called comparative philology, and to +another called comparative mythology--that is, the studies of +words and of myths, or legends--which some of those who read +these pages may pursue with interest in after years. All that +need be done now is to bring together such accounts of the Aryan +people, our forefathers, as may be gathered from the writings of +the learned men who have made this a subject of inquiry, and +especially from the works of German and French writers, and more +particularly from those of Mr. Max Muller, an eminent German, +who lives amongst us in England, who writes in English, and who +has done more, perhaps, than anybody else, to tell us what we +know about this matter. + +As to when the Aryans lived we know nothing, but that it was +thousands of years ago, long before history began. As to the +kind of people they were we know nothing in a direct way. They +have left no traces of themselves in buildings, or weapons, or +enduring records of any kind. There are no ruins of their +temples or tombs, no pottery--which often helps to throw light +upon ancient peoples-no carvings upon rocks or stones. It is +only by the remains of their language that we can trace them; +and we do this through the sacred books of the Hindus and +Persians-the _Vedas_ and the _Zend Avesta_--in which remains of +their language are found, and by means of which, therefore, we +get to know something about their dwelling-place, their manners, +their customs, their religion, and their legends--the source and +origin of our Fairy Tales. + +In the _Zend Avesta_--the oldest sacred book of the Persians--or +in such fragments of it as are left, there are sixteen countries +spoken of as having been given by Ormuzd, the Good Deity, for +the Aryans to live in; and these countries are described as a +land of delight, which was turned, by Ahriman, the Evil Deity, +into a land of death and cold; partly, it is said, by a great +flood, which is described as being like Noah's flood recorded in +the Book of Genesis. This land, as nearly as we can make it out, +seems to have been the high, central district of Asia, to the +north and west of the great chain of mountains of the Hindu +Koush, which form the frontier barrier of the present country of +the Afghans. It stretched, probably, from the sources of the +river Oxus to the shores of the Caspian Sea; and when the Aryans +moved from their home, it is thought that the easterly portion +of the tribes were those who marched southwards into India and +Persia, and that those who were nearest the Caspian Sea marched +westwards into Europe. It is not supposed that they were all one +united people, but rather a number of tribes, having a common +origin--though what was this original stock is quite beyond any +knowledge we have, or even beyond our powers of conjecture. But, +though the Aryan peoples were divided into tribes, and were +spread over a tract of country nearly as large as half Europe, +we may properly describe them generally, for so far as our +knowledge goes, all the tribes had the same character. + +They were a pastoral people--that is, their chief work was to +look after their herds of cattle and to till the earth. Of this +we find proof in the words and roots remaining of their language. +From the same source, also, we know that they lived in dwellings +built with wood and stone; that these dwellings were grouped +together in villages; that they were fenced in against enemies, +and that enclosures were formed to keep the cattle from straying, +and that roads of some kind were made from one village to +another. These things show that the Aryans had some claim to the +name they took, and that in comparison with their forefathers, +or with the savage or wandering tribes they knew, they had a +right to call themselves respectable, excellent, honourable, +masters, heroes--for all these are given as probable meanings +of their name. Their progress was shown in another way. The +rudest and earliest tribes of men used weapons of flint, roughly +shaped into axes and spear-heads, or other cutting implements, +with which they defended themselves in conflict, or killed the +beasts of chase, or dug up the roots on which they lived. The +Aryans were far in advance of this condition. They did not, it +is believed, know the use of iron, but they knew and used gold, +silver, and copper; they made weapons and other implements of +bronze; they had ploughs to till the ground, and axes, and +probably saws, for the purpose of cutting and shaping timber. +Of pottery and weaving they knew something: the western tribes +certainly used hemp and flax as materials for weaving, and when +the stuff was woven the women made it into garments by the use +of the needle. Thus we get a certain division of trades or +occupations. There were the tiller of the soil, the herdsman, +the smith who forged the tools and weapons of bronze, the joiner +or carpenter who built the houses, and the weaver who made the +clothing required for protection against a climate which was +usually cold. Then there was also the boat-builder, for the +Aryans had boats, though moved only by oars. There was yet +another class, the makers of personal ornaments, for these +people had rings, bracelets, and necklaces made of the precious +metals. + +Of trade the Aryans knew something; but they had no coined +money--all the trade was done by exchange of one kind of cattle, +or grain or goods, for another. They had regulations as to +property, their laws punished crime with fine, imprisonment, or +death, just as ours do. They seem to have been careful to keep +their liberties, the families being formed into groups, and +these into tribes or clans, under the rule of an elected chief, +while it is probable that a Great Chief or King ruled over +several tribes and led them to war, or saw that the laws were +put into force. + +Now we begin to see something of these ancient forefathers of +ours, and to understand what kind of people they were. Presently +we shall have to look into their religion, out of which our +Fairy Stories were really made; but first, there are one or two +other things to be said about them. One of these shows that they +were far in advance of savage races, for they could count as +high as one hundred, while savages can seldom get further than +the number of their fingers; and they had also advanced so far +as to divide the year into twelve months, which they took from +the changes of the moon. Then their family relations were very +close and tender. "Names were given to the members of families +related by marriage as well as by blood. A welcome greeted the +birth of children, as of those who brought joy to the home; and +the love that should be felt between brother and sister was +shown in the names given to them: _bhratar_ (or brother) being +he who sustains or helps; _svasar_ (or sister) she who pleases +or consoles. The daughter of each household was called _duhitar,_ +from _duh_, a root which in Sanskrit means to milk, by which we +know that the girls in those days were the milking-maids. +Father comes from a root, _pa_, which means to protect or +support; mother, _matar_, has the meaning of maker."[1] + +Now we may sum up what we know of this ancient people and +their ways; and we find in them much that is to be found in +their descendants--the love of parents and children, the +closeness of family ties, the protection of life and property, +the maintenance of law and order, and, as we shall see +presently, a great reverence for _God_. Also, they were well +versed in the arts of life--they built houses, formed villages +or towns, made roads, cultivated the soil, raised great herds +of cattle and other animals; they made boats and land-carriages, +worked in metals for use and ornament, carried on trade with +each other, knew how to count, and were able to divide their +time so as to reckon by months and days as well as by seasons. +Besides all this, they had something more and of still higher +value, for the fragments of their ancient poems or hymns +preserved in the Hindu and Persian sacred books show that they +thought much of the spirit of man as well as of his bodily +life; that they looked upon sin as an evil to be punished or +forgiven by the Gods, that they believed in a life after the +death of the body, and that they had a strong feeling for +natural beauty and a love of searching into the wonders of +the earth and of the heavens. + +The religion of the Aryan races, in its beginning, was a very +simple and a very noble one. They looked up to the heavens and +saw the bright sun, and the light and beauty and glory of the +day. They saw the day fade into night and the clouds draw +themselves across the sky, and then they saw the dawn and the +light and life of another day. Seeing these things, they felt +that some Power higher than man ordered and guided them; and to +this great Power they gave the name of _Dyaus_, from a root-word +which means "to shine." And when, out of the forces and forms of +Nature, they afterwards fashioned other Gods, this name of Dyaus +became _Dyaus pitar_, the Heaven-Father, or Lord of All; and in +far later times, when the western Aryans had found their home in +Europe, the _Dyaus pitar_ of the central Asian land became the +Zeupater of the Greeks, and the Jupiter of the Romans; and the +first part of his name gave us the word Deity, which we apply to +_God_. So, as Professor Max Muller tells us, the descendants of +the ancient Aryans, "when they search for a name for what is most +exalted and yet most dear to every one of us, when they wish to +express both awe and love, the infinite and the finite, they can +do but what their old fathers did when gazing up to the eternal +sky, and feeling the presence of a Being as far as far, and as +near as near can be; they can but combine the self-same words +and utter once more the primeval Aryan prayer, Heaven-Father, +in that form which will endure for ever, 'Our Father, which art +in Heaven.'" + +The feeling which the Aryans had towards the Heaven-Father is +very finely shown in one of the oldest hymns in the _Rig Veda_, +or the Book of Praise--a hymn written 4,000 years ago, and +addressed to Varuna, or the All-Surrounder, the ancient Hindu +name for the chief deity:-- + + "Let me not, O Varuna, enter into the house of clay. + Have mercy! Almighty, have mercy! + If I go trembling, like a cloud driven by the wind, + Have mercy! Almighty, have mercy! + Through want of strength, thou strong and bright God, + have I gone wrong; + Have mercy! Almighty, have mercy!" + +But, besides Dyaus pitar, or Varuna, the Aryans worshipped other +gods, whom they made for themselves out of the elements, and the +changes of night and day, and the succession of the seasons. +They worshipped the sky, the earth, the sun, the dawn, fire, +water, and wind. The chief of these deities were Agni, the fire; +Prithivi, the earth; Ushas, the dawn; Mitra, or Surya, the sun; +Indra, the sky; Maruts, the storm-winds; and Varuna, the +All-Surrounder. To these deities sacrifice was offered and +prayer addressed; but they had no priests or temples--these came +in later ages, when men thought they had need of others to stand +between them and _God_. But the ancient Aryans saw the Deity +everywhere, and stood face to face with Him in Nature. He was to +them the early morning, the brightness of midday, the gloom of +evening, the darkness of night, the flash of the lightning, the +roll of the thunder, and the rush of the mighty storm-wind. It +seems strange to us that those who could imagine the one +Heaven-Father should degrade Him by making a multitude of Gods; +but this came easily to them, partly out of a desire to account +for all they saw in Nature, and which their fancy clothed in +divine forms, and partly out of reverence for the great All +Father, by filling up the space between Him and themselves with +inferior Gods, all helping to make His greatness the greater and +His power the mightier. + +We cannot look into this old religion of the Aryans any further, +because our business is to see how their legends are connected +with the myths and stories which are spread by their descendants +over a great part of East and West. Now this came about in the +way we are going to describe. + +The mind of the Aryan peoples in their ancient home was full of +imagination. They never ceased to wonder at what they heard and +saw in the sky and upon the earth. Their language was highly +figurative, and so the things which struck them with wonder, and +which they could not explain, were described under forms and +names which were familiar to them. Thus the thunder was to them +the bellowing of a mighty beast or the rolling of a great +chariot. In the lightning they saw a brilliant serpent, or a +spear shot across the sky, or a great fish darting swiftly +through the sea of cloud. The clouds were heavenly cows, who +shed milk upon the earth and refreshed it; or they were webs +woven by heavenly women, who drew water from the fountains on +high and poured it down as rain. The sun was a radiant wheel, or +a golden bird, or an eye, or a shining egg, or a horse of +matchless speed, or a slayer of the cloud-dragons. Sometimes it +was a frog, when it seemed to be sinking into or squatting upon +the water; and out of this fancy, when the meaning of it was +lost, there grew a Sanskrit legend, which is to be found also in +Teutonic and Celtic myths. This story is, that Bheki (the frog) +was a lovely maiden who was found by a king, who asked her to be +his wife. So she married him, but only on condition that he +should never show her a drop of water. One day she grew tired, +and asked for water. The king gave it to her, and she sank out +of his sight; in other words, the sun disappears when it touches +the water. + +This imagery of the Aryans was applied by them to all they saw +in the sky. Sometimes, as we have said, the clouds were cows; +they were also dragons, which sought to slay the sun; or great +ships floating across the sky, and casting anchor upon earth; or +rocks, or mountains, or deep caverns, in which evil deities hid +the golden light. Then, also, they were shaped by fancy into +animals of various kinds-the bear, the wolf, the dog, the ox; +and into giant birds, and into monsters which were both bird and +beast. + +The Winds, again, in their fancy, were the companions or the +ministers of Indra, the sky-god. The Maruts, or spirits of the +winds, gathered into their host the souls of the dead--thus +giving birth to the Scandinavian and Teutonic legend of the Wild +Horseman, who rides at midnight through the stormy sky, with his +long train of dead behind him, and his weird hounds before. The +Ribhus, or Arbhus, again, were the sunbeams or the lightning, +who forged the armour of the Gods, and made their thunderbolts, +and turned old people young, and restored out of the hide alone +the slaughtered cow on which the Gods had feasted. Out of these +heavenly artificers, the workers of the clouds, there came, in +later times, two of the most striking stories of ancient +legend--that of Thor, the Scandinavian thunder-god, who feasted +at night on the goats which drew his chariot, and in the +morning, by a touch of his hammer, brought them back to life; +and that of Orpheus in the beautiful Greek legend, the master of +divine song, who moved the streams, and rocks, and trees, by the +beauty of his music, and brought back his wife Eurydike from the +shades of death. In our Western fairy tales we still have these +Ribhus, or Arbhus, transformed, through various changes of +language, into Albs, and Elfen, and last into our English Elves. +It is not needful to go further into the fanciful way in which +the old Aryans slowly made ever-increasing deities and superhuman +beings for themselves out of all the forms and aspects of Nature; +or how their Hindu and Persian and Greek and Teuton descendants +peopled all earth, and air, and sky, and water, with good and +bad spirits and imaginary powers. But, as we shall see later, +all these creatures grew out of one thing only--the Sun, and his +influence upon the earth. Aryan myths were no more than poetic +fancies about light and darkness, cloud and rain, night and day, +storm and wind; and when they moved westward and southward, the +Aryan races brought these legends with them; and they were +shaped by degrees into the innumerable gods and demons of the +Hindus, the divs and jinns of the Persians, the great gods, +the minor deities, and nymphs, and fauns, and satyrs of Greek +mythology and poetry; the stormy divinities, the giants, and +trolls of the cold and rugged North; the dwarfs of the German +forests; the elves who dance merrily in the moonlight of an +English summer; and the "good people" who play mischievous tricks +upon stray peasants amongst the Irish hills. Almost all, indeed, +that we have of a legendary kind comes to us from our Aryan +forefathers; sometimes scarcely changed, sometimes so altered +that we have to puzzle out the links between the old and the new; +but all these myths and traditions, and Old-world stories, when +we come to know the meaning of them, take us back to the time +when the Aryan races dwelt together in the high lands of Central +Asia, and they all mean the same things--that is, the relation +between the sun and the earth, the succession of night and day, +of winter and summer, of storm and calm, of cloud and tempest, +and golden sunshine and bright blue sky. And this is the source +from which we get our Fairy Stories; for underneath all of them +there are the same fanciful meanings, only changed and altered +in the way of putting them, by the lapse of ages of time, by the +circumstances of different countries, and by the fancy of those +who kept the wonderful tales alive without knowing what they +meant. + +When the change happened that brought about all this, we do not +know. It was thousands of years ago that the Aryan people began +their march out of their old country in mid-Asia. But from the +remains of their language and the likeness of their legends to +those amongst other nations, we do know that ages and ages ago +their country grew too small for them, so they were obliged to +move away from it. They could not go eastward, for the great +mountains shut them in; they could not go northward, for the +great desert was too barren for their flocks and herds. So they +turned, some of them southward into India and Persia, and some +of them westward into Europe--at the time, perhaps, when the +land of Europe stretched from the borders of Asia to our own +islands, and when there was no sea between us and what is now +the mainland. How they made their long and toilsome march we +know not. But, as Kingsley writes of such a movement of an +ancient tribe, so we may fancy these old Aryans marching +westward--"the tall, bare-limbed men, with stone axes on their +shoulders and horn bows at their backs, with herds of grey +cattle, guarded by huge lop-eared mastiffs, with shaggy white +horses, heavy-horned sheep and silky goats, moving always +westward through the boundless steppes, whither or why we know +not, but that the All-Father had sent them forth. And behind us +[he makes them say] the rosy snow-peaks died into ghastly grey, +lower and lower, as every evening came; and before us the plains +spread infinite, with gleaming salt-lakes, and ever-fresh tribes +of gaudy flowers. Behind us, dark: lines of living beings +streamed down the mountain slopes; around us, dark lines crawled +along the plains--westward, westward ever. Who could stand +against us? We met the wild asses on the steppe, and tamed them, +and made them our slaves. We slew the bison herds, and swam +broad rivers on their skins. The Python snake lay across our +path; the wolves and wild dogs snarled at us out of their +coverts; we slew them and went on. The forests rose in black +tangled barriers, we hewed our way through them and went on. +Strange giant tribes met us, and eagle-visaged hordes, fierce +and foolish; we smote them, hip and thigh, and went on, +west-ward ever." And so, as they went on, straight towards the +west, or as they turned north and south, and thus overspread new +lands, they brought with them their old ways of thought and +forms of belief, and the stories in which these had taken form; +and on these were built up the Gods and Heroes, and all +wonder-working creatures and things, and the poetical fables and +fancies which have come down to us, and which still linger in +our customs and our Fairy Tales bright and sunny and many +coloured in the warm regions of the south; sterner and wilder +and rougher in the north; more homelike in the middle and +western countries; but always alike in their main features, and +always having the same meaning when we come to dig it out; and +these forms and this meaning being the same in the lands of the +Western Aryans as in those still peopled by the Aryans of the +East. + +It would take a very great book to give many examples of the +myths and stories which are alike in all the Aryan countries; +but we may see by one instance what the likeness is; and it +shall be a story which all will know when they read it. + +Once upon a time there was a Hindu Rajah, who had an only +daughter, who was born with a golden necklace. In this necklace +was her soul; and if the necklace were taken off and worn by +some one else, the Princess would die. On one of her birthdays +the Rajah gave his daughter a pair of slippers with ornaments of +gold and gems upon them. The Princess went out upon a mountain +to pluck the flowers that grew there, and while she was stooping +to pluck them one of her slippers came off and fell down into a +forest below. A Prince, who was hunting in the forest, picked up +the lost slipper, and was so charmed with it that he desired to +make its owner his wife. So he made his wish known everywhere, +but nobody came to claim the slipper, and the poor Prince grew +very sad. At last some people from the Rajah's country heard of +it, and told the Prince where to find the Rajah's daughter; and +he went there, and asked for her as his wife, and they were +married. Sometime after, another wife of the Prince, being +jealous of the Rajah's daughter, stole her necklace, and put it +on her own neck, and then the Rajah's daughter died. But her +body did not decay, nor did her face lose its bloom; and the +Prince went every day to see her, for he loved her very much +although she was dead. Then he found out the secret of the +necklace, and got it back again, and put it on his dead wife's +neck, and her soul was born again in her, and she came back to +life, and they lived happy ever after. + +This Hindu story of the lost slipper is met with again in a +legend of the ancient Greeks, which tells that while a beautiful +woman, named Rhodope--or the rosy-cheeked--was bathing, an eagle +picked up one of her slippers and flew away with it, and carried +it off to Egypt, and dropped it in the lap of the King of that +country, as he sat at Memphis on the judgment-seat. The slipper +was so small and beautiful that the King fell in love with the +wearer of it, and had her sought for, and when she was found he +made her his wife. Another story of the same kind. It is found +in many countries, in various forms, and is that of Cinderella, +the poor neglected maiden, whom her stepmother set to work in +the kitchen, while her sisters went to the grand balls and +feasts at the King's palace. You know how Cinderella's fairy +godmother came and dressed her like a princess, and sent her to +the ball; how the King's son fell in love with her; how she lost +one of her slippers, which the Prince picked up; how he vowed +that he would marry the maiden who could fit on the lost +slipper; how all the ladies of the court tried to do it, and +failed, Cinderella's sisters amongst them; and how Cinderella +herself put on the slipper, produced the fellow to it, was +married to the King's son, and lived happily with him. + +Now the story of Cinderella helps us to find out the meaning of +our Fairy Tales; and takes us back straight to the far-off land +where fairy legends began, and to the people who made them. +Cinderella, and Rhodope, and the Hindu Rajah's daughter, and the +like, are but different forms of the same ancient myth. It is the +story of the Sun and the Dawn. Cinderella, grey and dark, and +dull, is all neglected when she is away from the Sun, obscured by +the envious Clouds her sisters, and by her stepmother the Night. +So she is Aurora, the Dawn, and the fairy Prince is the Morning +Sun, ever pursuing her, to claim her for his bride. This is the +legend as we find it in the ancient Hindu sacred books; and this +explains at once the source and the meaning of the Fairy Tale. + +Nor is it in the story of Cinderella alone that we trace the +ancient Hindu legends. There is scarcely a tale of Greek or +Roman mythology, no legend of Teutonic or Celtic or Scandinavian +growth, no great romance of what we call the middle ages, no +fairy story taken down from the lips of ancient folk, and +dressed for us in modern shape and tongue, that we do not find, +in some form or another, in these Eastern poems. The Greek gods +are there--Zeus, the Heaven-Father, and his wife Hera, "and +Phoebus Apollo the Sun-god, and Pallas Athene, who taught men +wisdom and useful arts, and Aphrodite the Queen of Beauty, and +Poseidon the Ruler of the Sea, and Hephaistos the King of the +Fire, who taught men to work in metals."