58 FISHES OF FANCY. 



whom the sea, as a means of livelihood, is as important as 

 the land — whether we go to Polynesia or Scandinavia to 

 find them — we find marine and fishery folk-lore predomi- 

 nant. Thus the old goblin from Norway, who came a-wooing 

 to the Elfin-hill, and spoke so pleasantly about the stately 

 Norwegian rocks and the waterfalls, and the salmon that 

 leaped in the spray while the water-god played to them on 

 a golden harp, could never tell a story without something 

 about a fish in it. And again, when he spoke of the 

 cheery winter nights within doors, he described particularly 

 how the salmon would gambol in the water outside his 

 cave, and dash themselves against the rocks, but could not 

 come in. 



But into this prodigious literature of fairy-tale fish, in 

 which the finny ones merely play the part of wonder- 

 workers, or represent the victims of sorcery, I have no 

 space, though all the will, to plunge. But how can I close 

 this chapter without referring to that little fish of the 

 Arabian Nights which was really a pomegranate seed, 

 which the cock (who was really a princess) overlooked 

 with such disastrous consequences to all concerned .-' Or 

 to those other fishes, white, red, blue, and yellow, that 

 the fisherman found swimming in the enchanted lake 

 between the four small hills, and which when brought into 

 the Sultan's palace led to such notable results > 



This formation of a lake as a punishment for the wicked- 

 ness of the People of the Plain is a widely-spread tradi- 

 tion.* Thus, so local legends say, Lake Tanganika was 

 called into existence. " Years and years ago, where you 

 see this great lake," so runs the African story, " was a wide 

 plain, inhabited by many tribes and nations, who owned 



* The mythologist may read in the following story a significance 

 which supports Gubernatis. 



