VINOUS SUPERSTITIONS. 235 



nature which are all the time at work to produce prosperity and suc- 

 cess or destruction. 



In Alsace, the eye of the traveler is gladdened by the view of the 

 picturesque vine-lands which stretch in almost unbroken succession 

 along the slopes of the Yosges and Jura Mountains, heavy with hand- 

 some clusters of grapes. We can hardly wonder that the country peo- 

 ple, feeling a similar delight, but one modified according to their dif- 

 ferent habit of thought, should attribute the prosperity of their vine- 

 crops to higher powers ; and it is easily explainable that in their 

 childish fancies they, half in earnest, half in humor, allow these genii 

 of old to continue to live and do their beneficent work. Especially 

 characteristic of these children of Bacchus, to which a variety of most 

 pleasant legends are attached, are prophecies respecting the success or 

 failure of the next vintage, predictions that make themselves known 

 by visible or audible signs. 



Thus, in the spring, when the air is scented with the fragrance of 

 the blossoms, and everything points to an abundant vintage, the people 

 believe they can hear in the hill at Brunstatt the " Wigigerle " fid- 

 dling lustily to the accompaniment of ringing glasses and dancing. 

 If, however, the vintner's prospects for the year are dull, the smell of 

 the blossoms is only faint, and the attentive listener can only occa- 

 sionally hear the sound of the strings, while the hill seems empty and 

 desolate. 



A pendant to the jolly " Wigigerle " (wine-fiddler) is the " White 

 Lady of Paulinus Castle " who haunts the region of Weissenburg. 

 She is believed to wander at night through the vines, and occasionally 

 to make her appearance in the day-time. In case the year is to be un- 

 prosperous, she shows herself rarely, closely veiled, bearing a bunch 

 of hidden keys, wearing a sad face, and weeping much ; but, if the 

 vintage is to be rich, she greets the vine-dressers cheerily, and rattles 

 her keys gayly as she passes through the gardens. 



The Alsatians also regard as an infallible wine-oracle the cellar of 

 Arnsberg Castle, which belongs to the family of the Fesslers, a race of 

 sturdy drinkers who became extinct in the seventeenth century, and is 

 popularly called the Devil's Castle. The immense stocks of wine sup- 

 posed to lie in the deep and spacious caverns have not been touched 

 for centuries ; for the most industrious search has failed to discover a 

 door or any way by which an entrance to them can be forced. In 

 good seasons, a sweet odor of wine arises from the ground at the time 

 of the blooming of the vines, and diffuses itself around. 



St. Hunna, formerly one of the richest ladies of Alsace, is honored 

 as the patron of the poor, thirsty topers of the town of Hunnasweihen, 

 in bad years. This pious woman, who was a friend and comforter of 

 the poor in the seventh century, sometimes condescended so far as to 

 wash the clothes of her maids, whence she got the name of the saintly 

 laundress. A copious spring, flowing through four outlets, has been 