[2] There, too, are +legends which resemble those of Orpheus and Eurydike, of Eros +and Psyche, of Jason and the Golden Fleece, of the labours of +Herakles, of Sigurd and Brynhilt, of Arthur and the Knights of +the Round Table. There, too, in forms which can be traced with +ease, we have the stories of Fairyland--the germs of the +Thousand and One Tales of the Arabian Nights, the narratives of +giants, and dwarfs, and enchanters; of men and maidens +transformed by magic arts into beasts and birds; of riches +hidden in the caves and bowels of the earth, and guarded by +trolls and gnomes; of blessed lands where all is bright and +sunny, and where there is neither work nor care. Whatever, +indeed, is strange or fanciful, or takes us straight from our +grey, hard-working world into the sweet and peaceful country of +Once Upon a Time, is to be found in these ancient Hindu books, +and is repeated, from the source whence they were drawn, in many +countries of the East and West; for the people whose traditions +the Vedas record were the forefathers of those who now dwell in +India, in Persia, in the border-lands, and in most parts of +Europe. Yes; strange as it may seem, all of us, who differ so +much in language, in looks in customs and ways of thought, in +all that marks out one nation from another--all of us have a +common origin and a common kindred. Greek and Roman, and Teuton +and Kelt and Slav, ancient and modern, all came from the same +stock. English and French, Spanish and Germans, Italians and +Russians, all unlike in outward show, are linked together in +race; and not only with each other, but also claim kindred with +the people who now fill the fiery plains of India, and dwell on +the banks of her mighty rivers, and on the slopes of her great +mountain-chains, and who still recite the sacred books, and sing +the ancient hymns from which the mythology of the West is in +great part derived, whence our folk-lore comes, and which give +life and colour and meaning to our legends of romance and our +Tales of Fairyland. + +By taking a number of stories containing the same idea, but +related in different ages and in countries far away from each +other, we shall see how this likeness of popular tradition runs +through all of them, and shows their common origin. So we will +go to the next chapter, and tell a few kindred tales from East +and West, and South and North. + +------------------------ +[1] Edward Clodd, _The Childhood of Religions: Embracing a + Simple Account of the Birth and Growth of Myths and + Legends_, p. 76-77. (1878) + +[2] Kingsley's _Heroes_, preface, p. xv. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +KINDRED TALES FROM DIVERS LANDS: EROS AND PSYCHE. + +Once upon a time there lived a king and a queen, who had three +beautiful daughters. The youngest of them, who was called +Psyche, was the loveliest; she was so very beautiful that she +was thought to be a second Aphrodite, the Goddess of Beauty and +Love, and all who saw her worshipped her as if she were the +goddess; so that the temples of Aphrodite were deserted and her +worship neglected, and Psyche was preferred to her; and as she +passed along the streets, or came into the temples, the people +crowded round her, and scattered flowers under her feet, and +offered garlands to her. Now, when Aphrodite knew this she grew +very angry, and resolved to punish Psyche, so as to make her a +wonder and a shame for ever. So Aphrodite sent for her son Eros, +the God of Love, and took him to the city where Psyche lived, +and showed the maiden to him, and bade him afflict her with love +for a man who should be the most wicked and most miserable of +mankind, an outcast, a beggar, one who had done some great +wrong, and had fallen so low that no man in the whole world +could be so wretched. Eros agreed that he would do what his +mother wished; but this was only a pretence, for when he saw +Psyche he fell in love with her himself, and made up his mind +that she should be his own wife. The first thing to do was to +get the maiden into his own care and to hide her from the +vengeance of Aphrodite. So he put it into the mind of her father +to go to the shrine of Phoebus, at Miletus, and ask the god what +should be done with Psyche. The king did so, and he was bidden +by an oracle to dress Psyche as a bride, to take her to the brow +of a high mountain, and to leave her there, and that after a +time a great monster would come and take her away and make her +his wife. So Psyche was decked in bridal garments, was taken to +a rock on the top of a mountain, and was left there as a +sacrifice to turn away the wrath of Aphrodite. But Eros took +care that she came to no harm. He went to Zephyrus, the God of +the West Wind, and told him to carry Psyche gently down into a +beautiful valley, and to lay her softly on the turf, amidst +lovely flowers. So Zephyrus lulled Psyche to sleep, and then +carried her safely down, and laid her in the place where Eros +had bidden him. When Psyche awoke from sleep she saw a thick +grove, with a crystal fountain in it, and close to the fountain +there was a stately palace, fit for the dwelling of a king or a +god. She went into the palace, and found it very wonderful. The +walls and ceilings were made of cedar and ivory, there were +golden columns holding up the roof, the floors were laid with +precious stones, so put together as to make pictures, and on the +walls were carvings in gold and silver of birds, and beasts, and +flowers, and all kinds of strange and beautiful things. And +there were also great treasure places full of gold, and silver, +and gems, in such great measure that it seemed as if all the +riches of the world were gathered there. But nowhere was there +any living creature to be seen; all the palace was empty, and +Psyche was there alone. And while she went trembling and fearing +through the rooms, and wondering whose all this might be, she +heard voices, as of invisible maidens, which told her that the +palace was for her, and that they who spoke, but whom she might +not see, were her servants. And the voices bade her go first to +the bath, and then to a royal banquet which was prepared for +her. So Psyche, still wondering, went to the bath, and then to a +great and noble room, where there was a royal seat, and upon +this she placed herself, and then unseen attendants put before +her all kinds of delicate food and wine; and while she ate and +drank there was a sound as of a great number of people singing +the most charming music, and of one playing upon the lyre; but +none of them could she see. Then night came on, and all the +beautiful palace grew dark, and Psyche laid herself down upon a +couch to sleep. Then a great terror fell upon her, for she heard +footsteps, which came nearer and nearer, and she thought it was +the monster whose bride the oracle of Phoebus had destined her +to be. And the footsteps drew closer to her, and then an unseen +being came to her couch and lay down beside her, and made her +his wife; and he lay there until just before the break of day, +and then he departed, and it was still so dark that Psyche could +not see his form; nor did he speak, so that she could not guess +from his voice what kind of creature it was to whom the Fates +had wedded her. So Psyche lived for a long while, wandering +about her palace in the daytime, tended by her unseen guardians, +and every night her husband came to her and stayed until +daybreak. Then she began to long to hear about her father and +mother, and to see her sisters, and she begged leave of her +husband that these might come to her for a time. To this Eros +agreed, and gave her leave to give her sisters rich gifts, but +warned her that she must answer no questions they might ask +about him, and that she must not listen to any advice they might +give her to find out who he was, or else a great misfortune +would happen to her. Then Zephyrus brought the sisters of Psyche +to her, and they stayed with her for a little while, and were +very curious to know who her husband was, and what he was like. +But Psyche, mindful of the commands of Eros, put them off, first +with one story and then with another, and at last sent them +away, loaded with jewels. Now Psyche's sisters were envious of +her, because such good fortune had not happened to themselves, +to have such a grand palace, and such store of wealth, and they +plotted between themselves to make her discover her husband, +hoping to get some good for themselves out of it, and not caring +what happened to her. And it so fell out that they had their +way, for Psyche again getting tired of solitude, again begged of +her husband that her sisters might come to see her once more, to +which, with much sorrow, he consented, but warned her again that +if she spoke of him, or sought to see him, all her happiness +would vanish, and that she would have to bear a life of misery. +But it was fated that Psyche should disobey her husband; and it +fell out in this way. When her sisters came to her again they +questioned her about her husband, and persuaded her that she was +married to a monster too terrible to be looked at, and they told +her that this was the reason why he never came in the daytime, +and refused to let himself be seen at night. Then they also +persuaded her that she ought to put an end to the enchantment by +killing the monster; and for this purpose they gave her a sharp +knife, and they gave her also a lamp, so that while he was +asleep she might look at him, so as to know where to strike. +Then, being left alone, poor Psyche's mind was full of terror, +and she resolved to follow the advice of her sisters. So when +her husband was asleep, she went and fetched the lamp, and +looked at him by its light; and then she saw that, instead of a +deadly monster, it was Eros himself, the God of Love, to whom +she was married. But while she was filled with awe and delight +at this discovery, the misfortune happened which Eros had +foretold. A drop of oil from the lamp fell upon the shoulder of +the god, and he sprang up from the couch, reproached Psyche for +her fatal curiosity, and vanished from her sight; and then the +beautiful palace vanished also, and Psyche found herself lying +on the bare cold earth, weeping, deserted, and alone. + +Then poor Psyche began a long and weary journey, to try to find +the husband she had lost, but she could not, for he had gone to +his mother Aphrodite, to be cured of his wound; and Aphrodite, +finding out that Eros had fallen in love with Psyche, determined +to punish her, and to prevent her from finding Eros. First +Psyche went to the god Pan, but he could not help her; then she +went to the goddess Demeter, the Earth-Mother, but she warned +her against the vengeance of Aphrodite, and sent her away. And +the great goddess Hera did the same; and at last, abandoned by +every one, Psyche went to Aphrodite herself, and the goddess, +who had caused great search to be made for her, now ordered her +to be beaten and tormented, and then ridiculed her sorrows, and +taunted her with the loss of Eros, and set her to work at many +tasks that seemed impossible to be done. First the goddess took +a great heap of seeds of wheat, barley, millet, poppy, lentils, +and beans, and mixed them all together, and then bade Psyche +separate them into their different kinds by nightfall. Now there +were so many of them that this was impossible; but Eros, who +pitied Psyche, though she had lost him, sent a great many ants, +who parted the seeds from each other and arranged them in their +proper heaps, so that by evening all that Aphrodite had +commanded was done. Then the goddess was very angry, and fed +Psyche on bread and water, and next day she set Psyche another +task. This was to collect a quantity of golden wool from the +sheep of the goddess, creatures so fierce and wild that no +mortal could venture near them and escape with life. Then Psyche +thought herself lost; but Pan came to her help and bade her wait +until evening, when the golden sheep would be at rest, and then +she might from the trees and shrubs collect all the wool she +needed. So Psyche fulfilled this task also. But Aphrodite was +still unsatisfied. She now demanded a crystal urn, filled with +icy waters from the fountain of Oblivion. The fountain was +placed on the summit of a great mountain; it issued from a +fissure in a lofty rock, too steep for any one to ascend, and +from thence it fell into a narrow channel, deep, winding, and +rugged, and guarded on each side by terrible dragons, which +never slept. And the rush of the waters, as they rolled along, +resembled a human voice, always crying out to the adventurous +explorer--"Beware! fly! or you perish!" Here Psyche thought her +sufferings at an end; sooner than face the dragons and climb the +rugged rocks she must die. But again Eros helped her, for he +sent the eagle of Zeus, the All-Father, and the eagle took the +crystal urn in his claws, flew past the dragons, settled on the +rock, and drew the water of the black fountain, and gave it +safely to Psyche, who carried it back and presented it to the +angry Aphrodite. But the goddess, still determined that Psyche +should perish, set her another task, the hardest and most +dangerous of all. "Take this box," she said, "go with it into +the infernal regions to Persephone, and ask her for a portion of +her beauty, that I may adorn myself with it for the supper of +the gods." Now on hearing this, poor Psyche knew that the +goddess meant to destroy her; so she went up to a lofty tower, +meaning to throw herself down headlong so that she might be +killed, and thus pass into the realm of Hades, never to return. +But the tower was an enchanted place, and a voice from it spoke +to her and bade her be of good cheer, and told her what to do. +She was to go to a city of Achaia and find near it a mountain, +and in the mountain she would see a gap, from which a narrow +road led straight into the infernal regions. But the voice +warned her of many things which must be done on the journey, and +of others which must be avoided. She was to take in each hand a +piece of barley bread, soaked in honey, and in her mouth she was +to put two pieces of money. On entering the dreary path she +would meet an old man driving a lame ass, laden with wood, and +the old man would ask her for help, but she was to pass him by +in silence. Then she would come to the bank of the black river, +over which the boatman Charon ferries the souls of the dead; and +from her mouth Charon must take one piece of money, she saying +not a word. In crossing the river a dead hand would stretch +itself up to her, and a dead face, like that of her father, +would appear, and a voice would issue from the dead man's mouth, +begging for the other piece of money, that he might pay for his +passage, and get released from the doom of floating for ever in +the grim flood of Styx. But still she was to keep silence, and +to let the dead man cry out in vain; for all these, the voice +told her, were snares prepared by Aphrodite, to make her let go +the money, and to let fall the pieces of bread. Then, at the +gate of the palace of Persephone she would meet the great +three-headed dog, Kerberos, who keeps watch there for ever, and +to him, to quiet his terrible barking, she must give one piece +of the bread, and pass on, still never speaking. So Kerberos +would allow her to pass; but still another danger would await +her. Persephone would greet her kindly, and ask her to sit upon +soft cushions, and to eat of a fine banquet. But she must refuse +both offers--sitting only on the ground, and eating only of the +bread of mortals, or else she must remain for ever in the gloomy +regions below the earth. Psyche listened to this counsel, and +obeyed it. Everything happened as the voice had foretold. She +saw the old man with the overladen ass, she permitted Charon to +take the piece of money from her lips, she stopped her ears +against the cry of the dead man floating in the black river, she +gave the honey bread to Kerberos, and she refused the soft +cushions and the banquet offered to her by the queen of the +infernal regions. Then Persephone gave her the precious beauty +demanded by Aphrodite, and shut it up in the box, and Psyche +came safely back into the light of day, giving to Kerberos, the +three-headed dog, the remaining piece of honey bread, and to +Charon the remaining piece of money. But now she fell into a +great danger. The voice in the tower had warned her not to look +into the box; but she was tempted by a strong desire, and so she +opened it, that she might see and use for herself the beauty of +the gods. But when she opened the box it was empty, save of a +vapour of sleep, which seized upon Psyche, and made her as if +she were dead. In this unhappy state, brought upon her by the +vengeance of Aphrodite, she would have been lost for ever, but +Eros, healed of the wound caused by the burning oil, came +himself to her help, roused her from the death-like sleep, and +put her in a place of safety. Then Eros flew up into the abode +of the gods, and besought Zeus to protect Psyche against his +mother Aphrodite; and Zeus, calling an assembly of the gods, +sent Hermes to bring Psyche thither, and then he declared her +immortal, and she and Eros were wedded to each other; and there +was a great feast in Olympus. And the sisters of Psyche, who had +striven to ruin her, were punished for their crimes, for Eros +appeared to them one after the other in a dream, and promised to +make each of them his wife, in place of Psyche, and bade each +throw herself from the great rock whence Psyche was carried into +the beautiful valley by Zephyrus; and both the sisters did as +the dream told them, and they were dashed to pieces, and +perished miserably. + +Now this is the story of Eros and Psyche, as it is told by +Apuleius, in his book of _Metamorphoses_, written nearly two +thousand years ago. But the story was told ages before Apuleius +by people other than the Greeks, and in a language which existed +long before theirs. It is the tale of Urvasi and Pururavas, which +is to be found in one of the oldest of the Vedas, or Sanskrit +sacred books, which contain the legends of the Aryan race before +it broke up and went in great fragments southward into India, and +westward into Persia and Europe. A translation of the story of +Urvasi and Pururavas is given by Mr. Max-Muller,[3] who also +tells what the story means, and this helps us to see the meaning +of the tale of Eros and Psyche, and of many other myths which +occur among all the branches of the Aryan family; among the +Teutons, the Scandinavians, and the Slavs, as well as among the +Greeks. Urvasi, then, was an immortal being, a kind of fairy, who +fell in love with Pururavas, a hero and a king; and she married +him, and lived with him, on this condition--that she should never +see him unless he was dressed in his royal robes. Now there was a +ewe, with two lambs, tied to the couch of Urvasi and Pururavas; +and the fairies--or Gandharvas, as the kinsfolk of Urvasi were +called--wished to get her back amongst them; and so they stole +one of the lambs. Then Urvasi reproached her husband, and said, +"They take away my darling, as if I lived in a land where there +is no hero and no man." The fairies stole the other lamb, and +Urvasi reproached her husband again, saying, "How can that be a +land without heroes or men where I am?" Then Pururavas hastened +to bring back the pet lamb; so eager was he that he stayed not +to clothe himself, and so sprang up naked. Then the Gandharvas +sent a flash of lightning, and Urvasi saw her husband naked as +if by daylight; and then she cried out to her kinsfolk, "I come +back," and she vanished. And Pururavas, made wretched by the +loss of his love, sought her everywhere, and once he was +permitted to see her, and when he saw her, he said he should die +if she did not come back to him. But Urvasi could not return; +but she gave him leave to come to her, on the last night of the +year, to the golden seats; and he stayed with her for that +night. And Urvasi said to him, "The Gandharvas will to-morrow +grant thee a wish; choose." He said; "Choose thou for me." She +replied, "Say to them, Let me be one of you." And he said this, +and they taught him how to make the sacred fire, and he became +one of them, and dwelt with Urvasi for ever. + +Now this, we see, is like the story of Eros and Psyche; and Mr. +Max-Muller teaches us what it means. It is the story of the Sun +and the Dawn. Urvasi is the Dawn, which must vanish or die when +it beholds the risen Sum; and Pururavas is the Sun; and they are +united again at sunset, when the Sun dies away into night. So, +in the Greek myth, Eros is the dawning Sun, and when Psyche, the +Dawn, sees him, he flies from her, and it is only at nightfall +that they can be again united. In the same paper Mr. Max-Muller +shows how this root idea of the Aryan race is found again in +another of the most beautiful of Greek myths or stories--that of +Orpheus and Eurydike. In the Greek legends the Dawn has many +names; one of them is Eurydike. The name of her husband, +Orpheus, comes straight from the Sanskrit: it is the same as +Ribhu or Arbhu, which is a name of Indra, or the Sun, or which +may be used for the rays of the Sun. The old story, then, says +our teacher, was this: "Eurydike (the Dawn) is bitten by a +serpent (the Night); she dies, and descends into the lower +regions. Orpheus follows her, and obtains from the gods that his +wife should follow him, if he promised not to look back. Orpheus +promises--ascends from the dark world below; Eurydike is behind +him as he rises, but, drawn by doubt or by love, he looks round; +the first ray of the Sun glances at the Dawn; and the Dawn fades +away." + +We have now seen that the Greek myth is like a much older myth +existing amongst the Aryan race before it passed westward. We +have but to look to other collections of Aryan folk-lore to find +that in some of its features the legend is common to all +branches of the Aryan family. In our own familiar story of +"Beauty and the Beast," for instance, we have the same idea. +There are the three sisters, one of whom is chosen as the bride +of an enchanted monster, who dwells in a beautiful palace. By +the arts of her sisters she is kept away from him, and he is at +the point of death through his grief. Then she returns, and he +revives, and becomes changed into a handsome Prince, and they +live happy ever after. One feature of these legends is that +beings closely united to each other--as closely, that is, as +the Sun and the Dawn--may not look upon each other without +misfortune. This is illustrated in the charming Scandinavian +story of "The Land East of the Sun and West of the Moon," which +is told in various forms; the best of them being in Mr. Morris's +beautiful poem in "The Earthly Paradise," and in Dr. Dasent's +Norse Tales.[4] We shall abridge Dr. Dasent's version, telling +the story in our own way: + +There was a poor peasant who had a large family whom he could +scarcely keep; and there were several daughters amongst them. +The loveliest was the youngest daughter; who was very beautiful +indeed. One evening in autumn, in bad weather, the family sat +round the fire; and there came three taps at the window. The +father went out to see who it was, and he found only a great +White Bear. And the White Bear said, "If you will give me your +youngest daughter, I will make you rich." So the peasant went in +and asked his daughter if she would be the wife of the White +Bear; and the daughter said "No." So the White Bear went away, +but said he would come back in a few days to see if the maiden +had changed her mind. Now her father and mother talked to her so +much about it, and seemed so anxious to be well off, that the +maiden agreed to be the wife of the White Bear: and when he came +again, she said "Yes," and the White Bear told her to sit upon +his back, and hold by his shaggy coat, and away they went +together. After the maiden had ridden for a long way, they came +to a great hill, and the White Bear gave a knock on the hill +with his paw, and the hill opened, and they went in. Now inside +the hill there was a palace with fine rooms, ornamented with +gold and silver, and all lighted up; and there was a table ready +laid; and the White Bear gave the maiden a silver bell, and told +her to ring it when she wanted anything. And when the maiden had +eaten and drank, she went to bed, in a beautiful bed with silk +pillows and curtains, and gold fringe to them. Then, in the +dark, a man came and lay down beside her. This was the White +Bear, who was an Enchanted Prince, and who was able to put off +the shape of a beast at night, and to become a man again; but +before daylight, he went away and turned once more into a White +Bear, so that his wife could never see him in the human form. +Well, this went on for some time, and the wife of the White Bear +was very happy with her kind husband, in the beautiful palace he +had made for her. Then she grew dull and miserable for want of +company, and she asked leave to go home for a little while to +see her father and mother, and her brothers and sisters. So the +White Bear took her home again, but he told her that there was +one thing she must not do; she must not go into a room with her +mother alone, to talk to her, or a great misfortune would +happen. When the wife of the White Bear got home, she found that +her family lived in a grand house, and they were all very glad +to see her; and then her mother took her into a room by +themselves, and asked about her husband. And the wife of the +White Bear forgot the warning, and told her mother that every +night a man came and lay down with her, and went away before +daylight, and that she had never seen him, and wanted to see +him, very much. Then the mother said it might be a Troll she +slept with; and that she ought to see what it was; and she gave +her daughter a piece of candle, and said, "Light this while he +is asleep, and look at him, but take care you don't drop the +tallow upon him." So then the White Bear came to fetch his wife, +and they went back to the palace in the hill, and that night she +lit the candle, while her husband was asleep, and then she saw +that he was a handsome Prince, and she felt quite in love with +him, and gave him a soft kiss. But just as she kissed him she +let three drops of tallow fall upon his shirt, and he woke up. +Then the White Bear was very sorrowful, and said that he was +enchanted by a wicked fairy, and that if his wife had only +waited for a year before looking at him, the enchantment would +be broken, and he would be a man again always. But now that she +had given way to curiosity, he must go to a dreary castle East +of the Sun and West of the Moon, and marry a witch Princess, +with a nose three ells long. And then he vanished, and so did +his palace, and his poor wife found herself lying in the middle +of a gloomy wood, and she was dressed in rags, and was very +wretched. But she did not stop to cry about her hard fate, for +she was a brave