FISHES IN MODERN FOLK-LORE. 79 



perhaps than some, it is nevertheless modern folk-lore, and, 

 though of course in a modified form, to suit other circum- 

 stances and conditions, is the prototype of fishing- folk-lore 

 all the world over. Away up among the icebergs live 

 people as truly ichthyophagous as any that Pliny knew of, 

 and to whom a single species of fish is as all-important as 

 the palm-tree to South Sea Islanders, or the banana to 

 central Africa. They look upon the land as a pensioner 

 of the sea, as indeed they well may, seeing that not only 

 they themselves, but their cattle and dogs, live upon the 

 produce of the water. Their coasts and rocks are the 

 home and haunts of water-powers, whom they propitiate 

 by deference ; and the shapes of fish are explained by 

 superstitious traditions as incredible as the incidents of 

 Polynesian theology. But let us come nearer home. Ask 

 the Scandinavian why salmon are red and have such 

 fine tails, and you will be told that the ruddy colour of 

 the flesh is due to the fact that the gods, when heaven 

 was on fire, threw the flames into the sea, and the salmon 

 swallowed them (indeed this fish is accepted by some 

 mythologists as symbolizing fire) ; and the delicacy of the 

 tail of the fish is explained to the Norseman by Loki 

 having turned himself into a salmon when the angered 

 gods pursued him. He would have escaped if Thor had 

 not caught him by the tail, " and this is the reason why 

 salmon have had their tails so fine and thin ever since." 

 Or go even to Yorkshire, and ask why the haddock has 

 those dark marks on its shoulders. You will be told either 

 the old story about St. Peter, or else that when the devil, 

 in order to bother the fishermen, was building Filey Bridge, 

 he dropped his hammer into the sea. A haddock tried to 

 make off with it, but Satan was too quick for the fish, and 

 gave it such a pinch that no haddock has ever forgotten 



