334 pfant Tsore, "bege?^/, ani. Tsijnc/'. 



down on a boulder of granite, and thoughtlessly began to break off 

 the beautiful fronds of Ferns which grew all around. Suddenly a 

 young man appeared before her, and addressing her by name, 

 enquired what brought her there. Jenny replied that she wished 

 to obtain a situation, and was on her road to the market town. 

 The young man said he was a widower, and in want of a young 

 woman to take care of his little son ; and that as he liked Jenny's 

 good looks, he would engage her there and then for a year and a 

 day, and pay her well ; but that he should require her to swear his 

 oath, which consisted in kissing a Fern-leaf, and repeating the 

 formula : — 



" For a year and a day, 

 I promise to stay." 



ienny was charmed and flattered ; all sorts of visions rose before 

 er eyes, and, without hesitation, she took the oath and followed 

 the stranger eastward. In silence the pair walked on, until the girl 

 was quite weary; then they sat down on a bank, and the young 

 man taking a bunch of leaves passed them rapidly over Jenny's 

 eyes : her weariness departed as if by magic, and she found herself 

 in fairy-land, with her mysterious master. He led her to a splendid 

 mansion, and introduced her to his little boy, who was so beautiful 

 that he instantly won her love. The girl continued at her duties 

 in fairy-land for the allotted time ; then, one morning, upon awaking, 

 she found herself sleeping in her own bed in her mother's cottage ; 

 and the old gossips of the village, upon hearing her story, knew 

 that she had been carried by the Small People to some of their 

 countries under the hills. 



FIG. — There are several mythological accounts of the origin 

 of the Fig. According to one, Lyceus, one of the Titans, pursued 

 by Jupiter, was metamorphosed into a Fig-tree by the goddess Rhea, 

 Another story attributes to her husband, Saturn, the origin of the 

 Fig-tree, and on this account the inhabitants of Cyrene deck the 

 statue of the god with crowns of Figs. A third myth relates that 

 the Fig-tree is the offspring of the loves of Oxylus, King of Elis, 

 with a Hamadryad. Bacchus, however, was generally considered 

 to have introduced the Fig to mortals : hence the tree was 

 sacred to him, and he is often represented as crowned with Fig- 

 leaves. On this account, also, it was customary to make an 

 offering of the first Figs to the jovial god. At the Canephoria 

 festivals at Athens, in honour of Bacchus, the female votaries wore 

 round their necks collars composed of dried Figs; and at the 

 Dionysian festivals, a basket of Figs formed a prominent feature in 



the procession. At Rome, the Fig was carried next to the Vine 



in the processions in honour of Bacchus, as the patron of plenty 

 and joy; and Bacchus was supposed to have derived his corpulence 

 and vigour, not from the Vine, but from the Fig. Under the name of 

 the Ficiis ruminalis, the Romans jealously guarded the sacred wild 

 Fig-tree, upon the roots of which stranded the cradle containing 