girl, and made up her mind to go at once in +search of her husband. So she walked for days, and then she met +an old woman sitting on a hillside, and playing with a golden +apple; and she asked the old woman the way to the Land East of +the Sun and West of the Moon. And the old woman listened to her +story, and then she said, "I don't know where it is; but you can +go on and ask my next neighbour. Ride there on my horse, and +when you have done with him, give him a pat under the left ear +and say, 'Go home again;' and take this golden apple with you, +it may be useful." So she rode on for a long way, and then came +to another old woman, who was playing with a golden carding +comb; and she asked her the way to the Land East of the Sun and +West of the Moon? But this old woman couldn't tell her, and bade +her go on to another old woman, a long way off. And she gave her +the golden carding comb, and lent her a horse just like the +first one. And the third old woman was playing with a golden +spinning wheel; and she gave this to the wife of the White Bear, +and lent her another horse, and told her to ride on to the East +Wind, and ask him the way to the enchanted land. Now after a +weary journey she got to the home of the East Wind, and he said +he had heard of the Enchanted Prince, and of the country East of +the Sun and West of the Moon, but he did not know where it was, +for he had never been so far. But, he said, "Get on my back, and +we will go to my brother the West Wind; perhaps he knows." So +they sailed off to the West Wind, and told him the story, and he +took it quite kindly, but said he didn't know the way. But +perhaps his brother the South Wind might know; and they would go +to him. So the White Bear's wife got on the back of the West +Wind, and he blew straight away to the dwelling-place of the +South Wind, and asked him where to find the Land East of the Sun +and West of the Moon. But the South Wind said that although he +had blown pretty nearly everywhere, he had never blown there; +but he would take her to his brother the North Wind, the oldest, +and strongest, and wisest Wind of all; and he would be sure to +know. Now the North Wind was very cross at being disturbed, and +he used bad language, and was quite rude and unpleasant. But he +was a kind Wind after all, and when his brother the West Wind +told him the story, he became quite fatherly, and said he would +do what he could, for he knew the Land East of the Sun and West +of the Moon very well. But, he said, "It is a long way off; so +far off that once in my life I blew an aspen leaf there, and was +so tired with it that I couldn't blow or puff for ever so many +days after." So they rested that night, and next morning the +North Wind puffed himself out, and got stout, and big, and +strong, ready for the journey; and the maiden got upon his back, +and away they went to the country East of the Sun and West of +the Moon. It was a terrible journey, high up in the air, in a +great storm, and over the mountains and the sea, and before they +got to the end of it the North Wind grew very tired, and +drooped, and nearly fell into the sea, and got so low down that +the crests of the waves washed over him. But he blew as hard as +he could, and at last he put the maiden down on the shore, just +in front of the Enchanted Castle that stood in the Land East of +the Sun and West of the Moon; and there he had to stop and rest +many days before he became strong enough to blow home again. + +Now the wife of the White Bear sat down before the castle, and +began to play with the golden apple. And then the wicked +Princess with the nose three ells long opened a window, and +asked if she would sell the apple? But she said "No;" she would +give the golden apple for leave to spend the night in the +bed-chamber of the Prince who lived there. So the Princess with +the long nose said "Yes," and the wife of the White Bear was +allowed to pass the night in her husband's chamber. But a +sleeping draught had been given to the Prince, and she could not +wake him, though she wept greatly, and spent the whole night in +crying out to him; and in the morning before he woke she was +driven away by the wicked Princess. Well, next day she sat and +played with the golden carding comb, and the Princess wanted +that too; and the same bargain was made; but again a sleeping +draught was given to the Prince, and he slept all night, and +nothing could waken him; and at the first peep of daylight the +wicked Princess drove the poor wife out again. Now it was the +third day, and the wife of the White Bear had only the golden +spinning-wheel left. So she sat and played with it, and the +Princess bought it on the same terms as before. But some kind +folk who slept in the next room to the Prince told him that for +two nights a woman had been in his chamber, weeping bitterly, +and crying out to him to wake and see her. So, being warned, the +Prince only pretended to drink the sleeping draught, and so when +his wife came into the room that night he was wide awake, and +was rejoiced to see her; and they spent the whole night in +loving talk. Now the next day was to be the Prince's wedding +day; but now that his lost wife had found him, he hit upon a +plan to escape marrying the Princess with the long nose. So when +morning came, he said he should like to see what his bride was +fit for? "Certainly," said the Witch-mother and the Princess, +both together. Then the Prince said he had a fine shirt, with +three drops of tallow upon it; and he would marry only the woman +who could wash them out, for no other would be worth having. So +they laughed at this, for they thought it would be easily done. +And the Princess began, but the more she rubbed, the worse the +tallow stuck to the shirt. And the old Witch-mother tried; but +it got deeper and blacker than ever. And all the Trolls in the +enchanted castle tried; but none of them could wash the shirt +clean. Then said the Prince, "Call in the lassie who sits +outside, and let her try." And she came in, and took the shirt, +and washed it quite clean and white, all in a minute. Then the +old Witch-mother put herself into such a rage that she burst +into pieces, and so did the Princess with the long nose, and so +did all the Trolls in the castle; and the Prince took his wife +away with him, and all the silver and gold, and a number of +Christian people who had been enchanted by the witch; and away +they went for ever from the dreary Land East of the Sun and West +of the Moon. + +In the story of "The Soaring Lark," in the collection of German +popular tales made by the brothers Grimm, we have another +version of the same idea; and here, as in Eros and Psyche, and +in the Land East of the Sun and West of the Moon, it is the +woman to whose fault the misfortunes are laid, and upon whom +falls the long and weary task of search. The story told in +brief, is this. A merchant went on a journey, and promised to +bring back for his three daughters whatever they wished. The +eldest asked for diamonds, the second for pearls, and the +youngest, who was her father's favourite, for a singing, soaring +lark. As the merchant came home, he passed through a great +forest, and on the top bough of a tall tree he found a lark, and +tried to take it. Then a Lion sprang from behind the tree, and +said the lark was his, and that he would eat up the merchant for +trying to steal it. The merchant told the Lion why he wanted the +bird, and then the Lion said that he would give him the lark, +and let him go, on one condition, namely, that he should give to +the Lion the first thing or person that met him on his return. +Now the first person who met the merchant when he got home was +his youngest daughter, and the poor merchant told her the story, +and wept very much, and said that she should not go into the +forest. But the daughter said, "What you have promised you must +do;" and so she went into the forest, to find the Lion. The Lion +was an Enchanted Prince, and all his servants were also turned +into lions; and so they remained all day; but at night they all +changed back again into men. Now when the Lion Prince saw the +merchant's daughter, he fell in love with her, and took her to a +fine castle, and at night, when he became a man, they were +married, and lived very happily, and in great splendour. One day +the Prince said to his wife, "To-morrow your eldest sister is to +be married; if you would like to be there, my lions shall go +with you." So she went, and the lions with her, and there were +great rejoicings in her father's house, because they were afraid +that she had been torn to pieces in the forest; and after +staying some time, she went back to her husband. After a while, +the Prince said to his wife, "To-morrow your second sister is +going to be married," and she replied, "This time I will not go +alone, for you shall go with me." Then he told her how dangerous +that would be, for if a single ray from a burning light fell +upon him, he would be changed into a Dove, and in that form +would have to fly about for seven years. But the Princess very +much wanted him to go, and in order to protect him from the +light, she had a room built with thick walls, so that no light +could get through, and there he was to sit while the bridal +candles were burning. But by some accident, the door of the room +was made of new wood, which split, and made a little chink, and +through this chink one ray of light from the torches of the +bridal procession fell like a hair upon the Prince, and he was +instantly changed in form; and when his wife came to tell him +that all danger was over, she found only a White Dove, who said +very sadly to her-- + +"For seven years I must fly about in the world, but at every +seventh mile I will let fall a white feather and a drop of red +blood, which will show you the way, and if you follow it, you +may save me." + +Then the White Dove flew out of the door, and the Princess +followed it, and at every seventh mile the Dove let fall a white +feather and a drop of red blood; and so, guided by the feathers +and the drops of blood, she followed the Dove, until the seven +years had almost passed, and she began to hope that the Prince's +enchantment would be at an end. But one day there was no white +feather to be seen, nor any drop of red blood, and the Dove had +flown quite away. Then the poor Princess thought, "No man can +help me now;" and so she mounted up to the Sun, and said, "Thou +shinest into every chasm and over every peak; hast thou seen a +White Dove on the wing?" + +"No," answered the Sun. "I have not seen one; but take this +casket, and open it when you are in need of help." + +She took the casket, and thanked the Sun. When evening came, she +asked the Moon-- + +"Hast thou seen a White Dove? for thou shinest all night long +over every field and through every wood." + +"No," said the Moon, "I have not seen a White Dove; but here is +an egg--break it when you are in great trouble." + +She thanked the Moon, and took the egg; and then the North Wind +came by; and she said to the North Wind: + +"Hast thou not seen a White Dove? for thou passest through all +the boughs, and shakest every leaf under heaven." + +"No," said the North Wind, "I have not seen one; but I will ask +my brothers, the East Wind, and the West Wind, and the South +Wind." + +So he asked them all three; and the East Wind and the West Wind +said, "No, they had not seen the White Dove;" but the South Wind +said-- + +"I have seen the White Dove; he has flown to the Red Sea, and +has again been changed into a Lion, for the seven years are up; +and the Lion stands there in combat with an Enchanted Princess, +who is in the form of a great Caterpillar." + +Then the North Wind knew what to do; and he said to the +Princess-- + +"Go to the Red Sea; on the right-hand shore there are great +reeds, count them, and cut off the eleventh reed, and beat the +Caterpillar with it. Then the Caterpillar and the Lion will take +their human forms. Then look for the Griffin which sits on the +Red Sea, and leap upon its back with the Prince, and the Griffin +will carry you safely home. Here is a nut; let it fall when you +are in the midst of the sea, and a large nut-tree will grow out +of the water, and the Griffin will rest upon it." + +So the Princess went to the Red Sea, and counted the reeds, and +cut off the eleventh reed, and beat the Caterpillar with it, and +then the Lion conquered in the fight, and both of them took +their human forms again. But the Enchanted Princess was too +quick for the poor wife, for she instantly seized the Prince and +sprang upon the back of the Griffin, and away they flew, quite +out of sight. Now the poor deserted wife sat down on the +desolate shore, and cried bitterly; and then she said, "So far +as the wind blows, and so long as the cock crows, will I search +for my husband, till I find him;" and so she travelled on and +on, until one day she came to the palace whither the Enchanted +Princess had carried the Prince; and there was great feasting +going on, and they told her that the Prince and Princess were +about to be married. Then she remembered what the Sun had said, +and took out the casket and opened it, and there was the most +beautiful dress in all the world; as brilliant as the Sun +himself. So she put it on, and went into the palace, and +everybody admired the dress, and the Enchanted Princess asked if +she would sell it? + +"Not for gold or silver," she said, "but for flesh and blood." + +"What do you mean?" the Princess asked. + +"Let me sleep for one night in the bridegroom's chamber," the +wife said. So the Enchanted Princess agreed, but she gave the +Prince a sleeping draught, so that he could not hear his wife's +cries; and in the morning she was driven out, without a word +from him, for he slept so soundly that all she said seemed to +him only like the rushing of the wind through the fir-trees. + +Then the poor wife sat down and wept again, until she thought of +the egg the Moon had given her; and when she took the egg and +broke it, there came out of it a hen with twelve chickens, all +of gold, and the chickens pecked quite prettily, and then ran +under the wings of the hen for shelter. Presently, the Enchanted +Princess looked out of the window, and saw the hen and the +chickens, and asked if they were for sale. "Not for gold or +silver, but for flesh and blood," was the answer she got; and +then the wife made the same bargain as before--that she should +spend the night in the bridegroom's chamber. Now this night the +Prince was warned by his servant, and so he poured away the +sleeping draught instead of drinking it; and when his wife came, +and told her sorrowful story, he knew her, and said, "Now I am +saved;" and then they both went as quickly as possible, and set +themselves upon the Griffin, who carried them over the Red Sea; +and when they got to the middle of the sea, the Princess let +fall the nut which the North Wind had given to her, and a great +nut-tree grew up at once, on which the Griffin rested; and then +it went straight to their home, where they lived happy ever +after. + +One more story of the same kind must be told, for three reasons: +because it is very good reading, because it brings together +various legends, and because it shows that these were common to +Celtic as well as to Hindu, Greek, Teutonic, and Scandinavian +peoples. It is called "The Battle of the Birds," and is given at +full length, and in several different versions, in Campbell's +"Popular Tales of the West Highlands."[5] To bring it within our +space we must tell it in our own way. + +Once upon a time every bird and other creature gathered to +battle. The son of the King of Tethertoun went to see the +battle, but it was over before he got there, all but one fight, +between a great Raven and a Snake; and the Snake was getting the +victory. The King's son helped the Raven, and cut off the +Snake's head. The Raven thanked him for his kindness and said, +"Now I will give thee a sight; come up on my wings;" and then +the Raven flew with him over seven mountains, and seven glens, +and seven moors, and that night the King's son lodged in the +house of the Raven's sisters; and promised to meet the Raven +next morning in the same place. This went on for three nights +and days, and on the third morning, instead of a raven, there +met him a handsome lad, who gave him a bundle, and told him not +to look into it, until he was in the place where he would most +wish to dwell. But the King's son did look into the bundle, and +then he found himself in a great castle with fine grounds about +it, and he was very sorry, because he wished the castle had been +near his father's house, but he could not put it back into the +bundle again. Then a great Giant met him, and offered to put the +castle back into a bundle for a reward, and this was to be the +Prince's son, when the son was seven years old. So the Prince +promised, and the Giant put everything back into the bundle, and +the Prince went home with it to his father's house. When he got +there he opened the bundle, and out came the castle and all the +rest, just as before, and at the castle door stood a beautiful +maiden who asked him to marry her, and they were married, and +had a son. When the seven years were up, the Giant came to ask +for the boy, and then the King's son (who had now become a king +himself) told his wife about his promise. "Leave that to me and +the Giant," said the Queen. So she dressed the cook's son (who +was the right age) in fine clothes, and gave him to the Giant; +but the Giant gave the boy a rod, and asked him, "If thy father +had that rod, what would he do with it?" "He would beat the dogs +if they went near the King's meat," said the boy. Then Said the +Giant, "Thou art the cook's son," and he killed him. Then the +Giant went back, very angry, and the Queen gave him the butler's +son; and the Giant gave him the rod, and asked him the same +question, "My father would beat the dogs if they came near the +King's glasses," said the boy. "Thou art the butler's son," said +the Giant; and he killed him. Now the Giant went back the third +time, and made a dreadful noise. "Out here _thy_ son," he said, +"or the stone that is highest in thy dwelling shall be the +lowest." So they gave him the King's son, and the Giant took him +to his own house, and he stayed there a long while. One day the +youth heard sweet music at the top of the Giant's house, and he +saw a sweet face. It was the Giant's youngest daughter; and she +said to him, "My father wants you to marry one of my sisters, +and he wants me to marry the King of the Green City, but I will +not. So when he asks, say thou wilt take me." Next day the Giant +gave the King's son choice of his two eldest daughters; but the +Prince said, "Give me this pretty little one?" and then the +Giant was angry, and said that before he had her he must do +three things. The first of these was to clean out a byre or +cattle place, where there was the dung of a hundred cattle, and +it had not been cleaned for seven years. He tried to do it, and +worked till noon, but the filth was as bad as ever. Then the +Giant's youngest daughter came, and bid him sleep, and she +cleaned out the stable, so that a golden apple would run from +end to end of it. Next day the Giant set him to thatch the byre +with birds' down, and he had to go out on the moors to catch the +birds; but at midday, he had caught only two blackbirds, and +then the Giant's youngest daughter came again, and bid him +sleep, and then she caught the birds, and thatched the byre with +the feathers before sundown. The third day the Giant set him +another task. In the forest there was a fir-tree, and at the top +was a magpie's nest, and in the nest were five eggs, and he was +to bring these five eggs to the Giant without breaking one of +them. Now the tree was very tall; from the ground to the first +branch it was five hundred feet, so that the King's son could +not climb up it. Then the Giant's youngest daughter came again, +and she put her fingers one after the other into the tree, and +made a ladder for the King's son to climb up by. When he was at +the nest at the very top, she said, "Make haste now with the +eggs, for my father's breath is burning my back;" and she was in +such a hurry that she left her little finger sticking in the top +of the tree. Then she told the King's son that the Giant would +make all his daughters look alike, and dress them alike, and +that when the choosing time came he was to look at their hands, +and take the one that had not a little finger on one hand. So it +happened, and the King's son chose the youngest daughter, +because she put out her hand to guide him. + +Then they were married, and there was a great feast, and they +went to their chamber. The Giant's daughter said to her husband, +"Sleep not, or thou diest; we must fly quick, or my father will +kill thee." So first she cut an apple into nine pieces, and put +two pieces at the head of the bed, and two at the foot, and two +at the door of the kitchen, and two at the great door, and one +outside the house. And then she and her husband went to the +stable, and mounted the fine grey filly, and rode off as fast as +they could. Presently the Giant called out, "Are you asleep +yet?" and the apple at the head of the bed said, "We are not +asleep." Then he called again, and the apple at the foot of the +bed said the same thing; and then he asked again and again, +until the apple outside the house door answered; and then he +knew that a trick had been played on him, and ran to the bedroom +and found it empty. And then he pursued the runaways as fast as +possible. Now at day-break--"at the mouth of day," the story- +teller says--the Giant's daughter said to her husband, "My +father's breath is burning my back; put thy hand into the ear of +the grey filly, and whatever thou findest, throw it behind +thee." "There is a twig of sloe-tree," he said. "Throw it behind +thee," said she; and he did so, and twenty miles of black-thorn +wood grew out of it, so thick that a weasel could not get +through. But the Giant cut through it with his big axe and his +wood-knife, and went after them again. At the heat of day the +Giant's daughter said again, "My father's breath is burning my +back;" and then her husband put his finger in the filly's ear, +and took out a piece of grey stone, and threw it behind him, and +there grew up directly a great rock twenty miles broad and +twenty miles high. Then the Giant got his mattock and his lever, +and made a way through the rocks, and came after them again. Now +it was near sunset, and once more the Giant's daughter felt her +father's breath burning her back. So, for the third time, her +husband put his hand into the filly's ear, and took out a +bladder of water, and he threw it behind him, and there was a +fresh-water loch, twenty miles long and twenty miles broad; and +the Giant came on so fast that he ran into the middle of the +loch and was drowned. + +Here is clearly a Sun-myth, which is like those of ancient Hindu +and Greek legend: the blue-grey Filly is the Dawn, on which the +new day, the maiden and her lover, speed away. The great Giant, +whose breath burns the maiden's back, is the morning Sun, whose +progress is stopped by the thick shade of the trees. Then he +rises higher, and at midday he breaks through the forest, and +soars above the rocky mountains. At evening, still powerful in +speed and heat, he comes to the great lake, plunges into it, and +sets, and those whom he pursues escape. This ending is repeated +in one of the oldest Hindu mythical stories, that of Bheki, the +Frog Princess, who lives with her husband on condition that he +never shows her a drop of water. One day he forgets, and she +disappears: that is, the sun sets or dies on the water--a +fanciful idea which takes us straight as an arrow to Aryan +myths. + +Now, however, we must complete the Gaelic story, which here +becomes like the Soaring Lark, and the Land East of the Sun and +West of the Moon, and other Teutonic and Scandinavian tales. + +After the Giant's daughter and her husband had got free from the +Giant, she bade him go to his father's house, and tell them +about her; but he was not to suffer anything to kiss him, or he +would forget her altogether. So he told everybody they were not +to kiss him, but an old greyhound leapt up at him, and touched +his mouth, and then he forgot all about the Giant's daughter, +just as if she had never lived. Now when the King's son left +her, the poor forgotten wife sat beside a well, and when night +came she climbed into an oak-tree, and slept amongst the +branches. There was a shoemaker who lived near the well, and +next day he sent his wife to fetch water, and as she drew it she +saw what she fancied to be her own reflection in the water, but +it was really the likeness of the maiden in the tree above it. +The shoemaker's wife, however, thinking it was her own, imagined +herself to be very handsome, and so she went back and told the +shoemaker that she was too beautiful to be his thrall, or slave, +any longer, and so she went off. The same thing happened to the +shoemaker's daughter; and she went off too. Then the man himself +went to the well, and saw the maiden in the tree, and understood +it all, and asked her to come down and stay at his house, and to +be his daughter. So she went with him. After a while there came +three gentlemen from the King's Court, and each of them wanted +to marry her; and she agreed with each of them privately, on +condition that each should give a sum of money for a wedding +gift. Well, they agreed to this, each unknown to the other; and +she married one of them, but when he came and had paid the +money, she gave him a cup of water to hold, and there he had to +stand, all night long, unable to move or to let go the cup of +water, and in the morning he went away ashamed, but said nothing +to his friends. Next night it was the turn of the second; and +she told him to see that the door-latch was fastened; and when +he touched the latch he could not let it go, and had to stand +there all night holding it; and so he went away, and said +nothing. The next night the third came, and when he stepped upon +the floor, one foot stuck so fast