134 Rambles with a Fishing-Rod. 



Lake of Lucerne, is sheltered by the dark preci- 

 pices of the Niederbauen. The story goes that 

 in it there lives a monster known as the Elbst. 

 This beast can, Proteus-like, change its form ; 

 and the trustful swimmer, resting as he sup- 

 poses on the floating trunk of a fallen pine, 

 is carried by it for ever beneath the waters of 

 the lake. But the legends of the Tyrol are 

 not only of interest as mere fairy tales ; they 

 show the way in which in bygone times the 

 powers of nature were personified, for most of 

 them arise from natural phenomena of a strik- 

 ing kind. Thus, if the angler is attentive to 

 the stories of the mountaineer and the fisher- 

 man, he will be certain to obtain a knowledge 

 of the folk-lore of the Alps, which in no other 

 way would he be so likely to acquire, or if he 

 did hear, to heed. 



But a certain amount of forethought must 

 naturally be taken, though help from guide- 

 books in this respect may be looked for in 

 vain ; and no one has yet done for the Tyrol 

 and Switzerland what Mr Watson Lyall has for 

 Scotland in his admirable ' Sportsman's Guide 

 to the Eivers and Lochs of Scotland.' For 

 though Herr Max von dem Borne's little book 



