[wood] footnotes TC» CANADIAN FOLKSONGS 93 



the son^-s of Xew Fvant-e, there still remains much of the picturesquenesa 

 of the Old. 



There are very few songs in Mr. Gagnon's collection, apart from 

 those connected with fêtes and ceremonial customs, which contain any 

 important remnants of popular myths. The dancing of the sun at 

 Easter is not mentioned, nor are some other beliefs still, or up to quite 

 recent times, current in the country. But Marianne, when her donkey 

 has been eaten by a wolf, tries to pass off the one given her by the miller 

 as the old one with a new skin, for, in accordance with time-honoured 

 custom, all good asses changed their skin at Michaelmas.'" Then, in 

 Digne Dindaine.^' the sheep dance on the green in the most approved 

 fashion ; and Pinson and Cendrouille,''^ when at their wits end to furnish 

 a wedding feast, are helped out of their difficulty by the dog, the crow 

 and the rat. each animal bringing some suitable dish with him. There is 

 no lack of talking birds ; sometimes to tell inconvenient gossip — bilingual 

 gossip, too, both in French and Latin — as in Cecilia;^ sometimes to 

 recommend matrimony, like •• le rossignolet "" in J'ai cueilli la belle 

 Hose : *'-' and sometimes to help the weaker sex to abuse the stronger, 

 like the quail in JIoii beau ruban gris.'^' The old belief in the materiality 

 of the soul is satirically alluded to in the compendious JIalbroucke : 



On vit voler son âme 



A travers les lauriers ; "^ 



and metempsychosis of a sort is jH-essed into the service of love in Si tu 

 te mets ang aille'- and J\ii fait une maîtresse:^ The voj^ageur who 

 sings '• bon soir, lutin ' '* may think twice before encountering the powers 

 of goblindom, and, perhaps, some tishermen of the Lower St. Lawrence 

 may have more than a suspicion that, in singing '-blanc, blanc lovip- 

 niariu," '•' they are referring to mermaids or other vincanny beino-s far 

 more dangerous than the timid seal. In En roulant ma boule'''' there 

 is the wonderful bird producing jewels from its eyes and gold and silver 

 from its beak, just as mythical beasts do in all other countries ; and we 

 can hardly attribute the prodigious convulsion of ]S'ature produced by a 

 carpenter's sitting down to purely natural causes — 



En «'asseyant il fit un bond ; 

 Qui fit trembler mer et poissons, 

 Et les cailloux qui sont au fond." 



Then there is the miller, who tricked the Devil into a flour-sack, which 

 was tied to the revolving mill wheel, much to his Satanic 3Iajesty's dis- 

 comfort ; '^ but the onh' song the action of which turns entirely ui^on 

 supernatural agency is that of the "plus savante " rival, whose power over 

 the elements enables her to supplant " la fille du roi " : 



EU" fait neiger, ell' fait grêler, 

 Eir fait le vent qui vente ; 

 Eir fait reluire le soleil 

 A minuit dans sa chambre. "^ 