that he could not draw it out +until morning; and then he did the same as the others--went off +quite cast down. And then the maiden gave all the money to the +shoemaker for his kindness to her. This is like the story of +"The Master Maid," in Dr. Dasent's collection of "Tales from the +Norse." But there is the end of it to come. The shoemaker had to +finish some shoes because the young King was going to be +married; and the maiden said she should like to see the King +before he married. So the shoemaker took her to the King's +castle; and then she went into the wedding-room, and because of +her beauty they filled a vessel of wine for her. When she was +going to drink it, there came a flame out of the glass, and out +of the flame there came a silver pigeon and a golden pigeon; and +just then three grains of barley fell upon the floor, and the +silver pigeon ate them up. Then the golden one said, "If thou +hadst mind when I cleaned the byre, thou wouldst not eat that +without giving me a share." Then three more grains fell, and the +silver pigeon ate them also. Then said the golden pigeon, "If +thou hadst mind when I thatched the byre, thou wouldst not eat +that without giving me a share." Then three other grains fell, +and the silver pigeon ate them up. And the golden pigeon said, +"If thou hadst mind when I harried the magpie's nest, thou +wouldst not eat that without giving me my share. I lost my +little finger bringing it down, and I want it still." Then, +suddenly, the King's son remembered, and knew who it was, and +sprang to her and kissed her from hand to mouth; and the priest +came, and they were married. + +These stories will be enough to show how the same idea repeats +itself in different ways among various peoples who have come +from the same stock: for the ancient Hindu legend of Urvasi and +Pururavas, the Greek fable of Eros and Psyche, the Norse story +of the Land East of the Sun and West of the Moon, the Teutonic +story of the Soaring Lark, and the Celtic story of the Battle of +the Birds, are all one and the same in their general character, +their origin, and their meaning; and in all these respects they +resemble the story which we know so well in English--that of +Beauty and the Beast. The same kind of likeness has already been +shown in the story of Cinderella, and in those which resemble it +in the older Aryan legends and in the later stories of the +Greeks. If space allowed, such comparisons might be carried much +further; indeed, there is no famous fairy tale known to children +in our day which has not proceeded from our Aryan forefathers, +thousands of years ago, and which is not repeated in Hindu, +Persian, Greek, Teutonic, Scandinavian, and Celtic folk-lore; +the stories being always the same in their leading idea, and yet +always so different in their details as to show that the +story-tellers have not copied from each other, but that they are +repeating, in their own way, legends and fancies which existed +thousands of years ago, before the Aryan people broke up from +their old homes, and went southward and westward, and spread +themselves over India and throughout Europe. + +Now there is a curious little German story, called "The Wolf and +the Seven Little Kids," which is told in Grimm's collection, and +which shows at once the connection between Teutonic folk-lore, +and Greek mythology, and Aryan legend. There was an old Goat who +had seven young ones, and when she went into the forest for +wood, she warned them against the Wolf; if he came, they were +not to open the door to him on any account. Presently the Wolf +came, and knocked, and asked to be let in; but the little Kids +said, "No, you have a gruff voice; you are a wolf." So the Wolf +went and bought a large piece of chalk, and ate it up, and by +this means he made his voice smooth; and then he came back to +the cottage, and knocked, and again asked to be let in. The +little Kids, however, saw his black paws, and they said, "No, +your feet are black; you are a wolf." Then the Wolf went to a +baker, and got him to powder his feet with flour; and when the +little Kids saw his white feet, they thought it was their +mother, and let him in. Then the little Kids were very much +frightened, and ran and hid themselves. The first got under the +table, the second into the bed, the third into the cupboard, the +fourth into the kitchen, the fifth into the oven, the sixth into +the wash-tub, and the seventh into the clock-case. The wicked +Wolf, however, found all of them out, and ate them up, excepting +the one in the clock-case, where he did not think of looking. +And when the greedy monster had finished his meal, he went into +the meadow, and lay down and slept. Just at this time the old +Goat came home, and began crying for her children; but the only +one who answered was the youngest, who said, "Here I am, dear +mother, in the clock-case;" and then he came out and told her +all about it. Presently the Goat went out into the meadow, and +there lay the Wolf, snoring quite loud; and she thought she saw +something stirring in his body. So she ran back, and fetched a +pair of scissors and a needle and thread, and then she cut open +the monster's hairy coat, and out jumped first one little kid, +and then another, until all the six stood round her, for the +greedy Wolf was in such a hurry that he had swallowed them whole. +Then the Goat and the little Kids brought a number of stones, +and put them into the Wolf's stomach, and sewed up the place +again. When the Wolf woke up, he felt very thirsty, and ran off +to the brook to drink, and the heavy stones overbalanced him, +so that he fell into the brook, and was drowned. And then the +seven little Kids danced round their mother, singing joyfully, +"The wolf is dead! the wolf is dead!" Now this story is nothing +but another version of an old Greek legend which tells how +Kronos (Time), an ancient god, devoured his children while they +were quite young; and Kronos was the son of Ouranos, which means +the heavens; and Ouranos is a name which comes from that of +Varuna, a god of the sky in the old sacred books, or Vedas, of +the Hindus; and the meaning of the legend is that Night swallows +up or devours the days of the week, all but the youngest, which +still exists, because, like the little kid in the German tale, +it is in the clock-case. + +Again, in the Vedas we have many accounts of the fights of +Indra, the sun-god, with dragons and monsters, which mean the +dark-clouds, the tempest thunder-bearing clouds, which were +supposed to have stolen the heavenly cows, or the light, +pleasant, rain-bearing clouds, and to have shut them up in +gloomy caverns. From this source we have an infinite number of +Greek and Teutonic, and Scandinavian, and other legends. One of +these is the story of Polyphemos, the great one-eyed giant, or +Kyklops, whom Odysseus blinded. Polyphemos is the storm-cloud, +and Odysseus stands for the sun. The storm-cloud threatens the +mariners; the lightnings dart from the spot which seems like an +eye in the darkness; he hides the blue heavens and the soft +white clouds--the cows of the sky, or the white-fleeced flocks +of heaven. Then comes Odysseus, the sun-god, the hero, and +smites him blind, and chases him away, and disperses the +threatening and the danger, and brings light, and peace, and +calm again. + +Now this legend of Polyphemos is to be found everywhere; in the +oldest Hindu books, in Teutonic, and Norse, and Slav stories; +and everywhere also the great giant, stormy, angry, and +one-eyed, is always very stupid, and is always overthrown or +outwitted by the hero, Odysseus, when he is shut up in the +cavern of Polyphemos, cheats the monster by tying himself under +the belly of the largest and oldest ram, and so passes out while +the blind giant feels the fleece, and thinks that all is safe. +Almost exactly the same trick is told in an old Gaelic story, +that of Conall Cra Bhuidhe.[6] A great Giant with only one eye +seized upon Conall, who was hunting on the Giant's lands. Conall +himself is made to tell the story: + +"I hear a great clattering coming, and what was there but a +great Giant and his dozen of goats with him, and a buck at their +head. And when the Giant had tied the goats, he came up, and he +said to me, 'Hao O! Conall, it's long since my knife is rusting +in my pouch waiting for thy tender flesh.' 'Och!' said I, 'it's +not much thou wilt be bettered by me, though thou shouldst tear +me asunder; I will make but one meal for thee. But I see that +thou art one-eyed. I am a good leech, and I will give thee the +sight of the other eye.' The Giant went and he drew the great +caldron on the site of the fire. I was telling him how he should +heat the water, so that I should give its sight to the other +eye. I got leather and I made a rubber of it, and I set him +upright in the caldron. I began at the eye that was well, till I +left them as bad as each other. When he saw that he could not +see a glimpse, and when I myself said to him that I would get +out in spite of him, he gave that spring out of the water, and +he stood in the mouth of the cave, and he said that he would +have revenge for the sight of his eye. I had but to stay there +crouched the length of the night, holding in my breath in such a +way that he might not feel where I was. When he felt the birds +calling in the morning, and knew that the day was, he said, 'Art +thou sleeping? Awake, and let out my lot of goats!' I killed the +buck. He cried, 'I will not believe that thou art not killing my +buck.' 'I am not,' I said, 'but the ropes are so tight that I +take long to loose them.' I let out one of the goats, and he was +caressing her, and he said to her, 'There thou art, thou shaggy +hairy white goat; and thou seest me, but I see thee not.' I was +letting them out, by way of one by one, as I flayed the buck, +and before the last one was out I had him flayed, bag-wise. Then +I went and put my legs in the place of his legs, and my hands in +the place of his fore-legs, and my head in the place of his +head, and the horns on top of my head, so that the brute might +think it was the buck. I went out. When I was going out the +Giant laid his hand on me, and said, 'There thou art, thou +pretty buck; thou seest me, but I see thee not.' When I myself +got out, and I saw the world about me, surely joy was on me. +When I was out and had shaken the skin off me, I said to the +brute, 'I am out now, in spite of thee!'" + +It was a blind fiddler, in Islay, who told the story of Conall, +as it had been handed down by tradition from generation to +generation; just as thousands of years before the story of +Odysseus and Polyphemos was told by Greek bards to wondering +villagers. + +Here we must stop; for volumes would not contain all that might +be said of the likeness of legend to legend in all the branches +of the Aryan family, or of the meaning of these stories, and of +the lessons they teach--lessons of history, and religious +belief, and customs, and morals and ways of thought, and poetic +fancies, and of well-nigh all things, heavenly and human-- +stretching back to the very spring and cradle of our race, +older than the oldest writings, and yet so ever fresh and +new that while great scholars ponder over them for their deep +meaning, little children in the nursery or by the fire-side in +winter listen to them with delight for their wonder and their +beauty. Else, if there were time and space we might tell the +story of Jason, and show how it springs from the changes of day +and night, and how the hero, in his good ship Argo, our mother +Earth, searches for and bears away in triumph the Golden Fleece, +the beams of the radiant sun. Or we might fly with Perseus on +his weary, endless journey--the light pursuing and scattering +the darkness; the glittering hero, borne by the mystic sandals +of Hermes, bearing the sword of the sunlight, piercing the +twilight or gloaming in the land of the mystic Graiae; slaying +Medusa, the solemn star-lit night; destroying the dark dragon, +and setting free Andromeda the dawn-maiden; and doing many +wonders more. Or in Hermes we might trace out the Master Thief +of Teutonic, and Scandinavian, and Hindu legends; or in +Herakles, the type of the heroes who are god-like in their +strength, yet who do the bidding of others, and who suffer toil +and wrong, and die glorious deaths, and leave great names for +men to wonder at: heroes such as Odysseus, and Theseus, and +Phoebus, and Achilles, and Sigurd, and Arthur, and all of whom +represent, in one form or another, the great mystery of Nature, +and the conflict of light and darkness; and so, if we look to +their deeper meaning, the constant triumph of good over evil, +and of right over wrong. + +------------------------ +[3] _Oxford Essays:_ "Comparative Mythology," p. 69. + +[4] _Popular Tales from the Norse_, by George Webbe Dasent, D.C.L. + +[5] _Popular Titles of the West Highlands_. Orally collected, + with a Translation by J. F. Campbell. Edinburgh: Edmonton + and Douglas. 4 vols. + +[6] Campbell's _Popular Tales of the West Highlands_, i. 112. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +DWELLERS IN FAIRYLAND: STORIES FROM THE EAST. + +We have said something about the people and the countries which +gave birth to our Fairy Stories, and about the meaning of such +tales generally when they were first thought of. Then they were +clearly understood, and those who told them and heard them knew +what they meant; but, as time went on, and as the Aryan race +became scattered in various countries, the old stories changed a +great deal, and their meaning was lost, and all kinds of wild +legends, and strange fables and fanciful tales, were made out of +them. The earliest stories were about clouds, and winds, and the +sun, and the waters, and the earth, which were turned into Gods +and other beings of a heavenly kind. By degrees, as the first +meanings of the legends were lost, these beings gave place to a +multitude of others: some of them beautiful, and good, and kind +and friendly to mankind; and some of them terrible, and bad, and +malignant, and always trying to do harm; and there were so many +of both kinds that all the world was supposed to be full of +them. There were Spirits of the water, and the air, and the +earth, forest and mountain demons, creatures who dwelt in +darkness and in fire, and others who lived in the sunshine, or +loved to come out only in the moonlight. There were some, +again--Dwarfs, and other creatures of that kind--who made their +homes in caves and underground places, and heaped up treasures +of gold and silver, and gems, and made wonderful works in metals +of all descriptions; and there were giants, some of them with +two heads, who could lift mountains, and walk through rivers and +seas, and who picked up great rocks and threw them about like +pebbles. Then there were Ogres, with shining rows of terrible +teeth, who caught up men and women and children, and strung them +together like larks, and carried them home, and cooked them for +supper. Then, also, there were Good Spirits, of the kind the +Arabs call Peris, and we call Fairies, who made it their +business to defend deserving people against the wicked monsters; +and there were Magicians, and other wise or cunning people, who +had power over the spirits, whether good or bad, as you read in +the story of Aladdin and his Ring, and his Wonderful Lamp, and +in other tales in the "Arabian Nights," and collections of that +kind. Many of these beings--all of whom, for our purpose, may be +called Dwellers in Fairyland--had the power of taking any shape +they pleased, like the Ogre in the story of "Puss in Boots," who +changed himself first into a lion, and then into an elephant, +and then into a mouse, when he got eaten up; and they could also +change human beings into different forms, or turn them into +stone, or carry them about in the air from place to place, and +put them under the spells of enchantment, as they liked. + +Some of the most wonderful creatures of Fairyland are to be +found in Eastern stories, the tales of India, and Arabia, and +Persia. Here we have the Divs, and Jinns, and Peris, and +Rakshas--who were the originals of our own Ogres--and terrible +giants, and strange mis-shapen dwarfs, and vampires and monsters +of various kinds. Many others, also very wonderful, are to be +found in what is called the Mythology--that is, the fables and +stories--of ancient Greece, such as the giant Atlas, who bore +the world upon his shoulders; and Polyphemus, the one-eyed +giant, who caught Odysseus and his companions, and shut them up +in his cave; and Kirke, the beautiful sorceress, who turned men +into swine; and the Centaurs, creatures half men and half +horses; and the Gorgon Medusa, whose head, with its hair of +serpents, turned into stone all who beheld it; and the great +dragon, the Python, whom Phoebus killed, and who resembles the +dragon Vritra, in Hindu legend--the dragon slain by Indra, the +god of the Sun, because he shut up the rain, and so scorched the +earth--and who also resembles Fafnir, the dragon of Scandinavian +legend, killed by Sigurd; and the fabled dragon with whom St. +George fought; and also, the dragon of Wantley, whom our old +English legends describe as being killed by More of More Hall. +In the stories of the North lands of Europe, as we are told in +the Eddas and Sagas (the songs and records), there are likewise +many wonderful beings--the Trolls, the Frost Giants, curious +dwarfs, elves, nisses, mermen and mermaids, and swan-maidens and +the like. The folk-lore--that is, the common traditionary +stories--of Germany are full of such wonders. Here, again, we +have giants and dwarfs and kobolds; and birds and beasts and +fishes who can talk; and good fairies, who come in and help +their friends just when they are wanted; and evil fairies, and +witches; and the wild huntsman, who sweeps across the sky with +his ghostly train; and men and women who turn themselves into +wolves, and go about in the night devouring sheep and killing +human beings, In Russian tales we find many creatures of the +same kind, and also in those of Italy, and Spain, and France. +And in our own islands we have them too, for the traditions of +English giants, and ogres, and dwarfs still linger in the tales +of Jack the Giant-killer and Jack and the Bean-stalk, and Hop o' +my Thumb; and we have also the elves whom Shakspeare draws for +us so delightfully in "Midsummer Night's Dream" and in "The +Merry Wives of Windsor"; and there are the Devonshire pixies; +and the Scottish fairies and the brownies--the spirits who do +the work of the house or the farm--and the Irish "good people;" +and the Pooka, which comes in the form of a wild colt; and the +Leprechaun, a dwarf who makes himself look like a little old +man, mending shoes; and the Banshee, which cries and moans when +great people are going to die. + +To all these, and more, whom there is no room to mention, we +must add other dwellers in Fairyland--forms, in one shape or +other, of the great Sun-myths of the ancient Aryan race--such as +Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and Vivien and Merlin, +and Queen Morgan le hay, and Ogier the Dane, and the story of +Roland, and the Great Norse poems which tell of Sigurd, and +Brynhilt, and Gudrun, and the Niblung folk. And to these, again, +there are to be added many of the heroes and heroines who figure +in the Thousand-and-one Nights--such, for example, as Aladdin, +and Sindbad, and Ali Baba, and the Forty Thieves, and the +Enchanted Horse, and the Fairy Peri Banou, with her wonderful +tent that would cover an army, and her brother Schaibar, the +dwarf, with his beard thirty feet long, and his great bar of +iron with which he could sweep down a city. Even yet we have not +got to the end of the long list of Fairy Folk, for there are +still to be reckoned the well-known characters who figure in our +modern Fairy Tales, such as Cinderella, and the Yellow Dwarf, +and the White Cat, and Fortunatus, and Beauty and the Beast, and +Riquet with the Tuft, and the Invisible Prince, and many more +whom children know by heart, and whom all of us, however old we +may be, still cherish with fond remembrance, because they give +us glimpses into the beautiful and wondrous land, the true +Fairyland whither good King Arthur went-- + + "The island-valley of Avilion, + Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow, + Nor ever wind blows loudly; but it lies + Deep-meadowed, happy, fair with orchard lawns, + And bowery hollows crowned with summer sea." + +Now it is plain that we cannot speak of all these dwellers in +Fairyland; but we can only pick out a few here and there, and +those of you who want to know more must go to the books that +tell of them. As to me, who have undertaken to tell something of +these wonders, I feel very much like the poor boy in the little +German story of "The Golden Key." Do you know the story? If you +don't, I will tell it you. "One winter, when a deep snow was +lying on the ground, a poor boy had to go out in a sledge to +fetch wood. When he had got enough he thought he would make a +fire to warm himself, for his limbs were quite frozen. So he +swept the snow away and made a clear space, and there he found a +golden key. Then he began to think that where there was a key +there must also be a lock; and digging in the earth he found a +small iron chest. 'I hope the key will fit,' lie said to +himself, 'for there must certainly be great treasures in this +box.' After looking all round the box he found a little keyhole, +and to his great joy, the golden key fitted it exactly. Then he +turned the key once round"--and now we must wait till he has +quite unlocked it and lifted the lid up, and then we shall learn +what wonderful treasures were in the chest. This is all that +this book can do for you. It can give you the golden key, and +show you where the chest is to be found, and then you must +unlock it for yourselves. + +Where shall we begin our hasty journey into Wonderland? Suppose +we take a glance at those famous Hindu demons, the Rakshas, who +are the originals of all the ogres and giants of our nursery +tales? Now the Rakshas were very terrible creatures indeed, and +in the minds of many people in India are so still, for they are +believed in even now. Their natural form, so the stories say, is +that of huge, unshapely giants, like clouds, with hair and beard +of the colour of the red lightning; but they can take any form +they please, to deceive those whom they wish to devour, for +their great delight, like that of the ogres, is to kill all they +meet, and to eat the flesh of those whom they kill. Often they +appear as hunters, of monstrous size, with tusks instead of +teeth, and with horns on their heads, and all kinds of grotesque +and frightful weapons and ornaments. They are very strong, and +make themselves stronger by various arts of magic; and they are +strongest of all at nightfall, when they are supposed to roam +about the jungles, to enter the tombs, and even to make their +way into the cities, and carry off their victims. But the +Rakshas are not alone like ogres in their cruelty, but also in +their fondness for money, and for precious stones, which they +get together in great quantities and conceal in their palaces; +for some of them are kings of their species, and have thousands +upon thousands of inferior Rakshas under their command. But +while they are so numerous and so powerful, the Rakshas, like +all the ogres and giants in Fairyland, are also very stupid, and +are easily outwitted by clever people. There are many Hindu +stories which are told to show this. I will tell you one of +them.[7] Two little Princesses were badly treated at home, and +so they ran away into a great forest, where they found a palace +belonging to a Rakshas, who had gone out. So they went into the +house and feasted, and swept the rooms, and made everything neat +and tidy. Just as they had done this, the Rakshas and his wife +came home, and the two Princesses ran up to the top of the +house, and hid themselves on the flat roof. When the Rakshas +got indoors he said to his wife: "Somebody has been making +everything clean and tidy. Wife, did you do this?" "No," she +said; "I don't know who can have done it." "Some one has been +sweeping the court-yard," said the Rakshas. "Wife, did you sweep +the court-yard?" "No," she answered; "I did not do it." Then the +Rakshas walked round and round several times, with his nose up +in the air, saying, "Some one is here now; I smell flesh and +blood. Where can they be?" "Stuff and nonsense!" cried the +Rakshas' wife. "You smell flesh and blood, indeed! Why, you +have just been killing and eating a hundred thousand people. I +should wonder if you didn't still smell flesh and blood!" They +went on disputing, till at last the Rakshas gave it up. "Never +mind," lie said; "I don't know how it is--I am very thirsty: +let's come and drink some water." So they went to the well, and +began letting down jars into it, and drawing them up, and +drinking the water. Then the elder of the two Princesses, who +was very bold and wise, said to her sister, "I will do something +that will be very good for us both." So she ran quickly down +stairs, and crept close behind the Rakshas and his wife, as they +stood on tip-toe more than half over the side of the well, and +catching hold of one of the Rakshas' heels, and one of his +wife's, she gave each a little push, and down they both tumbled +into the well, and were drowned--the Rakshas and the Rakshas' +wife. The Princess then went back to her sister, and said, "I +have killed the Rakshas!" "What, both?" cried her sister. "Yes, +both," she said. "Won't they come back?" said her sister. "No, +never," answered she. + +This, you see, is something like the story of the Little Girl +and the Three Bears, so well known amongst our Nursery Tales. + +Another story will show you how stupid a Rakshas is, and how +easily he can be outwitted.[8] + +Once upon a time a Blind Man and a Deaf Man made an agreement. +The Blind Man was to hear for the Deaf Man; and the Deaf Man +was to see for the Blind Man; and so they were to go about on +their travels together. One day they went to a nautch--that is, +a singing and dancing exhibition. The Deaf Man said, "The +dancing is very good; but the music is not worth listening to." +"I do not agree with you," the Blind Man said; "I think the +music is very good; but the dancing is not worth looking at." So +they went away for a walk in the jungle. On the way they found a +donkey, belonging to a dhobee, or washerman, and a big chattee, +or iron pot, which the washerman used to boil clothes in. +"Brother," said the Deaf Man, "here is a donkey and a chattee; +let us take them with us, they may be useful." So they took +them, and went on. Presently they came to an ants' nest. "Here," +said the Deaf Man, "are a number of very fine black ants; let us +take some of them to show our friends." "Yes," said the Blind +Man, "they will do as presents to our friends." So the Deaf Man +took out a silver box from his pocket, and put several of the +black ants into it. After a time a terrible storm came on. "Oh +dear!" cried the Deaf Man, "how dreadful this lightning is! let +us get to some place of shelter." "I don't see that it's +dreadful at all," said the Blind Man, "but the thunder is +terrible; let us get under shelter." So they went up to a +building that looked like a temple, and went in, and took the +donkey and the big pot and the black ants with them. But it was +not a temple, it was the house of a powerful Rakshas, and the +Rakshas came home as soon as they had got inside and had +fastened the door. Finding that he couldn't get in, he began to +make a great noise, louder than the thunder, and he beat upon +the door with his great fists. Now the Deaf Man looked through a +chink, and saw him, and was very frightened, for the Rakshas was +dreadful to look at. But the Blind Man, as he couldn't see, was +very brave; and he went to the door and called out, "Who are +you? and what do you mean by coming here and battering at the +door in this way, and at this time of night?" "I'm a Rakshas," +he answered, in a rage; "and this is my house, and if you don't +let me in I will kill you." Then the Blind Man called out in +reply, "Oh! you're a Rakshas, are you? Well, if you're Rakshas, +I'm Bakshas, and Bakshas is as good as Rakshas." "What nonsense +is this?" cried the monster; "there is no such creature as a +Bakshas." "Go away," replied the Blind Man, "if you make any +further disturbance I'll punish you; for know that I _am_ +Bakshas, and Bakshas is Rakshas' father." "Heavens and earth!" +cried the Rakshas, "I never heard such an extraordinary thing in +my life. But if you are my father, let me see your face,"--for +he began to get puzzled and frightened, as the person inside was +so very positive. Now the Blind Man and the Deaf Man didn't +quite know what to do; but at last they opened the door just a +little, and poked the donkey's nose out. "Bless me," thought the +Rakshas, "what a terribly ugly face my father Bakshas has got." +Then he called out again "O! father Bakshas, you have a very big +fierce face, but people have sometimes very big heads and very +little bodies; let me see you, body and head, before I go away." +Then the Blind Man and the Deaf Man rolled the great iron pot +across the floor with a thundering noise; and the Rakshas, who +watched the chink of the door very carefully, said to himself, +"He has got a great body as well, so I had better go away." But +he was still doubtful; so he said, "Before I go away let me hear +you scream," for all the tribe of the Rakshas scream dreadfully. +Then the Blind Man and the Deaf Man took two of the black ants +out of the box, and put one into each of the donkey's ears, and +the ants bit the donkey, and the donkey began to bray and to +bellow as loud as he could; and then the Rakshas ran away quite +frightened. + +In the morning the Blind Man and the Deaf Man found that the +floor of the house was covered with heaps of gold, and silver, +and precious stones; and they made four great bundles of the +treasure, and took one each, and put the other two on the +donkey, and off they went, But the Rakshas was waiting some +distance off to see what his father Bakshas was like by +daylight; and he was very angry when he saw only a Deaf Man, and +a Blind Man, and a big iron pot, and a donkey, all loaded with +his gold and silver. So he ran off and fetched six of his +friends to help him, and each of the six had hair a yard long, +and tusks like an elephant. When the Blind Man and the Deaf Man +saw them coming they went and hid the treasure in the bushes, +and then they got up into a lofty betel palm and waited--the +Deaf Man, because he could see, getting up first, to be furthest +out of harm's way. Now the seven Rakshas were not able to reach +them, and so they said, "Let us get on each other's shoulders +and pull them down." So one Rakshas stooped down, and the second +got on his shoulders, and the third on his, and the fourth on +his, and the fifth on his, and the sixth on his, and the +seventh--the one who had invited the others--was just climbing +up, when the Deaf Man got frightened and caught hold of the +Blind Man's arm, and as he was sitting quite at ease, not +knowing that they were so close, the Blind Man was upset, and +tumbled down on the neck of the seventh Rakshas. The Blind Man +thought he had fallen into the branches of another tree, and +stretching out his hands for something to take hold of, he +seized the Rakshas' two great ears and pinched them very hard. +This frightened the Rakshas, who lost his balance and fell down +to the ground, upsetting the other six of his friends; the Blind +Man all the while pinching harder than ever, and the Deaf Man +crying out from the top of the tree--"You're all right, brother, +hold on tight, I'm coming down to help you"--though he really +didn't mean to do anything of the kind. Well, the noise, and the +pinching, and all the confusion, so frightened the six Rakshas +that they thought they had had enough of helping their friend, +and so they ran away; and the seventh Rakshas, thinking that +because they ran there must be great danger, shook off the Blind +Man and ran away too. And then the Deaf Man came down from the +tree and embraced the Blind Man, and said, "I could not have +done better myself." Then the Deaf Man divided the treasure; one +great heap for himself, and one little heap for the Blind Man. +But the Blind Man felt his heap and then felt the other, and +then, being angry at the cheat, he gave the Deaf Man a box on +the ear, so tremendous that it made the Deaf Man hear. And the +Deaf Man, also being angry, gave the other such a blow in the +face that it made the Blind Man see. So they became good friends +directly, and divided the treasure into equal shares, and went +home laughing at the stupid Rakshas. + +From the legends of India we now go on to Persia and Arabia, to +learn something about the Divs and the Peris, and the Jinns. +When the ancient Persians separated from the Aryan race from +which they sprang, they altered their religion as well as +changed their country. They came to believe in two principal +gods, Ormuzd, the spirit of goodness, who sits enthroned in the +Realms of Light, with great numbers of angels around him; and +Ahriman, the spirit of evil, who reigns in the Realms of +Darkness and Fire, and round whose throne are the great six +arch-Divs, and vast numbers of inferior Divs, or evil beings; +and these two powers are always at war with each other, and are +always trying to obtain the government of the world. From Ormuzd +and Ahriman there came in time, according to popular fancy, the +two races of the Divs and the Peris, creatures who were like +mankind in some things, but who had great powers of magic; which +made them visible and invisible at pleasure, enabled them to +change their shapes when they pleased, and to move about on the +earth or in the air. They dwelt in the land of Jinnestan, in the +mountains of Kaf. These mountains were supposed to go round the +earth like a ring; they were thousands of miles in height, and +they were made of the precious stone called chrysolite, which is +of a green colour, and this colour, so the Persian poets say, is +reflected in the green which we sometimes see in the sky at +sunset. In this land of Jinnestan there are many cities. The +Peris have for their abode the kingdom of Shad-u-Kan, that is, +of Pleasure and Delight, with its capital Juber-a-bad, or the +Jewel City; and the Divs have for their dwelling Ahermambad, or +Ahriman's city, in which there are enchanted castles and +palaces, guarded by terrible monsters and powerful magicians. +The Peris are very beautiful beings, usually represented as +women with wings, and charming robes of all colours. The Divs +are painted as demons of the most frightful kind. One of them, a +very famous one named Berkhyas, is described as being a mountain +in size, his face black, his body covered with hair, his neck +like that of a dragon; two boar's tusks proceed from his mouth, +his eyes are wells of blood, his hair bristles like needles, and +is so thick and long that pigeons make their nests in it. +Between the Peris and the Divs there was always war; but the +Divs were too powerful for the Peris, and used to capture them +and hang them in iron cages from the tree-tops, where their +companions came and fed them with perfumes, of which the Peris +are very fond, and which the Divs very much dislike, so that the +smell kept the evil spirits away. Sometimes the Peris used to +call in the help of men against the Divs; and in the older +Persian stories there are many tales of the wonders done by +these heroes who fought against the Divs. The most famous of +these were called Tamuras and Rustem. Tamuras conquered so many +of the evil spirits that he was called the Div-binder. He began +his fights in this way. He was a great king, whose help both +sides wished to get. So the Peris sent a splendid embassy to +him, and so did the Divs. Tamuras did not know what to do; so he +went to consult a wonderful bird, called the Simurg, who speaks +all tongues, and who knows everything that has happened, or that +will happen. The Simurg told him to fight for the Peris. Then +the Simurg gave him three feathers from her own breast, and also +the magic shield of Jan-ibn-Jan, the Suleiman or King of the +Jinns, and then she carried him on her back into the country of +Jinnestan, where he fought with and conquered the king of the +Divs. The account of this battle is given at great length in the +Persian romance poems. Then Tamuras conquered another Div, named +Demrush, who lived in a gloomy cavern, where he kept in prison +the Peri Merjan, or the Pearl, a beautiful fairy, whom Tamuras +set free. Rustem, however, is the great hero of Persian romance, +and the greatest defender of the Peris. His adventures, as told +by the Persian poets, would make a very large book, so that we +cannot attempt to describe them. But there are two stories of +him which may be told. One night, while he lay sleeping under a +rock, a Div, named Asdiv, took the form of a dragon, and came +upon him suddenly. Rustem's horse, Reksh, who had magic powers, +knew the Div in this disguise, and awakened his master twice, at +which Rustem was angry, and tried to kill the horse for +disturbing him. Reksh, however, awakened him the third time, and +then Rustem saw the Div, and slew him after a fearful combat. +The other story is this. There came a wild ass of enormous size, +with a skin like the sun, and a black stripe along his back, and +this creature got amongst the king's horses and killed them. Now +the wild ass was no other than a very powerful Div, named Akvan, +who haunted a particular fountain or spring. So Rustem, mounted +on his horse Reksh, went to look for him there. Three days he +waited, but saw nothing. On the fourth day the Div appeared, and +Rustem tried to throw a noose over his head, but the Div +suddenly vanished. Then he reappeared, and Rustem shot an arrow +at him, but he vanished again. Rustem then turned his horse to +graze, and laid himself down by the spring to sleep. This was +what the cunning Akvan wanted, and while Rustem was asleep, +Akvan seized him, and flew high up into the air with him. Then +Rustem awoke, and the Div gave him his choice of being dropped +from the sky into the sea, or upon the mountains. Rustem knew +that if he fell upon the mountains he would be dashed in pieces, +so he secretly chose to fall into the sea; but he did not say so +to the Div. On the contrary, he pretended not to know what to +do, but he said he feared the sea, because those who were +drowned could not enter into Paradise. On hearing this, the Div +at once dropped Rustern into the sea--which was what he +wanted--and then went back to his fountain. But when he got +there, he found that Rustem had got ashore, and was also at the +fountain, and then they fought again and the Div was killed. +After this Rustem had a son named Zohrab, about whom many +wonderful things are told; and it so happened that Rustem and +his son Zohrab came to fight each other without knowing one +another; and Rustem was killed, and while dying he slew his +son. Now all these stories mean the same thing: they are only +the old Aryan Sun-myths put into another form by the poets and +story-tellers: the Peris are the rays of the sun, or the morning +or evening Aurora; the Divs are the black clouds of night; the +hero is the sun who conquers them, and binds them in the realms +of darkness; and the death of Rustem is the sunset--Zohrab, his +son, being either the moon or the rising sun. + +But now we must leave the Peris and the Divs, and look at the +jinns, of the Arabian stories. These also dwell in the mysterious +country of Jinnestan, and in the wonderful mountains of Kaf; +but they likewise spread themselves all through the earth, +and they specially liked to live in ruined houses, or in +tombs; on the sea shore, by the banks of rivers, and at the +meeting of cross-roads. Sometimes, too, they were found in deep +forests, and many travellers are supposed to find them in +desolate mountain places. Even to this day they are firmly +believed in by Arabs, and also by people in different parts of +Persia and India. In outward form, in their natural shape, they +resembled the Peris and the Divs of the ancient Persians, and +they were divided into good and bad: the good ones very +beautiful and shining; the bad ones deformed, black, and ugly, +and sometimes as big as giants. They did not, however, always +appear in their own forms, for they could take the shape of any +animal, especially of serpents, and cats and dogs. They were +governed by chief spirits or kings; and over all, good and bad +alike, there were set a succession of powerful monarchs, named +Suleiman, or Solomon, seventy-two in number--the last of whom, +and the greatest, Jan-ibn-Jan, is said by Arabian story-tellers +to have built the pyramids of Egypt. There is an old tradition +that the shield of Jan-ibn-Jan, which was a talisman of magic +power, was brought from Egypt to King Solomon the Wise, the son +of King David, and that it gave him power over all the tribes of +the Jinns, and this is why, in the common stories about them, +the Jinns are made to call upon the name of Solomon. + +The Jinns, according to Arabian tradition, lived upon the earth +thousands of years before man was created. They were made, the +Koran says, of "the smokeless fire," that is, the hot breath of +the desert wind, Simoon. But they became disobedient, and +prophets were sent to warn them. They would not obey the +prophets, and angels were then sent to punish them. The angels +drove them out of Jinnestan into the islands of the seas, killed +some, and shut some of them up in prison. Among the prisoners +was a young Jinns, named Iblees, whose name means Despair; and +when Adam was created, God commanded the angels and the Jinns to +do him reverence, and they all obeyed but Iblees, who was then +turned into a Shaitan, or devil, and became the father of all +the Shaitan tribe, the mortal enemies of mankind. Since their +dispersion the Jinns are not immortal; they are to live longer +than man, but they must die before the general resurrection. +Some of them are killed by other Jinns, some can be slain by +man, and some are destroyed by shooting stars sent from heaven. +When they receive a mortal wound, the fire which burns in their +veins breaks forth and burns them into ashes. + +Such are the Arab fancies about the Jinns. The meaning of them +is clear, for the Jinns are the winds, derived plainly from the +Ribhus and the Maruts of the ancient Aryan myths; and they still +survive in European folk-lore in the train of Woden, or the Wild +Huntsman, who sweeps at midnight over the German forests. + +Some of the stories of the Jinns are to be found in the book of +the Thousand and One Nights. + +One of these stories is that of "the Fisherman and the Genie." A +poor fisherman, you remember, goes out to cast his nets; but he +draws no fish, but only, at the third cast, a vase of yellow +copper, sealed with a seal of lead. He cuts open the seal, and +then there issues from the vase a thick cloud of smoke, which +rises to the sky, and spreads itself over land and sea. +Presently the smoke gathers itself together, and becomes a solid +body, taking the form of a Genie, twice as big as any of the +giants; and the Genie cries out, with a terrible voice, +"Solomon, Solomon, great prophet of Allah! Pardon! I will never +more oppose thy will, but will obey all thy commands." At first +the fisherman is very much frightened; but he grows bolder, and +tells the Genie that Solomon has been dead these eighteen +hundred years, to which the Genie answers that he means to kill +the fisherman, and tells him why. I told you just now that the +Jinns rebelled, and were punished. The Genie tells the fisherman +that he is one of these rebellious spirits, that he was taken +prisoner, and brought up for judgment before Solomon himself, +and that Solomon confined him in the copper vase, and ordered +him to be thrown into the sea, and that upon the leaden cover of +the vase he put the impression of the royal seal, upon which the +name of God is engraved. + +When he was thrown into the sea the Genie made three vows--each +in a period of a hundred years. I swore, he says, that "if any +man delivered me within the first hundred years, I would make +him rich, even after his death. In the second hundred years I +swore that if any one set me free I would discover to him all +the treasures of the earth; still no help came. In the third +period, I swore to make my deliverer a most powerful monarch, to +be always at his command, and to grant him every day any three +requests he chose to make. Then, being still a prisoner, I swore +that I would without mercy kill any man who set me free, and +that the only favour I would grant him should be the manner of +his death." And so the Genie proposed to kill the fisherman. Now +the fisherman did not like the idea of being killed; and he and +the Genie had a long discourse about it; but the Genie would +have his own way, and the poor fisherman was going to be killed, +when he thought of a trick he might play upon the Genie. He knew +two things--first that the Jinns are obliged to answer questions +put to them in the name of Allah, or God; and also that though +very powerful, they are very stupid, and do not see when they +are being led into a pitfall. So he said, "I consent to die; but +before I choose the manner of my death, I conjure thee, by the +great name of Allah, which is graven upon the seal of the +prophet Solomon, the son of David, to answer me truly a question +I am going to put to thee." + +Then the Genie trembled, and said, "Ask, but make haste." + +Now when he knew that the Genie would speak the truth, the +Fisherman said, "Darest thou swear by the great name of Allah +that thou really wert in that vase?" + +"I swear it, by the great name of Allah," said the Genie. + +But the Fisherman said he would not believe it, unless he saw it +with his own eyes. Then, being too stupid to perceive the +meaning of the Fisherman, the Genie fell into the trap. +Immediately the form of the Genie began to change into smoke, +and to spread itself as before over the shore and the sea, and +then gathering itself together, it began to enter the vase, and +continued to do so, with a slow and even motion, until nothing +remained outside. Then, out of the vase there issued the voice +of the Genie, saying, "Now, thou unbeliever, art thou convinced +that I am in the vase?" + +But instead of answering, the Fisherman quickly took up the +leaden cover, and put it on the vase; and then he cried out, "O, +Genie! it is now thy turn to ask pardon, and to choose the sort +of death thou wilt have; or I will again cast thee into the sea, +and I will build upon the shore a house where I will live, to +warn all fishermen against a Genie so wicked as thou art." + +At this the Genie was very angry. First he tried to get out of +the vase; but the seal of Solomon kept him fast shut up. Then he +pretended that he was but making a jest of the Fisherman when he +threatened to kill him. Then he begged and prayed to be +released; but the Fisherman only mocked him. Next he promised +that if set at liberty, he would make the Fisherman rich. To +this the Fisherman replied by telling him a long story of how a +physician who cured a king was murdered instead of being +rewarded, and of how he revenged himself. And then he preached a +little sermon to the Genie on the sin of ingratitude, which only +caused the Genie to cry out all the more to be set free. But +still the Fisherman would not consent, and so to induce him the +Genie offered to tell him a story, to which the Fisherman was +quite ready to listen; but the Genie said, "Dost thou think I am +in the humour, shut up in this narrow prison, to tell stories? I +will tell thee as many as thou wilt if thou wilt let me out." +But the Fisherman only answered, "No, I will cast thee into the +sea." + +At last they struck a bargain, the Genie swearing by Allah that +he would make the Fisherman rich, and then the Fisherman cut the +seal again, and the Genie came out of the vase. The first thing +he did when he got out was to kick the vase into the sea, which +frightened the Fisherman, who began to beg and pray for his +life. But the Genie kept his word; and took him past the city, +over a mountain and over a vast plain, to a little lake between +four hills, where he caught four little fish, of different +colours--white, red, blue, and yellow--which the Genie bade him +carry to the Sultan, who would give him more money than he had +ever seen in his life. And then, the story says, he struck his +foot against the ground, which opened, and he disappeared, the +earth closing over him. + +Another story is that of the Genie Maimoun, the son of Dimdim, +who took prisoner a young Prince, and conveyed him to an +enchanted palace, and changed him into the form of an ape, and +the ape got on board a ship, and was carried to the country of a +great Sultan, and when the Sultan heard that there was an ape +who could write beautiful poems, he sent for him to the palace, +and they had dinner together, and they played at chess afterwards, +the ape behaving in all respects like a man, excepting that he +could not speak. Then the Sultan sent for his daughter, the Queen +of Beauty, to see this great wonder. But when the Queen of Beauty +came into the room she was very angry with her father for showing +her to a man, for the Princess was a great magician, and thus she +knew that it was a man turned into an ape, and she told her +father that the change had been made by a powerful Genie, the son +of the daughter of Eblis. So the Sultan ordered the Queen of +Beauty to disenchant the Prince, and then she should have him for +her husband. On this the Queen of Beauty went to her chamber, and +came back with a knife, with Hebrew characters engraved upon the +blade. And then she went into the middle of the court and drew a +large circle in it, and in the centre she traced several words in +Arabic letters, and others in Egyptian letters. Then putting +herself in the middle of the circle, she repeated several verses +of the Koran. By degrees the air was darkened, as if night were +coming on, and the whole world seemed to be vanishing. And in the +midst of the darkness the Genie, the son of the daughter of Eblis, +appeared in the shape of a huge, terrible lion, which ran at the +Princess as if to devour her. But she sprang back, and plucked +out a hair from her head, and then, pronouncing two or three +words, she changed the hair into a sharp scythe, and with the +scythe she cut the lion into two pieces through the middle. The +body of the lion now vanished, and only the head remained. This +changed itself into a large scorpion. The Princess changed herself +into a serpent and attacked the scorpion, which then changed into +an eagle, and flew away; and the serpent changed itself into a +fierce black eagle, larger and more powerful and flew after it. +Soon after the eagles had vanished the earth opened, and a great +black and white cat appeared, mewing and crying out terribly, +and with its hairs standing straight on end. A black wolf +followed the cat, and attacked it. Then the cat changed into a +worm, which buried itself in a pomegranate that had fallen from +a tree over-hanging the tank in the court, and the pomegranate +began to swell until it became as large as a gourd, which then +rose into the air, rolled backwards and forwards several times, +and then fell into the court and broke into a thousand pieces. +The wolf now transformed itself into a cock, and ran as fast as +possible, and ate up the pomegranate seeds. But one of them fell +into the tank and changed into a little fish. On this the cock +changed itself into a pike, darted into the water, and pursued +the little fish. Then comes the end of the story, which is told +by the Prince transformed into the Ape:--"They were both hid +hours under water, and we knew not what was become of them, when +suddenly we heard horrible cries that made us tremble. Then we +saw the Princess and the Genie all on fire. They darted flames +against each other with their breath, and at last came to a +close attack. Then the fire increased, and all was hidden in +smoke and cloud, which rose to a great height. We had other +cause for terror. The Genie, breaking away from the Princess, +came towards us, and blew his flames all over us." The Princess +followed him; but she could not prevent the Sultan from having +his beard singed and his face scorched; a spark flew into the +right eye of the Ape-Prince and blinded him, and the chief of +the eunuchs was killed on the spot. Then they heard the cry of +"Victory! victory!" and the Princess appeared in her own form, +and the Genie was reduced to a heap of ashes. Unhappily the +Princess herself was also fatally hurt. If she had swallowed all +the pomegranate seeds she would have conquered the Genie without +harm to herself; but one seed being lost, she was obliged to +fight with flames between earth and heaven, and she had only +just time enough to disenchant the ape and to turn him back +again into his human form, when she, too, fell to the earth, +burnt to ashes. + +This story is repeated in various forms in the Fairy Tales of +other lands. The hair which the Princess changed into a scythe +is like the sword of sharpness which appears in Scandinavian +legends and in the tale of Jack the Giant Killer; the +transformation of the magician reminds us of the changes of the +Ogre in Puss in Boots; and the death of the Princess by fire +because she failed to eat up the last of the pomegranate seeds, +brings to mind the Greek myth of Persephone, who ate pomegranate +seeds, and so fell into the power of Aidoneus, the God of the +lower regions, and was carried down into Hades to live with him +as his wife; and in many German and Russian tales are to be +found incidents like those of the terrible battle between the +Princess and the Genie Maimoun. + +------------------------ +[7] _Old Deccan Days_. Miss and Sir Bartle Frere. + +[8] _Old Deccan Days_. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +DWELLERS IN FAIRYLAND: TEUTONIC, AND SCANDINAVIAN. + +Now we come to an entirely new region, in which, however, we +find, under other forms, the same creatures which have already +been described. From the sunny East we pass to the cold and +frozen North. Here the Scandinavian countries--Norway, Sweden, +and Denmark--are wonderfully rich in dwarfs, and giants, and +trolls, and necks, and nisses, and other inhabitants of +Fairyland; and with these we must also class the Teutonic beings +of the same kind; and likewise the fairy creatures who were once +supposed to dwell in our islands. The Elves of Scandinavia, with +whom our own Fairies are closely allied, were a very interesting +people. They were of two kinds, the White and the Black. The +white elves dwelt in the air, amongst the leaves of trees, and +in the long grass, and at moonlight they came out from their +lurking-places, and danced merrily on the greensward, and +played all manner of fantastic tricks. The black elves lived +underground, and, like the dwarfs, worked in metals, and heaped +up great stores of riches. When they came out amongst men they +were often of a malicious turn of mind; they caused sickness or +death, stole things from the houses, bewitched the cattle, and +did a great deal of mischief in all ways. The good elves were +not only friendly to man, but they had a great desire to get to +heaven; and in the summer nights they were heard singing sweetly +but sadly about themselves, and their hopes of future happiness; +and there are many stories of their having spoken to mortals, to +ask what hope or chance they had of salvation. This feeling is +believed to have come from the sympathy felt by the first +converts to Christianity with their heathen forefathers, whose +spirits were supposed by them to wander about, in the air or in +the woods, or to sigh within their graves, waiting for the day +of judgment. In one place there is a story that on a hill at +Garun people used to hear very beautiful music. This was played +by the elves, or hill folk, and any one who had a fiddle, and +went there, and promised the elves that they should be saved, +was taught in a moment how to play; but those who mocked them, +and told them they could never be saved, used to hear the poor +elves, inside the hill, breaking their fairy fiddles into +pieces, and weeping very sadly. There is a particular tune they +play, called the Elf-King's tune, which, the story-tellers say, +some good fiddlers know very well, but never venture to play, +because everybody who hears it is obliged to dance, and to go on +dancing till somebody comes behind the musician and cuts the +fiddle-strings; and out of this tradition we have the story of +the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Some of the underground elves come up +into the houses built above their dwellings, and are fond of +playing tricks upon servants; but they like only those who are +clean in their habits, and they do not like even these to laugh +at them. There is a story of a servant-girl whom the elves liked +very much, because she used to carry all dirt and foul water +away from the house, and so they invited her to an Elf Wedding, +at which they made her a present of some chips, which she put +into her pocket. But when the bridegroom and the bride were +coming home there was a straw lying in their way. The bridegroom +got over it; but the bride stumbled, and fell upon her face. At +this the servant-girl laughed out loud, and then all the elves +vanished, but she found that the chips they had given her were +pieces of pure gold. At Odensee another servant was not so +fortunate. She was very dirty, and would not clean the cow-house +for them; so they killed all the cows, and took the girl and set +her up on the top of a hay-rick. Then they removed from the +cow-house into a meadow on the farm; and some people say that +they were seen going there in little coaches, their king riding +first, in a coach much handsomer than the rest. Amongst the +Danes there is another kind of elves--the Moon Folk. The man is +like an old man with a low-crowned hat upon his head; the woman +is very beautiful in front, but behind she is hollow, like a +dough-trough, and she has a sort of harp on which she plays, and +lures young men with it, and then kills them. The man is also an +evil being, for if any one comes near him he opens his mouth and +breathes upon them, and his breath causes sickness. It is easy +to see what this tradition means: it is the damp marsh wind, +laden with foul and dangerous odours; and the woman's harp is +the wind playing across the marsh rushes at nightfall. Sometimes +these elves take the shape of trees, which brings back to mind +the Greek fairy tales of nymphs who live and die with the trees +to which they are united. + +These Scandinavian elves were like beings of the same kind who +were once supposed to live in England, Ireland, and Scotland, +and who are still believed in by some country people. Scattered +about in the traditions which have been brought together at +different times are many stories of these fanciful beings. One +story is of some children of a green colour who were found in +Suffolk, and who said they had lived in a country where all the +people were of a green colour, and where they saw no sun, but +had a light like the glow which comes after sunset. They said, +also, that while tending their flocks they wandered into a great +cavern, and heard the sound of delightful bells, which they +followed, and so came out upon the upper world of the earth. +There is a Yorkshire legend of a peasant coming home by night, +and hearing the voices of people singing. The noise came from a +hill-side, where there was a door, and inside was a great +company of little people, feasting. One of them offered the man +a cup, out of which he poured the liquor, and then ran off with +the cup, and got safe away. A similar story is told also of a +place in Gloucestershire, and of another in Cumberland, where +the cup is called "the Luck of Edenhall," as the owners of it +are to be always prosperous, so long as the cup remains +unbroken. Such stories as this are common in the countries of +the North of Europe, and show the connection between our +Elf-land and theirs. + +The Pixies, or the Devonshire fairies, are just like the +northern elves. The popular idea of them is that they are small +creatures--pigmies--dressed in green, and are fond of dancing. +Some of them live in the mines, where they show the miners the +richest veins of metal just like the German dwarfs; others live +on the moors, or under the shelter of rocks; others take up +their abode in houses, and, like the Danish and Swedish elves, +are very cross if the maids do not keep the places clean and +tidy others, like the will-o'-the-wisps, lead travellers astray, +and then laugh at them. The Pixies are said to be very fond of +pure water. There is a story of two servant-maids at Tavistock +who used to leave them a bucket of water, into which the Pixies +dropped silver pennies. Once it was forgotten, and the Pixies +came up into the girls' bedroom, and made a noise about the +neglect. One girl got up and went to put the water in its usual +place, but the other said she would not stir out of bed to +please all the fairies in Devonshire. The girl who filled the +water-bucket found a handful of silver pennies in it next +morning, and she heard the Pixies debating what to do with the +other girl. At last they said they would give her a lame leg for +seven years, and that then they would cure her by striking her +leg with a herb growing on Dartmoor. So next day Molly found +herself lame, and kept so for seven years, when, as she was +picking mushrooms on Dartmoor, a strange-looking boy started up, +struck her leg with a plant he held in his hand, and sent her +home sound again. There is another story of the Pixies which is +very beautiful. An old woman near Tavistock had in her garden a +fine bed of tulips, of which the Pixies became very fond, and +might be heard at midnight singing their babes to rest amongst +them; and as the old woman would never let any of the tulips be +plucked, the Pixies had them all to themselves, and made them +smell like the rose, and bloom more beautifully than any flowers +in the place. Well, the old woman died, and the tulip-bed was +pulled up and a parsley-bed made in its place. But the Pixies +blighted it, and nothing grew in it; but they kept the grave of +the old woman quite green, never suffered a weed to grow upon +it, and in spring-time they always spangled it with wild-flowers. + +All over the country, in the far North as in the South, we find +traces of elfin beings like the Pixies--the fairies of the +common traditions and of the poets--some such fairies as +Shakspeare describes for us in several of his plays, especially +in "Midsummer-Night's Dream," "The Merry Wives of Windsor," "The +Tempest," and "Romeo and Juliet"--fairies who gambol sportively. + + "On hill, in dale, forest, or mead, + By paved fountain, or by rushing brook, + Or by the beached margent of the sea, + To dance their ringlets to the whistling wind." + +But the Fairy tribe were not the only graceful elves described +by the poets. The Germans had their Kobolds, and the Scotch +their Brownies, and the English had their Boggarts and Robin +Goodfellow and Lubberkin--all of them beings of the same +description: house and farm spirits, who liked to live amongst +men, and who sometimes did hard, rough work out of good-nature, +and sometimes were spiteful and mischievous, especially to those +who teased them, or spoke of them disrespectfully, or tried to +see them when they did not wish to be seen. To the same family +belongs the Danish Nis, a house spirit of whom many curious +legends are related. Robin Goodfellow was the original of +Shakspeare's Puck: his frolics are related for us in "The +Midsummer Night's Dream," where a hairy says to him-- + + "You are that shrewd and knavish sprite + Called Robin Goodfellow. Are you not he + That frights the maidens of the villagery, + Skims milk, and sometimes labours in the quern, + And bootless makes the breathless housewife churn; + And sometimes makes the drink to bear no harm, + Misleads night wanderers, laughing at their harm? + Those that Hob-Goblin call you, and sweet Puck; + You do their work, and they shall have good luck." + +In the "Jests of Robin Goodfellow," first printed in Queen +Elizabeth's reign, the tricks which this creature is said to +have played are told in plenty. Here is one of them:--Robin went +as fiddler to a wedding. When the candles came he blew them out, +and giving the men boxes on the ears he set them fighting. He +kissed the prettiest girls, and pinched the ugly ones, till he +made them scratch one another like cats. When the posset was +brought he turned himself into a bear, frightened them all away, +and had it all to himself. + +The Boggart was another form of Robin Goodfellow. Stories of him +are to be found amongst Yorkshire legends, as of a creature-- +always invisible--who played tricks upon the people in the +houses in which he lived: shaking the bed-curtains, rattling +the doors, whistling through the keyholes, snatching away the +bread-and-butter from the children, playing pranks upon the +servants, and doing all kinds of mischief. There is a story of a +Yorkshire boggart who teased the family so much that the farmer +made up his mind to leave the house. So he packed up his goods +and began to move off. Then a neighbour came up, and said, "So, +Georgey, you're leaving the old house?" "Yes," said the farmer, +"the boggart torments us so that we must go." Then a voice came +out of a churn, saying, "Ay, ay, Georgey, _we're_ flitting, ye +see." "Oh!" cried the poor farmer, "if thou'rt with us we'll go +back again;" and he went back.--Mr. Tennyson puts this story +into his poem of "Walking to the Mail." + + "His house, they say, + Was haunted with a jolly ghost, that shook + The curtains, whined in lobbies, tapt at doors, + And rummaged like a rat: no servant stayed: + The farmer, vext, packs up his beds and chairs, + And all his household stuff, and with his boy + Betwixt his knees, his wife upon the tilt, + Sets out, and meets a friend who hails him, 'What! + You're flitting!' 'Yes, we're flitting,' says the ghost + (For they had packed the thing among the beds). + 'Oh, well,' says he, 'you flitting with us, too; + Jack, turn the horses' heads and home again.'" + +The same story is told in Denmark, of a Nis--which is the same +as an English boggart, a Scotch brownie, and a German kobold-- +who troubled a man very much, so that he took away his goods +to a new house. All but the last load had gone, and when they +came for that, the Nis popped his head out of a tub, and said +to the man, "We're moving, you see." + +The Brownies, though mischievous, like the Boggarts, were more +helpful, for they did a good deal of house-work; and would bake, +and brew, and wash, and sweep, but they would never let +themselves be seen; or if any one did manage to see them, or +tried to do so, they went away. There are stories of this kind +about them in English folk-lore, in Scotch, Welsh, in the Isle +of Man, and in Germany, where they were called Kobolds. One +Kobold, of whom many accounts are given, lived in the castle of +Hudemuhler, in Luneberg, and used to talk with the people of the +house, and with visitors, and ate and drank at table, just like +Leander in the story of "The Invisible Prince;" and he used also +to scour the pots and pans, wash the dishes, and clean the tubs, +and he was useful, too, in the stable, where he curried the +horses, and made them quite fat and smooth. In return for this +he had a room to himself, where he made a straw-plaited chair, +and had a little round table, and a bed and bedstead, and, where +he expected every day to find a dish of sweetened milk, with +bread crumbs; and if he did not get served in time, or if +anything went wrong, he used to beat the servants with a stick. +This Kobold was named Heinzelman, and in Grimm's collection of +folklore there is a long history of him drawn up by the minister +of the parish. Another Kobold, named Hodeken, who lived with the +Bishop of Hildesheim, was usually of a kind and obliging turn of +mind, but he revenged himself on those who offended him. A +scullion in the bishop's kitchen flung dirt upon him, and +Hodeken found him fast asleep and strangled him, and put him in +the pot on the fire. Then the head cook scolded Hodeken, who in +revenge squeezed toads all over the meat that was being cooked +for the bishop, and then took the cook himself and tumbled him +over the drawbridge into the moat. Then the bishop got angry, +and took bell, and book, and candle, and banished Hodeken by the +form of exorcism provided for evil spirits. + +Now there are a great many other kinds of creatures in the +Wonderland of all European countries; but I must not stop to +tell you about them or we shall never have done. But there is +one little story of the Danish Nis--who answers to the German +Kobold--which I may tell you, because it is like the story of +Hodeken which you have just read, and shows that the creatures +were of the same kind. There was a Nis in Jutland who was very +much teased by a mischievous boy. When the Nis had done his work +he sat down to have his supper, and he found that the boy had +been playing tricks with his porridge and made it unpleasant. So +he made up his mind to be revenged, and he did it in this way. +The boy slept with a servant-man in the loft. The Nis went up to +them and took off the bed-clothes. Then, looking at the little +boy lying beside the tall man, he said, "Long and short don't +match," and he took the boy by the legs and pulled him down to +the man's legs. This was not to his mind, however, so he went to +the head of the bed and looked at them, Then said the Nis-- +"Short and long don't match," and he pulled the boy up again; +and so he went on all through the night, up and down, down and +up, till the boy was punished enough. Another Nis in Jutland +went with a boy to steal corn for his master's horses. The Nis +was moderate, but the boy was covetous, and said, "Oh, take +more; we can rest now and then!" "Rest," said the Nis, "rest! +what is rest?" "Do what I tell you," replied the boy; "take +more, and we shall find rest when we get out of this." So +they took more corn, and when they had got nearly home the boy +said, "Here now is rest;" and so they sat down on a hill-side. +"If I had known," said the Nis, as they were sitting there, "if +I had known that rest was so good I'd have carried off all that +was in the barn." + +Now we must leave out much more that might be said, and many +stories that might be told, about elves, and fairies, and nixes, +or water spirits, and swan maidens who become women when they +lay aside their swan dresses to bathe; and mermaids and seal +maidens, who used to live in the islands of the North seas. And +we must leave out also a number of curious Scotch tales and +accounts of Welsh fairies, and stories about the good people of +the Irish legends, and the Leprechaun, a little old man who +mends shoes, and who gives you as much gold as you want if you +hold him tight enough; and there are wonderful fairy legends of +Brittany, and some of Spain and Italy, and a great many Russian +and Slavonic tales which are well worth telling, if we only had +room. For the same reason we must omit the fairy tales of +ancient Greece, some of which are told so beautifully by Mr. +Kingsley in his book about the Heroes; and we must also pass by +the legends of King Arthur, and of romances of the same kind +which you may read at length in Mr. Ludlow's "Popular Epics of +the Middle Ages;" and the wonderful tales from the Norse which +are told by Dr. Dasent, and in Mr. Morris's noble poem of +"Sigurd the Volsung." + +But before we leave this part of Wonderland we must say +something about some kinds of beings who have not yet been +mentioned--the Scandinavian Giants and Trolls, and the German +Dwarfs. The Trolls--some of whom were Giants and some Dwarfs-- +were a very curious people. They lived inside hills or +mounds of earth, sometimes alone, and sometimes in great +numbers. Inside these hills, according to the stories of the +common folk, are fine houses made of gold and crystal, full of +gold and jewels, which the Trolls amuse themselves by counting. +They marry and have families; they bake and brew, and live just +like human beings; and they do not object, sometimes, to come +out and talk to men and women whom they happen to meet on the +road. They are described as being friendly, and quite ready to +help those to whom they take a fancy--lending them useful or +precious things out of the hill treasures, and giving them rich +gifts. But, to balance this, they are very mischievous and +thievish, and sometimes they carry off women and children. They +dislike noise. This, so the old stories say, is because the god +Thor used to fling his hammer at them; and since he left off +doing that the Trolls have suffered a great deal from the +ringing of church bells, which they very much dislike. There are +many stories about this. At a place called Ebeltoft the Trolls +used to come and steal food out of the pantries. The people +consulted a Saint as to what they were to do, and he told them +to hang up a bell in the church steeple, which they did, and +then the Trolls went away. There is another story of the same +kind. A Troll lived near the town of Kund, in Sweden, but was +driven away by the church bells. Then he went over to the island +of Funen and lived in peace. But he meant to be revenged on the +people of Kund, and he tried to take his revenge in this way: He +met a man from Kund--a stranger, who did not know him--and asked +the man to take a letter into the town and to throw it into the +churchyard, but he was not to take it out of his pocket until he +got there. The man received the letter, but forgot the message, +until he sat down in a meadow to rest, and then he took out the +letter to look at it. When he did so, a drop of water fell from +under the seal, then a little stream, and then quite a torrent, +till all the valley was flooded, and the man had hard work to +escape. The Troll had shut up a lake in the letter, and with +this he meant to drown the people of Kund. + +Some of the Trolls are very stupid, and there are many stories +as to how they have been outwitted. One of them is very droll. A +farmer ploughed a hill-side field. Out came a Troll and said, +"What do you mean by ploughing up the roof of my house?" Then +the farmer, being frightened, begged his pardon, but said it was +a pity such a fine piece of land should lie idle. The Troll +agreed to this, and then they struck a bargain that the farmer +should till the land and that each of them should share the +crops. One year the Troll was to have, for his share, what grew +above ground, and the next year what grew underground. So in the +first year the farmer sowed carrots, and the Troll had the tops; +and the next year the farmer sowed wheat, and the Troll had the +roots; and the story says he was very well content. + +We can give only one more story of the Trolls. They have power +over human beings until their names are found out, and when the +Troll's name is mentioned his power goes from him. One day St. +Olaf, a very great Saint, was thinking how he could build a very +large church without any money, and he didn't quite see his way +to it. Then a Giant Troll met him and they chatted together, and +St. Olaf mentioned his difficulty. So the Troll said he would +build the church, within a year, on condition that if it was +done in the time he should have for his reward the sun, and the +moon, or St. Olaf himself. The church was to be so big that +seven priests could say mass at seven altars in it without +hearing each other; and it was all to be built of flint stone +and to be richly carved. When the time was nearly up the church +was finished, all but the top of the spire; and St. Olaf was in +sad trouble about his promise. So he walked out into a wood to +think, and there he heard the Troll's wife hushing her child +inside a hill, and saying to it, "To-morrow, Wind and Weather, +your father, will come home in the morning, and bring with him +the sun and the moon, or St. Olaf himself." Then St. Olaf knew +what to do. He went home, and there was the church, all ready +except the very top of the weather-cock, and the Troll was just +putting the finishing-touch to that. Then St. Olaf called out to +him, "Oh! ho! Wind and Weather, you have set the spire crooked!" +And then, with a great noise, the Troll fell down from the +steeple and broke into pieces, and every piece was a flint-stone. + +The same thing is told in the German story of Rumpelstiltskin. A +maiden is ordered by a King to spin a roomful of straw into +gold, or else she is to die. A Dwarf appears, she promises him +her necklace, and he does the task for her. Next day she has to +spin a larger roomful of straw into gold. She gives the Dwarf +the ring off her finger, and he does this task also. Next day +she is set to work at a larger room, and then, when the Dwarf +comes, she has nothing to give him. Then he says, "If you become +Queen, give me your first-born child." Now the girl is only a +miller's daughter, and thinks she never can be Queen, so she +makes the promise, and the Dwarf spins the straw into gold. But +she does become Queen, for the King marries her because of the +gold; and she forgets the Dwarf, and is very happy, especially +when her little baby comes. Directly it is born the Dwarf +appears also, and claims the child, because it was promised to +him. The Queen offers him anything he likes besides; but he will +have that, and that only. Then she cries and prays, and the +Dwarf says that if she can tell him his name she may keep the +baby; and he feels quite safe in saying this, because nobody +knows his name, only himself. So the Queen calls him by all +kinds of strange names, but none of them is the right one. Then +she begs for three days to find out the name, and sends people +everywhere to see if they can hear it. But all of them come +back, unable to find any name that is likely, excepting one, who +says, "I have not found a name, but as I came to a high mountain +near the edge of a forest, where the foxes and the hares say +'good-night' to each other, I saw a little house, and before the +door a fire was burning, and round the fire a little man was +dancing on one leg, and singing:-- + + "To-day I stew, and then I'll bake, + To-morrow shall I the Queen's child take. + How glad I am that nobody knows + That my name is Rumpelstiltskin." + +Then the Dwarf came again, and the Queen said to him, "Is your +name Hans?" "No," said the Dwarf, with an ugly leer, and he held +out his hands for the baby. "Is it Conrade?" asked the Queen. +"No," cried the Dwarf, "give me the child." "Then," said the +Queen, "is it Rumpelstiltskin?" "A witch has told you that!" +cried the Dwarf; and then he stamped his right foot so hard upon +the ground that it sank quite in, and he could not draw it out +again. Then he took hold of his left leg with both his hands and +pulled so hard that his right leg came off, and he hopped away +howling, and nobody ever saw him again. + +The Giant in the story of St. Olaf, as we have seen, was a +rather stupid giant, and easily tricked; and indeed most of the +giants seem to have been dull people, from the great Greek +Kyklops, Polyphemos the One-Eyed, downwards to the, ogres in +Puss in Boots, and Jack and the Bean Stalk, and the giants in +Jack the Giant Killer. The old northern giants were no wiser. +There was one in the island of Rugen, a very mighty giant, named +Balderich. He wanted to go from his island, dry-footed, to the +mainland. So he got a great apron made, and filled it with +earth, and set off to make a causeway from Rugen to Pomerania. +But there was a hole in the apron, and the clay that fell out +formed a chain of nine hills. The giant stopped the hole and +went on, but another hole tore in the apron, and thirteen more +hills fell out. Then he got to the sea-side, and poured the rest +of the load into the water; but it didn't quite reach the +mainland, which made giant Balderich so angry that he fell down +and died; and so his work has never been finished. But a giant +maiden thought she would try to make another causeway from the +mainland to an island, so that she might not wet her slippers in +going over. So she filled her apron with sand, and ran down to +the sea-side. But a hole came in the apron, and the sand which +ran out formed a hill at Sagard. The giant maiden said, "Ah! now +my mother will scold me!" Then she stopped the hole with her +hand and ran on again. But the giant mother looked over the +wood, and cried, "You nasty child! what are you about? Come +here, and you'll get a good whipping." The daughter in a fright +let go her apron, and all the sand ran out, and made the barren +hills near Litzow, which the white and brown dwarfs took for +their dwelling-place. + +There are many other stories of the same kind. One of them tells +of a Troll Giant who wanted to punish a farmer; so he filled one +of his gloves with sand, and poured it out over the farmer's +house, which it quite covered up; and with what was left in the +fingers he made a row of little sand hillocks to mark the spot. + +The Giants had their day, and died out, and their places were +taken by the Dwarfs. Some of the most wonderful dwarf stories +are those which are told in the island of Rugen, in the Baltic +Sea. These stories are of three kinds of dwarfs: the White, and +the Brown, and the Black, who live in the sand-hills. The white +dwarfs, in the spring and summer, dance and frolic all their +time in sunshine and starlight, and climb up into the flowers +and trees, and sit amongst the leaves and blossoms, and +sometimes they take the form of bright little birds, or white +doves, or butterflies, and are very kind to good people. In the +winter, when the snow falls, they go underground, and spend +their time in making the most beautiful ornaments of silver and +gold. The brown dwarfs arc stronger and rougher than the white; +they wear little brown coats and brown caps, and when they +dance--which they are fond of doing--they wear little glass +shoes; and in dress and appearance they are very handsome. Their +disposition is good, with one exception--that they carry off +children into their underground dwellings; and those who go +there have to serve them for fifty years. They can change +themselves into any shape, and can go through key-holes, so that +they enter any house they please, and sometimes they bring gifts +for the children, like the good Santa Klaus in the German +stories; but they also play sad tricks, and frighten people with +bad dreams. Like the white dwarfs, the brown ones work in +gold and silver, and the gifts they bring are of their own +workmanship. The black dwarfs are very bad people, and are ugly +in looks and malicious in temper; they never dance or sing, but +keep underground, or, when they come up, they sit in the +elder-trees, and screech horribly like owls, or mew like cats. +They, too, are great metal-workers, especially in steel; and in +old days they used to make arms and armour for the gods and +heroes: shirts of mail as fine as cobwebs, yet so strong that no +sword could go through them; and swords that would bend like +rushes, and yet were as hard as diamonds, and would cut through +any helmet, however thick. + +So long as they keep their caps on their heads the dwarfs are +invisible; but if any one can get possession of a dwarf's cap he +can see them, and becomes their master. This is the foundation +of one of the best of the dwarf stories--the story of John +Dietrich, who went out to the sandhills at Ramfin, in the isle +of Rugen, on the eve of St. John, a very, very long time ago, +and managed to strike off the cap from the head of one of the +brown dwarfs, and went down with them into their underground +dwelling-place. This was quite a little town, where the rooms +were decorated with diamonds and rubies, and the dwarf people +had gold and silver and crystal table-services, and there were +artificial birds that flew about like real ones, and the most +beautiful flowers and fruits; and the dwarfs, who were thousands +in number, had great feasts, where the tables, ready spread, +came up through the floor, and cleared themselves away at the +ringing of a bell, and left the rooms free for dancing to the +strains of the loveliest music. And in the city there were +fields and gardens, and lakes and rivers; and instead of the sun +and the moon to give light, there were large carbuncles and +diamonds which supplied all that was wanted. John Dietrich, +who was very well treated, liked it very much, all but one +thing--which was that the servants who waited upon the +dwarfs were earth children, whom they had stolen and carried +underground; and amongst them was Elizabeth Krabbin, once a +playmate of his own, and who was a lovely girl, with clear blue +eyes and ringlets of fair hair. John Dietrich of course fell in +love with Elizabeth, and determined to get her out of the dwarf +people's hands, and with her all the earth children they held +captive. And when he had been ten years underground, and he and +Elizabeth were grown up, he demanded leave to depart, and to +take Elizabeth. But the dwarfs, though they could not hinder him +from going, would not let her go, and no threats or entreaties +could move them. Then John Dietrich remembered that the little +people cannot bear an evil smell; and one day he happened to +break a large stone, out of which jumped a toad, which gave him +power to do what he pleased with the dwarfs, for the sight or +smell of a toad causes them pain beyond all bearing. So he sent +for the chiefs of the dwarfs, and bade them let Elizabeth go. +But they refused; and then he went and fetched the toad. Then +the story goes on in this way:-- + +"He was hardly come within a hundred paces of them when they all +fell to the ground as if struck with a thunderbolt, and began to +howl and whimper, and to writhe as if suffering the most +excruciating pain. The dwarfs stretched out their hands, and +cried, 'Have mercy, have mercy! we feel that you have a toad, +and there is no escape for us. Take the odious beast away, and +we will do all you require.' He let them kneel a few seconds +longer, and then took the toad away. They then stood up, and +felt no more pain. John let all depart but the six chief +persons, to whom he said, 'This night, between twelve and one, +Elizabeth and I will depart, Load for me three waggons with +gold, silver, and precious stones. I might, you know, take all +that is in the hill; but I will be merciful. Further, you must +put into two waggons all the furniture of my chamber (which was +covered with emeralds and other precious stones, and in the +ceiling was a diamond as big as a nine-pin bowl), and get ready +for me the handsomest travelling carriage that is in the hill, +with six black horses. Moreover, you must set at liberty all the +servants who have been so long here that on earth they would be +twenty years old and upwards, and you must give them as much +silver and gold as will make them rich for life; and you must +make a law that no one shall be kept here longer than his +twentieth year.' + +"The six took the oath, and went away quite melancholy, and +John buried his toad deep in the ground. The little people +laboured hard and prepared everything, and at midnight John and +Elizabeth, and their companions, and all their treasures, were +drawn up out of the hill. It was then one o'clock, and it was +midsummer--the very time that, twelve years before, John had +gone down into the hill. Music sounded around them, and they saw +the glass hill open, and the rays of the light of heaven shine +on them after so many years; and when they got out they saw the +first streaks of dawn already in the East. Crowds of the +underground people were around them, busied about the waggons. +John bid them a last farewell, waved his brown cap in the air, +and then flung it among them. And at the same moment he ceased +to see them; he beheld nothing but a green hill, and the +well-known bushes and fields, and heard the church clock of +Ramfin strike two. When all was still, save a few larks, who +were tuning their morning song, they all fell upon their knees +and worshipped God, resolving henceforth to lead a pious and +Christian life." And then John married Elizabeth, and was made a +count, and built several churches, and presented to them some of +the precious cups and plates made by the underground people, and +kept his own and Elizabeth's glass shoes, in memory of what had +befallen them in their youth. "And they were all taken away," +the story says, "in the time of the great Charles the Twelfth of +Sweden, when the Russians came on the island, and the Cossacks +plundered even the churches, and took away everything." + +Now there is much more to be told about the dwarfs, if only we +had space--how there were thousands of them in German lands, in +the Saxon mines, and the Black Forest, and the Harz mountains +and in other places, and in Switzerland, and indeed everywhere +almost--how they gave gifts to good men, and borrowed of them, +and paid honestly; how they punished those who injured them; how +they moved about from country to country; how they helped great +kings and nobles, and showed themselves to wandering travellers +and to simple country folk. But all this must be left for you to +read for yourselves in Grimm's stories, and in the legends of +northern lands, and in many collections of ancient poems, and +romances, and popular tales. And in these, and in other books +which deal with such subjects, you will find out that all these +dwellers in Wonderland, and the tales that are told about them, +and the stories of the gods and heroes, all come from the one +source of which we read something in the first chapter--the +tradition's of the ancient Aryan people, from whom all of us +have sprung--and how they all mean the same things; the conflict +between light and darkness, the succession of day and night, the +changes of the seasons, the blue and bright summer skies, the +rain-clouds, the storm-winds, the thunder and the lightning, and +all the varied and infinite forms of Nature in her moods of calm +and storm, peace and tempest, brightness and gloom, sweet and +pleasant and hopeful life and stern and cold death, which causes +all brightness to fade and moulder away. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +DWELLERS IN FAIRYLAND: WEST HIGHLAND STORIES. + +In a very delightful book which has already been mentioned, +Campbell's "Popular Tales of the West Highlands," there are many +curious stories of fairy folk and other creatures of the like +kind, described in the traditions of the west of Scotland, and +which are still believed in by many of the country people. There +are Brownies, for instance, the farm spirits. One of these, so +the story goes, inhabited the island of Inch, and looked after +the cattle of the Mac Dougalls; but if the dairymaid neglected +to leave a portion of milk for him at night, one of the cattle +would be sure to fall over the rocks. Another kind of Brownie, +called the Bocan, haunted a place called Moran, opposite the +Isle of Skye, and protected the family of the Macdonalds of +Moran, but was very savage to other people, whom he beat or +killed. At last Big John, the son of M'Leod of Raasay, went and +fought the creature in the dark, and tucked him under his arm, +to carry him to the nearest light and see what he was like. But +the Brownies hate to be seen, and this one begged hard to be let +off, promising that he would never come back. So Big John let +him off, and he flew away singing:-- + + "Far from me is the hill of Ben Hederin; + Far from me is the Pass of Murmuring;" + +and the common story says that the tune is still remembered and +sung by the people of that country. It is also told of a farmer, +named Callum Mohr MacIntosh, near Loch Traig, in Lochaber, that +he had a fight with a Bocan, and in the fight he lost a charmed +handkerchief. When he went back to get it again, he found the +Bocan rubbing the handkerchief hard on a flat stone, and the +Bocan said, "It is well for you that you are back, for if I had +rubbed a hole in this you were a dead man." This Bocan became +very friendly with MacIntosh, and used to bring him peats for +fire in the deep winter snows; and when MacIntosh moved to +another farm, and left a hogshead of hides behind him by +accident, the Bocan carried it to his new house next morning, +over paths that only a goat could have crossed. + +Another creature of the same kind is a mischievous spirit, a +Goblin or Brownie, who is called in the Manx language, the +Glashan, and who appears under various names in Highland +stories: sometimes as a hairy man, and sometimes as a water- +horse turned into a man. He usually attacks lonely women, +who outwit him, and throw hot peats or scalding water at him, +and then he flies off howling. One feature is common to the +stories about him. He asks the woman what her name is, and she +always replies "Myself." So when the companions of the Glashan +ask who burned or scalded him, he says "Myself," and then they +laugh at him. This answer marks the connection between these +tales and those of other countries. Polyphemos asks Odysseus his +name, and is told that it is Outis, or "Nobody." So when +Odysseus blinds Polyphemos, and the other Kyklopes ask the +monster who did it, he says, "Nobody did it." There is a +Slavonian story, also, in which a cunning smith puts out the +eyes of the Devil, and says that his name is Issi, "myself;" and +when the tortured demon is asked who hurt him, he says, "Issi +did it;" and then his companions ridicule him. + +Among other Highland fairy monsters are the water-horses (like +the Scandinavian and Teutonic Kelpies) and the water-bulls, +which inhabit lonely lochs. The water-bulls are described as +being friendly to man; the water-horses are dangerous--when men +get upon their backs they are carried off and drowned. Sometimes +the water-horse takes the shape of a man. Here is a story of +this kind from the island of Islay: There was a farmer who had a +great many cattle. Once a strange-looking bull-calf was born +amongst them, and an old woman who saw it knew it for a +water-bull, and ordered it to be kept in a house by itself for +seven years, and fed on the milk of three cows. When the time +was up, a servant-maid went to watch the cattle graze on the +side of a loch. In a little while a man came to her and asked +her to dress or comb his hair. So he laid his head upon her +knees, and she began to arrange his hair. Presently she got a +great fright, for amongst the hair she found a great quantity of +water-weed; and she knew that it was a transformed water-horse. +Like a brave girl she did not cry out, but went on dressing the +man's hair until he fell asleep. Then she slid her apron off her +knees, and ran home as fast as she could, and when she got +nearly home, the creature was pursuing her in the shape of a +horse. Then the old woman cried out to them to open the door of +the wild bull's house, and out sprang the bull and rushed at the +horse, and they never stopped fighting until they drove each +other out into the sea. "Next day," says the story, "the body of +the bull was found on the shore all torn and spoilt, but the +horse was never more seen at all." + +Sometimes the water-spirit appears in the shape of a great bird, +which the West Highlanders called the Boobrie, who has a long +neck, great webbed feet with tremendous claws, a powerful bill +hooked like an eagle's, and a voice like the roar of an angry +bull. The lochs, according to popular fancy, are also inhabited +by water-spirits. In Sutherlandshire this kind of creature is +called the Fuath; there are, Mr. Campbell says, males and +females; they have web-feet, yellow hair, green dresses, tails, +manes, and no noses; they marry human beings, are killed by +light, are hurt by steel weapons, and in crossing a stream they +become restless. These spirits resemble mermen and mermaids, and +are also like the Kelpies, and they have also been somehow +confused with the kind of spirit known in Ireland as the +Banshee. Many stories are told of them. A shepherd found one, an +old woman seemingly crippled, at the edge of a bog. He offered +to carry her over on his back. In going over, he saw that she +was webfooted; so he threw her down, and ran for his life. By +the side of Loch Middle a woman saw one--"about three years +ago," she told the narrator--she sat on a stone, quiet, and +dressed in green silk, the sleeves of the dress curiously puffed +from the wrists to the shoulder; her hair was yellow, like ripe +corn; but on a nearer view, she had no nose. A man at Tubernan +made a bet that he would seize the Fuath or Kelpie who haunted +the loch at Moulin na Fouah. So he took a brown right-sided +maned horse, and a brown black-muzzled dog, and with the help of +the dog he captured the Fuath, and tied her on the horse behind +him. She was very fierce, but he pinned her down with an awl and +a needle. Crossing the burn or brook near Loch Migdal she grew +very restless, and the man stuck the awl and the needle into her +with great force. Then she cried, "Pierce me with the awl, but +keep that slender hair-like slave (the needle) out of me." When +the man reached an inn at Inveran, he called his friends to come +out and look at the Fuath. They came out with lights, and when +the light fell upon her she dropped off the horse, and fell to +the earth like a small lump of jelly. + +The Fairies of the West Highlands in some degree resembled +the Scandinavian Dwarfs. They milked the deer; they lived +underground, and worked at trades, especially metal-working and +weaving. They had hammers and anvils, but had to steal wool and +to borrow looms; and they had great hoards of treasure hidden in +their dwelling places. Sometimes they helped the people whom +they liked, but at other times they were spiteful and evil +minded; and according to tradition all over the Highlands, they +enticed men and women into their dwellings in the hills, and +kept them there sometimes for years, always dancing without +stopping. There are many stories of this kind; and there are +also many about the fondness of the Fairies for carrying off +human children, and leaving Imps of their own in their places-- +these Imps being generally old men disguised as children. Some +of these tales are very curious, and are like others that are +found amongst the folk-lore of Celtic peoples elsewhere. Here +is the substance of one told in Islay:-- + +Years ago there lived in Crossbrig a smith named MacEachern, who +had an only son, about fourteen; a strong, healthy, cheerful +boy. All of a sudden he fell ill, took to his bed, and moped for +days, getting thin, and odd-looking, and yellow, and wasting +away fast, so that they thought he must die. Now a "wise" old +man, who knew about Fairies, came to see the smith at work, and +the poor man told him all about his trouble. The old man said, +"It is not your son you have got; the boy has been carried off +by the Dacorie Sith (the Fairies), and they have left a +sibhreach (changeling) in his place." Then the old man told him +what to do. "Take as many egg-shells as you can get, go with +them into the room, spread them out before him, then draw water +with them, carrying them two and two in your hands as if they +were a great weight, and when they are full, range them round +the fire." The smith did as he was told; and he had not been +long at work before there came from the bed a great shout of +laughter, and the supposed boy cried out, "I am eight hundred +years old, and I never saw the like of _that_ before." Then the +smith knew that it was not his own son. The wise man advised him +again. "Your son," he said, "is in a green round hill where the +Fairies live; get rid of this creature, and then go and look for +him." So the smith lit a fire in front of the bed. "What is that +for?" asked the supposed boy. "You will see presently," said the +smith; and then he took him and threw him into the middle of it; +and the sibhreach gave an awful yell, and flew up through the +roof, where a hole was left to let the smoke out. Now the old +man said that on a certain night the green round hill, where the +Fairies kept the smith's boy, would be open. The father was to +take a Bible, a dirk, and a crowing cock, and go there. He would +hear singing, and dancing, and much merriment, but he was to go +boldly in. The Bible would protect him against the Fairies, and +he was to stick the dirk into the threshold, to prevent the hill +closing upon him. Then he would see a grand room, and there, +working at a forge, he would find his own son; and when the +Fairies questioned him he was to say that he had come for his +boy, and would not go away without him. So the smith went, and +did what the old man told him. He heard the music, found the +hill open, went in, stuck the dirk in the threshold, carried the +Bible on his breast, and took the cock in his hand. Then the +Fairies angrily asked what he wanted, and he said, "I want my +son whom I see down there, and I will not go without him." Upon +this the whole company of the Fairies gave a loud laugh, which +woke up the cock, and he leaped on the smith's shoulders, +clapped his wings, and crowed lustily. Then the Fairies took the +smith and his son, put them out of the hill, flung the dirk +after them, and the hill-side closed up again. For a year and a +day after he got home the boy never did any work, and scarcely +spoke a word; but at last one day sitting by his father, and +seeing him finish a sword for the chieftain, he suddenly said, +"That's not the way to do it," and he took the tools, and +fashioned a sword the like of which was never seen in that +country before; and from that day he worked and lived as usual. + +Here is another story. A woman was going through a wild glen in +Strath Carron, in Sutherland--the Glen Garaig--carrying her +infant child wrapped in her plaid. Below the path, overhung with +trees, ran a very deep ravine, called Glen Odhar, or the dun +glen. The child, not a year old, suddenly spoke, and said:-- + + "Many a dun hummel cow, + With a calf below her, + Have I seen milking + In that dun glen yonder, + Without dog, without man, + Without woman, without gillie, + But one man; and he hoary." + +Then the woman knew that it was a fairy changeling she was +carrying, and she flung down the child and the plaid, and ran +home, where her own baby lay smiling in the cradle. + +A tailor went to a farm-house to work, and just as he was going +in, somebody put into his hands a child of a month old, which a +little lady dressed in green seemed to be waiting to receive. +The tailor ran home and gave the child to his wife. When he got +back to the farm-house he found the farmer's child crying and +yelping, and disturbing everybody. It was a fairy changeling +which the nurse had taken in, meaning to give the farmer's own +child to the fairy in exchange; but nobody knew this but the +tailor. When they were all gone out he began to talk to the +child. "Hae ye your pipes?" said the Tailor. "They're below my +head," said the Changeling. "Play me a spring," said the Tailor. +Out sprang the little man and played the bagpipes round the +room. Then there was a noise outside, and the Elf said, "Its my +folk wanting me," and away he went up the chimney; and then they +fetched back the farmer's child from the tailor's house. + +One more story: it is told by the Sutherland-shire folk. A small +farmer had a boy who was so cross that nothing could be done +with him. One day the farmer and his wife went out, and put the +child to bed in the kitchen; and they bid the farm lad to go and +look at it now and then, and to thrash out the straw in the +barn. The lad went to look at the child, and the Child said to +him in a sharp voice, "What are you going to do?" "Thrash out a +pickle of straw," said the Lad, "lie still and don't grin, like +a good bairn." But the little Imp of out of bed, and said, "Go +east, Donald, and when ye come to the big brae (or brow of the +hill), rap three times, and when _they_ come, say ye are seeking +Johnnie's flail." Donald did so, and out came a little fairy +man, and gave him a flail. Then Johnnie took the flail, thrashed +away at the straw, finished it, sent the flail back, and went to +bed again. When the parents came back, Donald told them all +about it; and so they took the Imp out of the cradle, put it in +a basket, and set the basket on the fire. No sooner did the +creature feel the fire than he vanished up the chimney. Then +there was a low crying noise at the door, and when they opened +it, a pretty little lad, whom the mother knew to be her own, +stood shivering outside. + +A few notes about West Highland giants must end this account of +wonder creatures in this region. There was a giant in Glen Eiti, +a terrible being, who comes into a wild strange story, too long +to be told here. He is described as having one hand only, coming +out of the middle of his chest, one leg coming out of his +haunch, and one eye in the middle of his face. And in the same +story there is another giant called the Fachan, and the story +says, "Ugly was the make of the Fachan; there was one hand out +of the ridge of his chest, and one tuft out of the top of his +head; it were easier to take a mountain from the root than to +bend that tuft." Usually, the Highland giants were not such +dreadful creatures as this. Like giants in all stories, they +were very stupid, and were easily outwitted by cunning men. "The +Gaelic giants (Mr. Campbell says)[9] are very like those of +Norse and German tales, but they are much nearer to real men +than the giants of Germany and Scandinavia and Greece and Rome, +who are almost, if not quite, equal to the gods. Their world is +generally, though not always, underground; it has castles, and +parks, and pasture, and all that is found above on the earth. +Gold, and silver, and copper abound in the giants' land, jewels +are seldom mentioned, but cattle, and horses, and spoil of +dresses, and arms, and armour, combs, and basins, apples, +shields, bows, spears, and horses are all to be gained by a +fight with the giants. Still, now and then a giant does some +feat quite beyond the power of man, such as a giant in Barra, +who fished up a hero, boat and all, with his fishing-rod, from a +rock and threw him over his head, as little boys do 'cuddies' +from the pier end. So the giants may be degraded gods, after +all." In the story of Connal, told by Kenneth MacLennan of Pool +Ewe, there is a giant who was beaten by the hero of the tale. +Connal was the son of King Cruachan, of Eirinn, and he set out +on his adventures. He met a giant who had a great treasure of +silver and gold, in a cave at the bottom of a rock, and the +giant used to promise a bag of gold to anybody who would allow +himself to be let down in a creel or basket, and send some of it +up. Many people were lost in trying it, for when the giant had +let them down, and they had filled the creel, the giant used to +draw up the creel of gold, and then he would not let it down +again, and so those who had gone down for it were left to perish +in the deep cavern. Now Connal agreed to go down, and the giant +served him in the same way that he had done the rest, and Connal +was left in the cave among the dead men and the gold. Now the +giant could not get anybody else to go down, and as he wanted +more gold, he let his own son down in the creel, and gave him +the sword of light, so that he might see his way before him. +When the young giant got into the cave, Connal took the sword of +light very quickly, and cut off the young giant's head, Then +Connal put gold into the bottom of the creel, and got in +himself, and covered himself over with gold, and gave a pull at +the rope, and the giant drew up the creel, and when he did not +see his son, he threw the creel over the back of his head; and +Connal took the sword of light, and cut off the giant's head, +and went away home with the sword and the gold. + +There was a King of Lochlin, who had three daughters, and three +giants stole them, and carried them down under the earth; and a +wise man told the King that the only way to get them back was to +make a ship that would sail over land or sea. So the King said +that anybody who would make such a ship should marry his eldest +daughter. There was a widow who had three sons, and the eldest +of them said he would go into the forest and cut wood, and make +the ship; and his mother gave him a large bannock (oat cake), +and away he went. Then a Fairy came out of the river, and asked +for a bit of the bannock, but he would not give her a morsel; so +he began cutting the wood, but as fast as he cut them down, the +trees grew up again, and he went home sorrowful. Then the next +brother did the same, and he failed also. Then the youngest +brother went, and he took a little bannock, instead of a big +one, and the Fairy came again, and he gave her a share of the +bannock; and she told him to meet her there in a year and a day, +and the ship should be ready. And it was ready, and the youngest +son sailed away in it. Then he came to a man who was drinking up +a river; and the youngest son hired him for a servant. After a +time, he found a man who was eating a whole ox, and he hired him +too. Then he saw another man, with his ear to the earth, and he +said he was hearing the grass grow; so he hired him also. Then +they got to a great cave, and the last man listened, and said it +was where the three giants kept the King's three daughters, and +they went down into the cave, and up to the house of the biggest +giant. "Ha! ha!" said the Giant, "you are seeking the King's +daughter, but thou wilt not have her, unless thou hast a man who +will drink as much water as I." Then the river-drinker set to +work, and so did the giant, and before the man was half +satisfied, the giant burst. Then they went to where the second +giant was. "Ho! ho!" said the Giant, "thou art seeking the +King's daughter, but thou wilt not get her, if thou hast not a +man who will eat as much flesh as I." Then the ox-eater began, +and so did the giant; but before the man was half satisfied, the +giant burst. Then they went on to the third Giant; and the Giant +said to the youngest son that he should have the King's daughter +if he would stay with him for a year and a day as a slave. Then +they sent up the King's three daughters, and the three men out +of the cave; and the youngest son stayed with the giant for a +year and a day. When the time was up the youngest son said, "Now +I am going." Then the Giant said, "I have an eagle that will +take thee up;" and he put him on the eagle's back, and fifteen +oxen for the eagle to eat on her way up; but before the eagle +had got half way up she had eaten all the oxen, and came back +again. So the youngest son had to stay with the giant for +another year and a day. When the time was up, the Giant put him +on the eagle again, and thirty oxen to last her for food; but +before she got to the top she ate them all, and so went back +again; and the young man had to stay another year and a day with +the giant. At the end of the third year and a day, the Giant put +him on the eagle's back a third time, and gave her three score +of oxen to eat; and just when they got to the mouth of the cave, +where the earth began, all the oxen were eaten, and the eagle +was going back again. But the young man cut a piece out of his +own thigh, and gave it to the eagle, and with one spring she was +on the surface of the earth. Then the Eagle said to him, "Any +hard lot that comes to thee, whistle, and I will be at thy +side." Now the youngest son went to the town where the King of +Lochlin lived with the daughters he had got back from the +giants; and he hired himself to work at blowing the bellows for +a smith. And the King's oldest daughter ordered the smith to +make her a golden crown like that she had when she was with the +giant, or she would cut off his head. The bellows-blower said he +would do it. So the smith gave him the gold, and he shut himself +up, and broke the gold into splinters, and threw it out of the +window, and people picked it up. Then he whistled for the Eagle, +and she came, and he ordered her to fetch the gold crown that +belonged to the biggest giant; and the Eagle fetched it, and the +smith took it to the King's daughter, who was quite satisfied. +Then the King's second daughter wanted a silver crown like that +she had when she was with the second giant; and the King's +youngest daughter wanted a copper crown, like that she had when +she was with the third Giant; and the Eagle fetched them both +for the young man, and the smith took them to the King's +daughters. Then the King asked the smith how he did all this; +and the smith said it was his bellows-blower who did it. So the +King sent a coach and four horses for the bellows-blower, and +the servants took him, all dirty as he was, and threw him into +the coach like a dog. But on the way he called the eagle, who +took him out of the coach, and filled it with stones, and when +the King opened the door, the stones fell out upon him, and +nearly killed him; and then, the story says, "There was catching +of the horse gillies, and hanging them for giving such an +affront to the King." Then the King sent a second time, and +these messengers also were very rude to the bellows-blower, so +he made the eagle fill the coach with dirt, which fell about the +King's ears, and the second set of servants were punished. The +third time the King sent his trusty servant, who was very civil, +and asked the bellows-blower to wash himself, and he did so, and +the eagle brought a gold and silver dress that had belonged to +the biggest giant, and when the King opened the coach door there +was sitting inside the very finest man he ever saw. And the +young man told the King all that had happened, and they gave him +the King's eldest daughter for his wife, and the wedding lasted +twenty days and twenty nights. + +One story more, of how a Giant was outwitted by a maiden. It is +told in the island of Islay. There was a widow, who had three +daughters, who went out to seek their fortunes. The two elder +ones did not want the youngest, and they tied her in turns to a +rock, a peat-stack, and a tree, but she got loose and came after +them. They got to the house of a Giant, and had leave to stop +for the night, and were put to bed with the Giant's daughters. +The Giant came home and said, "The smell of strange girls is +here," and he ordered his gillie to kill them; and the gillie +was to know them from the Giant's daughters by these having +twists of amber beads round their necks, and the others having +twists of horse-hair. Now Maol o Chliobain, the youngest of the +widow's daughters, heard this, and she changed the necklaces, +and so the gillie came and killed the Giant's daughters, and +Maol o Chliobain took the golden cloth that was on the bed, and +ran away with her sisters. But the cloth was an enchanted cloth, +and it cried out to the Giant, who pursued them till they came +to a river, and then Maol plucked out a hair of her head, and +made a bridge of it; but the Giant could not get over; so he +called out to Maol, "And when wilt thou come again?" "I will +come when my business brings me," she said; and then he went +home again. They got to a farmer's house, and told him their +history. Said the Farmer, who had three sons, "I will give my +eldest son to thy eldest sister; get for me the fine comb of +gold and the coarse comb of silver that the Giant has." So she +went and fetched the combs, and the Giant followed her till they +came to the river, which the Giant could not get over; so he +went back again. Then the farmer said he would marry his second +son to the second sister, if Maol would get him the sword of +light that the Giant had. So she went to the Giant's house, and +got up into a tree that was over the well; and when the Giant's +gillie came to draw water, she came down and pushed him into the +well, and carried away the sword of light that he had with him. +Then the Giant followed her again, and again the river stopped +him; and he went back. Now the farmer said he would give his +youngest son to Maol o Chliobain herself, if she would bring him +the buck the Giant had. So she went, but when she had caught the +buck, the Giant caught her. And he said, "Thou least killed my +three daughters, and stolen my combs of gold and silver; what +wouldst thou do to me if I had done as much harm to thee as thou +to me?" She said, "I would make thee burst thyself with milk +porridge, I would then put thee in a sack, I would hang thee to +the roof-tree, I would set fire under thee, and I would lay on +thee with clubs till thou shouldst fall as a faggot of withered +sticks on the floor." So the Giant made milk porridge and forced +her to drink it, and she lay down as if she were dead. Then the +Giant put her in a sack, and hung her to the roof tree, and he +went away to the forest to get wood to burn her, and he left his +old mother to watch till he came back. When the Giant was gone +Maol o Chliobain began to cry out, "I am in the light; I am in +the city of gold." "Wilt thou let me in?" said the Giant's +mother. "I will not let thee in," said Maol o Chliobain. Then +the Giant's mother let the sack down, and Maol o Chliobain got +out, and she put into the sack the Giant's mother, and the cat, +and the calf, and the cream-dish; and then she took the buck and +went away. When the Giant came back he began beating the sack +with clubs, and his Mother cried out, "Tis I myself that am in +it." "I know that thyself is in it," said the Giant, and he laid +on all the harder. Then the sack fell down like a bundle of +withered sticks, and the Giant found that he had killed his +mother. So he knew that Maol o Chliobain had played him a trick, +and he went after her, and got up to her just as she leaped over +the river. "Thou art over there, Maol o Chliobain" said the +Giant. "I am over," she said. "Thou killedst my three bald brown +daughters?" "I killed them, though it is hard for thee." "Thou +stolest my golden comb, and my silver comb?" "I stole them." +"Thou killedst my bald rough-skinned gillie?" "I killed him." +"Thou stolest my glaive (sword) of light?" "I stole it." "Thou +killedst my mother?" "I killed her, though it is hard for thee." +"Thou stolest my buck?" "I stole it." "When wilt thou come +again?" "I will come when my business brings me." "If thou wert +over here, and I yonder," said the Giant, "what wouldst thou do +to follow me?" "I would kneel down," she said, "and I would +drink till I should dry the river." Then the poor foolish Giant +knelt down, and he drank till he burst; and then Maol o +Chliobain went off with the buck and married the youngest son of +the farmer. + +------------------------ +[9] _Popular Tales of the West Highlands_, vol. i., Introduction, p. c. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +CONCLUSION: SOME POPULAR TALES EXPLAINED. + +This brings us towards the end--that is, to show how some of our +own familiar stories connect themselves with the old Aryan +myths, and also to show something of what they mean. There are +four stories which we know best--Cinderella, and Little Red +Riding Hood, and Jack the Giant Killer, and Jack and the Bean +Stalk--and the last two of these belong especially to English +fairy lore. + +Now about the story of Cinderella. We saw something of her in +the first chapter: How she is Ushas, the Dawn Maiden of the +Aryans, and the Aurora of the Greeks; and how the Prince is the +Sun, ever seeking to make the Dawn his bride, and how the +envious stepmother and sisters are the Clouds and the Night, +which strive to keep the Dawn and the Sun apart. The story of +Little Red Riding Hood, as we call her, or Little Red Cap, as +she is called in the German tales, also comes from the same +source, and refers to the Sun and the Night. You all know the +story so well that I need not repeat it: how Little Red Riding +Hood goes with nice cakes and a pat of butter to her poor old +grandmother; how she meets on the way with a wolf, and gets into +talk with him, and tells him where she is going; how the wolf +runs off to the cottage to get there first, and eats up the poor +grandmother, and puts on her clothes, and lies down in her bed; +how Little Red Riding hood, knowing nothing of what the wicked +wolf has done, comes to the cottage, and gets ready to go to bed +to her grandmother, and how the story goes on in this way:-- + +"Grandmother," (says Little Red Riding Hood), "what great arms +you have got!" + +"That is to hug you the better, my dear." + +"Grandmother, what, great ears you have got!" + +That is to hear you the better, my dear." + +"Grandmother, what great eyes you have got!" + +"That is to see you the better, my dear." + +"Grandmother, what a great mouth you have got!" + +"That is to eat you up!" cried the wicked wolf; and then he +leaped out of bed, and fell upon poor Little Red Riding Hood, +and ate her up in a moment. + +This is the English version of the story, and here it stops; but +in the German story there is another ending to it. After the +wolf has eaten up Little Red Riding Hood he lies down in bed +again, and begins to snore very loudly. A huntsman, who is going +by, thinks it is the old grandmother snoring, and he says, "How +loudly the old woman snores; I must see if she wants anything." +So he stepped into the cottage, and when he came to the bed he +found the wolf lying in it. "What! do I find you here, you old +sinner?" cried the huntsman; and then, taking aim with his gun, +he shot the wolf quite dead. + +Now this ending helps us to see the full meaning of the story. +One of the fancies in the most ancient Aryan or Hindu stories +was that there was a great dragon that was trying to devour the +sun, and to prevent him from shining upon the earth and filling +it with brightness and life and beauty, and that Indra, the +sun-god, killed the dragon. Now this is the meaning of Little +Red Riding Hood, as it is told in our nursery tales. Little Red +Riding Hood is the evening sun, which is always described as red +or golden; the old Grandmother is the earth, to whom the rays of +the sun bring warmth and comfort. The Wolf--which is a well-known +figure for the clouds and blackness of night--is the dragon in +another form; first he devours the grandmother, that is, he wraps +the earth in thick clouds, which the evening sun is not strong +enough to pierce through. Then, with the darkness of night he +swallows up the evening sun itself, and all is dark and desolate. +Then, as in the German tale, the night-thunder and the storm +winds are represented by the loud snoring of the Wolf; and +then the Huntsman, the morning sun, comes in all his strength +and majesty, and chases away the night-clouds and kills the +Wolf, and revives old Grandmother Earth, and brings Little Red +Riding Hood to life again. Or another explanation may be that +the Wolf is the dark and dreary winter that kills the earth +with frost, and hides the sun with fog and mist; and then the +Spring comes, with the huntsman, and drives winter down to his +ice-caves again, and brings the Earth and the Sun back to life. +Thus, you see, how closely the most ancient myth is preserved in +the nursery tale, and how full of beautiful and hopeful meaning +this is when we come to understand it. The same idea is repeated +in another story, that of "The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood," +where the Maiden is the Morning Dawn, and the young Prince, who +awakens her with a kiss, is the Sun which comes to release her +from the long sleep of wintry night. + +The germ of the story of "Jack and the Bean Stalk" is to be +found in old Hindu tales, in which the beans are used as the +symbols of abundance, or as meaning the moon, and in which the +white cow is the clay and the black cow is the night. There is +also a Russian story in which a bean falls upon the ground and +grows up to the sky, and an old man, meaning the sun, climbs up +by it to heaven, and sees everything. This comes very near the +story of Jack, who sells his cow for a handful of beans, and his +mother scatters them in the garden, and throws her apron over +her head and weeps, thus figuring the Night and the Rain; and, +shielded by the night and watered by the rain, the bean grows up +to the sky, and Jack climbs to the Ogre's land, and carries off +the bags of gold, and the wonderful hen that lays a golden egg +every day, and the golden harp that plays tunes by itself. It is +also possible that the bean-stalk which grows from earth to +heaven is a remembrance, brought by the Norsemen, of the great +tree, Ygdrassil, which, in the Norse mythology, has its roots in +hell and its top in heaven; and the evil Demons dwell in the +roots, and the earth is placed in the middle, and the Gods live +in the branches. And there is another explanation given, namely, +that "the Ogre in the land above the skies, who was once the +All-father, possessed three treasures: a harp which played of +itself enchanting music, bags of gold and diamonds, and a hen +which daily laid a golden egg. The harp is the wind, the bags +are the clouds dropping the sparkling rain, and the golden egg +laid every day by the red hen is the dawn-produced sun."[10] +Thus, in the story of "Jack and the Bean Stalk" we find repeated +the same idea which appears in Northern and Eastern fairy tales, +and in Greek legends; and so we are carried back to the ancient +Hindu traditions, and to the myths of Nature-worship amongst the +old Aryan race. + +It is the same with the story of "Jack the Giant Killer," which +also has its connection with the legends of various countries +and all ages, and has also its inner meaning, drawn from the +beliefs and traditions of the ancient past. There is no need to +tell you the adventures of Jack the Giant Killer; how he kills +the Cornish giant Cormoran by tumbling him into a pit and +striking him on the head with a pick-axe; how he strangles Giant +Blunderbore and his friend by throwing ropes over their heads +and drawing the nooses fast until they are choked; how he cheats +the Welsh giant by putting a block of wood into his own bed for +the giant to hammer at and by slipping the hasty-pudding into a +leathern bag, and then ripping it up, to induce the giant to do +the same with his own stomach, which he does, and so kills +himself; or how he frightens the giant with three heads, and so +gets the coat of darkness, the cap of knowledge, the shoes of +swiftness, and the sword of sharpness, and uses these to escape +from other and more terrible masters, and to kill them; and gets +the duke's daughter for his wife, and lives honoured and happy +ever after. + +Now Jack the Giant Killer is really one of the very oldest and +most widely-known characters in Wonderland. He is the hero who, +in all countries and ages, fights with monsters and overcomes +them; like Indra, the ancient Hindu sun-god, whose thunderbolts +slew the demons of drought in the far East; or Perseus, who, in +Greek story, delivers the maiden from the sea-monster; or +Odysseus, who tricks the giant Polyphemus, and causes him to +throw himself into the sea; or Thor, whose hammer beats down the +frost-giants of the North. The gifts bestowed upon Jack are +found in Tartar stories, in Hindu tales, in German legends, and +in the fables of Scandinavia. The cloak is the cloud cloak of +Alberich, king of the old Teutonic dwarfs, the cap is found in +many tales of Fairyland, the shoes are like the sandals of +Hermes, the sword is like Arthur's Excalibur, or like the sword +forged for Sigurd, or that which was made by the horse-smith, +Velent, the original of Wayland Smith, of old English legends. +This sword was so sharp, that when Velent smote his adversary it +seemed only as if cold water had glided down him. "Shake +thyself," said Velent; and he shook himself, and fell dead in +two halves. The trick which Jack played upon the Welsh giant is +related in the legend of the god Thor and the giant Skrimner. +The giant laid himself down to sleep under an oak, and Thor +struck him with his mighty hammer. "Hath a leaf fallen upon me +from the tree?" said the giant. Thor struck him again on the +forehead. "What is the matter," said Skrimner, "hath an acorn +fallen upon my head?" A third time Thor struck his tremendous +blow. Skrimner rubbed his cheek and said, "Methinks some moss +has fallen upon my face." The giant had done what Jack did: he +put a great rock upon the place where Thor supposed him to be +sleeping, and the rock received all the blows. The whole story +probably means no more than this: Jack the Giant Killer is the +Wind and the Light which disperses the mists and overthrows the +cloud giants; and popular fancy, ages ago, dressed him out as a +person combating real giants of flesh and blood, just as in all +ages and all countries the forces of nature have taken personal +shape, and have given us these tales of miraculous gifts, of +great deeds done, and of monsters destroyed by men with the +courage and the strength of heroes. + +Now our task is done. We have seen that the Fairy Stories came +from Asia, where they were made, ages and ages ago, by a people +who spread themselves over our Western world, and formed the +nations which dwell in it, and brought their myths and legends +with them; and we have seen, too, how the ancient meanings are +still to be found in the tales that are put now into children's +books, and are told by nurses at the fireside. And we have seen +something of the lessons they teach us, and which are taught by +all the famous tales of Wonderland; lessons of kindness to the +feeble and the old, and to birds, and beasts, and all dumb +creatures; lessons of courtesy, courage, and truth-speaking; and +above all, the first and noblest lesson believed in by those who +were the founders of our race, that God is very near to us, and +is about us always; and that now, as in all times, He helps and +comforts those who live good and honest lives, and do whatever +duty lies clear before them. + +------------------------ +[10] Baring-Gould, _Myths of the Middle Ages._ + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, FAIRY TALES; THEIR ORIGIN AND MEANING *** + +This file should be named frtom10.txt or frtom10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, frtom11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, frtom10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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